Day 76

This will be my final blog post. I was approached earlier this week by a company that I had interviewed with shortly after I was laid off in February. They inquired if I was still available and wanted to have a sit down talk with me. That culminated in an offer being extended to me yesterday, which I accepted.

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Day 73

Found 2 positions on Craigslist and applied for both.

Got a call and email from a recruiter about a position with a local CLEC. Left a message for the recruiter about the position and my qualifications for it. Will probably talk to the recruiter tomorrow.

Got a call from a company that I had interviewed with several months ago. They wanted to talk to me again. Scheduled a time to talk with them tomorrow.

Day 71

Went to the interview this morning with a nearby County Government IT department. Sat down with the department manager and then was joined by three people in the department. Was asked questions by all of them in a round-robin format.

The position is not as "hands on" as I am used to but that isnt anything that I couldnt make the adjustment to. The interview went for a little over an hour and then came to a close.

I seem to have been the first person they talked to, since I was told there were others that they were going to interview and that would take about two weeks to get done. At that time, they will make a decision who to bring in for a second interview.

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Day 70

Got an email from Sarah Anderson at Balancepoint about a position with a local utility. From the information she sent me, the salary range is what I am looking for and I have the qualifications to match the requirements for the position. I sent back the required information. Sarah will get me submitted for the position today. Hope to hear something in a few days.

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Day 69

Went to a job fair this morning sponsored by CareerBuilder. The assortment of vendors was a little better than the Monster sponsored job fair I went to a couple of months ago.

Most of the companies there seemed to be recruiting for entry level positions such as gas station attendant or phone collections person. I recognized one company there as a major customer of Cisco gear. I approached them to find out what open IT positions they had. They handed me a business card and directed me to the company Web site.

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Day 68

Got a call from the Teksystems office in Omaha, Nebraska about a position they are looking to fill. Explained to him that I was not looking to relocate and thanked him for considering me for the position.

Got a call from Trevor Martin of Comsys concerning the position they are representing me in with a local firm. Answered the questions he had that had been raised by the hiring manager. He apologized for not having been able to arrange an interview. Told him that I was more concerned about finding the right position than getting interviews quickly. He hopes to hear something on this position by later next week.

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Had a meet and greet this morning with Jay Winslow from Comsys.  He wanted to meet me and get to know me before pitching to the customer.  I appreciate this approach instead of the recruiter just being a resume forwarder.  He will be submitting my resume to the client today.  Dont think he will hear anything this week with everyone getting prepared for a 3 day holiday.  He expects to have some feedback later next week.

Got a call from Justin at Modus with an update to the position they were representing me on.  He just found out that the hiring manager had been out all week and they didnt have an update on when an interview might happen.  Should hear something on this one next week as well.

Nothing new on the job boards today.

Day 62

Got a call from Justin at Modus following up on the client phone interview I had yesterday. He was a little concerned over how technical the interview had become versus what he had been told that I should expect. I went over with him the kind of questions they were asking.

With the way they were asking about different kinds of SQL experience, I told him that I probably wasn't the type of candidate they were looking for. He said the client had changed what they were looking for a couple of times so he was going to get with the account manager for the position to see what kind of feedback he could get about my interview.

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Day 61

Heard from the local HR person at the financial services organization that approached me yesterday. I got an email saying I was no longer being considered for the job they approached me for.

I sent back an email requesting clarification since they had approached me saying I was well qualified. The local HR person responded back in a very apologetic tone. Apparently there had been lack of communication as to one of the qualifications.

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Day 60

Got a call from another recruiter about the AT&T position in St. Louis, Mo. Advised him that this was outside of the area I was looking for employment in.

Justin from Modis IT contacted me about a position they were pursuing for me. He was checking my availability for a phone screen interview tomorrow before 2pm. Talked with him about where things were with this.

The delay is related to the client just moving into a new building and getting a little buried in things related to the move. He will get back in contact with me later today to confirm the time tomorrow and who I will be talking to.

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Day 59

Experienced something new today.  Had a recruiter call from Canada for a contract position that every recruiter in the civilized world seems to be trying to fill.  This is a position that is three hours away from me and well beyond daily commute range.

