Most lucrative business in the US!

I just came back home from the hospital after spending more than 12 hours in the ER with my wife. What a scary experience it was!
 It was not a typical emergency situation because we went to our Dr. before hand and he was the one who referred us to the Hospital were he practice. The trick is, he is considered like an external contractor who brings his clients to the "Center" and he pays the hospital for using the facilities but still the big money goes to the Hospital.
It didn't matter that my wife's have been under the care of the DR. for quite some time already and that she came to the Hospital for a specific procedure; she could not be admitted without goingthru an admission process handled by ER! What that meant was, we would end up paying for an unknown physician who just asked "why your Dr. wants to see you here?", then we pay hundreds of dollars for a "room" that is nothing but a 4X 8 space separated by curtains and waited in there until the real room was available. Not without the sweet deal of additional charges (other hundreds or thousands) due to "medication" (two Tylenol) and the nurses who took vitals  and temperature.

I can not believe, this could be considered the best health system in the world, nothing but a ripoff! The worst part is, all Dr.s are being forced to do it like this in order to have access to the Hospitals who are nothing but monopolisticly protected by the government. 

How you learn from criminals? Just go to a public university in PA!

I was surprised by the article published by the Morning Call this morning,
"'Crazy Eddie' fraudster talks white-collar crime at East Stroudsburg University". But the whole idea seems to have worked perfectly for the University and it's students!

This businessman went to East Stroudsburg to talk about his crimes and showed no remorse. He actually said,"My only regret is that I got caught". But in my opinion, he was actually in character to help students recognize the effects of greed on business.
He was part of a big business/financial fraud that is still causing waves in other so called retail "seconds". Like Overstock.com who claim to do well in resales of over-produced goods but feds are now checking on possible over "cooked" numbers on inventories and sales!
The association with other cases of financial fraud created an interest to learn from this man and his story about his family involvement.

It was a little scary to read how he told the audience, that they were caught only because of his marriage infidelity and some family inside jealousy. But also encouraging to know that he is now working for the FBI in an attempt to clean his "soul".

The most important lesson was exposed by an East Stroudsburg student when he asked the speaker about the money he made of the scam and in response was asked if he will accept his answer as truthful, the student's answer was a solid NO! http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-east-stroudsburg-crazy-eddie-20101023,0,3886180.story

Get a job despite some liabilities in your experience!

Susan Adams reported on Forbes magazine of October 18Th that the trick to success in a hiring process were you have "imperfections" in the past , is to be upfront with some issues and to avoid those that are not obvious or your employer won't find out by other means.

In some of the examples, she mention the common fears of hiring older applicants who are looking for technological jobs. Her suggestion is to be upfront and let the hiring authority know about your skills and how you keep yourself up in line with technology and the new generation of "geeks". In deep, she even mention the idea of keeping your personal appearance looking "younger" by copying hair styles that are contemporary and popular even if you are 60+.
what I found more interesting was for those dealing with long terms of unemployment, she suggested "list yourself as a consultant on your resume. Include both paid and unpaid experience. Nowadays, employers are increasingly receptive to resumes that include long stints of consulting or freelance work. "They know what the situation is out there," she says.
http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/110983/get-hired-despite-red-flags-in-your-story?mod=career-worklife_balance

Employed in a job outside the chosen field and for a lower salary than hoped for?

That is the situation presented by Ruth Mantell in her published article of October 17Th at the Wall Street Journal Career Strategies section and mostly affecting college grads!  On the tough labor market we have to live on, more than 49% of recent graduates said they are willing to work outside their field of choice.

And some Human Resource experts said that is not all bad because (if you wisely chose the alternative) "Entry-level workers can take positions that teach them universal skills they'll need throughout their career", says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at job website CareerBuilder.com.

