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Medical Jobs Strong Despite Recession

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Although many active-duty service members right now are immune to lay offs and a horrible job market in the civilian economy, it's important that they plan their civilian job strategy now before they get out.


One bright spot in the economy, however, are medical jobs.

But first the bad news: according to government statistics, the U.S. economy continues to lose jobs each month; this past November the economy lost 533,000 jobs and the unemployment rate spiked to 6.7 percent.

But amidst all the bad news, it appears that the health care industry gained 33,800 jobs inside hospitals and in ambulatory health care services. Doctor's offices also needed more medical workers, adding a little over 6,000 workers. And the added jobs aren't just for doctors or nurses, medical office jobs continue to expand.

Now there are a number of explanations for this kind of job activity, but common sense makes clear that people's health will always need attention no matter what the economy is doing, and there is also no stopping the ongoing aging of the baby boomers.

Service members with more time in the military should begin to think about what they will do when the separate from the military. Those who think a job in the medical field would be a good fit, should consider which career might be best for them.

There are a number of careers in a hospital or a doctor's office that one can pursue, including work as a medical transcriptionist, medical biller, medical coder or medical office assistant. And you can easily find schools that offer certificate programs in these fields, many of which offer 100% online courses for military personnel.

How can service members train for a career in the medical field?

Service members can use Military Tuition Assistance, which provides service members with up to $4,500 a year in education funds for classes at the accredited school of their choice. Some service members even decide to train online.

How do you know if an online school is a good one?

There some general rules of thumb to help service members find a good school. The first thing to do is ask people in your unit if they've taken an online course. If they have, find out where they enrolled and what their experience was.

There is also an important accrediting body which accredits online schools. This organization is known as the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) and this will help you sort out good online schools from poor ones.

Another important attribute of an online school is live student support. This means that when you have a question, you can be assured of talking to a person and not getting an answering machine. Studying online at a good school does not mean studying alone.

Another important way to evaluate an online school is to find out how long they have been in business and how many graduates they have had. It's a fair bet that diploma mills don't stay in business for very long. Do a little research on the internet and see what people are saying about a given school, or ask the admissions rep to tell you about the history of the institution.

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