5 Fresh Tactics for the Job Hunt

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So this isn’t going to be the tired old “Dress for Success, Write a Thank You Letter, Make Eye Contact” kind of post about how to land the job.  The net is jam packed full of old, tired advice on what it takes to turn the job interview into a salary.  As many may have already found, what was useful even 10 years ago is no longer relevant given the radically different (read: exceedingly tough) job market.  Monster.com recently published a piece with what seems to be some very astute recommendations regarding what is needed to help a candidate succeed in the interview.  And it has nothing to do with clothing or how to turn “your top three weaknesses into strengths”.  The 5 fresh tactics are: Pain Spotting Story Telling Using a Human Voice Showing Relevance Knowing Your Value Click here to read the article at Monster for the details on what these suggestions involve.  Then go out and get ’em!

Why You’re Studying

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OK, so this is a bit of comic relief but it is a true story and it underscores the need for QUALIFIED medical office help.   Keeping track of medical records is a tough job.  So many people with so many different ailments and specific requirements.  It seems like an overwhelming task to keep it all straight.  This is why Allen School Online students study hard.  Consider the case of Les Kennington who was told that his severe abdominal pains were likely the result of his past hysterectomy! Yes, you read that right.  This New Zealander’s doctor’s office insisted Les’s pain was a result of his having had his uterus removed because his medical records said he’d had one! Click here to read the story that would be hilarious if it weren’t true.  Then get back to your studies because this is important stuff you’re working on!

Remember, They Fought for Our Freedoms

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On this Veteran’s Day, the Allen School Online Blog would like to offer sincere thanks and profound gratitude to all those who put themselves in grave harm’s way to protect and defend our Constitution, Bill of Rights and the freedoms they enumerate.  Their sacrifice and dedication should never be forgotten.  Please honor the memory of those who have fallen and those who have returned to us by being an engaged citizen.  Vote, participate, celebrate your right to self governance and thank a veteran for the gift of being able to have a voice in your country. “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. “ — John F. Kennedy

Zero Unemployment In Many Medical-Related Fields

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OK, so I cannot say that Medical Billing and Coding made the list, but a recently published list of the Top 10 college majors with the lowest unemployment rates after graduation contained no fewer than 3 medically-related fields.  The list put out by Liz Godwin at the Lookout was mirrored by recent research performed by the Wall Street Journal showing that majors in the following job fields all enjoy between 0-2% unemployment rates: Majors and their unemployment rate: 1. Actuarial Science—0 percent 2. Astronomy and Astrophysics—0 percent 3. Educational Administration and Supervision—0 percent 4. Geological and Geophysical Engineering—0 percent 5. Pharmacology—0 percent 6. School Student Counseling—0 percent 7. Agricultural Economics—1.3 percent 8. Medical Technologies Technicians—1.4 percent 9.Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology—1.6 percent 10. Environmental Engineering, Nursing, and Nuclear Industrial Radiology and Biological Technologies—2.2 percent Click here to read the whole article. If you are trained to work in medical offices as a billing and coding professional, you’re entering a field where there is categorically high employment.

Thanks is Not Enough – The Purposeful Interview Follow-up

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Everyone knows that the proper protocol is to send a thank you letter to the interviewer after having been interviewed.  It’s as well-known a part of the job hunt process as “dressing for success” and writing a custom CV for each application.  But with the job market as tight as it is, you need every edge you can come by to stand apart from the other applicants.  The Allen School Online certification is a good start.  But consider this wisdom regarding how you can leverage the obligatory “thank you” letter into a memorable vehicle to reinforce your interview. Www.interview-secrets.net has a great article on this topic.  According to the piece, most people either skip the thank you letter thinking it is a pointless formality.  Others simply send in a letter that expresses thanks, but does nothing more to help you stand out and seal the deal.  Read the article here for some secrets on how you can create a potent, meaningful and strategic follow up letter to your job interviewer.

Friendship Shrinks in Age of “Social Media”

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You hadn’t spoken until your childhood friend since the summer he moved away in 7th grade.  That is, until you re-connected with him on Facebook.   Maybe you have hundreds of Facebook friends and followers on Twitter.  You hold in your pocket, the ability to check in on everyone in the world that you have ever met during your lifetime.  Yet, according to a Cornell University study of more than 2000 Americans, we are more socially isolated than we were 25 years ago.  The average number of “good” friends, trusted confidants a person has, is down to 2 (from 3 in years past).  Chances are you are reading this post via a social media portal.  Maybe you read my blogging regularly and feel in some way connected to it.  Yet, we’ve never met.  So while we have more interaction with one another thanks to technology, we are not seeing an increase in personal connection.

Wheat Belly – A Breakthrough!

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This blog often covers issues related to diet, healthy foods and related trends.  So I am excited to share with the readers here some information I have firsthand knowledge of regarding a very important personal breakthrough.  This blogger has eliminated all wheat products from his diet for 45 days and has dropped almost 30 pounds in the same period of time! Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist, has uncovered a very startling fact: modern, genetically modified (GM) wheat produces a gluten protein that crosses the blood-brain barrier.  Know what else crosses the blood-brain barrier?  Cocaine, heroin and other highly addictive substances!  This is why, if you’re like me, you frequently cannot help overeating with a ravenous furor that borders on the uncontrollable.  Since the 1960s, as part of efforts to optimize yields and feed a growing and hungry humanity, all wheat produced globally has been a GM variety.  There was never any testing done to check if the GM grain had any negative side effects. I can tell you that after the first 4 days without wheat – during which time I experienced miserable withdrawal symptoms reminiscent of drug withdrawals – my compulsion to eat constantly has all but subsided.  Now, I still miss breads and pizza etc.  although I can easily resist them whereas before, I was all but powerless to do so.  Happily though, the damaging gluten protein is not inherent in potato, rice, corn and many other grains.  So when I get to longing for a wheat product, I can satisfy myself with some fries and ketchup.  Or I can enjoy a plate of pork fried rice.  Or tacos in crunchy corn shells.  And, I AM LOSING WEIGHT!  So that’s something!  You can visit Dr. Davis’ Wheat Belly Blog here. I highly recommend the book too.  It’s called Wheat Belly. It’s available at Amazon.com and your local public library.  Both the blog and the book also contain recipes to replace some of your favorite wheat-based munchies!

Charging Smokers and Obese More for Health Insurance

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A report out today underscores the growing practice among employer-sponsored health benefits providers and the for-profit insurance industry of charging higher premiums to smokers and the obese.  While this seems to make sense on its face – that people with unhealthy lifestyles should pay more into the system as they are likely to be needing to take more out of it – this blogger worries that the unregulated, non-standardized practices could open up many Americans to unfair and even abusive relationships with their health insurers and/or their employers.  Read the article here for details and then sound off in the comments on whether you think this idea is disturbing or imaginitive.

Friday Bit O’ Geek

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OK.  Follow my logic here.  Allen School Online students, hence, lots of people with some degree of interest/proficiency with computers.  Right?  I think it’s safe to assume that as a readership, Allen School Online students probably appreciate technology.  Maybe a bit of tech-geekery?  ‘Specially on a Friday afternoon?  Well, I am going to share this nerd-tastic look at “the phones of tomorrow” with you.  If you think these amazing (and in some cases beautiful) device prototypes are as cool as I do (OMG! I am such a nerd), let me know in the comments.  If Online students are indeed interested, I can share some of this kind of info with you when I come across it.

Is Your Data Protected?

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Online students!  Is all your course materials and other data important to you?  What would become of it if your hard drive crashed?  If your computer was lost, damaged or stolen?  If your home (God forbid) burns down? This blogger’s machine was recently infected by a quick acting virus that so scrambled my directories that the machine was rendered useless.  The Blue Screen of Death came up every time I tried to reboot.  Needless to say, all my years worth of work, records, music, pictures, videos, EVERYTHING was no longer accessible.  Lucky thing for me, I had a data backup strategy already in place.  In fact, I had a triple-redundant data recovery strategy (because, yes, I am a supreme nerd).  But it occurs to me that this is useful info to share. Here’s a link to a Wired.com “how to” on data storage/backup/recovery practices.  Your Windows operating system offers some data backup functionality which is the very least step I suggest taking.  Using an external hard drive to back up is another step (which I also have) so that if your internal disc drive croaks, you have instant access to your data.  Then I also use an offsite data backup service (I use Mozy.com for about $100 a year but there are others like carbonite.com etc.). So when my computer became infected, I simply re-installed my operating system using the original Windows Vista discs that came with this machine.  I was able to recover all my files from three different backup sources and didn’t lose a single thing (except for a couple days worth of re-installation time).  If your training materials are important to you in your career, you should definitely put together your own strategy to backup and protect your data.