Landed, thanks to Dan's great advice!

I have just completed all the paperwork involved in officially accepting a position with Fujifilm Medical Systems USA!

Dan spoke at a Network for Work session back in the spring here in Nashua. He mentioned a few little tips, like updating your resume postings every month on the big job boards. I'm so glad I did, as the recruiter who helped me land this job found me on an updated posting I placed on Monster shortly after Dan's talk!

I will be moving into a challenging Product Management position, helping an existing product line evolve, integrate functionality from an acquisition of FMSU's and innovate to re-energize the product offerings and gain more market share. The opportunity is just ideal, and I am very excited about the possibilities.

This was the most interesting of all my periods of unemployment. I finally met and interacted with others in my position, and while being unemployed is not the best situation, networking to see what works, what doesn't, what the hiring trends are, and who else is out there made a big difference for me.

My recommendations are to use the job boards for what they are meant to be, an indicator of possibilities, check all the industry specific resources you can locate to exploit news items, trade shows and conferences and look for local networking groups. Keep your LinkedIn info current, and be professional in offering recommendations to former colleagues. Most importantly, find someone else to help along the way. With less time to focus on yourself, some of the anxiety associated with this process can be reduced.

I have created a couple of documents of online resources and potential employer sites in the Massachusetts and New Hampshire area. If you are interested in using the links in them, drop me a line!