Read more

IT professionals report the number one action they take when considering a career change is to reassess their skills, goals and interests. Following this self-assessment, they begin searching online job boards and company websites for available job opportunities, with 96% utilizing online job boards. Once potential opportunities are identified, the majority of IT professionals (72%) begin networking with professional communities outside of their current company and researching industries with high demand for IT talent.

“As IT professionals go through their own process of job searching, organizations should go through a similar self-evaluation to determine what skills, knowledge and abilities enable people to excel within their organization,” says TEKsystems Director, Rachel Russell. “Job boards are the quickest way for IT professionals to feel like they’re getting out there and searching for a job. But given that so many people are on the job boards, it’s a hard place to stand out. Job boards also present challenges to employers due to the abundance of resumes and the tendency for skill exaggeration on resumes. The unrivaled leader in terms of effective job search tactics is networking. Credible referrals from people you trust are the best avenue to a new job that’s a truly good fit.” Read more

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently reported that of the 372 metropolitan areas measured, 351 have measurably lower unemployment rates than November 2010. Of the remaining 21 areas, 16 saw increased unemployment rates, and five held steady. Eight metro areas have reported unemployment rates above 15 percent. On the other side of the scale, 25 metro areas have reported rates of less than 5 percent. Within the non-farm payroll sector, over the last 12-month period, 239 areas saw employment increases, 127 experienced decreased employment levels, and six were stagnant.  Nationally, the unemployment rate fell 1.1 percent, over-the-year, from 9.3 percent to 8.2 percent. Read more

“To cut costs, many organizations are going back to benefits consultants, saying ‘Tell us if we could do something different to save money,’” said Alanna Conte, senior consultant at Hay Group in New York. “It’s not an easy message to relay to employees. Many have not increased pay because of the economy.”

“It’s an issue across the board and a major concern of our members in every negotiation,” said Bernie Mulligan, spokesperson for the New York State Nurses Association, which narrowly averted strikes at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center and Mount Sinai Medical Center, both in Manhattan, with some creative solutions to address the issue. Learn more

Click on the image to enlarge

“Health Information Technology is one of the fastest growing programs in the field of healthcare right now,” said Cindy Whittum, director of career services at Career Quest Learning Centers in Lansing. “Career Quest Learning Centers has developed a concentrated program for students who want to get into this field now – not years from now. Our students can get in on the ground floor. It’s a great way to get ahead in this new program.”

The Health Information Technology program at Career Quest is a 900 hour, or 47-semester credits, program. The program was designed to prepare students to enter a career with the skills employers are looking for. The aim of the program is to provide students with foundation computer skills an understanding and fluency in using medical terminology, regulations and payer systems. Learn more

With so many gray areas that accompany the proliferation of social media for nurses, there’s great potential to connect with fellow nurses and patients like never before .

There are also great risks of instantaneously committing the biggest professional blunder of your life. Learn more

Did you know:

• Nursing schools can view your Facebook profile without your permission
• Yes, nurses have been fired for Facebooking inappropriately
• The ANA has published a set of social media principles

A couple of the key points were:

• (Anne) how can you avoid making long-term mobile decisions at this point?  After all, hospitals that don’t steer their doctors are going to be managing whatever technology the doctors invest in, aren’t they?
• (DDS) the risk is that people will take this to mean that they shouldn’t move at all on mobile app platforms, and this would be a mistake. This is the perennial issue with health IT; if it’s not perfect, then wait.

Learn more

SimplyHired.com released its January 2012 Employment Outlook highlighting national and local market outlooks, as well as industry and employer trends. According to the report, nationwide job openings fell slightly in December – down 1.9 percent month-over-month. However, December is a notoriously slow month for hiring, and job growth remained up 10.6 percent year-over-year when compared to 2010. On the local level, despite the overall slowdown in hiring, six of the top 50 metro areas experienced increases in job openings in the last month of the year. Raleigh & Durham posted the greatest increase, up 2.7 percent, followed by Birmingham, Norfolk & Newport News,Louisville, Sacramento and Oklahoma City.

Everyone worries about their job prospects, but medical professionals have less to fear. The health industry has continued to do well in terms of job growth even throughout the economic recession. Why is this the case, and will the job outlook continue to look promising in the years to come? This article explores these questions, starting with the current job landscape and finishing off with job predictions.

How It’s Going?

The year 2011 wasn’t an exception to the norm in regards to medical industry employment growth. As of New Years Day, there were about 100 jobs listed under the “nurse practitioner” subheading of Nurse.com, and that’s only one of dozens of subcategories. The website posts thousands of job openings from around the country, and they don’t appear to be in short supply. Read more