Monday, September 10, 2007

Advertising Industry a Reflection of the Times

Advertising is one of the few industries that not only acclimates to changes in public perception but institutes them as well. What we as a population purchase is often more a reflection of what’s sold to us than what we want or need. In fact, it’s the perception of need that drives the advertising industry.

If the average person performed an analytical cost/benefit analysis on the purchase of a thinner phone, a faster computer or the latest pair of sneakers, savings accounts everywhere would be earning low interest yields on much more substantial nest egg. Unfortunately, analytical thinking has no part in our collective conscience when it comes to making purchases, at least for the average consumer. Instead, we are readily convinced of which new songs we like from a very limited pool of easily accessible offerings. We are told which styles of clothing are in and which are fashion suicide. We are bombarded with messages aimed at providing us with the knowledge of how we are supposed to think, feel, act and most of all, consume.

Colleges are teaching the same fundamentals of demographics, recognition, repetition and visual appeal that have been a hallmark of marketing for print, television and to a great degree radio since the 1950’s. The biggest change between that time period and the one in which we are currently living isn’t found in academia, but instead in the tenants that mark our modern world.

We buy what is sold to us because we need to belong, because we want the best, the fastest, the cheapest, the latest or the most unique. We buy out of the need to keep up with the Jones’ and then buy to set ourselves apart from them. We buy with purpose while claiming indifference. Successful advertising and marketing offers a reflection of how we feel today, and while it may prey upon our fears or speak to our vanity, it only reflects the importance we place on our inner feelings. Perhaps that’s why advertising is always evolving, to meet the needs and expectations of a society that is constantly in a state of change.


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Friday, September 7, 2007

Location Makes a World of Difference for Culinary Graduates

The White House is known to employ some of the finest chefs in the country, but culinary degree holders are better off working at luxury hotels or casinos in Las Vegas than anywhere in the Washington D.C. area, a recent survey by StarChefs.com shows.



The average annual salary for a Washington D.C. chef is $71,666, which is a moderate income considering the high cost of living. Many who work in the restaurant industry but have no formal education in the culinary arts earn $12 to $15 per hour and work more than one job in order to sustain a more financially taxing lifestyle.



Meanwhile, chefs in tourist heavy cities across the country (and across the world) are finding favorable employment options that offer compensation well above the norm. Chefs in Las Vegas, Nevada are earning an average of $85,000 per year â€" well above the national average of $75,596 and even more lucrative considering the fact that Nevada has no state tax. Chefs who work in some of the more prestigious casinos earn as much as $140,000 annually. This has tempted several experienced chefs who have no ownership stake in the restaurants for which they work to leave their existing positions for employment opportunities in Sin City.



Better benefits and more career opportunities are also attracting top chefs to the Las Vegas restaurant industry. The starting hourly rate for a line chef in most of the restaurants surrounding Las Vegas Boulevard is commensurate with the national average. Because shifts are often longer as a result of the steady influx of patrons to 24 hour restaurants at all hours, however, many earn full time benefits. Few other line cooks across the country can make that claim. Additionally, because of the relative transience of Las Vegas, those who are looking for long term employment opportunities are likely to experience rapid promotion provided they are competent and able to meet the requirements of the position.



Of course, salaries and hourly rates vary greatly depending on the worker's position. The typical restaurant kitchen will have a number of hourly-paid line cooks with different levels of seniority based on experience and longevity at that particular location. The longest tenured line cooks can command relatively high salaries depending on the quality of restaurant in which they work. Larger restaurants often have chefs who oversee the line as well as an executive chef who oversees the entire kitchen area or back of house. .



The type of establishment also affects a kitchen worker’s potential earnings. Hotel restaurants at the more exclusive properties in Las Vegas are extremely rigid on quality, performance, and expertise. Those with the education and experience to meet their lofty standards enjoy higher salaries on average than their independent restaurant counterparts.

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Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Automotive Mechanic Training More Popular Than Ever With High School Graduates

Americans have always been obsessed with cars. Drivers want to own the latest models with the latest features and are willing to pay top dollar for them year after year. NASCAR has become a very popular sport with the youth of our country and older generations as well. Collectors have a passion for restoring, buying and showing muscle and sports cars of the past, and auctions devoted to the hobby are regularly held all over the United States. Street racing has been glorified on film in recent years, though one needs only to look back over our cinematic past to discover that fast cars and the people who drive them have been a part of our culture for years. Before movies such as The Fast and the Furious”, there was “American Graffiti” and “Rebel Without a Cause”. It’s easy to see that our love affair with the automobile has maintained itself throughout the years and continues to grow with each new generation.

