helpful hints for MTs leaving the MT industry - happy2help

As someone who worked as a professional full-time MT for 31 years (most of those years at home), I've learned the ropes the hard way when transitioning over to the "public workplace."  I'm here to offer encouragement to others who need to find another career in order to make a decent living.  I do still work 15-20 hours at home as an MT online, but I work a full time job in a completely different sector during the day.  I finally have the job of my dreams, and I absolutely love going to work every day!  But it was a rocky road for about 3 years.  Maybe some of my lessons learned will save you guys some time and headaches along the way.

The first obstacle that I found when I first started looking for office jobs was that businesses looked at my resume and saw "medical transcription" at each company, and over those 31 years I had only been at 4 companies.  To the businesses, it looked like I wouldn't know how to answer phones, run copiers and fax machines, greet the customers, keep schedules for managers, or anything else that's routine done in an office.  Of course, I could do all those things and do them WELL, but my resume didn't show that. 

So....I signed up with 4 different temp agencies here in town, and let me tell you, they kept me busy.  I worked probably 20 different temp assignments over those 3 years, and I not only learned new skills or improved old ones, but it looked good on my resume!  I rarely said no to an assignment.  In fact, many times I had my pick of assignments because all 4 agencies considered me one of their "preferred" candidates.  Some temp assignments will turn into permanent jobs if you're interested. 

At the same time, I continued to do MT work at home, scheduled around my temp assignments.  I had a company then that allowed me to flex my time.  In the meantime, I applied for job after job that I'd see posted in our local newspaper classifieds.  I hand-delivered every resume packet.  I didn't mail it or email it.  I took it in person so that I could make a great first impression on anyone I met as I walked in the door, from the receptionist to the head of the company.  I would get dressed up in a suit and put a nice resume packet together that included a professional resume, cover letter tailored to each particular job, and letters of recommendation from all 4 temp agencies.  Oh....and the MOST important thing was that I put the resume packet inside a shiny red folder and stapled my business card to the front of the folder.  I can't tell you how many interviewers told me that it was my shiny red folder that caught their eye amidst the piles and piles of white envelopes that had been mailed in!

My point is, don't let your resume look like all you can do is medical transcription.  You can do MUCH more.  Consider doing any type of clerical work you can find, in some type of public office, just a few hours a week so you can get letters of recommendation and you can prove that you have many skills. 

My full time day job has nothing to do with MT.  In fact, I rarely type there.  I'm the switchboard operator at an exciting company, and I manage the whole front office.  It was worth waiting for.   I love my part time MT job, too, so it's the best of both worlds.