Think learning a new language is boring? Think again – with these techniques, you can improve your skills while having fun!

Here are seven unorthodox language learning tips from the seasoned writers of Scholar Advisor that might just change your perspective in the language learning process:

Stage a Play

It doesn’t have to be a big production. Remember that the keyword to these tips is fun while learning. Stage a short play for a small audience you think would enjoy.

Of course, the other key point here is to stage a play in a completely different language, preferably the one you’re learning. Make use of the language while having fun in this simple activity.

Go on a Blind Date

One way to meet new people, have fun, and practice a new language all at once is through this unconventional tip.

Go on a blind date with a native speaker and try practicing a few key phrases with them during your date. You can even go to a restaurant and try practicing your basic phrases while ordering.

Cook a Foreign Dish

The important part of this exercise is to cook a dish in which instructions are written in another language. This not only boosts your vocabulary, it also helps acquaint you with basic phrases and instructions.

To avoid any accidents, start out with minor dishes first. You don’t have to be able to cook a grand meal yet, just make sure you get the hang of the language.

Buy Comics

Like children’s books, comics are also fun and easy to read, and can also help you be more familiar with the language you’re learning.

Aside from this, interesting storylines and appealing images won’t make it look like a chore, but more of an engaging exercise that both appeals to your visual senses, and helps you learn faster and better.

Once you’ve gotten the hang of reading, learning the language overall will be much easier.

Explore Your Surroundings

This one is for people who are traveling in another country. To really test whether you’ve learned the language right, head out of your cozy room, and walk the streets.

Ask the locals about facts and places in the area where it might be good to stay and further immerse yourself in the culture. Just make sure you can find your way back later on.

Write Down Your Grocery List

Similar to learning to cook in your language of choice, writing down your grocery list is a simple and engaging way to incorporate the language in your daily life.

In fact, before getting on the recipe itself, you can start with the grocery list first. Build your vocabulary by identifying as many kitchen materials and foodstuff in a foreign language you know. You might be surprised by your progress.

Introduce Yourself

Try this out with a friend, or with a pen pal.

Practice communicating with others in a foreign language by making a full introduction using that language alone. Avoid code switching to your native tongue, but try to sound as natural as possible in your introduction.

Don’t be too stiff. If you’re comfortable enough with the person whom you are sharing to, you can also ask for feedback on how well you used the language.

Learning doesn’t always have to stay in school, especially when it comes to an immersive topic like language. Think outside the box and engage in activities that might seem a bit different from classroom exercises.

Incorporate the language as much as possible in your daily life to make it feel more natural to you.

Author’s Bio: Stacey Marone is a freelance writer and blogger. She is fascinated with traveling, exploring new cultures, languages and people. Her hobby is to gather interesting facts and stories and she gladly shares them with everybody.

College and university life can provide many challenges for students, and it’s always good to have someone around who can give students the hints and effective tips that help them get the most out of their study time and their school years. In fact, the advice that Stefan Knapen provides at his website StudySuccessful.com can be applied to many situations and to people of all ages. After all, learning starts immediately and is a never-ending process! Check out Stefan’s site for answers to your questions about study habits, personal development, modern technology, and more.

7SR: You moved quickly through your university years and are now attending medical school in your early 20s. You must be incredibly busy! How do you fit everything into your schedule?

Haha, yeah things are going pretty fast. Well, what I did in my first couple of years was focussing on setting up a system. What kind of schedule should I use, how much work can I take on, and experimenting with different studying techniques. Probably one of the most interesting concepts I learned was the ‘Parkinson’s Law’, which teaches us that work expands with the amount of time you give it. So by taking up a lot of work, you won’t have a lot of time left to give to it. This results in the need to be highly effective in that work.

Take preparing a presentation for example. I could work hours on creating the perfect powerpoint, preparing all the jokes and practicing the presentation a couple of times beforehand. Now, as I simply did not have that time I needed to find the input which yields the highest results. So I focus on the story, I focus on the core principle. The powerpoint lay-out is not a priority at that point. This is also why starting the night before usually works out ‘fine’ (although it is for stress-reasons definitely not recommended!)

