5 Things You Should Know – Part 404

Here are 5 things you should know.

1. Old people do not often feel old. Treating them as old person, only reminds them that they look old on the outside.

2. If you decide to visit family/friends that are going through a rough time, consider bringing your own food and arrange your transportation, even small inconveniences can add stress in difficult times.

During rough times even small extra tasks/errands can create stress.

3. When driving on wet winter roads, when a car in front of you stops producing (or greatly reduces) its spray behind the rear tires that this means they are driving on ice.

Controlling your speeds and being aware of other vehicles’ speeds as well as movements are very important aspects of driving in inclement weather and/or icy roads. Being able to predict what is about to happen or what could possibly happen could help you avoid being part of or causing a very dangerous accident. If you see that the car in front of you is on ice, slow down GRADUALLY (gives cars behind you time to react) and don’t turn your wheel suddenly as you can easily lose traction doing so.

4. If you’re paying TurboTax to file your taxes, don’t choose to have it deducted from your refund.

TurboTax claims to be totally free but charges you for claiming additional credits or deductions on your returns each year.

They charge you an additional $40 service fee on top of what you already paid for the service charge. Save yourself the money and just pay upfront with a debit or credit card. $40 may not seem like much, but it’s $40 more you’ll get back on your return!

5. When applying to companies abroad, adapt the information in your application to an international context (including adding country phone codes).

When applying to a company abroad, make sure that the information you present is understandable for someone from that country.

This includes:

• Adding the country codes to your phone number (+1 for the US)
• Adding the country to places you worked/studied instead of only states
• Adding the country/city where you’re living
• Not using abbreviations that may not be understood by someone with a different background

Not doing this hinders your chance of getting that job because it makes it more difficult for the company to understand your application. Also, it makes you look like you either lack intercultural competence which companies hiring international applicants will most likely care about, and/or indicate that you aren’t aware that the job you just applied to is not in your home country and you didn’t care to look it up, which almost every company will care about.