Monday, March 23, 2009

Still jobless

I've now had three companies tell me, "We like you, we think you'd be great in the role, but..."

In the first instance, a small company had created a Sales Engineer position specifically for me. BUT sales pipeline had fallen apart, and they company was too small to withstand the risk of decreased revenue projections. "We'll get you an offer when things improve. Could be six weeks, could be six months."

In the second, my largest and most annoying competitor would have been happy, even enthusiastic about taking me on, and they even had open headcount. BUT they are in a hiring freeze, and may not have the open position released until June, at the earliest.

In the third, a small but highly intriguing company flew me to Dallas a few weeks ago to meet with all of their CxO type people. It went great. They all loved me, and I was the preferred (and insofar as I know, only remaining) candidate for a pre-sales opening in the Midwest, which is a new territory for them. BUT they are concerned that, coming from IBM, I simply hadn't had enough field sales experience, opportunities where my pre-sales expertise made the difference in a win. In response, I provided a document showing them the 22 opportunities I helped win in the last three years. I think there is an outside shot they'll say, "Oh, yeah, wow, that works for us, forget what we said earlier, and welcome aboard..." Realistically, the more likely outcome is that this is an opportunity missed.

So the strongest, and pretty much only remaining option, is a position with one of my customers, a large hotel and hospitality chain. Had a great second (final?) interview with them last Friday. I am one of two remaining finalists, and would happily accept an offer. Of course, that means this REALLY needs to come through, because if not, then what? To answer that question, I have re-stoked applications I let go fallow, and I have begun a fresh wave of new applications I hope to not need. But you never know.

- Aw2pp, who has built an impressive Mariokart wii license in the last few weeks. Boy howdy.

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