7SR: Here at 7 Speed Reading we encourage students to learn to speed read so that they can get through their research and study projects more quickly. Is this something that you’ve found to be helpful?

In med school I have to read a lot. In keeping up my blog I have to read probably even more. So learning the principles of speed reading helped me definitely. I don’t recommend to always speed read, but if it is a low-density text and there are only a couple of principles to get out of it, speed read your way through it and memorise the concepts later.

7SR: You wrote a free guide on how to build a personal website. Why is it important for people to have an online presence?

First of all: in this day and age it’s really simple. If you don’t own your own domain name somebody else will soon enough.

Second: Anybody who will ever have something to do with you will Google you. Being aware of your online presence and working on it as well can give you easily the ownership of the top 5 results in Google. Now, what do you want your future employer to find when he Googles you. Your own personal website, where your CV is clearly outlined and links to your portfolio? Or that picture where your roommate throws beer over you at that frat party on Facebook?

The free guide is a simple step-by-step instruction on how to create your own personal website. Check it out at StudySuccessful: http://studysuccessful.com/blog-as-student/

7SR: Good study habits are important for success in school, and can be applied even in a person’s later professional life. What are some of the study habits you encourage people to develop?

The best study habit would probably be finding out how you work as a person. Do you learn the most from lectures or from books? Do you like to read text or look at pictures? Do you study better in the morning or in the evening? In your first years these are core concepts to figure out. Find out where you are good at and use that.

7SR: What are three things you would recommend to someone who is starting their first year at university?

Again. Find out how you work. What is your way to do things. Together with that: also find out how social aspects of the University life fit into that, because they have to fit in there. This is the best time to meet new people, to make new connections. Use that. Say yes, become busy and find out how you can flourish! 

Cross-posted on the 7 Speed Reading blog.

Do you type “buy” when you meant to type “bye”? That’s awkward, to say the least.

It’s a shame to damage an otherwise excellent blog post with mistakes in grammar and language use. The good thing is that when you write blog posts you probably tend to make the same mistakes over and over again, so it’s easy to identify your weak spots and learn to correct mistakes before you make them.

Below are some common language use mistakes we all make. How many are you guilty of?

A or An?

It’s 1st grade stuff, really: you use “a” with words starting with a consonant and “an” with words starting with a vowel. Right? If only things were that straightforward!

“A” is also used with words starting with a consonant if, when spelled out, the first letter would begin with a vowel.

Think how “n” and “m” are pronounced, and how you would write them out. They start with a vowel: you would write [en] and [em].

This means that you say, “He is an NBA player” and not “He is a NBA player”.

Another example of this is the phrase, “There’s a U-turn coming up in 100 metres.” Here, the letter “u” is pronounced “You.” Even though the letter is a vowel, you need to use “an” because it is spelled out as if it begins with a consonant [yoo].

Homophone Wars

The carnage is dreadful. No matter how careful you are you will at some point end up confusing words like “jean” and “gene” or typing “passed” when you meant to type “past.”

Yes, the English language is full of mine fields, but familiarizing yourself with common homophone blunders you ensure you will avoid them in your writing (plus you’ll get to scold others who are still making them).

Common homophone mix-ups include these word pairs:

patience – patients

vale – veil

hear – here

your – you’re

night – knight

dear – deer

one – won

there – their – they’re

none – nun

The Fewer or Less predicament

This is not really a predicament if you know a simple rule. “Fewer” is used with countable nouns, as in “fewer lessons” and “fewer flowers.” For uncountable nouns use “less” – say “less money” or “less time.”

Note however that you will use “less” and not “fewer” when reporting on a measurement, as the Oxford Dictionary says. Example: “They got divorced in less than 3 years after getting married.”

Dangling modifiers

Think of a dangling modifier as a word without a root. It’s a word, phrase, or clause in a sentence, where it is not clear which other phrase or word in a sentence it is connected to. The noun can either be very far from the modifier or not present in the sentence at all. Consider the following sentence:

“Reading your complaint letter, my dog will not go outdoors unattended again.”

