Like millions of people around the country, I am looking for a job. After 16 months of freelance and contract work, I realize how great it is to be paid on schedule and by direct deposit. I am grateful for the work I do get, but there have been many sleepless nights worrying about what if it stops coming in.

Unless you’re a masochist, no one enjoys the process of looking for a job. The tireless emailing, agonizing waiting and constant rejection is enough to make the most confident person want curl up into the fetal position. But unless you resolve yourself to living hand-to-mouth while hopping your dream job with big pay falls into your lap, you have to get out there and search.

Something that has help make my job search easier and more focused is Twitter. When I first started on Twitter, I thought it was a great way let people know which bad reality TV show I was currently watching. But after attending Boulder Digital Works, I learned that it was better used as a way to present my personal brand to the world. I still let people know when I am watching Hell’s Kitchen, but I do it between sharing more important content. And Now Twitter has become a great tool to help me land a job.

I know I am probably not be the first one to think or use these tricks, but they have been working for me. So I want to share with others to make their search that much easier.

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Following the Leader

A few months ago, I started following a co-founder of a company where I really wanted to work. After reading their tweets for a few weeks, I gradually learned their mind and passion was really wasn’t in their work or their company. Also in several tweets they mentioned possibly moving the company to a city that I had no intentions of ever living in. This information was fresh in my mind when a position came up in that company. Ultimately, I decided not to apply though I felt I would have enjoyed the job.

Having worked for a newspaper that closed its doors for good in the matter of weeks when I had worked there less than a year, I know any advance knowledge of major company decisions is good to have.

A Preview of Company/Agency Culture

An important aspect of any job for me, other than loving the work I do, is the company’s culture. Being out of sync with the environment that you’re in most of your waking hours can make even the best position a nightmare. Crying like a baby in a cubical because I didn’t like where I worked wasn’t one of the highlights in my career. So following not only the leaders but other employees of a company (in the department you want to work if you can) will give you a good view of how it runs on a daily basis.

Some companies have policies that restricts what their employees can twitter, but I have found if someone loves or hates their job enough they will break that rule. Things might not end up well for that employee, especially if what they are posting is negative, but you will know before hand if that dream position comes with a price.

Learn of Job Openings Before They Are Listed

Sometimes employees will give a heads up to their twitter followers about open positions at their company before they get posted to the various job sites. When some jobs can get over 200+ applicants in the first few hours after being listed, it’s important to get your resume in as early as possible if want to get it viewed.

Getting the Company to Follow You

This is as easy as @, but it can be a double edge sword. If most of your tweets are about how much you hate your ex or spend most of your time getting drunk, then you probably won’t ever have a chance to land that job. So first make sure your Twitter account is one you would want even your grandmother to read. After that, you need to start up a dialogue. That means replying to their tweets and even hash tagging them on content you post that you find interesting. Don’t be stalkerish about it. Only do this with tweets/content you find interesting and actually have something good to say.

Having a company know who you are and having a relationship with them before you apply for a position will give you that needed edge.

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I haven’t landed that dream, full-time job just yet. I have made some really good contacts and gotten great leads in the short amount of time that I’ve been actively looking, and I am confident that it’s just a matter of time before I do land that position. I hope these tips help and like me you get to jump out the craziness that job search can be as soon as possible.

Working on a few posts for the end of the week and making a major push to get a few projects completed, but I want to keep up the momentum of posting (almost) everyday. So I thought I would treat you to a few songs in my playlist while I am working:

Next week I start brushing up on my Illustrator skills. These illustrations can only get better. I hope.

Actually I am more of a bronze like this chick than black

1) People that touch my hair

Boulder is the only place I have to deal with strangers coming up and touching my hair. This is not cool. I don’t care if you just adopted a baby from Africa and you want to style her hair like mine. Do NOT touch my hair. I mean if you really want to you could at least ask before doing it. I have gotten so used to this that I have a canned response ready for when it happens. I appreciate the compliment about my hair I do not like having it touched.

2) Strangers telling me that they voted for Obama out of the blue

I have close friends who didn’t vote for him and you also assume that I voted for him. I won’t say if I did or not because it’s not the point. The point is you don’t need to have the same political views as me to start a conversation.

3) Assuming that I won’t like or can’t do typical “Boulder” activities

Okay I can’t ski, can’t ride a bike, and the last time I was in a pool I barely made it out alive.* These are activities that people stereotypically believe black people don’t like or can’t do and I can’t do them. That doesn’t mean I never want to do them or don’t like other typical Boulder things.

I absolutely love camping and I have been known to go on a hike or two. I know I need to be more active and slowly I am making that happen. So when you are planning that big camping trip or a hike. You don’t have to do it in secret and feel guilty about not inviting me along, because you can invite me.

*I can swim but the trauma of almost drowning due to others stupidity caused me to never do it again. As for riding a bike, just know trying to teach a 5-year-old to ride a 10-speed down a steep hill will probably not have the greatest results.

4) People asking me if I know their friend who just so happens to be black.

I might have literally seen them around, it’s hard not to notice other people of color in Boulder, but I don’t know any black person that currently lives here. I can count on two hands the black people I know in  all of Colorado.

5) When listening to a rap, people looking at me every time the N-word is said to make sure it’s okay they are listening to rap.

Just substitute the word “ninja” if you feel the need to recite lyrics and we are cool. Music is made for listening. Also you don’t have to put on Hip Hop/Rap or R&B on my account. If you really want to make me happy, you would play Queens of the Stone Age or Violent Femmes.

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There are few other little things I could have put down, like the box of Dark & Lovely that every store in town feels the need to put on the shelf, but its too nice of a day to stay inside.

I might bitch about living here sometimes,  but over the last few months I have come to big realization.

This is my home.

It shouldn’t be. This is where I went though one of the worst times of my life. When I left in 2003, I told myself there was no way in hell I would ever come back.

But I did come back and I keep coming back.  I have lived here on and off for 7 years.  I have only lived one other place longer, the town where I went to grade and high school, but once I left I never looked back.

Boulder might be the place where my demons showed themselves, but it’s also the place where I overcame them.  This is where for the first time I felt I could truly be my weird and geeky self.

I met my closest friends while attending CU. My first night in town way back in 1998, a cab driver gave me a set of medical slides when he learned I was studying biology.  He told me whatever I ended up doing in life that I would be okay. I don’t know why he had medical slides in his cab but it was one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten, though a little creepy.

Boulder might not always get the black thing it does get me, and no other place will be able to take its place.

Though I will be moving away again in a few months, there is no doubt in my mind that I will be back someday.

And when I come back, I’ll make sure to bring a hat.

I don’t drink wine so it fits that I couldn’t create a decent looking wine bottle, but I have been known to eat cupcakes.  I think I might have to break down and start using Illustrator when I make these things.