As a former journalist and current stay-at-home mom of 4, job hunting is a start-and-stop process. The motivation level waxes and wanes with the seasonal changes in schools, camps, sports, etc. The desire to get back to work, sooner rather than later, never changes.
What's changed since I last looked for a job? The biggest difference is the use of on-line job listings and application processes. If you have a somewhat unique background, the on-line application forms are a disadvantage.
Colleges accepting what used to be known as the common application received more applicants. That doesn't mean the quality of the applicants was any higher; it just means that there were more applications for the admissions office to go through (and that the college's published acceptance rates in the end seem more selective.) I think it's the same with these on-line applications: HR receives boatloads of applications-- doesn't mean the applicants are more qualified; there are just more of them. And if what makes you the right person for the job can't be summed up in the key buzz words the computer looks for, your resume never reaches the real decision-maker's eyes.
Frustrating.
Right now I'm a square peg in a town of round holes...
