Long gone are the days when physicians served solely as diagnosticians and healers.  In today’s highly competitive business environment, physicians require the managerial and communication skills essential to their career growth and indeed, the growth of the institutions with which they are affiliated.  Oxford Medical, a leading, highly reputable provider of continuing education, understands this need and has responded to it with targeted courses.

Appropriately named, the site’s medical management course is critical for any practitioner seeking to expand his or her responsibilities into managing others.  This 18-point CPD-accredited programme was created by the Royal Academy of Medical Colleges in cooperation with the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement of the Medical Leadership and Competency Framework (MLCF).  Included in this three-day course are the development of key communication skills, management of diversity, and more, as the site will explain.

The medical teaching course is designed to develop and enhance physicians’ teaching abilities: skills that enhance the value of healthcare practitioners, whether those practitioners are consultants or empowered to practice in specific healthcare facilities.  Through this programme, working in small groups, medical professionals engage in a teach the teacher course, acquiring disciplines that will facilitate their transfer of knowledge to interns and nursing staff.

The consultant interview course is vital to physicians seeking consultancy positions.  Such positions are highly competitive, and the detailed, extremely rigorous interview process can often serve as the determining factor in the decision to hire, or not hire, an applicant.  This comprehensive consultant interview programme spans every phase of the interview process.  Development of compelling resumes (curriculum vitae) and the actual interview is covered, including suggestions for establishing an environment of trust with the interviewers, and responding to difficult questions in a manner that transforms negatives into positives.  It includes a mock interview as well as clear, concise instructional materials designed to help job candidates ace the interview.

For professional career growth, please examine Oxford Medical’s course offerings in greater detail by clicking through to their site. 

In this job market, reinvention of one’s aptitudes is the key to career longevity.  Reinvention, however, does not necessarily equate to a total reinvention of the wheel.  Success is often attained, in this fiercely competitive economy, through continuing education.  For employees who wish to expand their base of skill and knowledge — as well as companies that service these individuals through career education — ongoing training results in attainment of credentials that make employees more knowledgeable, more diverse, and therefore, more sustainable to one’s current and future employers.

If you are a professional certified as an Enrolled Agent (EA), you know this to be true of the enrolled agent continuing education requirements.  Properly trained, EAs are empowered to represent the interests of taxpayers whose tax submissions are subject to audits.  Unrestricted with respect to the scope of tax issues to be investigated or the type of taxpayers they may represent, an EA is a valuable commodity.  They can facilitate the audit process, reduce risk to their clients, and if applicable, accelerate the recovery of tax funds.  Proper training in this aspect of taxes, therefore, is essential.

While it is vital to choose an educator well experienced in the provision of EA continuing professional education (CPE) courses, it is also critical to choose a service whose material is easily understood, quickly retained, and developed by professionals.  It is equally important that the service be configured to the needs and schedules of its students.  Fastforwardacademy.com is that service.

Verified by the IRS, created and continually updated by EAs, CPAs, and MBAs as well as professional editors, the Fastforwardacademy enables potential students to view course content at no cost before committing to their innovative program.  Those who capitalize upon the program acquire skills and knowledge at their own pace.  For those wishing to become an EA, the site also provides an enrolled agent ethics course.

Developed and presented with expertise, the program is comprehensive and extremely user-friendly.  Please visit the site today to view free content and learn more about this program so essential to one’s professional development.

In the film, “Kramer versus Kramer,” Dustin Hoffman plays a desperate man.  Once a well-paid executive, he loses his job simultaneous to his wife’s unexpected filing for divorce and suit for custody of their only child.   She’ll get custody if he doesn’t prove that he can support his kid; he needs to earn a paycheck, and soon.  Smack in the middle of the holiday season, he discovers an opening in a large, reputable firm and attempts to apply for the position. Initially, he’s rebuffed by the company’s reps. They advise him that it’s Christmastime, when no firm hires and no firm grants interviews.

Driven and adamant, Hoffman’s character crashes the office party at the firm in question.  He delivers his resume and portfolio, telling the execs that his application for employment is good for 24 hours only; that they must “take it or leave it.”  Stunned by his nerve and impressed with his credentials, the employers offer him the job on the spot!

While we’re not suggesting that you crash a potential employer’s Christmas, Chanukah, or New Year’s Eve fete, we’ve offered this memorable scene from the film for a reason.  It illustrates the myth that too many job seekers labor beneath, the myth that employers do not and will not increase the size of their workforce during the weeks between Thanksgiving and the first of the following year.

