One Year Blogoversary

I started this blog one year ago, after a snowstorm that shut down our operations. I think the blog is achieving its purpose of inspiring me to get out and make myself known to the people whose job it is to point at my resume and say, "let's bring this one in for an interview." I still work for the same company as I did then, but I've progressed in the organization. I hope to be in quite a different place after another year.

I had a high school teacher who used to go on an on about what a year was worth. He liked to explain the opportunity cost of failing one year of high school. He would tell the class that it would cost you one year of the highest salary you would make in your lifetime. I don't think anyone paid a lot of attention. Perhaps we had already grasped the error of his assumption that a career begins at the lowest salary level and results in a steady progression to fatter and fatter paycheques. Or we'd just been deadened by overexposure to parallel equations.

Even though no one has a career like that any more, his point is still valid. Don't delay getting onto any particular gravy train. That has me thinking about my mammals. As you may have noticed, I have reduced my sidebar mammals to a top ten, plus the Woodchuck. Not that there are so many fabulous companies out there that I can't choose only ten, but that I have to admit that companies that just last year I would have killed to work for are now not the best choice.

Back when I was a new commercial pilot and made a list of target companies where I'd like to work, Ichneumon was the very first on the list. But the company has a reputation for deliberately arranging work schedules so as to make it very difficult for employees to get to interviews with other companies. I haven't bumped them yet, but it's tarnished the appeal. Not just with regards to this particular company, but in general, I have to decide how high I am aiming, to put myself in the right place at the right time. It's very difficult to suddenly become this picky, but I know it's what I have to do.

Armadillo has questionable financial stability, Bilby is still of interest, but they are demanding minima I don't have and when I reach those I will be eligible for much better things. Chipmunk is pretty remote, and investigation reveals high pilot turnnover. Civet folded last year. (I heard they tried to hide their airplanes before creditors seized them, but that's an unsubstantiated rumour.) Dog is a good proving ground, but may be the wrong corporate culture for me. Ermine and Ferret I'll keep in touch with, but the locations don't warrant top ten positions. Groundhog is small, but hmmm I should call my Groundhog contact, even if his company doesn't make my top ten. Hyena and Jackal have poor maintenance and reputations. Mongoose and Nutria are no longer the right step for me to take. I'd still like to work at Lemming or Quoll and I'd be quite happy doing so. Raccoon is an opportunity lost, but probably still the right decision. Taxidea and Xenarthra are still possibilities, and in fact are on my list to call next week, but aren't bug-at-least-every-month candidates.

I'm going to be making some sort of contact with the top ten at least every month (I have an appointment to see someone from Echidna on Tuesday). It should probably be more often if I include talking to insiders as well as contact with the hiring decision-makers.