Wednesday, March 22, 2017

11 Delectable Holiday Words to Celebrate LitMas Eve

Merry LitMas Eve!

If you recall, LitMas is our made-up bookish holiday to celebrate all things nerdy and word-related before the holidays. So far, we’ve given you everything from winter quotes to Christmas grammar fails, and we’ve loved every minute of it. Although we’re sad to see this nerdy holiday season come to a close, our penultimate gift will be sweet. Literally.

Because we know food is a large part of any holiday, we’ve collected some of our favorite holiday food words.

Friday, March 17, 2017

3 Salary Negotiation Scripts You Can Use for Any Job

Ask any job seeker or employee about salary negotiations and one of the most popular responses is, “I would negotiate but I don’t know what to say.” Having the right words to say, or write, during a salary negotiation is vital. Communication can make or break discussions and impact your ability to get paid fairly.

First things first, determine your current worth in the job market. Use Know Your Worth to receive a custom salary estimate based on your title, company, location and experience.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

10 Smart Ways to Improve Your Chances for a Raise

All across America, it is performance review time — the annual ritual of nervousness and wincing when everyone from interns to executives gears up to receive critical feedback about their work. In addition to the evaluation of performance and success, this is the time when managers and HR pros decide on bonuses, promotions, and raises.

While employees probably cannot turn the tide of a poor performance streak, there are behaviors you can practice that will improve your chances for a raise this review cycle or next.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

This Is How to Build Your Professional Network from Your Phone

You don’t have to be an introvert to dread networking events. Initiating conversations with total strangers can feel a bit like going on a blind date—the results could be magical, or painfully awkward.

Though networking in person doesn’t have to be a nightmare, it can still be difficult to fit into your busy schedule.

Online networking via your smartphone has the distinct advantage of happening whenever and wherever is convenient for you.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Hyphen

What Is a Hyphen?

  • A hyphen (-) is a punctuation mark that’s used to join words or parts of words. It’s not interchangeable with other types of dashes.
  • Use a hyphen in a compound modifier when the modifier comes before the word it’s modifying.
  • If you’re not sure whether a compound word has a hyphen or not, check your preferred dictionary.

Hyphen with Compound Modifiers: Two-Word Adjectives Before Nouns

Using hyphens to connect words is easy.

Monday, March 13, 2017

How Can Power Words Help You Land Your Dream Job?

There’s no silver bullet to get you the job you want, but power words might be the closest thing.

What are power words, you ask? Power words are buzzwords and special phrases that signal to a company that you’re on their wavelength. Use them to tailor your application to a specific company and show that you know their mission, their approach, and their values—and that you’ve done your homework.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Em Dash: Why Should You Love It?

Writers love em dashes as much as hunters love Swiss army knives. It’s not difficult to understand why. Like the utilitarian knife, em dashes are versatile tools. Once you find out about these handy dashes, you may fall in love with them too.

What Is an Em Dash?

Em dashes differ from other dashes not only in usage, which we will discuss shortly, but also in appearance. In fact, the em dash is named after its length—it’s about the same width as the capital letter M.