“This strategic acquisition strengthens Medical Action’s core capabilities in developing, manufacturing and delivering quality medical products to hospitals and healthcare institutions,” said Paul D. Meringolo, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Medical Action Industries Inc. “The addition of custom procedure trays increases the breadth and depth of our product offerings and progresses us toward our initial goal of attaining $500 million in revenues. AVID reported sales of custom procedure trays of approximately $136 million during its most recent fiscal year ended March 31, 2010 within a market segment that we estimate to be in excess of $2 billion. This transaction enhances our leadership position and relevancy within our markets and is another step forward in positioning ourselves for future growth. We also continue to invigorate our sales and marketing capabilities and are excited to execute on our strategy to increase our product offerings. We expect that the market will continue to receive excellent customer service augmented by AVID’s ability to deliver true custom solutions designed to meet the needs of healthcare providers, while enhancing clinicians’ abilities to access Medical Action’s extensive product portfolio.”

Medical Action has paid $62.5 million in cash, excluding transaction costs, for AVID. Medical Action expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings during the fiscal year ending March 31, 2011, excluding the impact of non-recurring acquisition related and integration costs. Medical Action also expects to achieve significant cost savings and efficiencies driven by the combination of the two companies’ national sales forces which will create broader sales channels, increased service coverage, and dedicated focus to clinical and patient care products.

In connection with the closing of the acquisition, Michael Sahady founder and CEO of AVID, will join Medical Action’s Board of Directors. AVID’s President and Chief Operating Officer Richard Setian, will assume the role of Vice President of Sales and Marketing leading the newly formed sales organization. Meringolo added, “As a result of this transaction, Medical Action’s sales will increase by approximately 45 percent and we believe that the company will achieve a greater national presence. The custom procedure trays market segment also presents opportunities for us to increase sales of our existing product lines to current and new customers, while expanding our portfolio with additional medical devices. This will enable us to drive sales through a focused approach on promoting both our clinical and patient care products.”

Medical Action invites its stockholders and other interested parties to attend its conference call at 11:00 a.m. (ET) on August 27, 2010. You may participate in the conference call by calling (888) 868-9080 (domestic) or (973) 935-8511 (international); conference ID #94858089. The conference call will be simultaneously web cast on our website: www.medical-action.com. The complete call and discussion will be available for replay on our website beginning at 1:00 p.m. (ET) on August 27, 2010.

Medical Action is a diversified manufacturer and distributor of disposable medical devices and a leader in many of the markets where it competes. Its products are marketed primarily to acute care facilities in domestic and certain international markets. The Company has expanded its target market to include physician, dental and veterinary offices, out-patient surgery centers, long-term care facilities and laboratories. Medical Action’s products are marketed nationally by its direct sales personnel and extensive network of healthcare distributors. The Company has preferred vendor agreements with national and regional distributors, as well as sole and multi-source agreements with group purchasing organizations. Medical Action’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol MDCI and is included in the Russell 2000 Index.

Statements in this news release include “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. The opinions, forecasts, projections, future plans or other statements other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. We can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. Actual results could differ materially as a result of a variety of risks and uncertainties, including: our ability to achieve the synergies and value creation contemplated by the transaction; our ability to promptly and effectively integrate the merged businesses; and the diversion of management time on integration-related issues. Other factors that could materially affect Medical Action’s operations and actual results are discussed in Medical Action’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), including, without limitation, Medical Action’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, available at the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. Actual results may differ materially from those expected, estimated or projected. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any of them in light of new information, future events or otherwise.

SOURCE: Medical Action Industries Inc.

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(Money Magazine) — Think branding is only for celebrities and cola companies? Think again.

Today whatever reputation you have is spreading quickly across the Internet, thanks to Google, industry blogs, and social-networking sites. (Even failing to turn up on search engines says something about you.)

That makes it critically important to take control of your professional image, or “brand,” says William Arruda of Reach Personal Branding. Actively promoting the brand you’d like to be can help you get your name on the radar of industry leaders and advance your career. Here’s how to do it.

Determine your trademark

First, figure out how you’re perceived: Google your name, and ask former colleagues to give anonymous feedback about your strengths and weaknesses via reachcc.com/360reach. These tools can help you identify both any problems (the photo of you tipsy at JazzFest) and positive qualities to exploit (your efficiency).

Next, in 20 words or less, answer this question: “How do I want employers to view me?” Focus on what makes you unique — maybe you’re an engineer with great people skills or a marketing exec who knows accounting. Think long term. “Your brand should reflect the career you want, not the job you have,” says Dan Schawbel of Millennial Branding.

