Day 11: I have reached double digits

It is Sunday again and there were 11 Information Technology jobs advertised in the paper today. That is over 20% increase from the week before. The recession has ended and the economy has turned around!!!

I would say that the online job search is far superior, but in the last two days I have had two of my LinkedIn connections tell me that the jobs that I had spent 30-60 locating on websites and apply to had already been filled. Is it better to never see the job or to go through the application process and discover that it had already been filled.

I have liked using LinkedIn. It has been the most successful so far. I tried Monster.com and was overwhelmed by the number of jobs advertised and underwhelmed more by the number of jobs that didn't really apply. Trying to narrow your search criteria seems very difficult with Monster.com and the number of jobs that had already been filled, or at least not advertised on the company website, is very high.

This week I am signing up for The Ladders.com. It is the home of the most number of jobs that pay over $100,000 on the web. Not that I am looking for $100,000 a year job. I just want a different job that is closer to home, allows me job growth in breadth and experience. I am tired of following the same cycle and the same projects as the academic year progresses from one term to the other and still being the highest paid manager at the college with nowhere to move until my boss retires. As the famous Dr Suess once said, I have found myself in the waiting place, and nothing good happens in the waiting place.

Some quick observations from my social networking:

I still have only one follower and she is married to me. I am announcing my first follower prize contest. Whoever is my first follower will win either my desktop table soccer game or my coveted copy of Windows 95, new in box, still in plastic.

My friend RM is the center of the universe. There is the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game, but R. is the center of LinkedIn. He has been our link for the CIO of the company that I am where I am looking for a position and the link for my wife to a former co-worker in wedding planning. These are not just connections on LinkedIn (the equivalent of a Facebook friend), but actual people that R. knew and went to school with.

I am not a big fan of the groups on LinkedIn yet. I haven't discovered their real purpose yet.

I do like that I can search for a specific company on LinkedIn and then work back to people who work there, and then work back to people that are connected through my network.

Not much else to say and I have my 3 resume minimum to send out tonight, too. Thanks for following, and remember, a table soccer set is yours if you are the next follower.