Tag: helpful tips

5 Common Grammar Mistakes to Avoid on Your Christmas Cards

1. Season’s Greetings or Seasons Greetings or Seasons’ Greetings?

The correct version is “Season’s Greetings” because they are the greetings of/for the season—the apostrophe shows possession. Without the apostrophe, or with it after the ‘s’, it indicates multiple seasons. Another common error is to write “seasonings greetings.” Don’t be that guy.

2. Misspelling Christmas.

It seems so silly, but often people misspell the word Christmas. Pay attention to every letter on your cards so you don’t make an avoidable, cringe-worthy mistake. And please spell everyone’s names right.

3. Afraid of the Oxford comma?

When you have a list of things, don’t overthink the grammar and attempt an awkward or confusing way of saying the same thing to avoid the chance of being wrong. In the following example, both are correct: “We wish you happiness, health, and prosperity this Christmas.” or “We wish you happiness, health and prosperity this Christmas.” Whichever you choose is your preference, however, I will say that in some instances the comma makes your intent clearer. I would suggest making use of the Oxford comma on your Christmas cards this year.

4. Happy New Year or Happy New Years?

If your Christmas card goes on to send warm wishes for the coming year, make sure you are using the correct form of the sentiment. It should not be plural. If you were referring to a New Year’s card, then there is an ‘s’ but it is still not to indicate multiple years that are new.

5. Winter or winter?

When you are mentioning the season, it can be a little tricky to know how. Whether you capitalize depends on where it is in the sentence and how it is used. If the word is at the beginning of the sentence, it will always be capitalized. Other than that, it is a generic noun (not a proper noun) and does not need to be capitalized. An exception is if it is a title, like the Winter Olympics.

Send Your Business Holiday Cards As Soon As You Can

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The first time my employer sent out Holiday cards was 3 years ago. He was just starting out, the business had only been operating for about 4 months when I was hired. One day in early November we received an envelope which came to us from someone the owner had come into business contact with recently. It was a holiday card. Once he looked at it he got very excited and said “We’ve got to do this too!”

I called the company we got the card from and was given many options. Personalizing the card was more intense than I imagined. I never knew there were so many different types of holiday cards or realized how much thought can go into sending a business holiday card. I ordered a catalog and some samples to be mailed to us. We received the mailing and he decided what he wanted.

In the meantime he also contacted that business associate who sent us the first holiday card. He asked him some questions about how this helped his business. He then explained why you should send your business holiday cards as soon as you can. He was in business over a dozen years and in his opinion you get more visual advertising time for your money the longer these unique, beautifully personalized cards are on display in your customer’s office.

With all the chaos at holiday time, he decided to do it as soon as possible. It was very interesting when we got our first holiday card and we displayed it in a very visible area. Being the first one to send the cards out can help to start an opening dialogue point with some of your newest clients.

Get Hired! Great Questions To Ask During A Job Interview

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When going on a job interview, asking the right questions is almost as important as answering the interviewer’s questions! Asking insightful questions of your potential employer can assure them that you are the right candidate and, as your questions are usually near the end of the interview, can leave a positive lasting impression of you. In addition, asking the right questions during your interview will help you to gauge whether the job is the right fit for you. Remember, you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you!
“What are the skills and experience that would make a candidate successful in the role?” This question is helpful because you can make sure you have spoken about how you have those skills and experience.

“Do you have any concerns about my qualifications for the role?” This can be a risky one, and you may want to first consider if you actually want to hear the answer to this! If you decide to go for it, you will impress the potential employer, who will likely see this both as a brave question and a telling one; it shows you are confident in your abilities to be able to respond to any of their concerns.

“What have you enjoyed most about working here?” This helps give you an idea of the company’s culture and discover if it is the right fit for you. If the interviewer mentions such things as innovative and interesting co-workers, growth opportunities, a supportive environment, or working on rewarding projects, you can rest assured knowing it is likely a place that people enjoy working. If, however, the employer seems to struggle to answer, that is a red flag.

“How have you seen the company change in your time here? “Where do you see the company going?” Questions like this help give you an idea of the state of the company, and whether they are growing, staying stagnant, or just trying to desperately hang on!

“What would you imagine a successful first year would look like for this role?” Potential employers like to hear this question, as it shows you are already thinking about what you can do for them and how you can succeed.

“What are the next steps in the process?” This shows that you are interested and is the most important information for you at this point if you are in fact interested in the job!