HealthComm LLC

With the economy still recovering (or preparing to worsen, depending on whom you ask), a lesser-known but equally important problem is plaguing our society. OK, that’s probably hyperbole, but it brings us right to the point. When done properly, the hyphenation of compound modifiers is unobtrusive and probably goes unnoticed; but sadly we live in what my brother, a copyeditor at a metropolitan daily, calls a culture of overhyphenation.

I might wince at an apostrophe and an ‘S’ that need to be transposed, and I might scoff at a ‘who’ that should be a ‘whom’. But at the sight of a hyphen where none is needed, my heart starts racing and my face gets as flush as though the misplaced character were a typographical gauntlet at my feet.

So, what are these abuses of the hyphen? I’m only going to focus on one, and we’ll get to it in a second. First, it may be more helpful to establish what compound modifiers are and when it is appropriate to hyphenate them. (As a preface, it’s worth pointing out that grammar lessons bring to consciousness what, at some level, you already know; in that sense, they differ from the majority of didactic situations whose model is the transference of knowledge. So trust me, this will be fun!)

Simply put, a compound modifier is the use of a phrase of two or more words to describe a noun. There are two in the first sentence above: “lesser-known” and “equally important”, both of which modify “problem”. The key is that the words form a single phrase that names one attribute of the noun; this differentiates a compound modifier from a series of adjectives that lists multiple attributes of a noun (ex., “long, dreary, cold winter’s night”).

The general and prevalent misunderstanding is that a compound modifier, simply because it is a compound modifier, deserves a hyphen. This is just not true. The purpose of a hyphen uniting the two (or more) words of a compound modifier is never simply to indicate the existence of a compound modifier, but rather to disambiguate the noun phrase as a whole (compound modifier plus noun).

For instance, in real estate ads for townhome developments, one frequently listed amenity is the availability of “two-car garages.” Now, imagine that the compound modifier was not hyphenated and read “two car garages.” It may be small, but the possibility is there that someone may understand this to mean there are only two garages that house cars — perhaps they’re available by lottery or on a “first come, first served” basis? So the hyphen is used as a sign that, on the contrary, there are garages available that can hold two cars.

Now let’s get to the most common misuse of the hyphen in compound modifiers, which is in the middle of a combination of an “-ly” adverb and an adjective. There are two examples in this post so far: “equally important” and “frequently listed”.

What makes this use improper? Remember that the purpose of the hyphen is to disambiguate. Because an adverb by its very nature cannot modify a noun, it is grammatically impossible for ambiguity to arise. Does “equally problem” or “frequently amenity” make any sense to you? Hopefully not.

(Look for a follow-up soon.)

Posted in Copywriting, HealthComm| No Comments

Of course not, you say.

Then why are you doing it?

Sure, there was a time that all you had to do was post a couple Want Ads in the Sunday paper, and by the middle of the week, you had a stack of resumes that could fill a the shelves meant for medical records. But those times are gone and for a couple of reasons. One, many fewer people are actually reading a newspaper, much less seeking job openings there. Seriously: who do you know who got their current job by responding to a Want Ad? The fact is that the power of newspaper advertising just isn’t what it used to be. Ditto for billboards, radio ads, and other traditional media.

Two, current demand for healthcare workers, particularly those in the more specialized positions, so far exceeds supply that even if people were responding to traditional recruitment methods, there wouldn’t be enough of them to fill the need. And the outlook for future supply vs. demand only gets increasingly worrisome as time goes by.

The bottom line is that you’re looking for something that’s both harder to reach and harder to find than ever before.

If you’re thinking that you’re already way ahead of me here because you’ve been posting your openings on one of the major Internet job boards, you need to know that that wide net you’re casting isn’t necessarily catching the big fish. Or even lots of little fish. Postings and banners on an Internet job site can cost you thousands of dollars a month, and that’s a lot of cash by anyone’s standards. But because few applicants seek jobs farther than fifty miles from their current residence, what you’re really paying for is the glamour of being able to say you post your positions nationally. It’s not a big deal. Really. But it is big money.

What is a big deal is being able to say that you spent less and got more. Want to know how? Here are five relatively simple, cost-effective steps you can start taking right away.

1. Ask a silly question. Go ahead. Ask your applicants how they heard about you and your job openings (and ask your recent hires, too, if you’re not already collecting that data). They really have no reason to lie to you about this one. Then ask them why they applied to join your organization. Now, granted, they may have some vested interested in dancing around the truth here, especially if they want to impress you as much as you want to impress them. Still, they’ll provide you with some interesting information for a marginal cost of almost zero. Now here comes the critical part, the part that far too many organizations skip: Listen to them. Their responses will shine powerful spotlights in the right direction, that is, the direction in which you should be focusing your recruitment dollars.

