A proactive effort

Instead of just posting your resume in a job portal and sitting back in a relaxed mind why don’t you become little proactive and design a website or online portfolio blog of yours, where recruiters can come and take a look of your work, get an idea of your skills, goals and personal contact information.

Narrow your options of search

Make sure you upload resume and look for a job only in a website which has good narrowing options by criteria like – by region, by industry and experience, by job titles. You may super narrow your search by criteria like – salary expected, job designation, company names etc. Filtering and refining job search will help you to find better job offers.

Visit company websites directly

Instead of just applying to a given job opening and sending resume, get little proactive. Shortlist some best companies where you would love to work. Now visit that company’s website, target that company and check their career/job opening page. Check out the current vacancies. In case the company is hiring send your resume to the given address. Else, you may write to the human resource manager. Company pages may ask you to fill up a form, detailing your profile for their future reference. If the company is not hiring at present, keep coming back to it again and again to keep a watch.

Industry related websites

You may refine your job search by registering and following the desired industry related websites. You may find national or regional jobs posted in industry related websites, which you may not come to know otherwise. Individuals may post such jobs, hoping for getting response from a bigger pool of qualified applicants.

Job portals can be helpful

Online job portals can solve your problem by doing an extensive search. Recruiters will help you by matching your skills and experience with related jobs and bringing the same to you. You may refer to job portals like recruiterlink.com, onlinerecruitersdirectory.com, searchfirm.com and i-recruit.com.

Subscribe to job alerts

Most of the job portals have this feature of subscribing to their job alerts. You need to sign up in the site to receive email alerts about latest job openings. Or you may subscribe to RSS feeds. This way, even if you forget to visit the job portal regularly and look for relevant jobs, you will be reminded by frequent job alerts.

What are you waiting for? Get started, today!

Use direct message or DM, as it is known on twitter

Do not start sending confidential or sensitive information on the twitter’s public timeline using @ symbol. This is akin to taking someone’s bedroom talk to nearest pub. No one is going to like it, and you by doing so are risking your reputation. Instead, send sensitive or personal information in a direct message. Send your résumé link, interview request, etc., in DM only.

Hit Reply

Many a time job seekers do not pay much attention to DMs sent to them, or to the messages sent to them using @ symbol. Always, always, always respond to all direct and indirect messages sent to you. This will paint a picture of a guy who is helpful, friendly, and prompt. These are the traits of an employee that anyone will like to hire.

Count your words before you write

Twitter allows you only 140 characters that also include spaces and special characters, so be wise in the word selection. 140 characters are all you have, and it is on you to decide how you will make each character add to the value your tweet will deliver. Do not use unnecessary superlatives, adjectives, and adverts. I will rather suggest you to stay away from every word that has nothing to add to the discussion.

Go and check your tweets, and DMs to see if your tweets and DMs meet the standard set above or not. Fix them, if they don’t, and continue using twitter the way you do, if you do not find any problem.

Attract attention, and focus on the bright side

There may be quite a few things in the résumé that were not so much impressive, so try to bury it deeper during your interview by focusing your interviewer’s attention on your strength. Do not just dodge the questions asked about your weak points. Tackle the question wisely and enroute take a turn and move towards your strength. Do it covertly.

Promote your work ethics

Tell your interviewer that because of your age, you do not feel like hopping from one job to another, and will settle if you get a satisfactory job like the one you are giving interview for. Well say this but not in so many words. It should look as if it is coming naturally from you. Do not fake it. Loyalty is a big asset and that too a rare one.

Tell your interviewer your monetary worth

You have accumulated a lot of knowledge and expertise (perhaps interdepartmental ones as well) in your long career before being unemployed. Tell the worth of those skills in dollar terms. The interviewer needs to know your real worth.

With this our discussion on this topic comes to an end. And as a parting though, I must say that this phase (unemployment) is temporary, and there is always a job for a person who deserves it, and works to get it.

You may want to bookmark this post, as I have provided links to all the posts that I have written in this series below this paragraph. I would like to know what you think about this series, so use the comment box and start sending your input.

Index

1. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – I
2. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – II
3. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – III
4. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – IV
5. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – V
6. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – VI
7. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – VII
8. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – VIII
9. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – IX
10. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – X
11. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XI
12. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XII
13. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XIII
14. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XIV
15. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XV
16. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XVI
17. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XVII
18. A Job-Search Guide to Help People Over 45 – XVIII

Keep it short and simple

I will not add stupid to above because I know you are not that. You are quite smart, and in your 45 years you have also understood the power of simplicity. And believe me when I say that simplicity works in résumé as well. No one likes to read a CV-epic, so keep it short and simple. Mention only those things that really, really matters for the job you are applying for. Keeping it short will help you keep it focused. Focus is another important thing.

Use chronological not function résumé

A new trend of using functional résumé —the type in which skills are mentioned in a cluster— has caught the fancy of young job seekers. Yes with young job seekers, particularly those who are looking for a career change, so let it remain confined to young people only. You do not need to follow the trend because in mid-aged job seekers the use of functional in place of chronological résumé is seen as an attempt to hide age. Well, I understand you do not intend to do that, and I am equally certain that you will not get even a 10 seconds of personal time with employers to explain this to them, so why take chances? Go with a résumé that lists your experience in chronologically. If you are too much in love with functional résumé then use it in combination of chronological one.

Write emphatic cover letter

Although cover letter has come at the end of pour discussion on résumé, it does not take away the importance assigned to a cover letter by your employer. A cover letter is your elevator pitch, and the emphatic it is the greater is the chances of your being called for a personal interview. A great cover letter makes your résumé stand out from the crowd of hundreds of faceless curricula vitae.

With this our discussion on résumé comes to an end. I hope you will apply these principles in your own CV. From the next post in the series we shall discuss about interviews and about ways to handle tough questions. Till then keep applying the principles taught so far.

Do not whimper over pay cut

If the economy is down or there is too much supply than there is demand for qualified professions, which no longer is an exception, then you may not get the price you expect to get even if you get the job. Do not just leave the job on the table just because you are not offered the salary you deserve; a pay-cut is something expected for a person of your age. Get a job, get a pay cut, and wait for the right opportunity and switch when offered a better salary. Looking for a job when employed is by far much easier than searching for a job when out of job.

Agree to work odd hours

It indeed is too much to ask of a mid-aged man who has lost or are on the verge of losing physical vitality of youth, but there is no way out. The market forces do not take your age or your condition in consideration; it works on its own matrix taking supply and demand as a basis. Hence, you are required to adapt yourself to the situation. You have a family to keep and bills to pay, so I will suggest you to accept work that requires you to work odd hours.

Let go of benefit

I know it sounds crazy at first, but consider this: if you already have a solid pension plan and your wife already have family health insurance then why will you need another health benefit? Leaving benefits will put in advantageous position vis-à-vis other job seekers. You can ask for slightly higher pay check even.

I hope these tips will help you find a job easily. Will get back in the next installment, till then stay fit and keep looking.