Why You Should Never Ask If You Got the Job Right After an Interview

Job interviews can be exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. You won’t to give a good impression of yourself and make sure to answer all the questions they ask. It can be a panel or a one-on-one, but they will always be putting you in the spotlight. There are some right and wrong ways to behave when you go to a job interview. You should always dress appropriately, shake hands, address people as sir and madam and be honest. The one thing you shouldn’t do when you’re in an interview is ask if you got the job when it’s over.

Don’t Ask if you Got the Job

The interviewer is more than likely going to ask you at the end if you have any questions. While you really want to know and you really want to ask, don’t ask them if you got the job. They don’t know yet; you don’t know how many other applicants they have to see before they can make a decision. Not to mention they have to check your references if they have decided you’re right for the job. You may think it shows enthusiasm for the job and it does, but not in a good way. It makes it look like you’re not as intelligent as you are. It puts them in an uncomfortable place, because how they have to answer differs. They aren’t going to come out and say anything until they’ve gone through the proper interviewing and preparing to hire procedures.

You also want to kind of seem unattainable. If you’re too eager for the job they may think, well we can sit on this because they already showed us they wanted the job and we don’t have to rush. If you aren’t doing that kind of responding immediately then they might think, we should scoop her up before someone else does and hurry the process along. When it comes to some places like state jobs the human resources department might be slow or the whole process might take a long time. Follow up with a thank you card almost immediately after your interview. You can check back after a few weeks, but don’t bombard the company with emails and phone calls checking to see if a decision has been made yet. You will know soon enough if you did or did not get the job.

Nail the Interview, Get the Job

It’s a good rule of thumb to avoid that question, or anything that might sound like that question. Also don’t ask them leading questions like how they think the interview went with you or what they did or didn’t like about the interview. This just puts them in an uncomfortable spot and makes it difficult for you to win them over for the job. So remember, be professional and avoid asking this question so you’ll do fantastic on your next job interview and hopefully score the job of your dreams.

The Red Flags to Look Out for When You Start Dating Someone

Dating someone new can be an exciting experience. It can also be a toxic experience if you make the mistake of dating someone who really isn’t a good fit for you. Fortunately, there are ways you can spot potentially bad apples and avoid dating them before you get in too deep. It’s a nice way to make sure you don’t waste agonizing hours trying to figure out what he or she meant when she said this or that.

They Drink Too Much

There is nothing wrong with a little alcohol to take the edge off of the first date with a new person. But, you should never get drunk on your first date. If your date starts guzzling booze like a fish, you should probably avoid a second date. You also should avoid a second date if he or she gets drunk. How can you get to know them and they get to know you if they aren’t even going to remember the date? Maybe they were nervous, but there is a difference between nervous tipsy and completely sloshed.

They are Rude to Wait Staff

If you go out to eat or to the movies (or anywhere really) and your date is rude to the people who are servicing you, you should just walk the other way. If they are rude to them, they are going to be rude to you as well. The only time them being rude is alright is if the staff merited the attitude and that’s really often not the case.

They Try to Get Pushy

You shouldn’t have to say “no” more than once. If they ask you to do something or they ask a personal question you are not ready to answer, you should be able to say no and move on. You shouldn’t date someone who appears to have trouble taking “no” for an answer. This is not a good sign of things to come. You have the autonomy over the date to shut down conversation when you need to.

They Are Irresponsible

Do they still live with their mother for reasons that don’t make sense? Do they struggle with bills? Do they just seem immature? These are all reasons for you to run for the hills. You definitely do not want to be in a position where you feel as though you are dating a child.

They Have Bedroom Issues

Dating someone who has issues in the bedroom is a sign of a bigger problem. There is nothing wrong with trying to talk to them to see why they have these issues, but you may find yourself with a very damaged individual if you try to date them even though they struggle in the bedroom.

As you can see, there are all sorts of red flags you should really be avoiding. The last thing you want to do is fall in love with someone only for them to turn out to be a horrible person because you overlooked one of these red flags.

