WEDDLE's, world's largest publisher of print guides to job boards, includes Absolutely Health Care in the elite of the online employment services industry.

Stamford, CT.  June 24, 2009  Absolutely Health Care is pleased to announce that WEDDLE's LLC, the world's largest publisher of print guides to the 100,000+ job boards now operating on the Internet, has selected it as a Top 100 site.  Called the "Zagat" of the online employment industry by the American Staffing Association, WEDDLE's released its selections in conjunction with the publication of its 2009/10 Guide to Employment Sites on the Internet.

Why should job seekers care about this news?  Because job boards work.

• In a recent survey of 17,000+ working men and women, using a job board was identified as the single best way to find a job in today's tough environment. Over one-third of the respondents said they found their last job on a job board-more than four times greater than the next highest response-and almost two-thirds said they expected to find their next job that way.
  
  
• In the same survey, eight-out-of-ten employers said that new hires sourced online were among their best employees. For that reason, over a third of the respondents were filling half of their openings through job boards and over a quarter were actually filling three-quarters of their vacancies that way.

 
The challenge for working men and women and employers alike is figuring out which sites to use.  The Top 100 list is one way to do that.  The Guide describes each site in the Top 100 with a detailed profile of its services, features and fees for both job seekers and employers.  It also includes a directory of over 10,000 other job boards organized by career field, industry and geographic focus.

"Our Top 100 employment sites are the elite of the job board industry," says WEDDLE's Publisher Peter Weddle.  "They have the strongest brands, the best services and the most distinguished track records of the sites we've seen on the Web.  Are there other good sites out there?  Of course.  But the Top 100 selectees are truly in a class of their own."

According to Ken Levinson, President, "Absolutely Health Care is the largest niche job board on the Internet for health care and medical jobs. We are are extremely pleased that that our users have recommended us for this honor, and we will work hard to maintain those good feelings about us".     

The site selection methodology included a comprehensive review of information submitted by the sites describing their features, services and fees as well as information provided by job seekers, employers and recruiters who have used the site.  In addition, each site was visited to assess its user experience and level of maintenance.

About Absolutely Health Care

Absolutely Health Care is the largest niche job board on the Internet for health care and medical jobs. Job seekers can browse jobs and/or post their resume. direct health care providers and personnel services firms can post jobs and/or browse resumes. Job seekers, direct health care providers, and personnel services firms can also make professional contacts and friends, find professional resources, blog, participate in forums, post and view pictures, post and view videos, receive recognition, and win prizes on our Medical Mingle Professional Social Network, which can be accessed on Absolutely Health Care.

Media Contact:

Ken Levinson

800.863.8314

ken@healthjobsusa.com

About WEDDLE's

WEDDLE's LLC is a widely regarded thought leader in the field of employment.  It consults with employers, staffing firms and job boards on best practices in talent acquisition and publishes guides and other books to help working men and women realize their full potential in the 21^st Century workplace.  Its research has been cited in such publications as The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today and in Money, Fortune, and Inc. magazines.  As HRWire put it, "When in doubt, consider WEDDLE's ... an industry standard."

Media Contact:

Peter Weddle

203.964.1888

peter@weddles.com

www.nasrecruitment.com/talenttips/NASins...

Question for Ask the Expert: "What do you see as the role, advantages, and limitations of social networks in health care recruiting?"

Response by Ken Levinson, President, Absolutely Health Care, the largest niche job board for health care and medical jobs, as well as Medical Mingle, the professional/social network for the health care and medical field.

Professional/Social networking sites are exploding. Just about everyone has heard of Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter. These types of sites can be fantastic for helping connect with friends classmates, neighbors, and acquaintances, including people from your past that you have completely lost touch with. These sites are also invaluable in assisting job seekers and employers to find each other.

I grew up in Cherry Hill, NJ, but moved to Florida, and I had lost touch virtually everyone I used to know. After joining Facebook, I started looking up a few people from my past, and requested to become their friend. Once they accepted, and we caught up, I found other people I knew that they were friends with. By the time I got  done, I had recaptured my entire youth, reconnecting with many people that I would have never found otherwise. I've also met many wonderful new people both personally and professionally through Facebook. With my network, if I ever looked for a job, I'd have lots of friends and professional contacts to help me, both directly or through contacts that they could introduce me to.

Our company owns Absolutely Health Care, the largest niche job board on the Internet for health care and medical jobs. Almost two years ago, we started Medical Mingle, a professional social network for people interested in, working in, servicing, or studying to enter the health care and medical field. 

With a traditional job board like Absolutely Health Care used to be, everything is transactional. Companies can post jobs and look for resumes. Job seekers can post resumes, and look for jobs. There is no relationship building going on.

Professional/Social Networking sites like Medical Mingle are just the opposite. Medical Mingle is about long term relationship building and networking.

