What To Say On LinkedIn When You've Been Laid Off

Many people who’ve been laid off feel like crawling in a hole, rather than broadcasting their new job status (or more accurately, lack-of job-status) to the world at large. But if you want to find another position, that’s precisely what you should do, says Sandra A.VanGilder, an executive coach with her own firm in New York.

In the current economy, with so many talented people being let go, there is “absolutely no shame whatsoever” in clearly indicating that you are out of work,” she says. “You exude confidence by not being ashamed that you’re between jobs.” LinkedIn, which functions as an electronic resume, is a valuable tool to help you spread the word.

Until they are laid off, some folks either don’t know how to use LinkedIn, or have a very skeletal presence on the site, VanGilder says. Perhaps they think of it as a job search tool (a mistaken assumption) and either aren’t looking or don’t want their bosses to think they are. Others are too busy.

Still, while three years ago, senior people thought LinkedIn was for lower-level employees, now everybody is connected and checking each other out. Often, the first thing people do when they are asked to interview someone – or even just network – is to look the person up on LinkedIn.

If you suddenly find yourself out of work, develop a “robust, 100% complete LinkedIn profile,”  VanGilder advises. This site is so user-friendly that even newbies ought to be able to find their way. Those who need guidance can rely on LinkedIn’s online tutorial or enlist help from an experienced friend or tech-savvy teenager.

In creating a new profile or editing your current one, be very public about the fact that you’re looking for new opportunities,” VanGilder says. These are issues she suggests you address as you wind your way though the key sections of the LinkedIn template:

Professional Headline

In this line, which goes under your name, give a generic description of what you do or a sample job title (for example, Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Human Resources Officer). Label yourself as what you would like to be, rather than feeling limited by what your last job title was.

Current Position

Since you’re now out of work, the “Current” heading should be deleted. Before you do that, though, cut and paste your previous company and job title into the “Past” section. Then click “edit” and “delete,” and make the “Current” heading disappear. Don’t be concerned that your job shows an end date. It’s very acceptable to be in between jobs.

Summary

In a couple of short, pithy paragraphs, emphasize your key skills and examples of accomplishments. Conclude with a sentence that says “I am currently looking for new opportunities in a couple of specific functions and industries.”

When trying to fill positions that are now open, both headhunters and in-house folks with responsibility for filling a job routinely comb LinkedIn for people who are out of work; it saves them the trouble of having to convince someone who is currently employed to switch jobs. So it’s to your benefit to indicate that you’re open to new opportunities.

For example, someone who previously worked as a chief administrative officer could write, “Actively pursuing chief administrative officer or chief human resources officer role in a dynamic, collaborative environment.” An experienced broker looking to reposition his career into investor relations could say something like, “Currently seeking to leverage my Equity Floor experience and education into Investor Relations.” (Alternatively, you can put “Actively seeking new opportunities” in your professional headline.)

Experience

Make sure your descriptions of past jobs adequately convey what you did. Standard rules of resume writing apply here: use active verbs, amply convey your responsibilities, and show results. Since words are scarcer in social media, aim for punchy (think soundbite). Get recommendations from your current or most relevant jobs that reflect varying perspectives — for example from a manager, a colleague and a client.

Education

A perennial question is whether people should include graduation dates, which are a tipoff to their age. VanGilder, who says most of her clients are between their mid-40s and early 60s, discourages them from trying to mask their age. “It’s just one more data point around which people connect,” she says.

How do you know when you’re finished? When you’re in “Edit Profile” mode on LinkedIn, there’s a metric that shows the percent of profile completeness. It will make suggestions about what you’re missing — whether it’s a photo or recommendations. Keep revising until you hit the 100% mark. Then proofread vigilantly.

Once you have found another position, you’ll no doubt be eager to update your LinkedIn profile to show where you’ve landed. But don’t neglect it after that. This social media tool is great for sharing updates about what you are doing; your entries on the home page appear at the top of your profile. So think of your LinkedIn page as an active site. You won’t want it to go stagnant.

 http://www.forbes.com/sites/deborahljacobs/2011/10/11/what-to-say-on-linkedin-when-youve-been-laid-off/

Steve Jobs' legacy will live on in healthcare

 by Mike Millard, Managing Editor - Healthcare IT News

It's hard to overstate the impact Steve Jobs, who died Wednesday at age 56, has had on technology for the past 30 years. In hardware, software, communications and design, Apple's contributions have been incalculable – not least in healthcare.