The Differences Among Girl Scout Cookies Based on Where You Live

 

Those delicious, Girl Scout cookies that you enjoy every year won’t necessarily taste the same if you plan on moving in the near future. Not many people are aware, but the company do in fact use two different bakeries to distribute their cookies, so your Thin Mints might taste different depending on where you are living.

Bakeries

 

The two bakers that the Girl Scouts use are called ‘ABC Cookies’ in Virginia and ‘Kellogg’s Little Brownie Bakers’ from Kentucky. Now to begin with, where you happen to live will affect what kind of cookies will be available to you. You might have Tagalongs in place of Peanut Butter Patties, or Samoas in place of Caramel deLites. Although these cookies are essentially the same, they vary both in name and also sometimes in shape and flavor. The cookies are similar in all but name, but as you’d expect from two different companies, there will be some slight differences. Little Brownie Bakers supply most of the United States with these satisfying treats, but larger cities such as Boston, Philadelphia, Houston and Orlando are getting their cookies from ABC Cookies. Interestingly Thin Mints are named Thin Mints by both companies and so will be known as such wherever you are in the country, however there are still some subtle differences. ABC’s Thin Mints will be crunchier, and have a much more minty taste. On the other hand Little Brownie Bakers Thin Mints will have a much more distinctive peppermint taste.

 

Why Two Companies?

 

So why are there two completely different yet similar companies producing Girl Scout cookies for the same country? The short answer is because the annual cookie operation is huge. Roughly, Girl Scouts will sell 200 million boxes of cookies a year, which is equal to $800 million worth. Thin Mints are the most popular cookie of them all, and take up a whopping 25% of the entire sales, which is $200 million give or take. With this much volume in demand, in thousands of locations all over the country, having more than one distributor allows them to have greater production capacity, thus allowing more support and revenue for the Girl Scout Program. During their busiest period, the bakers can make as many as 9 million Thin Mints daily. This would be an impossible task with just the one bakery.

 

It is a little known fact, and can be very confusing if you move from one zip code to another and suddenly notice that your Girl Scout cookies have a different name yet a similar look and taste. But if you are in despair due to losing your beloved Tagalongs, don’t fret. You’ll still be able to find them, or at least a fairly accurate clone. They’ll only be known as Peanut Butter Patties from now on.

How Much Flavor You Get from Ginger Depends on How You Cut It

A lot of people know that adding ginger to their dishes can give a strong kick when it comes to the aroma and spicy flavor of the dish. However, only few people know that a single ginger’s flavor may differ depending on how you cut it – whether you dice it, grate it or matchstick-chop it. By learning how to cut ginger carefully, you will soon realize that the level of potency that it offers can be controlled. As you go through this article, you will know what I mean. For example, if you cut a piece of ginger into larger portions, it will give your whole dish lesser flavor. If you want your dish to have a peppery and spicy impact on your dish that will create a bigger and overall impact to it, you can grate or mince your ginger.

If you are fond of making ginger tea at home, you can have this satisfying drink by just slicing a hint of ginger so as not to overwhelm your tea. In making a dressing or sauce, you can grate the ginger in order to give presence to your sauce and it might as well balance the strong flavors in your dressing such as soy sauce. There are a lot of varieties of ingredients which can be found in your kitchen. It is just a matter of time, creativity, and talent to fully make use of it. Those ingredients that find its way to every meal you have are normally left to the cobwebs in the back of your fridge or at the corner of your cabinets. On the part of ginger, this is not the case since it is being used to almost all dishes you prepare at home. Thus, it is important to know whether or not a simply cut can give too much or too less of a flavor to your dish.

