Neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you an awesome parent

Neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you an awesome parentNeuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you an awesome parentEvery parent asks it at some pointWhat is going on in my kids brain?And if you dont understand kidsit can be hard togive them what they need to thrive. Lately the trend has been helicopter parenting and trying to get them ready as soon as possible for an increasingly competitive world.But is that what 3 year-olds need? Or what 10 year-olds need? What about 15 year-olds? Turns out those three all requirevery different things.Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and one of the leading experts on raising kids right, is the author ofThe Gardener and the Carpenter What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children.As a motherbei and grandmother, shes well aware that just because weve all been kids doesnt mean we always know what they need from us. In fact, much of whats required can be downright contradictory.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterHuman caregivers must both fiercely protect each individual child and give that child up when they become an adult they must allow play and enable work they must pass on traditions and encourage innovations. The parent paradoxes are the consequence of fundamental biological facts.So what does the science say about whats going on in kids brains and what they need from you as they grow up?Be A Gardener, Not A CarpenterThe current trend of micro-managingevery bit of a childs existence and being a helicopter parent isnt the answer. Strict, well-managed plans dont work with kids and theyre elend the best thing for them. Why?Because most of thefussy detail-oriented stuff that parents engage in has no effect whatsoever.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterIt is very difficult to find any reliable, empirical relation between the small variations in what parents do- the variations that are the focus of parentin g- and the resulting adult traits of their children. There is very little evidence that conscious decisions about co-sleeping or not, letting your children cry it out or holding them till they fall asleep, or forcing them to do extra homework or letting them play have reliable and predictable long-term effects on who those children become. From an empirical perspective, parenting is a mugs game.So if Patton-like plans of attack dont work, whats the perspective to take?Turns out active parenting is a dirty word. Raising kidsisnt a measured, perfectionist activity like carpentry. Its mora of a loose, sculpting process like gardening.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterCaring for children is like tending a garden, and being a parent is like being a gardener. In the parenting model, being a parent is like being a carpenter. You should pay some attention to the kind of material you are working with, and it may have some influence on what you try to do. But essentially your job is to shape that material into a final product that will fit the scheme you had in mind to begin with Messiness and variability are a carpenters enemies precision and control are her allies. Measure twice, cut once. When we garden, on the other hand, we create a protected and nurturing space for plants to flourish. It takes hard labor and the sweat of our brows, with a lot of exhausted digging and wallowing in manure.Turns out that nature has built a pretty good ordnungsprinzip in the developing brain. It slowly moves from exploring the world to something that is ready to exploit that knowledge.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterComputer scientists and neuroscientists call it the tension between exploration and exploitation Young brains are designed to explore old brains are designed to exploit. One way to solve this dicke bretter bohren mssen is to alternate between periods of exploration and exploitation. A parteicularly effective strategy is to start out exploring, and then proceed to exploi t. You begin by randomly generating lots of variation and then zero in on what works A protected period of childhood is one solution to the explore/ exploit dilemma. We are allowed to explore when we are children so that we can exploit when we are adults.(To learn the 4 parenting tips that will make your kids amazing, clickhere.)So youre not scheduling every minute of your kids time and trying to turn them into a doctor or a lawyer from the moment their eyes open. Good.But as their brains slowly transition from explore mode to exploit mode, what do you need to do to help them?Kids Under 6?Let Them Play.Little kids dont need to be taking SAT prep courses yet. They need to build forts, have tea parties, roughhouse and pretend.Lets talk about rat brains for a second. Just like in humans, parts of their prefrontal cortex are devoted to social coordination. If those areas of the brain are physically damaged, how do the rats act?The same way ratsdeprived of play do.FromThe Gardener and th e CarpenterIn rats, and in people, too, particular parts of the frontal cortex play an especially important role in social coordination. If those areas are damaged, the affected rats look a lot like the play-deprived ones. They can master the actions of courting or fighting, but they cant respond to other rats in a flexible and fluid way.Yeah, play isnt just fun and games. Its vital for learning adult skills.FromThe Gardener and the Carpenterrough-and-tumble play seems to help animals and children to interact with others. Exploratory play helps animals and children learn how things work. And pretend play helps children think about possibilities and understand other peoples minds.Even play that seems downright weird at first glance serves a purpose. Research shows kids who haveimaginary friends dont end up crazy- they end up far better at understanding other people.Young kidsare actually littlescientists and play is how they do their experiments.Children dont focus on established ru les. They pay attention to what violates their little toddler hypotheses about how the world works. And thats how they improve their ideas about life.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterWhen they saw evidence that contradicted their theories they were driven to experiment- only they did it by playing. A very recent study showed that this was true even for very young babies. Aimee Stahl and Lisa Feigenson showed systematically that eleven-month-old babies, like scientists, pay special attention when their predictions are violated, learn especially well as a result, and even do experiments to figure out just what happened.You, on the other hand, are probably a schwimmbad scientist. We adults are far more likely to engage in confirmation bias - looking for things that support our beliefs, as opposed to ideasthat challenge them. And thats one of the reasons why kids learn so much faster than we do.So how do you use this info to make junior an even better scientist? Your mission, should you decide to accept it Give them a stahlkammer environment to play. Give them interesting things to play with. And play with them.But when you play with young children, the tykehas to lead and you have tofollow.When a little kid isexplicitly taught, the play part of their brain shuts down. And they only learnexactlywhat you teach them. But when its a game, when you stop instructing, they explore and absorb much more.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterThe children played with the toy longer, tried more different actions, and discovered more of the hidden features when the experimenter squeaked the beeper accidentally than they did when she deliberately tried to teach them. So teaching is a double-edged sword. The children were remarkably sensitive to the fact that they were being taught But teaching seemed to discourage the children from discovering all the possibilities the toy had to offer.Making suggestions or elaborating after they start playing is fine. Thats called Guided Play. You cantmakeyoung childrenlearn. You can only provide a protected space filled with love andletthem learn.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterOur job as parents is not to make a particular kind of child. Instead, our job is to provide a protected space of love, stahlkammerty, and stability in which children of many unpredictable kinds can flourish. Our job is not to shape our childrens minds its to let those minds explore all the possibilities that the world allows. Our job is not to tell children how to play its to give them the toys and pick the toys up again after the kids are done. We cant make children learn, but we can let them learn.