New Horizons Awards $10,000 in Training

New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton awarded Valley View High School $5,000 toward a scholarship and training, and provided $5,000 in additional training certificates to the top three teams participating in the Great Valley Computer Contest offered through New Horizons, the Great Valley Technology Alliance, and several local organizations.

Shawn Mera, Owner and General Manager of New Horizons, served as a member of the planning committee and judge for the competition. “As a judge and sponsor of this event for many years, I am more impressed each and every year by the skills and abilities of our local students. It is a great honor to continue our commitment and assist these students as they grow and develop their IT skills – something that is at the heart of what New Horizons does everyday,” said Mera. “This contest is one of several important initiatives we join in an effort to advance the training, knowledge and role of technology within our community.”

The winning team, comprised of senior Sarah Hosie, junior Maggie Capooci and sophomores Nick Frontino and Paul Altavilla were awarded first place on March 16, 2011 for their work in building a new website for Archbald Borough (www.archbaldborough.org). Archbald officials presented a proclamation recognizing the students for the group’s achievements at their meeting on March 16, 2011.

The competition required student teams from many area high schools to create and design a website for a business or nonprofit group. As part of the competition, Penn State University – Scranton joined New Horizons in providing training to all contestants involved, including both the students and faculty advisors.

NEW HORIZONS COMPUTER LEARNING CENTERS OF ALLENTOWN, READING, & WILKES BARRE/SCRANTON RANKS TOP 20 IN THE WORLD FOR MICROSOFT CERTIFIED PARTNER LEARNING SOLUTIONS TRAINING QUALITY AND EFFECTIVENESS FOR CONTENT DELIVERY.

Microsoft is pleased to announce New Horizons Computer Learning Center as one of the Top 20 Microsoft Partner Learning Solutions for delivery of Microsoft products in the world. This award is part of Microsoft’s partner network that not only includes New Horizons but other companies that are part of the Partner Learning Solutions program. This program recognizes the extraordinary contributions of partners serving small, mid-market and enterprise commercial customers.

Each year we must comply with certain requirements to continue to hold our Gold Partner Status; a set number of Microsoft Certified Trainers, participate in Metrics that Matter; an evaluation program to ensure satisfaction, two Microsoft sales experts along with additional business components.

Ranking as one of the top twenty Certified Partners for Learning Solutions (CPLS) in the world for content deliverability makes us proud,” said Shawn Mera, General Manager, “and we thank all of our staff and of course, our clients for helping us achieve this important milestone.”

New Horizons donates training to 7 local charities, developers code for Charity at Jan. 14-16 National GiveCamp.

New Horizons Computer Learning Center of Pittston donated Microsoft Office 2010 training and software to GiveCamp Charities.

“New Horizons is very excited to have been a part of this national event. Being able to provide training to this important group and ensure effective use of its capabilities, for such a tremendous and important cause, is truly rewarding,” said Shawn Mera, General Manager.

The NEPA GiveCamp event helped the following seven charities – Dress for Success Lackawanna, Junior Achievement of NEPA, Back Mountain Food Pantry, Back Mountain Men’s Ecumenical Group, Peace and Justice Center, Young’s Funny Farm and the Help Line of the Family Service Association of Wyoming Valley.

Fueled by coffee, soda and pizza, more than 1,000 volunteers at 14 locations around the United States spent the weekend of Jan. 14-16, 2011, contributing their computer coding expertise to benefit charities that need custom software or new websites. During the weekend-long National GiveCamp, teams of designers, developers and database administrators donated their time to complete an IT project on a charity’s wish list.

“Microsoft is thrilled to help out with the first ever National GiveCamp,” says Mary Perisic, National GiveCamp Lead and a Microsoft employee. “The volunteers tell us this event is one of the most rewarding and fun challenges they take on all year. The charities are excited to have their IT projects completed.”

About New Horizons

New Horizons has over 300 locations in over 65 countries. New Horizons Computer Learning Centers have been a local presence for 10 years. We are locally owned and operated with training facility located in Pittston, Allentown and Reading, Pennsylvania. We offer training at our locations, as well as provided training onsite for businesses within the area. New Horizons is the world’s largest independent IT training company. New Horizons of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Allentown, and Reading delivers a full range of technology, business skills and healthcare training from basic application, desktop productivity tools, complex IT systems, medical billing and coding and medical administration.

