A job?

The other day I logged on to Pennsylvania Career Link and noticed that my job searches are coming up 0. I decided to expand my search by abandoning my search criteria and dingo a search for all jobs above a certain pay level in my home county of Luzerne. I found quite a few, but none of them seemed to fit as well as the jobs I've already applied for. I filed this information away for later reference and did a search of Civil Service jobs.

Again, nothing very appropriate. The closest-fit job, for a "Management Analyst", looked worth a shot; I'll have to find out when I could take the relevant civil service test, or if that test is even offered in the Scranton office. The problem there is that every position for a Management Analyst is currently filled throughout the state, so the results of the test would only serve to get me on a waiting list in case someone dies, retires, quits, or gets fired. There are 129 of these positions statewide, but only one position within commuting range, in Lackawanna County.

(FYI: There is no such thing as "The Civil Service Test". There is a different test for every job. You need to take a different test for each job you're interested in.)

I logged on to Pennsylvania Career Link this morning and saw that my resume has still been viewed 0 times. That's 0 times total since I posted it back in April. Fine. I decided to expand my search and do a check for any jobs above a certain pay rate in Lackawanna County, which is where I used to work. Immediately one job stuck out. It's so well-tailored to my experience that I briefly thought my old employer might have decided they had made a mistake and were now trying to re-fill my position - but, actually, the job is really like the position I held before the position I had for the last seven years. And, wonder of wonders, the company wants applications in person! That's pretty unusual - most of the companies I've seen lately want you to apply through their website, and in the end give you a message that says "Thanks for applying. Please wait for a response. Don't call us, we'll call you."

I've done a little research into this company. I know what they do, I know where they are. I know that they must have had someone filling this position before. I was planning on calling today to get details on when I could drop off my application and maybe stop by for a little tour and chat, but then I realized that I need to do a little more homework - dust off some books, relearn some terms, get up to speed on new developments in this field. I would hate like hell for them to tell me to come in first thing in the morning and for me to go up there feeling unprepared. The job was posted last Thursday, so I doubt that another 18 hours will make much difference. I'll call tomorrow, and dig up my old books today. We'll see how this goes.