Job hopefuls have bought into this myth for too long.  They’ve been told that companies are bogged down with end-of-year reconciliation and reporting of finances; they’ve been told that projects often wind down before the end of the year.  Although some of this information may be true, it is not true of every company, every department, and every job category/function.

Much like the human race, the job market is continually evolving.  Many of the hard and fast rules that once served as guidelines no longer hold true.  What is true, however, is that employers are often under the gun, at the end of the year, to fill their job requisitions (openings for positions via qualified candidates).

When the New Year kicks in, it often does so with new budgetary constraints — constraints that can impact the hiring process.  The job requisitions that were open before December 31, 2011, for example, may be closed come January 1, 2012.  Managers rush to fill those positions, because if they don’t, their departments will be understaffed and less productive in the coming year.

“Make hay while the sun shines” goes the old adage.  The sun is not shining upon this economy, by any means.  Why, then, reduce your chances of seeking gainful employment by buying into outdated, invalid myths about holiday hiring practices?   You can bet dollars to donuts that job hopefuls who are not clued into the truth will not be applying for jobs this holiday season.

So, get the jump on them.

Ensure that your resume and cover letter are compelling and truthful; ensure that they marry all the elements that employers currently demand with your specific skills and accomplishments.  And then, submit your career documents for those positions with which you are well suited.  Happy holidays, and happy job hunting!

We all know someone who claims to have been born under a black cloud.  Bemoaning a universe out to get him, he yammers on about misfortunes great and small, including his aching back and the hair he was served along with his dinner.  What he fails to mention — indeed, what he fails to see — is that he’d lifted a fifty-pound carton in a manner designed to put him in traction, and chose to chow down in a notorious greasy spoon.  Such individuals are not cursed by unseen forces. They are self-destructive; they set themselves up for failure.  They do it in every aspect of their lives, including interviews.

Here are some of the behaviors they exhibit that give employers reasons not to hire them:

 1.     Lighting up cigarettes.

2.     Displaying tattoos or body piercing, even those that are allegedly “discreet.”

 3.     Reeking of last’s night garlic-laden dinner.

 4.     Cracking chewing gum; blowing bubbles.

 5.     Biting their nails or engaging in other disgusting behaviors.

 6.     Peering at their cell phones to read incoming text messages.

 7.     Dressing inappropriately and/or sporting unsuitable hairstyles.

 8.     Asking, “Waz up?” instead of politely saying, “Thank you for seeing me today” at the onset of the interview.

 9.     Failing to shake hands with the employer.  Crushing the employer’s hand in a death grip.

10.    Failing to articulate their skills and accomplishments properly in response to direct questions.

11.    Focusing on salary, benefits, and paid holidays instead of the attributes the employee requires.

12.    Saying, “This places reminds me of the dump I just left,” and/or other rude comments, including those painting former employers as the Devil’s spawn.

13.    Failing to arrive on time (too early or too late) and being cavalier about it, as if the employer’s time is worthless.

14.    Calling the interviewer “Honey” or “Sweetie.”

15.    Having typos on their resumes.

16.    Saying, “I don’t know what that means on my resume; my friend wrote it for me.”

17.    Forgetting to bring multiple copies of their resumes, in the event that more than one manager conducts the interview.

18.    Failing to familiarize themselves with the company’s mission and product/service line.

19.    Inserting religion, politics, American Idol, or any other unrelated topic into a discussion that should revolve solely around the company’s needs, the demands of the position, and the assets the job candidate can bring to the table.

20.    Interrupting the interviewer.

21.    Failing to maintain eye contact.

If any or all of these gaffes sound like scenes from a situation comedy, let us assure you that they are real.  The “Waz up?” line, for instance, was pulled recently on the owner of a local restaurant that I patronize regularly (and it’s not a fast food franchise).  Seeking to hire an assistant manager, the owner had advertised the job opening. After suffering through a number of wisecracking, lackadaisical candidates, he hired an older woman with a slight disability.  The lady was not only experienced, she’d arrived neatly dressed, well prepared, and with a demeanor that was professional and enthusiastic.

Professional, prepared, and enthusiastic are the characteristics of candidates that secure jobs, not discourtesy, sloppiness, or ignorance. 

The New Year is traditionally one of the best times to seek and gain employment.  Given the current state of our economy, however, this year’s job hunters will likely face more competition than ever before as tens of thousands of unemployed and underemployed job candidates vie for what will almost certainly be fewer opportunities than in banner years past.

Want to distinguish yourself from other candidates and land that job?  Then, take to heart the unconventional problem-solving approach applied by comedian and entertainer Emo Philips who said, “When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle.  Then, I realized God doesn’t work that way, so I stole one and prayed for forgiveness.”  Undoubtedly funny, Philips’ comment should provide a revelation to unsuccessful job seekers employing traditional methods in attempting to uncover opportunities.

