Louisiana Jobs Supported by Healthcare Initiative

A national effort is underway that could lead to more healthcare workers finding jobs in Louisiana.

The federal government recently announced that it plans to expand investments in pay incentives for doctors and other healthcare professionals to work in Health Professional Shortage Areas throughout the country, including those in Louisiana.

A $200 million initiative by the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program will provide up to $50,000 in tax-free incentive payments to healthcare workers who agree to provide their services for at least two years in areas experiencing healthcare shortages.

Currently there are 170 job openings at National Health Service Corps community sites throughout Louisiana that need to be filled. The NHSC recruits trained workers who agree to provide healthcare services in under-served areas. The program then helps those workers repay educational loans.

Applications are currently being accepted for physicians, nurse practitioners, midwives, physician assistants, dentists, dental hygienists, psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, psychiatric nurse specialists, marriage and family therapists and licensed professional counselors.

“Many Louisianans struggle with access to health care services,” Alan Levine, secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, said. “Of the 64 parishes in our state, 53 of them are entirely designated as shortage areas for primary care providers and 10 others are partial shortage areas. This means that 63 of 64 parishes don’t have enough primary care providers.”

On top of that, 60 parishes don't have enough mental health providers and 58 parishes don't have enough dental health care professionals. Of the healthcare providers in the state, 53 are currently participating in the NHSC Loan Repayment Program.

In order to be accepted, applicants must work at an NHSC community site; participate in Medicaid, Medicare and state children's health insurance programs; accept all patients regardless of ability to pay; and commit to two years of full-time outpatient clinic service.

Rhode Island Teaching Jobs Get Funding

Many Rhode Island teaching jobs will soon be saved with the help of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The State of Rhode Island is slated to receive $111 million in federal stimulus money for education. Before receiving the funding, the state had to complete the first part of a stabilization application, which included assurances it would collect and analyze information about teachers and college readiness.

The Department of Education also requires Rhode Island to report the number of jobs saved through stimulus funding, the amount of state and local tax increases avoided and how funds are used, according to an article by The Associated Press.

The state's education officials say the money will help reform the education system and save hundreds of thousands of teaching jobs that are in danger because of budget cuts.

Education officials say the money will help reform the education system and save hundreds of thousands of teaching jobs that are in danger because of budget cuts. Rhode Island has already received $43 million in education stimulus funds and will be eligible to apply for another $54 million this fall.

As of March, Rhode Island's education and health services industry employed 100,000 workers, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 100,400 workers during February and the same number of workers employed in the industry this time last year.

Merger benefits Atlanta economy and jobs

Merger between Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines has just created 500 Atlanta jobs. Atlanta, the company's location, will be welcoming additional new employees from Northwest's Minneapolis headquarters.

Delta plans to hire “MBA-types” in 60 positions including finance, economics, math and operations research to work in pricing. Northwest's pricing operation will be moving to the city.

Other positions to move to Atlanta, from Minneapolis, are flight dispatchers and other staff. The airline is expanding its operations control center.

This merger is going to help the economy as well. With all the employees moving, the housing market will benefit.

“These are all people that are going to be down here buying houses,” said Delta chief executive Richard Anderson.

Currently the airline has about 25,000 employees in Georgia, with most of them in Atlanta. Prior to finalizing the merger, Delta was at risk of loosing 1,000 jobs.

Connecticut jobs have a "Deal"

The Connecticut economy is getting a little help from television. "Deal or No Deal" is moving to the state creating more Connecticut jobs.

"Deal" isn't the only NBC program to move its taping to the state. It's following "Jerry Springer," "Maury" and "The Steve Wilkos Show", which are on NBC U, the cable affiliate. These shows will be taped in a Stamford, Conn., studio. But Deal will be at the Sonalysts Studio in Waterford.

The reason for the move to Connecticut, tax incentives. The state has offered a 30% production tax credit.

According to Governor Jodi Rell, "growing jobs and improving the economic outlook," is the benefit.

"This is tremendous news for Connecticut and its ever-growing film and television industry," Gov. Rell said in a statement. "We've done everything we can to make our state an attractive and economically smart place to make good film and TV -- and you can see it paying off."

