In this day and age, you’d think that everyone has mastered the art of writing emails. Well, you’re wrong. The truth is, most people still get confused between personal and professional emails. Such confusion, while fairly understandable, is still unacceptable in the professional world. So whether you’re applying for a job, or just writing an email for business-related communications, following these tips will ensure that you give your mails the professional touch it needs.

1. Be Descriptive With Your Subject Line

Since we’re all coping with cluttered inboxes every day, ensure that your subject line conveys exactly what your whole message is about – especially in a professional setting, where the person on the receiving end can be insanely busy.

Be as descriptive as possible in writing your subject line. Something as vague like: “Thought you’d like this” works fine if you’re passing a helpful article to a friend. But something as detailed as “Great article for networking” is better for your professional contact.

2. Use the Traditional Greeting and Signoff Components

We understand that you want to keep your email as brief and direct as possible, but there’s no need to eliminate the traditionalcomponents – greeting and signoff – just to write a concise email. The greeting and signoff is what ties your whole message together, and maintains a certain level of professionalism.

Whether you want to use something more conversational or go with a super formal greeting is completely up to you. The important part is you include these standard elements into your emails.

3. Ditch Emoji’s and Shorthand’s

Although the two forms of communication became remarkably similar, understand that emailing is still not the same as texting. This means completely skipping shorthand’s and acronyms like OMG and LOL, and using complete phrases like “That’s so funny” or “Wow” to get your point across in a more polished and professional way.

4. Proofread Your Emails Before Sending

It goes without saying, but we’ll remind you again to proofread your mails before sending it. Check for typos and grammatical errors, and ensure that you correctly spelled all the proper nouns. Also, don’t neglect to check your recipient’s email address (you’d want to make sure you’re emailing the right person) and the subject line.

5. Respond Promptly

When it comes to responding to professional emails, make it your goal to reply on time – typically within one business day. Even if you can’t produce a detailed reply in that span of time, you should at least let the sender know that you received his or her message, and you’re working on it.

However, don’t sacrifice the quality of your reply for speed. You wouldn’t want to send a reply too quickly that you neglect crafting a beneficial and thoughtful response. Remember, people won’t be happy to receive a reply that fails to answer all of their questions.

We’re all chained to our inboxes, so who can blame us if we let our email etiquette slide a bit? When it comes to career- and work-related emails, however, it’s crucial that you do your best to be as professional as possible. Put the aforementioned tips to work, and you’re sure to craft professional emails in no time.

As a platform dedicated to networking concept, LinkedIn is an undeniably powerful tool for boosting your professional reputation and making new connections. Sadly, it’s a social networking site that most people fail to put much interest and effort into. But if you’re willing to give the account a chance, we’ve got you covered. Here are six tips you need to know to leverage the power of LinkedIn, and get the most out of the account you used to ignore.

1. Frequently Update Your Profile

Before you start making the most out of LinkedIn, you’ll want to make sure that your profile is in its pristine form. After all, you’d want your new connections to see the most updated and accurate portrayal of your knowledge and skills.

Instead of plainly writing down the university where you graduated or the number of years you’ve been in the working world, tune up your profile by switching out your photo to a more recent one, adding new positions and job descriptions that adequately captures your duties, and adding some personality to it. Lastly, put in some little elbow into re-writing your summary. Also, make it a habit to read through your profile every now and then to double-check if everything’s still accurate, as well as to add new career developments to it.

2. Use the “Who’s Viewed My Profile” Feature

Even if you’re currently not seeking new work opportunities, using this feature will still be beneficial. In fact, it’s actually a great spot to start your goal of expanding your network and making meaningful connections. These people viewed your profile for a reason; they probably got interested with your professional identity.

So the next time you see someone in your ‘who’s viewed my profile’, take some time to send them an invitation to connect. It may seem creepy, but it’s actually not. In fact, you can start several professional relationships using this same tactic.

3. Practise Sending Connection Requests

Another way to effectively use LinkedIn is to proactively reach out to people you admire or want to get to know more about. That photographer in Singapore you’re hoping to work with, that marketing manager you’ve always admired, or that magazine editor you’d love to talk – you surely want to connect with all of them. But chances are, they won’t approach you out of nowhere. So go ahead, send them a connection request and start a conversation. You’ll never know what may happen.

4. Create and Send Personalized Connection Message

Before sending out any connection request, you need to be aware of one of the golden rules in LinkedIn: Always personalize your connection message when you’re requesting to connect with someone. Instead of settling with the generic request message, get a little personal and tell the person why you’d want to connect.

5. Focus on Creating Meaningful Relationships

Sure, adding lots of people in LinkedIn is fun, but it’s also important to remember that your goal is to establish meaningful and quality relationships through the site. So spend your time looking for people whom you think could benefit your career path. Whether they’re frontrunners in your industry, or people with skillsets that could help you later on, focus your energy and time on creating valuable connections.

