Dice sent me a Denver technology employment report on April 25.
The report promised three things: the five IT skill sets most requested by employers, an analysis of the first-quarter market, and local growth trends. It also linked directly to Denver job listings and invited me to post my resume.
The original report page is no longer part of the surviving message, so I cannot publish its rankings or market numbers. The email only preserves the description and the links.
I was already using Dice and Craigslist to look for work. In March I had sent several resumes for Linux support, network administration, and consulting roles. One of those discussions involved Accenture. Another employer continued corresponding about a network-administrator position. Recruiter messages and application confirmations kept arriving through the spring.
At the same time, I was working at SimAuthor and running Praxis Technology. SimAuthor had been acquired by Westar Aerospace less than a month before the Dice report arrived. The job search was happening during an active employment period, not after a layoff.
My resume emphasized Windows and Linux administration, Unix, network security, Active Directory, Exchange, virtualization, scripted installations, and consulting. Those were the capabilities I was comparing with the Denver market.
The Dice message is marketing, not an independent labor report. Its job was to keep candidates using the site. It is still useful evidence that I was monitoring the local market and had opted into Denver-specific employment information.
The next application batch would arrive in June. By then I was using Dice's automated application system, sending direct follow-up emails when I did not trust the automation, and applying to several jobs in one sitting.
In April, the report was another item in the job-search inbox. The surrounding application record shows that I was watching Denver listings and keeping the current systems and network resume ready.