How's the job search going?

[Paul encouraged me to write some thoughts down, and I pretty much do anything Paul encourages me to (don't tell him, or he might use his power for evil), so here goes:]

Everyone asks "how's the job search going?" But it's a tricky question to answer, since the process is so slow and opaque. I don't get much feedback, or at least the feedback loops are so big they don't help form a sense of "how it's going" in a reliable, consistent way. For example, I might send off an email today that gets me a conversation that results in an interview that lands me a job offer, but thus far the gaps between those events are so big that while I might well be on the right path--that is, the job search might be "going well" in an objective, bird's eye sense--I don't necessarily know it, and I could spend all of today down in the dumps after sending that email. So really, the quality of the job searching is really only empirically measurable (from my perspective) in job offers, and I don't have any of those, which means...? Trying not to think about it. It's like dating: it only takes one.

Here are some better questions to ask:

"Come across any interesting companies lately?"
"Favorite positions you're looking at?"
"Besides job searching, how are you spending your time these days?"

Choose one of those, and chances are you'll get an intelligible response, as opposed to my usual blundering.

But anyway, here's my attempt to actually answer the question, since I know it's asked with good intentions:

How's it going? Fine, I guess. A lot of things are good. I'm meeting with a lot of 2nd degree connections, having good conversations, learning about cool companies and positions, and getting better at articulating my philosophy and qualifications. But still, no job offers. Haven't managed to find myself in the right place at the right time. I'm being quite specific and intentional about the sort of jobs I'm going after, not just because I don't want to do just anything, but also because I've found attempting to appeal to everyone results in appealing to nobody. So I'm focusing on a niche or two I think I would really excel at. And that means I'm not applying for a ton of jobs.

So mostly, I'm waiting. Which is hard for me.

Other answers to questions I get a lot:

"What sort of jobs are you looking for?"

I'm looking for Product/Project/Program Management jobs (in software development), or as a fallback, interesting Content jobs (like what I was doing previously at Microsoft). PM jobs are often either Technical (like requiring a Computer Science degree) and Business (requiring an MBA), but since I have neither, I'm focusing on really UX-heavy positions (I do have significant experience here), where stuff is being built for non-technical consumers. If you know anyone who might be interesting to talk to or any companies doing interesting things, please let me know.

"Where do you want to work?"

My big four are Google, Amazon, Tableau, and Socrata. Also looking into a couple smaller companies. [EDIT: Google just sent a "thanks but no thanks" mail for the last of the 3 positions I had applied for (with an internal referral). Surprising how many people have applied to and been rejected by Google, so at least I'm in good company.] Looking at other orgs too, but those are the ones I'm more or less sold on. Again, ideas welcome.