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Older IT professionals know that as you pass 40, suddenly IT recruiters are no longer chasing you in droves with IT jobs.  Though it’s a terrible practice, some IT managers instruct their IT staffing firms to seek out younger IT contractors.  You don’t have to become a victim of this practice, though, if you’re an IT consultant over 40.  Here are a few ways to deal with and/or avoid this practice.

1. Update your resume so it looks fresh.  Take out the objective and the sentence ‘References available on request’.  Both are outdated and unnecessary.  Add in links to social media profiles (more on that below)
2. If you don’t already have them, create good, functional social media profiles for yourself in LinkedIn and Twitter at least.  Maintain these as a way to enhance your professional presence.  They take minimal effort and will go a long way in changing employers’ perceptions.
3. Stay up to date on news for your industry and technologies for your industry.  If younger job candidates are desirable for their fluent command of new technology and trends, you can be too.  You already built some of your worth in your years of experience on the job.  Now it’s time to enhance that.