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"No one gets a job around the holidays. It's a good time to take a break and relax until things ramp up in the new year." Are you hearing this advice, or convincing yourself it's true? If so, you could be missing out on an amazing career or job opportunity.

In fact, the holiday season can be the best time to look for a job. It is a big mistake to take a break now. Finish the year strong! Here are eight reasons to ramp up your job search at this time of year.

1. Organizations may suddenly realize they have money to spend before year-end.
Wouldn't it be nice to suddenly discover money you didn't know you had? That happens more often than you think at large companies. They realize at the 11th hour that they have enough in the budget to fill extra positions, but they need to get the people in seats before the end of the year, or the money will disappear. If you stop looking for a job or get lackadaisical about checking emails, you may lose an opportunity and never even know it.  READ MORE AT AOL JOBS

Read bios of Feature Guests for the Professionals in Healthcare Networking Forum, Wednesday November 19 at Vertigo Sky Lounge. 

PANELISTS

Susana Gonzalez, MHA, MSN, RN, CNML - Director, Women Services, MacNeal Hospital, President - Illinois Hispanic Nurses Association

Susana González is the Director of Women’s Services at MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn Illinois. In this role she is responsible for developing and leading great quality care, nursing services, & promoting educational gains. She has extensive knowledge in program management, resource development, public policy, advocacy, and community health program development. She enjoys the challenges of creating a culture, which promotes professional growth and development via her leadership.

Susana volunteers on several board of directors; such as the March of dimes, Chicago Chapter, the Chicago bilingual Nurse Consortium, Mujeres Latinas en Acción, and is an active member of the Illinois Hispanic Nurses Association a National Association of Hispanics nurses chapter and she serves on the national scholarships & awards committee. In addition she is a member of the Illinois Organization of Nurse leaders and co-chairs policy & advocacy committee. In addition; she serves as the president of the Illinois Hispanic Nurses Association.

Susana is well prepared educationally with dual Master degrees of MSN and MHA. Susana has led a professional and personal commitment to serve and improve the quality of life for all she encounters. She is a life role model for education and community servant leadership. On a personal note: She lives by the philosophy that if there is something she can do for you now, then let it be so. For, we may not walk this path again.

Nancy Alonso, Chief Human Resource Officer, Medulla LLC / Chiro One Wellness Centers

Nancy Alonso is currently the Chief Human Resources Officer for Medulla LLC. She is responsible for providing leadership, strategy, and direction various areas within the Human Resources function including talent acquisition, employee compensation, rewards and recognition, employee relations, organization development, regulatory compliance and employee communications. She has more than 15 years of experience in the field of Human Resources. She has led several change management initiatives to increase employee skill levels and increase support of business initiatives.  Nancy earned a Master of Science degree in Industrial Relations and a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology at Loyola University in Chicago, IL.  

Alicia Mandujano, MD - Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center

Dr Alicia Mandujano is a Maternal-Fetal Medicine physician at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.

She was born and raised in Little Village within Chicago. She attended the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign where she graduated with honors with a bachelor in Human Development and Family Studies. She attended the University of Illinois at Chicago for medical school and was an active member of the Urban Health Program where she tutored and mentored underrepresented minority students within the field of medicine. She remained at UIC for her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology then moved to Cleveland for specialty training in MFM.

Dr Mandujano has presented and published many projects since her specialty training. Her areas of interest include the risk of fetal and neonatal death in late preterm and early term pregnancies, in large- and small-for-gestational age fetuses, and in women with advanced maternal age. She trains medical students and residents in Obstetrics and Gynecology and provides them with research mentorship.

Within her specialty, she focuses on pregnant women with HIV, diabetes, congenital heart defects, as well as pregnancies complicated by fetal anomalies. Dr Mandujano has been trained to perform specialized procedures in pregnancy including fetal echocardiography, chorionic villus sampling, amniocentesis, and percutaneous umbilical blood sampling.

