An update on my employment

As you can tell by looking at the dates on my recent posts, I haven’t been making too many updates lately.  Alas, how is the rabid Ian Monroe fan supposed to know what I’m up to?

Well, I’ll tell you.  I began my job hunt back in November with this post offering a bounty for tips that would lead to my next full-time job. After five months of job hunting, and lots and lots of tips from the bounty offer, I’m finally gainfully employed once again.

I started working for Leslie Hindman Auctioneers on March 1, 2010.  I’m now their IT specialist and web developer.  Leslie Hindman Auctioneers is the largest auction house in the midwest, and they (we) specialize in fine art, furniture, books and manuscripts, Asian art, vintage couture, and other, rather high-brow subjects.

I got the job through answering a craigslist ad, so nobody won the bounty.

However, I did learn some interesting things in my job hunt.

The bounty idea was extremely useful, as it netted me some freelance jobs that kept me in my home for the duration of my job search.  However, tips on full-time gigs were fewer and farther between.  I think this may have been a function of the economy in general; after all, a 10% unemployment rate means full time jobs were in high demand.

In terms of responses, it broke down something like this:

  • 1 response/interview request for every 60-80 inquiries on Careerbuilder.com
  • 1 response/interview request for every 25-35 inquiries on Mediabistro.com
  • 1 response/interview request for every 3 inquiries on Craigslist

Ultimately, Craigslist proved to be the most effective channel for soliciting work.  Didn’t expect that result, but there you go.