Consider the case of the fifty-something financial executive who found himself unexpectedly unemployed.  Unable to secure employment via the customary channels of responding to employment advertisements/postings, contacting recruiters, and networking, this individual, in desperation, decided to throw caution as well as pride to the wind.  He fashioned a wooden sandwich sign announcing his availability and summarizing his qualifications.  Then, he proceeded to pound the pavements of lower Manhattan wearing his creation.  His inventiveness and audacity caught the attention of a prospective employer, who following the typical interview process retained the services of this job candidate.

Or, ponder the path to employment that proved fruitful for an unemployed advertising sales executive.  Eschewing preparation of a typical resume, this job seeker determined to not simply describe but demonstrate his salesmanship through his job seeking materials.  Procuring ordinary, unprinted pizza boxes, he displayed his qualifications and accomplishments in a circular pattern surrounding a replica of a baseball in the lower portion of the box.  Atop the box, he had printed in large, bold letters the following:  “If you are seeking a sales executive who knows how to deliver a pitch, look inside.”  The results generated by this most unusual resume format were both immediate and highly effective.  He interviewed with virtually every firm or agency to which he had sent this package and received several lucrative job offers.

The lesson to be learned from the stories above is that sometimes unconventionality, far from being a roadblock, opens avenues to employment opportunities.  This should not be surprising, for even in more conventional job searches, candidates seek to distinguish themselves from competitors via their resumes and cover letters.  The difference in the cases detailed was one of degree.  The old adage “desperate times call for desperate measures” motivated the candidates described to take more extreme measures in gaining the attention of prospective employers and both succeeded in doing so.

Whether any particular job seeker needs to take such extreme measures in his employment search depends upon an analysis of each candidate’s peculiar circumstances.  All candidates, however, can benefit from presenting themselves in ways that highlight their unique contributions and qualifications and thereby, capture the attention and interest of prospective employers in an increasingly crowded and noisy job market. 

Over the past fifteen years, the healthcare industry has undergone monumental change,  transitioning from an environment whose focus was largely clinical, to one that marries medical expertise closely with the demands of running a profitable business.  Practice of the medical arts has become increasingly competitive.  An MD degree from the most reputable school, and even a strong clinical background, are no longer the sole factors influencing the decisions of hiring authorities.   If you are about to launch your career in medicine, or are an experienced professional seeking a new position, you require the specialized skills necessary to maneuver through interviews leading to career growth.

You require the services of a company who employs professionals in the field, one that provides you with the competitive edge critical in this increasingly stringent marketplace.  Oxford Medical is that company.

Via specialized training, including fully accredited CME classes that include a medical consultant interview course and medical management courses, you will be equipped to comport yourself in the most professional manner during the interview process.  You will learn how to conduct medical presentations that will highlight your knowledge and skill to fullest advantage, how to field difficult questions so that you present yourself in your most positive light, and more.

The classes are small in size. Dependant upon the topic, some run for a single day, while others are longer.  Taught by licensed and respected professionals in diverse branches of medicine — pathology,  endocrinology, radiology, obstetrics and gynecology, intensive care medicine, surgery, and anesthesia — you are assured the highest quality training experience: the “make or break” factor in securing that coveted position.

Oxford Medical also offers Teach the Teacher courses,  and Essentials of Medical Management and Leadership courses.  In a field that has become acutely conscious of risk reduction, the knowledge that these courses impart are essential.

Whether your objective is a consultant interview or an interview leading to a longer-term, tenured position, there is no better resource than Oxford Medical. 

As the U.S. economy prepares to sink lower, into a double dip recession, qualified American job seekers find themselves running in place like hamsters on wheels.  It’s not that they lack experience, practical skills, education or initiative; it’s that they are looking in the wrong place. Employment is plentiful in some nations overseas, particularly in the rapidly growing economy of Dubai.  And if they have thought of capitalizing upon that healthy market, they lack the critical link to recruiters and hiring managers seeking new talent.

With a consistent record of achievement in assisting job candidates in uncovering marketing jobs in Dubai, dubaiemploymenttips.com provides that link.  Their professionals don’t simply facilitate placements; they assist job candidates, with confidence, in navigating through a strong but unfamiliar job market.   They provide information and expertise enabling candidates not only to locate optimal positions based upon their respective levels of experience, but also offer the knowledge base enabling negotiation of the most favorable salaries.

Available jobs in Dubai range from those appropriate for recent college graduates to executive-level management.  Dubaiemploymenttips.com opens the door to a wide range of industries, including but not limited to Information Technology.  While this field has grown soft in the U.S., Dubai presents a myriad of opportunities for IT professionals including those marketing IT products and services.

Driven by governmental initiatives to automate 90% of its processes and services, Dubai has already enjoyed in excess of $3 billion in sales of IT products and services, with no signs of slowing down.  Projections indicate annual growth of 14% over the next few years, with a 16% increase in annual revenues by 2013.  And yes, we said “annual.” Other factors, including population growth and tourism, are calculated to contribute to the ongoing demand for marketing and sales professionals, particularly in the software sector of the IT market.

To take advantage of this tremendous expansion of jobs in Dubai and explore the means of accessing this growing job market, job candidates should check out dubaiemploymenttips.com today.

In my thirty-plus years in the field of career services, I have met many talented individuals whose career opportunities were hindered severely because of deficiencies in their educational backgrounds.  Whether the missing credential was a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or Doctoral degree or perhaps a Certificate in a particular discipline, the lack of an employer-required educational credential has foreclosed many a job candidate from opportunities for which their overall backgrounds and experiences may have qualified them.  In fact, lack of appropriate educational credentials is one of the primary liabilities that, when uncovered by a recruiter or hiring manager, results in elimination of a job candidate from consideration.

In times past, completing one’s education to attain a degree or professional certificate entailed attending classes at a college, university, or trade school.  That attendance usually meant that the degree or certificate candidate needed to take time from a demanding schedule that included job and familial commitments.  Often, classes required for graduation conflicted with personal and employment schedules. 

Fortunately, those seeking to advance their careers today have another option in gaining the education they need.  In recent years, online or distance learning programs have proliferated to such an extent that, once viewed suspiciously by recruiters and hiring managers, they have now achieved equal status with traditional brick and mortar learning institutions.  These new age institutions allow their students to proceed at their own pace in achieving their educational goals and often provide a depth and frequency of student-educator interaction that traditional institutions can never duplicate.  Additionally, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, the nation’s No. 1 source of news, employment, and other information for those in the world of academia, online college enrollments are currently outpacing those at traditional institutions and college-level faculty members are enthusiastic about opportunities to teach at online institutions.

Among the leaders in distance learning, Walden University offers a full-range of Baccalaureate, Master’s, and Doctoral degrees, as well as Certificate and specialized programs facilitating accumulation of knowledge and development of skills by its students in the subject areas most sought after by today’s employers, including Nursing, Accounting, Education, Public Administration, Business, Management, and Information Technology.  For those individuals who find that job or family constraints do not permit them the time to pursue further education, or for anyone desiring the convenience of a self-paced educational program pursued in the convenience of their own home, completion of a degree or certificate program at an accredited online institution like Walden University makes eminent sense and can facilitate career advancement.

Some sage once said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”  Be sure you’re not one of them, when trawling the Internet in search of gainful employment!

Among the ever-widening sea of job hopefuls, Internet job searches have increased by 7% in a two-year period (73% in 2007 versus 66% in 2005 as per The Conference Board).  These figures include not only the unemployed and the soon-to-be-downsized, but also, individuals bringing home paychecks while searching for another employer to write them.  Computer hackers and the downright unscrupulous are well aware of the state of our economy and all too willing to take full advantage of the gullible.

“The gullible” are defined, for purposes of this article, as those who make it easier for their identity to be compromised, their finances stolen, and their dreams shattered, including fantasies of the perfect “work from home” jobs.  11,000 complaints concerning the latter, many of them linked to Internet searches, were filed with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) in a single year (2007).  The BBB, also known as the Better Business Bureau, projects that the stringent economy will produce escalating numbers of complaints from job candidates ripped off online.  To ensure that you do not fall into “the gullible” category, please take heed of our well-considered advice.

1.   Your English teacher was right; we hope you paid attention in class.  Reputable employers usually take care in writing their job descriptions/postings.  Unfortunately, errors in syntax, punctuation, and spelling do slip through the cracks; this is one of the fallouts of living in an electronic age.  However, honest employers do not make many such mistakes; they can’t afford to.  Foreign rip-off artists, however, do.  English is not their mother tongue.  Their sentence structure is often not only faulty, it is downright confusing, and the emails will be rife with errors a fourth grader would not commit.  Should you receive an email configured in this manner, understand that it is bogus.  It is a scam.  Purge it immediately from your system.  Do not respond to it!  Responding may open the door for them to hack into your computer, for in so doing, you will be giving the thieves your IP address and thereby, easy access to all of your personal data.  

