The August 2011 CMO Survey found that companies are planning to hire more marketing employees this year than last. Opportunities will be the greatest in B2B-Product Companies, the consulting industry, and small businesses.

The survey asked a number of top marketing employees to answer the following question: “Compared to the number of marketing hires last year, by what percentage will your firm’s marketing hires change in the next year?”

The survey found:

• Companies are planning to hire 7.2 percent more marketers during the next 12 months than the previous year.
• B2B-Product Companies will increase marketing hiring the most (+11.6 percent), followed by B2C-Service Companies (+8.3 percent), B2B-Service Companies (+5.6 percent) and B2C-Product Companies (+.2 percent).
• Marketing jobs will increase the most in consulting (+17.3 percent), manufacturing (+14.9 percent), technology (+12.5 percent), baking/finance/insurance (+11.9 percent), and healthcare/pharmaceutical (+8.3 percent).
• Marketing hiring among small-size businesses (less than $25 million) will increase 14.8 percent over the next year.
• Marketing hiring among medium-size businesses ($26 million to $999 million) will grow 4 percent over the next 12 months.
• Marketing hiring among large companies ($1 billion to $9.9 billion) will rise 1.4 percent.
• Marketing hiring among mega companies (more than $10 billion) will increase .3 percent.
• Companies with no Internet sales plan to hire the most marketers at a 10.4 percent increase.

The Department of Health & Human Services recently launched the Health Care Innovation Challenge, which will award up to $1 billion to projects that find more creative ways to deliver high-quality medical care and save money.

“We’ve taken incredible steps to reduce health care costs and improve care, but we can’t wait to do more,” HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement. “Both public and private community organizations around the country are finding innovative solutions to improve our health care system and the Health Care Innovation Challenge will help jump start these efforts.”

The challenge will recognize those who come up with the most innovative ideas to deliver better healthcare at lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Preference will be given to programs that support rapid workforce development and can begin within six months.

The challenge, which is being funded by the Affordable Care Act, will provide grants from $1 million to $30 million over the next three years. The challenge is open to providers, payers, local government, community-based organizations, and public-private partnerships.

“When I visit communities across the country, I continually see innovative solutions at the very ground level – a large health system working with community partners to decrease the risk of diabetes with nutrition programs or a church group that sends volunteers to help home-bound seniors so they can live at home,” Donald M. Berwick, M.D., administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said. “By putting more programs like this in place and more ‘boots on the ground,’ these types of programs can truly transform our health care system.”

A recent report from the American Machine Tool Distributors’ Association and the Association for Manufacturing Technology found that manufacturing technology orders reached $606.56 million during September, a 22.9 percent increase from August and a 51.9 percent rise from last year.

“September numbers were the second highest monthly dollar total in the last 15 years!” AMTDA President Peter Borden said in a statement. “American manufacturers are still rushing to beat the end-of-year bonus depreciation deadline.”

Here’s a look at how each region fared over the month:

• Northeast – Sales increased by 74.6 percent over the month and 71.9 percent over the year to $112.75 million.
• Southern – Sales reached $78.04 million, up 34.5 percent from the previous month and up 16.1 percent from last year.
• Midwest – Sales came in at $175.88 million, a 3.7 percent decrease from August, but a 48.9 percent increase from September 2010.
• Central – Sales rose by 22.4 percent over the month and by 48.1 percent over the year to $170.82 million.
• Western – Sales hit $69.07 million, a 41.9 percent increase over the month and a 109.1 percent rise over the year.

The National Restaurant Association and Texas Restaurant Association recently launched the “Freedom is Sweet!” program, which is aimed at raising funds to support rehabilitation efforts for veterans and their family members.

Restaurants throughout Texas can participate in the program by donating a portion of sales from special menu items, offering free meals or menu items to veterans and their family members, and collecting donations from guests.

“Military veterans have provided great service to our country, and we are proud to serve them,” Dawn Sweeney, president and CEO of the National Restaurant Association, said. “As cornerstones of local communities across the nation, many restaurants are giving back to veterans, military personnel and their families by involving guests in their charitable programs on Veterans Day and beyond.

“America’s restaurants are also a stronghold of entrepreneurial spirit and opportunity, and veterans are finding both in the nearly 66,000 restaurants that are owned by former military personnel,” she added.

A recent study from the National Restaurant Association found that the restaurant industry plays a huge role when it comes to employing American’s veterans. That commitment to supporting our nation’s troops is also a huge driver of customers.

Some highlights of the study include:

• About 10 percent of restaurants are at least 50-percent owned by veterans.
• Veterans own about 65,700 restaurants throughout the nation, including veteran majority owners at 33,864 restaurants, and veteran half-owners at 31,805 restaurants.
• Montana has the highest proportion of veteran-owned restaurants (23.7 percent), followed by Nevada (17.9 percent) and Arizona (17.5 percent).
• 75 percent of adults are more likely to dine at restaurants that participate in charitable programs that support the military, veterans, and their families.

Abrazo Health Care recently announced its plans to team up with Aegis Health Group in order to establish a physician relationship management program to better address the needs and support the professional goals of the hospital’s staff, including those with RN jobs Phoenix (Click here).

“With a mission and vision to help people achieve health for life, we must work collaboratively with our physician partners to serve patients and our community,” Jim Banahan, senior vice president of strategy and business development for Abrazo, said in a statement. “Aegis Health Group’s proven strategies and useful tools are helping us collaborate more successfully with physicians and connect patients to Abrazo Health Care.”