Day 58

Received an email from the HR person at US Central in response to my question about whether the position I had interviewed for had been relisted. Seems like the manager wanted to do another check of the available talent pool. I was promised a call this week with an update on the situation and whether I was still in consideration or not.

Received a nice letter from the HR person at Cornerstones of Care where I had interviewed for the MIS Director's position. They informed me that another candidate had been selected. As much as I had hoped to get this position, they at least gave me the courtesy of letting me know where things stood.

Nothing new on the job boards today.

Day 57

Found a position on Dice this morning and applied for it. Don't know how new the position is. With the way that Dice allows jobs to be reposted, you can't really tell how how new or fresh a position is.

Got a call from Mark Nagl at Volt Technical Services. He pitched the US Central position to me. I advised him I had already interviewed for the position. He said the position had just posted this morning. Going from my documentation, I laid out the sequence of what had happened so far. I encouraged him to get back with US Central for clarification. He said he would see what he could find out and let me know.

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Day 56

Had initial phone screen interview with Jon Sachram at Versent, which had been arranged by Grant Gordon at Intronix Solutions Group.

Jon stated up front he wasn't very technical. He described what the position was, and asked me if I could work in that situation. However, he did ask some technical questions.

Some of them were interesting, such as: Name the history and sequence of the different versions of Windows. He asked what port numbers were used by different protocols and services. The interview lasted a little over 20 minutes. He said he was going to call Grant Gordon and I should hear something after that.

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Day 55

Left a message for Lance at Teksystems. He had called me last week about the pharmaceutical company that had expressed interest in me.
Hadn't heard back from him as to scheduling an interview. Would like to see if this one is still active or not.

Emailed Kevin at Technisource about the position at DST. They had inquired about my availability several weeks ago, but nothing further. Kevin responded that he had been continuing to keep in contact with DST, but hadn't received any feedback or reply to the inquiries. From the local job boards and the company's own Website, they are hiring for several positions. Curious as to the lack of response.

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Day 54

Got a call from Kelly Webb at MidWest Consulting. She had a question concerning the salary I was looking for. I am being submitted to the customer today. She said based on previous experience with the client, that I probably wouldn't hear anything for a several days.

Found five positions on CareerBuilder and applied for them. Updated the spreadsheet with the applied jobs and recruiter contact.

Haven't heard back from Grant Gordon with Intronics Solutions Group so far today. Will contact him in the morning to see where things stand.

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Day 53

Finally got the email from Grace DeFranco. Apparently she had typed in the wrong email address. Sent her my resume. Waiting to hear back from her.

Had my interview with Kelly Webb at MidWest Consulting. Two of the four positions involved extensive traveling (30% +) and one involved international travel. Dont want to be away from home that much.

One of the remaining two positions really didn't cover my skillset. The other position is a possible. With the price of gas, the pay range will have to be substantial or the daily commute to the job will eat up more than it should of the take-home pay.

Kelly said she would send an email that I would need to respond to so I could be submitted to that customer.

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Day 49

Got contacted by Justin at Modis about a contract position at AT&T.

Before the process could get started they need my Social Security number for "tracking" purposes.  Asked him to get this clarified as to why.

Flew to Nevada today to attend Interop.  This will help me get up to speed on some of the newer technologies that I haven't had direct exposure to, and do some possible job hunting.  Will follow up with the recruiters I am working with as well as keep up with new opportunities while I am at the conference.

Day 50

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Day 47

Got a Dear John email from Honeywell Aviation saying that I wasn't qualified for a network position they had advertised. Never got to the phone screen call portion of the process.

Found a security position from a recruiter by the name of Matrix that I applied for. That position actually showed up yesterday but the Web site was having problems uploading my resume.

It bombed on the upload regardless of the document type that I tried to use which led me to believe that the Web site was having a problem.

Tried again today and was able to upload the resume. The location of the job on Dice said it was in Kansas City but on Matrix's Web site, I was a little unclear that the position was, in fact, in Kansas City.

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Day 45

Got an email from Lance at Teksystems. He let me know that the position at Embarq that he had put me in consideration for has been withdrawn.

We exchanged several emails. Looks like the cart may have been put before the horse. Given the current market conditions, they may have decided to hold off until things get a little better.

