Tips to Bulletproof your Job

Companies in the country are experiencing downsizing. Recession is indeed evitable nowadays. Even Mercer Consulting, one of the three midsize to large U.S. companies, is currently considering freeze hiring or downsizing its employees due to the rising costs of the company’s expenses.

Prevent this reality from having a direct impact on your job. Listed are tips to bulletproof your current job, and keep you off the layoff list:

1. Embrace the Corporate Culture

You need to understand the company’s corporate culture and match it with your actions. Showing that you are professional displays your strong work ethics. Leave your comfy T-shirt and threadbare jeans at home! They may be comfortable but they don’t give you points for being professional.

2. Add Revenue and Practice Parsimony

Unlike jobs that generate money, jobs which involve costs are oftentimes the target of layoffs. Together with your colleagues, brainstorm new ways to increase the revenue stream. Try to come up with creative or practical ways to save your company money. Initiating cost-cutting measures, however small (such as minimizing the use of office supplies), will help make your boss see you as part of the solution, not the problem.

3. Thick Line between Personal and Professional Life

The company’s e-mail, communication, and transportation system are all for company business. Do not use the telephone, e-mail, the company’s car and even office supplies for personal benefits. These resources are easily accessible but it doesn’t mean you get to use it for personal use outside the office.

Also avoid office romance, especially with your boss. It often invites catastrophe. Long hours and close working conditions may lead to romantic entanglements, but think of what will happen if it ends badly? Surely, you can’t work effectively, especially when emotions are too strong.

4. Be Professionally Visible

Always try to be noticed. Do this in a positive way. Come to work on time and try to limit your vacation leaves. When you do solid contributions in the company, make sure your supervisor knows it. Your boss needs to be aware of all your inputs so he or she can consider you as an asset of the company. Remember, those listed on top of the layoff list are the unnoticed ones because of their small contribution. But be careful not to go overboard and be obnoxious about it.

5. Remember: There’s No “I” in TEAM!

Be a team player. You need to have healthy and professional relationships with your colleagues and boss. Be approachable and offer a hand when other employees need help. This will show that you also think about the growth of the entire company, not just your own.

Generation Y in the Workforce

The baby boomer generation is slowly being replaced by the Generation Y or the Nexters. This new generation of the U.S. workforce is described to be confident, sociable, highly diverse and optimistic. They are also knowledgeable with more skills, thanks to the development of education and technology.

Nexters thus became flexible when it comes to careers. To cater to the demand for specialized professions, academic institutions constantly create new programs and curriculums. For instance, the traditional medical course only produces nurses, therapists, and doctors. However, due to the advancement of science, other degrees such as medical transcription, laboratory technicians, and medical assistants have been made available.

Specialization on various fields became easier to achieve with the birth of the Internet. Well-tailored programs on top careers can be accessed through online courses. You, therefore, have the liberty to choose a degree that aptly suits your chosen career.

Try exploring top careers in medical and healthcare industry, information technology, and education. These fields are identified by the Federal Bureau of Labor and Statistics to have largest job growth until 2012. In the IT industry alone, network systems and data communication analyst will be demanding 402,000 employees, to join its workforce. A 53.4 percent employment growth is expected in the coming years.

Take advantage of the perks of your generation. Combine your degree with your strong work ethics. Companies are in dire need of young, versatile and technologically sophisticated workers, such as you. You can be a viable asset to any company once you enter the workforce.

Check out hottest online courses.

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Typical Job Interview Questions

Going to a job interview can be very nerve-wracking. But you should not treat interviews as interrogations. Granted that the interview may very well spell the difference between receiving a job offer or walking out the door in disappointment - but nothing beats pre-interview preparation to get that sense of confidence you need.

Know beforehand the usual types of questions being asked:

1. Being asked to say something about yourself
The person on the other side of the desk asking you questions is gauging your capacities, so focus on emphasizing your skills and strengths that would be a good match to the job you are applying for.

2. Questions answerable by yes or no
An interviewer may ask these questions to get a run-down of what you know or don’t know about. But never think that you can bluff your way through these “yes” or “no” questions. Later inquiries may be asked in such a way that you will need to expound on issues you earlier mentioned you knew something about.

3. Hypothetical questions
You may be asked what you would do in “what if” situations just to assess whether or not you are competent in making quick but rational decisions.

4. Multi-barreled questions
These are a series of questions that lead to the same topic, and it can become perplexing. In such cases, you may gain some control of the situation by asking the interviewer to either repeat or rephrase the question. Some interviewers use this tactic to test your logical thinking.

5. Behavior-focused questions
Relate significant experiences that honed or improved your skills or personality. This will enable the interviewer to assess how you would respond emotionally to different crisis situations. In essence, be straight to the point and confident.

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Hot Health Care Support Jobs

Great advances in medical technology have created a whole new class of health care professionals, so you don't have to limit yourself to being a doctor or a nurse. Plenty of new jobs in this field await you.

The health care industry has been identified to be the largest industry in 2006, providing 14 million jobs. Further, it is projected that the health care industry is one of the top ten growing occupations in the United States.

If you are seeking a job involved in providing quality health care to patients, the following are hot jobs in the industry:

1. Medical Transcriptionist

Medical transcriptionists are responsible for the constant update of medical researchers conducted by doctors and other medical experts. This is one of the fastest-growing health care related careers. Medical experts hire transcriptionists to put into writing all their findings in order to become reliable and useful references for other medical studies.

2. Medical Equipment Technicians

These are people who are in-charge of maintenance and repair of medical equipment. There is a great demand for this employment because of the urgency of continuous maintenance and update of machines to ensure its efficiency in delivering medical results.

Find out health care jobs in your area.

3. Medical Assistants

They are normally assigned to do administrative work such as handling medical records, prescriptions, and other paperwork inside the medical office.

4. Laboratory Assistants

They are primarily in-charge of the preparation of specimen samples and equipment to be used for laboratory tests or examinations. Their work also involves maintaining cleanliness and safety of the laboratory.

Joining the emerging health care workforce can be a breeze. One does not need to finish 4 years of college education; there are available short courses to be eligible in applying for health care support jobs.

Take charge, be self-employed!

You are exhausted with your routine at work. You seek the excitement, drive and motivation you seem to have lost because of your long years in the corporate world. If you are among these people, perhaps you need to have a drastic career change.

You may want to consider being self-employed in order to be your own boss and make your passion your own livelihood. A great number of people share the same sentiment, as justified by a recent survey in the United States. Over 71% of the respondents prefer to be self-employed than to get stuck with their current jobs. Still, only a few people become self-employed because they think it’s too risky. Some want to don’t want to lose their health benefits from the company and others are just afraid to step out of their comfort zone or leave their accustomed workload.

Do you want to make the change now? Find help here.

However, there are numerous advantages that outweigh such risks in becoming self-employed. One is you can escape the politicking and even the bureaucratic hierarchy in the office. Further, you have the ability to take matters to your own hands. This instantly provides self-fulfillment. You can become highly independent, especially in decision-making, by being a CEO of your own company. Being self-employed also gives you an opportunity to directly apply your strengths and talents to make your company work the way you want it to.

Be your own boss now and follow your heart. You have the opportunity to expand your personal growth and earning potential. Online degrees are accessible to aid your pursuit of changing your career, and be self-employed.