Spread the word online

Potential employers are likely to look you up online, so you want the top search hits of your name to communicate your brand. Start by making sure your LinkedIn profile plays up your brand message — use the “summary” to state it outright — and that your Facebook page doesn’t distract from it, since both show up early in searches.

You could build a website to promote yourself further. Or you might start a blog on a topic that fits with your brand identity. (But remember that an infrequently updated blog can do you more harm than good.)

Drive traffic to your site by commenting on other blogs and asking them to link back, says search-optimization expert Evan Bailyn of First Page Sage. Also, feed blog posts automatically to your Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Live and breathe the brand

Make sure your offline behavior is consistent with the brand you’re promoting online by taking on roles that will enhance your image among the right people. If you’re calling yourself a collaborator, volunteer for group projects.

International expert? Join a committee in your trade association that deals with issues abroad. “It’s not about making your brand famous,” says Arruda. “It’s about making it selectively famous among the people who need to know about you.”

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A tight job market might have taken away some jobseekers’ leverage in a salary negotiation, but that doesn’t mean they should roll over and accept the first offer, says New York-based executive coach Rabia de Lande Long. To get the top compensation possible—without putting a sour taste in your potential employer’s mouth—take these steps.

1. Do your research.

It used to be hard to find out what your coworkers and other professionals in your industry get paid. But now, several resources have attempted to opened that black box, says Ms. de Lande Long. Salary.com and Payscale.com give salary ranges to expect based on a job seeker’s position, location, and experience. Employees at the actual company you’re applying to might have also posted their salaries at GlassDoor.com.

2. Don’t give out the first number.

You’ll be pressured to do this through the application process. “What’s your salary requirement?” “What salary range are you looking for?” “What do you get paid now?”

Whatever you do, never give out the first number, says Ms. de Lande Long. If your answer is too high, you might not make it to the next stage. Too low, and an employer will either think you’re not qualified or desperate. So, if possible, write “NA” on applications.

If you’re pressured to say how much you make during the interview process, try giving your “total compensation,” which many large employers will break out for you on the company’s internal human resources website. If your current employer doesn’t do that, just spell out your salary, benefits, bonuses, and anything else your current employer offers, says Decatur, Ga. career coach Walter Akana. If the new company doesn’t offer some of similar benefits, the HR manager will know that your new salary would have to be bumped up to reflect that, he says.

If the interviewer still presses for a required salary, try giving a range of $15,000 rather than a specific number, Mr. Akana says.The low amount should be the minimum you’d be happy with and the high amount should be what would make you happy.

3. Don’t lie.

“It’s so easy to get someone in HR to verify a salary, even if they’re not supposed to,” says Ms. de Lande Long. Even if you make it to a job offer, the false salary could come out during a background check, which could result in an outright retraction of the offer or at least upset an employee’s new boss. “And from that point onward, you might face trouble in negotiations not just with your new employer, but with everyone in your industry who has heard. Word gets around,” says Ms. de Lande Long.

4. Don’t take the first offer.

Most employers expect candidates to try to negotiate. So they leave room in the first offer for a raise, says Mr. Akana. If possible, try to arrange a face-to-face meeting with the hiring manager rather than someone in human resources. The hiring manager is more likely to be flexible, says Mr. Akana. ”

Say that you’re flattered to have an offer and really want to join the team, but that there are a couple specific items that you’re sure you could resolve if you put your heads together,” says Mr. Akana. Despite the pressure on salaries during the downturn, a good rule of thumb is to ask for a 10% higher salary, says Ms. de Lande Long.

If the hiring manager says budget restrictions keep him from going as high as you’d like, it might be that the position is “graded” to be within a certain salary band by HR, says Mr. Akana. It’s worth asking if the boss can ask the appropriate person for the job to be re-graded. The worst he can say is no.

5. Once that’s locked in, go for other benefits.

Despite what you might have heard, many benefit packages aren’t flexible, says Ms. de Lande Long. So, while it’s worth asking, it might be difficult to modify the health plan. Your success in getting more vacation days depends on the employer, says Ms. de Lande Long.

Your potential boss might be hesitant to give you more days if it will make other employees think they’re being treated unfairly. Instead, focus on things that are easy for the employer to provide, such as a work-from-home arrangement for one day a week, if the employer has made such arrangements in the past, says Mr. Akana.

If you still feel your package is too low, ask if it can be reviewed again in six months. “That way, you can show them that you’re worth the money,” he says.