Candace Ramos, Project Manager, Northwestern Medicine

Candace Ramos is a Project Manager at Northwestern Medicine (NM), managing a project focused on improving and expanding the organization’s online patient portal. The patient portal is a direct link to NM’s electronic medical record system and serves as a tool for patients to easily communicate with their physicians and care team and have immediate access to view and manage their personal health record securely online. The focus of the portal is to increase patient engagement in their health and create a more established connection to their providers. Additionally, allowing NM and it’s physicians to be compliant with the guidelines that CMS has established for meaningful use and patients’ online access to their health.

Prior to Northwestern Medicine, Candace was a project manager and team lead at a private company focused on HIPAA compliant electronic and mobile communication between hospital based providers and nurses. Candace completed her Bachelor’s degree in Public Health at Indiana University’s school of Health Physical Education and Recreation in Bloomington, IN. With an academic and professional background in healthcare focused on the patient as the end goal, Candace is a strong believer in leveraging technology to ultimately improve the ease of management of care for patients and similarly for patients to better manage and engage in their own care.

Time is running out to register for the Professionals in Healthcare Networking Forum. Don't miss out. Register today! 

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Once thought gone for good, the office holiday party appears to be staging a comeback. While these parties offer you the opportunity to socialize with your business associates in an informal setting -- make no mistake about it, they are business events! I've witnessed and heard many people commit career suicide due to their inappropriate behavior and conversation at these functions. Following are some tips I remind my clients of to insure they utilize these business holiday events as a career enhancer -- not a career de-stabilizer!

1. Office holiday events are really business events masquerading as parties! READ MORE AT HUFFINGTON POST

The minority consumer may be the unlikely hero of holiday 2014.

With the economy mostly back on its feet thank to an improving economy, job gains and lower gas prices, minority consumers — Hispanics, African Americans and Asian Americans — will boost their holiday purchases more than the general population this Christmas, and be a central driver of seasonal spending, according to an eye-opening 2014 Holiday Sales Forecast that the research specialist, Nielsen, shared exclusively with USA TODAY. READ MORE AT USA TODAY

Led by one of the world's most prominent Hispanic executives, Sprint Corp. needs staff who can speak English and Spanish.

Although mostly in sales or retail positions, the Overland Park-based carrier (NYSE: S) is looking for dozens of bilingual staff to fill jobs throughout the U.S. With a majority located in California, Texas and Florida, Sprint hopes to fill nearly 90 bilingual jobs, according to a search on the company's career site.

In conjunction with the hiring effort, Sprint also has been ramping up marketing to Hispanic consumers. READ MORE AT KANSAS CITY BUSINESS JOURNAL

As the nation honors its veterans, government officials point to the growing numbers of Latinos in the military, while Hispanic scholars and historians remind us of the generations of Hispanics who have proudly served our country.

Latinos make up about 6 percent of U.S. military veterans, according to a September 2014 report by the National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics. Although this number may seem low, it is rapidly changing.

The population of Hispanic veterans is expected to double in the next ten years, according to Barbara Ward, Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Minority Veterans. The increase can be seen over time; while Hispanics were 2.6 percent of World War II veterans, they make up 12.2 percent of veterans in the post-9/11 period. READ MORE AT NBC NEWS

Women make up nearly 51 percent of the total U.S. population. The Latina share of the U.S. female population stands at 16.4 percent and is expected to grow to 25.7 percent by 2050. Despite these numbers, women and Latinas are woefully underrepresented in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields – one of the fastest growing sectors in the United States today.

Today, women make up only 26 percent of the U.S. STEM workforce, while men make up 74 percent. Latinas represent a much smaller percentage of this workforce at 7 percent. Fortunately, there are opportunities to close these gaps. Foremost among these are the many new – and well-paying – jobs being created in the communications and information technology sectors. Latinas are well positioned to help fill these jobs as college graduation rates for Latinas have increased faster than any other group of women. READ MORE AT FOX NEWS LATINO

Young Americans want to start their own businesses, but the weak economy, high student-debt levels, and a complicated legal and regulatory framework—as well as traditional views about who can be an entrepreneur and what constitutes entrepreneurship—are holding them back. More than half of Millennials today express a desire to start a business, but fewer of them are creating new businesses than previous generations did at a similar age.

