Day 81 Log

Well, the day is starting out well, I have a phone screen in a bit, and just got a phone call from the recruiter I visited yesterday, turns out his hot prospect was for real (I've heard other recruiters saying that a company "wants to move fast" before, and nothing ever comes of it), he called me this morning to let me know they want to interview me this afternoon. Looks like the drive in the blizzard with worth it.
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Phone screen went well, short and sweet. Found out they want me to come to their office for a real interview, so good sign there.
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Had my interview, nice company, interesting industry, it's not exactly what I'm used to doing, but it's in the right pay range, and from the sound of it, there is flexibility in the job description. When I started working at my last company, I wasn't doing what I expected to be doing, nor what I ended up doing, so I think it might be worth it to try this out and get my foot in the door with a good company. Of course, that all depends on what they want to do.
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Heard some feedback about my interview from Wednesday, the recruiter emailed me and said "By the way, great feedback on your interview. Nice work." So I hope to hear from them soon, it'd be nice if I ended up having two offers at once, having some choices wouldn't hurt.

Day 80 Log

I had really hoped it wouldn't get to day 80, it's a competitive market out there. Got a call from a recruiter that a friend of mine set me up with. They asked some questions, got a feel for me and suggested a few possibilities they were looking to try staffing. Then they asked if I could come down to their office for a meet and greet...stupidly I thought that the snow storm would get here in the later afternoon and start slowly...so I agreed to meet at 1. I left home at 12:20 as the first snow flakes started falling, by the time I hit 94 it was falling quite heavy, but the roads appeared to be dry; until about 6 miles later in the downtown St. Paul area when the SUV directly in front of me spun out, did a few 360s and almost took out three cars. The woman who was driving it looked like she was pretty freaked out when her SUV finally came to a rest on the side of the road against the wall separating the two lanes. After a bit longer the snow turned to white out conditions. It took me 50 minutes to make it to their offices, then 20 minutes to talk with them (they asked the same questions which they asked on the phone) and then it took an hour and forty minutes to drive home.

All this goes to say, I hope that it is productive; I don't mind doing it, if something comes from it (well I do mind doing it, driving out to someones office in a blizzard to be asked to repeat the same answers I gave on the phone is a bit ridicules; but I understand that it's all part of the game).

Talked with my contact about the St. Cloud job, just touching base, making sure I'm ready for my phone screen.

On a side note, I took my oldest daughter out to see the movie Coraline in 3D. If you get a chance to see it in 3D, I highly recommend it, it was very, very cool. And my favorite band They Might Be Giants had a small part in it, as lead singer John Linnell sings Coraline's Other Fathers song "Making up a song about Coraline"...search YouTube for it (Coraline song), you'll find it..I'd post a link, but those things get shut down so often, I'd rather not have a dead link on here.

Day 79 Log

Went out the Workforce center this morning to see if I could get any money for training, got a phone number to call.
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Getting ready for my interview this afternoon. Hoping all goes well.
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Just got back, the interview went well, the people I met were very nice, it appears they have a big project on their hands and really gearing up to tackle it.

Day 78 Log

Not a lot happened today, no new positions on the sites. I did hear from a client that they are going to a conference tomorrow and they are going to mention me to some of their friends.

Getting ready for the interview tomorrow, should be a big day, hope everyone reading this wishes me well.

Day 77 Log

Today was productive, I sent out some freelancing quotes to people asking for RFPs, and had one person respond answering my questions and asking for clarification on something, so that was a good sign. I found out the job in St. Cloud is moving along, they like the resume and are going to call to setup a phone screen, and I spent a bunch of time revamping my resume, which I'm told looks a lot better now.

Day 74 Log

More and more keeps happening. Found out more about the position in St. Cloud, sounds like I could have a real positive impact with the company if I worked up there, and it's a perm position which would be nice, where as the Bloomington job is a limited contract position, but is closer to home, and with a very recognizable name which would give me some good experience and be good for future job searching. I'm still holding out hope that I hear from another position I have been speaking with a recruiter with that is closer to home.