The online reactions last night – with many responses no doubt tapped onto iPhone screens or typed into MacBook Pros – attested to the far-reaching accomplishments of a man many have likened to a modern Thomas Edison.

[See also: Slideshow - Steve Jobs (1955-2011)]

"He changed the way each of us sees the world," said President Obama.

Federal Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra called Jobs "a true visionary."

"In some ways, his death seems like Faustian bargain – revolutionize the world with products beyond our imagination, then die too young," wrote Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center CIO John Halamka, MD.

Chilmark Research analyst John Moore put it simply: Jobs "wanted to make computers actually fun to use."

That's the key. From the start, Apple has made products that people felt they just needed to have – cool and fun and exceedingly useful.

Physicians and clinicians like smart functionality and sexy design as much as anyone. And that's a huge reason why, in barely three years, the iPhone and the iPad – and the dozens of other smartphones and tablets that have followed Apple's lead – have found such a foothold in hospitals and physician practices.

Just this week, at the launch of the new iPhone 4S, Apple CEO Tim Cook noted that "80 percent of the top hospitals in the U.S. are now testing or piloting the iPad" – using the device "to access patient records, to review medical images, to administer bedside care."

In a healthcare sector that's taken decades to digitize on a scale comparable to other industries, Apple's mobile devices have been adopted in impressive numbers. The interest from care providers is immense. (Of the stories with my byline on healthcareitnews.com, the three most popular so far in 2011 are all about the iPad.)

The innovations speak for themselves. Many big-name electronic health records vendors have developed iPhone or iPad access capabilities. There's also an increasing number of iPad-native EHRs. The devices have proved their worth from the get-go when it comes to telehealth – and the new iPhone 4S (with its 8 megapixel camera and 1080p HD video capabilities) looks to be even-better suited for remote diagnoses in time-sensitive emergencies. The galaxy of self-monitoring, smoking cessation, fitness and assorted other mHealth apps in Apple's App Store have helped bring about a new era in personal health.

And amazingly, so many of these innovations are on fronts most of us never envisioned.

It's often said – and rightly so – that health IT systems should be deployed carefully, with plenty of input from doctors, nurses and other care providers.

But Jobs, the bold visionary, took the opposite approach. As he said famously: "It isn’t the consumers' job to know what they want."

Its a testament to his genius that so many people were happy to find that out from him.

Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg wrote about Jobs that, "the dominant tone he struck was optimism and certainty."

As the U.S. continues the herculean task of transforming the healthcare system for the 21st century, it would be wise to follow his example.

Read the rest at healthcareitnews.com

More Than 100,000 Health Providers Sign Up for Meaningful Use

As of the end of September, more than 100,000 hospitals and physicians had registered for the meaningful use incentive program, according to CMS, Government Health IT reports.

Under the 2009 federal economic stimulus package, health care providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.

Of the total 114,644 registrants:

• 88,399 physicians and hospitals signed up for the Medicare incentive program;
• 24,030 physicians and hospitals signed up for the Medicaid incentive program; and
• 2,215 hospitals signed up for both incentive programs.

As of August, 90,000 health care providers had signed up for the meaningful use incentive program.

During the Health IT Policy Committee's meaningful use work group meeting on Tuesday, Robert Tagalicod -- director of CMS' Office of eHealth Standards and Services -- said that as of Sept. 30, CMS had doled out more than $850 million in meaningful use incentive payments, including $357.4 million under the Medicare program and $492.6 million under the Medicaid program.

Since April, 3,722 physicians and 158 hospitals have received Medicare incentive payments for successfully attesting to the meaningful use of EHRs, Government Health IT reports. Health care providers participating in the Medicaid program do not have to attest to meaningful use criteria in their first year in the program, but they receive payments for adopting, implementing or upgrading certified EHRs (Mosquera, Government Health IT, 10/5).

