The following is a lengthy post on my personal job hunt, my perspective on the job market, and some other general thoughts.

It’s now been three months since I began my job hunt.  I’m a better job hunter than when I began without a doubt.  I’m faster, more focused, can identify jobs by position title alone, and have a better idea of exactly what I want to be doing.  The bad news is that as horrendous as the job market was when I began, it’s much, much worse now.

Let’s recap:

MONTH 1

This was mostly a reorganizational stage.  I got used to being stationary again after 6 months of life on the road, revamped my resume, spent the holidays with family, and got myself ready to apply for jobs.  I certainly would have applied for more jobs during this period, except that pretty much no one posts new openings during the holidays.

MONTH 2

This stage began with the move to Portland, where I’ve since been getting my foot in the door and at the same time refraining from becoming settled, since a job opportunity could take me elsewhere in a heartbeat.  This month was mostly getting myself out there.  Close to 50 targeted resumes/cover letters in the month resulted in… pretty much absolutely nothing.  I heard back a few nos, and were I to count all the applications I simply recieved no response to, I’d still have over 40 applications just floating around out there somewhere.

MONTH 3

Month three has been all about being a smarter, faster, job hunter.  I began the month with the realization that I needed to get myself doing something besides simply applying for jobs all the time, so I went and got one of my bikes.  Being back to training and racing has made a big difference in my job hunt without directly affecting it (yet).  Next came the awareness of a need t0 create a more noticeable presence, part of which resulted in my new website and moving my blog.  By this time I had pretty much perfected the art of the job application, and I can now churn out a customized resume and cover letter in under an hour.  I’ve also gotten much faster at scouring job boards and can achieve in an hour the search that would have originally taken 3-4 hours – unfortunately part of that is that the number of jobs to apply for is much smaller than in January. I’ve become much more focused, and started to see some results.  With probably only 15-20 applications sent out last month, I interviewed with 4 companies in person and another three by phone.

Last week, I had two strong possibilities for jobs after in-person interviews, but unfortunately as of this morning I’m back to square one.

Granted, square one is quite an improvement on where I was at in January.  I can immediately spot jobs I’m a fit for, I have connections with a number of recruiters, and I’m slowly but surely building a network in the area that knows I’m searching for a job.

More importantly, I’ve changed my job-hunting philosophy.  In a good economy, simply sending out resumes can get you somewhere.  In this economy, it’s almost a waste of time.  I’m done with the life-on-hold while trying to find a job mentality.  Instead, I’m focused on building more of a community, gettling a little more settled, and enjoying my life while hopefully networking my butt off.  If I’m going to find a job, my best bet is likely through non-traditional means.

Another important strategy I’d advise for all job hunters that I’ve been rolling with since I began is putting a mental block on the bad news.  I’m watching the news and seeing the massive numbers of layoffs, the hiring freezes, the unemployment numbers, and so on, but I also realize that those statistics have no specific impact on my personal job hunt.  Just accept the fact that things are getting worse and go with it.  I’d venture as far as to say we’re leaving recession territory and entering a depression.  If it takes the national economic boards as long to declare depression as it did to declare recession, look for the official announcement about a year from now.  Enjoy the fact that you can find some great interview outfits that normally would cost several hundred dollars for $30-40 (I’ve done several times now).  Granted, I am more fortunate than many job hunters – I don’t need money immediately, I just need a good job.

GO ON…

If I haven’t completely lost your interest in the previous large blocks of text, here are some other thoughts:

I think one of my greatest strengths that unfortunately may hurt my chances with many jobs is that I’m a great generalist.  I’ve always been multitalented without specializing in any one thing to a great extent.  When I think about it, there’s nothing I’m particularly bad at, and pretty much anything I put my mind to I become good at fairly quickly.  From a professional perspective, I’ve managed, been managed, been part of a team, worked retail, worked customer service, planned and managed events, done some design, worked night security(?), written documents, and about half a million other things – and I’ve been good at ALL of them.  My brain adapts and learn quickly.  A month ago I had barely heard of WordPress, and now I’m building a website with it.  During this period of unemployment, I’ve learned about Scrum/Agile, gait analysis, personal branding, tree pruning, and probably 20 other useful skills to add to my arsenal.  What it comes down to is figuring out what I want to be doing (which I believe I have) and finding someone who is willing to take a risk on me in return for what I pretty much guarantee will be a positive return.

Next up – my entrepreneurial side.  I keep thinking about my own business ventures that have potential, but have yet to make a move on any of them.  I think most of it is that while I have some decent ideas, there hasn’t been one that’s struck me to the point where I’m sure I need to do it.  I think I’m waiting for that to happen.  That said, I would love to have the opportunity to take the risk of jumping overboard into the unknown of the world of startups to see what I could make happen, so if you think you’ve got the next big thing going and want me to be a part of it, let me know!

Finally, some thoughts on recruiting.  I think many college students and young professionals don’t quite know what to make of recruiters or are scared of the words that are usually grouped with recruiters – “executive” “headhunting” and so on.  I suppose I was in the same boat during college.  I didn’t quite know what to make of recruiters except that they seemed a little intimidating.  Little did I know they were actually trying to help me.  I think that the worst thing recruiters do to influence their perception by college students is attending crappy college job fairs.  When “recruiters” makes you think of the people who try to trick you into applying for their summer painting franchise scams (which unfortunately it does), everybody suffers.  So to all you college students out there – recruiters aren’t bad people!

In fact, I think it’d be a lot of fun to be a recruiter.  I keep thinking up ways I could potentially use the down economy to my advantage, and I feel like an unfilled niche is recruiters that work with companies to seek out people for more entry-level jobs.  Placement happens frequently at upper-levels in companies, but finding the right entry-level employees is important too.  A 40 year old middle manager can’t spot a great young professional as well as I can – they’re my peer group.  The tools of business are changing very rapidly, and who better to separate out the great young employees from the washed-up kids who think they’re entitled to everything in life (or so the stereotype for the internet generation goes – still not sure where that came from)?

In other news, here’s an article about a janitor position that got 700 applications.  NO! NO! NO!  You’re doing it all wrong!  If you already have 700 application you don’t keep the position open to let more people apply!  600 of those people who have already applied are qualified and at least a hundred of them would be a good fit for a job!  Why waste everyone’s time?  Gah!

Sorry, that was a lot of text.  Here, have a picture: