Connexion
I was recently gifted a charming, kitschy magnet, and as I tucked it into my wallet for safekeeping, I couldn't seem to remember: Do magnets spell doom for credit cards? Many of us have held onto vague rumors about the potential dangers of magnets interfering with the functionality of our credit cards. Let's take a look at the relationship between magnets and credit cards, and separate fact from fiction.
Traditional credit cards feature a magnetic strip on the back, which stores important information such as your card number, expiration date, and security code. This magnetic strip is susceptible to demagnetization, which can occur due to prolonged exposure to magnetic fields (or physical damage).
When a magnetic strip becomes demagnetized, the data stored on it can become corrupted or unreadable. This means that card readers at stores or ATMs may have difficulty recognizing your card, potentially leading to declined transactions or other issues.
(Sidebar: This is why you've been told not to keep your hotel key card next to your phone; your phone is a potential source of magnet exposure that renders key cards inoperable.)
While it's unlikely that everyday exposure to weak magnetic fields will cause significant damage to your credit card, it's still wise to exercise caution. Stronger magnets, such as those found in speakers, MRI machines, or certain industrial equipment, can pose a real threat to the integrity of your card's magnetic strip.
Additionally, mishandling or scratching the magnetic strip can also contribute to demagnetization, as the physical damage can disrupt the magnetic particles that store your card's data.
To address the vulnerabilities of magnetic strips, the credit card industry has been transitioning towards EMV chip technology. EMV (which stands for Europay, Mastercard, and Visa) cards feature a small, embedded microchip that generates a unique code for each transaction, providing enhanced security and eliminating the risk of demagnetization.
Unlike magnetic strips, these chips are not affected by magnetic fields or physical damage, ensuring that your card's data remains intact and secure.
While magnetic strips are still present on many credit cards for compatibility with older payment terminals, the EMV chip has become the primary method of transaction processing, significantly reducing the potential impact of magnets on your card's functionality.
To minimize the risk of demagnetization and ensure the longevity of your credit cards, you should keep them away from strong magnetic sources and handle them with care. Avoid storing them near speakers, magnets, or other devices that generate powerful magnetic fields, and be mindful of preventing physical damage to the magnetic strip.
As EMV chip technology continues to be the mainstream, the concern over magnets affecting credit cards will become increasingly obsolete. However, it's always wise to exercise caution and follow best practices to safeguard your financial information and ensure smooth transactions.
A credit freeze is one of the most effective ways to prevent new accounts from being opened by someone using your stolen personal data. It's free, and it doesn't impact your credit score—and when it's time to lift it, "unfreeze" isn't your only option. You can also thaw your credit when if you need to legitimately apply for new credit yourself. Here's what to know about freezing, unfreezing, and thawing your credit.
Freezing your credit is relatively simple and free for everyone through the three major credit bureaus—Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. Here are the steps:
Visit each credit bureau's website and request a freeze. You'll need to provide some personal information to verify your identity.
Each bureau will assign a personal identification number (PIN) to use when you want to lift the freeze temporarily or permanently.
That's it! Your credit will be frozen at all three bureaus, preventing new creditors from accessing your report unless you actively allow it.
To unfreeze your credit, you have to put in a request with each major credit bureau. If you make the request online or by phone, the bureaus should lift the freeze within an hour. When you formally unfreeze your credit, this leaves your report open unless you request another credit freeze.
But "unfreeze" isn't your only option: When you're ready to apply for new credit like a loan or credit card, you can "thaw" your frozen credit rather than unfreezing it permanently. A thaw temporarily lifts the freeze for a set period, such as a week, after which it will automatically re-freeze on its own without any additional action needed on your part.
To thaw frozen credit, simply contact the bureau(s) and use your PIN to request a temporary thaw, specifying the time period. This allows creditors to access your report, after which it re-freezes automatically until you thaw it again.
While freezing credit won't completely prevent identity theft, it's one of the best ways to proactively protect yourself and minimize the potential damage of stolen personal information. Given that it's now free and convenient, there's little reason not to take advantage of this added security. In addition to freezing your credit, you're entitled to free credit reports every week from each bureau, so it’s easier to monitor your report regularly.
You’re not imagining it: Getting a job has become wildly difficult. It takes longer than ever for companies to fill roles these days. While one reason for this shift is the rise of remote work, which removes some geographical barriers and increases the pool of potential applicants, a big reason getting a job is such a nightmare today is the “never-ending” interview process that’s so prevalent these days. And it’s not just endless interviews with rotating groups of people, it’s dummy projects, lengthy presentations, and all those cheery thank-you notes and follow-up emails. Getting a job has become a full-time job.
This makes it paramount that you don’t waste your time—and your time is just as valuable as any potential employer’s. If you’re going to put that much effort into a new job, you’d better be certain you actually want to work there—and that means learning all you can about your prospective new employer.
First and foremost (and probably easiest), check the company’s mission statement. Even if this is “just a job” to you and you’re not looking for a role that matches your personal values, you can get a sense of the company culture by checking out their outward-facing statements on company mission. This is usually pretty easy to turn up; many companies have specific mission statement pages on their official websites, and a simple search on the company name and “mission” should turn it up; alternatively, Indeed maintains information pages on a lot of companies which typically include values statements.
If you can’t find a mission statement of some kind, that in itself tells you something about the company and whether or not you’re going to fit in there.
If you want to know what it’s like to work someplace, get that information straight from the people who have already worked there. Checking out reviews by current and former employees at sites like Glassdoor, Fairygodboss, or CareerBliss can give you a solid overview of the internal culture and day-to-day experience of working there. They can also give you insights into another crucial aspect of that new job: The interview process. While you might consider the possibility of sour grapes when people don’t get a job, searching these reviews can give you an idea of just how grueling and complex the hiring process is—and whether you want to commit to it.
A key metric to look for when researching a company is the churn rate. How many employees have been in the same position you’re interviewing for recently? If the company has hired four people for this job in the last year, or if a large number of employees have left after a short term of employment, that doesn’t bode well for you in the same role. On sites like Indeed and Glassdoor you can usually see expired job listings, which will give you a sense of how often the company has to relist the job.
Poring over the company reviews at sites like Glassdoor can help here, too. If multiple former employees have already failed in the role you’re thinking about applying for, that can indicate a poor company culture, a lack of support, or unrealistic expectations.
People often make the mistake of focusing entirely on salary when it comes to a new job. And while salary is the biggest aspect of your compensation, it’s not the only part of your compensation. The word “benefits” is deceptive—the benefits package is literally part of your compensation. Knowing the total value of what you’ll be offered if you decide to accept a job is a key aspect of your decision-making, so research stuff like vacation and paid time off, retirement accounts, healthcare, bonuses, and any and all perks like pet insurance, free gym memberships, and even free meals provided by the company. It all has a monetary value that you can roughly calculate, which gives you a better idea of whether the position is fairly compensated or not.
Depending on the position you’re applying for, you might never interact directly with the C-suite folks (the CEO, COO, CIO, etc). But that doesn’t mean those executives have no impact on your job. Most companies post information about their high-level executives right on their websites, or a quick Google search will usually turn up the information.
What you really want to know is how stable the C-suite is. Look for past press releases announcing new C-level hires; if the company has had four CEOs in three years, that’s not a good sign. If other C-level folks have resigned under clouds of scandal, that also indicates a company that’s not being run very well. Even if the job itself looks perfect, joining an organization in turmoil probably won’t be your best move.
Finally, do some simple Googling. Look for headlines of any kind (ignore press releases and articles on the company’s own blogs or branded websites, as these will obviously be biased). Is the company embroiled in a ton of lawsuits (especially from former employees)? Are they mired in a nasty labor dispute with a union? This sort of information can give you a glimpse of the reality of working there.
You should also cruise by the company’s social media presence. This is 2024, and any company worth working for should have at least some kind of social media game. If those accounts are musty—an X account that hasn’t posted in two years, or a Facebook page that was last updated during the pandemic—that might indicate a company that isn’t paying attention to its image and customers, or that doesn’t understand the modern world very well. And if the tone of its social media seems off to you for any reason, there may be a culture clash in your future that you might prefer to avoid.
Accepting a job offer is a big deal. You need to know just as much about a company as they know about you before you can make an intelligent decision. Future You will thank you.
You can get lifetime access to StackSkills Unlimited courses on sale for $34.97 right now (normally $600) until April 2. StackSkills Unlimited is an online learning platform that offers thousands of training courses. They aren’t a replacement for college courses, degrees, or certifications—instead, think of them as a way to learn about a subject you didn’t take or pay enough attention to in school. StackSkills Unlimited has courses in IT, web design, coding, language learning, Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Cloud, business, marketing, and more. You’ll get instant access to over a thousand courses, with over 50 new courses added each month.
You can get lifetime access to StackSkills Unlimited courses on sale for $34.97 right now (normally $600) until April 2 at 11:59 p.m. PT, though prices can change at any time.
If you're looking for a simple way to potentially boost your credit score, you may want to try the 15/3 credit card payment hack. This popular strategy involves making two payments towards your credit card bill each month instead of just one lump-sum payment.
You know you need to pay your credit card bill on time, and that you should always pay enough to avoid keeping a balance. The 15/3 rule recommends making an initial credit card payment around 15 days before your statement due date. You then make a second payment about three days before the due date to pay off the remaining balance.
For example, if your statement closing date is the 1st of the month and the payment is due on the 25th, you would make one payment around the 10th and the final payment around the 22nd.
The logic behind the 15/3 hack is that it can help minimize your credit utilization ratio, which is the percentage of your total credit limit being used. Credit utilization makes up 30% of your FICO credit score calculation.
When your statement balance gets reported to the credit bureaus, a lower balance (from making that payment around 15 days early) means your utilization will be lower for that snapshot in time. Since utilization has a significant impact on your score, the 15/3 strategy may help keep your credit utilization ratio down and your credit score up.
However, the impact can vary depending on the credit scoring model used and your overall credit profile. Those with higher credit limits may see less of a boost compared to those with lower limits where utilization changes make a bigger difference.
While results aren't guaranteed, the 15/3 hack is certainly worth trying if you're looking for ways to optimize your credit score. It's a simple adjustment to how you make payments, without any cost to you. Just be sure to make at least the minimum payment each month and automate payments if you think you might forget. Consistent, on-time payments are ultimately what matters most for your credit score.
Two years ago I was pushed out of a writing job at a software company. A couple weeks later I fired my therapist.
My job, it turns out, was causing the bulk of my mental health issues. Therapy sessions where I'd previously talk endlessly about how conflicted I felt, how insecure I felt, how unloved I felt—these sessions were suddenly awkward because couldn't think of anything to talk about. Life was suddenly just...good. It has been ever since.
But here's the thing: I agonized over leaving that job. I spent a weekend spiraling, trying to think of schemes to stay in (my sincere apologies to a particular group text). I was convinced I couldn't leave a job that was making me miserable, that did not align with my values, at a company where I had no long-term career goals. Alan Henry, who used to edit this very website, wrote an article that I think about every week: the company you work for is not your friend. A culty tech company can make you forget this. You shouldn't.
