Job seeking by numbers

In August I wrote that I was looking for work. I shared my blog post on a variety of social media, without doing any reminders or reposts. It was surprisingly popular, and the blog post got nearly 7000 views. Thank you to everyone who shared it or shared job ideas with me.

It wasn't an easy post to write, possibly because I had to figure out how to explain what I can do, and what I'd like to do, as I went along. I was very pleased to find that people found the end result was both clear and interesting.

In response, 30 people got in touch with me with different opportunities. Thirteen of them were people I knew reasonably well; 3 I didn't know at all; 2 were recruiters. I got 4 introductions to people who might be hiring for roles that might be suitable for me. I've had a lot of fascinating conversations and learned about businesses and organisations I hadn't met before. (I did read job listings in newsletters, on websites, and on Linkedin and so on, but there was nothing which would have been a fit for me, and which inspired me enough to make the effort of applying.)

Five of the opportunities that came up I might reasonably have found myself, by looking at job boards or the hiring pages of companies I was interested in. (This means 25 were roles I would not have discovered if I hadn't publicised my job search!) Six of the opportunities could be converted to some sort of part time consultancy, or advisory or board roles. Six of the possible roles were not a fit for what I was looking for (for instance, wanting time on site, or in a sector I'm not interested in). One was a role I felt I wasn't appropriately skilled for.  Five are works in progress - I've been waiting for roles to be formally advertised, or for answers to questions, or for job descriptions to be developed to the point that I could evaluate them. Yet another is dependent on project funding being secured.

And one turned out to be the job I have accepted. It's one of the ones I would not have found myself - an unexpected opportunity, in a new sector for me. And a new kind of organisation for me too.

Roll on Monday, which will be my first day...