Use your connect requests as a starting point for your conversation. Then ensure to stay in touch by congratulating them on new accomplishments or simply liking their interesting posts. There’s no need to send and answer lengthy emails every day, but make some effort to ensure you stay in the loop.

6. Utilize the LinkedIn Pulse Feature

LinkedIn Pulse is a site feature that allows you to self-publish a content. It’s a space meant for sharing your views and skills even if you’re not a writer. You can use this platform to publish your original content and give you some credibility, thus taking your LinkedIn profile up a notch. So go ahead and write about your favourite photography equipment and style to use, or your views on the changes in the healthcare industry.

At first, LinkedIn may seem like a useless and stuffy site that you only signed up in because you felt like you had to. But if you just spend some time exploring it, you’ll realize how amazing and powerful it can be. So sign into your account now, put these tips to work and prepare to get some great results.

Since people normally have a lot of outdoor activities every day, we cannot avoid the bacteria we get from just taking a bath. There are bacteria and viruses that can be transmitted through different ways that may harm our immune system and other internal parts of our body. Aside from making a person sick, we are less able to fight of the germs that can cause infections and worst is, cancer. Before your body gets affected from contagious diseases that we get from viruses, bacteria, and other diseases such as the Human Immunodeficiency Virus, be sure to get vaccinated.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or known to be as HIV, is a virus that destroys the human body’s immune system due to germs we get from workplace, public transportation, streets, food establishments, hospitals, and everywhere else. How is HIV spread? This virus is transmitted through blood, semen, vaginal fluids, pre-seminal fluids, rectal fluids, and breast milk.

However, there are medications that would help fight HIV in our body and would help us recover our weak immune system. But HIV has no cure, however, it can only be cured temporarily for only a short period of time. What would happen if you work in a hospital specializes in medical care to patients having HIV? Would you survive?

Stated below are safety precautions on associating HIV-positive persons:

• Wear gloves especially when you are going to have contact with the patient’s blood and other body fluids.
• After having contact with the patient’s blood and other body fluids, wash your hands immediately. Disinfect surfaces that are soiled with blood.
• If you have cuts, sores, or wounded part on your skin, make sure to cover it bandage. This may apply to you and your patient.
• Avoid practices that may let you be affected by HIV, such as the sharing of razors, toothbrushes, spoons, and etc.
• Wear face mask in visiting your patient.
• Get tested by a doctor to see your HIV status.

What to do I need to do if I am infected by HIV?

The very important thing to do if you know that you are infected by the virus is to take medicines that can reduce the amount of virus or viral load present in your body. The Antiretroviral Therapy or (ART) can help you fight off infections in your body. It can keep you healthy for longer years. Visit your health care provider regularly and maintain the medicine given to you as well as the advised therapy for HIV infection. Use condoms in having sex to avoid the risk of transmitting HIV to your partner. If you inject drugs, never share your needles to others. Wear an appropriate face mask when talking to other people.

A lot of countries have high risk of HIV infection, if you are more careful enough, then there will be zero chances of getting infected by persons with HIV. Be mindful of the precautions mentioned above because we don’t know that the person next to you right now is also infected.

Hiking, biking, picnic – these are some activities best enjoyed under the sun. Being out and enjoying warm weather can be a great way to pass the time for everyone. When the sun is up, it feels like a good time to go to the beach or a party with friends, chase after butterflies at the park, or just lay down on the couch and read a good book with a cold drink.

But what if the sun’s not up? What if a sunny day is not around and all we can see are dark clouds? What if we can’t do the things we like to do because the rain is hindering us? Well, there is really nothing to worry about if we are in a nice and cozy bed weather. Here are five activities that you can do during a cold and rainy day:

1. Play board games. Board games are not boring at all. One of the best activities that many people enjoy during cold and rainy day is playing board games with friends or family. It is always nice to have few laughs while playing different classic board games like Snakes and Ladders, Monopoly and Scrabble. It’s a great bonding experience that you can share with your loved ones over delicious snacks.

2. Watch videos. Make some popcorn and settle down to a good film. A rainy day is the perfect weather for you to cuddle up and get comfy lying on your couch while digging in your freshly cooked popcorn and enjoying your favorite movie. “Bed weather” is a perfect time for you to relax yourself and have a movie marathon alone, with your special someone, or together with your family and friends.

3. Catch up on your reading. A rainy day is a perfect time to read. When it’s cold outside and you have nowhere to go, why not grab your favorite novel or any book that you love to read? If you are not exactly into reading novels, you can also read magazines while having a sip in your favorite hot drink. A cold weather is the best time for you to read, especially when you are just cuddled up on your bed under your comfort sheets.