Sonalysts has already been used by some big name people over the years, such as Aerosmith, Dave Matthews and Mary J. Blige for taping music videos. As well as by Steven Spielberg for filming part of "Amistad".

Florida drilling bill helps jobs

The House passed a bill on Monday that will help Florida jobs. Drilling will begin off the state's shore. It plans on decreasing dependency on foreign oil.

Many people feel this isn't the right move for Florida, thinking that it could hurt the state's economy. They feel that drill would decrease tourism, which is one of the state's main assets. The environment is, also, an major concern.

However, the governor and his three person Cabinet believe that drilling would create more money and jobs coming into the state.

According to Business Week, "Rep. Charles Van Zant, the bill's sponsor, said the proposal could attract a new industry to Florida while helping free the U.S. from relying on unfriendly OPEC countries. He said drilling could reap more than $6 billion annually for the state and create more than 16,000 jobs."

Democratic counterparts feel opposite, that drilling would only hurt the state.

"This is something serious, a dagger in the heart of the economy in my district and the districts of other coastal communities," said Rep. Keith Fitzgerald, a Sarasota Democrat. "Just the smallest of spills will send people elsewhere."

According to the bill's supporters, technology advancements make spills highly unlikely. Also, for those who feel drilling would drive away tourism, pumps can be out of sights by being placed on the sea floor.

Republicans argued that it's better to drill in American waters than to hand money over to Middle East nations that hate the United States.

The next step for the bill is to be passed by the Senate.

Is your social network making you look good?

People are consumed with social networking, Facebook, Myspace, Twitter. Do these sites make you look good to others? How do you know that your profile isn't being viewed for a background check?

As a graduating senior, I wonder, whether or not my Facebook page would earn me a job. So many of my friends, who are in my same position, out there looking for jobs, have made a change to their pages.

There are no more drunk photos are their default picture, no personal photos for the public to view, and no inappropriate postings. Everything that an employer doesn't want to see or know about a perspective employee is at their disposal.

According to EmployeeScreen, "An employer can terminate an employee or refuse to hire an applicant based on information found online as long as that information is not used in a discriminatory manner. This means job seekers should be careful about what they put on their social networking profiles when preparing for a background check".

It's interesting to think that one's personal web page could be used against them, when looking for a job.

Step one:
Cleaning up our social networking page!

Tips to finding a job

Graduating college and looking for an entry level job or any job? There are a few things to keep in mind before starting your hunt.

First off, the most important part of the job hunting process is to fix your resume. once this is complete use these tips

1. Don't look desperate! Leave your nervous at the door. Letting a potential employer know how much you need a job doesn't look good. Its not a beneficial state of mind or image to portray.

2. Yes, we are in a recession and jobs are hard to find. Don't let that stop you from looking for the perfect job. Job hunting is like buying a car. You need to shop around for the right one.

3. Don't do something drastic, like join the Peace Core, because there is nothing else for you to do. Find something to do because you want to.

4. People change jobs all the time. By taking your first job doesn't mean that you will stay there for long. Taking an unpaid of low paying internship isn't the worst thing to do. It is great experience and could turn into something more. Don't write it off because it's not a full time job or your dream salary.

5. Don't waste your time on jobs that don't interest you or that you're not qualified for.

6. Asking your parents for help isn't a bad thing. They may have some great connections.

7. Life is too short to worry.

Finding the right job takes time, but with these tips things could get a little easier.

Serious job problems in Nevada

Nevada jobs are taking one the biggest hits in the country. according to the bureau of Labor Statistics, the state's unemployment rate was 10.4%. it is one of the top states in double digit unemployment, among Michigan, Oregon, North and South Carolina, Indiana, and California. They are all higher than the national rate at 8.5%.

According to the Las Vegas Sun, 104,000 were out of work this past month, which is a 1,600 person increase. Not only has the unemployment increased, but the number of people working in the labor force has decreased. An estimated 14,000 have dropped out of the labor force compared to previous month.

