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MARYSVILLE, WA – In March healthcare added another 37,000 jobs – the most so far this year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
"Compared to just a year or so ago, healthcare companies are firing fewer and hiring more," said John Burkhardt, managing director of MedZilla.com, which bills itself as the Internet's most established source for employers and professionals in healthcare, pharmaceutical and biotechnology.
"And, as we said last month, the types of jobs are changing, which allows for people not traditionally in healthcare roles to join that growing industry."
[See also: Job seekers must change search habits to get in the health IT game.]
Healthcare information technology represents one such change in the job market. Community colleges that offer IT programs are helping to spread the word about jobs in this field, the report says.
According to the Office of the National Coordinator for HIT, the Community College Consortia to Educate Health Information Technology Professionals in Health Care program is expected by the end of its two-year stint to have established training programs with the capacity to train at least 10,500 students annually to be part of the HIT workforce.
[See also: Nashville the place to go for health IT jobs.]
Even with the new jobs being created, healthcare – like other fields – needs to be carefully considered before a potential employee accepts a job.
"It seems like every day there's another article published about healthcare job seminars or how great a field it is to get into," Johnston said. "But what job-seekers have to remember is that just because it's a hot field to get into doesn't mean it's the right one."
That's why Johnston says networking is so important. "When you go on an interview, you get a chance to meet people and look around the office, but the company knows they're being interviewed, just like you. The opportunity to talk to someone on the ground, to find out what it's really like, is often invaluable when weighing the intangibles between similar job offers."
