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Nuance

Life after Nuance - wordie

Posted: Oct 3rd, 2015 - 11:50 am

It's about six months now, since I walked out on N on the day the 'opportunity' of the latest MT grid was announced with just a phone call to TSM saying I wasn't coming in for that morning's shift or coming back.  I'd been fruitlessly searching for a decent MT position elsewhere for over a year, having been absorbed into this company that I never would have EVER applied to work at in a buyout and watching the steady deterioration of my finances but even more so of my state of mind and self-confidence.  Quitting that day was on the surface a spontaneous reaction, but it had been building for a long, long time of sleepless nights, constant anxiety, frustration and anger, and friends and family obviously getting tired of the changes in me.

Several years ago I occasionally would do extra IC work on top of my regular job for a small MT service in my state.  It was a nice, tidy little extra income, and I enjoyed the work.  The owner of that service at the time asked me if I would ever be interested in doing some overflow legal transcription for a new state contract.  I said sure, got all approved and background checked for the work, but never actually did any.  A few months after that the service suddenly folded up and the work dried up, but I really didn't think too much about it.

At the beginning of this year I received an E-mail from a long-established court reporting/legal transcription company in my state saying they had been given my name on a list of transcriptionists already approved in the past to work on a state contract for hearing transcripts and would I be interested.  They had recently renewed their contract for the account and were going to be getting a lot more work.

At the time I didn't take the offer, but after I quit N I thought I would give it a chance and contacted the account manager at the company who immediately offered me to start when I was ready.  She said that they have had very good results hiring and cross-training local MTs who often turned out to be the best legal transcriptionists on their staff and that we bring a lot of applicable skills to the table for the work.

It has turned out to be just the right fit for me.  I like IC work tremendously now, after the punch-in punch-out micromanagement at N.  I still work at home and now on my own schedule.  I am trusted to do my work, meet my deadlines, and other than downloading and uploading work, the only real contact is once a month, when I send in my invoice or the very, very occasional procedure change emails.  The direct deposit appears every month on the same day.  It couldn't be smoother. 

The biggest surprise is how interesting I find the work.  Big Law and Order TV show fan LOL, so I should have figured, but I didn't really expect or anticipate that part at all, and for me it's been the icing on the cake.  My family and friends still comment on how nice it is to have me back to my old self. 

It did take a few months to really get up to a speed that is at least now paying all the bills, but now each month my check is larger than the month before, so I do see a day in the not too distant future of actually having some spending money. :)

I know this option isn't for everyone, but it you think that transitioning into a different kind of transcription from home and can take the time financially to build up some experience, I wouldn't be surprised if more and more legal services are also seeing the benefits of scooping up good MTs who can hit the ground running and are tired of not being appreciated or paid and treated decently for our experience.  You might try contacting court reporting and other legal transcription services in your state or even your state's court system to see if they contract out their local hearings and who does it.  There is also likely a lot of this kind of transcription in the private legal sector, too.

I hope my lengthier than intended story might help somebody.  I still do come back to visit here, when I can.  It breaks my heart to read the sorrow and anger so many talented MTs are still feeling trapped in, so I felt the urge to share my experience in the hopes that it might be something someone might be interested in looking into.  There are options out there for us.

Oh, BTW, I'm 58 years old.  It is never too late to learn and do something different.

 

 

 

 

 



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