Welcome to www.minisinbox.com

Communication Key to a Better Work Environment Everyone knows the story of A Christmas Carole. On Christmas Eve, poor Bob Cratchit, who is working late again, spends his day working up the courage to ask his boss, Mr. Scrooge, if he can have Christmas Day off from work to spend with his family. When he finally does get up the nerve to ask, Mr. Scrooge lets forth a tirade over lazy people using Christmas as an excuse to have a day a off from work. This fictional story unfortunately rings true for a lot of people who have to work up the courage to ask for things from their employers. An employee who has to feel about their employer the way Bob Cratchit felt about Mr. Scrooge is not a very happy and productive employee. To get the most of out of your workers, you have to create a much more hospitable working environment. To create a better working environment, keeping the lines of communication open is absolutely crucial. How does communication work in your office? Do you get the impression that everyone is walking around on eggshells around you? While this kind of fear from your employees may be good for your ego in some senses, it is really bad for your business. When your employees don’t feel like they can talk to you, you will lose control over what is going on with your business. You may be the boss, but your employees are the ones who are actually on the front lines. To know what is really going on out there, you need your employees to communicate honestly with you. If they feel that you are unapproachable, they will hide problems and concerns from you, and you won’t be able to act to fix them. You can’t expect to run your business with half of the information about what is actually going on, and so your business will suffer for your “mean boss” routine. There are still other problems with creating an office environment in which your employees feel like you are unapproachable. In general, there will be a dark cloud over the office when you are around. The stress will keep employee morale low, and employees with low morale are employees with low productivity. Besides, who wants to work hard for someone they cannot approach or who doesn’t show they any respect? Shutting down those lines of communication will definitely affect your bottom line as employees “phone it in” because they don’t feel invested in making your business a success. If you want a better working environment, you have to improve the lines of communication. If there has been a communication breakdown in the past, take the time to address it with your staff. If you staff is small, talk to them each one on one, letting them know that your door is always open and that you want more regular communication with them. If you have a larger staff, schedule a meeting to address the issue. Weekly office meetings are a great way to keep communication channels open and swap ideas in the office environment. If weekly meetings are not feasible, find some way of touching base with your staff on a regular basis, either through weekly emails or a weekly newsletter. Also, you should encourage your staff to communicate with each other. Sharing information among the staff is a great way to generate fresh ideas and fresh approaches to problems. If your office is suffering from a communication problem, make nipping it in the bud a priority. The pay off will be more productive workers and a whole lot less stress. Who knew work could actually be a pleasant place to be?

Promotions and Freebie Help from Kraft Foods Are you a Kraft junkie? Do you live for the rich, creamy luscious taste of classic Kraft Macaroni and Cheese? If you are a fan of Kraft Foods, did you know that you could get your hands on Kraft freebies? If you are interested in getting free samples, coupons and other promotions from Kraft foods, here is some information on how you can find promotions and freebies from Kraft Foods. Why Kraft Foods is a Good Company to Get to Know Better Kraft Foods is an excellent place to get your start as a freebie hunter. That is because Kraft Foods is known to put a lot of effort to keeping their brand names in the public eye. Kraft Foods also has many devotees that really follow the brand, and the company makes an effort to connect and stay connected to its consumers. If you are a Kraft Foods fan, you will find that they are a very accessible company when it comes to finding free offers and receiving free services and food product samples. Here are some tips on how you can find Kraft Food promotions and freebies. How You Too Can Get Kraft Food Promotional Freebies If you are interested in accessing free Kraft Foods freebies, here are some ways that you can get your hands on some free Kraft goodies. First, get to know the official Kraft Foods website. The official Kraft Foods website keeps its own promotions page. The promotions page is where you can find the details on the latest free offers, sweepstakes contests, promotions and offers. If you live in Canada, make sure that you consult the Canadian version of the Kraft Foods promotions webpage. For those of you in the United States military, check out the special Kraft Foods Military website for the latest special offers. This promotional Kraft Foods webpage is the best place to find all the latest deals and steals, and of course, freebies. How to Find Other Kraft Foods Promotions Although the Kraft Foods promotions page should be your first stop in finding freebies, not all the promotions available will always be listed on this page. Did you know that you could find many more Kraft Foods promotions simply by subscribing to their popular Food and Family Magazine? It is true. The good news is that the Kraft Works Food and Family Magazine is a totally free publication. This publication is published and distributed quarterly. It is filled with recipes and great coupons, and sometimes, free offers. You can sign up for the Food and Family Magazine directly on the Kraft Foods webpage. Did you know that Kraft Foods is now also publishing a new free online publication, titled Meal and Fitness Plan? This is a free and totally customizable lifestyle publication that can help you lead your best life by eating the best foods for you. How to Find the Availability of the Kraft Foods Offers Sometimes it can be difficult to find the availability of Kraft Food offers. This is mostly due to the fact that the Kraft Foods Corporations maintains many different sites, including a US site, a US Military site and a Canadian site. Make sure that you are checking the right site for you, and that you check the site frequently and periodically in order to get the best deals. The offers and promotions may last from a few days to several months, so make sure that you search the page often. Are There Any Risks to Getting Kraft Foods Freebies? Be aware that when you request free Kraft Foods freebies, you will be placed on mailing lists. You may also receive email offers, so be prepared for an inflow of messages to your inbox.

