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To Enter or Not to Enter Writing Contests (writing contests) If you are a freelance writer, it is because you love to write. Why not put those abilities to use and enter a writing contest? You have nothing to loose and a lot to gain. You can find writing contests by simply searching the Internet. Writing groups and message boards may also have listing for these contests. No matter what you writing genre maybe poetry, fiction, non fiction, there is a contest out there for you. Read about them and choose which ones are right for you. It is not necessarily about winning or loosing but about the experience and knowledge that you gain to get there. Whether you win or not there are still valuable things that can be learned or gained by entering into contests. Entering writing contests will help you hone the skills that you have. Try something new, you may choose to write in a niche that you normally wouldn’t. You get constructive criticism from someone new. Someone that doesn’t have to worry about hurting your feelings and that is unbiased can be a wonderful asset to your career. The feedback you receive can be invaluable to you. It will get your name out there and give you a place to showcase your work. Depending on how good your story, if you make it to the next round your writings could be in front of editors and agents. This feedback and criticism is even more important than the first. Do not your eggs all in one basket. Enter a couple contests to get multiple feedback sources. Not every editor or agent is going to agree. By entering multiple contests and find common points about your writing that need perfecting you will be able to concentrate on a general consensus about your abilities. There are some downsides to entering writing contests, too. Chances are that a simple contest is not going to launch your career into star status. Do your research just as if you were going to write an article about contests. For many contests you give up your rights to your entry whether it wins or not. You need to decide whether or not you are willing to give up all rights to your story. If you win it is not a big deal, but if you loose your giving your work away. Are you willing to do this? Research the contest. You can search the Internet for reports or opinions on contests run by the company. You can find valuable information on if the contest is legitimate, if entering has had any effect of previous entrant’s careers, and if it is really worth it in the long run. The bigger and well-established companies will give credibility to your work if you win. But the bigger and more well know the companies are will also bring in tougher competition with well know authors. Some companies offer contests as a disguise. Yes they will give away prizes and declare winners but their main goal with the contest is advertising. It can be in the form of offering you to buy obscure book featuring your contest submission. Sometimes it is an editing company that offers a discount for its services or a company that will offer you discounts on writing classes. A writing contest is just a possible stepping stone. Whether it helps you or not is the unknown, but it definitely won’t hurt you. It may help you reach the next level of your career. You and only you will be able to make the decision on whether or not writing contests are a good move for your career.

Filling Out Surveys Could Equal Free Stuff! Did you know that you could get great freebies simply by filling out surveys? It's true—while you may not be able to get rich off of filling out surveys, you will certainly be able to get your fill of great freebies. Here are some tips for filling out freebies so you too can get great free stuff. One of the Web's Best Sites for Filling Out Surveys for Free Stuff There are many fine websites that offer freebies. One of the best websites for finding free stuff is known as MyPoints BonusMail. This website operates as a shopper's reward program. It is fast, easy and totally free to join MyPoints BonusMail. What can this shopping rewards program do for you? It is easy, and did we mention free? All you have to do is to fill out the registration form. After signing up with MyPoints BonusMail, you will begin to receive offers in your email inbox. You set your own personal preferences when you sign up about the number of emails you wish to receive on a weekly basis. In order to complete the registration process, you will be asked to take a short survey about your shopping preferences and general interests. You will only receive emails in your in box regarding the preferences you have indicated. The programs works through point accumulation. When you have accumulated a certain number of points, you will qualify for gift cards to some of your favorite retail centers and merchants, including big names like Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart and many others. How do you accumulate points? You get points by making purchases directly through the MyPoints website. You also accumulate points by reading emails and clicking on the promotional links. Finally, you can also gain points by filling out surveys. MyPoints BonusMail is a long-established website that has helped shoppers get something back every time that they make a purchase. Finding the Best in Freebie Surveys Why does filling out surveys often result in free stuff? Filling out surveys is an easy, efficient and relatively accurate way for companies to find out what is on the mind of the general consuming public. Many companies will often offer free samples or products to consumers who are willing to take the time to fill out a full survey. Thus, filling out surveys can be a great way for companies to get some relatively cheap market research done. Don't expect to get rich off filling out surveys, but do expect some kind of compensation, even if it is only a free sample of a popular product. Freebie Sites Are Often a Good Place to Find Freebie Surveys There are many well-regarded websites that specialize in web freebies. If you already have a good spate of freebie websites bookmarked, these sites are wonderful resources for finding legitimate freebie surveys. Many of these sites offer a compendium of the latest surveys and companies offering freebies and product samples. Word to the Wise – Be Wary if It Seems Too Good to Be True If it seems to good to be true, it probably is. This is the rule in life, and it rings true when it comes to the practice of filling out surveys for freebies. Here are some short and easy guidelines for avoiding non-legit surveys. Never fill out a survey that requires you to divulge too much information. You should especially avoid surveys that ask for personal contact information, as the survey may be just a front to gain sales contact information. Is that free sample of detergent really worth getting on telemarketers to-call lists? Be careful to whom you hand over your information.

Explaining How Credit Scores are Used in the Hiring Process You might be wondering why credit scores are used in hiring processes. While you may have never heard about it, it is actually a more common practice than you might think. Companies and institutions such as banks, universities, retail stores, financial institutions across the United States use credit scores to determine whether an applicant is good for the open position or not. Even though you might think that this is illegal, it is not. In general, it is a legal undertaking for companies to look at your credit score. This is yet another reason why you should make sure that your credit scores are good and up to date. So why would they be using your credit information in a hiring process? For some of these companies, employees will be exposed to a lot of money and have a financially responsible position. Your credit information can actually help them determine whether you are a financially responsible person or not. Companies think that if you cannot handle your own money, why you would be qualified to handle their money? On the one side, if you think about it, it is a very valid thought. On the other side, the credit history will not tell the company how you might have gotten all the debt. What if one of your family members is really badly sick or a similar situation? In this case, you have not been irresponsible with your money, but you saved a family members life. You might have been willing to take on all this debt and then work from there. Sometimes numbers are just not an accurate representation of your life. Companies that do use your credit are not only determining whether you can handle money, in some instances they use it as an indicator for your character. It will tell them if you are responsible with your money and finances you are a responsible person. A person that will not be tempted by money or certain situations in a workplace is a person they can securely trust with their funds, their tasks or their great projects. One thing is for sure, the company needs to let you know that they are going to check your credit history in their hiring process and they also need to let you know what they are checking for. The criteria they are looking is the criteria they have to tell you about before you give them the permission. Unless they tell you and have a signature of permission from you, they are not allowed to check and use your credit history. If they miss these above mentioned steps, you do have a case in you hands that you can bring to the court. In some instances, some of the people that were not told about the credit check and have been denied have had a good case in their hands. But as with so many things in life in the United States it pays off to have a good credit history and such a check will not ruin your career moves. Check your credit history every year since once a year the big credit companies do have to give you a free credit report. In the case that you find any wrong or dubious items on your account go ahead and dispute them. Oftentimes companies might just have put a claim against your account that is not really caused by you. Why do companies do that? Money has caused many bad things in the world and a company that wants their money back is going to run after any lead they have. Therefore disputing your case and putting your credit score back to normal can be an essential part in your application and hiring process with some companies.