TL;DR: No job yet.
Longer Version: Still no job yet.
But, hope springs eternal, or at least I spring eternally out of bed every morning at 6 to get the girl out the door to school and then start in.
Lots of applications have been applied, though all the experts say that only a disturbingly small number of positions (at least at my level) are actually filled that way. Still, the state of Colorado mandates at least five applications be submitted a week, in return for a modest (but welcome) unemployment check.
This week has actually been interesting, because I've been delving further into the social mechanism that apparently is the sine qua non to all this, networking. The idea is that by reaching out and getting to know people, you:
a. Hear about jobs and people at companies who can help you get one.
b. Hear first about jobs being considered or opened internally.
c. Get people to walk your resume over to the hiring manager or recommend you to the hiring manager, increasing your chances of getting a job.
d. Etc.
Networking can be cold-calling, it can be friend-of-a-friending, it can be going to events and swapping business cards, it can be joining networking groups, it can be anything that reaches out (repeatedly) and builds even a tenuous professional relationship.
I've actually been doing a lot of networking over the last week, both the "Hey, let's go out chat over coffee" type and the "Hey, I understand you are an interesting organization of IT professionals that may give me good contacts to help me find a new job" type. It's been a bit frenetic (and highly caffeinated), but hopefully it's all laying the groundwork for Good Things sooner or later (preferably sooner).
If nothing else, it's another set of ears to kvetch to about the job hunt process (known also as being "in transition," which is the current NewSpeak euphemism for being "unemployed' or "between jobs").
I continue to be grateful for folk who actually, out of the blue, come up with possible contacts or leads they have run across. I'm also grateful to folk who ask how things are going — even when all I have is a stock answer, it's nice to be asked and acknowledged.
So, to expand on that executive summary: still no new job … but still in there swinging and hopeful.
(For those with an interest in my skills and/or job interest, my LinkedIn profile: https://goo.gl/Auf0R8)
Added ya on LinkedIn. I know the feeling of searching and networking does help.
+Lauchlin MacGregor I'm not fishing for connections, but I welcome ones that make sense. Thanks!
+Dave Hill I hear you. If you were an accountant, I wouldn't have added you 🙂
I hear Taskmaster is looking to hire trainees.
+Scott Randel Yeah, I sent in an application, but never heard anything back. Probably never made it past the ATS — didn't include the right keywords ("thug" "goon" "expendible"), most likely. Damn. And I hear he has a good 401(k) plan …
Sorry to hear it, Dave. I loathe job hunting. It's among the most demeaning things I can do.
A huge part of it is that I'm in a skill gap. I have no paperwork and I'm far too skilled to be taken at entry-level anything.
I have the career background that makes it easier to apply for sales positions, but that's the sum of it.