 

Having a fresh ginger at home is not really a standardized ingredient. It may be juicy and mild, and pungently spicy on the other hand. It can sometimes be as fiery as you least expect it to be since gingers are sometimes used to replace chili in some of the famous recipes. You should take into consideration that the older the ginger is, the spicier it gets. However, when you go to the market you will normally find mature gingers rather than old ones. According to an author of Roots (a James Beard Award Winning cookbook), Diane Morgan, she notes that any ginger which is normally left to cure in the ground for about 7 to 10 months are considered to be mature gingers. You can identify these mature gingers because it is normally larger than the rest. However, you would want to find other kind of gingers when it passes this point because it already grew woody and fibrous.

 

This kind of ginger, the mature ginger, must be treated in a manner like it is being prepared just like the other kinds. You have to cut it small if you want more flavor to your dish or you can cut larger slices if you only want a mild taste.

 

 

Season and toast the Rice before Boiling for Unbelievable Flavor

One grain which can be called the most popular after wheat is none other than rice. Rice is one of the most common foods we prepare in our homes. On its own, the flavor might seam mild, but a small addition to your cooking process might change this mild taste in an enormous and unbelievable manner. Toasting and flavoring before boiling is the main trick to a better pot of rice.

The toasting process is quite simple and does not consume much of your time. While the water boils, this is the perfect time to toast your rice. Though in toasting, you have the freedom of using any cooking oil, don’t just use any but go for sesame oil, coconut oil, olive oil or butter to bring out the best taste. Grapeseed or canola can be used for other purposes but not for toasting. Once your grains are coated and start to toast, you will smell a deep nutty aroma. Toast for a few minutes until the rice smell fragrant and is slightly toasted on the tips.

You can increase the taste, by taking your toasting rice a step further. Toss in some aromatic spices including, ginger, shallots or garlic into the pan. Only a small amount is enough to bring out a light aroma of the rice. Toast your rice for just a few minutes, and then you can continue with your normal way of cooking.

In most cases, it is not always easy to make perfectly consistent rice on the stove. The rice comes out burnt, mushy or even crunchy. This baffles many since they follow the recipe to the letter yet the rice is never consistent. The trick here is to try Alton Brown’s pour-over method. It is simple and will bring out the extra taste in your rice.

Toast your rice in a skillet till slightly brown and separately boil water in a kettle. Instead of adding rice to the pot of boiling water, add the boiled water to the pan, stir and let it simmer on low heat for 20 minutes. After 5 minutes of resting, you should have perfectly cooked rice.

Toasting your rice before boiling and using the Brown’s pout-over method are simple tricks but enhance the flavor to a whole new level. Toasting rice will be guarantee you an enhanced flavor just like in the case when we toast nuts or spices. It also improves the finished texture of your rice. Using Brown’s pour over method, eliminates guesswork on how long you should boil the rice and under which temperatures.

In most rice cooking experience, there is usually an annoying layer of rice stuck at the bottom of the pot. It often feels like a waste and at times, makes cleaning quite difficult. What you can do is when the cooking time is up, remove the pot from the source of heat and let it sit covered for 10 minutes. After this time is up, the bottom layer of the grain will loosen allowing you to scoop them easily with a spoon or even a sponge.

 

 

 

 

 

8 Crazy Jobs You Didn’t Know Existed

In such a slow economy like this, people are working whatever jobs they can find in order to keep the stove cooking. A lot of people are doing freelancing jobs online, and others are doing part time work in major retail stores or restaurant chains. However, aside from the very common and predictable jobs that you have already known and probably are familiar with, there are different jobs that are so insane you may never thought about their existence before. As a conclusion, you may want to keep your current job regardless of its imperfections. But, if you feel like you are quirky or adventurous enough, you may want to try these eight insane jobs to add some extras to your pay check.

Cleaning Crime Scenes

With a salary range of twenty five to sixty eight thousand dollars per year, you may opt to quit your job and choose to work as a professional crime scene cleaner. It may be terrifying and gruesome for most people, but if you are keen on watching horror or crime movies where bits of this and that are splattered everywhere, there is a high possibility that you will do just fine in cleaning those pieces off a carpet in real life.