What seems interesting to me is the difference with old days when higher education used to be a secure investment to better jobs, salary and choices versus the prospects of today! Instead of talking about the importance of a good education, we have to face the reality of fierce competition, wiliness to explore outside our fields and to accept lower pay? Again, I think the US just started to pay for the "globalization bill" and the exportation of products and jobs on behalf of what used to be Corporate America.

I know Economy teaches that competition is good for business but I think that the globalization model is very unfair to the US market and while other have very strict trade policies, we allow our CEOs and Corporations to do business on their own terms and in disregard of what is best for the American people!  
 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304898004575556923242238084.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_personalfinance

Hiring or not?

Maybe like most Americans, I can't understand the unemployment situation or the reasoning behind the prevalent high rate! Some politicos talk about workers been happy with the unemployment extended benefits and not interested in a new job, while others talk about the agenda behind corporate US to sit on a pile of money until the election cycle end (again for political gain) causing a shift of power in US Congress. But Daniel Gross from the Newsweek Magazine have a new theory, "Employers shouldn't be surprised that Americans won't take their crummy low-wage jobs".

In his article published on August 10, 2010, he explained that employers are trying to get away with a bargain by offering jobs at a much lower salary rate than expected! He also noticed that the laws of supply and demand are part of the American refusal to take jobs at a minimun wage. As one of the examples, he mentioned a parts distributor loking for a machinist and offering $13 per hour; a salary that amounts to $13,000 under the percapita salary of the region. Also mentions the Emirates Airlines that came to Miami and Houston and were not happy on the outcome for their offers to hire at a salary of $30,000. The catch?, you have to move to Dubai!
The reason he gives, is that after loosing ground on benefits like insurances and medical coverage, workers now only hold wages as their last negotiating issue for a job. He adds "If jobs require people to commute a great distance or to move themselves to another state, or to another hemisphere, employers may find they need to sweeten their offers."
Again, I'm not sure how many of these factors may be seriously related to the unemployment numbers but I think we reached to low already and sooner than later things will change!http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/10/is-any-job-better-than-no-job.html

Jobs transformations or an excuse for global export?

If your manager could have asked you about your disposition to endure a dozen mergers would you consider the job opportunity? How about accepting the uncertainty of your job security every time this happens? How if your company becomes one of the 6 largest in the business, but your benefits and compensations are diminish every time there is a new merger?
In reading about Wachovia and Wells Fargo and many other big banks in the nation, that is exactly what happened to their employees! And things are turning to the worst on those issues we discussed in class pertaining to recognition and practices to keep employees happy, I can not believe the lack of consideration for the banking employees. in reading from Best Practices, LLc, now employees are subject to "additional rigorous training" to change their approach from a "Customer Service Rep." to sales in a "take it or there are thousands of job seeking candidates waiting for your job" attitude! The obvious problem is also in the raise, huge jobs turnover with a high level of dissatisfaction and low morale.
Again and again we can read of a change in of approach toward human resources that hurt the industry at the customer-employee level but it seems as a good practice in terms of profits. Just like in the financial fiasco of the century, the banks are still making a lot of money while taxpayer bail their CEOs out with big bonuses but customers are getting lousy service! As a matter of fact, and in this same example of Wells Fargo, these "positions of service" are being considered to be exported to the Philippines and India!
http://www.best-in-class.com/bestp/domrep.nsf/products/managing-service-to-sales-cultural-transformation

Who works better?

Loid de Vries published for CBS news that out of a study from the University of Colorado, happier workers are more productive! In his publication he highlight about a group of 326 diagnosed workers suffering from depression who received treatment from specially trained health care providers and their additional productivity added up to an annual estimated value of $2,601 more per each happier worker!

In looking beyond the obvious positive results, the experiment also showed a reduction of 28.4 in absenteeism. This reinforce the potential benefits of good managerial practices that value Human resources as a key to business success! Not only good health care coverage or basic benefits, sometimes an extra personal consideration may transform the company that we manage into the place of work that everyone admire!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/11/24/health/webmd/main657624.shtml