This sentence omits  the noun altogether. For clarity, it should read:

“Reading your complain letter, I will not let my dog outdoors unattended again.”

This restores peace in your neighborhood and reassures your neighbor your dog doesn’t have a reading superpower. But if you learn to avoid these common mistakes, you’ll definitely be a super writer!

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments

How often do you read? Chances are you’re reading much less than you’d like. It happens to everyone. We try to set aside time for this sense-awakening pastime only to have our to-do lists and last-minute errands steal that sacred time away from us.

Be more rigid with your reading time. It’s an invigorating experience for your heart and your mind. So, at a time when reading is verging on becoming an extinct art, put down your phone and pick up a book. A world of inspiration and awe awaits.

My Animals And Other Family

This book by Clare Balding is a brave story of self-discovery. It’s bold yet tender, it’s funny yet serious in its teachings. It’s your new favorite, actually.

This story will just make you want to be a better person. You will feel such an invogirating joy when you read it because it’s so full of poignant humor. Take this quote, for example:

“I had spent most of my childhood thinking I was a dog, and suspect I had aged in dog years.”

The Five People You Meet In Heaven

This book by Mitch Albom tells the heartbreaking story of Eddie, a war veteran who dies trying to save a young girl. He’s now in the afterlife. But instead of living the bliss he was promised, he has five people explain life to him.

A book that will shake you to the core.

Who Moved My Cheese?

This book by Dr. Spenser Johnson is not fiction but it will change your life. Why? It’s about change itself. Dr. Johnson inspires you to deal with change by giving you the language and toolkit to do it. He explains how your attitude will work wonders in how you perceive reality and the changes occurring. Through the explanations in the book, you will see a clear path to welcome change and use it in your favor, whether it’s for your career or your personal life.

The Four Agreements

A book by Don Miquel Ruiz that teaches you the four agreements,the four essential steps for utter personal freedom. The wisdom shared by Ruiz goes back to the roots of traditional Toltec beliefs.

Learn practical steps on how to change your way of thinking and create a reality and life that’s permeated by the freedom you deserve.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

This Lewis Carroll classic is the go-to book for many adults and children alike. It’s a world-famous piece of art on how life, just like our dreams and fantasies, is inexplicable, ironic, majestic, and nonsensical — all at once.

Whether you honored World Book Day on April 23 or not it doesn’t matter. You still have time to grab the next best-seller and immerse yourself in a journey of no return!

Here are our top five picks you can read at home, while commuting or with your best friend by your side.

The Vacationers by Emma Straub

A book on the intricate relationships among family and friends. A family goes on a two-week trip to Mallorca. See what life has in store for them.

A Colder War by Charles Cumming

This espionage thriller will be the first book you’ve read in one sitting in years. Immerse yourself in an adrenaline-packed tour de force with MI6 agent Thomas Kell. You’ve been warned!

One More Thing by B. J. Novak

A funny short story book you will return to when you feeling blue or ecstatic with life. Your call! Written by well-known former The Office writer.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

If you’re lucky and haven’t watched the movie yet, grab this book and run before the spoilers get you.

Finders Keepers by Stephen King

The much anticipated release by Stephen King comes out in the first week of June. Enough time to catch up on his best works to date!

Technology advances at a pace we can hardly keep up with.  The old sci-fi movie scenario where you could control everything around by pressing a button, typing a few keystrokes, or swiping a touchpad is no longer the realm of fiction – it’s a reality.

For many people, the demands required to cope with new technological advances is a cause of stress. The complexity of learning to use and make the most out of new technologies often makes people anxious and reluctant to integrate them in their professional and personal lives.

The inevitable question is this: how do we keep up with a constantly evolving world that’s becoming more and more tech-driven?

The answer is simple: we keep evolving, too.

As technology makes giant strides to improve our lives, we should be following its lead. If we want our lives to improve, we need to build the skills necessary for to take advantages of technology.

Build Your Tech Vocabulary

New technologies generally mean new words to learn. You need to understand the words and how to use them in order to be relevant and efficient in communicating with others. Building your vocabulary could help you understand more of the tech-based discourse you’ll find in most fields these days, even those that are not directly based in IT support and development.

