If you follow the NBA, there’s been a common refrain among players when one of their own suffers a major injury. Inevitably, they’ll tweet “Minor setback for a major comeback.”

I’m not in the NBA, I’ve suffered no injury, and absolutely no one is trying to @ me on Twitter. However, as Michael Jordan announced in his famous fax to the world 25 years ago announcing his return to basketball:

That’s right. It’s been a strange two-month journey, but I am once again gainfully employed. I’m not a big Excel guy, but I kept a spreadsheet of my experience. Here’s some of the data.

After being laid off on March 13:

• I applied to 74 jobs
• 30% of those companies rejected me 
• 70% of those companies never answered back
• I made it to a screening call for 3% of those jobs
• The average response time, when I received any response at all, was 10 days
• Three longest response times were 50 days, 27 days, and 14 days
• 53% of the jobs I applied to originated from LinkedIn
• 24% originated from Indeed
• 12% originated from Ziprecruiter
• 55% were locally based jobs
• 34% were out-of-market jobs with no specific assurance of remote opportunity
• 14% were remote jobs
• I had two calls with local creative agencies (zero opportunities as a result)
• 40 days passed between applying for unemployment and having funds in-hand

In the end, salvation found me. Of those 74 jobs for which I applied, I got past the screening call only once. That lone opportunity came from a solicitation I received based on the strength of one of my blog posts. Had I not taken the initiative to keep writing and socialize my efforts on LinkedIn, I’d still be walking the Earth like Kaine.

In any case, besides sharing the good news, data, and advice, I’d like to shout-out a few wonderful connections I made and renewed during my time off. Though I chose my words carefully to not come off like I was asking for a hand-out, several friends and family still extended extremely generous help. 

You are appreciated

Much love to Jason Lam for being my big brother from another mother and offering invaluable legal advice as you always have time and again. If you had something I knew of to promote, I would. Thank you for being a solid dude.

Thanks to my old colleague and friend Greg Friend for being the first to reach out with side work. You are kind and thoughtful to the end. I’m happy to hear how well your career is going. Check out drivingline.com to enjoy Greg’s fantastic writing, his infinite knowledge of cars, and support a good guy by buying Nitto Tires.

Big shout-out to Mike Rudolph at YouMail for reaching out after reading my blog, connecting me with Brian Anderson, and giving me an opportunity to do some work. I am in awe of people like Mike and Brian — strangers who reached out and felt compelled to help me find my way.

Love to Chuck Schultz for always checking in and looking out for me. Chuck is a profound storyteller (it’s in the blood) with another exciting project looming on the horizon. 

Deepest gratitude to B. “When your dad and I were coming up, we needed help. And sometimes it’s nice not to have to ask.”  ❤️

Great appreciation to Ken Yarmosh at Savvy for spotting my work, reaching out, following through, and putting me on. I’m ready to put out 10x content, fight for users, and connect people with products that make them smile — SO ready.

And thank you to everyone else who has supported me during this turbulent time: my amazing wife, my two exhausting boys, my wonderfully optimistic mom, hunseven, and everyone else in my support system.