Dept. of Labor Confirms Strong Job Growth in Medical

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The US Dept of Labor job growth statistics outlining the predicts that 3.2 million health care positions will be created from 2008 to 2018!  That’s some fantastic news if you’re already enrolled at Allen School Online to study Medical Billing and Coding or Medical Office Assistant.  Both these positions are in the top 5 degrees necessary to take advantage of this excellent growth opportunity!  Click here to read the details of this excellent news!

How to Become Indispensable in your New Medical Office Job

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So you’ve gotten your medical billing and coding or medical office certificate from Allen School Online.  You’ve landed an exciting new position in the offices of a local physician or hospital.  Want to know the secrets of how to be the one person in the office they’d never even think of letting go?  Business Insider recently published this great article explaining how to become the indispensable member of the team.   The condensed version is:
  • Never take the shortcut.
  • Be adaptable, not rigid.
  • Be of service to others without expecting anything in return.
  • Be purpose-driven, not goal-driven.
  • Be assertive. Life is a game, so play big or go home.
  • Forgive others quickly.
For the details, read the whole article here.

Free Stuff

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As students of medical billing and coding, you’re in the company of students everywhere who are frequently, as the old cliche goes “starving”.   Having been a starving student myself once, working on studies without enough time to work for more money, I would have been thrilled to find a place where they were  giving away free stuff.  Well Allen School Online starving students, today’s your lucky day.  I am going to drop a bit of knowledge on ya, with links to a couple of excellent sites where they’re giving away free things.  From samples of Greek yogurt, to energy bars to laundry detergent and many more things a starving student would be happy to have for free.  Check out TotallyFreeStuff which is an excellent spot with links to all manner of freebees and other goodies.  Also of value is the similarly named FreeStuff website.   Enjoy!

Don’t Say That!

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Foot in MouthOne of the most popular posts ever on the Allen School Online blog was entitled 10 Common Reasons People Get Fired!  You can read it here. No other post has generated anywhere close to the number of reader comments.  Probably because everyone knows a co-worker who does some of these “termination worthy” things (like failing to take a shower before work). Well, I think this post will be similarly popular.  It is based on an article published on Monster.com entitled, “Nine Things Never to Say In a Job Interview” and it contains almost as much cringe-worthy examples of ways people undermine their career prospects as the 10 Reasons People Get Fired piece.  Have a read and remember these things next time you’re interviewing for a job in medical billing and coding or medical office assistant.

Early Spring? Early (Allergy) Suffering

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If you live in the Northeastern United States (as many Allen School and AS Online students do), you know we’ve been treated to a very early Spring.  After an exceptionally mild and mostly blizzard-free Winter, the temperatures have been in the mid-60s to 70s for the last 10 days or so.  The forecast is for over 70 degrees for much of the week this week.  In this blogger’s yard, the lilac bushes and forsythias have already begun to sprout early leaves.  While all this is a welcome occurrence, I know that I and many other seasonal allergy sufferers will be in for a bumper crop this pollen season.  While there’s very little you can do to stop the coming onslaught of pollen, there are steps you can take to alleviate the allergens in your home so you don’t suffer twice as much when the trees and flowers bloom.  Here’s a good piece from Men’s Health magazine about ways to minimize allergies in your home.  Enjoy this early Spring, and pass the tissues!

11 Ways to Hurt Your Career

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Studying medical billing and coding or medical office assistant training at Allen School Online does a great job of preparing you for a career position.  The coursework focuses on many important subject matter areas that you’ll need to successfully execute the position you’ll earn in a medical office or hospital.  But what you may not learn at Allen School or at any other school is how to avoid undermining your position and your career in general by engaging in behaviors and activities that are sure to land you in hot water and damage your reputation as an employee.  These behaviors and activities range from impropriety on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter to drinking too much at a holiday office party. Leading career website Monster.com published this excellent list of 11 Surprising Ways to Hurt Your Career that catalogs the many ways you can undermine your position in the workplace.  It is suggested reading for any Allen School Online students who are approaching the end of their studies and setting out to land a job in the field.

Adapting to Daylight Saving Time

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It’s hard enough for busy Allen School Online students to find enough time for a good night’s sleep.  Then along comes daylight saving time where we “Spring forward” losing an hour of sleep in the process.  It may not seem like much, but losing that hour can effect your focus over the course of several days while your body catches up to the loss.  Here is a great post listing 8 things you can do to boost productivity and focus during the week.

Non-Verbal Cues that Can Torpedo Your Job Interview

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You only get one chance to make a first impression.  This is especially true in the interviewing for a job position.  With so many applicants for each available job, you need to put your very best foot forward.  Just try not to be tapping your best foot all through the interview.   Allen School Online students get a highly respected certification when they finish their studies of medical billing and coding.  However, no matter how good your grades are, and no matter how respected your education is, and no matter how articulate you may be in the interview, you can still blow it and not even know it.   The Wisebread.com blog site has a great piece up right now that chronicles some of the non-verbal or “body-language” cues that can distract an interviewer during your meeting.  Things like excessive staring (while trying to maintain good eye contact), bouncing one’s leg up and down (due to nervousness) or nodding too much (trying to indicate high levels of interest) can all be negatively interpreted by the hiring manager.  Click here to read the whole article and its list of “don’ts” for body language during the interview process.

Great Data from BLS on Medical Billing and Coding Employment

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The website, medicalbillingandcoding.org is chock full of tools and data you can use to learn more about the employment environment for your chosen career field. And I have to say, the data looks pretty good. The salary figures, the projected growth of the industry, and other related statistics all point to a positive environment for jobs in medical billing and coding.  Stop by their site and see for yourself, and be sure to check out our programs at the Allen School of Health Sciences.

Fast Food Industry Fails to Disappoint

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Long time readers of the Allen School Online blog know that I have a penchant for covering the strange and life-shortening oddities produced at seemingly regular intervals by the US fast food industry.  These items — like KFC’s Double Down and the recently-proven-fatal Triple Bypass Burger at Vegas’ Heart Attack Grill — are major contributors to the heart disease and obesity epidemic that keeps medical offices busy with lots of ailing patients.  Well, McDonald’s, not to be outclassed, recently upped the ante with a new culinary abomination.  The new McRibster, (that’s a batter fried McRib pork sandwich with bacon) is about to hit markets and arteries near you.  The cult classic McRib sandwich wasn’t unhealthy enough I guess, prompting the evil geniuses at McDonald’s test kitchen to think of ways they could make this sandwich even more likely to stop your heart.   Have a look at it here and let us know if you think they’ve succeeded.