Collecting Vomit

You may raise your brows upon reading this, but collecting vomit is an actual job because there are actually a lot of people spewing out their insides after one too many roller coaster rides in amusement parks. Although the job of cleaning vomits may be incorporated as a job description of other professions such as a cleaning service, but Thorpe Park in England actually devoted their resources to hire an official vomit collector, which devotes his/her time to make the mess disappear when passengers lose their halfway-digested meals.

Fortune Cookie Wordsmith

If you always believe that you have got a writer persona inside you, but you never have the time to finish one complete piece of story or blog post, you may want to rethink your choice of career. Not completely straying far from what you believe, you can still be a writer of one or two short and wise sentence in a fortune cookie. This works especially well if people often seek for your advice whenever they are in trouble, or if you are secretly psychic inside.

Helping Animals To Procreate

If you really think about the world’s really high and constant demand of dairy and poultry products, you will realize that it will be impossible for farms to fulfill such request if they just sit around and let things process naturally. For that reason, one of the jobs that is so insane that you may have never thought about it would be as an animal semen collector. With a salary range of seventeen to fifty four thousand dollars, you will need to use your hand and walk out with the sperm of various animals which will be used for artificial insemination later on.

Professionally Sleeping

Everyone likes to sleep and to be paid for sleeping sounds like the greatest idea of all time. Professional sleeper is a real thing, where they are hired to test out sleeping facilities in hotel chains, laboratories and even in NASA. It can be as simple as testing out how the new mattresses affect your sleeping quality, but it is un-debatable that getting paid for staying asleep in your comfort clothes is definitely a great offer.

Sorting Diapers

One of the means taken to support environmentally friendly purposes, there are people who are hired to sort through dirty little cloth diapers before they are washed and bleached for reuse. Noble work if you insist, but with only an average of three thousand dollars a year, this job will be wonderful to increase your bottom line but definitely not for long term purposes.

Tasting Pet Foods

If you have been great in those childhood challenges where your cousins or siblings forced you to eat dog biscuits, you may want to consider a career as a professional pet food tester. However, do not think about it as an easy job. Pet food testers spend most of their time to control the quality of pet foods, ensuring that each and every batches of food will meet the brand’s qualification. It may sound boring, monotonous and unappealing, but for starters you can get up to thirty thousand dollars a year where if you are already an experienced professional taster you may rack up to seventy five thousand dollars annually.

Trying Out Crazy Stunts

Basically bringing Fear Factor to real life, crazy stunt tester performs the craziest types of stunts to make sure that it is safe regardless of how gross or yucky it will be. Helping television shows to avoid possible lawsuits and liabilities coming from injured participants, crazy stunt testers are paid up to eight hundred dollars a day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s no Excuse for Not Marketing

If you expect to make money on your business, then you have to market it. You can’t just set one up and expect people to stumble into it by accident. That’s not how business works. IF you feel like you don’t have time to market then you don’t have time to be successful. Sure you need to be present and do your job but if you aren’t actively marketing for new people then that won’t matter anymore.

How to Make Time

 

You may think that you don’t have time to market, but you just have to work it into your schedule like you would a business meeting. You can also get a marketing manager to help you figure out what you need to do and how they can get your name out there in ways that will draw a large audience.

 

There are a lot of ways you can market without having to spend a lot of money. You should always be networking with companies and other small businesses because word of mouth is always going to be the best way to market. Make sure you are offering the best customer service you can because that’s another way to get your name out there and to establish a reputation as the place to go for their needs.

These Days Marketing is Different

Marketing these days is different. You aren’t going to go door to door or place a radio ad. You need to have an active online marketing campaign. An email list with your customers and potential customers is going to be gold to sending out deals you have going on and to maintain contact with your audience. You will still have the offline marketing for those who don’t pay attention to ads or their email on the internet. This includes everything from fliers to cold calls but you have to make sure you cover every facet of the marketing world and saturate them with your brand.