Considering that my wife and I met in St. Cloud, while at St. Cloud State University, I think I might be able to convince her to move up there...while true all our family is down here in the cities, at one time or another we have both had one of our siblings living up in the St. Cloud area...and we both like St. Cloud...not sure what the school system is like up there, but it might be something worth considering..but that only matters if I end up getting the job in St. Cloud. But on the down side, if I did that, when it becomes time to look for a new job, I'll be disadvantaged being in St. Cloud...lots to think about.

Day 73 Log

When it rains it pours. I was contacted this morning about a position in Bloomington, the pay is a bit under what I have been asking, but it is with a very solid company and I think the experience could be well worth the loss in pay. It is a nine month gig, so it doesn't set me up for the long term, but again, what I'd be getting in both experience and on my resume, make this a very good offer.
After that phone call I got one about a position in St. Cloud. 2-3 months on site, then telecommute, so that's very attractive.
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Got a call back on the Bloomington job, the application process closed this morning, and they reviewed my resume along with some others, and they accepted mine, so I'll be interviewing with them!!

Day 72 Log

Hello all. Two new postings, that's all there were today, seems slow, but I did get a phone call on a position, looks like things are moving along well with this opportunity, and I have a good feeling that this could be the real deal (unlike certain other recent possibilities which started strong, then faded out to nothingness).

Day 71 Log

Nothing new today on the boards, and no phone calls today...
Did make progress with my freelance project setup, nothing billable yet, but getting closer.

Day 70 Log

Another interesting day, received three phone calls today, one turned out to be paying $20/hr less than I am asking, so I turned it down, the other was below what I'm hoping for, but ended up being within reason, at least for the short term. Hoping to hear back from some of the positions I was submitted for last week, they were more in line with my normal asking price.

I won a contract on guru.com, it turns out to be a lot more work than was originally quoted in the description. I'll be looking in more depth tomorrow, we'll see how much more.

Day 67 Log

Spending the morning looking at Guru.com jobs. All freelance stuff, but it will help pay the bills. Found a few good ones this morning, just up my alley; hope they agree and hire me.
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Dice has only one new position, I fit it exactly except they want one year SSRS (reporting services) which I don't have, but I think I can pick it up quickly, so I'm going to send my resume over and see what comes of it.
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Got feedback from two more recruiters. I think they were for positions I have been submitted for already. Time for a relaxing weekend....I hope.

Day 66 Log

Didn't get this one out for yesterday.
I decided to take a half day yesterday. I did the normal job searching in the morning, then decided to play a game...while playing the game I got 3 phone calls. One position sounded good, one was a dud, and one was a nice 3 month opportunity. Additionally, a friend sent me a posting they saw that they thought would work well for me; which upon reviewing it, I agree, it would work out great (it's a one time thing, help get the system setup and running type thing) , so I applied for it and got an email back from the manager saying he was reviewing the respondents and would go over their resumes with his programmer and get back to me, but added that my experience looked extensive, so I hope that's helps..wouldn't mind a few side projects to help with the budget.

Day 65 Log

This morning, I got a phone call around 8 AM from the recruiter I spoke with yesterday who had new position, I was asked if I could take a test or two to show my proficiency. I was told that there were four tests available to me, SQL 2000 Administration, SQL 2005 Administration, SQL 2000 Programming and SQL 2005 Programming. I wanted to take the two Programming tests, as when I took the Administration tests at another firm, I found the questions seemed to revolve around concepts that were more based on Windows Server stuff than I was used to dealing with. When I logged into take the test, I found that I had to take the tests in order, so I was forced to take all four tests. Fast forward two hours, I have a bit of a head ache, but I'm happy I took all four tests. They had several concepts I hadn't seen before, but most of it was familiar to me. I scored Proficient or Advanced on all the tests.

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Hmm, I decided to work on something else, and when I do that, I start getting phone calls about positions...guess it's the watched pot idea... Interesting positions, one near home, I'll can't wait to see more about it.