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George M. Steinbrenner III
1930-2010

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As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents on their ranch in Texas. I helped fix windmills, vaccinate cattle, and do other chores. We also watched soap operas every afternoon, especially “Days of our Lives.” My grandparents belonged to a Caravan Club, a group of Airstream trailer owners who travel together around the U.S. and Canada. And every few summers, we’d join the caravan. We’d hitch up the Airstream trailer to my grandfather’s car, and off we’d go, in a line with 300 other Airstream adventurers. I loved and worshipped my grandparents and I really looked forward to these trips. On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old. I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car. My grandfather was driving. And my grandmother had the passenger seat. She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell.

At that age, I’d take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic. I’d calculate our gas mileage — figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending. I’d been hearing an ad campaign about smoking. I can’t remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life: I think it might have been two minutes per puff. At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother. I estimated the number of cigarettes per days, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on. When I was satisfied that I’d come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed, “At two minutes per puff, you’ve taken nine years off your life!”

I have a vivid memory of what happened, and it was not what I expected. I expected to be applauded for my cleverness and arithmetic skills. “Jeff, you’re so smart. You had to have made some tricky estimates, figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division.” That’s not what happened. Instead, my grandmother burst into tears. I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do. While my grandmother sat crying, my grandfather, who had been driving in silence, pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway. He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow. Was I in trouble? My grandfather was a highly intelligent, quiet man. He had never said a harsh word to me, and maybe this was to be the first time? Or maybe he would ask that I get back in the car and apologize to my grandmother. I had no experience in this realm with my grandparents and no way to gauge what the consequences might be. We stopped beside the trailer. My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, “Jeff, one day you’ll understand that it’s harder to be kind than clever.”

What I want to talk to you about today is the difference between gifts and choices. Cleverness is a gift, kindness is a choice. Gifts are easy — they’re given after all. Choices can be hard. You can seduce yourself with your gifts if you’re not careful, and if you do, it’ll probably be to the detriment of your choices.

This is a group with many gifts. I’m sure one of your gifts is the gift of a smart and capable brain. I’m confident that’s the case because admission is competitive and if there weren’t some signs that you’re clever, the dean of admission wouldn’t have let you in.

Your smarts will come in handy because you will travel in a land of marvels. We humans — plodding as we are — will astonish ourselves. We’ll invent ways to generate clean energy and a lot of it. Atom by atom, we’ll assemble tiny machines that will enter cell walls and make repairs. This month comes the extraordinary but also inevitable news that we’ve synthesized life. In the coming years, we’ll not only synthesize it, but we’ll engineer it to specifications. I believe you’ll even see us understand the human brain. Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Galileo, Newton — all the curious from the ages would have wanted to be alive most of all right now. As a civilization, we will have so many gifts, just as you as individuals have so many individual gifts as you sit before me.

How will you use these gifts? And will you take pride in your gifts or pride in your choices?

I got the idea to start Amazon 16 years ago. I came across the fact that Web usage was growing at 2,300 percent per year. I’d never seen or heard of anything that grew that fast, and the idea of building an online bookstore with millions of titles — something that simply couldn’t exist in the physical world — was very exciting to me. I had just turned 30 years old, and I’d been married for a year. I told my wife MacKenzie that I wanted to quit my job and go do this crazy thing that probably wouldn’t work since most startups don’t, and I wasn’t sure what would happen after that. MacKenzie (also a Princeton grad and sitting here in the second row) told me I should go for it. As a young boy, I’d been a garage inventor. I’d invented an automatic gate closer out of cement-filled tires, a solar cooker that didn’t work very well out of an umbrella and tinfoil, baking-pan alarms to entrap my siblings. I’d always wanted to be an inventor, and she wanted me to follow my passion.

I was working at a financial firm in New York City with a bunch of very smart people, and I had a brilliant boss that I much admired. I went to my boss and told him I wanted to start a company selling books on the Internet. He took me on a long walk in Central Park, listened carefully to me, and finally said, “That sounds like a really good idea, but it would be an even better idea for someone who didn’t already have a good job.” That logic made some sense to me, and he convinced me to think about it for 48 hours before making a final decision. Seen in that light, it really was a difficult choice, but ultimately, I decided I had to give it a shot. I didn’t think I’d regret trying and failing. And I suspected I would always be haunted by a decision to not try at all. After much consideration, I took the less safe path to follow my passion, and I’m proud of that choice.

Tomorrow, in a very real sense, your life — the life you author from scratch on your own — begins.

How will you use your gifts? What choices will you make?

Will inertia be your guide, or will you follow your passions?

Will you follow dogma, or will you be original?

Will you choose a life of ease, or a life of service and adventure?