2. Tell me something good. While many, indeed most, of the traditional methods of recruitment advertising have lost their effectiveness, the original method is still number one: word of mouth. If your organization is a great place to work, your employees will do the advertising for you. Remember, though, that word of mouth is a double-edged sword. If your organization is a lousy place to work, well, that word will spread, too. (For the record, if your organization is a lousy place to work, you have bigger problems than we can solve in the scope of this posting.) While a poor organization may be able to hang onto its veteran employees simply because they’re too vested in the system to turn back now, they sure as heck won’t be attracting any new dynamos to the team. And that, lest we forget, is what recruitment is all about. Launch a “Refer a Friend” campaign to encourage your current employees to talk up your organization. Offer them both recognition and reward for successfully pointing a new employee your way. It’s not hard: a note of thanks from one of your bigwigs, a congratulatory message in the employee newsletter, and cold, hard cash are the three legs of the compensation footstool, and believe me, that’s a mighty nice place to rest your tootsies at the end of a long day.

3. Make a good first impression. Most employees deal directly with HR on a very limited basis, but prospective employees deal with HR almost exclusively. The importance of a professional, courteous, and helpful atmosphere there cannot be overstated.

4. Show me whatcha got. Currently, and for the foreseeable future, Web sites are the best way to spread your message to the rest of the world. The resources you put into an attractive, quality Web site will be well-spent. Although few job-seekers are looking to move very far from home, some indeed are, and the primary job hunting method for that select group of folks is a good, old-fashioned Internet search. A quick, “Your town, Your State, Hospitals” typed into any of the popular search engines, any time of day or night, and seven seconds later, Susie Job Applicant is going to be face-to-screen with your organization. Here’s your chance. Make the most of it. First of all, make sure all the buttons on your site actually work; you’d be surprised how many don’t. Then make sure it’s compliant with HTML, CSS and 508 standards. (If you’re not sure what that means, your Web developer and designer should know; if they don’t, replace them.) Be clear about the positions you have to offer and the requirements for each. Moreover, make sure your Web site conveys some sense of your organizational climate and culture; it’s like word-of-mouth for the out-of-town set. And best of all, you get to choose the words this time.

5. Brush ‘em, floss ‘em, keep ‘em forever. Okay, so that’s actually advice from my dentist, but the concept is the same: Take care of what you have, and, chances are, you’ll get to keep it. Acknowledge your team’s good work, and involve them in continually upgrading the quality of your work environment. Keep ‘ em well polished, so to speak, by providing quality training and staff development on a regular basis. Remember: Positive attitudes beget positive attitudes, and trained staff beget trained staff. And that’s a lot to smile about.

Posted in HealthComm, Recruitment| No Comments

It’s that Thursday of the month again, kinda. We hope the slight change in schedule does not throw you off, since you may have worked out that the Flash Development User Group meets regularly at Art Works (get directions) on the third Thursday of each month. But this month it’s the fourth Thursday, September 25.

For those who couldn’t make it last month, you missed a great meeting. Kevin Power from the Martin Agency showed us the benefits of programmatic animation over timeline animation in Flash, and our very own Brandon Ellis gave an instructive demonstration of skinning apps using Flex.

The meeting on Thursday promises to be just as enlightening for those interested in Flash (and other Adobe products as well) with all levels of experience; on the agenda — looking at Flash Media Server and Flash Video. There will be a couple of presentations, as usual, followed by a more informal round of Q and A.

We always leave the FDUG meetings more knowledgeable than we showed up, so we whole-heartedly believe in what the group can contribute to the greater community of Flash and other Adobe-product developers, designers and users out there. That’s why we’re proud to be a sponsor of the group and why we hope to see you at Art Works on Thursday evening at 6 p.m.!

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If you’ve taken a look around our Project Viewer, perhaps you’ve come across the A Career At HCA Desktop that we developed for HCA. It’s a branded, cross-platform RSS and media aggregator that sends the latest company news, info and blogs straight to the desktops of users with the application installed. It can be used to push media files (like video and audio) through to the Desktop and have them seamlessly play back within the app. It’s also hooked up to your online job board of choice, allowing prospective employees to see and apply for jobs just by opening up the Desktop. If you’d like to try it out, feel free to download the app.

All of our software uses the latest technology for creating desktop applications, and this app is no exception. Its cross-platform functionality relies on Adobe Integrated Runtime, or AIR, which allows it run flawlessly on computers running either a Windows or a Mac OS.

