From Operations to Sustainability

From Operations to Sustainability Success Story > From: Job To: Job From Operations to Sustainability “I wish I’d changed sooner. It was so easy to settle and not think about where my career was heading.” * From Operations to Sustainability When Clare Topping was made redundant from her job as an Operations Manager, she was prepared. Find out how she laid the groundwork for a career change long before the chance to work in her dream field arose. What work were you doing previously? I was an Operations Support Manager for a company that sterilised products for medical services. What do you do now? I’m an Energy and Sustainability Manager for the NHS. Why did you make the change? I was made redundant in early 2012. Due to this, I applied for all jobs I could get or would love to have, and this was one of the jobs I wanted to have. I’d had an interest in the environment and sustainability for a while, and while in my operations job I’d been picking up on environmental things there: things like waste and energy management across the site. I was trying to get involved in more and more of that in my last job, but I think if I hadn’t been made redundant it would have taken me more time to move into those fields. Are you happy with the change? Very happy, yes. I wouldn’t go back. What do you miss and what don’t you miss? I miss some of the immediacy of a production environment. I miss the customers and dealing with them. I don’t miss people management on a day to day basis. How did you go about making the change? As part of my last job I completed a Certificate in Environmental Management. After my redundancy, I read a lot about energy and the Carbon Trust, so when I did get an interview I was prepared for it. I didn’t have an interim job; I applied for all sorts of things, and used environment job sites to find work in the field. It was a bit of a punt as I didn’t have any direct experience, only what I'd developed in my old role. I also made the most of my transferable skills that I could bring to the sector. It was a new role, so there was some flexibility around who they were looking for. What was the most difficult thing about the change? Moving to the public sector, and working at a much bigger organisation. There are a lot of things to pick up. As it’s quite a new role and field, there aren’t any defined expectations; you have to create your own expectations and pick up new skills on the way. What help did you get? I had some help from suppliers in my previous job who were helpful in explaining new technologies. Other than that, I used some websites that had technical information. The Careershifters Success Stories helped in showing how to make a complete change, using transferable skills, and it helped me see those connections. What did you learn in the process? How quickly you can pick things up if you have the right mindset. You can learn a lot if you really engage in what you’re doing. It also made me think about the next step. While I’m in this role, I’m already thinking about what bits of it I like and don’t like, and what will I need to do to make the next step in my career. So I’m already thinking about the next projects and roles I’d like to be involved in next. Is there anything you wish you’d done differently? I wish I’d changed sooner. I worked for my previous role for eleven years and it was very easy to settle in and not think about where my career was heading. I wish I had believed that I could have done something that I could enjoy a lot more, a lot sooner. What would you advise others to do in the same situation? Find something you’re interested in, then look for projects or ways to do it in your current role. You can almost try it out without moving. So if you have an interest in it, and can find a way to try it out or build it into your day to day job it can help you, and even make your current job seem better. What resources would you recommend to others? For sustainability, the NHS have a sustainability unit with a lot of case studies which I found useful. Other than that, I found the Careershifters success stories helpful â€" reading that so many people have changed their jobs and that it is possible. What lessons could you take from Clare's story to use in your own career change? Let us know in the comments below.

5+ Best Medical Coder Interview Questions Answers - Algrim.co

5+ Best Medical Coder Interview Questions Answers - Algrim.co If you are looking for medical coder interview questions, look no further. We’ve compiled the absolute best interview questions and answers to help you prepare for your upcoming interview in the medical field. Medical coding is the transcription of medical data such as healthcare diagnosis, procedures, medical services, and equipment into medical alphanumeric codes. 5 Medical Coder Interview Questions & Answers 1. Why is medical coding important? Medical coding is important because it tracks the related information from a medical visit to a series of symptoms, diagnosis and ultimately procedures that follow. There are thousands of conditions and being able to classify them by numeric code brings data into a state that is manageable. 2. Who would you be working with? Medical coders would oftentimes be working with doctors, patients, physicians, physicians assistants as well as billing departments. All of these parties need to understand the patients medical coding history. 3. How does billing and medical coding work together? Billing and medical coders work together so that a patient who was recently diagnosed can be properly billed. Or information regarding their recent diagnosis can also be sent their insurance provider. 4. How many medical codes are there? There are thousands of conditions, diseases, injuries and more. Because of that, there are an equal number of medical codes. 5. How would you go above and beyond in your role? The way to go above and beyond in this role is to ensure that quality and efficiency are upheld, meaning no mistakes are made. And that communication is clear between all parties involved with that patient. If the medical codes are incorrect that can be time-consuming to correct. Additional Medical Coder Resources Medical Coder Job Description Related Hiring Resources Medical Coder Job Description Sample