(To learn how to raise happy kids, clickhere.)Okay, so youre not teaching a 4 year-old, youre engaging in guided play. But what do you do with a 6 year-old?Older than 6? Teachem.Once kids are ready for school, they need to start balancing their natural exploration with practice in skills that will allow them to function in the world.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterThe job for school-age children is to start actually becoming competent adults themselves. Their evolutionary agenda is to practice and master the particular skills of their own culture, especially social skills, while theyre still within the safe cocoon of adult caregivingNows the time to start showing them how to do stuff. You teachthem something, they imitate, you correct them.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterSchool-age children observe and imitate like younger children. But they learn especially well when they interact with particularly skilled adults in a distinctive cycle of trial and error. The apprentice watches the master attentively, and then tries out a simplified part of the skill. It might be stirring thestockpot, cutting out a pattern, or roughing a carpentry frame. The master, in turn, comments (often quite critically) on what the apprentice has done and gets her to do it again. With each round of imitation, practice, and critique, the learner becom es more and more skilled, and tackles more and more demanding parts of the process.Kids under 6 cant focus. Theyre not supposed to. Theyre exploring this new world.But after 6 their brain starts to develop some control. Helping them master simple skills increases this ability that will be vital as they get older.FromThe Gardener and the Carpenteras children grow older, the prefrontal area of the brain- the brains executive office- exercises increasingly greater control over the rest of the brain. Babies and young children pay attention to anything thats interesting and informative, and they learn as a result. But as we get older more and more of our learning is directed toward particular goals. Mastery learning requires a kind of controlled focus that is just not possible for younger children. Other changes also contribute to the rise of mastery learning. Neural connections are extensively pruned many connections disappear. The nerven betreffend connections that remain, especially the connections that are used often, become increasingly covered with a substance called myelin, which makes them more efficient conductors. At the same time the brain becomes more specialized. Younger children typically use more brain areas to solve a task than older children or adults do. All these changes contribute to transform the young brain. The preschool brain is enormously flexible and changes easily, but it is also noisy. The school-age brain is much more efficient and effective, but it isalso more rigid.(To learn how to be a better parent, clickhere.)And now in the gameshow of parenthood, we move to the challenge roundthe teenie years.What the heck is going on with the teenage brain?And what do youneed to be focused on to get them ready for adulthood?Teenagers Need ApprenticeshipNeuroscientists believe there are two separate systemsin the teenage brain 1) motivation, and 2) control.The motivation part kicks inrealfast when those hormones start transforming them into adul ts. Adolescentbrains are actuallyvery similar to those of junkies.Their grey matter ishighlysensitive to rewards. Good things feel much much good-er to teenagers.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterThis is the system that turns generally placid ten-year-olds into restless, exuberant, emotionally intense teenagers desperate to attain every goal, fulfill every desire, and experience every sensation Studies by the neuroscientist B. J. Casey suggest that adolescents are reckless not because they underestimate risks but because they overestimate rewards- or, rather, find rewards more rewardingthan adults do.The second system, control, allows them to direct that energy toward good uses. Sadly, this system takes a lot longer to develop. And thats why teenagers have the reputations they do.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterBut the second system involves control it channels and harnesses all that seething energy. In particular, the prefrontal cortex reaches out to guide other parts of the bra in, including the parts that govern motivation and emotion. This is the system that inhibits impulses and guides decision-making, that encourages long-term planning and delays gratification. And this is the system, as we saw, that enables mastery. This control system depends much more on learning. It becomes increasingly effective throughout middle childhood and continues to develop during adolescence and adulthood, as you gain more experience.But teenagers werent always such terrors. Part of it has to do with their place in society. Adolescence, as a time of life, was only created in 20th century. Before that you were either a child or an adult. No transition.And they werent just surrounded by other teenagers. They had adults to guide and train them and they worked.Being a teen meantlearning how to accomplish goals without your parents.Plain, and simple, they had something todowith all that motivation instead of justcrash the car, get pregnant and burn the house down.FromThe Garden er and the CarpenterIn the distant (and even the not-so-distant) past, these systems of motivation and control were largely in sync. In foraging and farming societies, children have lots of chances to practice the skills that they need to accomplish their goals as adults, and so to become expert planners and actors. In the past, to become a good gatherer or hunter, cook or caregiver, you would actually practice gathering, hunting, cooking, and taking care of children, all through middle childhood and into early adolescence, tuning up just the prefrontal wiring youd need as an adult. But youd do all that under expert adult supervision, where the impact of your inevitable failures would be blunted. When the motivational juice of puberty arrived, youd be ready to go after the real rewards with new intensity and exuberance, but youd also have the skill and control to do it safely and effectively. The relationship between the systems of motivation and control has changed dramatically.So now that the world has changed, whats the best way to help teens? mora homework and extracurriculars arent the answer. They need the modern day equivalent ofapprenticeships internships.Something resembling real work where they can build skills, achieve goals and put that energy to productive use so the control systemof their brain can get a handle on their relentless motivation to achieve rewards.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterWhat does make a difference is having a graduated system in which teenagers slowly acquire both more skill and more freedom Instead of giving adolescents more and more school experiences- those extra hours of after-school classes and homework- we could try to arrange more opportunities for apprenticeship. AmeriCorps, the federal community-service program for youth, is an excellent example, since it provides both challenging real-life experiences and a degree of protection and supervision. Take your child to work could become a erfahrung practice rather th an a single-day annual event, and college students could spend more time watching and helping scientists and scholars at work rather than just listening to their lectures. Summer enrichment activities like camp and travel, so common for children whose parents have the means, might be usefully alternated with summer jobs.(To learn 7 research-backed ways to raise kids right, clickhere.)Alright, weve learned a lot about how kids learn. Lets round it all upSum UpHeres what you need to focus on to be an awesome parentGardener not carpenter Your job is to provide a safe space to grow, not to systematically buildFrankenstein.Under 6, they need play Having an imaginary friend who happens to be a dragon named Larry is a good thing.School-age kids needteachingHelp them build skills. Cooking, good. Bartending, not so good.Teenagers need apprenticeships They need to learn how to learn without you. And that means real world experience.These phases are critical for kids. But its a mistake for us to ignore them for ourselves as adults.We all could use some playtime. We all benefit from learning new skills. And we all should embrace new challenges in the world. As Dr. Seuss saidAdults are obsolete children.Join more than 315,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.Related postsNew Neuroscience Reveals 4 Rituals That Will Make You HappyNew Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More SuccessfulHow To Get People To Like You 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior ExpertThis article first appeared at Barking Up the Wrong Tree.Neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you an awesome parentEvery parent asks it at some pointWhat is going on in my kids brain?And if you dont understand kidsit can be hard togive them what they need to thrive. Lately the trend has been helicopter parenting and trying to get them ready as soon as possible for an increasingly competitive world.But is that what 3 year-olds need? Or what 10 year-olds need? What about 15 year-olds? Turns out those three all requirevery different things.Alison Gopnik, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley and one of the leading experts on raising kids right, is the author ofThe Gardener and the Carpenter What the New Science of Child Development Tells Us About the Relationship Between Parents and Children.As a mother and grandmother, shes well aware that just because weve all been kids doesnt mean we always know what they need from us. In fact, much of whats required can be downright contradictory.