You most likely know this, but here’s a reminder: 

The one part of the economy that has remained strong during the Great Recession is health care.

Health care employment has actually gone up, at the same time that employment in general is headed toward the toilet.  What’s more, given that the fact that each baby boomer gets a little older every day, this trend is likely to continue. 

Check out this item, with revealing graphs, from yesterday’s NYT.  And read that list twice: “registered nurses, personal and home care aides, home health aides, nursing aides, orderlies and attendants, medical assistants, licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses, pharmacy technicians, and physicians and surgeons.”

Keep in mind that not all health care jobs involve working with patients, or even require a medical degree.  If you are an IT whiz, for example, you may be able to transfer your skills to the burgeoning eletronic medical records industry.  Of course, there’s also health administration (huge potential there); think marketing, fundraising, billing, government relations, and HR. 

Don’t forget veterinary medicine!  Or dentistry, or mental health, or occupational health. 

Here’s a good starter Q&A on jobs in the health care industry.  Also this Ten Step Guide to a Career in Health Care from Monster (requires a lot of clicking, but it’s informative).

Could not resist running this insightful post by Jessica Holbrook over at Great Resumes Fast.  Love what she has to say about rules, or absence thereof, and ”experts.”  Ha.

As part of my job I frequently research what my competition is doing and what other career experts have to say. I would love to think we’re all like-minded but I suppose today I got my first real reality check. I was going along in my glory thinking with my experience I have the answers to it all when I abruptly found out that something I had developed was ‘inconsistent’ with another writer’s standards. Said writer has a Ph.D in Career Management and a laundry list of other credentials to go with it. Once I got over my natural pangs of rejection any human feels when such an event occurs I frantically began my research. Being the researcher that I am… I wanted to know what about my work was inconsistent with this extremely educated and seemingly overqualified writer (on paper at least). What I discovered was there are no rules… only guidelines…

I frequently find myself frustrated by the large amounts of misinformation out there on the net today about resume writing and interview coaching. Everyone has an opinion and thinks they are the expert. What I judge an expert by is not only their credentials but their real world experience and results.

So how do you know if the information you’re reading is right or wrong. Well, first off – there are no rules. I heard this from an amazing person in the resume writing industry, in fact I read it from her book Expert Resumes for Managers and Executives. Her name is Wendy Enelow. She is what I aspire to be as a resume writer in my career. I can only hope to create for my career what she has for hers. When I first read this statement I said, you must be kidding! No rules? That is insane! But what I have come to realize is there really are no rules and it is all a guessing game. But whose guess hits the target the closest? This is what sets us all apart.

Personally, I believe writers and companies that employ former hiring managers, recruiters, top decision makers, and human resources experts have the advantage. While resume writing training, courses, and books can teach you everything you could ever want to know about the craft what they can’t give you is real world experience on the playing field – reviewing thousands of resumes and deciding who gets the interview and whose resumes will go in file 13.

I think having a background in Human Resources Management and recruiting is what sets us apart and gives us the lead on the playing field. I know what hiring managers are looking for because I’ve been there and done it for the past ten years. And while there are no set rules, there are general guidelines that anyone should follow when crafting a resume. I know what sets me apart as a writer and business owner but have you thought about what sets you apart as a job seeker? What can you offer a company that no one else can?

Answer that question and you are well on your way to creating your personal and professional brand, and developing a killer resume.

Jessica Holbrook is a former Executive Hiring Manager for Fortune 500 companies and President/CEO of Great Resumes Fast. She creates powerful, customized, and targeted resumes that are guaranteed to get her clients interviews. For a free resume analysis visit Great Resumes Fast for a free phone consultation call 1.877.875.7706.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Working Girl did a workshop today at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association 2009 Conference.  Fun!

Topic was “Building a Platform from Nothing.”  Only fly in ointment: the powers-that-be told WG to expect around 30 people.  Therefore, she brought 40-ish handouts.