It was fairly common among employees to joke that the company I'm talking about was a cult. Many jokes are funny because they're not true; this wasn't one of those. I don't mean to say that the leaders of the company literally set themselves up as Messianic figures—they didn't (exactly). But this was a company that spent a lot of time talking about how unique their "values" are, how different those values made them from other companies, and how important their mission was to society in general. The company also spent a lot of time—and money—blurring the line between co-workers and friendship.
That combination, at any company, makes it hard to leave a job even if you're actively miserable. And here's the thing: I knew this. I would be the first person to tell you that the company values were propaganda used by management to shame workers, and I knew the company wasn't actually all that important. I also literally wrote articles while working this job about the importance of separating work from the rest of your life. And yet, in spite of all that, I still felt like the job was important, and that my life would be worse if I left it, despite all the evidence to the contrary. I let a Slack instance and a paycheck become my world.
That's what a culty tech company can do. You might be working at such a company. You may also, unlike me, not have the luxury of being able to leave. With that in mind I thought I'd compile a list of survival tips for anyone struggling to maintain their humanity in a similar workplace.
Culty tech companies thrive on the metaphorical Kool-Aid. They depend on members buying the hype, or at the least pretending like they are. That's why public communications—Slack, let's say, or all-hands meetings—are always uniformly positive. Everyone is SO EXCITED about how well things are going; everyone is reacting with way too many happy emojis. It's enough to make someone who is unhappy, or even just questioning the status quo, feel like they're absolutely insane. Everyone else is happy, after all—why aren't you?
You're not crazy, though. If the vibes feel off, you can be certain that you're not the only one who feels that way. It's important, if you're going to keep feeling like a person, that you find people who feel the same way as you, so that the cognitive dissonance doesn't completely destroy your sense of self.
Doing this can be tricky. I found it easiest during one-on-one conversations—meetings, for example, or Slack DMs. Start slow, making the occasional joke about how absurd the company is. You will be amazed how often people will laugh, and how relieved they will be that someone else sees what they're seeing. With any luck you'll have a work friend you can talk shit with, or even a group of friends. (Your Slack DMs, if you didn't know, aren't private—your company can read them at any time. Be careful here.)
Make sure, once you have these friends, to find places to chat with them that your work doesn't own. If you work in an actual office, that place might be a bar or coffee shop. If you work remotely, I recommend using the encrypted messaging app Signal. Install Signal on your personal phone and you've got a completely untraceable way to talk shit while everyone else is pretending things are great. This is particularly helpful during all-hands meetings, when the most ridiculously out-of-touch things tend to be said by company leadership.
If you're going to remain a person, you need to be able to laugh at the absurdity of what's happening—and to do it with others. Find those others.
I've been writing for a living full time since 2008, most of that time as a freelance journalist. It's not an easy way to make a living but I've always pulled it off. Some of this is undoubtedly due to my connections, granted, but I also happen to think I'm pretty good at this.
I forgot that while working at a culty software company, though. I was convinced that my work wasn't going well and that I'd have trouble finding work if I left. To be clear, this wasn't true: strangers still reach out to tell me how much they appreciate my writing from that time and I haven't had any trouble finding work since I left.
I'm still not sure what it is about that environment that made me doubt my self worth. There's something about the environment at a culty tech company that can make you feel worthless. Part of this is that such companies tend to attract extremely qualified people—you might find yourself wanting by comparison. For me, a big part of this was the company's constant prompts for self improvement: the performance reviews, yes, but also the way the company pushed things like coaching. There was a constant push to become better, which made me feel like I wasn't doing well in the first place.
So I'd encourage you to remember that you're good at things. You got the job you have because you're qualified and other employers would be happy to have access to those same skills. Find ways to remind yourself of this. Maybe ask your like-minded co-workers to let you know how you're doing. Maybe reach out to colleagues from past jobs. Just find some way to ground yourself in the knowledge of your own skills, outside of how the company sees you. You're good at things.
You might, if you're a well meaning person, think that any bad policies or situations at the company are your job to fix. And if your title includes the word "executive," "president," or "director," that's absolutely true. But if you are a low level employee, you need to know that it absolutely isn't your job to fix the company and that trying to do so is only going to break you.
It doesn't matter how often leadership talks about how they're different—a company is not a democracy and internal blog posts are not a free press. Criticize leadership enough and you will eventually be asked—or told—to shut up (believe me on this). More importantly, though, it's not your job to make the company better, and without actual power, trying to do so is only going to burn you out.
Improving and preserving the company culture is not your job. Focus instead on finding ways you can improve your own situation and the situation of those you're close with. Talk transparently about your salary—this can really empower you and the people you work with to ask for what you all deserve. And, if you really want to improve things for your co-workers, look into how unionization works.
A culty tech company can very easily fill your entire brain. There's the work, of course, but there's also the drama that seems to be constantly happening. I cannot overstate the extent to which none of that shit matters.
There is a whole world outside of work. If you're going to stay sane, you need to be connected to it. Go for a walk every day. Join a softball league, or a church, or volunteer at a shelter. Go to coffee shops, and bars, and concerts. Read fiction. Try to learn a musical instrument. Host a monthly party, inviting people from different parts of your life to meet each other.
