Have you ever sat through a job interview and stammered, stumbled, or rambled through the question that goes something like, “Tell us about what you did at your last place of employment?”

Of course, that’s one that you should have seen coming, and yet it can be tough to succinctly recall your best, and only your best work, in the heat of the interview. Here’s the solution: You can head off any awkward answers on your part by having a ready-made portfolio of past work to present during the interview.

In an age of “resume-inflation” and outright fabrication, you need such hard evidence of your greatest accomplishments.

For someone in a creative profession such as graphic design or writing, this probably comes as common sense. But this advice applies to just about any type of job, and chances are that it will distinguish you from the herd of other applicants who go in armed only with cover letter, resume, and perhaps a bit of charm.

What types of things should go in your past-job portfolio if you don’t have the tangible work samples that say, an architect, artist, or Web designer would? Well lots of things. Consider the following:

Congratulatory “attaboy” or thank-you emails and notes from supervisors and customers
Photos of projects you completed
Certificates or other acknowledgments of training you received, either in-house or outside
Diagrams of work-saving processes you developed
Screenshots and URLs of online initiatives in which you were involved
Detailed (but a page or less) summaries of the noteworthy items that you list briefly on your resume
Once you have all this material gathered, you’re going to want a compelling way to present it. You might consider putting it on CD, with an attractive and tasteful cover (particularly if you’re in a “creative” profession). Placing it in an Adobe PDF file and emailing it is also a safe bet, since virtually every computer can read PDFs; if you do so, keep it to 10 pages or fewer. Brevity is your friend.

Without looking too hard, you can find numerous free online resume and portfolio-hosting services. The question you should ask is, do you want to risk that site being down the moment a hiring manager happens to check it out?

Julia Hartman, author of Strategic Job Jumping — 50 Very Smart Tactics for Building Your Career, recommends keeping a big, three-ring binder “book” of the types of items listed above.

Put yourself in the shoes of your potential boss at an interview. Would you feel more comfortable going on just the word of a candidate and some perhaps non-committal references of that person’s past employers? Or would you place more faith in the person with the thick book of projects that landed with a thud on your desk?

If you haven’t been saving all your potential portfolio material already, as listed above, start now. Check your old files and look online to see if there’s “evidence” that you can use to illustrate past achievements. Make it a discipline to copy such information and stash it (discreetly), every time you earn a new accomplishment. Before long, you’ll begin to amaze even yourself by how much value you add that you never really noticed in the past.

These days, employers aren’t merely looking for people who are competent. They want individuals with a proven ability to positively impact an organization and to exceed its goals. After all, having such employees gives them a competitive advantage.

What is Dave Espino’s Auctions for Income?

Dave Espino’s Auctions for Income is a beginners guide to making money on eBay. The package consists of various highly informative DVDs on the subject. Is Dave Espino really a legitimate eBay millionaire? He absolutely is, and the Auctions for Income package not only introduces ways to make money on eBay, but it also covers them in a clear and concise manner. Examples of specific opportunities within eBay are described thoroughly enough where they offer a comprehensive and systematic way to create success. Many how to guides on money making opportunities fail to do this. Many just introduce the avenues to create income and do not supply nearly enough information to have a solid foundation for entrepreneurship.

Does Dave Espino’s eBay system work?

Yes, the package does present eBay tactics that do work. It offers quality information on selecting products to sell that have a high chance to create success. There is advice on just how to present your products attractively and how to effectively use a photo in your listing to attract attention. The truth is that a lot of information like this is available for free on eBay.

The Auctions for Income systems are much more vast than what is covered on eBay. These may be a good purchase for those already experienced in this area of business, but beginners can find everything they need to do fairly well with eBay just through an online search for information. eBay is not difficult to figure out and it can be a fun way to earn some extra cash. However, it takes an in depth strategy to do really well on eBay.

There are endless opportunities to make money on the internet and eBay is not for everyone. Some people find it to be boring and not lucrative enough to quit their regular job. This may be the case but if it is truly ones desire to leave their job to become an internet entrepreneur then why not participate in eBay among various other opportunities?

What is it like to make a living through online opportunities such as eBay? Well the answer to that really depends on what type of online business or businesses one may be involved in. There are some commonalities with all online businesses. First, working online enables a person to work from anywhere in the world, yes including their own home. Second, online businesses typically generate money on a 24-7 basis. I’m sure you’ve heard this one by now, “you make money even as you sleep,” well it is true. Imagine that, a beacon of hope out there in this rough and stressful economy.