Passive income is BS (but heres how to get it)

Passive income is BS (but heres how to get it) We are the psychos in first class. People  see me and my older son  and wonder how we could afford tickets. They probably  decide Im the crazy wife whose husband is never home because he extends every business trip to include a mistress tryst and sends me his love via miles for upgrades. My son  asks for water: Do you have a bottle? Um. Excuse me? Do you have four? Oh! Thank you very much. Thank you. I know. Youre  waiting on the advice on creating  a passive income. Okay. Here: 1. Be  the annoying person in the room no matter where you go. I get up to go to the bathroom.  The flight attendant tells me to sit down.  I pretend Im deaf. Then I forget to flush. Sort of. Its just too much noise in such a small space. We have the violin in the overhead. People keep trying to squash it into the shape of a french horn so their roll-on bag will fit. If you are first class you can tap the flight attendant on the arm and say, Can you make sure our violin is okay? If you are not first class you have to defend the extra space like its a Stradivarius. Not that anyone on the plane would care. Now the violin  has an overhead bin to itself. And I pretend to be a disinterested party while I listen to the flight attendant telling people to check their bags. 2. Believe money will solve your problems. I open my journal, which doubles as my music notebook. The first thing I have to do is copy cello and piano notes from todays lessons into an email so my  younger son  can practice while my  older son  and I are in Los Angeles. I have pages and pages of notes, not because Im a good music parent, but because I write journal entries during music  lessons. Last week the piano teacher asked to see my notes and I clutched my notebook  to my chest and screamed no like I was Jan Brady avoiding Marcias prying eyes. The page has blood spots all over it. If I could stop picking my cuticles when Im anxious then I could use that same skill to stop eating when Im anxious and Id be so thin Id be a bathing suit model. And a hand model. When Amal Clooney gets nervous about flying, does she want to eat? Or pick her cuticles? Maybe she just goes shopping. I guess I could do that if I were married to George. I always tell people that money wouldnt change any of their problems, but suddenly realize that Im the exception to that rule. 3. Have a lot of crackpot ideas for what you can sell. I have incredible anxiety now. I mean, I have anxiety medicine and I still think about how I need anxiety medicine for when the anxiety medicine doesnt work. If only Xanax didnt put me to sleep. I would be such a good drug addictthe kind that is high-functioning and could even handle an investor meeting under the influence. And Id be the worker whos great at selling off-label pharmaceuticals to unsuspecting co-workers to fund my habit. I would be the popular girl at the office. Finally. Anyway, Im the exception to the rule about how money cant solve your problems because if I could just go shopping when Im anxious then I wouldnt eat or pick my cuticles. Also, Im just telling you now, while Im being gross about blood, that my editor almost always cuts parts about blood but hell never be able to  cut all the blood out of this post. 4. Have an illogical sense of your importance to the world. Is anyone making a movie about me? Because the opening shot should be a close up of me pulling at a cuticle, and it rips, and you see a pool of blood in the nail bed, and in the background is cello music. Maybe something from Suzuki Book 3. That book took us so long to finish. Boccherini is an exacting composer for a six-year-old cellist. Then the camera pans back. Is that the right use of pans? I should know because my first husband was a UCLA film school guy but all I learned is that the director always casts women he wants to sleep with. Anyway, the camera pans back and there I am. Wait. Thats the thing. I cant see myself past that. Where would I be? I dont know where I am. I am in a music lesson. (Three in one day, actually.) And I am on the airplane. And I am in the hotel. 5. Learn to live on zero dollars for days at a time. But waitI am not in a hotel. Because I thought I saved money for the hotel, but I didnt, and then I had to make company payroll. So this morning I paid the last person and now I have to wait until money comes into my account. 6. Make a ten-year master plan, because thats how long it takes. This is what passive income is. I am doing my day while money comes into my account. Do you want to have a passive income like me? Heres what you do: a. Write a blog for eight  years.  Without making any money directly from posts. Almost make money directly from posts but sign up for ad revenue the year ad revenue disappears. b. Create a mailing list. I built this  list very un-passively by raising almost a million dollars in funding to create a specialized list of people and then figured out how to run the people through software and then customize the software and then fire three people who didnt know how to do that and hire other people and then realize that I have to be an expert myself. Notice how the process is central to creating passive income, yet notice how un-passive it is. c. Create a product to sell. Become a total nutcase and decide that there is not enough heart in the product and dump the product and start over. Then create a new product that is so fun and effective and customizable that it takes forever to build and it totally doesnt scale so you have to make fifty of them. d. Announce everything is for sale. Watch no one come because the world is not waiting for you to create passive income. In fact, the world pretty much does not give a crap about anyone except themselves. Adjust your sales pitch to reflect that. e. Sit back and let the income pour into your bank account. For one day. Then make a new product. Make a new blog post. Talk with a customer who is not happy to make her happy. And again. And again. And then fix everything because the market is different. Then have one more minute of passive income. Write about it. Fast. Before you have to be active again. 7. Passive income is a mindset, but a quantifiable reality. So yeah, my passive income comes today. Because you have to be crazy to create a supposedly-passive-income stream, because its such an insane amount of work, and I am just that crazy. And then I dont tell my son, or the Uber driver, that we dont have a room when we pull up to the Hilton in Santa Monica. I want to tell you we went to Shutters and the hotel sponsored us and I put Shutters in this post twice because they gave me a $900 room for every mention. But that did not happen. But it might. So just in case. Shutters. Because we always need three nights when we go to LA. Do you know what I love about being in First Class? Its passivethere is someone who seems to be taking care of things: Feeding me. Cleaning the toilet. Making sure no one crushes the violin. I dont mind that my income is not passive. I want a passive life instead.

Volunteering - A selfish act or a selfless deed

Volunteering - A selfish act or a selfless deed Volunteering is a fantastic way in gaining employable skills. However, isn’t volunteering supposed to be a selfless act? It’s brilliant to hear that students are taking in every opportunity to help themselves grow, but it is important to remember that we volunteer to help others and to make a difference. Here are reasons to why students opt for volunteering. Add to your CV. You may impress employers by showing them that you’ve done a selfless act, but is that really the case? Whether they are paid or unpaid, internships can be difficult to obtain and students are doing whatever it takes to bulk up their CV. Additionally, everybody loves volunteers and like to take them on, resulting in gaining the experience easily. It’s fantastic to show that you’re determined to push yourself up the career ladder, but it can be felt that nobody knows the true meaning of volunteering anymore. Experience the world of work. Studying and working are two completely different elements. You’ll realise that once you have some work experience, you’ll realise that a fancy degree doesn’t always get you a fancy, high paid job. Confidence boost. Volunteering can help you learn new things. Additionally, entering into the world of employment can be a scary concept and volunteering aids in gaining that insight. Furthermore, what you’ll notice is that people are very friendly towards their volunteers and  you’ll able to experience what interests you and what you don’t. It’s a great way to discover who you actually are and what you’d like to become. Why should you volunteer? To put it forward quite simply, it is to help others. The act of volunteering is all about giving up your time to help those that are in need. In terms of relating this to your career, putting your heart and soul into doing a good deed shows your honest commitment and that you’re a hard worker. Both of these elements are qualities that employers admire. In other words, you’re hitting one bird with one stone without probably realising that you’re doing it. Passion If you take a look at the vast amount of inspiration quotes out there, you’ll see that one of them says that if you do what you love for a living, you won’t have to work a day in your life. It’s a brilliant phrase, and one which everyone should aim for. In relation to volunteering, it’s important not to volunteer for the sake of volunteering. Volunteer for something that you feel passionate towards. If you’re in the position where you get paid for something that you absolutely love doing, then that’s great. However, at a student level, it’s difficult to get jobs or experience which sometimes feels like a chore, especially if you’re not getting paid. With so much going on within the current affairs, there’s a lot that can be done and, furthermore, there’s room for individuals to show that they can make a difference. If you can show this, not only does this show that you have a clean heart, it shows leadership. It also shows that you have the ability to stand away f rom the crowd and build something for yourself. In other words, it shows strength and intelligence. Employers want to work with good people. Although different employers have a different view on what they like to see in their applicants, one thing for sure is that they want to see that you are passionate about something. They also want to see that you have a life. I am sure you’ve heard of the term, ‘stand out from the crowd’ millions of times. However, don’t you think making a difference in other people’s lives illustrates that you’re standing out from the crowd? Use your head and heart wisely. If you like this post, heres some more of Simis writing. Benefits of working part-time job whilst studying or all of her posts here. 11

