A little holiday message of hope (I hope!) - xtrans

Hi, everyone. A year or so ago, I read a message by a former transcriptionist who had gotten into medical school and was at last working as a physician. I'm sure it's still here in the archives somewhere; please forgive me for not digging it up. I remain grateful to that poster to this day. Yes, even if she was making it all up! It still inspired me so much.

Last month I began work at only the second job I have ever held outside the MT field. It took me seemingly forever to find it, and I am fairly certain that during my job search, I sent some resumes that scarcely got read because so much of my experience was in MT. Many hiring authorities, recruiters, etc. simply do not know what that job is, and even if you write the clearest, most concise description of it in the world, it is often hard for them to see how the skills you build working from home for an MTSO translate into skills their companies can benefit from.

I learned some tips and tricks that helped me that I want to pass along in the spirit of encouragement and support for those of you trying to get out--but first, I want to affirm some things:

1. Medical transcriptionists are some of the most disciplined, hardworking, intelligent, scrupulous, and CREATIVE people I have ever worked with. Yes, creative! You have to get pretty creative in your budgeting to live on 4, 6, or 8 cents a line these days, and to figure out how to stay sane when you can't afford therapy, and so much more. :D

2. MTSOs are exploiting their workers. Period. I don't want this to get into a raging flamewar about who's happy, who isn't happy, or whose fault it is, because I am not stating this as an opinion. I am stating it as a fact, an easily verified and sourced fact that only requires one to look up the definition of "exploitation," Google "work from home scam" (note especially the part about using "quality" as an excuse not to pay; MTSOs stay just on the legal side of this, but as anyone who's been badgered by one about having to be "subsidized" up to minimum wage will tell you, MTSOs stay only barely on the legal side of this), and finally, read what just one CEO is doing to just one MTSO at not only the expense of its transcriptionists, but the expense of the company's shareholders as well. Thank you to the poster on the Nuance forum for sharing this: www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/12/02/are-nuance-communications-executives-overpaid.aspx

I want to affirm these 2 things because so often, on these and other boards, I have seen transcriptionists doing all they can to keep afloat, only to be told it is their own fault for not doing more, working harder, or being better educated. This simply isn't true 99% of the time and I want all of us out there who work hard to do right by the patients to REMEMBER what we're really worth, because that was the hardest thing about leaving MT for me: Remembering that I had the ability to do other things and do them well.

Working in MT the last mumble-mumble decades, I had begun to forget that I was a capable and valuable worker, because MT-ing, especially from home, can be so isolating. Because companies have a ve$ted intere$t in telling MTs how little they're worth. Because the wall labeled "QC" and the opposite wall labeled "Production" kept closing in until there was no room left in the middle for me, like that scene in the Death Star trash compactor from Star Wars.

Here are things that helped me get out:

Cover letters: I used to be lazy about cover letters when I was younger, and especially when they became something you had to specially attach to online job applications--it sometimes felt like I was sending those applications into a great big hole anyway, so why throw more junk in there? But cover letters are a great way to show off those excellent grammar, spelling, and punctuation skills you honed in MT, and in a cover letter you're free to talk about how what you did for [MTSO] could be applied to [what company you're applying to needs someone to do]. I started attaching more cover letters and I started beginning a lot of sentences with "As a medical transcriptionist, I have extensive experience [fill in the blank]." If you really think about it, we're so much more than human VR software--we troubleshoot most of our own computer problems, we work well under minimal supervision, we prioritize effectively to juggle multiple accounts and tasks--that's just three things off the top of my head that go beyond "The doctor talks and I type it." And you can work any of that stuff into a short paragraph of your cover letter.

Interviews: I went on every one I ever got, even if I did not want the job or had slim prospects of being offered it, or both. I signed up with a lot of temp agencies just to go on, frankly, BS interviews for $8/hr, 20-hours-a-week, mandatory-Saturday type positions. Working from home got me out of the habit of talking to people I'd just met, face to face, in a friendly manner. This is tactful way of saying that I am by nature a crankypants, antisocial introvert and years of MT-ing from home did not exactly improve that. I needed the practice, so I took it whenever I got the chance, even though I hated it and was miserable most of the time I was doing it. But I got better at it with practice, like anything else, and if you're like this too (not every MT is, of course) I can't recommend "just get and then go to the interview" enough as an interim goal. Long-term, it was a waste of time for me to apply at fast food restaurants because unless I were able to score three of those jobs, they wouldn't pay enough for me to live on. Short-term, it was the best thing I could do because it counted as interview practice.

Faith: I don't necessarily mean religious faith, although that is important to me and I'm sure it is to some of you, too. I mean faith in yourself. I did not always bolster this in the most positive way, either. Sometimes I did it by watching incompetent people do their jobs. Have you ever dealt with a bad desk clerk at a hotel? A ditz of a dental receptionist? A lazy jerk at motor vehicles? I would watch those people do their jobs terribly and think, "If they can find work, *I* can find work." Of course, the trick is not letting that fester into resentment ("how come that moron has a job and I don't?"). I didn't always get that part right but hey, I'm human.

Friends: I let a lot of friendships slide while I was MT-ing. The thing about being paid by production is that it doesn't leave you much real free time. I won't belabor this point because we're all familiar with it. Many days it is all you can do to tend to yourself and your family, so--friends? What friends? But once I determined to get out of MT-ing for good, I realized I would have to make time for friends, and I started resuscitating old friendships and trying to forge new ones. I cannot say I found my present job directly through friends, but I can say the endorsement of my skills by one of them probably didn't hurt my chances. I know this is sometimes called "networking" but, just personally, I don't like that term. I have had people try to "network" with me and it feels a bit gross and manipulative to me. Being a real friend to someone isn't that, IMO. In my case, honestly? It was a lot of reaching out and trying to give of my time and attention when I was so beaten down by my stupid MT job that I didn't believe I even had anything left to give. But this is just one more respect in which faith, of whatever variety, is important to have.

Let me wrap it up: I wish all of you a joyous holiday season and the best of luck, whether you stay in MT or go; and for those of you dreaming of going, just remember: You can do it. It may not be quick or easy (for me, it took 2-1/2 years), but it can be done. Keep your heads held high. Keep the faith.