journal features

the Vancouver job market is dead

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Vancouver, 2002.01.24

Whew, this job market is dead. I've got some 8 or so leads at the moment, but two of those are with BC Hydro. The premiere just announced savage cutbacks in gov't spending, including a total of nearly 12,000 jobs. Somehow, I'm not holding my breath on those. So far, I've amassed some 28 dead leads. I've read mixed reviews on the whole 'cold call' thing, but I've been doing it nonetheless. Another 20 resume submissions to places I could reasonably expect to have some interest. I've also been doing some research on the 'net, looking into places that made the news or local IT sites (like BC Technology) or other industry sources. While none of these have resulted in resume submissions, there's another 58 companies I've explored. Then there are the agencies; I've submitted my resume to some 34 agencies, and met with a number of those. Nothing to do but keep trying!

rand()m quote

If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it. A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.

—Roald Dahl