As a result, our economy will grow at a slower pace and experience lower levels of both productivity and innovation in the future. Moreover, Millennials, who are already suffering some of the worst consequences of the economic downturn, will miss out on the opportunities provided by entrepreneurship, including creating wealth, improving their quality of life, and making important contributions to the economy. READ MORE AT CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS

Telemundo Stations Hired 160 New Employees, Added Consumer Investigative Units and Are Set to Launch New Newscasts Today.

MIRAMAR, FL – (November 3, 2014) – NBCUniversal today announced a series of enhancements at its 17 Telemundo stations as a result of a major investment made by the company to better serve Spanish-language viewers in the markets it serves. The investment supports local news expansions, bolsters newsgathering efforts and ensures that each news team has the resources it needs to compete.

“The Telemundo Station Group is ushering in a new era of Spanish-language local news,” said Manuel Martinez, President, Telemundo Station Group. “The investment made at our local Telemundo stations, including launching new newscasts, arming our journalists with the best newsgathering tools and adding consumer units charged with fighting for our viewers, speaks clearly about our commitment to better serve our country’s flourishing Hispanic community.”

“We want to be at the forefront of delivering Hispanic-Americans all across the United States the local news, weather and information they want,” said Valari Staab, President, NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations. “The strategic investment made at our local Telemundo stations have helped them achieve new levels of success as they provide the high-quality local news and information that Spanish-language viewers have been asking for and deserve.”

As part of the investment, the Telemundo Station Group is today debuting a new half-hour early evening newscast to provide viewers with an additional 150 minutes each week of local breaking news coverage and up-to-the-minute weather reports in their respective markets. The new local half-hour news programs will launch in 14 markets at 5:30 PM EST / PST and 4:30 PM CST / MST.

Other enhancements at the Telemundo Station Group over the past year-and-a-half include:
 Adding four new local stations to the Telemundo Station Group, including San Antonio (KVDA), Harlingen (KTLM), Boston (WNEU) and Philadelphia (WWSI);
 Hiring 160 new employees across all 17 stations, primarily in the news departments, to support news and programming expansions. The new hires include reporters, producers and photographers;
 Launching more than 35 hours a week of new local newscasts in seven markets, on top of today’s early evening news launches, including:
o Two-and-a-half hours of weekday news at 5 AM, 6 AM and 10 AM at KSTS in the San Francisco Bay Area;
o Two 30-minute newscasts at 4:30 PM and 10 PM on Saturdays and Sundays on KTAZ in Phoenix and in Tucson on KHRR;
o Two 30-minute weekday newscasts at 6 PM and 11 PM on WWSI in Philadelphia;
o Resuming locally-produced news at KBLR in Las Vegas by producing two 30-minute newscasts weekdays at 6 PM and 11 PM;
o Expanding live news coverage at KTLM in Harlingen by producing two half-hour weekday newscasts at 5 PM and 10 PM and airing two half hours of weekend news at 4:30 PM and 10 PM; and
o Resuming locally-produced weekend newscasts in Puerto Rico on WKAQ by producing two half-hour newscasts on Saturdays and Sundays at 5 PM and 10 PM.
 Establishing new consumer investigative units at five Telemundo stations charged with fighting for consumers rights. The new units – known as Telemundo Responde – have collectively produced 444 stories and recovered $478,418 for consumers since their launch earlier this year. Telemundo Responde will expand to five additional markets in 2015;
 Debuting new state-of-the art sets at the Telemundo stations in Los Angeles, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Francisco Bay Area, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Las Vegas;
 Rolling out new on-screen graphics and visual designs across all stations starting this month;
 Adding news bureaus in Washington, D.C., Mexico City and Miami, each with correspondents gathering news for the local stations. Each bureau is supporting the stations’ efforts to localize major domestic and international developments by providing the latest news and information from all across the United States and Mexico;
 Purchasing new vehicles and cameras to help stations’ live reporting capabilities;
 Integrating a digital web editor at all Telemundo stations, greatly increasing each station’s digital presence; and
 Working more closely with the NBC stations in markets where NBCUniversal owns both a Telemundo and a NBC station, including sharing content and resources in an effort to better serve viewers. These duopoly markets are located in the following communities: Los Angeles, New York, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, San Francisco Bay Area and Philadelphia.