Build Your Typing Skills

Keyboard-based devices are becoming more widespread. They already reign over the workplace, and are moving into more areas of the home.

You work on your desktop computer, watch movies on your tablet while commuting back home, and engage on social media through your smartphone while having dinner. Even if your typing skills are fairly weak, you will be still able to perform all these activities – you’ll just end up doing it in a counterintuitive, time-consuming manner.

Learning to touch type more efficiently is one skill that will help you cope better with technologies at home and at work. You will be able to work productively on any keyboard-based device, and do so  in less time. This will give you a sense of confidence and sovereignty over your technology. In other words, you’ll rule the device, instead of giving it power over you.

Read More, Read Often

Simply improving your typing skills and related vocabulary won’t suffice, however. There’s still a lot you can do in order to not just cope with technology, but actively leverage it to improve your life.

Start reading a lot of articles, blogs, and books on how new technologies work. Learn what the future could look like if scientists figure out ways to implement affordable technologies in our lives. Be one of the people who are “in the know” when it comes to new developments and new tech trends.

Technology has great potential, and there will always be new ways that it helps businesses grow and flourish. On a personal level, technology can enable people to capitalize on their skills and competencies in order to improve their lives.

Technology makes it possible for us to have responsive organizations: companies that are willing and able to adapt, revisit, and respond to a world that never stops changing and surprising us.

Don’t let technology intimidate you. Embrace its elegant beauty and stunning potential.

Yes, uncertainty and mistakes are part and parcel of using new technologies, but so is exhilaration and efficiency. Instead of running away from technology, try learning to use it. Experience the whole new world it makes available to you and you will soon wonder why on Earth you avoided it before.

Technology will first change how we work, and then the way we live. Just make sure you’re a competent and willing learner of technology, and it will be good to you!

Since we announced the release of Spreeder Pro for iPhone, the response has been unprecedented. Tens of thousands of iOS users have visited our website, answered our survey, or contacted our helpdesk. In this blog post we answer your most common questions about Spreeder Pro for iPhone.

We truly believe this is the most important thing we have ever done to realize our vision of changing lives by changing the way people read. We are very excited to be bringing your Spreeder Pro iPhone soon!

NOTE: If you have not completed the Spreeder Pro iPhone survey, we’d REALLY appreciate it if you could click here and do it now. It only takes 20 seconds and we’re checking every response before we go live.

If I start reading on my iPad or laptop, can I continue where I left off on my iPhone?

Yes you can. That is exactly the idea. Your cloud library and reading is wherever you are, whenever you need it, whether that be on your desktop, iPad, laptop or iPhone. Spreeder remembers and syncs the position in every book you’re reading across all your devices.

I already have Spreeder Pro on iPad and desktop; will I automatically be given access to the iPhone version too?

Absolutely! We stand by our customers and we’d never charge you more to access a new platform. All existing Spreeder Pro customers will be given access to the iPhone version at no additional cost.

What if I’m not yet a Spreeder Pro customer?

If you’re not yet a Spreeder Pro customer, please don’t buy Spreeder Pro yet. We’ll be doing a launch special offer with a huge discount to celebrate the iPhone release. Stay tuned for more information.

How flexible is the speed e-reader?

The famous Spreed (speed e-reading) function is better than ever on the iPhone. It has powerful settings so you can make it match you reading style. You can adjust the number of words, number of lines, fonts, and advanced settings. There is configurable punctuation pausing and much more. You can stream text a word at a time, multiple words, and do manual reading. It all means you can read more material and comprehend and learn and much higher rates.

How much time can I save by using Spreeder?

If you read a lot, you can save 5-7 hours per week and possibly a lot more. Many Spreeder users are reading at 3-4 time their normal Speed. This allows you to stay on top of all your reading, learn more, boost your career, be knowledgeable and interesting, and much more.

Will the iPhone version have step-by-step training to eliminate bad reading habits?

Yes, there will be step by step training to address your bad reading habits like subvocalization, regressing (unnecessary rereading), and single word fixations.