The specifics don't matter: just find some sort of thing in your life that has absolutely nothing to do with work. It's going to be hard to feel like a person if you don't. And that's what you are: a person. Not an employee, and not a part of a company. You are on this planet for a limited amount of time. By some miracle or coincidence, you are capable of not only thought, but also feeling. Don't waste all of that on a company that will never love you back.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a new rule on Tuesday capping late fees on credit cards. The move slashes the typical late fee from an average of around $32 down to just $8, saving affected consumers an estimated $220 per year on average.
The new regulation comes after the CFPB reviewed data showing credit card companies have been steadily hiking late fees higher and higher over the last decade by exploiting a loophole in the 2009 Card Act. That law allowed issuers to raise fees to adjust for inflation, which they took full advantage of.
"For over a decade, credit card giants have been exploiting a loophole to harvest billions of dollars in junk fees from American consumers," CFPB Director Rohit Chopra sad in the release. "Today's rule ends the era of big credit card companies hiding behind the excuse of inflation when they hike fees on borrowers and boost their own bottom lines." Here's how the release breaks down the main takeaways of the new rule:
Lowers the immunity provision dollar amount for late fees to $8: Based on data analyzed by the CFPB, a late fee of $8 would be sufficient for larger card issuers, on average, to cover collection costs incurred as a result of late payments.
Ends abuse of the automatic annual inflation adjustment: The CFPB found that many issuers hiked their late fees in lockstep each year without evidence of increased costs. The CFPB’s final rule eliminates the automatic annual inflation adjustment for the $8 late fee threshold. This adjustment was added by the Federal Reserve Board and is not required by law. The CFPB will instead monitor market conditions and adjust the $8 late fee immunity threshold as necessary.
Requires credit card issuers to show their math: Larger card issuers will be able to charge fees above the threshold so long as they can prove the higher fee is necessary to cover their actual collection costs.
By capping late fees at a reasonable $8 level, the CFPB estimates the new policy will save consumers billions of dollars annually in excessive penalty charges. The rule is set to take effect later this spring.
However, while the late fee reduction provides some relief, remember this is only a bandage on the larger problem of credit card debt. With interest rates on unpaid balances still averaging around 20% or higher, the core issue of making it difficult for Americans to get out of credit card debt remains. As always, you should try to pay your credit card bill on time, and always pay enough to avoid keeping a balance. For more, here's the most strategic time to pay your credit card balance.
Applying for jobs sucks bad. It always has, but somehow, it’s worse these days. It might be easier than ever to send out a resume, but it’s increasingly difficult to know what the hiring managers want. Even knowing what to include in your resume is hard, to say nothing of the waiting game, (lack of) follow-up emails, and the interview process. Let’s start at the beginning. Here’s what your resume should include these days, according to an expert.
Yes, you need to include past jobs and where you went to school, but a resume should be about you and the specific value you bring to the table. Instead of listing off the job duties your past jobs included, spend some time brainstorming ways the things you did apply to what you’re trying to do now.
“If you want to discuss your previous experience at a restaurant job and how it can translate to a managerial position, talk about how you demonstrated great management skills by managing a number of tables at the same time,” says LinkedIn Career Expert Andrew McCaskill. “Or how you fine tuned your communication skills through interacting with customers and coworkers. Or how you demonstrated leadership and teamwork when acting as a shift lead, by delegating tasks and communicating messages effectively to different groups.”
McCaskill says “transferable people skills” are in high demand right now, so spend some time going through your old roles to figure out how you can highlight those. If you're struggling to figure out what other "skills" your past experience has given you, check out this list for inspiration. You can highlight soft skills like leadership, communication, and problem-solving, or hard skills like project management, data analysis, or SEO proficiency.
Consider crafting a functional resume for maximum focus on skills, too. A functional resume leads with your skills, not your job experience, and is ideal for showing off what you're prepared to do for your new bosses, not just what you've done for the old ones. It's especially helpful if you're trying to move from one industry to another or are struggling to find ways to link your past experience to the job duties you're trying to get.
The language you use to demonstrate all those skills is almost as important as the skills themselves, so your resume overhaul should include a little editing, too. McCaskill cautions against using passive terms, swapping them out for actions “to more powerfully convey how you contributed in your previous roles.”
OUT: “I was responsible for…,” “My duties included…”
IN: “I improved…,” “I increased…,” “I developed…,” etc.
Make sure you follow those up with evidence. If company sales increased 11% year-over-year when you started on the marketing team, say that. Be specific. Own it, basically. Per McCaskill, this not only helps employers see how you could contribute to their organization, but shows that you’re confident in your skills and experience. Think of this like using examples to tell a story about who and what kind of worker you are. A less effective resume acknowledges that you have been an employee before, sure, but a better resume demonstrates what kind of employee you’ve been and could be at the new place.
If you're concerned you don't have space for these more in-depth explanations of your talents, look over what you have on the resume that could be deleted. Your GPA, college courses taken, address, and more are pretty useless unless you are a fresh graduate with little experience to point to (in which case you should try the functional resume format mentioned above). There might have been a time when those were helpful, but it's over now. It's 2024 and, according to McCaskill, skills rule. Focus on those, not the details of your college years.
This is going to be annoying, but it is a necessary evil. In the same way you tailor your cover letter to the specific job you want, you should do the same with resumes. No more sending the same boring old work history to every single company.
“Be sure to read through the descriptions of roles you’re interested in, and then align your skills as closely as you can to what’s mentioned in the job posting,” says McCaskill. “Storytelling and demonstrating the impact of these skills will show hiring managers that you have what they’re looking for and can bring immediate value to their organization.”