How to Improve Your Resume Writing For Biology Majors

How to Improve Your Resume Writing For Biology MajorsIf you are a Biology major, then you must know that there are many things that you can do to improve your resume writing for biology majors. This is especially true if you plan on taking the test that will let you graduate. You do not want to waste your time writing a poor resume that you will never have a chance to use.There are many things that you can do to improve your resume writing for biology majors. First of all, you should never list your job experience or educational background just in the title.It is important to give specific information about your education and job experience in the resume. You want to make sure that your resume has information that will tell the hiring officer why you are a good candidate for the job. No matter what kind of biology jobs you are looking to get, there is one thing that they need to know about you - your resume.The most important thing that you can do to improve your resume writing for b iology majors is to include everything that you know about your education background. This means including your GPA, school grades, and class participation. Your entire education will be listed, so this means that the hiring officer will have a clear picture of who you are as a person.When it comes to the cover letter, you also want to put everything that you know about the person. You want to make sure that your cover letter will actually make the hiring officer want to call you for an interview. They may ask for an interview so that they can learn more about you and your specific resume writing for biology majors.If you can, you want to include some information about yourself that will include the same general information that is in your resume. If you are having trouble coming up with your own cover letter, try to take an example and pasting it onto the letter. The same applies for the rest of your resume.The last thing that you want to do when it comes to improving your resume w riting for biology majors is to take the time to write out an outline of the resume. This will make it easier for you to have a better idea of how the information in your resume will fit together. Once you have this written, it will be much easier for you to read over it and see where it could be improved.With all these tips in mind, you should now be able to improve your resume writing for biology majors. Remember that each of the tips mentioned here will work to make your resume much better one.