Does it support my language?

Spreeder Pro supports all languages that read left to right, top to bottom.

Are the expert training courses available on the iPhone?

Yes, all the expert training courses are available on the iPhone. Your course progress is synced across devices. So you can start training on your laptop or iPad at home, then continue on your iPhone on your commute.

Can I use it to read web pages?

Yes it’s easy to speed read web pages with Spreeder iPhone. You can enter a URL and the intelligent software will automatically extract the readable text (i.e. it removes menus, ads, and other unwanted elements). Alternatively, you can go to a webpage and simply highlight the text you want to speed read. This function is great for absorbing and learning large amounts of material online easily.

Does it come with e-books?

Yes. Your Spreeder cloud library comes pre-loaded with over 20,000 ebooks and you have full access to these on your iPhone. This include business books, self help, history, arts, religion, news, and much more.

Does this work on Android phones and tablets?

Not yet. We have plans to release an Android version later this year. All users of Spreeder pro will automatically get access to the Android version at no extra cost when it’s released.

Is an Internet connection required to use Spreeder iPhone?

An Internet connection is not required to continue speed reading your current book or text. However, you’ll need a connection to change books or access the training courses.

I can’t wait! When will Spreeder Pro iPhone be released?

We are working hard to add the final touches right now. We expect it to be released before the end of April. Stay tuned for more information.

Guest blogging —back when a handful of people were doing it — was a practice that aimed at creating awareness about like-minded professionals, their products, and their ideas. Today, guest blogging is widespread, and while it still serves a useful purpose, it’s often turned into a widely acceptable form of spamming used simply for the sake of boosting search engine rankings.

Although it seems that guest blogging has gotten out of control, it is a fruitful and needed practice, both in SEO terms and in terms of idea cultivation. So no, guest blogging isn’t going anywhere soon, and there’s still time to bring back its truly useful aspects.

Exposure

Targeted exposure is hard to achieve and guest blogging lets companies and home-based businesses get to audiences beyond their current reach. While other marketing strategies attempt to reach out to targeted audiences, few manage to do so with the level of accuracy guest blogging does. Undoubtedly, it’s too valuable a tool to let it wither.

Brand Awareness

Guest blogging is an effective way of building brand awareness in demographics that might otherwise be unreachable. A rich, high vocabulary knowledge and sound spelling skills will ensure guest posts are of high quality and as such won’t be rejected. Provided that the articles someone submits for guest blogging are carefully crafted and well-researched, guest blogging is the go-to source for many businesses with limited budgets and “solopreneurs” who cannot afford the marketing campaigns of multinational brands.

Quality Predominates

As with every trend, while many people have jumped on this bandwagon, only a few do it correctly. Guest blogging has its own set of principles and those who overlook them generally will not be getting much out of it. Guest blogging rests on the idea of authoritative individuals offering quality knowledge.

Practices where guest blogging is done under “black hat” circumstances will soon be exposed and penalized. So if guest blogging can be said to run the risk of ending in 2014, that only applies to those sites not doing it the way it’s meant to be.
It is even expected that Google will soon roll out a guest post penalty update for poor or “spammy” guest blogging, so again this shows how guest blogging will go back to what it ought to be.

Guest Blogging nurtures progress and innovation

Guest blogging is a non-intimidating way of getting to know the practices other companies or professionals follow, because it connects writers with new contacts they can benefit from and even introduces individuals to hard-to-reach communities and influencers that can offer new opportunities for career and innovation ideas.

Sales and User Engagement

Guest blogging was created out of a need to increase awareness on a company or service and ultimately to improve lead generation and sales by boosting overall page ranking for the blog post contributor.

This is still the case; guest blogging improves SEO and traffic in proven and irrefutable ways, so to proclaim it dead is to overlook its centrality in SEO practices and brand awareness campaigns.

Used correctly, guest blogging can stay a part of the online business future in 2014 and beyond.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments

Ultimate Vocabulary guarantees to help you increase your vocabulary knowledge! Learn more words and apply them in your writings.

