Job search

In case you’re wondering why I’ve gone silent, it’s because last week I was laid off from my job. A large portion of [my former] company’s business is with the federal government and government contractors, and revenue was off significantly this quarter (Jan-Mar). There is no projected end to “the sequester”, and so they are adjusting their workforce accordingly.

I’ve shifted my efforts to a job search. It doesn’t feel like it, but it’s been a productive couple of weeks.

The most promising thing for me is that I had an opportunity over the last couple of years to work with a “marketing automation” (SaaS) program called Eloqua. Marketing automation is a real growth area in an otherwise lethargic economy. Eloqua is the largest of a dozen or more similar products and companies. Not long after Facebook had its not-so-successful IPO, Eloqua was having a very successful IPO – and within a year, they were acquired by Oracle, to boot.

So I’ve started a new blog – what else? – http://learningeloqua.wordpress.com/. I’ve been chatting with my former Eloqua Success manager, who sent me links to a couple of open positions at Eloqua/Oracle. There’s an Eloqua-like company here in Pittsburgh as well, and I think I’m going to talk with someone from there later this week. I’ve got an internal recommendation for an Eloqua position at a very large company that’s not located here in Pittsburgh. I’d rather not relocate, if I don’t have to. I’ve got six kids, and that would mean three of them would be here, and three would be somewhere else. Plus my mom is in her mid 70’s and a widow. She is in good health, and I would perceive any move to be temporary (if I could swing it), but the longer you are somewhere, the longer you’re likely to stay there. I would hate to leave her at this time.

There are a couple of other possibilities. I’ve got the presidents of two local ad agencies “looking” for me, and one wants to get together later this week. I also have an opportunity with a small start-up, which seems remote, but it’s also a possibility. Plus, I’ve put in a couple dozen applications for open positions, I’ve directly contacted about 50 local software companies.

My wife is upset because of the health care situation. As a friend said to me over the weekend, “I know how it is to have a, shall we say, assured wife.”

These last three years have been very difficult. I was also unemployed in 2009 (that was thanks to the “financial crisis”. I took a reduced rate of pay in 2010 in order to have a job where I could move up, but then my wife got sick, I started taking time off, etc. The company had excellent insurance, but that’s going away at the end of April.

Please pray, and if you are so inclined to look, my current résumé is located at http://johnbugay.wordpress.com/.