Julian Stopps of Broadcasting Online Recruitment News Limited made the following comment on Job Boarders which I think is right on target:

"Online social networks are certainly one tool in the recruitment toolbox, but I just can't see them replacing job boards completely, as they are very different offerings.
Job boards are primarily a tool for sourcing active job seekers (excluding CV databases from the equation). 

Social Networks are more suited to subtle employment branding and advertising to passive candidates. In many ways the strength of a social network, from an advertising perspective, is to prime passive and inactive candidates with knowledge about your employment brand. Then when they switch to being active candidates your service is the first one they consider.

Social networks should be seen as a longer-term, slow burner approach. Job boards are a "we have an unforeseen requirement for five people now" approach".

We started Medical Mingle to compliment Absolutely Health Care. Health care professionals used to only come to Absolutely Health Care when they were looking for a job. Now through links to Medical Mingle, health care professionals also come to Absolutely Health Care to make professional contacts and friends, find professional resources, blog, participate in forums, post and view pictures, post and view videos, receive recognition, and win prizes. It gives health care professionals many reasons to hang around Absolutely Health Care, even when they are not looking for a job.

On the flip side, if someone hangs around Medical Mingle directly, when a member becomes a job seeker, they can browse jobs and/or post their resume on Absolutely Health Care, right from the Medical Mingle site. They can also network with other Medical Mingle members.

Professional/Social Networking sites combined with job boards are the perfect recruiting compliment for both job seekers and employers.

As of the afternoon of Saturday 6/13/09, we have added an exciting new program on Medical Mingle that recognizes and rewards you for all of the contributions that you make to our community.

I am so excited about this, as it should increase our activity, and better recognize our members for all of their content contributions to our site. We are in transition currently as to how we give recognition on our site, and everything should be in place in the next 30 days. We will also be changing our contests, but I have not changed anything yet, and I will get member feedback before we do. We have lots of options available to us, but I will certainly be using this system as a part of the equation. 

I have 2 goals in making any changes to our contests. 

1. One goal is to keep the active members involved, and also get more of our less active and inactive members involved.  

2. My second goal deals with efficiency. I currently spend at least 150 hours a year giving recognition and calculating contests. A more automated system was always my goal. Better recognition, better contests, and more efficiency is a Win-Win in my book!  

Here are the ways that you earn points under this new system:

You will earn 1 point each time you do one of these things:

Rating Content
Post Comment
Uploading a Photo
Uploading a Video
Joining a Group
Make a Forum Post
Start a Forum Thread
Add a Blog Post
Sending a Network Invite
Chatting
Updating User Profile
Sending Content to Friends

You will lose 1 point each time there is an issue that causes me to take this action:

Having a Blog Post Deleted
Having a Forum Post Deleted
Having a Forum Thread Deleted
Having a Photo Deleted
Having a Video Deleted
Sending a Network Invite to an Existing Member

Your profile will show how many points you've earned effective the afternoon of Saturday 6/13/09.

Here are the recognition levels, and points needed to reach that level:

Level 1: Benchwarmer: once you reach 25 points
Level 2: Rookie: once you reach 50 points
Level 3: Starter: one you reach 250 points
Level 4: Pro: once you reach 500 points
Level 5: All Star: once you reach 1,000 points
Level 6: All World: once you reach 2,500 points
Level 7: All Universe: once you reach 5,000 points
Level 8: Bronze Medalist: once you reach 10,000 points
Level 9: Silver Medalist: once you reach 20,000 points
Level 10: Gold Medalist: once you reach 30,000 points
Level 11: Platinum Medalist: once you reach 40,000 points
Level 12: Titanium Medalist: once you reach 50,000 points
Level 13: 100,000 Point Club: once you reach 100,000 points
Level 14: 250,000 Point Club: once you reach 250,000 points
Level 15: 500,000 Point Club: once you reach 500,000 points
Level 16: 1,000,000 Point Club: once you reach 1,000,000 points


Some additional notes are below:

If you click on the number of lifetime points that you've earned (as of Saturday afternoon 6/13/09 when this feature was activated), you'll see a "User Loyalty Details" Screen come up that shows you:

1. The "User Loyalty Details" Screen shows the total number of points that you've earned, as well as a breakdown. If I remove points for some reason as the Administrator, there is not a line item for that adjustment, so all of the line items added together will not equal the current points and total points. I've asked ONEsite to add an Admin Point Adjustment line, so we'll see if they will do it.

2. The "User Loyalty Details" Screen shows your Personal Ranking Level (example: All Universe"), and will soon show your Overall Network Ranking. 

3. The "User Loyalty Details" Screen shows your Badge Information. We will soon have badges that will show your level.

We are looking into whether member points can be calculated since the time that the site was created. I doubt they will be able to do that, but I've asked. I'll let you know what I'm told.

We are also looking at whether points can be tabulated for specific time periods, which will be very helpful for our contests. I'll keep you posted, but we will have ONEsite create this feature if it's not available now.

Enjoy this new system, and let's mingle!