Hello is this thing on?

2010 didn’t quite work out as planned.  It seems that living by my philosophy of maintaining a positive mental attitude and having a plan doesn’t always mean complete success.  As noted on our Facebook page, perseverance is key to your success.  Even with a strong plan and calculated direction, things can still go wrong.  Our plan was to deliver a new website that was robust and full of new features.  Instead, on July 28, 2010 our whole life as we knew it was swept away.  The company we hired to develop our new site turned out to be a scam.  Without regard for you or the health of FireCareers, Bill Novak and Shift Design set us on a course of complete failure and put 28 years of company history on the brink of disaster.

The new site was so fractured and broken, it was missing a plethora of history and 15 years of data; it looked like Shift Design had brought FireCareers to its knees.  For the first few weeks we were in such bad shape we couldn’t get notifications out.  We were in full salvage/recovery mode.  Unexpectedly, 6 days after the new site was launched, I received a phone call from Mr. Novak telling me the new site needed to be moved off his server immediately and that he was bankrupt and going out of business.  The ill- functioning site was so hard to navigate that members were demanding refunds, cancelling memberships and lodging complaints like we had taken away their birthdays.  I completely understood their frustration and disappointment with the site.  It was no way to run a service. 

We were pushed to another developer, whom I had high hopes for.  The new company told us one thing and did another.  The new company told me they would be completely finished by Nov. 11, 2010.  We are almost two months past their promised completion date and still features are missing. I am doing everything I can to get the site finished.  

We stayed true to our mission and continued to publish new firefighter jobs ever day.  It may have been difficult to find this information, however we pulled out all the stops to try and get the word out.  It was difficult because I no longer had an email tool to contact the members. Of course, this was taken from us too.  I did everything I could to inform the members to follow Firecareers on FaceBook.  This turned out to be our only way to reach our members.  I published my personal cell number for anyone to contact me until midnight PST every night of the week to answer questions and help navigate the site (805-340-0043).

I want to thank all the members who stand by us as we fight to regain our footing.  We have come through this humbling experience and thank our members for their continued dedication to Firecareers.  This coming year, we will continue to work towards the goal of having a fully working site.  In January, we will be hitting the road to tour the USA in the FireCareersBus. 

Over the past week, our office staff has undergone supplemental training to lock onto finding firefighter recruitments.  We have changed the research protocols to be more responsive to current trends in firefighter hiring.  Fortunately, the general condition of the economy is set to improve this coming year.  Economists and the Federal Reserve are predicting a 4% increase in national growth domestic product.  This prediction would be the best development gains for our economy in recent history.

In closing, it seems we can only go up from here.  I look forward to helping as many people as possible find a FireCareer this coming year.  My goal is to help you become the best you can be and find you as many job opportunities as I can.  This is my promise to you.

Please review the site and provide any feedback or comments. After all, this is your site and I want it to work for you. 

Thanks for your support and Happy New Year,  

Craig

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