How to protect my security clearance when leaving a job?

Good afternoon,

Back in 2012 I went to work for a big defense contractor and brought my secret clearance with me. At that time my latest reinvestigation was just over a year old.

I worked for the defense company for a total of 3 months and did not like the job as it was not the job I interviewed, agreed or accepted the offer for. So I gave notice, debriefed and processed out of security and quit my job with the defense company all with no bad feelings on either behalf.

Fast forward only 7 months later and I am in the last stages of accepting a new position that required my clearance only to get a call from the new companies FSO telling me that my Clearance in JPAS showed “Archived” No active clearance! No information available!

Needless to say I did not get the job and this subsequently prohibited me from many other positions as well.

“Archived” was a term I was not familiar with regarding my clearance and the FSO said it appeared that my former defense company employer archived my clearance as soon as I left the company most likely to prevent me from getting a new job.

My former employers security office NEVER returned any of my calls to inquire about the situation.

Fast forward to today, I again am employed by a defense contractor and had to go through the entire investigation process again, and again I have an active clearance.

My question is how do I prevent this from ever happening again when the clearance process is a paperless system with no access to individuals once you have left a cleared employer?

Thank You!