I sent my resume to two people I used to work with at the University of Colorado.
The note was short. It took me longer than it should have to send the Word file. I was extremely interested in any administrator jobs that might open, and I wanted their feedback. If they heard about a position, call me.
One of them replied the next day. They would keep me in mind.
I was still the network administrator at SimAuthor. This was not an application to an open CU job, and I did not say I was leaving immediately. I was putting the current resume in front of people who already knew my systems and security work.
The resume had changed since I left CU. At SimAuthor I was the only administrator for a mixed Windows and Linux environment. I handled the office network, Active Directory, firewalls, VPN access, web services, databases, engineering labs, workstations, and security testing. I had also rebuilt the network topology and moved the data center in-house. Praxis was still active beside the job.
The document called me a network engineer and network security officer. That was the lane I wanted: administration, security, infrastructure, and the systems underneath everything else.
There was no interview in this thread. No offer either. Just an updated resume, two trusted contacts, and a request to let me know when something opened.
I would go wider in March. January was the quiet version: start with people who had seen the work and would give me a straight answer.