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterHuman caregivers must both fiercely protect each individual child and give that child up when they become an adult they must allow play and enable work they must pass on traditions and encourage innovations. The parent paradoxes are the consequence of fundamental biological facts.So what does the science say about whats going on in kids brains and what they need from you as they grow up?Be A Gardener, Not A CarpenterThe current trend of micro -managingevery bit of a childs existence and being a helicopter parent isnt the answer. Strict, well-managed plans dont work with kids and theyre not the best thing for them. Why?Because most of thefussy detail-oriented stuff that parents engage in has no effect whatsoever.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterIt is very difficult to find any reliable, empirical relation between the small variations in what parents do- the variations that are the focus of parenting- and the resulting adult traits of their children. There is very little evidence that conscious decisions about co-sleeping or not, letting your children cry it out or holding them till they fall asleep, or forcing them to do extra homework or letting them play have reliable and predictable long-term effects on who those children become. From an empirical perspective, parenting is a mugs game.So if Patton-like plans of attack dont work, whats the perspective to take?Turns out active parenting is a dirty word. Raising kidsis nt a measured, perfectionist activity like carpentry. Its more of a loose, sculpting process like gardening.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterCaring for children is like tending a garden, and being a parent is like being a gardener. In the parenting model, being a parent is like being a carpenter. You should pay some attention to the kind of material you are working with, and it may have some influence on what you try to do. But essentially your job is to shape that material into a final product that will fit the scheme you had in mind to begin with Messiness and variability are a carpenters enemies precision and control are her allies. Measure twice, cut once. When we garden, on the other hand, we create a protected and nurturing space for plants to flourish. It takes hard labor and the sweat of our brows, with a lot of exhausted digging and wallowing in manure.Turns out that nature has built a pretty good system in the developing brain. It slowly moves from exploring the world to something that is ready to exploit that knowledge.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterComputer scientists and neuroscientists call it the tension between exploration and exploitation Young brains are designed to explore old brains are designed to exploit. One way to solve this problem is to alternate between periods of exploration and exploitation. A particularly effective strategy is to start out exploring, and then proceed to exploit. You begin by randomly generating lots of variation and then zero in on what works A protected period of childhood is one solution to the explore/ exploit dilemma. We are allowed to explore when we are children so that we can exploit when we are adults.(To learn the 4 parenting tips that will make your kids amazing, clickhere.)So youre not scheduling every minute of your kids time and trying to turn them into a doctor or a lawyer from the moment their eyes open. Good.But as their brains slowly transition from explore mode to exploit mode, what do you ne ed to do to help them?Kids Under 6?Let Them Play.Little kids dont need to be taking SAT prep courses yet. They need to build forts, have tea parties, roughhouse and pretend.Lets talk about rat brains for a second. Just like in humans, parts of their prefrontal cortex are devoted to social coordination. If those areas of the brain are physically damaged, how do the rats act?The same way ratsdeprived of play do.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterIn rats, and in people, too, particular parts of the frontal cortex play an especially important role in social coordination. If those areas are damaged, the affected rats look a lot like the play-deprived ones. They can master the actions of courting or fighting, but they cant respond to other rats in a flexible and fluid way.Yeah, play isnt just fun and games. Its vital for learning adult skills.FromThe Gardener and the Carpenterrough-and-tumble play seems to help animals and children to interact with others. Exploratory play helps animals an d children learn how things work. And pretend play helps children think about possibilities and understand other peoples minds.Even play that seems downright weird at first glance serves a purpose. Research shows kids who haveimaginary friends dont end up crazy- they end up far better at understanding other people.Young kidsare actually littlescientists and play is how they do their experiments.Children dont focus on established rules. They pay attention to what violates their little toddler hypotheses about how the world works. And thats how they improve their ideas about life.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterWhen they saw evidence that contradicted their theories they were driven to experiment- only they did it by playing. A very recent study showed that this was true even for very young babies. Aimee Stahl and Lisa Feigenson showed systematically that eleven-month-old babies, like scientists, pay special attention when their predictions are violated, learn especially well as a result, and even do experiments to figure out just what happened.You, on the other hand, are probably a bad scientist. We adults are far more likely to engage in confirmation bias - looking for things that support our beliefs, as opposed to ideasthat challenge them. And thats one of the reasons why kids learn so much faster than we do.So how do you use this info to make junior an even better scientist? Your mission, should you decide to accept it Give them a safe environment to play. Give them interesting things to play with. And play with them.But when you play with young children, the tykehas to lead and you have tofollow.When a little kid isexplicitly taught, the play part of their brain shuts down. And they only learnexactlywhat you teach them. But when its a game, when you stop instructing, they explore and absorb much more.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterThe children played with the toy longer, tried more different actions, and discovered more of the hidden features when t he experimenter squeaked the beeper accidentally than they did when she deliberately tried to teach them. So teaching is a double-edged sword. The children were remarkably sensitive to the fact that they were being taught But teaching seemed to discourage the children from discovering all the possibilities the toy had to offer.Making suggestions or elaborating after they start playing is fine. Thats called Guided Play.You cantmakeyoung childrenlearn. You can only provide a protected space filled with love andletthem learn.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterOur job as parents is not to make a particular kind of child. Instead, our job is to provide a protected space of love, safety, and stability in which children of many unpredictable kinds can flourish. Our job is not to shape our childrens minds its to let those minds explore all the possibilities that the world allows. Our job is not to tell children how to play its to give them the toys and pick the toys up again after the kids a re done. We cant make children learn, but we can let them learn.