If a job posting says the company is looking for someone with leadership skills, point out leadership roles you’ve played in the past. If it says they want a team player, you might have to alter the skills you highlight from that same past job to better demonstrate your ability to work with others. The trick is to tailor the resume so it addresses exactly what the job posting says the company is looking for, putting your corresponding skills at the forefront.
You can get these 2024 Microsoft Tech Certification training courses on sale for $69.97 right now (reg. $429). Becoming certified in Microsoft technologies can help you shift careers, change positions, or begin a new journey into the tech world, and this bundle features 11 multi-lesson courses taught by IDUNOVA, which has over 20 years of experience offering IT education online. You'll cover a variety of topics, including managing modern desktops, mobile security, and an array of Azure courses that cover designing infrastructure, administration, and developing solutions.
You can get these 2024 Microsoft Tech Certification training courses on sale for $69.97 right now (reg. $429), though prices can change at any time.
When you consider how much pressure there is every January to reassess your life and look ahead to what’s next, it’s no wonder this is a big time for people weighing a career change. Searching for a new gig might look a little different than last time you tried it, thanks to two new job-searching features on LinkedIn.
Starting today, you can search for open jobs with two more features on LinkedIn, which the company says are meant to help you broaden your search to include roles you might not have considered and find a potential spot at a company with values and perks that align with your personal needs. Here's what the features are:
Job collections curate jobs across a variety of categories, like "clean energy" and "startups," to match up with your values, interests, and overall job preferences. The Collections feature is housed in the Jobs tab and will let you group jobs by whether they offer remote work, have good parental leave policies, or focus on sustainability, for instance. You can also browse job within specific industries, such as healthcare, defense and space, and pro sports.
Preference features give you the ability to add more preferences to your job search, like location type (remote, hybrid, or on-site), full- or part-time or contract employment, or pay preferences. Jobs matching your preferences will be highlighted in green on the job postings. Preferences now have their own page, too, so you can manage all of this (plus your job alerts) in one place.
The Preferences feature is also where you’ll be able to manage your “open to work” status and privately signal to recruiters that you’re potentially available.
In November and December, LinkedIn conducted research with Censuswide, surveying 1,013 working professionals in the U.S. and over 2,500 worldwide, finding that 85% are considering changing jobs—which is up 27% from the data released last year. That’s … a lot of people, which means a lot of competition. (Data also shows that people are submitting job applications more, at about a 16% increase per job.)
I played around with the new features on my account this morning after the 9 a.m. rollout. In the collections tab, you can select from hospitality, media, biotech, or a bunch of other industries, so I hit "gaming" to see what would be recommended to me. My profile is all about how I'm a journalist with solid communication skills, so I was shown copywriting and research roles which, true enough, I would never have run across in an actual job hunt otherwise. In fact, in the non-profit, retail, and female-founded categories, I was also served up writing and writing-adjacent jobs, so this feature is actually pretty useful. In a hypothetical job-hunting scenario, I'd almost certainly be tunnel-visioned into looking for "journalism" jobs and wouldn't have noticed open technical writer, brand writer, or grant writer positions that I'm actually qualified for.
Since LinkedIn has long allowed users to adjust job seeking preferences by type and pay, there wasn't much of a change to be found there, but I did change my "pay" preference to see if it would be reflected in job postings that were shown to me. Jobs matching my various preferences showed easy-to-spot green highlights, which I did appreciate.
Overall, these features can help you open up to jobs you wouldn't have found, but they're just a small part of a bigger search. There are still other settings to calibrate—like your location—and things to consider outside of the realm of LinkedIn. If you're looking for a new position, incorporate these features, but also take some time to do offline work around what it is you really want. You can retool Maslow's trusty old hierarchy of needs, for instance, to assess your current job, how it meets your needs, and what your ideal job would look like. Then, set an action plan for the actual hunt, setting goals, tracking progress, and checking in with yourself as you apply and interview to be sure you're always on track to finding the right job. These new tools will help to an extent, but you still have a lot of work to do yourself.
MasterClass is an online education subscription where leading experts teach their craft in 15-minute pre-recorded segments. Basically, it's TED Talks meet A-list celebrities. And right now, their annual subscription is on sale for 40% off.
As long as you sign up for the MasterClass annual subscription in 2023, you’ll be eligible for the 40% off for next year. These are the three different subscription options:
The Individual: Gives you one account that you can access on one device for $6 a month.
The Duo: Gives you one account that you can access on two devices for $9 a month. You can also do offline viewing.
The Family: Lets you access your account on six different devices for $12 a month. You can also do offline viewing.
For reference, the regular Individual annual membership is $10 a month. All membership plans are priced monthly but billed annually.
A MasterClass subscription isn't for everyone. You’re paying for an annual subscription to watch lectures (although some do assign workbooks), and so depending on the nature of the class, you might not learn much in terms of hard skills...and things can get technical fast. But classes are no longer than 15 minutes, and you can take them at your own pace. MasterClass has over 190 classes from categories like:
Food
Design and Style
Arts and Entertainment
Music
Business
Sports and Gaming
Writing
Science and Tech
Home and Lifestyle
Community and Government
Wellness
You can take as many or as few classes as you want, and you can expect plenty of celebrity instructors and leading experts. You can read a full review of MasterClass from PCMag. If you're looking for more specific, niche classes for your career, Skillshare is another option to consider, but if you like watching inspirational lectures—especially from celebrities—then MasterClass might be perfect for you.
