You know the job search is getting old when...

... corporate job boards (hello, Hewlett-Packard) are telling you your profile password has expired*, and you need a new one.

* - How funny. I have typed the "experienced" so much lately, it naturally flowed out as I typed the first few letters of "expired". Maybe that is a suggestion that I am using this word too much.

Remember those five strong opportunities I had a month ago? Let's review them.

- (Large pharmacy / retailer) interviewed me three times for an SOA Architect position. After the third visit, I got the sense this was not something I wanted to do, since it seemed all the interesting work had been done.

- (Small vendor of contact center / CRM software) interviewed me three times for a Sales Engineer position. They decided they liked me, but their sales pipeline disintegrated about that same time, and could not afford me.

- (Small vendor of SOA Governance and Virtualization software) interviewed me three times, then flew me to Dallas to meet with the executive team. They all "loved" (their word, not mine) me. But they concluded that my pre-sales experience with IBM was not relevant to their sales model, since they are so small and emerging, and can't rely on established sales channels. This one hurt, as I was surprised by it, and was sort of counting on this opportunity coming through. What's telling, though, is that they had three or four candidates prioritized behind me, and now that they told me "No", they have not restarted talks with them, either. Methinks they weren't in quite the hurry I thought they were.

- (A global hotel and hospitality chain) has interviewed me twice (well, six times, since once was a rapid-fire series of interviews) for an IT Strategy position. All along, dating back to January 26 when I first applied for this position, I regarded this as the most interesting job I could realistically compete for. Good thing, because it's the only opportunity that is still alive. I am told the hiring manager and team like me a lot, and have probably concluded I would be great in the role. Problem is, they said they feel the same way about "the other finalist". Decision due tomorrow (April 3). Here's hoping it comes through.

In the meantime, I have been laying the groundwork for backup opportunities, which I hope to not need. I must be over 200 applications by now.

- Aw2pp, who thanks you for considering his candidacy for your software presales engineer role...