(To learn how to raise happy kids, clickhere.)Okay, so youre not teaching a 4 year-old, youre engaging in guided play. But what do you do with a 6 year-old?Older than 6? Teachem.Once kids are ready for school, they need to start balancing their natural exploration with practice in skills that will allow them to function in the world.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterThe job for school-age children is to start actually becoming competent adults themselves. Their evolutionary agenda is to practice and master the particular skills of their own culture, especially social skills, while theyre still within the safe cocoon of adult caregivingNows the time to start showing them how to do stuff. You teachthem something, they imitate, you correct them.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterSchool-age children observe and imitate like younger children. But they learn especially well when they interact with particularly skilled adults i n a distinctive cycle of trial and error. The apprentice watches the master attentively, and then tries out a simplified part of the skill. It might be stirring thestockpot, cutting out a pattern, or roughing a carpentry frame. The master, in turn, comments (often quite critically) on what the apprentice has done and gets her to do it again. With each round of imitation, practice, and critique, the learner becomes more and more skilled, and tackles more and more demanding parts of the process.Kids under 6 cant focus. Theyre not supposed to. Theyre exploring this new world.But after 6 their brain starts to develop some control. Helping them master simple skills increases this ability that will be vital as they get older.FromThe Gardener and the Carpenteras children grow older, the prefrontal area of the brain- the brains executive office- exercises increasingly greater control over the rest of the brain. Babies and young children pay attention to anything thats interesting and info rmative, and they learn as a result. But as we get older more and more of our learning is directed toward particular goals. Mastery learning requires a kind of controlled focus that is just not possible for younger children. Other changes also contribute to the rise of mastery learning. Neural connections are extensively pruned many connections disappear. The neural connections that remain, especially the connections that are used often, become increasingly covered with a substance called myelin, which makes them more efficient conductors. At the same time the brain becomes more specialized. Younger children typically use more brain areas to solve a task than older children or adults do. All these changes contribute to transform the young brain. The preschool brain is enormously flexible and changes easily, but it is also noisy. The school-age brain is much more efficient and effective, but it isalso more rigid.(To learn how to be a better parent, clickhere.)And now in the gameshow of parenthood, we move to the challenge roundthe teen years.What the heck is going on with the teenage brain?And what do youneed to be focused on to get them ready for adulthood?Teenagers Need ApprenticeshipNeuroscientists believe there are two separate systemsin the teenage brain 1) motivation, and 2) control.The motivation part kicks inrealfast when those hormones start transforming them into adults. Adolescentbrains are actuallyvery similar to those of junkies.Their grey matter ishighlysensitive to rewards. Good things feel much much good-er to teenagers.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterThis is the system that turns generally placid ten-year-olds into restless, exuberant, emotionally intense teenagers desperate to attain every goal, fulfill every desire, and experience every sensation Studies by the neuroscientist B. J. Casey suggest that adolescents are reckless not because they underestimate risks but because they overestimate rewards- or, rather, find rewards more rewardingt han adults do.The second system, control, allows them to direct that energy toward good uses. Sadly, this system takes a lot longer to develop. And thats why teenagers have the reputations they do.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterBut the second system involves control it channels and harnesses all that seething energy. In particular, the prefrontal cortex reaches out to guide other parts of the brain, including the parts that govern motivation and emotion. This is the system that inhibits impulses and guides decision-making, that encourages long-term planning and delays gratification. And this is the system, as we saw, that enables mastery. This control system depends much more on learning. It becomes increasingly effective throughout middle childhood and continues to develop during adolescence and adulthood, as you gain more experience.But teenagers werent always such terrors. Part of it has to do with their place in society. Adolescence, as a time of life, was only created in 20t h century. Before that you were either a child or an adult. No transition.And they werent just surrounded by other teenagers. They had adults to guide and train them and they worked.Being a teen meantlearning how to accomplish goals without your parents.Plain, and simple, they had something todowith all that motivation instead of justcrash the car, get pregnant and burn the house down.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterIn the distant (and even the not-so-distant) past, these systems of motivation and control were largely in sync. In foraging and farming societies, children have lots of chances to practice the skills that they need to accomplish their goals as adults, and so to become expert planners and actors. In the past, to become a good gatherer or hunter, cook or caregiver, you would actually practice gathering, hunting, cooking, and taking care of children, all through middle childhood and into early adolescence, tuning up just the prefrontal wiring youd need as an adult. But y oud do all that under expert adult supervision, where the impact of your inevitable failures would be blunted. When the motivational juice of puberty arrived, youd be ready to go after the real rewards with new intensity and exuberance, but youd also have the skill and control to do it safely and effectively. The relationship between the systems of motivation and control has changed dramatically.So now that the world has changed, whats the best way to help teens? More homework and extracurriculars arent the answer. They need the modern day equivalent ofapprenticeships internships.Something resembling real work where they can build skills, achieve goals and put that energy to productive use so the control systemof their brain can get a handle on their relentless motivation to achieve rewards.FromThe Gardener and the CarpenterWhat does make a difference is having a graduated system in which teenagers slowly acquire both more skill and more freedom Instead of giving adolescents more an d more school experiences- those extra hours of after-school classes and homework- we could try to arrange more opportunities for apprenticeship. AmeriCorps, the federal community-service program for youth, is an excellent example, since it provides both challenging real-life experiences and a degree of protection and supervision. Take your child to work could become a routine practice rather than a single-day annual event, and college students could spend more time watching and helping scientists and scholars at work rather than just listening to their lectures. Summer enrichment activities like camp and travel, so common for children whose parents have the means, might be usefully alternated with summer jobs.(To learn 7 research-backed ways to raise kids right, clickhere.)Alright, weve learned a lot about how kids learn. Lets round it all upSum UpHeres what you need to focus on to be an awesome parentGardener not carpenter Your job is to provide a safe space to grow, not to syst ematically buildFrankenstein.Under 6, they need play Having an imaginary friend who happens to be a dragon named Larry is a good thing.School-age kids needteachingHelp them build skills. Cooking, good. Bartending, not so good.Teenagers need apprenticeships They need to learn how to learn without you. And that means real world experience.These phases are critical for kids. But its a mistake for us to ignore them for ourselves as adults.We all could use some playtime. We all benefit from learning new skills. And we all should embrace new challenges in the world. As Dr. Seuss saidAdults are obsolete children.Join more than 315,000 readers.Get a free weekly update via emailhere.Related postsNew Neuroscience Reveals 4 Rituals That Will Make You HappyNew Harvard Research Reveals A Fun Way To Be More SuccessfulHow To Get People To Like You 7 Ways From An FBI Behavior ExpertThis article first appeared at Barking Up the Wrong Tree.