The NBCUniversal investment is already yielding positive results for the Telemundo stations, with Telemundo52 / KVEA in Los Angeles ranked number one at 11 PM in the market among adults 18-49, regardless of language, for the month of September 2014. This top ranking was the first time in 27 years that Telemundo52 has led the market in this time period. Additionally, at Telemundo 51 / WSCV, the station’s 11 PM news has been the number one program in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market for the past 19 consecutive months, regardless of language, among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54.

“Spanish language viewers want and need more news, weather and live local programming. We have a responsibility to provide them with the information they need to help them lead better lives,” said Martinez. “This investment has helped our stations better serve their communities and provide the best quality news and information available – whether on television, online or on the go.”
About Telemundo Station Group

Telemundo Station Group, part of the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal, is comprised of 17 local television stations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Producing and broadcasting more than 7,000 hours of unique and relevant local content each year, including award-winning news, public affairs, and entertainment programming, Telemundo Station Group serves Spanish-speaking viewers in the metropolitan areas of Los Angeles, New York, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago, San Antonio, San Francisco, Phoenix, Harlingen, Fresno, Denver, Philadelphia, Las Vegas, Boston, Tucson and Puerto Rico. In addition, Telemundo Station Group offers support to 52 affiliates across the country and manages dedicated local websites and applications, as well as a robust digital out-of-home operation.

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Media Contact:
Melissa C. Castro
C: 954-593-9836
melissa.castro@nbcuni.com

A baby on the way means it's imperative to get your finances in order, which may mean looking for a new job. But how does this factor affect your job search? Whether you're already pregnant when you start your job search or you find out you're expecting in the midst of a career change, navigating the process understanding an employer's expectations can feel confusing.

Here, career coaches and employment attorneys weigh in on how to understand an employer's potential concerns, as well as assert your own professionalism and experience to create the opportunity to score the job.

Should employers know? READ MORE AT AOL JOBS

General Motors is encouraging Hispanic students to pursue engineering careers as it welcomes the annual conference of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) to Detroit starting today through November 9 at Cobo Center in downtown Detroit.

SHPE is a national organization whose purpose is to promote careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) to Hispanics. “We are thrilled to welcome SHPE to Detroit as it celebrates 40 years serving as a vital resource for Latinos in STEM,” said GM President Dan Ammann. “GM wants to be the employer of choice for Hispanic engineers and this conference is a great opportunity to strengthen our relationship with this important community.” READ MORE AT GM AUTHORITY

The city of Jonesboro is becoming a hub of opportunity for Hispanic Americans. If you're driving in around town, it's very likely you'll see a Hispanic restaurant on every other block.

Felix Cruz is the latest Mexican immigrant to pursue an entrepreneurial spirit in Jonesboro. He calls his restaurant, Los Dos Vaqueros .

"I've been open for seven days already, and the first people came, and they keep coming, and coming, and coming," said Cruz.

Henry Torres, a business professor at Arkansas State University, believes even though unemployment levels are on the rise across the country, working conditions are just right in Region 8, especially for Hispanics. READ MORE AT AT ABC KAIT8

Businesses wanting to increase their mobile sales this holiday season should try targeting more Hispanic shoppers, new research finds.

Hispanic consumers in the United States are more likely than non-Hispanic shoppers to make purchases via a smartphone or tablet, according to a new report from eMarketer. The research from August revealed that 52 percent of Hispanic shoppers purchased clothes on a mobile a device in the past month, compared to just 38 percent of non-Hispanic consumers. Additional areas where Hispanics outpaced others in their mobile shopping this summer included electronics, music and movie tickets. READ MORE AT BUSINESS NEWS DAILY

Today’s networking world is challenging. Sometimes when we are looking for new business and looking to increase sales, we can forget that networking is available to us 24/7 and that it’s all around us. You may even forget that sometimes the lead you’re looking for may already be in your contacts, you just need to maintain your relationships and ask the right questions when the timing is optimal.

