When you say "HTML" view do you mean the Source view in Visual Studio?

I tried binding the two dropdownlists in the user control. ( see code below) but still get the... Databinding methods such as Eval(), XPath(), and Bind() can only be used in the context of a databound control, ERROR.

Is this how you were suggesting to bind the fields?

<%@ Control Language="C#" ClassName="JobTitles"  AutoEventWireup="true" CodeFile="DisplayJobTitle.ascx.cs" Inherits="DisplayJobTitle" %>
<asp:DropDownList ID="ddl_Contractors" runat="server" DataSourceID="ods_Contractors"
    DataTextField="ShortDescription" DataValueField="ContractorID" SelectedValue='<%# Bind("ContractorID") %>' AutoPostBack="True">
</asp:DropDownList>
/
<asp:DropDownList ID="ddl_JobTitles" runat="server" DataSourceID="ods_JobTitles"
    DataTextField="JobTitle" DataValueField="JobTitleID" SelectedValue='<%# Bind("JobTitleID") %>'>
</asp:DropDownList><asp:ObjectDataSource ID="ods_JobTitles" runat="server" OldValuesParameterFormatString="original_{0}"
    SelectMethod="GetJobTitlesByContractorID" TypeName="BMSDataSetTableAdapters.JobTitlesTableAdapter">
    <SelectParameters>
        <asp:ControlParameter ControlID="ddl_Contractors" Name="contractorID" PropertyName="SelectedValue" Type="Decimal" />
    </SelectParameters>
</asp:ObjectDataSource>
<asp:ObjectDataSource ID="ods_Contractors" runat="server" OldValuesParameterFormatString="original_{0}"
    SelectMethod="GetContractors" TypeName="BMSDataSetTableAdapters.ContractorsTableAdapter">
</asp:ObjectDataSource>