In-Flight Wi-Fi Costs for Passengers

In-Flight Wi-Fi Costs for PassengersIn-Flight Wi-Fi Costs for PassengersOnboard Wi-Fi is available for airline passengers on many flights through many airlines. As of 2018, most national carriers have equipped their aircraft with Wi-Fi capabilities, and the tafelgeschirr now is available on regional and international airlines. A status update of airline Wi-Fi services shows that many airlines have made the decision to update their entire fleet of aircraft with Wi-Fi equipment. Others still are not fully onboard but have chosen to test Wi-Fi on certain aircraft or routes. The price of airborne Wi-Fi varies depending on the package the customer purchases, but it can range from $5 to $15 per day to around $50 per month on appropriately equipped aircraft. Gogo-Partnered Airlines Gogo debuted its in-flight service on American Airlines in 2008 and now partners with most major carriers in the U.S., includingVirgin America, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Alaska Airl ines, andAir Canada. Wi-Fi packages are available on domestic flights for direct purchase through Gogos website $7.00- 1 hour of in-flight internet access$19.00- 24 hours of in-flight internet access$49.95- Monthly access on any Gogo-partner airline$599.00- Yearly access on any Gogo-partner airline Delta offers internet access through Gogo on international flights at slightly higher rates $28.00- 24 hours of in-flight internet access$69.95- Monthlyaccess Domestic Airlines Not all major airlines partner with Gogo, but some still offer limited or full internet access Southwest AirlinesInternet access is available on board some Southwestflights for $8 per day. Passengers can check on Southwests website up to 24 hours in advance to landsee if their flights have Wi-Fi. Some flights also allow access to free live TV and movies for $5 per movie per device.Hawaiian Airlines Some free services and on-demand movies and TV shows are available when connecting through the airlines mobile app . Prices for on-demand titles range from $5.99 to $7.99. International Airlines Most major international carriers offer some form of Wi-Fi access, each with their own pricing plans and features EmiratesPassengers receive up to 20 megabytes and two hours of Wi-Fi access for free. Non-Skywards members pay $9.99 per flight for up to 150 MB or $15.99 per flight for up to 500 MB. First-class and business-class Skywards members receive free unlimited access, as do Gold and Platinum Skywards members in economy class. Silver Skywards members in economy class pay $4.99 for up to 150 MB or $7.99 for up to 500 MB. Blue Skywards members pay $6.99 for up to 150 MB or $10.99 for up to 500 MB.LufthansaFlyNet onboard Wi-Fi service is billed by Deutsche Telecom, and Lufthansa Miles More passengers can exchange miles for internet service. One hour of access costs $10 or 3,000 miles. Four hours costs $15.50 or 4,500 miles, and full-flight access costs $19 or 5,500 miles. Norwegian Air ShuttleNorw egian Air Shuttle offers free Wi-Fi service on most of its flights in Europe and between the U.S. and the Caribbean. No Wi-Fi access is available on long-haul international flights.QantasThe Australian airline offers free Wi-Fi service on select domestic flights with plans to expand the number of Wi-Fi-enabled airplanes by the end of 2018.Qatar AirwaysQatar offers access through Oryx One Communications, and rates vary depending on aircraft and flight.

Tips for Writing Strong Interview Thank-You Notes

Tips for Writing Strong Interview Thank-You NotesTips for Writing Strong Interview Thank-You Notes Spring is a great time to search for new jobs for a number of reasons. First, budgets are often approved around January/February to hire mora people. Second, the economy is pretty healthy right now and businesses are ready to expand and try to grow their profits. For some companies, this means new hires to support these growth efforts. Lastly, its also the time of year when companies often revisit their products, services and technologies, working on improvements to keep competitive in the market. Often, companies will hire new employees or teams to work on these changes.If youre ready to job search, or perhaps youve already started, heres one skill you should sharpen writing thank-you musikbedrngnises. A powerful thank-you note can land you the job - weve seen it happen frequently with the candidates we place. (And on the flip side, weve seen bad thank-you notes dama ge a candidacy.) Here are four tips from our recruiters for writing the kind of thank-you note that impresses hiring managers .This tactic isnt just about looking (and being) more engaged in the interview - though that certainly wins you points. Its also about writing a better thank-you note later. Mark down important points you discuss in the interview. What imperative job functions do your interviewers bring up? Are there any problems theyre facing as a company that you could help with? Do they pose any questions that you might be more able to answer after a bit more thought? These are the kinds of things to add to your thank-you note later. Time and again, we find that a generic thank-you note - one that feels like its copied from a template - will never impress hiring managers like a thank-you note that makes reference to specifics from the interview. In fact, in some cases, a generic thank-you note will hurt your candidacy more than help it There are hiring managers tha t think a generic, template-like thank-you note shows so little effort that they think less of a candidate.A thorough, detailed thank-you note thats beautifully written will never make much of an impression if its too late. Especially in some fast-paced fields like the tech industry, healthcare or marketing, time is of the essence. When you finish your interview, head home as soon as you can to write your thank-you note. Sending it the day of the interview (if possible) or within 24 hours is ideal, although sending the note 48 hours later can be acceptable if you get really tied up. If you send the note late, you might find that the hiring manager has already assumed youre not sending it and dinged your candidacy or rejected you for it.If you interview with multiple people, try to get their individual contact info from your recruiters. Writing each of them a note will show a level of care that goes above and beyond what most candidates demonstrate. If you can add a detail to each note that really personalizes it, thats even better. Especially today, the trend is for workplaces to be focused on building a great corporate culture, which often requires teamwork and strong interpersonal skills from all levels of employees. Showing off extra effort in your soft skills can be key for your candidacy. Individual, personalized thank-you notes could make you seem like the kind of team player that hiring managers will love working with. This may not always be necessary. However, if you felt there were concerns or weaknesses brought up in your interview, a thank-you note can be a great place to address that. The key is to keep things positive and, if possible, focus on how youre already working to remedy these potential issues. If you can handle this right, your thank-you note can significantly strengthenyour candidacy, as its your last impression that you leave on a hiring manager before they make their decisionSamantha Keefe is an Interactive Marketing Managerat A VID Technical Resources .AVID Technical Resources is a leading information technology recruiting company with offices around the country.