There’s a relatively new term floating around the working world: productivity paranoia. It was first coined by Microsoft in 2022 to refer to the concern among managers that employees aren’t being productive enough when working remotely. To that end, most of the available advice on easing productivity paranoia caters to managers, but misses the fact that remote workers feel pressured to prove they’re being productive. That pressure can result in employees opting not to take breaks or spending time preoccupied that their superiors aren’t aware of how much they’re really doing. If you’re a worker feeling stressed about whether your boss recognizes your hard work or might be experiencing some productivity paranoia, this one’s for you.
According to Microsoft, 85% of workplace leaders surveyed said that the shift to hybrid work was making it harder to be confident that employees were being productive. Productivity paranoia, then, is “where leaders fear that lost productivity is due to employees not working, even though hours worked, number of meetings, and other activity metrics have increased.”
Tips for managers usually suggest building trust within teams and verifying outputs from workers to overcome this paranoia, but this doesn’t leave much room for what employees themselves can do to curb their own paranoia about their bosses’ paranoia. It is, frankly, a lot of paranoia all around, even though research has shown working from home can actually increase productivity—and all that paranoia can actually be bad for productivity!
“If workers are preoccupied with worrying about how productive they appear, it may lead to burnout or disengagement with the work at hand,” says Michelle Reisdorf, district president at international human resources consulting firm Robert Half. “Not only could work suffer, but it may also negatively impact office or team morale.”
If managers are worried about productivity and workers are so worried about appearing productive that they lose productivity, it’s an issue. So what can you do to combat the problem, as an employee?
First, Reisdorf says managers and workers need to have regular touchpoints and an open line of communication to align on projects, expectations, and progress, as well as address worries and issues. That’s largely on leadership to establish, but you can do your part by starting regular career pathing conversations, expressing interest in professional development opportunities, and volunteering to lead or contribute to projects. Just speaking up on Slack can go a long way here; you don’t have to contort yourself to appear engaged.
It also helps to have concrete evidence of your productivity and successes, which you can point to in these conversations you initiate or during regular check-ins and reviews. Try setting monthly goals for yourself, storing them in a specified folder or drive (known as a "single source of truth"), and performing personal reviews at the end of each month, documenting all your wins and achievements in the same folder. Committing now to compiling a record of your productivity month by month will serve a few purposes: First, you’ll have something to point to immediately if you are ever asked (or feel compelled) to show how much you get done when working remotely. Second, by seeing your wins written down somewhere, you’ll feel less anxious about your performance and recognize how much you really are doing.
Speaking of reducing that anxiety, Reisdorf pointed to Robert Half’s 2023 State of Work survey, which revealed that 82% of managers who oversee hybrid teams feel in-office and remote employees have the same career development options. You’re not losing out on anything by not being there in person, which can help you feel a little better about how you’re being perceived. Just remember to stay communicative and keep records of how much you get done. Then, take a deep breath. You’re far from alone in feeling this way, even if you can’t commiserate with colleagues face-to-face.
If you're feeling squeezed by the inflation-addled cost of holiday shopping this year, but still want to buy gifts for family and friends, your hard-earned credit card rewards can come in handy.
As The Points Guy and others point out, you almost always get the best value out of your rewards when you spend them on travel, such as airfare and hotel bookings, versus redeeming points and miles for cash back or non-travel purchases. However, if you're looking for ways to reduce the out-of-pocket cost of presents this holiday season (and don't have an imminent travel-related use for your rewards), consider strategically spending some of those points and miles on the people you care about.
One way to get great value out of your credit card rewards is to gift them to someone else to use for travel. This will usually require you to transfer your points to a partner airline or hotel loyalty program before you can pass them on to someone else (an exception being Chase Ultimate Rewards members in the same household). Some airlines will charge a miles transfer fee, while most hotels allow points transfers to another member at no cost.
To get around fees and transfer limits, you could offer to book travel for the recipient using your rewards—just don't do so before confirming they're on board.
Some rewards programs allow you to pay yourself back with your points—either by redeeming them for a statement credit or cash rewards, such as a direct deposit or mailed check. This can help offset the cost of gifts you plan to or have already purchased. Your mileage may vary, however: Chase Ultimate Rewards typically offers the best per-point value through its Pay Yourself Back statement credit (1–1.5 cents per point redeemed), while American Express Membership Rewards allows just 0.6 cents per point spent on statement credit.
Another non-travel redemption option is spending credit card rewards on merchandise from retailers like Amazon, Apple, Walmart, and Best Buy as well as through PayPal. (Airline and hotel points can sometimes be used on merch as well as media subscriptions.) If you're shopping at these stores anyway, you can apply points to purchases at checkout rather than charging costs to your card.
Again, the value varies significantly across rewards programs and retailers. Chase Ultimate Rewards are worth 1 cent per point at Apple but 0.8 cents per point at Amazon; transactions made with Citi ThankYou Rewards may have exclusions and minimum purchase requirements.
Finally, most rewards programs have a selection of gift cards available for purchase with points. You can give gift cards as gifts or use them to buy presents at retailers that aren't eligible for shopping with points. Be sure to read the fine print, as the delivery options may range from a physical card sent to your address on file to an e-card.
And again, the value of your points will depend on the rewards program—it probably isn't a surprise at this point that Chase Ultimate Rewards redemption rates top the list with the biggest selection, while airline and hotel rewards get the lowest value when applied to gift cards. American Express Membership Rewards allows you to buy Amex gift cards (not merchant-specific), though at a rate of only 0.5 cents per point.
If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that working from home is not only doable, but if given the proper support, it can be more effective. Although there's plenty of evidence to suggest that working from home has a number of benefits for employees, including increased productivity and decreased stress levels, many employers don’t agree.
