Ping, Ping

Things were pretty quiet at the beginning of this week on the job front, and Jackie and I talked about contacting some of my recruiter acquaintances, just to let them know I am still here and interested.  It probably helps to remind people every so often, just so your name is on their minds.  I told Jackie that I would ping a few people.  Jackie asked what that means, but if you have worked in the corporate world, at least around here, you have heard that expression more than you cared to.  It's one of those things that people say in companies that sounds silly in the real world, but when you get to work and turn on corporate-speak, it's just part of the language.  It's what you do when you email someone and it has been a few days and they have not responded and you think they forgot about you.  I guess it is a reference to using sonar.

So Tuesday I started by pinging a couple of people, one who had been working on a job for me, and the another who posted a job on LinkedIn.  Both got back to me right away  The job we were working on was still on hold; the one posted on LinkedIn was filled already.

I have written before that it seems that in this business, when the need for contractors spikes, all of the recruiting firms get busy at the same time, and they go down their lists of contacts, and at some point they reach my name, so I tend to hear nothing from anyone and then everything from everyone.  So this happened this week, after my two pings, starting Tuesday.

• A recruiter called me with three different possible positions, two contract and one permanent.
• A different recruiter sent me a contract possibility, then sent another one the next day.
• A third recruiter called me with another contract possibility.
• A fourth sent me a possible permanent Assistant Controller position in Tacoma.
• A fifth sent a note (obviously widely distributed) looking for someone with particular Excel skills.  I called her and said I could do what she needed.  She said she would send my resume to the client.

All of this is after two months of no work and very few inquiries.

It may, of course, all amount to nothing, or I may get five more contacts next week.  I turned down four of the contract possibilities already, which leaves two permanent and two contract still possible.  I have not heard back on the Assistant Controller position, total silence, so that one may be off the table as well.  However, it's all very encouraging.  Apparently the job market is heating up right now.