4. Listen to some good tunes. Music never fails to soothe and entertain. You can play your guitar or the piano, or just listen to your favorite jam on Spotify or on your music library. Instead of being irritated by the weather, why not use the time to just stay at home, lying on your bed while listening to your favorite songs. Revisit the inner you and drown into the fantasy of music.

5. Practice your creativity. Being stuck at home is a great time to bring out the artist in you – draw, sketch, or paint your heart out and let the boredom fly away. Instead of getting upset with the cold weather, make use of your time to harness your certain skills. For instance, you can draw anything you like; sketch people, paint places. Unleash your inner artist and just enjoy. After, you will see that time flies fast when you indulged yourself too much on the fun activity you don’t usually do.

Finding a perfect partner is a real struggle for everyone. In this generation, the standard of a perfect guy or a perfect girl is evidently a real high deal. With the pressure of society, everyone tends to think of finding the right girl or the right guy a mere fantasy because not everyone believes that there is true love that still exists even in the roughest of times.

Because love is something precious, setting standards for your perfect one is not a new concept. We all have that individual perception of what is the ideal woman or ideal man for us. For a man, the search for a better half that he can always depend on and will cherish for the rest of his life. For single woman out there, here are five basic things that a man is usually looking for a woman:

1. Being beautiful is one thing – having brains is something. It is a fact that a beautiful face can really attract the eyes – but if you’re a woman who wants more than the adoration of the eyes, beauty will never be enough. Man of this generation tends to find brainy and smart woman attractive than those who have only face and body to offer. They find it more beautiful if a woman has a speck of intelligence hidden in her beautiful head.

2. Princess on the outside – warrior on the inside. Every woman deserves to be pampered like a princess, and a real gentleman knows that. But modern men finds it admiring if the woman can handle herself. The type who is feminine enough but can stand up for herself – that’s the kind of woman, today’s gentlemen thinks are for keeps.

3. Being clingy is charming but independence is admiring. When a girl clings too much to his man – it is indeed adorable, yet men of today’s generation find independence as sexy. Usually, men nowadays falls for a woman who is independent. The kind of woman, who acknowledges his man, but doesn’t have to depend on him every time.

4. The kind who got his back. For a man, a girl who loves him so much, understands his ideals and supports his decisions is a kind of girl that he will cherish his whole life. Living in this modern world where life is always in the fast paced – a man definitely needs someone who will support him all the way. The kind of woman who always got his back whether things go according to plan or not – he knows he always have her by her side, always understanding and giving him incomparable love. Without a doubt, if a man finds a woman like this – she will definitely be for keeps!

5. Modernly classic – a bit of finesse and a ton of fun. What’s more adorable than to have a woman who behaves like a lady but also has the fun side within. It adds up to a woman’s sex appeal, and men usually finds it sexy, when a woman has a good sense of humor. Well, who doesn’t love a funny while at the same time a loving woman right?

An organized office table is seen as a reflection of how neat and orderly an employee is. While most employees see to it that their office spaces are in such state, some find this very difficult to achieve.

The problem starts when there’s a pile of unsorted documents in our drawer – among paperclips, rubber bands, pen covers and highlighters, among other knick knacks – and we do nothing about it. Every day we keep putting off the task of de-cluttering our office table until the whole area becomes a mess with all the accumulated stuff. Then we begin having trouble finding things, get frustrated and upset, then ask ourselves how such a small space can cause so much inconvenience. Sounds familiar? Before this adds up to your office stress, follow these five simple steps for a clutter-free table:

• Sort

You might not know it but this is the key element in organizing everything – from documents to pens to paperclips. Same things must be grouped together according to its function. This will make your table organized and this will enable you to find things easily. You can make use of envelopes and jars to sort paper documents and paraphernalia. Segregate what needs to be kept and what needs to be thrown away. When you sort from the very beginning, things will be in their respective places – literally and figuratively.

• Document

A problem you may encounter in sorting paper documents is that you may be unsure whether or not you will still need a particular document. To ease you of the burden of fear that you might have thrown away something that is important, document it. Your scanner and camera phone can come in handy with this dilemma.

Take a clear photo of the documents of the tiniest importance before shredding or throwing away. This method of organizing is easy and paperless! In this manner, you can always save a back-up of the photo and refer to it when the need arises. Make sure you still sort the soft copies in your computer though. Otherwise, your desktop will be cluttered and you will again spend time sorting it.

• Dispose

Once you feel comfortable disposing the papers, be sure to do it properly. If it contains confidential or personal information, off to the shredder it goes. If the other side of the paper is still useable, put it in the scratch paper compartment. Who knows, you might take interest in doing paper maches or origamis in the future. With this, not only have you taken steps in de-cluttering your office table but you have also helped Singapore in its campaign for recycling for a greener environment.

