The Job Hunt

So now I can write... I found a new job. I am very excited about it also. Of course I am, its ASP.Net, C#, and .Net 4.0! :-) However, finding a job in today's economy is quite an interesting situation. People have so much fear involved in leaving a "secure" job. Security is so funny to me. A friend of mine explain web security in a neat phrase: "Security by Obscurity" If they can't find it, it is safe. Silly, but how many sites do their security, but that is a tangent topic for another day. For the field I am in, I simply post my resume, recruiters bombard me with calls and emails for positions that are not even close to what I do... and I find one recruiter who seems to be adequate. I take my resume back down and tell the recruiter what I want. He comes back with 3-5 options and I pick. Then the interview gets setup and I brush up on my basic questions and theory concepts. I do the 4-5 hour interview (yes, they are that long for tech interviews, if you can't write code on a white board, don't bother coming). I usually get a call in 2-3 days saying what they are offering. I try to negotiate and come to a mutual agreement and tada, I have a new job. Now, that sounds like a fairy tale in today's economy, but honestly that is how it works for me. Now for others, they beat the pavement... they look for "now hiring" signs, and do their best to see if someone they know, knows someone who is hiring... there aren't recruiters for jobs at Safeway or Dairy Queen. There are not recruiters for construction workers or teachers. There are not recruiters for accountants or stock brokers. They have to be pro-active and sell themselves constantly. It's a tough world right now for all of those jobs. My friends do construction, concrete, steel. They have unions. Teaching jobs are hard to find and are so underpaid it is just sad that they are responsible for our future. The job hunt for many Americans right now is an on going battle. I know I am blessed and VERY grateful for what skills I have been given. I take nothing for granted. I just imagine the starving artist, the wannabe hollywood/broadway star waiting tables, bartending, doing whatever to pay the bills in between auditions. The construction worker who's building contract is on hold due to government budget constraints. It is tough. So what is the "key" to landing a job, 1) studying and knowing your industry. 2) be persistent - no one lands their first interview/audition (well, some do, but those people suck. :-) ) 3) be ready for the opportunity. - you never know when someone may mention they are hiring or are looking for someone to 4) integrity is ALWAYS more important than money. This lesson I learned painfully (a few times)... I hope you can learn from my mistakes and realize, the right thing isn't always easy, but you know it is simply right.

Ok, I could go on, but those are good rules to get started. I hope that helps and let's see what is next in my life... :-)

Thanks for stopping by.

-me-