Friday, February 28, 2014

HIMSS Week & How it Impacts Industry Recruitment

The Yearly National HIMSS Conference has been growing by astronomical leaps and bounds.  The first National HIMSS Convention was held in Baltimore in 1962.  In 1996 HIMSS Membership topped out at around 7,500 members, to date the society includes more than 50,000 individual members, over 570 corporate members, and more than 225 not-for-profit organizations.*  This year's meeting assembled some 38,000 healthcare professionals and 1,200 exhibitors in Orlando for a week focused on patient safety, care quality, access and affordability.**

With all this activity at the conference many EMR vendor, hospital, healthcare system and consulting firm employees are out of the office and in attendance at various meetings, booths, displays and classes in Orlando.  This means that a multitude of applicants that are awaiting feedback regarding their resume / or are somewhere in the interview process are left in limbo throughout the entire week.

Unfortunately the only answer to this dilemma is patience.  If you have submitted your resume to a job opening or are in the interview process in the Healthcare IT industry during HIMSS week, know in advance that it is possible you will not receive feedback until the following week.  Better yet, if you are in the market for new Healthcare IT employment and you are able to attend the HIMSS Conference, there is no better way to get your resume out to multiple potential employers in one place at one time.  It can be a bit tricky finding the right person to speak with at some of the various booths or in the various meetings and classes, but it is well worth the time and effort.  And... you are certain to learn things you didn't know about a myriad of topics.  Just remember to polish up your resume and bring lots of copies!

*Wikipedia
**HIMSS Website

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