Selling on the world wide web also means your customer base is automatically higher than it would be in the real world with a brand new business. Not to mention online one misses out on all the not so fun headaches of being a business owner such as rent and property expenses, employee issues, and in most cases, overhead. This does not mean that being successful online is easy, but it is attainable for everyone and requires a much smaller initial investment than real world businesses.

Expert Author Christopher M. Castillo of [http://www.HomeMarketingGuru.com] is a top internet marketing guru who works with industry leaders in developing the best tools to automate making money online. His real passion is for helping others achieve their goals, dreams and aspirations of earning a full time living online with his methods. Christopher is also known for small business consulting, business plan creation and for teaching others how to make business success. Christopher M. Castillo is an expert in marketing holds a BBA and MBA in Marketing and has decades of experience in Marketing for corporations, small business and non-profit organizations. To learn more how Christopher M. Castillo and his team of Mentors can teach you to make money online today, visit them at [http://www.HomeMarketingGuru.com] and take a FREE TEST DRIVE!!!

This holiday shopping season, many parents will be looking for the perfect toy and gifts for their children and loved ones. For younger parents with children that are still toddlers a major concern will be and should be to find age appropriate toys that will be safe their little ones. There is a reason that toys have age ranges and that is because what is a perfectly safe and normal toy for a child of 8 or older can be a danger to a two or three year old. So it is important for parents buying toys for their child’s first Christmas that they should shop with all due diligence for age appropriate and safe presents for their children. Here are some tips to help young parents know what they are looking for.

The first tip is that you should look for toys that can’t fit in your child’s mouth. Young children especially toddlers love to put things in their mouth. However this makes toys with articulated parts that can easily break off a major danger for young children. So as a young parent make sure that the toys you buy are of durable construction and are of unified structure with no small peaces that can break off. This means no action figures or small blocks or Legos. You want to avoid purchasing items that can be potential choking hazards for your child.

You should also avoid toys that have sharp or pointy edges or points. This can prove dangerous and can cause unwitting injury to a young kids especially if he or she is waving it about. This is why the majority of toys for younger children are rounded or soft. So try to look for toys that are rounded, soft, or at least not hard enough to do serious harm to your child. You will find yourself enjoying the peace of mind it brings that the toy can’t easily hurt your child.

If you are purchasing a riding toy for your toddler like a Power Wheels vehicle or tricyle make sure that you purchase proper safety gear. Of course make sure that your child will be properly supervise to avoid their being injured by the riding toy or vehicle overturning

It is also important to avoid large toys that can tip over easily. Unless it is soft and not too heavy, try to avoid big toys as they can easily fall on your young toddler and injure them. You want to find toys that are hard to knock over or will not be hard or heavy enough to cause harm to your child in case it does fall on them.

Try to look out for recalls on toys. This is important to know which toys were not properly safety tested. Every now and then manufactures will make a mistake when producing a toy whether it is failing to realize a potential safety hazard or shoddy work that can become dangerous. You can find recall list online or posted at the customer service area of your local super store. It will help you better avoid serious hazards when picking presents.

For most of the home owners, selling their home is defined as placing it in listing and hiring a seller to negotiate a lucrative selling price. But there is more you need to do to ensure that your home is a fast seller. And the best way to do that is to ensure that the presentation and first impression you give will be unforgotten.

Potential buyers often look to the internet to see if they can see any listed house on sale. It is not enough to document about the house as you need to provide some pictorial proof to match every detail that you give as well. That means when you are preparing to sell a house, you should go around taking pictures of each and every room, including the front lawn and the back yard as well. The interior and exterior aspects of the house should be captured, and in a manner designed to impress.

To prepare for this, you need to ensure that your house is in a presentable state. That means ridding all the clutter in every room, and straightening everything out. The front lawn should be well trimmed and well tended to, as well as the backyard which should not contain any junk at all. When you are taking the pictures, ensure that you are doing so in natural lighting, as most cameras are designed to produce the best pictures that way. Ensure you capture every aspect of the house that draws attention.

It’s long been said that image is everything and when you deliver a good first impression, you can be guaranteed of positive feedback. Post the best photos in your description page and wait to see the response that you get. If the procedure is done right, you can be sure that your house will be selling in a short couple of weeks.