What You Need to Know About Air Force One

What You Need to Know About Air Force OneWhat You Need to Know About Air Force OneAir Force One is a term we all know well. Its a cultural phenomenon, a symbol of leadership, success, and power in mora ways than one. Of course, the original use of the term - that of the proper call sign for the presidential aircraft - is the fruchtwein important of these symbols. The callsign Air Force One has long represented the Air Force airplane on which the president of the United States flies. The term, though, has manifested in other, more casual and creative ways amongst our American culture. Nike, for example, designed a shoe called Air Force 1 that happens to be the best-selling athletic shoe of all time. And then there welches that 1997 blockbuster movie of the saatkorn name starring Harrison Ford (a pilot himself), as the President of the United States who escapes from his presidential airplane in ahigh-tech escape pod. The film was nominated for two Oscars. And even though the term is supposed to be used as the call sign for any aircraft the President of the United States flies on (if he were flying in a Cessna 172, for example, it would use the Air Force One call sign to communicate with ATC), its become a term used to reflect the specific Boeing 747-200B aircraft that is designated for presidential use. And todays Air Force One might not have an escape pod, but it has just about everything else. And as names go, Air Force One has gone from being a term that represents not only the call sign of any Air Force aircraft on which the president is flyingto describing the most recent model of the presidential aircraft - the Boeing 747-200 itself. It displays the presidential seal and the words United States of America as the main part of its paint scheme, giving it a fame and notoriety of its own and making it recognizable everywhere it goes. Air Force One, as most of us know it, is the most recognizable and notorious Boeing 747 in the world. Previous Presidenti al Airplanes The presidential airplane was not always a Boeing 747. In fact, the first flight made with a president on board was when Franklin D. Roosevelt flew on the Clipper, a Boeing Model 314 Flying Boat, which took him to the Casablanca meeting in 1943. Shortly after, General Hap Arnold insisted that the president fly on an Air Force aircraft instead of a Navy plane, and soon a presidential aircraft was designed specifically for presidential travel. The first version was supposed to be a C-87, the military version of the B-24 bomber, but the aircraft was not up to the standards for the president, whose secret service denied it. This spearheaded the building of a new aircraft - the VC-54 Skymaster. The Skymaster was a modified military version of the civilian DC-4 aircraft already in production, but it became the first purpose-built presidential aircraft, and the first one was built specifically for Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945, complete with a conference room and a bulletpr oof window. Todays Air Force One Since then, many different airplanes have been used by presidents. The DC-6, different versions of the Boeing 707, and the currently used Boeing 747-200 have all been used as presidents airplanes. Boeings new 747-8 is currently scheduled to be the next aircraft delivered to the President of the United States, probably to be flown by the president beginning in 2024. President-elect Donald Trump made headlines shortly after the 2016 election by calling out Boeing for the high costs of the new 747-8and demanded that the deal be canceled. Shortly after, Boeing announced that they were committed to keeping the costs down and would not exceed $4 million budget as Trump predicted. In the meantime, Trump and perhaps even his successormust settle for the 747-200 (or Trumps own 757), which aside from the old age of the aircraft and the associated maintenance problems, is hardly settling. The 89th Airlift Wing The presidents two custom-designed 747-200s are operated by the 89th Airlift Wing at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where a combat-ready group of more than 1,000 people is prepared and ready to handle the responsibility for presidential transport as well as other VIP transport operations. When the president travels, he is typically accompanied by a variety of other aircraft, including C-17s or C-130s, which are flown ahead of the president to carry security detail, supplies, equipment, and all of the required people to assist. The 747-200 The current Air Force One fleet includes two Boeing 747-200 airplanes which originally rolled off the line in 1990 completely customized for the President of the United States, who at the time was George H. W. Bush. The 747 production itself was an enormous feat in the 1960s, the first 747 aircraft was built in just 16 months and was the largest civilian aircraft in the world at the time. It was built as a replacement for its predecessor, the Boeing 707, which was at the end of its lif etime. With over 1,500 aircraft sold, the 747 is the most successful wide-body aircraft to date. Interior The 747-200B offers more than 4,000 square feet of onboard spaceand includes a conference room, dining room, living quarters for the president, office space for the cabinet members, and space for 100 passengers and crew members. Inside Air Force One is also a medical suite that can be transformed into a surgical suite. And, as you might image, a doctor is on board and ready to serve at all times. Exterior The 747-200B aircraft is powered by four General Electric CF6-80C2B1 jet engines - a family of engines chosen to power the DC-10, Airbus 310, the Boeing 767, and the Air Forces C5 Galaxy, and is rated for ETOPS 180. The CF6 engines on the 747-200B are rated to provide 56,700 pounds of thrust each. The presidents 747 is also equipped with both front and back airstairs, as well as a self-contained baggage loader. Another drastic difference between this 747 and others is that Air Force One has the ability to be refueled in flight, giving it unlimited range and endurance, and ensuring that our president can stay airborne as long as necessary. Flight Deck One of the most important differences between the Air Force One customized 747 variants and the typical 747s from the line is the avionics systems and onboard electronics, which provide a high level of security for the president. The onboard electronics systems are hardened to prevent interference from anelectromagnetic pulse from anuclear blast. And the aircraft is equipped with the most advanced, state-of-the-art equipment, providing a mobile command center for the president in a time of need. According to one source, there are 85 telephones and 19 televisions on board Air Force One, along with a variety of fax machines, computers, two-way radios and probably satellite phones. Most of whats on Air Force One is classified, but you can bet that the aircraft is equipped with weapons systems, radar -jamming, a variety of next-generation onboard equipment, along with various types of preventative measures to manage in times of crisis, ensuring the president is prepared for any emergency imaginable. Specifications Length231 ft, 10 inHeight63 ft, 5 inWingspan195 ft, 8 inMax Speed630mph (0.92 MACH)Ceiling45,100 ftMTOW833,000 lbsRange7,800 nmCrew30Passengers71Fuel Capacity53, 611 gal (source www.af.mil) The Next Air Force One After citing increasing maintenance costs and increasing aircraft downtime, the Air Force is