Top Ten eLearning tools to develop your career

Top Ten eLearning tools to develop your career eLearning is dramatically changing the way we develop career skills. Thanks to Vera Reed for keeping us up-to-date with her guest post. Amy If you want to stay up-to-date on your eLearning strategy, it is essential to look at what’s trending. Examining the technology trends across different industries will help you get a better idea of where to focus your eLearning. Automaton and responsiveness are indeed hot keys right now. Getting a clear picture of what is involved in trending tech areas such as gamification will keep your eLearning relevant. Let’s take a closer look at the tech trending right now, and begin building a strategy that will lead to your next promotion or career. 1. Responsive Elements of Design Learning Management Systems are taking eLearning to every smart device available to users. The responsive nature of these systems allows every aspect of a course to have the highest readability. This helps learning platforms keep their audience engaged and coming back for more courses. 2. The Cloud has Higher Security The cloud is certainly nothing new, however, its security overhaul is invaluable to eLearning. Many learning platforms understand the value of the cloud right now, and this has led to a cloud security upgrade. The organizations utilizing the cloud are not only cutting costs, but also offering an accessibility never seen before. 3. MOOCs Merging with Corporations Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) have also been around awhile. However, corporations are seeing more value in their eLearning potential. The certificates offered are becoming more reputable, and many corporations are partnering with MOOCs offered by universities around the world. 4. The Power of Online Videos is Undeniable Most people have watched a YouTube video in order to learn something. This makes video platforms a trending eLearning outlet for organizations around the world. Many corporations have training programs and other content available to watch via an online channel only accessible to employees. This method will surely continue to trend for years to come. 5. Gamification eLearning Trend As organizations have begun emphasizing the importance of gamification. The point systems, badges, and top 10 lists have really taken eLearning to the next level. The educational version of Minecraft is the perfect example of how gamification is making powerful changes in online education. 6. Automation is Next Stop for eLearning Automation and automated course authoring is definitely the next stop for eLearning. The addition of new innovative tools and integrated coding has allowed eLearning professionals to offer eLearning courses at a lower rate with less time to develop. Right now, automation can even determine how a student learns, developing new strategies for learners according to preferences. 7. Wearable Tech Opens New eLearning Doors The trending wearable tech devices available to the eLearning community will indeed shape the industry. The Apple Watch and Google Glass alone have helped learners interact with material in new innovative ways. Augmented reality and Virtual Reality is definitely a tech trend you need to examine. 8. Analytics is a Powerful Tool Analytics has been a growing trend in eLearning. However, the built in Learning Management Systems now in place are offering up invaluable insights for eLearning platforms. It is essentially allowing platforms to customize nearly every activity in a powerful way. 9. Personalized Learning Personalized learning, or learning on your own is a definite eLearning trend right now. It allows learners to take their learning experience into their own hands. For example, you can choose sections and complete them at your desired pace. Personalized learning emphasizes customization and compatibility when it comes to the many learning styles of students. 10. Application Programming Interface (API) Tracks Progress The use of APIs in eLearning allows ultimate compatibility between different platforms. It essentially lets applications communicate, and also compiles information that can be used to track learning progress with little issue. With so many trending eLearning tools, it may be difficult to choose one. The best part about learning online is that you simply don’t need to. You can test drive two, three, or four of these tech trends and see what best fits your needs. Organizations also don’t need to limit themselves, and they can even use a tool or two to understand their user base in more detail. Develop an eLearning strategy that works best for you. Author Bio: Vera Marie Reed is freelance writer living in Glendale, California. This mother of two specializes in education and parenting content. When she’s not delivering expert advice, you can find her reading, writing, arts, going to museums and doing craft projects with her children.

Do you jiibe You should! - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Do you jiibe You should! - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Whats the corporate culture like in your current workplace? Whats the ideal corporate culture for you? How much of an overlap is there between the current and your ideal? In what other companies could you find more of a match and be happier at work? Thats what a great new website, jiibe.com can help you find out. Ive been fooling around with it and I love it! Its really simple the website asks you a series of questions, and you tell it how things are at your current company and how youd ideally like them to be. At the end you get a description of your ideal corporate culture and a list of the companies that match it best based not on how those companies define themselves but on how other jiibe users rated their workplaces. I really liked the questions in the survey, which ask about day-to-day situations in a company. This means that they poll what values a company actually has as opposed to the values they say they have. Also the user interface is seriously slick and of course the whole concept is brilliant. I believe that jiibe can help job seekers find more happiness at work by letting us find companies where we are more likely to fit in. And the development possibilities are endless. How about asking users how happy they are at work in order to investigate the effect on corporate culture on job satisfaction. You could let companies state their desired corporate culture and determine the gap between desired and actual culture. I could go on, but I wont. Instead, check out jiibe.com, take their survey and then come back here and let me know what your ideal corporate culture is like in a comment. For instance, my ideal culture is: consensus encouraging empowering improvising innovating fun flat cooperative transparent Whats yours? Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related