Ha.  She lost count but there were at least 100 people there.  People in all the chairs.  People standing in the back.  People crowded around the doors in the hallway.

Therefore, here are the links she mentioned.  Hope they help.  (Thanks for all the great questions and participation, people!)

Fascinating statistics about book publishing (a little depressing):  http://bookstatistics.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm

Miss Snark’s Archives:  http://misssnark.blogspot.com/

Top 100 Creative Writing Blogs: http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/blog/2009/02/05/top-100-creative-writing-blogs/

The Best Author Blogs:  http://www.internetwritingjournal.com/authorblogs/

How to Publish Articles Online: http://www.ehow.com/how_4765456_publish-articles-online.html

Christina Katz’s blog:  http://www.getknownbeforethebookdeal.typepad.com/

Good all-round site for writers:  www.absolutewrite.com

How to build your author platform with web 2.0 tools: http://www.fundsforwriters.com/web2.0.htm

Online platform-building in a nutshell: http://www.authoritypublishing.com/article-build-author-platform-online.htm

How to Set up a Teleclass:   http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/teleclass.htm

Top Ten Ways Authors Can Use Twitter:  http://blog.marketingtipsforauthors.com/2009/05/top-ten-ways-authors-can-use-twitter.html

To sign up for Peter Shankman’s “Help a Reporter Out” newsletter (3-4 times a day):  http://www.helpareporter.com/

Working Girl has to take an important trip, far away from all things Internet.

See you all later, around June 18th.  Have a nice ten days.  Relax.  Read a book.  Hug a friend.

Meaning, WG was on the renowned Chat with Women radio show today. 

Check it out here.

Are you in the Seattle area?  In business for yourself?  Wishing you had a more targeted and effective marketing plan?  Get yourself over to Whitney Keye’s great workshop on “Branding Strategies to Boost Your Business.”

The workshop is next Wednesday, Feb. 11th, from 6 to 9 p.m.

You’ll actually create a workable affordable marketing plan that you can put into place right away.  It’s a thousand bucks worth of consulting advice for a pretty reasonable $100. 

Whitney and her workshop partner, Maria Ross, prove you don’t need a multi-million marketing budget to attract new customers.  Effective branding saves you money by maximizing your marketing effort.   

Check out this page for more info and to sign up (scroll halfway down to “Workshop 2″).

Full disclosure: Whitney is a FOWG (Friend of Working Girl).  However, Whitney is also a branding pro and she knows whereof she speaks. 

Election Day.

What are you doing at your computer?  Get out and vote!

As per this post from last week, Working Girl’s and Mr. Working Girl’s cat, Murphy, has been a pretty sick kitty of late.  But today it’s over for him and he is, we tell ourselves, a lot better off. 

As for us, well, the Working Girl workplace will never be the same.  

No one to blame typos on (Murphy was a terrible speller but this did not stop him from regularly walking over computer keyboards).  No one to organize office supplies (his approach was to make sure all pens were promptly knocked off the desk and batted behind the filing cabinet).  No one to identify the most important piece of paper (it was the one he chose to lie on).  No one to keep the workforce on schedule (lunch at noon, tea at 3:30, or else).

So here’s to Murphy, a pretty good cat.  A not-so-great office assistant.  We’ll miss him.

p.s.  Special thanks to almostgotit, for the perfect Murphy poem (see comment #6).

“Who would have thought a little girl like you could destroy all my beautiful wickedness?!”

That’s Working Girl’s favorite line from the Wizard of Oz.

Which came to mind because she’s still in Phoenix, where it is Hot Hot Hot!

And while maybe WG hasn’t actually turned into a Wicked-Witch-of-the-West-like puddle, it does seem too hot for cognitive thought.  Thus, too hot to post.

Good news:  back home to cool Seattle tomorrow night!  See you on Wedns…….

Working Girl took her own advice, sort of, and is now down in Phoenix, visiting the parental units.

Posting will be spotty…….