Let your Resume Speak Volumes for that Next Big Job Before you even get through the door of any job interview, there is already one document that has done the talking for you – your resume. A good resume can mean the difference between getting the call of the interview and waiting by phone, and a well written, thoughtful resume can make you stand out over and above other applications with similar skills and work experience. Let your resume give you the edge on that next big job by following a few simple tips. When you sit down to write your resume, you need to plan it out before you start typing. There are two main formats for a resume: the chronological format, in which you simply list your job history, starting with your most recent or current job and moving backwards, and the functional format, in which you highlight your skills and experience rather than specific jobs and specific employers. The chronological format is definitely the most common, and many employers prefer this kind of resume, but choose the format this is going to show off your skills in the best light. If your work history is a choppy and a chronological format resume would only draw attention to that, use the functional format. The key is to choose the format that will give you the best chance of getting noticed for the job and to stick with the format throughout your resume. No matter which resume format you choose to use, the top of your resume should always include your name, contact information and work objectives. Name and contact information is pretty straight forward, although experts do recommend that if you have a “gender neutral” name that you include a helpful “Mr.” or “Ms” to clear up any confusion. Your work objectives should be your career goals. For instance, if you want to manage a small team of sales people, then say that, so your potential employers know that you are moving in a certain direction with your career and not simply apply for jobs willy-nilly. After your work objective comes your work experience. List your jobs in reverse chronological order. Instead of simply creating a bullet pointed list your work related tasks, look for a way to frame all of your responsibilities so that they sound like you showed leadership and problem solving capabilities. For instance, if you were in charge of keeping the expensive accounts in order, say that you were in charge of troubleshooting monthly expense account records, saving the company hundreds of dollars every month. If you have a few blips in your work history, be clear about what you were doing in the downtime. If you were raising children, traveling, or in school, say that you were. If you weren’t really doing anything, put as positive a spin on things as you can without lying. Never leave gaps in your work history unaddressed on your resume. After your work history, it is time to list your education credentials. If you didn’t finish a degree, say how much college work you completed and highlight any coursework relevant to the job. If your college degree or post grad work is in progress, say when you expect to be finished. This is another place where gaps matter. If there is a gap in your education history, again say what you were doing in that time, referring back to your work history where appropriate. You can overcome these gaps as long as you don’t pretend that they don’t exist. Round out your resume by listing any awards and professional memberships you may hold. Don’t get into your hobbies unless they are specifically related to the position for which you are applying. Personal details like religion and race have no place on your resume and you are not required to disclose your age. Instead, let your experience do the talking.