Many mid-level managers have found new life in the healthcare arena. One source says that hospitals currently staff “more than four million people” and added an additional 135,000 jobs last year alone. People in management, human resources, finance, and even marketing have found that with a brief training and education period, they can find a new career in healthcare. With President Obama’s initiative for medical records to go electronic, this could open up a whole new set of jobs as well.

Image: sxc.hu.

Post from: Blisstree

Consider a Job in Healthcare

If you’re one of those people who isn’t sure what you want to do in 2009 due to a job change, job loss, or even getting out of college, U.S. News and World Report has listed the best careers for the upcoming year.

There’s quite a wide variety of jobs on the list. Health care, as always is featured but so are jobs like hairdressers, engineers, and librarians. They looked at several factors when determining this list. things like job satisfaction, least difficult training, most prestige, and highest pay.

Anything on that list interest you?

Post from: Blisstree

Best Jobs for 2009

What’s the one thing that will keep you at your job?

Pay?  Easy commute?  Advancement?

How about that popular work-life balance?  One recent study found that work-life balance was the number one factor in retaining employees.  That study, for some reason, blew me away.  Any time I’ve left a job it’s because of something like a lousy boss or more pay or increased opportunities.  It wasn’t work-life balance, despite the fact that I was desperately worn out and worked too much. 

Does that make me abnormal?  Hey – anything’s possible!

To be fair, once I hit my 40s, I changed the way I worked.  So perhaps there comes a time when workers trade out pay and advancement for more flexibility.  In the study referenced above, five “key aspects of work-life balance” were mentioned.  See if you agree with these:

1) wellbeing

2) satisfaction

3) workload

4) security

5) relationships

When I saw this list, the one that stood out for me was #3:  workload.  I thought that should have been first.  I also believe that if you take someone with a strong well being (#1 on the list) and put them in a toxic environment, you’ll create an unhappy worker. 

What do you think?  What’s your idea of the top factors in creating a sane work-life balance for you?

Post from: Blisstree

Number One Factor in Retaining Staff