C3i has announced that the company will be opening a second location in Luzerne County, this one located at the CenterPoint Commerce and Trade Park East in Jenkins Township. The announcement was made at 9:30 a.m., and included news that 75 new jobs will be included in the opening.

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Two Tips for Microsoft Word

Tip Number 1: Automate date formatting tasks with a macro

(Microsoft Word 2002/2003/2007)

If you have to reformat dates frequently, you might wish to have at your fingertips a macro to accomplish the task in a flash. We will show you here how to change dates from a dd-mm-yy format to mm-dd-yy format (example: 6th June 1944 to June 6, 1944).

Choose Tools | Macro | Record New Macro and give a name to the macro in the Macro Name text box (use the Developer tab in 2007). If you choose the default entry, All Documents (Normal.dot), in the dropdown box, you’ll be able to access the macro from anywhere inside Word.

You can choose to assign the macro to either a toolbar or the keyboard by choosing accordingly in the Assign Macro To box:

1. Click on the Keyboard icon to assign a keyboard shortcut for the macro. On clicking the Keyboard icon, you are presented with the Customize Keyboard dialog box.
2. Enter a shortcut key combination such as [Alt][Shift][Ctrl][F] in the Press new shortcut key textbox. If the shortcut key combination is already assigned to another action, choose another combination.
3. Choose an option from the Save Changes In dropdown list, then click the Assign button.
4. Select in the Save changes in dropdown list whether you want the shortcut key combination to be available from the current document only or from any document based on the Normal.dot template.
5. Click Close to start recording the macro. When you click Close, you will see a small icon on the screen with Stop Recording and Pause Recording buttons on it.

Now you can record the keystrokes you want the macro to perform. Be very careful while recording the macro—it will perform exactly what you record each time you run it.

To change the date formats, press [Ctrl][Home] first—this will ensure that each time you run the macro, it will start searching from the beginning of the document. We want the macro to start searching from the beginning of the document to the end so as not to miss any occurrences of what we are trying to find and replace.

Follow these next steps to finish out the process:

1.  Click [Ctrl][H] to open the Find and Replace dialog box.
2. Click [Alt][U] to select the Use wildcards check box and then [Alt][N] to place the cursor inside the Find what text box.
3. Now, you have to type the following text carefully: ([0-9]{1,2})([dhnrst]{2})[space](<[ AFJMNSOD]*>) ]*>)[space]([0-9]{4}). Press the spacebar once for each instance of [space] in the foregoing search string.
4. Then, type \3 \1, \4 in the Replace with textbox.
5. Press [Alt][A] to change the date format of all dates in the document.
6. At this point, you need to click on the Stop Recording button to stop recording the macro. Now you’ve got your macro, and any time you want to format dates, you have to only press the keyboard shortcut for the macro to change the date formats instantaneously.

Tip Number 2: Stop micromanaging your table — balance row and column sizes in 3 clicks (Word 2007)

Working with tables can mean a lot of tweaking and fine-tuning while you adjust the look and fit of your rows and columns. To balance your table's appearance, click on the table and then select the rows or columns you want to adjust. Select the Layout tab from the Ribbon, if necessary, and choose Distribute Rows or Distribute Columns on the Cell Size panel. These commands uniformly distribute the sizes of the selected rows or columns without affecting the size of the table itself.

The Information Technology (IT) sector is showing positive signs for 2011. IT hiring forecasts are for solid expansion. Layoffs have diminished and hiring is already on the rise. The IT space continues to grow and evolve, penetrating across industries, driving corporate efficiencies, and leading companies to competitive and innovative gains.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) predicts that six key IT occupations will expand 22 percent to 4.5 million jobs from 2008 to 2018. Computer Network, Systems, and Database Administrators are expected to add the most jobs (+30 percent) over the next decade. Below are several key fields/positions within the IT industry, and amount of increase these positions are expected to grow between 2008 and 2018.

