Welcome to esiq.org

Handling Age Difference in the Workplace for a Positive Experience People are entering the workforce younger and getting out of it later in life, according to business experts. This fact means one thing: that the age gap in some offices is getting larger, and it could be getting more difficult to manage. Age differences in the workplace don’t have to be a cause for arguments and conflict, however. Having people of different ages working together can actually be a positive experience for everyone involved, both professionally and personally. How the age difference question plays out in your office all comes down to how you handle it. Age differences have always been an issue in the workplace. A generational gap between the old guard and the up and comers has always been unavoidable, but people knew how to manage it in a world where people got one job when they were started out in the working world and stayed with that company throughout their careers. However, those days are gone for good. People tend to bounce from job to job, out of choice or out of necessity, and so that means many workers have to adjust to age differences in the office place while adjusting to new jobs, period. Even this sense of bouncing around to different jobs can inflame the age difference issue. Older people may not relate to the younger generation’s ways of moving from job to job and drive to find a career that not only makes them money but that they also love. This culture class can cause misunderstandings and tension in the workplace. What is happening more often with the changing work market is that many younger people are finding themselves in the position of managing older people. Because younger people tend to change jobs more, and because they grew up in the computer generation, they often have more qualifications than older workers. This can cause tension on both sides. Older workers can feel under appreciated and passed over for a job that should have been theirs because of seniority, and younger bosses may feel funny about telling older employees what to do, and correcting them when they make a mistake, because they are supposed to respect their elders. Is there any way to avoid these conflicts at work so that age doesn’t become an issue? The first way to make sure age isn’t an issue is to simply decide that it isn’t one. If you have younger boss, keep in mind that they were hired for a reason, and be open to the things you can learn from them. If you are in charge of managing an older team, don’t go easy on them because of their age. They won’t respect you for it, and you will only be emphasizing the difference between you. Instead, treat them as you would any other employee, while making personal allowances for some resistance to chance on their part. A certain amount of “in my day” kind of talk is inevitable. Accept it and take it on board – you might even learn something – but have confidence in enforcing the decisions you make at the same time. The other best way to manage age differences in the office place is to always keep the lines of communication open. If you are a younger manager in charge of an older team, make an active effort to solicit their opinions and to be available to them when a problem arises for them. If you are an older person in the office wondering about how to relate to the younger workers, ask questions. A glimpse into their world may do wonders for your ability to understand and relate to them. Not only will you become more effective co-worker, you might even end up being friends.

The Ins and Outs of Free Writing Contests (free writing contests) Free writing contests are available by the thousands. They are virtually a dime a dozen on the Internet. No matter what your niche is in the writing community there is a free writing contests out there for you. How do you know which ones to enter and which ones are legitimate? That’s simple. You do what you do best-- research. While providing the story for the free writing contest will probably be the easy part, researching the thousands of available contests will be a daunting task. If this is un-chartered water for you, you have the start at the beginning. Finding what free writing contests are available. Grab a notebook or start a word document and list the contests that are available. Beside each contest name you will want to put what kind of writing they are looking for and when it needs to be done by. By doing this first you will be able to eliminate any that do not coincide with your writing niche or with your schedule. Now the free writing contest research begins. Finding out if a contest is worthwhile and legitimate is comparable to running a background check on a person. First check the contest website. Do they have all contact information available? Do they tell you what company is hosting the contest? If they are not, you will have likely found warning number one that it is a scam. So scratch those off your list or at least move them to the bottom until you can find out more information on them. Start asking around to colleagues and writers groups. Search the writing forums and the Internet scam sites. The Better Business Bureau is also a good place to look. Once you narrowed the free writing contests down to the legitimate ones, read the contest rules and regulations. Some contests require you signing over all rights to a story even if you don’t win. Are you willing to do this? Giving up rights to you writing is a lot easier to do when you are getting something in return. After you enter there is no going back, so make sure this is what you want to do. The final thing you need to look for is if the contest is just a cover up to get you to buy services or products. This does not necessarily mean they are a scam or don’t actually award winners. It simply means that they will try to entice you to use their critiquing services or offer you a book at a reduced fee that your work will be published in. Being published sounds like a great deal but is it a book that carries prestige that people are going to see? Many authors think that writing contests will launch their career into a successful endeavor. This is not the case, especially for free writing contests. Even winning the grand prize of a smaller known contest is not going to affect your literary journey. Even though they may not springboard your career, there are good reasons to join writing contests. You will get unbiased opinions and valuable feedback from the judges. If you make it into the higher rounds, editors could also see your writing. Ultimately whether you enter a free writing contest the choice is yours. Just ask you self if the time spent writing and researching the piece you choose to enter is worth writing for free in most cases. The critique and feedback may be the most worthwhile thing you receive from the contest. But then again the judges opinions are a dime a dozen just like the contests.

Taking Advantage of a Free Service to Find Great Grocery Deals Are you interested in saving money on your groceries? Are your grocery bills getting you down? With the rising cost of food staples, it is becoming more important than ever before to choose carefully and shop smart. Fortunately, if you are willing to do the research and homework, you can find many great deals that can save you hundreds on your monthly grocery bill. Here is a free service that can help you find great grocery deals. This new grocery service is known as mygrocerydeals.com. Here is a brief run-down of what this new system can do for you. What Can MyGroceryDeals.com Do For You? There are many web-based services, and while many offer fine free services, very few can help you save actual money on your grocery deals. It is a good thing that mygrocerydeals.com came along, then. What can this web-based service do for you (and your grocery food bill?). Mygrocerydeals.com is directed at those savvy food shoppers that rifle through the weekly circular ads on a regular basis, and those that spend their long Sunday mornings clipping coupons with a cup of coffee in hand. If you are tired of this dull ritual, fear not—mygrocerdeals.com is here to save you from this routine. Discovering the Scope of MyGroceryDeals.com Basically, this fine web-based service saves you the trouble of having to rifle through all that newsprint and coupon circulars. This web-based service is basically a giant database of local grocery store offers and specials. By using this easy web-based service, you can build your very own grocery list and even build shopping lists for the store that you prefer to shop at. You can also choose to browse the various deals and steals at your local grocery stores. Furthermore, you can even get information about the products you are shopping for. With this easy to use web-based service, you can even check out the nutrition database, food allergy alerts and other pertinent information. You can create your own virtual shopping list and then print it out for when you are ready to hit the store. Even better, you can download special deals and coupons for foods on your shopping list. How You Can Use MyGroceryDeals.com If you are ready to use this free web-based service, you can begin by registering a new account. You will need to enable pop-ups in order to get the full scope of the website. Most links will show up in a pop-up, so be sure that you check your Internet preferences before you begin. The website allows you to compile grocery lists and even save lists for future reference. You can try the 'try us now' link in order to browse your local store and select your closest location. You can even browse the stores in your surrounding areas. Before you submit your registration, note that there is a small check box asking you whether you would like to receive a free copy of Taste of Home Magazine. Make sure that the box is checked or unchecked accordingly. Get a Taste of the Printable Coupons One of the best things about using the mygrocerdeals.com web-based service is that you can gain easy access to a large collection of printable coupons. Make certain that your printer is ready to go before you log on. Also, be forewarned that in order to print out many of these coupons, you will need to install a browser plug-in from Coupon.com if you don't already have this driver installed on your computer. If you have already printed coupons from the World Wide Web before, chances are that you already have this plug-in installed. You can test this by attempting to print out new coupons.