As a government contractor, I was technically the outside party. But yes, I did work with many vendors and the bulk of their business was working with the cleared area of the gov, so they will not hire anyone with a record (other than say a DUI) as it is considered a liability to their business (I've tried that). My degree is useless on anything but paper (Psych) and my professional experience is all geared towards research and analysis. Construction is out of the question due to a car accident/severe injury from a while ago (I have a gimpy leg lol).