Entering the Second Week

So..... It looks like this may be a weekly post instead of my intended daily post.  Life is really very busy when you don't have a job to go to on the weekdays to shield you.
Last week I sent feelers out to EVERYONE I know and got some really good contacts.  I also spoke with a recruiter that my company has worked with many times, and he's very good, although his main focus is in the Washington, DC area.  He did give me a couple good pieces of advice regarding the job boards:

1. You must have your resume on Monster.com and Dice.com - In case you didn't know, I'm a software engineer by trade.  Monster is the biggest, and Dice specializes in the I.T. field.
2. Update your resume at least once per week, but not more than twice a week.  Update it at least at 12:01am each Monday, and perhaps each Friday at 12:01 am.  This will apparently put your resume at the top of the list for candidates meeting the employers' search criteria.

Some other advice:

1. Practice a 15-second pitch for yourself and your qualifications.  Think The Player.
2. Always ask questions in an interview - phone or face-to-face.  If you're not interested in them, they're not going to be interested in you.
3. After exhausting your first tier contacts (my colleagues that I contacted the first week), and second tier (job boards), don't be afraid to "hit the streets."  Of course the in the digital world, this means sending email directly to people that are in a position to hire - even if you don't know them.

Week's Progress

Based on my diligence last week, I've set up several phone and face-to-face interviews for this week.  I've already had one phone interview today and it went well.  I'll be seeing them next week for an F2F.
I also have another one set for 4:00 today.  This is for a position with a Defense Contractor.  The big benefit here is that I'd {finally} get a security clearance.  Anyone in the Baltimore-Washington corridor knows that a clearance is worth more than gold.  It costs about $40,000 (paid by the employer), and opens more doors in this area than Carlton.


I've also got a lunch later this week with an old employer, and two more interviews later in the week.

First Day of Unemployment

Interesting.....

I woke up this morning and for the first time in eighteen years, I didn't have a job to go to.  My first "career" type job started on June 15, 1992. I was fresh out of college and ready to take on the world.  As I recall, it was a pretty tough job marked back then too.  According to the miseryindex, in June of 1992, the unemployment rate was 7.8%.  Hmm... Today, its 9.7%.  Maybe the job market is a bit tighter now.
There were no entries the past few days because I actually had some work to finish up for my (now former) employer, but at 5:00pm on Friday, May 14, 2010, I walked out the office door not knowing where my next paycheck would come from.

Enough of the self pity

That's just not me. Like I said earlier, I knew the risks when I started this job. I learned some stuff, contributed some stuff, got paid (very well), and have now been sent on my way.

This past weekend

My wife and I got together my honey-do list over the weekend. I'm sitting down now to coordinate my job-searching activities with the home improvement/maintenance tasks I've agreed to. I've already started painting my middle-child's room, fulfilling a promise to her from a couple of months ago. Its a color called pink-salmon. Three daughters, three shades of pink in their bedrooms.

The Plan

So here's the plan. This week, I send out my resume to everyone that contacted me last week via LinkedIn.com. I also contact every recruiter I know, know of, or can find, and send him/her a resume.
To work this in with my honey-do list, I'm going to spend the mornings on job-seeking tasks, and the afternoons on home maintenance. That list entails the following:

• Finish painting (today)
• Open the pool (tomorrow)
• Remove old, worn caulk from front-of-the-house windows (Wednesday)
• Re-caulk front-of-the-house-windows (Thursday)
• Paint around the windows and shutters (Friday)

By the end of this week, I should have some in-person interviews scheduled for next week.  I wonder if I should get a new suit.

Three Days and Counting

In three days, I officially join the ranks of the unemployed. Here's what I accomplished today:

• Sent a 'feeler' email to all my old colleagues that I've kept up with on LinkedIn.com - This is the first time that site has come in handy - I was actually prodded into joining by someone who worked for me a couple of jobs back.
• Rewrote my resume to show my current work experience
• Received several notes of encouragement from the above list of contacts - and have three potential nibbles already
• Realized that my resume had an error on it, so I had to re-send to the three nibblers above - Ugh! I hadn't actually expected to have to send it out so soon, and I sent it without having friends review it.
• Did a phone screen that was a direct result of the above contact list - I love LinkedIn!!
• Checked out the Maryland Unemployment Web site.  How can anyone be expected to live on $410.00 per week?
• Was utterly shocked at the COBRA payment I'll have to make to keep my insurance with my current plan. The $410 per week wont cover it.

So, there were some ups and downs today.  I was very surprised at how many responses I got from my 'feelers.'  This may end up being one of those times where its more important who you know, than what...

I still need to contact my mortgage company and creditors to see what kind of payment plans are available for someone like me.  I'm fairly hopeful about my mortgage because I have an excellent credit rating.  The CCs - not so much - they're blood suckers.  They may decide to call the whole amount due now if they get wind that I may not be able to pay my bills.

I also took stock of my current finances.  Between my savings and home equity, I should be able to scrape survive by eating acorns that fall from the trees in my back yard, and the occasional squirrel that wonders by.

Perhaps tonight I'll actually get some sleep.

Four Days and Counting

For 15 years I worked as a developer at a medium sized company. I watched friends go on to greener pastures and stayed. I was tempted by newly formed dot-coms with gobs of venture capital and still, I stayed. I watched the dot-com boom come and go.

Finally, I decided it was time to move on, so I started what I call a lazy search. I posted my resume and took calls. Finally, I interviewed with a VERY small dot-com in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland. It was very small over here, in fact, there was one developer, three owners(President, CEO, CIO), and a Chief Operating Officer. The majority of their development was done in India, and they wanted an experienced Development Manager to build a domestic staff and wean us off of the Indian company.

I still remember my interviews. They were nice - kind of like talking to someone in a social setting for the first time. After interviewing with the lone developer and the COO, one was scheduled with the president, the majority owner.

Now, I have to say, I went into that meeting with my mind already made up - I was not going to jump ship for this company. Leave a company I've been at for 15 years for a very high-risk position with a start-up??? I'd have to be crazy. The big cheese, though... He made a compelling argument. He had big dreams. Almost before I knew it, my mind had been changed. I left my old, stable job for a brand-new one. And the last two years have been pretty good. There have been ups and downs in my relationship with the CXOs, but we were getting used to each other.

Anyway, we build the domestic team of developers and got rid of the 30 some-odd overseas developers. We launched two new web sites, bringing the total to four live sites. One of which was making a lot of money via Google ads, and three that were on the brink of starting to advertise and become revenue generating. Everything was looking rosy.
Yesterday I was laid off. "Revenue's way down. Finish out the week, then three weeks severance."

The purpose of this blog is not to throw stones at anyone. I knew the risks when I joined. I just figure I need something to do while I search for a job. Something that will get me out of bed every day. I plan on writing about what I do each day to land that next job and to take care of the other things that need to be done. The things that some may not think of - like call my mortgage company and my credit cards.

In this economy, if may take months to find the right job. My target is three months. With a bit of luck, I'll be in a new position by August 10, 2010. It'll be a fun summer.