Day 53 Log

Got a phone call this morning that had me run an errand this afternoon, unfortunately it took almost two hours, to complete. I didn't get a lot of job searching in, but the little bit I did get, might have been worth while. I got a call from a recruiter who wants to submit me for a position, so hopefully that will yield results. It is for a financial institution in Eden Prairie, that would be an interesting change. I'm hoping that next week will be more active.

Day 52 Log

It is a little depressing how the job hunt seems to go in ups and downs, and right now I'm in a down patch, I haven't heard anything productive in almost a week, things seem to be stagnating right now...I'm just hoping that the reason is because people are waiting for February 1st to launch new positions.

Day 51 Log

I am hearing from a number of my "active" sources that they are being put on hold, so for the time being, they are unable to move forward. I am not seeing anything new in the job boards, and am running low on ideas. Got a phone number of someone to call today from a family member, I'll try this person tomorrow.

Day 50 Log

It is a little depressing that it has been 50 days, but I hope one of the opportunities I've been speaking with recruiters about will pan out. Yesterday I heard that the older of the three possibilities decided to pull the position. I saw the same position on a job site on Monday, but can't find it today, so not sure what that was all about.

Got to talk with the Project Manager about the most promising position. He wanted to get a good understanding of my experience for a meeting he has tomorrow. Sounds like this is moving forward, it's for a manufacturing company instead of a web shop, so that should be interesting, from the sound of what they are doing, I'm not sure exactly how the Database will be used, but it would be a fun change to get some experience in a different industry.

Day 49 Log

Not much on the job search front today, but got a call from another recruiter. Haven't heard back from my contacts from last Thursday and Friday, hoping they get back to me tomorrow. Not much else to report, looking into LLC's and S Corps for the possibility of doing a 1099, formalizing the paperwork, so I'm ready to go if I choose to move in that path.

Day 46 Log

I woke up this morning and started my normal search for new positions. I got a call from a new recruiter. He was looking for fill a position that they needed filled right away. We discussed the position saying we would discuss pricing after we saw if they had any interest in moving forward after seeing my resume, so I gave him the go ahead to submit me. We did discuss my salary and and he told me that the position was a 1099 position, and I told him the rate he saw on my dice.com profile was for W2 employment, and that I'd need to give some thought to what I wanted for 1099 employment. An hour later I got an email from him saying he submitted me for the position and he had submitted me at a rate of only $2/hr over what my W2 rate was. I did some quick work and determined that $2/hr is only $4000/yr, and I think it is safe to say that the government will want more than $4000 in taxes. I did some searching on the Internet, and I found that most people agree with what a friend had told me, that I should look at charging 15-20% above what want on a W2 basis if your looking at a 1099 status. So I did the math and 20% came out to be about $10 an hour, so the offer of $2/hr falls about $8/hr short..or $16,000/yr. Even if I look at only taking a 15% increase, the offer still falls $11,000 short of my expected yearly salary. I made him a counter offer and am waiting to see if we can work something out, but his offer was only a 4% increase over my W2 rate. I'm willing to take a small pay cut, but 15% seems a bit steep, when ALL of the other positions I'm looking at are coming in at my desired rate on a W2 basis.
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Got a response from the recruiter, we negotiated to $7 over the W2 rate, so a bit up for him and a bit down for me. Now I just need to convince the company this is for, that I'm the right guy for the job. It's nice to have a few companies looking at me, it would be even better to have two companies making me offers...but I'll take it one step at a time.
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Got an email from a friend of mine earlier this week, with a position open in his company. I filled out the online app, and was waiting. He offered to give my resume to the hiring manager, so I sent him my resume. I know networking is the best way to find a new position, so I'm excited to see what happens with that.

Day 45 Log

Not a lot of new postings again today, guess with the weekend looming most companies are holding off on putting up their job postings.

Applied to one location, but didn't see any other new postings that I fit.