Since it’s the employers that hold all the power—including the right to terminate—many of us have been forced back to the office, where we're expected to sit in a cubicle, doing the work that could just as easily be done at home. If you hadn’t already learned that it’s less about the actual work you do, and more about the process of being seen as working by your boss, this should drive the lesson home.
One survival strategy for returning to the office (while holding on your sanity) is a strategy known as “coffee badging”—coming into the office for part of the day, with the intention of seeing and being seen by the boss, only to finish up work at home. This often includes coming in a little late, to avoid the morning traffic, catching up with colleagues over coffee or lunch and talking through work-related challenges face to face, then heading home early.
According to Owl Labs, 58 percent of hybrid workers report “coffee badging.” As far as survival strategies go, it’s a good one, as it helps lessen the burden a little, by cutting down on the stress of commuting during rush hour, while also preserving some of the better parts about going into the office, such as talking it out face to face with colleagues. If going into the office is an optics game, you might as well be strategic about it, which coffee badging can help with.
As with so many other aspects of working life, coffee badging comes with its own politics and its own risks, which can vary depending on who's engaging in it. For coffee badging to be a successful return-to-office strategy, it does require being in a company that allows for more flexibility in terms of when you are required to be in the office, and when it's okay to finish up work at home. As the Wall Street Journal recently reported, some companies are monitoring the exact number of hours workers spend in the office; if this is the kind of culture you're working in, coffee badging won't be an acceptable option.
Even if the policies are flexible, there are also some additional risks that come with coffee badging. As a series of studies on remote workers showed, women who stepped away during the workday were more likely to be noticed and their absence to be assumed to be due to personal reasons, whereas men were less likely to be noticed, and their absence assumed to be due to work commitments. It's not right, it certainly isn't fair, but it is the reality of work as we currently know it.
It’s probably safe to assume that coffee badging can come with a similar risk of discrimination, with women being judged more harshly for showing up late and leaving early than men. With that being said, sometimes you just need to do what you need to do in order to stay sane, whether it’s putting in an appearance at the office, or advocating for a fully remote position, with the knowledge that sometimes, work culture really does suck.
TV audio sucks—especially if you’re trying to understand dialogue. This is a known issue in the TV manufacturing and post-production filming industry that has a relatively simple solution (besides turning on subtitles): get a soundbar. If you’ve never owned a soundbar before, this entry-level number might be your…
There’s comfort viewing, and then there are movies in which the characters are comfortable. They’re not always the same thing. Some of these movies are comfy, cozy watches—though tastes vary wildly. For some, a Hallmark holiday movie is the gold standard to relax by. For others, a Scream movie will serve the same…
Tags de l’article
A “new” dating hack trending on TikTok is for the birds—literally. In a recent TikTok video, content creator Lyss Lyss (@alyssacardib) shares how the“bird test” can predict if a couple’s relationship will last or not.
Your washing machine cleans your clothes, therefore you should clean your washing machine. It’s a simple concept, but not one we think about too often. The washing machine doesn’t always strike me as a clean-able object or even one that needs to be spruced up, but in reality, it does get pretty grimy after pulling the…
Dell’s early Black Friday deals are live, with discounts on laptops, desktops, gaming PCs, monitors, and other acessories. Among them is a great buy for gamers: Right now, Dell is selling the Xbox Series X for $449.99 (down from $499.99 and matching it’s lowest price, according to Honey’s price history. And making the…
Anyone who has experienced any sort of flooding in their home—whether it was a burst pipe, a storm-related incident, or a toilet that picked your vacation week to start leaking—knows that water is your home’s biggest enemy. Water damage is exponentially worse when it involves carpeting—and even worse if it’s carpet…
Target’s early Black Friday deals are already live, and one of their limited-time offers will be especially attractive to pint-size gamers (and their parents). The retailer is offering Roblox gift cards at 40% off for a very limited time—today only, in fact. From now until 2:59 a.m. ET on Friday, Nov. 10, Target is…
Laptops might not be as expensive as they used to be, but they can still be pricey. It makes sense to wait to buy a new one until the prices come down, whether that’s because a new model comes out, or when there’s a huge discount event happening.
The more you walk, the lower your risk of death from all causes and from cardiovascular disease, according to a new study—although the numbers they identified as being effective are all less than 10,000 steps.
Veterans can get quite a few deals on Veterans Day this Saturday, Nov. 11, but you have to know what they are in order to secure them. Here are a few places where veterans can get discounts or special treatment in honor of the holiday. Just be sure to have your military ID or VA discount card on you.
While there is no magic number of credit cards to hold in your name, I’ve repeatedly recommended trying to balance at least two or three of them to give your personal finances a boost. The advice to juggle multiple credit cards won’t work for everyone, though—after all, using a credit card comes with inherent risk—and…
Here’s a secret: If you order something online, then later find a better deal somewhere else, extended holiday return policies make it easy to return the original item. Not all stores offer such a policy, but plenty of the big stores do. If you know the policies ahead of time, you can shop to your heart’s content…
Christmas movies have been a tradition for decades, but the days when we had to watch George Bailey try to jump off of a bridge year after year are well past us. Holiday movies are an industry in and of themselves, with dozens, if not hundreds of new seasonal offerings released starting around June. Most of them are…
Tags de l’article
After Best Buy, Target, and Walmart shared their Black Friday plans, Amazon finally announced its own. Big retailers are rolling out their deals especially early this year, so if you plan to shop, you should take advantage of them.