Type	% of Increase
Computer Software Engineers and Programmers Computer Network, Systems, and Database Administrators Computer Support Specialists Computer Systems Analysts Computer and Information Systems Managers Computer Scientists TOTAL ALL I.T. OCCUPATIONS	+21% +30% +14% +20% +17% +24% +22%

 
IT opportunities across all major online job boards have reported positive expansion following two difficult years. Job postings in 2008 fell 4 percent and in 2009 dropped 25 percent. Positive, double-digit expansion each month in 2010 led to a 30 percent gain for the year. January 2011 job advertisements continued the positive trend with a 20 percent increase over the prior year.


Mid-Career IT professionals are in-demand. The Monster report found that currently, 57% of resumes posted online were for professionals in mid-career, where 69% of positions were looking for professionals in mid-career, leaving a 12% gap. Also, over 13% of posted positions require a minimum of 1-2 years experience, where as only 4% of the applicant pool met the requirement, this leaving a significant shortage. This means that companies looking for candidates at both the mid and entry-level points in their career may have difficulty finding enough candidates in the coming years. Those candidates need to leverage their capabilities, training and certifications to ensure they maximize their opportunity in the job market. Now is the time to prepare for this career field.


The next seven years in the IT industry continue to look positive. New Horizons continues to grow our IT certification and training programs to provide individuals looking to become or grow as IT professionals the qualifications needed to gain a competitive edge over other qualified candidates. This training greatly improves a candidate’s ability to not only find a position, but to do so with a company that provides the best fit, securing a long-lasting career.

The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology recently released results of a study showing the benefits of health information technology.

The study was conducted from July 2007 to February 2010 and found that 92 percent of articles concluded that health IT provides positive results in the field. The positive results include overall quality and efficiency of healthcare.

Two other studies were used to come to this conclusion, including one that contained articles from 1995 to 2004 and another study from 2004 to 2007. More than 4,000 peer-reviewed articles were considered for the most recent study, but only 154 met the proper standards, according to the NCHIT.

“These new findings are very significant in helping to confirm that our nation has made the right choice in moving aggressively toward adoption of health information technology,” said administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Donald Berwick.

A prominent online IT job search site just issued a report on the number of tech jobs available for a given day and the number of qualified IT candidates recently entering the work force. In its one-day snapshot of available jobs, the site found a 60% jump from the low ebb of the recession about two years ago.

The take-away: US employers simply cannot find enough qualified IT talent:

“American businesses are crying out for tech-savvy talent. And they’re not finding it – at least not enough
of it.”

This, of course, would be good news for IT professionals. It means greater leverage in negotiating salaries and benefits.

With the growth of opportunities comes the growth of individuals looking to fill those positions. Strengthening your resume with the qualifications such as IT and healthcare Information certifications is the first step toward securing a career in this growing industry.

All Signs Pointing to Job Growth in IT

Takeaway: As unemployment rates improve, two new reports indicate that IT managers are currently, or soon will be hiring. Although the U.S. job market has been unsteady from state to state, one aspect of the overall job market remains strong: information technology and healthcare continues to add more jobs.

Along with IT and Healthcare, several other fields are currently adding jobs, including manufacturing, transportation and warehousing, according to Jerry Nickelsburg, senior economist with the University of California.

From February 2010 to February 2011, six states lost jobs, with New Jersey and New Mexico accounting for the worst numbers, according to a recent Associated Press report. Of the 44 states that were positive in terms of jobs, California added close to 200,000 jobs and Texas added nearly 250,000 jobs. Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate dropped by 0.9% in February, to 8.0%.

The news for New Horizons students gets even better as surveys of IT managers continue to report much higher satisfaction of employees with IT industry certifications over college degrees. A recent study from an IBM user group, found only 8% of IT managers found the most recent crop of IT college graduates were “well trained.” Another 445 indicated they found noticeable gaps in their skills compared to experienced, certified employees.

Almost 60% of respondents indicated they are currently hiring or plan to do so in the near future.

Another report by Robert Half revealed IT hiring will not slow down anytime soon. According to the study, 80 percent of CIOs said they believe their organizations can hire more IT staff over the next three months.

New Horizons’ IT Programs Include “In-Demand” Certifications

As technologies continue to change rapidly, it is important to consider the top certifications professional need to broadly meet the demands on their departments. TechRepublic recently listed the top certifications that offer the most value and validity.

Here are the highlights:

Network+

It is essential that IT professionals know and understand the principles and concepts that power the networks within an organization’s IT infrastructure, regardless of the technologies used. Every IT professional should add it to their credentials.

A+

Just as with CompTIA’s Network+ certification, the A+ accreditation is another cert that all IT professionals should have on their resume. Proving baseline knowledge and expertise with the hardware components that power today’s computers should be required of all technicians. I’m amazed at the number of smart, intelligent, and seasoned IT pros who aren’t sure how to crack the case of a Sony Vaio or diagnose failed capacitors with a simple glance. The more industry staff can learn about the fundamental hardware components, the better.

CCNA

The demand for Cisco skills remains strong. Adding Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) expertise to your resume especially helps convince larger organizations that you have the knowledge and skills necessary to deploy and troubleshoot Cisco routing and switching hardware.

MCSE

Also, continuing its domination of the market is Microsoft. MCSEs (Microsoft Certified SystemsEngineer) have more value than most other Microsoft certifications. In another article by TechRepublic, they documented the national average salary of the MCSE for 2010 was $86,454.

Security+

Security+, really, is a no brainer. Anyone entering the industry or even veterans seeking theirfirst accreditations should seriously consider CompTIA certifications. The vendor-neutral certificationsdemonstrate mastery of fundamentals across a broad range of topics, including project management, hardware,networking, security, and voice networks.

A recent study produced by Manpower reported that over 80% of working Americans will be looking for a new position in 2011. Considering the improving economy, and knowing from that additional jobs will potentially be available in the coming months, how will you ensure that you stand-out above other candidates and get an opportunity for an interview? Below are five tips to consider when conducting a job search.

1. Do NOT sell yourself as a generalist.
   
   In today’s working environment, companies are looking more and more for specialists, not generalists. You must distinguish yourself (your competencies and strengths) from other candidates.
   
   
2. Focus your resume to your potential employer, and keep it succinct.
   
   Instead of building a generic resume that simply highlights your experience for everyone, regardless of the position requirements, focus instead on each individual position for which you are applying. Focus your experience and skills to match the requirements.
   
   Also, employers today are very often receiving over 100 resumes for each vacant position. They are NOT reading each resume. They scan resumes for the important keywords/phrases/competencies that match the position they are looking for. The more information you list, the more difficult it will be for the employer to find those terms.
   
   
3. Ensure you have the necessary knowledge and skills.
   
   If you are looking to advance your career, or move into a new industry, you should research to identify the most common requirements. In the IT and healthcare industries, specifically, those requirements often fall around specific industry certifications. If you do not have those credentials, develop a plan to obtain them and put the plan into action. Often employers will overlook a candidate not having the specific credential if s/he sees that the individual is actively working on the certification.
   
   
4. Do NOT rely on your online efforts.
   
   As prevalent as the internet may be in today’s world, most positions today are still being filled outside of the online environment. Who you know still matters very much. I cannot emphasize that enough. You must supplement your online efforts by getting on the phone and getting out to events to meet and network with others. Identify your top two or three strengths and develop a 60-second elevator pitch around them. Practice with close friends and family.
   
   
5. Do NOT find yourself ill-prepared for the interview
   
   In a former position at a small, private college, one of the biggest mistakes a candidate could make during an interview was to refer to the College as a University. Immediately, I knew that the candidate never really looked closely at what type of organization s/he was applying to work for. In the world of higher education, those two terms represent two very different worlds. I expected potential new hires to know a little something about that before an interview. Any visit to the website would have begun to make that clear.
   
   Bottom line – research the company you will be interviewing with, know what you can about the environment, market they serve and who their competitors may be. Understand how your competencies and strengths fulfill the needs of the position the company is interviewing for. Provide specific examples how you have demonstrated mastery of those competencies. Examples may include specific certifications you have obtained, specific projects you assisted with or were responsible for in a current or previous position.
   
   Any job search is a time-intensive and often very stressful situation. There will be up’s and down’s. Maximizing and personalizing your efforts are critical to bring the search to a closure. Remember that companies aren’t the only one’s looking for the best fit. You, too, must ensure that any position you take fits to your strengths to ensure your success and happiness.

Are you currently looking for a new position? Well there is good news and bad news. The good news is that recent reports are indicating some very positive news for job growth in 2011.

Payroll giant ADP announced this week that over 297,000 jobs were added in December, 2010. This was an incredible and positive surprise, even for economists, who had predicted a growth of only 100,000 jobs for the month. Another positive indicator was that the 2010 year saw the fewest number of job cuts since 1997, according to a recent report published by outplacement consulting firm, Challenger, Gray and Christmas, Inc.

If the good news is that companies are beginning to hire more employees, what is the bad news? Just because the position listings may grow doesn't mean there are any fewer people applying for the jobs. In addition to the many people currently unemployed both locally as well as nationally, there are still others hanging on to current positions just waiting for the right opportunity.

So you must ensure your resume stands out in the crowd. Does your resume list the related skills and competencies the position you are applying for requires? If so, does it list those items near the top? What education and training do you have that will help certify your level of knowledge and understanding of today’s complex IT systems?

The truth is the key factors you will need to help you in that search are direct experience and relevant certifications and training. If you are missing one or both of those items, you need to consider how you plan to address the deficiencies so that you can find an employer willing to hire you.

If you’ve have years of experience, but no certifications, odds are you are being looked over for candidates who obtain both. If you are just entering the field, and have neither, you should consider obtaining the training needed to earn one or more certifications to help separate you from a crowded market.

IT news provider CIO Insight gathered the opinions of experts in IT training and hiring in relation to the most important IT certifications in the current market. Of the 13 prime programs discussed, Microsoft, CompTIA and Cisco were listed seven times.

Microsoft was noted for its MCSE, MCP and MCSA certifications. The Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer is in demand as it prepares IT professionals to work with Microsoft Server products. Microsoft Certified Professional training and Microsoft Certified System Administrator certifications were featured because they prepare employees to manage and troubleshoot networks, as well as perform a diverse range of functions.

CompTIA was recognized first for its A+ certification, whcih creates a general standard for tech-support professionals by teaching them how to install networks, manage maintenance and provide network security. The Network+ IT and Security+ programs were also noteworthy, as they teach professionals how to develop network infrastructures and maintain system security.

Cisco's Certified Network Associates IT training program stood out because CCNA professionals have proven capable of installing, managing, securing and troubleshooting router and switch-based networks.

IT budgets are showing signs of expansion and CIOs are starting to hire again. As this process continues, managers are looking to build teams with a variety of skills, and looking for professionals with the right IT training to meet their needs.

Last month we wrote about early predictions for strong job growth in IT and healthcare. This month, we are continuing to read about that growth. Recently, CareerBuilder added to the collection of companies and groups reporting of potential growth, specifically in the technology industry.

In the report, 49% of companies indicated they planned to hire more contract work for the year, and 46% indicated they planned to moving contractors into permanent positions. A majority of employers also indicated they planned to increase the pay for current staff.

But here are the two most important pieces of information:

1. Forty-two percent of employers indicated they expect to expand their current IT staffing.
   
   
2. Over a third of survey respondents indicated they had IT positions open, but could not find qualified candidates.

What does this mean? It means that many IT professionals that are applying for positions either do not have the requisite certifications, or those credentials are out of date. An MCSE from 2000 or 2003 is not simply sufficient to continue to advance in the industry.

The current IT professional without proper or up-to-date certifications as well as the industry newcomer with lots of energy and passion, but no experience or credentials is being passed over – EVEN IF THAT MEANS NO ONE IS HIRED.

If you find that you are being passed over for positions, you need to understand why. Whether it is a lack of certifications, expired certifications, or if you simply don’t understand why, you need to call us. Our education consultants are trained and prepared to review your resume and discuss your job search.