The Internet revolutionized reading in the 21st century, something everybody realizes now. The numbers alone speak volumes: 11 years ago about 22% of Americans chose the Internet to get their news, but in 2013, that number had risen to 39%. The statistics are revealing, and attest to the fact that e-books, news, entertainment, and communication are all taking place online.

Online, tech-based reading is on the rise

According to Kathryn Zickuhr, Internet researcher at the Pew Research Center, 55% of Americans own a smartphone and 24% an e-reader.

E-reading is a trend that continues to grow. In 2011, only 16% of the American participants in the Pew study read an ebook, but in 2012 that number rose to 23%. Print book reading dropped from 72% to 67% from 2011 to 2012. Again, there’s a strong but gradual tendency to read more ebooks than paper ones.

Rituals that are intimacy-based favor print book reading

While traditional reading rituals like reading with a child or with another person are still mostly likely to be done with print books, participants in the study who commuted regularly confirmed that ebooks are their preferred medium for reading when travelling. Not only does an e-reader have the advantage of letting you keep a wider selection of books available, it allows you to access new books easily and quickly.

The future of libraries

Libraries are not dying, and many people still visit them. In fact, 73% of the people surveyed visit a library with the express purpose of borrowing books.

What’s been noticeably absent from libraries is the time spent in them. People generally no longer browse shelves as frequently. They find the books in the library’s website, reserve them on line, and go pick them up, a time-saving approach that librarians say is on the rise.

As the purpose of libraries shifts, their cultural role is becoming even stronger. People regard libraries as community spaces for ongoing cultural expression and communication. Lectures, cultural events, and meetings are all part of the many activities taking place at libraries today, giving them a role in peoples’ lives beyond studying and reading books.

Reader expectations changing

Online content is changing the expectations of readers. The print book is not going to be replaced any time soon, but libraries are already feeling the need to adjust to a more tech-based environment.

In fact, the survey illustrated that people are keen to use tech services like pre-loaded ebooks, or classes on how to use e-readers. Most modern libraries have online catalogs that let people borrow library-owned e-books, and even the smallest library is striving to offer more automated and online services to the public.

As we move into a digital era of content dissemination, the need for libraries and other cultural institutions to keep up with technology will not decrease. Libraries that stubbornly refuse to offer online facilities like ebook borrowing, free access to databases, and digitized books will run the risk of being neglected and forgotten. Technology is changing the reading expectations of modern readers, and society – and its libraries – has to respond accordingly and promptly.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments

Were you formally taught how to touch type in school, or are your typing skills a unique typing strategy that involves mostly your index fingers, while you peer down at the keyboard hunting for the right letters?

Strategies for typing instruction started at the same time the typewriter came on the scene. It was towards the end of the 19th century that the typewriter gained its full status as a reliable tool for communication and writing.

The first ever typing courses were (as you might expect) provided by typewriter experts, according to Yamada (1983). Roughly around 1880, typing courses were provided by typewriter manufacturers like Remington in an effort to establish the typewriter’s status as an essential technological aid in business.

Fast-forward 15 years into the 20th century, and you’ll find that public schools were starting to introduce typing in America’s high schools. Today, keyboarding is considered an occupational skill all students need to master.

Typing is a skill that boosts employment opportunities. However, at one point it was also considered a medium through which reading and writing could be taught. A study by Wood and Freeman (1932) explored how typewriters affect students’ literacy.

They discovered that students using a typewriter to write had a better reading capacity and improved spelling skills. What is more, these students regarded writing on a typewriter to be more enjoyable than their counterparts who weren’t writing and reading on a typewriter. At this time, typewriters were a technology that was experimentally introduced as educators wanted to see how it could positively affect learning.

In 1936, about seventy years ago, Colahan Wayne revealed in a paper that elementary-level typing classes had brilliant results for those being taught how to type — given the teacher was qualified and the class well-organized.

What’s more important is that educators showed a desire to integrate typewriters into other classes, like math and science, as a way of “technologizing” education. It’s something that we see today as well, with the computer and tablet now taking a front and center position in the classroom.