Getting out there to as many people as possible is the key. Don’t forget you need to have a strong presence on social media so if you aren’t already hop on Twitter and Facebook and start interacting. People like to buy from people they know and if you let them in then they are more likely to remain a loyal customer. One loyal customer can spread the word about you to so many more so you need to have a presence online and share as often as possible. Don’t always try to sell with every post, be personable and share for other people.

There is no excuse for not marketing. If you can’t find the time to do it, then you don’t care about the success of your business. Think about what your competition is doing right now, they are definitely out there marketing to your demographic and potential customers. You don’t want them to win, your company is better so start being competitive and get in the marketing game.

The Do’s and Dont’s of Content Marketing for Small Businesses

Content marketing is an excellent way for small businesses to find their customers and get their name out there. There are some things you can do right and some things you can do wrong. It’s important to know the dos and don’ts when marketing for your small business online using content. Small business owners have to be more savvy when it comes to marketing because they don’t have the big brand name or the recognition for people to find them.

First the Dos

Find the people out there that want your product or service. When you find your target market you know you aren’t wasting your time developing content for people who don’t care about what you have to say or don’t need it. Make sure to communicate with your customers so you know what they like and don’t like about your business. Feedback is really important to learn more about what your audience wants so you can market to them more efficiently.

Make sure your blog and the rest of the business website is well designed. If you aren’t sure how to do it, it’s okay to hire a web designer it will be worth it when your customers can come to a great looking site. It doesn’t need to be cluttered where your visitors can’t find anything on the website. You want your content laid out in an appealing and easy to navigate way. Make sure to focus on building your brand. You want people to associate you with consistent quality content. Everything you put out there with your name on it should be quality. You can’t just throw things up and expect people to want to always read what you have.

Then the Don’ts

You don’t want to be too salesy with your content and stuff it with boring keywords. You want your customers to think they’ve come to the decision to buy your product all on their own. It’s important that you don’t ignore your competition so that you can see what works for them and what doesn’t work. You want to know what they are doing, but you don’t want to copy it. Make sure your marketing efforts stand out from theirs. This goes without saying but don’t plagiarize to get your content. Copying someone else’s work is lazy and it will put you in a bad light so create your own, or hire someone to do it for you. Remember when you’re building your brand you aren’t focusing on yourself too much. People want to read about what they can learn and knowledge they need. They don’t care that much about you as the owner.

When you know the right way to do content marketing then you’ll be much better off in your business. The right content marketing can bring a lot of visitors to your website and customers to your business. Remember to keep the content interesting, fresh, and relevant and you’ll be okay.

8 Money Moves to Make When You Find Out You’re Pregnant

When we find out that we are expecting a child, it is extremely exciting news. It can be a little scary and overbearing to begin with, but these feelings quickly disappear once the bundle of joy has been delivered. However, there are plenty of things that you could do while waiting for your child to enter the world, besides choosing a name. These will not only make the whole process a little easier, but will also be more financially beneficial for yourself, your child, and your family.

Parental Leave

 

Maternity leave is an important discussion you need to have at work with your superiors as soon as you discover you’re pregnant. Guys, paternity leave is also becoming a lot more open and beneficial so make sure you have this conversation with your boss as well. How much you are entitled to is determined largely by where you live. The United States for example is the only country that isn’t required by law to provide paid leave, so make sure you know your options and how much you are entitled to.

 

Flexible Working

 

You also should discuss with your employers how flexible will they be once the baby has arrived. These days companies tend to be much more willing to allow employers to be flexible once they have had a child. Apart from paid leave, you could perhaps ask for less hours once you return, or to only work 4 days a week to try and save money on child care. If you don’t ask, you don’t know.

 

Health Insurance

 

If in a relationship, you should both ask your HR department the options of adding your child to your health insurance plan. Then you should compare and discuss both options on the table and decide on the one that will be best for the whole family.