2.  “There’s something wrong with your account.”  Really?  The account in question is one that you initiated on one of the many job boards, particularly the major ones.  These are so accessible that you may not think twice about responding to an email claiming that something is amiss with your account.  But if you don’t think twice, you could be in serious trouble.  If you receive an email “alerting” you with a message of this nature, and if the email contains a link, don’t click on it.  It may take you to a site that is in no way associated with the job board; in fact, the site may contain a virus or other harmful software tool that will demolish your system.  If you are asked to submit all of your personal information again, who, in actuality, is receiving it?  The job board or a hacker/robber?

3.       Don’t get personal.   Believe it or not, some job seekers open their Inboxes to find that, lo and behold, they have been “awarded” jobs for which they have never even interviewed.  It appears as if they’ve won the lottery and indeed, the chances of the emails being genuine are about equal to those calculated to win the Mega Millions.   The catch is that the “employer” requests a ton of very personal information from you, including the one piece of information with which you should be extremely circumspect: your Social Security number.  These are not employers but scam artists, so don’t feed them your information!

4.  The “Work from Home” Lies.  Hackers and robbers understand that the paucity of jobs, and the graying of America, has created a real market for them to mine by way of phony or trumped up “work from home” schemes.  While a number of such job opportunities are real, the majority of them work to the employer’s (thief’s) advantage, not yours.  Those that promise you riches in a brief span of time, and those that demand that you pay them up front for these “wonderful opportunities” are to be avoided like The Plague.   Senior citizens are not the only ones who are targeted.  Students, stay at home moms, and disabled individuals are also at risk here.   Do your research thoroughly before you commit to any “work at home” program.  Contact the BBB at www.bbb.org if you have questions.

5.  London Calling.   It doesn’t have to be London, but the so-called employer does need to be far enough away so that he demands that you wire money to him via the usual routes (Western Union or a MoneyGram).  Allegedly, the money is for a start-up fee for a “work at home” job, or some form of equipment, or supplies, or even a uniform required to perform the work.  The phony employer may send you a small check for your initial efforts and then request that you send a heftier amount to him.  Do the math.  Who comes out ahead?

Be smart.  Be alert.  Don’t be a victim!

In my more than twenty-five years in the career services industry, I have met many people who were unhappy with their careers.  The sources of their unhappiness, in some cases, may have been with the particular circumstances relative to their places of employment.  But, for far too many, their dissatisfaction rested with their actual position and job functions.  And, the dissatisfaction to which I have been a witness is not simply with one class or type of job, but runs the gamut from labor to professional and executive positions.

For most of us, our work or career represents a significant portion of our lives, in a typical week anywhere from 20-50% or more of its 168 hours are spent in preparing, commuting, and actually performing our job functions.  When you consider that sleep takes another 20-33% of our week, you understand that, for most people, more time is spent in career-related activities than in personal pursuits.

With so much of our adult lives invested in career, you would think that the primary consideration in selecting a career would be whether or not we would enjoy it.  The sad fact is that, for most people, our career choices are based either upon incomplete information or are purely accidental.  How many people who you know have been educated in one discipline and are working in another?  Similarly, how many people do you know whose initial jobs dictated their career paths?

Most of us choose careers at a time in our lives when youth and idealism sway our judgment.  Our knowledge of the career path selected and the actual job functions performed is usually fragmentary.  And, the education we receive, while preparing us with fundamental skills and knowledge, usually only hints at the job to be done at its conclusion.

Once in a particular line of work, leaving that line to pursue another is difficult and becomes increasingly so the longer we remain in a particular career.  Of course, people do change careers each and every day – but, at a cost.  That cost is usually economic, which may have been the reason for the career choice initially.  For someone young and unattached, that cost may be easily born.  But, for someone older with significant financial and familial commitments, the cost may be a significant barrier to changing into a more enjoyable career.

The career battle between economics and happiness is one that can spawn stress and depression, breakup relationships and marriages, and, in the most dire circumstances, lead to casualties among its participants.  It doesn’t have to.  People who are happy in their work generally outperform those who are not and receive greater rewards – although those rewards are not always financial.

For those people who feel trapped in a career they consider loathsome, plan an exit strategy.  Calculate the impact on lifestyle that a career change may bring and reorder your life to accommodate your switch to a more pleasant and rewarding career.  For young people considering a choice of career, find something about which you can be passionate or, at least, very interested.  If in pursuing this choice you find it is not what you expected, seek and pursue another alternative.

In life, there are no hard and fast timetables.  There is no rule as to when one’s formal education should be finished or when someone should be settled with home and family.  Live your life free of the boundaries that others would impose on you.  If you do, you’ll find happiness and peace.