Opportunity Hunt Week 3

Time to make an update on my search for new employment. This week starts the third full week of the search, and so far there have been no solid leads that have ended up in an interview. There was one early in the first week that had been interested but they put the position on hold for the time being. It may surface again later, but we'll see.

My official layoff date was February 4, so I promptly filed for unemployment on Wednesday. This is the second claim for unemployment that I have filed in my life. I hate taking money from the government, but the money was put there essentially by my company, so in a way I can rationalize that it was one of the "perks" of my job. As soon as you sign up though (it's all possible online--no waiting in lines, yeah!) they send you about 10 things in the mail. Now apparently they can't send it all out as one package, they have to send everything individually--what a waste! I've now got the Handbook, a pin number (for my bi-weekly claims submission), verification of my income from my employer (and the fact that they laid me off), a calendar showing me which weeks I need to file my claims, an income tax withholding form, along with additional information from the County Job Works Center (which you also have to register with in order to collect your payments.

You never really know how important networking is until you need it. I have probably contacted about 20 people that I know over the years who I thought could help me, and then a couple other people have seen my resume back up on the job sites, and contacted me, and have even introduced me to some other people that they know that could help me. I still have another 10 people that I still need to contact.

There was another programmer who was laid off at the same time that I was, and he has managed to get on for a couple months at one of his former clients. A third programmer, who will probably get laid off at the end of her current contract, was extended from March to June, so that's good news for them and in a way, me too.

This week will be a short one in the job search, as we head to Tennessee Thursday afternoon through next Tuesday, for the holiday weekend to visit with our daughter, her husband and their friends. It should be a nice break, but I have lots to do before then.