 

Breast Pump

 

Health insurance plans generally have to provide breastfeeding advice, support and equipment for new mothers. You should make an attempt to acquire or rent a breast pump in your plan, depending on the plan in question you could even get a top of the range model.

 

Hand-Me-Downs

 

Whenever you are blessed with a newborn, the gifts will flock in and most will consist of articles of clothing. You’ll probably never be able to use some more than once or twice due to how fast they grow. Take advantage of this and ask parents you know who have recently had a baby. They may have a few clothes and even items to offer you.

 

Amazon Family

 

Amazon Family is a variation of Amazon Prime, but which focuses on parents and caregivers. This includes great discounts on diapers and similar items, and great delivery offers. If you’re not sure if you want to pay for a year of subscription, simply use the free trial to pay what you need and save some cash and then cancel before the free month is over.

 

Child Care

 

Child care once the parents have returned back to work is becoming an increasingly stressful factor for new moms and dads. If you can’t afford for one of you to stay at home, then you need to look at preschool and child minding options. Some waiting lists can take years, so think now. To save money, perhaps grandma can take them for a day or two?

 

Custodial Investment Account

 

A Custodial Investment Account for your child is when you are allowed to make a financial gift to a minor, with the hope of teaching them about investing. These usually have a decent interest rate, have no maintenance fees and also all earnings are tax free up to a certain amount. The account is then turned over to the minor once they become of age.

 

Smart Selling: How to Win a Price War

Do you know what price wars mean? If not, it is happens when you find yourself in the middle of a conversation with a client, and that said client mentions ABC competitor. Also, the quote coming from your competitor is usually lower than yours. However, the client you are conversing with says that he really wants to work with you; the only catch is if you come down in a price satisfactory and advantageous to him. Also, there will come a time that he would want to throw something extra such as additional products or service without any charge or fee so that you can increase your rank compared to other companies.

Price wars can really be a lousy place to get involved. However, every time you discover yourself caught in this situation, there is greater possibility that you will still win the war even though you don’t have any prospects.

 

Get To Know Yourself

 

Smart selling requires that you should know who you truly are. Before you have any conversations started with other clients and before you find yourself in this situation, you should never forget to understand and identify its real value since you are just another option to the eyes of one prospect with many competitors. You are considered as a commodity, thus, you need to have a healthy competition by competing with the price so as to avoid any damage to your results and brand equity.

 

The advantage of you knowing your value can create an escalation that will not sound like most people only interested with income or cash. Once you have identified your value and difference, you will now be ready to create thoughtful, meaningful, and exceptional conversations around price wars.

 

Price Objections

 

In order to a hang of smart smell, you should develop a trait to address the different price objections without any excuses. Your prospects or clients deserve to know the objections and disagreements right up front. You can even encourage your client to go and choose ABC company if the pricing is really that important for them. By doing this, you will be able to disarm any clients that will only drag your business down. Also, it is worth remembering that you should never beg, plead, or even argue with your clients or prospects. Arguing can sometimes lead you to something fruitful, however, when you discover that it will only harm and consume your time, stay away from it. As a matter of fact, you can even offer a help and get great possible deals from other clients because of the time saved.

 

Value

 

Another important matter on smart selling is that one should learn how to focus on the value. You should accept the fact that you are not the right solution for every client that comes your way. You should have standards and the only way you can live up to your standards is not lowering it according to what your clients want. Obviously! You don’t want your business to have an image of being known just because it is the cheapest compared to other companies.

 

Also, it is worth noting that you relay to your customers that lowering the price of your product or services will only devalue and create lower quality. Conversing with them that it will be unfair for other clients or prospects because of the lowering of the price.

Smart selling is all about making clear conversations by going through a benefit-driven method and not focusing on the feature-driven method. Benefit-driven method only means that you give importance to what your customers get and not primarily on what you are doing. Bear in mind that you should never lower your price to clients who are only interested at buying a cheap service.