seeking a new Air Force One, and theyve once again selected Boeing as the company that will provide the successor to the current 747-200B aircraft. The current pair of 747 aircraft are nearing theirlife expectancies, and according to one air force staff member, its getting more and more difficult to keep up with the maintenance of the aging 747-200B. A new aircraft has already been ordered The 747-8. The newest version of the landmark aircraft will provide th e president with an even more capable and efficient aircraftand will mark a half-century of Boeing providing aircraft to the Commander-in-Chief of the United States of America. The 747-8 will emit 16 tons less of carbon dioxide emissions per trip than the 747-200 airplaneand will fly 1,000 miles farther. It will go slightly faster than the -200 model, but at 0.855 Mach (compared to 0.84 Mach), the new version will be the fastest commercial aircraft in the world. The -8 will have a wingspan of almost 30-feet longer than its predecessor, and it will be 18 feet longer in general, resulting in a heavier takeoff weight, at 987,000 pounds instead of 833,000 pounds. The Air Force and Boeing both expect the new 747-8 to be ready by the year 2024. Its reportedly already over budget, which was reportedly originally set at $1.16 billion after all of the modifications. The cost of a typical 747-8 operating commercially is almost $370 million. In December, President-elect Donald Trump put press ure on Boeing, threatening to cancel the order for two, maybe three, 747-8 aircraft, citing the increasing costs associated with the project. He tweeted the following Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order - Donald Trump The exact costs of the program have yet to be determined, but advocates of Boeing say that canceling the order would be a huge mistake. Trump reportedly met with Boeing in December to discuss reducing costs associated with the program.

IRS Guidelines for Book Authors for Hobbyist vs. Pro

IRS Guidelines for Book Authors for Hobbyist vs. ProIRS Guidelines for Book Authors for Hobbyist vs. ProAny tax advice for authors and writers should start with the question are you a hobbyist or a pro?Being a pro affects what you can deduct expenses related to your work as an author, so its important to understand the distinction. Making money as an author isnt easy, and even bestselling authors advise you elend to quit your day job.While many people are passionate about their writing and aspire to make a living at it, elend every book author can claim to be a professional - for profit - in those most important eyes of the IRS. Here are some guidelines. Hobbyist vs. Pro Author The IRS makes a critical distinction between sole-proprietor authors (and all other hobbyists) who ply their craft vocationally rather than depend on their writing work to make a living. You are presumed to be a professional if your writing makes a profit in at least three of the last five tax years, inc luding the current year. If your book authoring doesnt prove to be a for-profit endeavor, losses from your writing may not be used to offset other income for tax purposes (that is, if you cant prove yourself to be a pro, allowable deductions cannot exceed the gross receipts for the activity.) Of course, many self-published book authors want to make a profit and become pro (like Donna Fasano), but not everyone will. For that reason, writing is one of the professions that the IRS deemed worth deeper scrutiny because of their potential pursuit and attractiveness as avocations rather than vocations. (Others include horse and dog breeding, yacht chartering, airplane leasing, gambling, photography, fishing, farming, stamp collecting... and bowling). The Hobby Loss Rule for Authors Essentially, whats informally known as the hobby loss rule separates the hobbyist from the pros. In addition to the 3-out-of-5-years of profit, the following factors (annotated from the IRS) may further help you to determine whether your writing would likely be considered for profit or as a hobby in the eyes of the government (1) Does the time and effort put into your writing indicate an intention to make a profit? A full-time corporate day job requires you commit 35 hours or mora to it - something to think about when considering your claim of professional writers hours.Do you depend on income from the activity? Be realistic here if your rent is $1,000 a month and for the past two years your total writing income from e-book royaltieshovers around $25 for the same time period, youre not going to legitimately claim that you depend on that income. If there are losses, are they due to circumstances beyond your control or did they occur in the start-up phase of the geschftlicher umgang? The former part of the question could be interpreted as could you have possibly made a profit had it not been for factors in the book marketplace? If youre a writer in startup, rather than a hobbyist, you h ave several years to show a profit (see below).Have you changed methods of operation to improve profitability? In other words, where your writing is concerned, if your profits are less than what youd like, are you thinking like a businessperson and trying to improve your income by changing the way you operate? Maybe that would mean spending money to create a multi-author blog, or paying someone to create a content marketing plan, or augmenting your income by trying to get sponsors for your blog. Do you have the knowledge needed to carry on the activity as a successful business? Being a professional book author, like running any business, is complex and challenging. How much do you know about running that business? Are you running it like a business, keeping records, keeping an eye to profitability?Have you made a profit in similar activities in the past? If you have a successful book under your belt - or even a series of articles in paid publication - thats a predictor that youre a pro. Does your writing make a profit in some years? The IRS is looking for sustained activity and profit to show youre a professional rather than an amateur dabbler. Of course, the hobbyists today can be the professionals of tomorrow. If you truly aspire to be a professional book authorbut dont quite make the cut of the IRS definition, take heart. Keep plugging away at your writing and keep in mind the factors you need to develop to become considered a pro. Read more about taxes and the book author, including sales tax facts for self-published authors. DisclaimerThis article is meant to give general insight into tax information that might apply to writers, and to give readers an entry point so they themselves can research further. While every effort was made to ensure the information in this article was accurate at the time it was written, the Book Publishing site guide is a writer - not a tax expert. Therefore, anyone filing his or her taxes should consult a qualified tax prepar er for updated tax laws and further specifics on how these rules might apply to an individual tax situation.Following are specific IRS resources regarding the subjects mentioned in this article, to facilitate research into individual tax matters.(1) Internal Revenue Code Section 183 (Activities Not Engaged in for Profit), as described in FS-2008-23(2) IRS Publication 970 Tax Benefits for EducationNote The general information included in this article is not to be used avoid any tax penalties that might be levied by the IRS (see the Treasury Circular 230 regulation for the specific provision).

