Engage yourself

Increase the frequency of your tweets to remain in the eyes of fellow tweeters — out of sight, out of mind phenomenon works more here. Tweet often and tweet regularly, but do not ever cross the thin red line crossing which raises the red flag.

Spread your net

Keep on finding people to tweet to. Do not just tweet to people in your follower’s, find people to add to your list, but, do not start mass following. By doing so, you will be call in spammers who do not listen on twitters. All they know is clutter the twitter time line.

Join the conversation

Tweeting your content is good, but joining the conversation is even better. Read what others are saying, join the conversation, comment on the discussion, be part of it, spread the word, send DM (direct message), and get known. This will help you form a lasting relationship with fellow tweeters. People like you most when you talk about the stuffs they care — in this case, the stuffs they share.

Spread the news

Talking about yourself on and on may make you sound braggart, and talking about what others have to say make you sound influential. See what others are talking about and be the first to tweet about it. This will bring you on the forefront of your industry, and the leaders cannot help but look at you, and recognize you.

Get personal with @

Use @ followed by twitter’s account name to share stuffs with people you want to network with on twitter. This will get their attention. Send out only meaningful tweets using @, and do it sparingly. Overdoing will raise the barrier.

As you can see, finding a job on twitter is not like finding a job on job-search portals. It is about engagement here. You have to engage people first and then ask for a job. This may look like too much work, but it is not. And on top of it, it is highly rewarding. By engaging your prospects in talk, you have crossed half the distance, as talking to them let them know about you. If they like what they see, they will hire you.

What with the age?

Well, it has less to do with the age, and more to do with the newness in technology and failure of mid-aged individuals to deal with them. As it often happens, people in their mid-to-late forties tend to become slow on learning.

Another thing that keeps people in mid-to-late forties away from job is the salary they seek. I am not saying that you should not be compensated fairly, or at least you should get the sum you need to pay your bills and put some amount in savings.

But, this is not how people running businesses think. They are less inclined towards humanitarian goals, and more towards raking moola and increasing profit. Young people, despite their inexperience, are considered more apt for this goal as teaching new tricks to new horse is comparatively easy and so is taming them.

Then how to get a job in 40s?

This is the question that keeps people in 40s and jobless awake at nights. These are the people who have family to support, and maybe kids to send to university. Unemployment in such time is very difficult to deal with.

But, fortunately there is a way out and in this series I will tell you what to do to get hired. The advices shared will be workable. Do not treat this series as a read-and-forget series. Work on the suggestions shared. If I were you, I would have subscribed to the RSS feed. Do it now and stay up-to-date with the series.

Well, realize that most people who feel underemployed are generally dissatisfied with their jobs.  Usually this stems from either a salary that is below your standards, the lack of opportunities to express your skills, or just not enough work for you to complete.  In any situation you can find yourself feeling unhappy at the workplace.  Which is exactly why you should take this opportunity to resolve that situation.

Try making yourself more of an asset to the company.  If you find yourself not getting enough work, try asking for more.  If you’re not happy with your salary, make yourself stand out so that the company has no choice but to recognize you for your accomplishments.  Try asking your boss for more assignments, or ways that you can help out by taking on workload from other sources.  Gives you something to do, and helps you become more of an asset.

If you’re unhappy with the position in general, you can use the extra time to network.  Hit the break room, or the cafeteria and make friends with the people around you from other departments, or other companies.  Find out what opportunities are around you that you didn’t know about.  You could end up finding the job of your dreams, you just have to put in the effort to search.  If the company you’re at now isn’t meeting your standards, networking can help you find a new opportunity that will.  Anything is better than staying underemployed and unhappy.

Every application needs a cover letter, and a cover letter is your chance to shine.  So take advantage of that opportunity and be original.  The last thing you want in a cover letter is to sound mundane, or like the cover letter is the same form that you’ve sent to every other company you’ve applied.  Personalize and let your personality show.  That’s what a cover letter is for.  Sell yourself, and let your originality shine, and that will make your cover letter stand out from the rest.  Just remember to remain professional and courteous.

Being persistent means letting the company know who you are.  After you’ve turned in an application make sure to follow up.  That means waiting a few days, and then visiting the company again to check on the status of your application.  This shows initiative and a genuine desire to work.  That gives you an edge as most people think the process is done after submitting an application.

Finally, remember once you have that interview, the job is far from done.  Be confident, and do your research.  You need to know what you’re talking about here, because a bad interview will always lose you the job opportunity.  Stay positive, and confident, and know your facts concerning the company.  Use those facts to work for you, and to outline your desire to work there.  Performing that to great effect will make you a top candidate for the job, and will best increase your chances for landing the position as quickly as possible.

Pick out what’s important to you at a job.  For most people a good job has decently high pay, good opportunity for industry growth, and plenty of job openings so that you have a good chance of getting a job.  Those requirements are usually a good place to start.  Industry growth is important, so that your company can stay relevant, and you can ensure a reasonable amount of job security.  When they’re hiring for more opposed to fewer job openings, you have a better chance of getting a job.  High pay speaks for itself.  Who doesn’t want that?

From that you can formulate a list of the job openings that best fit what you’re looking for.  Then you can concentrate on those openings.  Do your research about the companies offering the work, and tailor your cover letter and resume to apply to each company individually.  Putting in the personal touch will separate you from the field, as most people use generic cover letters and resume formats.  Even though that’s a huge mistake, as they’re easily spotted by hiring managers, and are very frowned upon.

If you find you have more than one offer, weigh the options between both jobs.  If job stability isn’t a huge concern, and you’re willing to take the risk for a chance at more money, go for that job.  Weigh your comfort zones against what’s available to you, and choose the job that you’re most likely to succeed with.  Making a name for yourself in one place carries weight in the IT world, so take advantage of your opportunities.