How to dress up for Halloween at the office

“Ripped from the headlines” costumes can be a big hit, especially if your co-workers like to keep up with the news, but you have to be careful in choosing a news story to embody. Avoid divisive or controversial issues that may offend or instigate your co-workers. A costume that sparks a heated political argument can be just as distracting as an overtly racy one.

What you miss out on when your social media profiles are invisible to employers

“We've watched politicians, famous actors and musicians, and even friends of ours share information and opinions that they wish they could pull back from the ‘Inter-webs,’” Terach says

Sticky question for your boss? Here’s how to ask

he better approach: Focus the conversation on what you can do. Better questions to ask your boss: “I'm interested in advancing in the company. How can I make that happen?” or “I was disappointed that I wasn’t promoted. Can we talk about what I need to do in order to reach the next level?”

Use social media at work, avoid a layoff?

Yet more and more companies are turning to internal social media networks as an easier way for workers to communicate with each other, and it turns out, there may be more of a benefit to the practice than quick communication.

Beware of these 4 grammar mistakes on resumes and cover letters

To correct this issue, Beason and Lester’s write, “See whether you can make the subject of your sentence plural and change the gender-exclusive pronoun to the plural form (they, them, or their). Try substituting his or her for a gender-exclusive pronoun when the subject is singular. [Or] revise the sentence to avoid using personal pronouns altogether.”

How much does your major matter? Not as much as you think

"Practice and really spend some time getting help understanding how to best articulate those transferable skills," she recommends. "That's what we find the most, is that the history major doesn't know how to articulate the things that they've done that would be good for them in a world like ours because they don't know how to connect the dots."

Email etiquette: Bad habits to break and new rules to follow

An email with “Hello” as the subject says nothing and might even be filtered out as spam by some systems. If a message is worth writing, it deserves a descriptive header. If you want the recipient to revise the Q3 report by Friday, a subject line of “Please revise Q3 report by Friday” is much more effective than just “Report.”

6 soft skills every professional needs

Faced with rampant unemployment and stiff competition for the jobs that are available, many job seekers are struggling to find a way to make professional inroads. However, there are still those who manage to get hired or promoted not because of their degree or technical expertise, but because of their communication and interpersonal skills, often referred to as "soft skills."

GIFs: 20 work lessons we’ve learned from ‘Friends’

To commemorate 20 years since the iconic show launched, here are 20 work lessons we can all learn from “Friends.”