Will you wilt under criticism, or will you follow your convictions?

Will you bluff it out when you’re wrong, or will you apologize?

Will you guard your heart against rejection, or will you act when you fall in love?

Will you play it safe, or will you be a little bit swashbuckling?

When it’s tough, will you give up, or will you be relentless?

Will you be a cynic, or will you be a builder?

Will you be clever at the expense of others, or will you be kind?

I will hazard a prediction. When you are 80 years old, and in a quiet moment of reflection narrating for only yourself the most personal version of your life story, the telling that will be most compact and meaningful will be the series of choices you have made. In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story. Thank you and good luck!

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Covidien will pay $22.50 a share in cash for Plymouth, Minnesota-based ev3, the companies said in a statement today. Dublin-based Covidien is paying 19 percent more than the May 28 closing price for ev3’s stock.

The acquisition will add ev3’s stents, angioplasty balloons, plaque removal systems, and catheters to treat disease of the arteries to Covidien’s product range, which specializes in staples, suture needles, wound care, scalpels and products used in surgery. The deal will give Covidien a bigger stake in the vascular surgery market, said Covidien Chief Executive Officer Richard Meelia in a conference call.

“Ev3 significantly expands our presence in the $3 billion peripheral vascular market and gives us a strong entry point into the $1 billion neurovascular market,” said Meelia. “As there is virtually no product overlap we foresee a very straight forward integration plan.”

Covidien fell $1.15, or 2.7 percent, to $41.24 at 4:03 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Ev3 rose $3.30, or 17 percent, to $22.22. Ev3’s shares have increased 67 percent this year.

Meelia has been making acquisitions and divestitures since Covidien separated from Tyco in 2007 as he tries to reshape the company. In May, Covidien said it would sell its specialty chemicals business for $280 million after paying $485 million last year for Vnus Medical Technologies.

Acquisition Talks

Covidien had been following ev3 for more than a year and acquisition talks began several months ago, Meelia said. The bidding was competitive, he said.

“We will continue to look at deals in other areas that have the right kind of returns for us and add value,” Meelia said in a conference call.

The transaction is expected to be completed by July 31, the companies said. Ev3’s directors and officers plan to tender their shares, according to the statement. Warburg Pincus Equity Partners LP, which owns 24 percent of ev3, supports the deal, the companies said.

The purchase will reduce Covidien’s earnings per share this year and next, according to the statement.

Covidien said it has no plans to move any of ev3’s operations out of Minnesota. Ev3 had 1,350 employees at the end of 2009.

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Secret 1: Show how your talents translate

Laid off from her job as head marketer of an IT firm last year, Cynthia Curtis knew where she wanted to go next: into green industry. “Investment in it was expanding, and there weren’t a lot of people with years of experience clamoring for jobs,” she says. Curtis also had a personal interest, having built a green-certified home.

What she didn’t have was experience in the field. But working with a career coach, Curtis learned how to apply her marketing skills to the green industry. “I had to hone what I could bring to the table,” she says.

By seeing where she shone. The career coach had Curtis complete an assessment to help her identify her strongest skills. “You get a picture of what you should be leveraging,” Curtis says. Besides reaffirming her marketing prowess, the exam showed she’d do better at an established company vs. a startup.

By getting to know the field. Curtis set up informational interviews with green professionals to figure out which area of the industry to target. She ended up focusing on clean-tech companies, figuring she could draw parallels from her IT experience.

By making the connection. Curtis redid her résumé to include her eco-friendly home and the trade groups she’d joined. She asked her contacts about challenges the industry faces, then built on that in her cover letters. In applying for a job to help software firm CA build a reputation for sustainability, “I discussed how I could raise its visibility as a green company,” she says. That helped land her the gig; she started in April.

How you can do it too:

Focusing on “transferable skills,” as Curtis did, is a good way to make a transition, says Randall Hansen of QuintCareers.com, a job-search resource.
Can’t afford to hire a career coach to help you identify these? See if your college’s job placement office offers assessments, or use the resources at careeronestop.org and onetcenter.org. Then enter your key skills in the keyword search of job sites to see where they’re needed.

Secret 2: network outside the box

Secret 3: get the skills you need on the cheap

Secret 4: get your finances in order

Secret 5: turn your passion into an asset 

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In fact, though, you have considerable flexibility in how you structure your résumé. The decisions you make about what it says and how it looks can affect whether you get the job you really want, or get a job at all.

A résumé is a marketing document that “can serve as a magnet to draw job opportunities to you,” said Susan Ireland, author of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Perfect Résumé.” That’s largely because more résumés are now on job boards and social media sites, and are included on company databases, she said.