Skills to Put on Resume - the Story

Skills to Put on Resume - the Story You may have a section titled Heavy Machinery Operation where you list a number of varieties of equipment youre ready to operate. If youre asking for a news applications development job, for instance, your previous expertise in the restaurant service geschftlicher umgang is great but not relevant here. Dont forget to be concise, but in addition make certain that you include enough info to give an accurate summary of your function in the business. You need to be in a sttte to explain verbally and in writing all information associated with company policy. All the above would be all in vain should you not work on your interview abilities. Your resume should therefore sell not merely your track record, but in addition the skills you can provide your new employer. Try to remember that even when you think youre prepared for an interview, you arent. Prepare as much as possible for the interview. Many employers utilize skills-based keywords wh en browsing for resumes online. Ultimately, should you need help with the several sections of your resume, employing a resume builder is the perfect answer. Theres a tremendous quantity of information on the net about the ideal CV. According to fruchtwein resume structure tips, all your contact information ought to be included at the peak of your resume. The Skills to Put on Resume Cover Up Outcomes are somewhat more important than outputs. You dont require any coding skills whatsoever. While each one of these skills are valuable, its vital to be particular when translating military experience to civilian employment as a way to emphasize certain military skills based on the job youre applying for. If youre searching for a position doing graphic design, photography is a good skill to get. Learning how to play guitar sometimes takes an adequate period of time, however, so think of it as a long-term project. Get as much training as possible from online courses or resources t hat you might get your hands on. So obviously, the particular details of your resume will differ based on your target job, your degree of experience and certifications, and your long-term career targets. The Supreme Strategy to Skills to Put on Resume Needless to say, each job will call for various abilities and experiences, so make certain you read the job description with care and concentrate on the skills listed by the employer. Theres no universal Resume. As you learn skills and earn experience from 1 job, you will have the ability to translate that experience into another position till you work your way up to the ideal accounting job. Communication skills are important in just about any job. For highly technical and competitive fields, you might not need to include it unless its a 3. You may also indicate that youve got commercial expertise in a particular field. Or you may have had to address social problems among your subordinates or peers, the sort of problem that you can definitely expect to see in the civilian world too. Problem solving skills may be used to do many diverse forms of things. The capacity to create a plan is one which shouldnt be brushed aside. Usually jobs with low minimal requirements are jobs that will provide the firm the chance to train them in how the company does business. Bear in mind that companies are merely people looking for different folks to work alongside them. Not every business requires one. There are a number of work in the area of human resources (HR). For each position or kind of position youre seeking you need to create an edition of Resume tailored to it. The excellent news is that will be hard pressed to locate a position that doesnt require some amount of working together. Provided that the position isnt Senior something its an entry level. It is very helpful for the sports administrator to have the ability to create brochures, sponsorship proposals, newsletters, etc.. Whatever achievemen ts you list, they have to be explained in quantifiable terms. The format of resumes changed as a consequence of growing unemployment. Well written and effective resumes are some of the the principal reasons for selecting our services. Rumors, Deception and Skills to Put on Resume Help you would like to add section info, you can. Just ensure you have captured all your pertinent skills in different sections. The very first section is a Summary of Qualifications which offers a succinct summary of your qualifications. As being one of the absolute most important section of your resume, the skills section will want to get included all of the time at the summit of your resume. So, once an employer must choose between two applicants with identical technical abilities, the candidate that has examples leadership abilities or other varieties of soft skills to get a better chance. Together with the soft abilities and technical abilities, management skills may also be included in the r esume of student. Dont forget, the majority of the distinctive skills abilities that you put on your resume needs to be job-related skills taken from the work description skills your best transferable skills. It is a fact that you must have the skills that the job demands. Whether youve got applicable technical abilities or merely military soft abilities, the real key to finding a job will be in understanding how to present the skills you have to an employer. Pay attention simply to the desired skills. The Appeal of Skills to Put on Resume Someone who trained in a specific skill for 2 years may have spent more hours training than somebody who has done it for 6 decades. Resume is essential for every job searching person.

Hiring in 2015 Pros and Cons - Spark Hire

Hiring in 2015 Pros and Cons - Spark HireThe hiring process in 2015 looks decidedly different than it did 20 or even 10 years ago. Hiring managers and recruiters must adapt to these changes in order to continue to bring in top tier talent. If youre in a position where youre focused on talent acquisition, heres what you need to know about the perks and pitfalls of hiring in this eraThe prosGeography doesnt matter anymoraWith tools like video interviewing technology, youre no longer limited to candidates who live in the geographic area immediately surrounding your company. You can schedule a video interview and have the opportunity to have a conversation with people from all over the country. This ensures that youre getting the most qualified candidate as you fill an open spot, not simply the most convenient one.Youre able to reach a broader groupSocial media allows you to broadcast job openings to a wide range of people. Youre no longer limited to running ads in newspapers and hoping that the right person reads it. You have a global reach, often with little to no cost associated with posting the opportunity.Careers are more fluidCandidates often come to you with a range of skills. Theyve no longer only held one job throughout the duration of their career. This means they can easily transition into a different kind of role, or contribute to a variety of different departments within your organization. In fact, many employees like having a diverse range of experiences at work, and welcome this kind of job.The consCandidates are more cynicalJob seekers are more familiar with recruiter-speak, and know what terms like Well keep your resume on file mean. Theyre used to applying for many jobs and not hearing back, or perhaps theyve been in an office environment where they were unhappy. Because of this, youll need to prove why your company is different, or why your strategy as a recruiter is unique.People are more likely to bounce from job to jobIts becoming increasingly common to see employees stay at a company for two years or so before moving on to the next opportunity. The days of ten and twenty-year veterans are few and far between. Frequent turnover damages a company in the long run, and makes it hard to boost camaraderie within the office.People are more mobile, and there are more opportunities availableBecause people are getting recruited from all over the country and are more willing to relocate, it makes it harder for your business to stand out. Talented individuals are being recruited from various businesses, so youll need to make an even bigger impression in order to make an impact.While recruiting and hiring have certainly changed over the past few decades, technology has made it easier than ever to reach qualified candidates who can help you grow your business.Image dolgachov/BigStock.com