Though we appreciate cars for a variety of reasons, we depend on them for only one, and that is simply to get from point A to point B. Every auto on the road today will need repair or maintenance at some point in the future. As the technology behind the automobile has changed, so has the training required of today’s mechanics. No longer will a rudimentary knowledge of drivetrains and electrical systems qualify a person to work on any vehicle. Automotive mechanic training has become a science of its own, with entire courses devoted to individual models or the industry standard diagnostic equipment that mechanics of the past never had the luxury of using. More and more high school graduates with mechanical aptitude are choosing technician training to provide them with a future and employment opportunities that are almost certain to always be available for the mechanically inclined. This is especially true today as the demand for qualified automotive mechanics often exceeds the number of automotive technician program graduates.

But why are so many graduates choosing to enroll in auto technical programs instead of traditional college programs? For starters, the auto mechanics of today earn respectable salaries as opposed to the mechanics of the past. Furthermore, the education necessary to become an auto technician doesn’t involve coursework unrelated to the trade. In short, auto technician training is a method by which young men and women can quickly learn a skill set that will allow them to earn a good living in a very short amount of time. Not many other educational opportunities can offer the same.

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Thursday, August 30, 2007

Health Care Training Diversifies to Accommodate Changes in Policy

It wasn’t all that long ago that health care training opportunities fell into one of three basic categories: nursing, administrative or medical school. Over the last several decades, training opportunities were developed around new technologies, such as radiology, magnetic resonance and computed tomography. Newly accepted forms of treatment influenced health care academics as well. From chiropracty to physical and behavioral therapy, the need for a specialized workforce was forged out of advances to modern medical care.

Today, it is policy which has greatly influenced the face of health care education at the administrative level. The insurance industry has had a profound effect on the number of specialized employees at most large health care facilities, from hospitals to senior care centers. The emergence of HMO and PPO health benefits has created the need for a standardized system of documentation universal to all insurance providers. The development of medical billing and coding degree and certification programs is a direct result. Where at one time administrators were responsible for the paperwork and data entry of patient records, the sheer volume of documentation required today makes that an impossibility. Not only are medical coding specialists a luxury for administrative health care facility staffs, but indeed a necessity. Just as all hospitals have employees devoted to their IT infrastructure, data availability and data security, each also requires specialists who understand the often complex nature of insurance reimbursement.

Even at the highest levels of administration, changes can be seen. The business aspects of health care have become exceedingly industry specific and require intimate knowledge of the field. As a result, there are many business administration degree programs with concentrations in health care administration or management offered by universities across the nation. Graduates have the benefit of being acclimated to the particular facets of the health care industry that set it apart from all others in relation to business and commerce.

As health care industry positions become more specialized, be it through technology, new methods of treatment or policy, one thing is certain. Academia is quick to find and fill the needs of employers in every industry.

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Wednesday, May 9, 2007

The Changing Face of K12 Student Learning

With each decade the face of education has changed to reflect the current trends in education. The policy initiatives of each president, governor, community leader and parent have been aimed at transforming children's learning environments into the ideal situation. While these initiatives may never succeed to meet every child's needs the combined result of their work has created an environment where education can now be tailored to meet the needs of every child through online schools.

Much like the advent of the search engine and booking our own airline travel, the Internet has introduced the nation to online education. To many, the commercial products available from higher education degree granting giants like the University of Phoenix define online learning. However, to a growing population of Americans, online schools have come to define the middle ground between home schooling and personalized public education.

While charter schools continue to spring up across the country, there are a select few that have been created in the charter school mold simply because the education establishment can not keep pace with today's innovations. In Ohio for example, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT) was created in 2000 not to revolutionize charter schools, but to bring to Ohio's children and families leading education content in a format designed to enable every child to succeed. ECOT provides every child with an education option that delivers to each student exactly what they need while providing the comprehensive state standards based education that is the hallmark of successful public and private schools.

Other online schools and content companies such as the Florida Virtual Academy and K12 Education are part of a growing trend that brings together the real-life education community and the technology community. In many instances this partnership is a thorn in the side of traditional education and educators who see only standard classrooms as the answer to the ills of the American k-12 system

Online schools have revolutionized the workplace for skilled teachers and administrators. The result of this union is the ability to create a tailored classroom for gifted, struggling and needs-based students that, until the advent of online learning, were often segregated to specialty teaching groups to meet their potential.

The education landscape has changed and for many brick and mortar school districts this is a hard fact to face. The local school boards and education departments in America have begun to realize that business as usual isn't he solution to a rapidly advancing world and have begun to embrace the assets of online education.

Unlike the as-we-know-it classroom the online environment can be adjusted to meet the needs of every child and instill the state standards required of students since the advent of the No Child Left Behind Act without stagnating the classroom experience. From thousands of courses to graduation test practice sessions and immediate intervention opportunities, online schools offers to the students and families of 2006 what the computer breakthroughs of the past several decades offered to the business community. Simply put, online schools have the ability to provide every individual with the right information in the right format at the right time for optimal success.

Online schools were once considered the wave of the future. That future is now and the online revolution continues to shape the world of real life education without the boundaries of classroom walls.