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S P O N S O R S

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Health Careers Links

September 05, 1997

Interested in pursuing a career in the health field? Do you know what it takes?

The University of California, Irvine site offers advice--including majors and appropriate tests. It also has a section on alternative fields in the industry.

But, before you consign yourself to the field, check out Bard College'scareer information, including forecasts from Recruiting Trends magazine. Certainly the health care field is growing, but so are others. To browse additional fields and how to learn about them, visit the US Government site. It offers all sorts of freebies from what it takes to be a weather person to how to apply for an astronaut opening.

If you are convinced the health field is where you want to be--but aren't yet--look into programs that accept transfer credits and life experience. This will help shorten the amount of time you may need to spend back at school.

If you're already in the field, but are looking for a new job, there are several places to go on the Web.

Complete with animated icons, frames, and hard-to-navigate tables, Health Careers OnLine offers a plethora of opportunities for those in the health care fields--including health information and technology specialists.

Less flashy, and easier to use, is the Michigan Electronic Library site. It has links to several health care job boards and career information.

Advertising Trends, Economics, and You

September 04, 1995

The Conference Board of New York recently announced that demand for labor has remained virtually steady over the past three months.

According to them, help-wanted advertising on 51 major newspapers across the US rose in 4 regions and declined in five. "Steepest declines were in the West North Central (-5.3%), Mountain (-3.9%) and West South Central (-3.6%) regions. Largest increases were in the East North Central(14.7%), East South Central (3.3%) and New England (3.9%) regions."

Interestingly, according to Reuters News, states with the fewest new unemployment claims last month were California, with 4,988 fewer claims, Texas, with 3,160 fewer, Kentucky down 2,339, and Ohio, down 1,108. In fact, according to US News, "Michigan and Ohio recently launched competing national advertising campaigns to lure workers to those states, where unemployment is the lowest in nearly 30 years."

What this means to you is the economy is still growing and employment is still strong.

How can you use this to your advantage?

Realize that if you are a skilled professional, you are desperately needed--somewhere. Go to industry conferences, engage in some informational interviews, and talk to a few headhunters to find out what companies are looking for.

Then, bone up on your economics. In a strong economy, with a labor shortage, what's a decent wage?

Look to Yourself, Then to Others

September 03, 1997

Strategic partnership relationships occur when two or more businesses join forces in a long-term, but temporary, arrangement and complement each other's skills, services, etc. For instance, look at Prudential Insurance Company and IBM. Last year, Prudential outsourced application maintenance for its healthcare business to IBM in a contract worth $200 million.

Part of the reason companies have decided to work together is the trend toward outsourcing as a cost-savings technique. Part is also a recognition that collaboration actually strengthens a business.

You can create strategic partnership relationships, too.

Consider contract employment as a place to start. Contract employment allows you to work on a project rather than at a job. It allows you to

• recognize and meet a need
• focus on what it is you do best and enjoy doing
• pick and choose among contracts
• work for yourself
• set your hours
• make more money than you would in a similar direct position
• travel to different job locations, often worldwide
• work on various projects with different goals and different people

Independent contractors are not offered health insurance, holiday pay, or cafeteria plans. In other words, the benefits of full-time employment that we've come to expect are not part of contract life. However, in "a market where user expenditure on outsourcing will exceed $43 billion in the US by 2000," according to Arthur Anderson Consulting you clearly have several opportunities waiting.

Once you've forayed into the world as an independent contractor, cultivate others with skills that complement yours. Begin forging strategic partnership relationships.

To find out more about available contract positions, look at:

• JobSite offers an extensive, frequently updated listing of contract jobs in the UK and Europe for the IT professional
• Beyond Asia is an extremelyslow-loading site that is well worth the wait. It categorizes job availability by skills, language, and Asian country.
• InterNext has a few too many banner ads and navigation is a bit difficult. However, if you are interested in contract employment in South Africa, this is a good place to visit.

To create your own opportunities, learn about who does what. Pros Online offers a brief but valuable set of links to online research tools.

Create an Opportunity

September 02, 1997

Frustrated with many of the job search and career sites? Not interested in a "typical" job? Take a look at The Work Zone.

The Work Zone is a clean-looking and easy-to-navigate site that focuses as much on career transition as it does on the typical job search. It offers interesting overviews, straightforward advice, and worksheets with clear purposes.

There seems to be two primary goals. First, there is solid marketing advice. Secondly, there is a much-needed emphasis on viewing work as it is going to be, rather than what it once was.

As the site creators say:
"Most individuals who work in this Microchip Age will be using ideas and information in a variety of ways to solve problems. This problem-solving focus requires certain kinds of skills. One of the most important is the ability to see, identify, define or uncover a problem. Are you good at this? Are you competent at researching, gathering, analyzing and then synthesizing the information necessary to solve the problem? This will require you to separate the important from the unimportant as well as to clearly report your findings either orally or in writing. Can you then conceive, imagine, design or develop possible solutions? To do this, you'll probably need to project or foresee the likely consequence of actions that might be taken. And very often, you'll need to assess and weigh the risks and benefits of a certain course of action."

We all need to make a living. But we don't need to do it in the ways we've been taught. Technology offers loads of opportunities if we but learn to identify them.

September 01, 1997

In Careers for the New Millenium, the authors note that a study of recruiting trends by Michigan State University finds:
"[that] employers noted several skills and competencies that distinguished the most outstanding new college graduates from their peers... Employers prefer ... the following qualities: energetic quick learners; computer literate; good writers; confident public speakers; strong leaders and organizers; analytical thinkers and problem-solvers; excellent researchers; team players aware of diversity and treat all others with respect and dignity; competent in a foreign language; open-minded to the global workplace; flexible and adaptable; willing to begin at an entry level position and work their way into more responsible assignments."

Chiatday, an advertising firm, with a graphics heavy, bandwidth consuming site, spells it out a bit more succinctly:
"clearly, adaptability and the acquisition of new skills and interests will be two primary criteria in separating the successful employees (and companies, for that matter) from the also-rans."

Great. Now you have a somewhat clear idea of what employers seek. But, given that breathing, a college degree, and experience in something were often enough to get a job in the past, what do you do now?

You can use a handy tool available at the University of North Dakota site. Or visit the Missouri Works site or theUniversity of Virginia. Both have information about assessing your own career skills.

- Jennifer Hicks

More Resources

• Companies with Job Ads (Nearly 1500 Links to Companies and their Job Postings)
• Tools (Everything You need for a Job Hunt)
• The daily newsletters are archived in weekly volumes in the Archives. Past issues include:

Many of the items are also included in the Tools Area. The Web's largest collection of Employment related resources is also included in the Tools Area. -----------------