Heard from Jessica at Kforce Professional. She called to give me a heads up on the position she had put me in consideration for. She told me that they are the only agency working with this customer on the position. They have been slow to move on things in the past, so I shouldn't take it as a bad sign because I haven't heard anything as yet.

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Day 44

Had my interview with Deborah Hammack from Cornerstones. Had about an hour long "preliminary" interview with her and a representative from the technical committee. This is a supervisory position where I will have six direct reports. There are several major projects that are tentatively on the calendar for the next year.

After the first part of the interview, I got a quick tour of the departmental area, as well as meeting all but one of the folks who would be reporting to me. I felt a little strange with meeting the folks in the department this early in the process. I was escorted by the individual who would be my assistant. Would have thought I would have been isolated from the individuals in the department at this point.

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Day 43

Got a call from Jessica Fardella at Kforce Professional about a prospective position that she has.  She will email the specifics to me and asked that I call her back once I looked at it.  The email arrived in a few minutes.  The situation is very much a jack of all trades.
Called Jessica back and left a message for her to call me.

Got  a call from Michael Allen at Comsys.  He asked if I was still available.  He talked to me about a position he was trying to fill.

Ended up being the position at BCD Travel that another recruiter had already submitted me for.  He will continue to look.  He indicated that he is working with about approximately 40 other customers in the area.

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Day 42

Got a call from Lance Boecker of TekSystems about a position with a local CLEC. This one is pure contract with no opportunity for permanent employment. It is a six-month position with a chance for renewal. Since nothing else is promising in terms of employement at this point, I told him to go ahead and put me in consideration.

Got a call from Justin Stancil with Modis. He wanted to let me know that I am in consideration with a client of theirs. The client is still accepting resumes. No interviews have been schedule for anyone at this point. He will let me know when he has any further info on this position.

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 Day 41

Got a couple of emails from President of the company I had worked for in Kentucky.  We are discussing associating my Microsoft certification with them, which would also mean that I need to take an additional exam for them to be able to use my certification as well as my being able to support/implement some of the MS products they are looking to support.

We are also talking about pursuing some Cisco opportunities.  Except for the implementation part, I should be able to most of what is needed remotely.  Need to go over what is in the emails several times and then decide how to respond to the questions I received.

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Day 40

Got an email from Justin Stancil with Modis that they had started checking my references in preparation for talking to the client. Had one of the references call me to let me know someone was checking up on me.

Should hear something as soon as tomorrow about the US Central position I interviewed for several weeks ago.

Nothing new on any of the job boards.

I have been exchanging emails with the folks at Nerds on Site. Apparently an email from them got lost, asking me to submit a business plan on starting up a Nerds on Site operation in Kansas City.

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Day 39

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Day 38

Went to an interview with the insurance service company arranged for by Jeff Bluitt from Paige Tech LLC. He met me at the client, but when the client came to get me for the interview, they left him in the lobby.

The interview didn't go much better than the phone interview did. Don't know why they brought me in. I don't get the impression they know what they are looking for. Internal problems within the company were alluded to that concerned me, indicating that money would appear to be a little tight for an operation that needed to do significant modernization by their own admission.

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Day 37

Had a phone interview with the client that Jeff Bluitt from Paige Tech LLC had connected me with. It ended up the interview was with more than the hiring manager. On the phone in addition to the hiring manager were two other folks from the department.

We went over what I had done at the previous two positions. The hiring manager talked about some projects they had on the schedule at this point and asked what kind of experience I had in those areas.

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Day 36

Had a 9:30 a.m. appointment with Andy Klosak at All Dimensions Search Group. He told me a little more about the company I was being considered for. They are located near the Kansas City Airport currently, but will be moving to larger facilities in the coming months and are looking for someone who can help get things up and running before and after the move. We didn't get that technical, I think this was more to see me face to face before going to the customer. Was told I should hear something by the middle of next week if I am selected for an interview.

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Day 34

Had a meeting with Jeff Bluitt from Paige Tech LLC.  He wanted to have a
face to face before the account manager left for the lunch meeting with
the customer I am going to be pitched to. 

The main purpose of the
meeting was to make sure that I was more than just a voice on the phone.

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