Saturday, March 21, 2020

5 Benefits Better than a Salary Bump

5 Benefits Better than a Salary Bump Negotiating your compensation for a new position? Salary might not be the most important factor in your wheelings and dealings, particularly if you’re leaving a position or company with a solid benefit package. Consider the following five benefits that can often be worth more than a few thousand dollars difference in pay, and learn which questions are most worth asking. 1. 401k MatchingThe pension is all but a dinosaur in today’s workforce. The 401k matching program is a popular consolation from companies wishing to contribute to their employees’ retirement. Weigh the matching figures and do the math against your past and future salaries. The difference between a 50% and 100% matching program can make an enormous difference over the course of your career, even if your contribution is small.2. Cadillac InsuranceMedical costs are through the roof, and insurance companies are paying for less and less. Will your new employer contribute to a Health Savings Account? Do they offer disability coverage? Or extra maternity leave? A lower premium? Anticipating your out-of-pocket health costs can come in handy and save hundreds of dollars in health care if you factor them into salary negotiations.3. Wellness ProgramsDoes your new company offer to subsidize a gym membership? Financial incentives for flu shots or achieving fitness goals? A smoking cessation program? Or even a nutritional consultant? These are all added perks that you might have otherwise spent a good portion of your salary acquiring for yourself.4. Continuing Education PerksYour hard work and perseverance got you here. But what’s next? You want to keep growing and reaching for the next rung on the ladder. Why not get your employer to foot the bill? Does your new company offer undergraduate or graduate educational assistance? Additional training programs? Access to extra resources? These are the kinds of benefits that, when taken advantage of, can really vault you to the next level - and the next salary grade.5. Commuter AidWe spend a lot of time and money getting to work, between public transportation, gas, mileage, and maintenance. Factor the convenience level of your new commute into your view of your compensation. Does your new employer offer a pre-tax public-transit pass? Or is your commute just plain shorter? Less of a hassle? Sometimes you can’t put a price tag on quality of life.To factor these perks into your negotiations, do your homework. Find out what benefits are standard within your industry, know what to ask for, and be bold enough to put it on the table. It could make the difference when the salary bump is not enough.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Learn the Italian Calendar Months

Learn the Italian Calendar Months You want to tell your language partner when you’re going to Italy for a vacation, and that’s when you realize you’re not sure how to say you’re arriving in May and leaving in July. What were the vocabulary words for those months again? In case you need a quick review or are learning these months for the first time, here is a list of the months to help you use them in daily conversation along with example sentences and cocktail party facts. I Mesi - The Months January - gennaioFebruary - febbraioMarch - marzoApril - aprileMay - maggioJune - giugnoJuly - luglioAugust - agostoSeptember - settembreOctober - ottobreNovember - novembreDecember - dicembre Cocktail party fact: Notice that the first letter of the month isn’t capitalized in Italian. In case you were wondering, the days of the week  and the seasons aren’t capitalized either. Some Examples Vado in Italia a maggio per tre mesi. - I’m going to Italy in May for three months.Parto per l’Italia a luglio. - I’m leaving for Italy in July.L’anno scorso sono stato in Italia da settembre a dicembre. - Last year I was in Italy from September to December.Il mio migliore amico abita in Italia sei mesi all’anno da gennaio a giugno. - My best friend lives in Italy for six months of the year from January to June.Il mio compleanno à ¨ il diciotto di aprile, quindi il mio segno zodiacale à ¨ l’ariete. - My birthday is April 18, so my zodiac sign is Aries.La festa sar a marzo. - The party will be in March.Vorrei andare in Danimarca a settembre, ma devo frequentare le lezioni. - I would like to go to Denmark in September, but I have to go to my classes.Ogni febbraio c’à ¨ una celebrazione dell’amore si chiama Il Giorno di San Valentino. - Each February there is a celebration of love called Valentine’s Day.Siamo ad ottobre! - We’re in October!/It’s October! Which Prepositions to UseWith Months Typically when you talk about an activity happening in a certain month, you use the preposition â€Å"a† before it to mean the English definition of â€Å"in†. In the examples above, you may have also seen the use of â€Å"da†, which mirrors the English definition of â€Å"from† when separating a distance of months. Finally, you also saw â€Å"di† precede a month, and that was used to indicate possession since it was a birthday. Why Was September the 7th Month Instead of the 9th Month? During the Roman empire, September was considered the 7th month, October the 8th, November the 9th, and so on. Why is that? According to the University of Chicago, after around 753 BCE, the Roman calendar began in March instead of January and only consisted of ten months instead of twelve. This structure was created by King Romulus and was based on a combination of the lunar cycles and the agricultural seasons. However, structuring the calendar in this way wasn’t as effective because the lunar cycles didn’t match up with the earth’s rotation around the sun and therefore didn’t accurately pair with the seasons.