Day 18 was dominated by it being my last day in my current job and the day my gardening leave honeymoon period came to an end. All of the company property needed to be returned; laptop and power lead, PDA, fuel card, company credit card and security pass. Mixed feelings as you can imagine. Sad to be leaving a place I enjoyed, a job that was one of the best I’d had as well as some fabulously talent people. But then on the up side as one door closes another half dozen are waiting to be opened. New opportunities mean the new potential for excitement, fulfillment and growth.

Today I planned to drop my wife off at her temp job, then take advantage of free WiFi at Starbucks with a large black Americano whilst writing the Day 17 blog post. The coffee was free as well – my third in as many weeks at a Starbucks. Not quite sure what I am doing for these lavish rewards but I’ll take it. Thank you Starbucks very much.

Before I got on with my writing I had a phone call to make. You will recall in Day 14 I was offered a contract position. I had the most amazingly encouraging conversation with the EMEA Recruitment Manager. I was declining his offer. I was doing so purely on the grounds that it was not an enhancement of my career and it did not justify the reasons for me leaving my former job, yet we chatted like mates, sharing ideas casually for some time. He even told me that he had recommended me to another company who are looking to hire right now. I was left speechless by some of the kind and generous comments he made and must have had a smile a mile wide after that call.

With buoyant spirits I started writing and the phone started ringing. One call after another, all of them good. One in particular was from Keith Robinson. Keith has been involved in the recruitment business for many many years and is not only very experienced but is also very generous and well connected. His years in the business have not diminished his passion for recruiting. Keith produces a weekly newsletter/blog, a commentary of sorts on the recruiting market. He actually asked if he could mention the #myjobhunt blog in his newsletter. He asked! I had been interviewed in the past by Keith for The Buzz newsletter, but this was different. It meant that potentially this blog and my quest for work will be brought to the attention of tens of thousands of people. Weird. After 90 minutes in Starbucks I had only really written half a page, a couple of paragraphs. Time to go and say goodbye to the place I had worked for 4 years. I deliberately have not mentioned any names or been clear about where I work. I know it won’t take much to find out but all the same, it makes me feel more comfortable at this stage. A loyalty thing I suppose.

I was home by 1.30pm and then feeling a bit melancholy for the rest of the day I didn’t really do too much. I was overwhelmed by the support and well wishes I received from friends in a couple of online communities. These are friends, a couple of whom I have not even met yet!!!!

Late in the day I had to go the “office” to get a cell phone signal, pick up messages and return calls. Two good calls resulted in progression of opportunities previously started.

I was on Twitter for most of today. On two occasions I had direct @garyfranklin approaches from over eager and poorly prepared agencies that having seen one of my tweets were aware that I am looking for a job, so offered to help. Generous of them I know but they didn’t have a clue. They hadn’t read my blog, they hadn’t researched who I am, what I am doing or looking for. One of them – the really stupid one, hadn’t even read my Twitter profile. Do we have to spell it out? Well it looks like it doesn’t it? I may be looking for a job but I am not going to trust my career to you if you do not know how to use your head, let alone know how to engage with people. You shame others who are good at their jobs………………but that is a very different blog and a fresh rant and I promise to deliver on this once my own quest has finished.

Music of Day 17 was Highway Star by Deep Purple ….the Made in Japan version!

What did I learn today? That the people who know how to behave towards others in the real world will be better prepared and able to engage with others in Social Media space. They need to be prized and embraced. Thanks to you all – I can’t say it enough. The support, encouragement and personal help you have given and offered is mind blowing and beyond all of my expectations.

Just in case you are wondering what my background is more can be found at

http://uk.linkedin.com/in/garyffranklin

or at

www.garyffranklin.wordpress.com where my full contact details can be found

Thanks for reading