Read more: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/articles/2011/10/6/more-than-100000-health-providers-sign-up-for-meaningful-use.aspx#ixzz1a7R1KXh9

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Facebook + Your Job Search (by the numbers)

Your Background Check Is Now with Facebook

The next time you apply for a job, don't be surprised if you have to agree to a social-media background check. Many U.S. companies and recruiters are now looking at yourFacebook-Inc" target="_blank">Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and other accounts and blogs -- even YouTube -- to paint a clearer picture of who you are.
"Almost all employers do some form of background screening because they have to avoid negligent hiring," said Max Drucker, chief executive of Social Intelligence, a consumer-reporting agency. "An employer has an obligation to make the best effort to protect their employees and customers when they hire."
And now the Federal Trade Commission has decided that companies that research how you spend your personal time and what your passions and hobbies are do not violate your privacy. The agency recently investigated Social Intelligence, which scours the Internet for the information, pictures and comments you freely share with the world and sells that data to your potential employers. The FTC found the company compliant with the Fair Credit Reporting Act. In other words, the Internet is fair game.
"When someone puts their public life out there publicly, it's there to be evaluated," said Kim Harmer, a partner at Harmer Associates, a Chicago-based recruiting firm. "You find out lots of things about people just by Googling them."
It's not the party photos
You can breathe a sigh of relief about those party pictures plastered all over your Facebook -- most employers and consumer-reporting agencies will look past them, unless, of course, you're underage.
"I look at their Facebook and see how they approach what they put on it," Harmer said. "Is it immature? Appropriate or inappropriate? I'm not judging their activity but looking at how they communicate what they do and their thoughts and their judgments to the public as a reflection of what they will do with clients and team members."
Drucker said he only searches for what the companies direct him to find and stays away from giving employers information that might be considered discriminatory to the hiring process. Employers, for example, cannot legally make hiring decisions based on race, religion, marital status or disability. But they can make decisions based on whether or not they like your attitude or your ethics.
A Social Intelligence report to a company would include racist remarks, sexually explicit photos or videos, or flagrant displays of weapons or illegal activity, Drucker said. And your decision to post a naked picture of yourself might not go over well with a potential employer.
"That might not be relevant to the job, but an employer gets to determine if that's the kind of person he wants representing his company," Drucker said."We don't make the decisions. We just generate the reports."
He said he has been surprised by how many racist comments and flagrant displays of drug use people post online. "It's not just smoking marijuana. It's snorting cocaine, talking about doing Ecstasy on Twitter or a forum or message board, showing it in photos or video-sharing sites," he said.
Some companies are mining photo- and video-gathering sites using facial-recognition software. If you were among those rioting in the streets of Vancouver after the National Hockey League championship, for example, a potential boss could find you the same way the police tracked down those responsible for some of the bedlam -- in the pictures.
"We are going from the Web being a place of extraordinary anonymity to a place where your every movement could be traced if someone's taking pictures of you and posting them," said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an outplacement-consulting firm. "Job seekers need to be careful because of that," so they don't make a mistake and lose a job as a result, he said.
They also need to know that not all companies use reporting agencies like Social Intelligence. Some take a hodgepodge approach to mining your data.
"People are slowly becoming aware of the consequences of posting too much information on the Web," Challenger said. "But they shouldn't wait until they make a mistake and lose a job because of it."
What you should do
Here are some tips:
-- Make every effort to find out what's out there about you. Anything that may be taken out of context should be taken down.
-- Be concerned about the accuracy of what's gathered. Drucker said his company looks at layers of social media to determine if the John Brown it is looking at is the same John Brown that the company is considering hiring. If his identity was stolen, John Brown's information could be "correct" but inaccurate.
-- Remember that bits and pieces of you are at a number of other sites, like LinkedIn, Craigslist or Foursquare, not to mention blogs, forums and wikis that you might visit.
-- Check -- and frequently recheck -- your privacy settings on social-media accounts like Facebook and Twitter.
-- Create a positive online presence by putting up your resume on a site with your domain name or getting it on forums of charitable organizations that you support.
-- If in doubt, consider hiring a company like Reputation.com to help you present, well, a better you.
Jennifer Waters is a reporter for MarketWatch, where this story originally appeared. Write to herhere.