Tags de l’article
This summer, I became a bit of a boat girl. My boyfriend got a boat and suddenly, I was learning about fishing, docking, navigating, and the uniqueness of marina culture. Perhaps the most valuable thing I learned, though, was about soft scrub. I’d never used it before, but this abrasive cleaner became a deeply…
The whole point of vinyl siding is that you don’t have to paint it and it’ll last for decades, but there are actually a lot of good reasons to consider painting your vinyl siding. For one, it allows you to freshen and transform the exterior of your home—if your siding is faded and weathered, a coat of paint will do…
When purchasing a used car, it’s understood that a certain amount of homework will be involved—looking into things like its mileage, title, and value, as well as whether there are any exterior issues, or problems under the hood.
Throwing away food really bums me out. I’ll do anything to prevent it, including meeting friends at BYOF bars and pushing food onto them. When I can’t do that, I’m a master of leftovers. I’ve concocted some really excellent re-works, like leftover rice salad, leftover cheeseball mac and cheese, or turning leftover…
The holiday season seems to start around June, and Christmas movies have become a mostly cozy preoccupation through much of the year. Though there’s still a bit of variety in seasonal fare, gone are the days when you watched one Christmas movie a year, and it was either about a guy trying to jump off of a bridge or a…
Tags de l’article
Welcome to Evil Week, our annual dive into all the slightly sketchy hacks we’d usually refrain from recommending. Want to weasel your way into free drinks, play elaborate mind games, or, er, launder some money? We’ve got all the info you need to be successfully unsavory.
Law enforcement officers and agents will hide who they are for all kinds of reasons, from catching speeders to infiltrating extremist political groups to preventing the kidnappings of state governors. It’s often hard to recognize undercover cops, but there are some tells, so here’s a rough guide to recognizing cops…
If I’ve learned nothing else from heavy metal, horror movies, and Dungeons and Dragons, I’ve learned that demons are awesome. I want to invite as many as possible into my life to do my bidding and compete in fiddle contests. I’m sure you do, too, so I’ve prepared a step-by-step guide to summoning otherworldly…
Welcome to Evil Week, our annual dive into all the slightly sketchy hacks we’d usually refrain from recommending. Want to weasel your way into free drinks, play elaborate mind games, or, er, launder some money? We’ve got all the info you need to be successfully unsavory.
Welcome to Evil Week, our annual dive into all the slightly sketchy hacks we’d usually refrain from recommending. Want to weasel your way into free drinks, play elaborate mind games, or, er, launder some money? We’ve got all the info you need to be successfully unsavory.
There is a Halloween-appropriate category in today’s puzzle, but it’s hiding in the shadows—good luck finding it! If you’re looking for the Connections answer for October 31, 2023, read on—I’ll share some clues, tips, and strategies, and finally the solutions to all four categories. Along the way, I’ll explain the…
Part of the process of shopping around for a used car is performing various inspections, including checking for damage. Consequently, part of the allure of buying a brand new car is, at least in theory, that you can skip that part, and don’t have to worry about anything being wrong with the vehicle. No previous owners…
Before the 1950s, filmmakers didn’t think about teenagers as anything other than adults-in-waiting—accessories to the adult characters in films. That changed circa the release of Nicholas Ray’s 1955 James Dean star vehicle Rebel Without a Cause, the success of which made studios realize that teens were driving around…
Tags de l’article
Even on high-end models, most TV speakers suck. Bad speakers are the reason you might have trouble understanding the dialogue in shows and movies, and you don’t need a surround sound setup to do better—basically any soundbar will do wonders for your TV’s audio. Currently, Woot is giving you an opportunity to upgrade…
Whether you live in a rambling mansion or a tiny shack (or something in between), your house should be a place of refuge and rest. It’s where you’re at your most vulnerable, where you sleep every night, unconscious and at the mercy of an uncaring universe. So it’s natural that people freak out when they notice their…
Being self-employed gives you the freedom and flexibility to be your own boss. However, one major drawback of being your own boss is securing your own affordable health insurance.
Cash is king, even if the jury is still out on how much you should carry on you at any given moment. What’s not up for debate is how frustrating it is to walk up to an ATM and have to authorize a charge for $2 or $3 for the privilege of accessing your own money. Yes, you can go to one of your bank’s ATMs to avoid the…
For those who like to travel, an affordable mobile data plan might make sense. Right now through Oct. 31, this aloSIM Mobile Data Traveler lifetime eSim plan offers $50 in credit for $21.97 and is advertised to work with networks available in more than 170 countries.
Max has a handful of original series worth streaming in November, starting with season two of the Issa Rae comedy Rap Sh!t, which stars KaMillion and Aida Osman as estranged friends turned rap partners (November 9) followed by season two of Julia, the comedy-drama based on the life of Julia Child (November 16). At the…
Tags de l’article
In today’s fast-paced world, as glaring screens and blaring social media notification demand our attention, the allure of a cozy podcast offers a soothing respite. Picture yourself nestled under a warm blanket, a steaming cup of your favorite drink in hand, and the gentle voice of a host guiding you through a world of…
Tags de l’article
If you’re to believe what you see in porn, the typical script for sex looks something like this: A man’s partner stimulates him until he has an erection, he penetrates his partner, he comes and loses his erection, then sex is over. Basically, the encounter is bookended by the appearance and disappearance of his…
North Carolina and Virginia are scheduled to play in an Atlantic Coast Conference game on Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023 at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The game is scheduled for kickoff at 6:30 p.m. ET.
Lateo.net - Flux RSS en pagaille (pour en ajouter : @ moi)