Often, people place too much emphasis on the parts of past jobs that they hated — and get new jobs they end up hating, too, she said. “Your résumé is about your future,” she said, “it’s not about your past,” so stress experiences that are most relevant to the position you aspire to hold.

Let’s say you were in a data-entry position but want to move into project coordination. Give your true job title, she said, but you can highlight the parts of your job that involved projects.

You aren’t obliged to list every single job you have ever held. If a job is 15 or more years in the past, stop and consider how much it’s worth mentioning, or how much space to give it, said Wendy S. Enelow, a résumé writer for executives and co-author of “No-Nonsense Résumés.”

“Your résumé is not an autobiographical essay of your entire life,” she said. If the sales job you had 20 years ago does not relate to where you are headed, leave it out or summarize it very briefly, she said.

In listing your most relevant experience, quantify your achievements whenever possible, Ms. Enelow said. For example, you could write “automated internal record-keeping processes, resulting in a 27 percent reduction in annual operating costs,” she said.

People with gaps in their recent work history often balk at a résumé that lists their latest jobs first, thinking that a “functional” type, stressing skills rather than dates, will work in their favor. But in most cases, job seekers should go the reverse-chronological route.

Most hiring managers become suspicious when they see a résumé without prominent dates, Ms. Ireland said. Try to list things like your community service, your volunteer work or other activities to fill in gaps in your recent work history, she said.

Many companies use software to weed out unqualified applicants. Pay attention to key words, repeating some defining terms from the job description. For example, if you are applying to be a solar energy engineer, you could include the words “solar,” “installation” and “photovoltaic (PV),” Ms. Ireland said.

Be concise in the job-objective or summary part of the résumé, which comes after your name and contact information. If you are seeking a position similar to one you have held, simply state your professional title, Ms. Ireland said (for example, user interface architect). Otherwise, indicate the job you want next or emphasize the skills that the job involves.

Tweak your résumé when necessary. Be sensitive to wording differences among industries. For example, banks have customers, while libraries have patrons and hospitals have patients, Ms. Ireland said.

Generally, unless you are a very recent graduate, list education after work experience. The older you are, the less necessary it is to list the year you graduated, Ms. Enelow said.

Make sure your résumé is easy to read, both on the screen and on paper. Even though most résumés are sent via e-mail, many H.R. people still print out the attachments, Ms. Ireland said.

Résumés are shorter than they were even five years ago, Ms. Enelow said, perhaps as a result of social-media behavior like 140-character tweeting. Keep them “tight, lean and clean,” she said. Ms. Ireland warns against the “big cement block” effect, meaning the use of dense paragraphs. A paragraph should be no longer than three lines, she said.

Make good use of white space, point size, boldface and bullets. But if you start seeing a laundry list of bullets, group them into clusters under skills headings so they are more readable, Ms. Enelow said.

And if you are a mid- or late-career professional, don’t feel that you must keep your résumé to one page.

Many companies have older versions of Microsoft Word, so make sure that your résumé attachment is compatible with them, Ms. Ireland said. It’s also wise to have printed versions ready, to hand out at interviews.

Finally, have someone review your work. If you need a complete makeover, the services of professional résumé writers may cost from $100 up to thousands of dollars, Ms. Enelow said.

But even an extra set of eyes from a friend, family member or career center employee can be enough to set a wayward résumé on the right course.

By PHYLLIS KORKKI

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Source: CNNMoney.com

Scooter Store
Job growth: 51%
U.S. employees: 2,173
2010 Best Companies rank: 38

Brocade Communications Systems
Job growth: 39%
U.S. employees: 2,873
2010 Best Companies rank: 61

Scottrade
Job growth: 22%
U.S. employees: 2,409
2010 Best Companies rank: 27

Salesforce.com
Job growth: 21%
U.S. employees: 2,361
2010 Best Companies rank: 43

Chesapeake Energy
Job growth: 20%
U.S. employees: 7,720
2010 Best Companies rank: 34

Scripps Health
Job growth: 15%
U.S. employees: 11,444
2010 Best Companies rank: 40

DreamWorks Animation SKG
Job growth: 13%
U.S. employees: 1,825
2010 Best Companies rank: 6

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta
Job growth: 13%
U.S. employees: 6,536
2010 Best Companies rank: 74

Booz Allen Hamilton
Job growth: 13%
U.S. employees: 21,303
2010 Best Companies rank:52

Meridian Health
Job growth: 12%
U.S. employees: 21,303
2010 Best Companies rank: 79

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