Health Information Compliance Alert

Privacy 'P-JOBS' TRAIN GATHERS STEAM, CHUGS ALONG

A fairly new privacy job board service is playing matchmaker for companies seeking privacy job specialists — and it’s providing fruitful unions for those involved.

A job board advertising numerous positions for those experienced with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act has only been in operation for a few months, but the Web site is drawing more than 20,000 visitors each month, according to a Jan. 15 release by Hackensack, NJbased Privacy & American Business, a public policy think tank exploring US and international issues of consumer and  employee privacy and data protection.

P-JOBS, as the online board is known, is intended for use by corporations, federal and state government agencies and other companies that require privacy-related positions. Previously a service provided  free of charge, P-JOBS will now charge a fee of $250 for each 60-day posting for job openings.

Eli first reported on P-JOBS in July 2002 (see HICA, Vol. 2, No. 7, pp. 62-3). At that time, Executive Director of P&AB, Lorrie Sherwood, said many companies had contacted P&AB searching for privacy officers, in addition to requests from its own members to see what sorts of positions were available in the industry.

The job board is divided into three sections: The first is P-JOBs, which advertises entry-level through mid- to high-level positions relating to privacy, including HIPAA administration, HR data administration, database management, legal counsel, direct marketing, corporate communications, new product development, government relations and information security.

The second section, P-JOBs Plus, is intended to reach high-level privacy executives or chief privacy officers who are responsible for overseeing privacy for an entire organization in various industries. The  final component is PTemps, which is meant to aid companies in finding temporary staff for special privacy projects and as consultants.

Sample HIPAA jobs include privacy officer, manager of regulatory affairs, deputy HIPAA privacy officer, executive director of a HIPAA project office, etc.

P&AB says the postings will receive “twice the exposure offered by most other job-posting services.” The site receives more than 600 hits each day, according to the release. “We think that PJOBS continues to deliver the most cost-effective way for employers to directly reach experienced privacy professionals in the job market across all sectors,” stated Sherwood, who mentioned financial services, health,  medical and pharmaceutical, and other professions for which P-JOBS would prove to be useful.

To visit P-JOBS’ site, go to www.pjobs.org.