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Got more information on the position closer to home. Trying to not get excited by positions any more, but looks very interesting, I'll see what they think of my resume.

Day 64 Log

Heard from a contact I met with a month ago, a position I had been hoping for ended up being "filled from within", which is too bad, this sounded like a great opportunity and I was very excited by it. But the email I got saying it was a no-go, also had the possibility of a short term contracting gig with a larger company. I think I could be happy with a short term gig right now, so we'll see how that works out.
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The market continues to be very slow. A search on dice for "Database and not oracle and not db2" selecting "Search job title only", within 20 miles of my location, posted in the last 7 days has 18 responses, of those, 12 are for the same position, 3 I have already applied for, and 3 are looking for a specific skill I don't have.
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I contacted my contact at a firm I spoke with early in search, I asked about a position that I saw on Dice and came to find out it was a position I had already been submitted for, however I was told about a new opportunity which had just come up with a bigger employer in the area. I'm going to be submitted soon.

Day 63 Log

I was contacted by two recruiters today for two different positions. One was at the same company that I've been contacted about by about 15 other recruiters; the other was for something I hadn't heard about before, so a welcome change. I only had about 80% of the qualifications for the position, so if they are willing to allow for growth in the position, I'd be a good fit.

The boards didn't reveal much more, another slow day.

Day 60 Log

Well it is a bit depressing that it has come to day 60 already and little activity has taken place. I had hoped that within 30 days I'd have something lined up. I had a meeting with a recruiter this morning, who chewed gum and basically yelled during our meeting. If the roles were reversed and I was the interviewer and I had a candidate who acted like that, I don't think it would bode well for them. They seem like a nice place, good benefit selection, working on a W2 basis. On the down side, no training, or bench time.
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Got an email from the company I have been consulting with for a while now. I did some work for them earlier this week and it turns out that I had gotten some incorrect instructions, and the system I designed, needed to be scrapped and re-created due to the logging requirements.
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Nothing new on the job sites, I hope something comes up next week...I really want to make Next week the week that I make significant progress on finding a new job...come on readers, lets put some positive thoughts into my finding a job, and see what we can make happen!!!

Day 59 Log

I met with someone today to discuss a project he was considering working on, he may utilize me in a contracting role, but at this stage, he is in an information gathering mode, so no decisions have been made yet.

Tried out a few new job searching sites that I heard about yesterday, saw a few new jobs on them, they work to aggregate several job searching sites into one.

Day 58 Log

Not much happened today, I spent an hour and a half this morning doing some consulting, and then spoke with a recruiter about a position, I will be meeting at their location on Friday.
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Not much new on job sites, nothing I can apply for.
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Just got home from an event with a lot of technical people. Talked job hunting with a friend who just recently got placed, so she gave me some good advice which I will be trying out. It's late now, I'm off to bed.

Day 57 Log

Got a message from a friend that someone in his company was looking for a DBA. Thankfully, he remembered that I was looking, and passed on my resume. Networking is usually the best way to find a new position, so I hope that they like what they see and things can move forward.
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A family member knows someone who needs some consulting work for his business. I called him and had a nice conversation with him over the phone. I'm going to meet with him and discuss further over lunch what he is looking for. I think right now, the main issue for him is budget, I'll get a better idea from him, what he wants, and how he wants to do it, then I think I can give him an idea of budget...I may need to call in some help on this one, I think he'll need some web development work, I may or may not be the right person for the job, we'll see how the meeting goes.
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Got a call from a recruiter today for a position I had applied for last week...only I think this was a position that as soon as I submitted it, I had a "oh crap" moment and realized that the position wasn't what I had initally thought it would be...so I had to apologize to them and let them know I didn't have the required experience for the position.

Day 56 Log

I checked the job boards today and oh joy, 6 new postings that have a title that I can do....oh despair...all six are for the same job...and I was submitted for that job last week.

Not much new today...everything I saw was for the same position. I did get some searching in on a site for freelance contractors, so hopefully that will work out.