• Label

Once you have gone through disposal, all that is left in your table are the essential items you must keep. Label these things. These labels and tags will serve as a guide and will make your office table become organized. Cleaning up a mess can be fun and enjoyable. While you’re at it, be at your most creative! Use vibrant colors and showcase your penmanship if you have a good one. All your pens are just at the tip of your fingertips!

• Maintain

Let’s face it. You don’t live in a perfect world where you are programmed to put everything in order. Office employees are just not built like that. True enough, there will be busy days wherein you will not be able to put things in their right places. If this happens, do not be hard on yourself as this is perfectly normal.

However, there must be a sense of awareness of the chaos in your office table. You alone are accountable for the mess, thus you are fully responsible of bringing back your office space to its original organized state. Set aside a couple of minutes on a specific day of the week as your maintenance schedule. For instance, check the status of your office table every last day of the week.

Ensure that all papers and items are in proper order. A 15-minute check every week is better than an hour or two of organizing every month. Coming to the office with a clean and clear table will be a good way to welcome another work week. Having a clutter-free table will indeed make you organize your thoughts productively in the office!

They say people who love to eat are the best people. Every July, the Singapore Food Festival is celebrated by showcasing different Singapore cuisines. Like everyone, you enjoy eating in hawk centers or in restaurants all over the country. Just the aroma of the infamous Hainanese chicken rice makes your mouth melt and leaves you craving for this dish after your first bite. Or on a lazy night at your apartment, you are among the avid viewers of cooking shows where the contestants feature their own creative masterpieces.

You see them skillfully chop the ingredients and simultaneously put everything in the pan without breaking a sweat. They act so in control and you ask yourself what it takes to be like them. You get giddy and you gush – all for the love of food and cooking shows. If cooking is among the list of your things-to-do for 2016, you are in for a surprise with these easy starter guides for an activity that will make your stomach and heart full!

• Compile recipes

Start with the basics. Knowledge is indeed power. With today’s technology, recipes are just a click away. Assign a special folder in your computer for your recipes. Print-outs and magazine cookbooks are also good ideas. Initially gather recipes of your favorite dishes for inspiration and motivation. Bear in mind that something that you’ve eaten for nth times already will not be that hard to cook, right?

You, of all people, would know the right taste to your favorite food. Cooking is just like learning how to drive. Once you have taken the theory to heart, your cooking instinct will follow. Starting it right by having the proper knowledge will surely develop your cooking skills!

• Buy essential ingredients

After reading the compiled recipes over and over again, you will notice that certain spices are repeatedly used. There are basic ingredients which are ever present in cooking. Look up your compiled menus and check the common ingredients. Salt, pepper, onion, garlic – these are some of the most used spices. Be sure to stock handful of these in your kitchen.

Constantly seeing these will likewise motivate you to continue cooking meals after meals. It is also equally important to follow the proper storage of food items like meat and vegetables to ensure cleanliness of the food that you’ll be cooking and serving for yourself and your loved ones. Observing the Do’s and Don’ts in storing food will likewise maximize its shelf-life, leaving nothing to waste.

• Organize cooking tools

The pans that you will be using will depend on the kind of food that you will cook. You should know when to use casserole, pressure cooker or frying pans. The duration and the temperature of your cooking will be greatly considered in choosing the right cooking pan. The pan size must also be proportion to the amount of servings you plan to cook.

This will ensure an energy-saving and an efficient time for cooking. Measuring tools are part of your cooking tools. Even the professional chefs rely on these. As a beginner, organize your measuring spoons and cups. Familiarize yourself with the units of measurement indicated in the tools. It is also wise to keep a table of unit conversion for reference.

You might need to do unit conversions with what is indicated in the recipe versus what unit is available in your measuring tools. Be well-versed with approximation of volume per instrument. For instance, how many ml are there in one teaspoon? This should come easily once you are comfortable with the proper estimations. Ratio and proportion will also come in handy once you prepare dishes in bigger quantities in the future.

• Practice

Like in every activity, some first-timers have beginner’s luck in cooking. If you are fortunate, you might achieve desired taste on your first try. However, if you think you didn’t do well in your first try, do not be discouraged. Re-trace and review your steps if you missed something. Did the meat become too tender?

Is the dish too salty? Mistakes are stepping stones towards a more tasteful dish. Improvement in cooking will likewise be achieved through calibration. No one becomes a good cook overnight. Practice and take note of your previous lapses to prevent repeating the same mistake. Once you’re familiar with the ingredients, tools and recipes, nothing can go wrong!

• Garnish and serve

The one who cooks is as excited as the one who eats. Even if it is just an ordinary day of the week, always make sure your dish is presentable. Decorate and garnish the food. At the end of the day, cooking is all about labor of love and serving a hearty meal!