The first job alert of 2008 arrived before the first workweek really started.
Dice was advertising project-management certificates. Monster followed with a newsletter called "Hiring Outlook 2008." The automated searches kept sending systems, network, support, and management roles because my resume was still online.
The date in one promotional email was wrong. It welcomed 2008 while printing January 3, 2007. Even the new-year message had not been fully updated.
I was not starting the year unemployed. I was running technology at Beatport, managing a large hosted environment, and watching the work expand beyond the original store.
I still had not shut the job-search machinery off.
That sounds more strategic than it was. Old accounts and saved searches keep running until somebody stops them. Recruiters copy resumes into other systems. A profile posted for one opportunity can keep generating messages long after the opportunity is gone.
I also liked knowing what the market was asking for. The titles changed. The keyword list did not: Linux, Windows, networks, storage, security, testing, data centers. Those were the things I was already doing every day.
Most of the emails were junk. A few were worth opening. The cost of leaving the resume online was a busy inbox. The benefit was that the next conversation could arrive without warning.
I did not need to believe every subject line to keep watching. The real opportunities were mixed into the same stream as degree ads, generic career advice, and jobs that did not match.
So 2008 began with Beatport work on one side and another stack of job alerts on the other.