Here are some tips to keep your mindset fresh so that you can get the most leads possible throughout your day. All of these tips are resources you can use in your daily life to increase the amount of networking you do when you’re not at networking events. READ MORE AT THE AMERICAN GENIUS

Hispanics are the fastest growing minority consumer group in the U.S., so it makes sense that companies are scrambling to find ways to successfully target their marketing strategies towards them. The Hispanic population in the U.S. has doubled in the past ten years, yet the community remains grossly underrepresented in the media.

Many companies think that replaying a commercial in Spanish equals effective marketing, as if that’s the only difference between Latino and Anglo households.

Multi-cultural marketing strategies are turning up all across the board from commercials to billboards, all with somewhat mixed reactions. But there are groups out there doing it right – here are six of them. READ MORE AT BUSINESS2COMMUNITY

Mexico climbed from the 43rd to the 39th spot in “ease of doing business” ranking. In Mexico opening a business takes 6.3 days, six procedures and costs 18.6% of the per capita income. Mexico’s reforms helped the country climb four sports in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking, from the 43rd to the 39th position.

According to the report, entitled “Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency“, Mexico is one of the five easiest countries to open a business in Latin America, along with Colombia, Peru, Chile and Puerto Rico. READ MORE AT THE YUCATAN TIMES

If you avoid networking events and dread making small talk, you aren’t alone. Studies show that one third to one half of the U.S. population has introverted tendencies. If you ask around, you’ll probably find that most people aren’t that fond of starting conversations with strangers. All you have to do is tap into your introverted strengths: solid listening skills, research and analytical savvy and preference for building deep relationships. And you’ll also have to step outside of your comfort zone.

Building new relationships is a necessary evil. Whether you are actively job searching or employed, expanding your network is an important step toward your professional success. Just look at the people you respect or admire. What actions did they take that lead to a new opportunity or opened a door? It only takes knowing the right people at the right place and the right time.

Try the tips below if you dread networking:

1. Learn about group events and prepare for them. First things first: You have to learn about upcoming events, such as conferences, professional association meetings and meetups. Ask people you know in your field if there are events they would recommend. The more focused the networking group, the more likely you are to encounter people you have something in common with. READ MORE AT U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT

It is the most important rite of passage for teenage Latinas. When they reach the age of 15, their quinceañera is an over-the-top celebration of a girl’s transition into womanhood complete with elaborate dresses, lavish cakes and decorations, a huge party with food, drinks and music and loads of gifts that can put an Anglo's Sweet 16 party to shame.

The shaky economic situation that has affected many Hispanic families across the U.S. in recent years, however, has put an added financial strain on this already pricey affair.

"Even to do something simple, you have to spend about $5,000," Aylin Santiago, whose niece Jeilany was preparing for her quinceañera told the Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer. "Money-wise, it's hard on everybody. That's why people aren't doing it up like they used to." READ MORE AT FOX NEWS LATINO

There are benefits to being a Latina. Chief among them, according to a recent study led by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, would appear to be a genetic variant that is found in one of every five women of Latin American descent in the U.S.

The genes involved in the variant appear on both chromosome strands, so can appear once, twice or not at all.

One of the authors of the study, Dr. Elad Ziv, told a reporter for the UCSF website, “The effect is quite significant. If you have one copy of this variant, which is the case for approximately 20 percent of U.S. Latinas, you are about 40 percent less likely to have breast cancer.” READ MORE AT FOX NEWS LATINO

Late-life depression exerts significant physical and emotional burden on older adults, their families and health care systems.

Studies indicate that older adults face unique challenges in battling depression. Unlike younger individuals with depression, older adults have a decreased likelihood of remission than younger populations, are more prone to suffer from functional disability and are less likely to receive quality mental health care.

For older, Spanish-speaking Latinos, the clinical picture is more complicated. They experience much higher rates of severe depression and disability, and are seven times less likely to receive psychotherapy from a clinical professional. READ MORE AT HEALTH CANAL