The first job alert of 2008 arrived before the first workweek really started.
Dice was advertising project-management certificates. Monster sent a newsletter called "Hiring Outlook 2008." Automated searches were still sending systems, network, support, and management roles because copies of my resume remained online.
The date in one promotional email was wrong. It welcomed 2008 while printing January 3, 2007. The new-year message had not been fully updated.
I was not starting the year unemployed. I was Director of Information Technology at Beatport, responsible for the systems behind a large hosted music store. Linux, Windows, networks, storage, security, testing, and data centers were already part of the work.
The alerts did not mean I was looking for another job. I had not applied or replied. The job-board accounts and saved searches were simply still active.
That machinery could keep running on its own. A resume posted for an earlier search stayed in a database. A saved search kept matching its list of words. Recruiters and promotional systems could continue sending messages after the reason for posting the resume had changed.
The Dice message was selling training, not offering a position. The Monster message was a general hiring newsletter, not a conversation with an employer. Other alerts contained job titles and keyword matches. They all arrived through the same channel.
I had a director job at Beatport, and old career systems were still sending mail. One email even carried the wrong year.
That was the hiring outlook in my inbox at the start of 2008.