The physician relationship management program will offer:

• A trained physician relationship specialist to serve as a liaison between Abrazo and its 2,100 affiliated physicians.
• Access to PRISM, Aegis’ contact management software.
• Sales training and program development support.
• The ability to respond to individual doctor’s requests in a personal and efficient manner.
• The ability to measure the value of building long-term relationships with physicians using a data and results-driven approach.
• The ability to attract and retain top physicians and increase patient volume and revenue.

“A targeted, strategic and measurable approach to physician relationship management will allow Abrazo to effectively identify those issues that are most important to their doctors and allow them to achieve a high degree of synergy,” Rochell Pierce, vice president of physician relationship management for Aegis, said.

Abrazo Health Care is the second-largest healthcare delivery system in Arizona. The organization runs five acute care hospitals, one specialized cardiovascular hospital, two health plans, several school-based health centers, and Abrazo Medical Group.

A recent report from The Business Journals On Numbers series found that only three states added retail jobs between September 2007 and September 2011. North Dakota created 2,000 positions, while South Dakota added 800 workers and Alaska added 600 jobs.

Arizona was ranked seventh-worst in the nation for its loss of retail jobs during the recession. The state had 333,700 retail jobs in September 2007, and lost 39,700 workers over the four-year period, for a current total of 294,000 positions.

The 10 states that lost the most retail jobs during the recession include:

1. California - 163,600
2. Florida – 67,500
3. Illinois – 47,600
4. Ohio – 47,100
5. Georgia – 44,100
6. Michigan – 41,900
7. Arizona – 39,700
8. Indiana – 29,600
9. Tennessee – 27,600
10. Pennsylvania – 27,400

“Giving in Numbers: 2011 Edition,” a recent report from the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, found that 50 percent of companies increased giving during the economic downturn, while 45 percent of companies decreased donations.

“Giving in Numbers provides a transparent view of leading corporations’ behavior and priorities at a time of economic uncertainty and increasing private-sector involvement in addressing today’s pressing societal problems,” CECPDirector Margaret Coady said in a statement.

Between 2007 and 2010:

• 25 percent of companies increased giving by 25 percent or more.
• 12 percent of companies increased giving between 10 percent and 25 percent.
• 13 percent of companies increased giving between 2 percent and 10 percent.
• 9 percent of companies decreased giving between 2 percent and 10 percent.
• 15 percent of companies decreased giving between 10 percent and 25 percent.
• 21 percent of companies decreased giving by 25 percent or more.

Since the recession affected different industries at different times, some companies have already been able to return to pre-recession giving levels, while others are still in the process of recovering from the downturn.

The report further found that a majority of companies have seen: more cash contributions; an increase in medical donations; larger and more targeted grants; a rise in disaster aid; the ability to better prioritize basic needs; and better employee engagement.

There are a number of marketing jobs out there, but before you can consider applying for any of them, it’s important to make sure that you receive the proper education and training for the position you want.

The most common degree for a marketing graduate student to pursue is a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in marketing. A number of prestigious public and private universities offer such programs.

According to Education-Portal.com, the top 10 graduate schools for marketing include:

1. Arizona State University
2. Ohio State University
3. University of Florida
4. University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
5. University of Texas at Austin
6. Texas A&AM University
7. Michigan State University
8. New York University
9. University of Wisconsin-Madison
10. Purdue University

The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association recently recognized Phoenix Baptist Hospital with a silver award and West Valley Hospital with a bronze award as part of the Get With the Guidelines Award program.

The two hospitals, which are both part of the Abrazo Health Care network, were honored for their commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by going above and beyond national standards and recommendations.

“We are extremely proud of Phoenix Baptist Hospital and West Valley Hospital for demonstrating excellence surrounding stroke care and for achieving quality outcomes,” Dr. Mark Kestner, chief medical officer for Abrazo Health Care, said in a statement. “These awards are a testament of our commitment to prevention and treatment of stroke and saving lives.”

In order to receive awards, hospitals must meet or exceed a number of criteria, including: aggressive use of medications, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs, and smoking cessation.

Phoenix Baptist was recognized for following these criteria for the past 12 months, while West Valley was recognized for following the criteria for the past 90 days.

When a patient suffers from a stroke, it’s very important that they receive the appropriate care within a very short period of time and a lon-term treatment plan for recovery. The board certified physicians, designated stroke teams, and latest technologies make this possible at both hospitals.

The Omni Dallas Hotel will host a three-day job fair this week in an effort to hire more than 400 part-time and full-time employees. The job fair will take place from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Dallas Convention Center.

Jobs are available for:

• Administrative
• Banquets
• Bartenders
• Culinary
• Front desk
• Housekeeping
• Restaurant servers
• Room service

The new Omni Dallas Hotel, which is owned by the City of Dallas, is slated to open November 11th. The hotel will feature 1,001 guest rooms, including 67 luxury suites and three presidential suites.

Other features of the hotel include:

• 110,000 square feet of meeting space
• 39 meeting rooms, including two ballrooms
• Fitness center
• Rooftop terrace pool deck
• Full-service Mokara Spa
• Collections gift shop
• Bob’s Steak & Chop House restaurant
• Texas Spcie restaurant
• Owner’s Box sports bar
• Morsel’s gourmet coffee shop

In addition, the Omni Dallas Hotel has received a LEED Silver Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council for its environmental awareness and conservation efforts.