We’re honored to have the A Career At HCA Desktop be included in good company over at the Adobe AIR Marketplace, along with a bunch of other great apps that take advantage of this cutting-edge technology that makes it easier for a single app to run on multiple operating systems.

Additionally, the A Career At HCA Desktop now appears on Softpedia.com, a database of free software downloads; Softpedia has also granted the app 100% Clean Award. Of course, everything we build — from Web sites, to emails, to apps — is standards-compliant, so we humbly accept the award and promise that all of our apps will follow suit.

If you’re looking for a similar desktop tool to spread the word about what’s going on with your company, including all the latest news and job openings, contact us and let’s work with you to develop your own desktop. We can build it, brand it and make it distinctively yours, and we’ll get everything set up to get your company’s latest news straight to the desktops of all your clients, employees and job seekers.

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One of the technologies we love to use is Adobe Flash. If you’re not exactly sure what Flash is, you’re bound to have seen it in action; in fact, so long as you have the Flash Player installed, you experienced it when you landed at our home page — remember the photos and the text in the header that seemed to spring into place? That relies on Flash. And if you want to see more of what it can do, check out our Project Viewer or download our desktop reader (just click the badge on the right), both of which were built using Flash software.

Those are just three examples of how we’ve used Flash just on this site. It’s so full of possibilities for creating a distinctive, more engaging interactive experience. And just as much as we love using it, we love getting together with other Flash enthusiasts to swap tips and tricks and benefit from each other’s knowledge. It’s truly a win–win situation.

That’s why we’re a sponsor of the Flash Development User Group in our hometown of Richmond, Va. Flash developers and designers with all levels of experience, from beginner to Adobe-certified instructor, get together on the third Thursday of every month at Artworks Studios and Galleries in Richmond. There are usually a couple of presentations on Flash features, followed by a round of questions that usually turns into a productive exchange of ideas.

Tomorrow night’s meeting, however, will be a little different. That’s because the Richmond FDUG will warmly welcome Lee Brimelow, an Adobe Platform Evangelist who focuses on Flash, Flex and AIR (read our post on AIR). Lee is coming all the way from Adobe headquarters in California to give the FDUG sneak-peak demonstrations of both Flash CS4 and Flash Player 10!

There will be some refreshments to keep our bellies full and our minds fueled, so come on out if you’re a Flash developer or designer or someone interested in how Flash works. We hope to see you there!

The Recap:

• The what: Richmond Flash Development User Group meeting with Adobe’s Lee Brimelow
• The when: Thursday, July 17, 2008, from 6 to 8 p.m.
• The where: Artworks Studios and Galleries, Richmond, Va. (get directions)

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At HealthComm, we like to make sure that the various electronic materials we produce are viewable and usable by the broadest swath of the public as possible. For instance, all of the Web sites we’ve done and will do use standards-compliant XHTML so that the content is accessible to visitors with disabilities. Using strict XHTML also helps ensure the best possible experience for visitors using browsers in their previous, current and even future versions (for example, Safari, Internet Explorer 6 and 7, Firefox 2 and the as-yet-unreleased Firefox 3) on different operating systems (e.g., Windows XP or Vista, Mac OS X).

This last is particularly important, and we’re also dedicated to cross-platform functionality in the applications we build. Our preferred foundation for building cross-platform apps is Adobe Integrated Runtime, more commonly known in the computer-programming world as AIR. AIR is a great tool that lets developers use their favorite technologies, such as Flash, Flex, Ajax and HTML, to make applications that will run on both Mac and Windows systems.

If you want to experience an AIR app in action (if you haven’t already), check out our HealthComm reader. It’s a rich Internet application (or RIA — any acronymic resemblance to AIR is purely coincidental!), which is a stand-alone application that can harness all the power of the Internet. In the case of the HealthComm reader, once you’ve downloaded and installed it, you’ll get the most up-to-date HealthComm and healthcare news every time the app is open and your connected to the Internet. But — and here’s the great thing about RIAs — if you’re disconnected, you can still access and read all of the feeds that have already been delivered.

Unless you have already downloaded and installed AIR, either on its own or when you downloaded another AIR app, you’ll be prompted to do so when you click the “Install Now” button beneath the HealthComm Reader icon to the right. But don’t fret — the process couldn’t be simpler. AIR installation is integrated into the process of installing our reader, so you don’t have to go to any other Web sites to find it and then track down the right version for your OS and all that.

You’ll have to agree to the Adobe T&C, and if you don’t want to install it in its default location, you can specify where you want to install it. Once you do that, you’ll be ready to install any AIR RIA you’re sure to come across in the future. But we’re sure the HealthComm Reader will hold a special place in your heart as your introduction to some of the future’s most promising technology.

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