To give a better idea of the problems throughout the job field, The Sun compared the drastic changes in unemployment in the past year. Construction jobs in Las Vegas have dropped, as well. A year ago, 94,000 were employed compared to 81,000 that are now.

The hotel and casino industry has taken a hit. employment is at 156,400, which is a 13,400 drop.

Manufacturing jobs in Las Vegas is 6.2 percent lower than this time last year. Trade, transportation utility jobs are at 156,100, which decreased 5,500.

Another Nevada city, Reno, is at 11.2 percent unemployment. While Carson City is at 11.3 percent.

Connecticut Accounting Jobs

The number of new Connecticut accounting jobs created during the next quarter may be a small disappointment to job seekers.

A recent survey conducted on a national level by recruitment firm Robert Half International found that corporate level hiring for accounting and finance professionals will remain unchanged in the next between now and the end of September.

Of the 1,400 CFOs who participated in the survey, 84 percent stated that they planned to neither increase nor decrease the number of individuals they employed in this field. The remaining 12 percent of CFOs were evenly split down the middle when it came to their hiring plans. Exactly 6 percent planned to make additions to staff and 6 percent planned on doing away with jobs.

Despite the 0 net gain in jobs, those accounting positions available are becoming increasingly difficult to fill. According to 32 percent of the CFOs surveyed, these positions are the most challenging to find the right employee for. Accounting slots were followed by audit and finance jobs, which 18 percent of participants believed to be the most difficult to hire for.

With employers complaining about the challenges in finding properly trained staff members, those job seekers with experience in the field shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a new workplace.

The largest amount of employers planning to hire new employees for accounting and finance positions were in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. In these states, the most important skills were budget forecasting and strategic planning.

Other areas that are expected to see an increase in staff numbers included Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas. Hiring in the West South Central states is mainly fueled by the energy sector. In these two groups combined, CFOs stated that the planned to hire a net 4 percent of accounting and finance professionals before the end of the third quarter.

Online job scams

In the business world it's all about networking. The internet is filled with social networking sites, like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, which have opened the gates for online job hunting. However, it is difficult for one to decipher between what's real and what isn't.

The Better Business Bureau says that job scams are on the rise. Since so many are unemployed and searching for a job, people take advantage of this. Scam artists could walk away with your money and your identity for you're not careful.

Eastern Illinois University had an issue with fake job opportunities earlier this month. The university's Career Services warned students of fake job offers and scam companies attempting to use the online job recruiting service.

So what can a job hunter do to avoid becoming a victim? According the better business bureau signs of a job scam:

• Grammatical errors in the ad or email,
• A request to send money to a foreign country,
• Jobs that offer work at home,
• Jobs that ask you to pay money up front.

Always be weary of jobs that seem too good to be true. In this economy, no one needs to add an identity and money scam to their problems.

Australian Law Jobs

The Western Australian job market is now becoming more favorable for lawyers who practice litigation involving energy and resources.

A recent survey conducted by top legal recruitment firm The Australian found that this area of law is expected to have one of the highest level of demands for new talent.

Seven recruiters were polled and all agreed that those practicing energy and resources law will have an increasingly easy time find a job in Western Australia. The need for these professionals is now considered urgent due in part to the thriving mining industry in Perth and Brisbane.

Another thing that all of the recruiters involved in the survey agreed upon is that the legal recruitment market will continue to thrive for the rest of this year.

Greg Plummer, office manager of Dolman Melbourne, says that “Over the next six months, Australian firms are expected to continue their search for strong Australian and international lawyers in all states and across most practice focuses, particularly for lawyers with at least two years of sold experience.”

Because of the level of need, this is a great time for those lawyers who desire to find new employment to begin their job search. Lawyers with experience in energy and resources will have the easiest time finding a new office to work for.

Cam Thomson, the associate director of Naiman Clarke, says that the need for these individuals is so great that they are “more valuable than the resources themselves--and there’s no end in sight.”

The city of Perth has the greatest need for energy and resources lawyers. Recruiters have found that the current job market cannot seem to supply enough experienced professionals to meet the demand. According to Stuart Ablethorpe, leader of Hudson Legal practice, law firms are becoming increasingly competitive in their efforts to attract the best talent available.