During the 50’s and 60’s typewriting was taught mostly in elementary schools, and there was a widely held conviction that typewriting skills might fast-forward a student’s acquisition of the English language — especially spelling. Through typing, students tend to become more aware of the forms that letter patterns take, especially the beginning and ending of words, as Bartholome W. Lloyd reported in his research, “Keyboarding/Typewriting in Elementary School.”

Studies in the 80s looked into what the most appropriate age is for teaching keyboarding skills to young students. While there was evidence that teaching keyboarding at the 3rd grade is an ideal time, a different study that looked into how responsive and efficient students who were being taught keyboarding skills at the 1st and 2nd grade revealed that these younger students are in fact equally capable of handling keyboarding and mastering the skill as 3rd graders are.

Literature published over the past fifty years points out the beneficial aspect of teaching touch typing in elementary school. In recent years, many students can either opt for a typing class in high school or receive typing instruction through an online course or software. However, while there’s an obvious need for students to master keyboarding, most schools currently focus on other skills and knowledge as their high priority.

Those priorities need to be shifted, given that education is becoming more tech-based than ever before. Keyboarding is a basic computer skill which needs to be taught early on, so that students can easily meet modern marketplace demand.

But apart from securing their future employment prospects, learning to touch type is fast becoming a basic skill for educational purposes – as necessary as being able to read, one could argue. With many classroom assignments and activities being carried out on computers, students are expected to have mastered touch typing. But how many 4th and 5th graders have had formal keyboarding classes at school?

Studies done in the last few decades show how state educational institutions and society as a whole don’t seem to realize the centrality of keyboarding in education, and how important this skill is for young students. 25 years ago it might have been sufficient to have your own hunt and peck touch typing method, but today typing speed and accuracy need to be advanced in order for a person to succeed at school and at work.

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments

Touch type your work and increase productivity with Typesy Now!

A bad reference is worse than no reference at all. In this competitive job market you have to have the best references possible to land your dream job.

A reference check will confirm what you’re claiming to be true in your cover letter and resume – but this check may also uncover things you haven’t mentioned. It goes without saying you need to be honest in your resume, but you also need to be smart when it comes to choosing the references you provide for your background and qualifications checks.

Choose wisely

Even if you don’t have any work experience, you still have people who can serve as references: teachers, mentors, coaches, or any other person who can provide information related to your work ethic and background.

If you have work experience, or you’ve been an intern, then your go-to reference should be someone from the immediate job environment that knows you enough to offer a clear and representative picture of who you are to your prospective manager.

Be proactive

Don’t wait until a HR manager asks for references to start making your phone calls. Even before you formally start your job hunting you should have 5 to 6 references selected, and you need to make sure that you have informed them that you’ve selected them as references so they can be ready to represent you in a positive light to your future employer.

In and of itself, this is something a HR manager likes to see: a person who acts proactively and sees a step ahead, organizing what would be asked of them before it is. It is a great trick to create a good first impression during the job interview.

Let your reference know

Don’t ever assume that someone is eager to spend their time talking about you if they’re not prepared for it or if you didn’t have the etiquette to ask them first.

Contact your references and see if they’re willing to be your reference for a job you’re applying for. If they are happy to help, that’s great, but if you sense they don’t know you all that well or they have a misinterpreted picture of your skills and qualifications, then opt for another reference. A bad reference could break your hiring prospects, so be extra careful.

Network

LinkedIn offers plenty of room for networking and maintaining professional relationships with past and potential professional contacts.

Use it extensively to reap all the networking benefits and ensure that if you need a former employer or manager to act as a reference they will have you fresh in their mind and paint a positive image of you without second thoughts.

Written reference letters

A phone reference check could go well, but if your written reference letter is vague it could do more harm than good. Ask your reference to list and describe particular skills and strengths and not simply blurt out a random set of positive traits that could describe anyone. Above all, make sure that the quality of your reference is reflected in the quality of the letter from that person. If you hand over a letter of reference that’s filled with spelling errors, it will imply that your reference isn’t really a qualified professional themselves, and it will completely undermine your credibility.

Implement these tips and your reference check will boost your possibilities of getting your dream job. Good luck!

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments