Negotiating Salary In Tough Economic Times

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You’re a certified medical billing and coding professional in a field that is predicted to continue to grow.  Yet unemployment is still near historic highs and there are more applicants than jobs available, even in high growth fields.  So, it is not a good time to ask for a higher starting salary (or a raise if you’re already employed) right?  Wrong!  Good help, as the old saying goes, is hard to find.  Employers are always happy to have quality, highly trained people working hard for their organizations.  Knowing how to negotiate salary can help you earn what you’re worth even in tough times.  Michael Chaffers at Monster.com writes this list of Top Ten Tips for Salary Negotiations.  Read it and arm yourself with the knowledge needed to get what you’re worth as an Allen School Online graduate!

Best Hospitals of 2011-12

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US News and World Report has released its list of the top hospitals for 2011-12.  This is interesting as it shows where some of the most sought after jobs might be for Allen School Online graduates.  The rankings include hospitals in 15 states so there’s lots of choices if you’re seeking to move to a specific area to begin your new career.  View the list here.

Noticeably Absent

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Noticeably absent from this depressing article about the disappearance of middle class jobs was any mention of declining numbers of available careers in medical fields.  The middle class squeeze, as we all know, has hit hard at industries like manufacturing where thousands of jobs in factories and assembly lines have been sent overseas to “low cost labor markets”  like China and India or automated with robotics and other technologies.  But this article showed the top five hardest hit career fields outside of manufacturing.  They were: Travel Agents Five-year decline: 14% Vocational Education Middle School Teachers Five-year decline: 14.4% Broadcast News Analysts Five-year decline: 15.9% Agricultural Engineers Five-year decline: 18.4% Transit and Rail Police Five-year decline: 18.7% Notice what was (thankfully) not included in this sad list?  If you said, “medical industry jobs”, give yourself a prize!

We’re Number 3!

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Yahoo! recently published a list of the top 5 fastest growing jobs in the medical field.  Medical Records and Health Information Technician took the number 3 place on the list!  With a very attractive average annual salary, medical billing and coding specialists can anticipate continued strength in the job market for people with their qualifications.  Click here to view the list and the entire article.

Dress for Success or, The Idiot’s Guide to Ironing

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Having your new certification and a brain full of knowledge is great, but as we all know, landing a job often comes down to making a good first impression at the interview.  Part of making that good first impression is obviously the way you speak and interact with the interviewer and how you convey your qualifications.  Yet, even more subtle but no less important is the visual first impression you make.  How you’re dressed and how you take care of your appearance is a powerful, unspoken indicator of how you will be as an employee.  To this point, it is critical that you wear appropriate clothes and that these clothes are nicely pressed and creased in the proper places.  This brings me to the point.  I don’t know about you, but I cannot afford to spend $12 per outfit to the dry cleaner for pressed shirts and pants.  Furthermore, I am challenged when it comes to ironing these items myself.  That was until I found this great post on Lifehacker.com explaining the finer points on DIY clothes pressing.  Read up on how to bone up your appearance and show up at the interview crispy, smart and ready to impress.

Interviewer: “Any Questions?” You: “Uhhh…”

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Acing the interview is pretty much the key to landing a job.  The rock-solid resume gets you in to the interview.  But the interview itself is the “make-or-break” step in the job hunting process.  If you’ve done enough of these, you know that they typically ask you alot of questions about your background, experience, skills etc.  Then at the end, they always ask, “Do you have any questions for us?”  Most people don’t know how to answer this and either say, “No” which indicates unpreparedness or worse, being intellectually incurious.  Or many respond, “When do I get vacation” or “how much does the job pay?”  Both these questions do more damage than good.  There are questions you may ask of an interviewer which demonstrate that you are interested in the job and have a good head on your shoulders.  Click here to read “The Six Must Ask Interview Questions” as listed by Monster.com’s Joe Turner.  He explains why these are the most important questions to ask and what they say about the person who asks them.

New Jobs Numbers – Mixed (But Good For Medical Field)

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In April, the U.S. economy added 244,000 jobs — the third straight month to see an average of over 200,000 new positions created, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  However, despite the growth in employment, there is real concern that the jobs being added to the economy are not the high-wage, “quality” jobs lost over the course of the brutal recession. That’s bad news if you’re a manufacturing factory worker or a homebuilder as those fields don’t show the resiliency reflected in the latest employment figures.  If you’re in the following career fields, professional and business services, health care and leisure and hospitality, the news is good.  Those fields were called out specifically by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as areas where job and wage growth shows continued strength.  Now’s a good time to be studying for a career in medical billing and coding.  Don’t you feel smart?

Don’t Stress!!!

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A new report circulating on the internet lists the top 10 most stressful jobs.  You’ll be glad to learn that only one of them is in the medical field, and that is “emergency medical technician”.  Reattaching someone’s severed arm on the side of the road after a motorcycle accident?  Stressful.  Also stressful?  Advertising Account Executive, Architect, Stockbroker, Emergency Medical, and Real Estate Agent. On the other hand, more than half of the top 10 LEAST stressful jobs in the report were in the medical field.  These included audiologist, dietician, dental hygienist, chiropractor, speech pathologist and occupational therapist.  Flossing someone’s teeth while listening to soft rock in a clean white environment?  Not so stressful.  Medical billing and coding did not make the list of either most or least stressful jobs.  But its good to know many of you will end up working in the offices of low-stress industries.

Doing a Career U-Turn

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If you’re considering ditching your old career in favor of a new one in an exciting field like medical billing and coding, you may be wondering if it is the right thing to do.  With the employment picture being difficult to say the least, it can seem like a daunting challenge and one that you might consider holding off on.  However, there is never a better time than the present to make a life change and change can be fraught with challenges in any environment.  At the Geek Mom blog, Julia Sherred discusses her thoughts on mid-course career corrections.  Read her post and then share your thoughts and feelings on this topic in the comments below.

Spring Rebirth?

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The Federal Reserve announced that the US economy improved in every region this Spring.  Despite the continued rise in fuel prices, the growth is a welcome event.  For those still seeking employment, the hiring numbers, while still grim, are showing modest improvements as well.  According to the Fed report, ” Consumer spending picked up modestly in most of the Fed’s 12 regions, despite the higher gasoline prices. Shoppers, however, focused on necessities and lower-priced goods. Auto sales rose and tourism also strengthened in most areas. Factories boosted production across most of the Fed’s regions, and many manufacturers increased hiring.” For those in the healthcare field, the news is even better with healthcare continuing to be among the fields least effected by economic fluctuations.  Hiring is expected to remain strong in healthcare relative to the rest of the market.