http://www.articletrader.com/ Articles at ArticleTrader en-us http://www.articletrader.com/travel/how-prescribed-and-off-the-shelf-drugs-can-land-you-in-trouble.html http://www.articletrader.com/travel/how-prescribed-and-off-the-shelf-drugs-can-land-you-in-trouble.html Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0600
Periodically in the United Arab Emirates incoming travellers run foul of the law when found in possession of one or more of the 365 banned substances. "Possession" includes having traces of the substance in your urine.

Just imagine. You have a bon voyage bash at your favourite watering hole and the morning you fly, you have a hangover. So, you dip into your medicine chest and take a couple of painkillers. You put a few in your bag just in case you need them later, after all, it was a great night and you had a few too many.

Several hours later you land at Dubai. You are excited ... your first time in the Middle East, your credit card is fully paid up and there's all that duty free stuff you want to buy. But instead of getting to the Dubai malls, you finish up in the Al Wathba prison ... not exactly what you'd intended.

Unbeknown to you, your painkillers contain codeine phosphate, a drug outlawed in the UAE. When the UAE Customs officials asked you to step aside, you felt 100% confident that you'd have no problems. After the officials found your painkillers, they had you do a urine test which was positive for codeine. Then you were whisked away for 12 months jail. Not the holiday you had intended, right?

In the UAE you can receive lengthy jail sentences for possession of drugs that have been prescribed to you by a doctor in your own country. Drugs you buy without a prescription can also be a problem. If you smoke cannabis or take some of the other non-medicinal drugs, you can receive a four year mandatory sentence. No if's, but's or maybe's.

Recently, the local news media reported the sorry story of a disk jockey from some Western country who received the four year sentence for possession of 2.6 grams of cannabis. He claimed to have inadvertently left it in the pocket of trousers he had packed for the trip. Too bad.

Another person had 0.003 grams of cannabis stuck to the sole of his shoe and received the four year sentence. Another was found with three poppy seeds from the top of a roll of bread he had eaten.

The lesson for all of us here is to make sure we know what we can and can't take overseas to countries we plan to visit, before we leave our own country. Most Western countries have government departments that provide information for citizens travelling to overseas countries. Read it.

Perhaps it's a good idea to wash all your clothes before you depart and, if you are receiving medication from a doctor, get the doctor to write a letter stating what the medication is and why it was prescribed.

Statistically, there is a small chance of being jailed for drugs possession while entering the United Arab Emirates, but you do need to be aware of the potential and make sure you don't make the news for the wrong reasons.

Happy travelling.

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Robin is an educator, human resources specialist and Internet marketer who owns a number of sites including Employment One He is a prolific writer and earns some of his income from helping businesses improve their efficiency.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/business/career/six-ways-to-improve-your-job-application-cover-letter.html http://www.articletrader.com/business/career/six-ways-to-improve-your-job-application-cover-letter.html Wed, 30 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0600
When you've read thousands of cover letters, like I have, you tend to simply flick past them and move immediately to look at the resume or statement addressing selection criteria. In fact, many employers provide an application form or cover sheet to avoid cover letters.

Application forms or cover sheets, as they are also known, capture the same standard information you want from each applicant eg, name and contact details, equal employment opportunity data, qualifications, and perhaps current employment details.
A cover letter is technically, a letter of transmission ie, it's a letter that says why you are sending or transmitting your resume, CV or other documents. If you must send one, you need to take the following considerations into account:

Purpose of Cover Letters

The purpose of a cover letter is to:

1. Introduce yourself as an applicant
2. state for which job or jobs you are applying
3. sell the key knowledge and skills you can bring to the employer, and how those will provide a benefit
4. attach your resume or other documents
5. provide contact details

Improving Your Cover Letters

You don't want to bore your reader to death right? And you want to give a good impression ... so here's what to do:

1. use a proper business letter layout (no pink paper with flowers or puppies, no fancy typefaces or graphics)
2. go to the trouble to find the name of the person to whom it should be addressed, it's better than a "Dear Sir/Madam" approach
3. make it short and succinct ... don't try to tell you life's history. One page is enough.
4. focus on the benefits you can provide for this employer, not all the certificates or degrees you have and how you think you are a team worker, excellent leader etc
5. offer yourself as available to discuss your application; give your phone number and state clearly when you are, or are not, available
6. sign off "Yours sincerely"

And one last thing. If the job advertisement tells you what to send and it doesn't specifically ask for a cover letter eg, if the advertising employer has an application form, don't bother with a cover letter. It will just piss someone off and end up in the waste bin.

Copyright Robin Henry 2008
http://www.employment-one.com

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Robin is an educator, human resources specialist and Internet marketer who owns a number of sites including Employment One He is a prolific writer and earns some of his income from helping businesses improve their efficiency.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]>