A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

Has anybody else not been hearing back from companies? - Aggrevated

Posted: Jan 30, 2011

I have applied to 20 different companies for jobs and not one single company has replied. I have over 20 years of experience. Is it just me or is the medical transcription field just flooded right now with people submitting resumes because nobody wants to do voice activation? In the past, I would always hear back right away.

This has been discussed many times. You are one of 100s, if - not 1000s, that apply. Dont SM

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expect to hear back from them. Keep sending your resume. The only MTSO you need to hear from is the one that hires you.

Time to review your resume - busy MT

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I spend time each week applying for jobs. This will annoy some of you, but I do it for research purposes. And out of the 3-4 I apply for each week, I usually hear from 2-3 with either an acknowledgement or with an invitation to test.

So I debunk the- no one ever responds.

I debunk the- no one will hire an MT with years of experience.

They do respond when there's a resume that fits their needs.

And they do make offers (and are often willing to negotiate rates) with an MT who has decades of experience and a resume that backs it up.

Keep applying. If you have no job, make it your job. If you have a job and are looking for another/different job, apply to everything you are QUALIFIED to do. Just saying you have 20 years of experience doesn't mean you are going to get called back. Does your resume reflect your qualifications? If it does, then you have to look at those qualifications and see what may be lacking.

Also, I recommend having a professional review your resume if you aren't getting calls. It can make a huge difference.

Aggravated - xx

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There are too many people out there applying for too few jobs. A friend and I are both applying for positions (we both have 15+ years of experience) and neither one of us has heard back from any company. I am getting out of MT completely. Good luck to you.

A few tips to help get responses. sm - Recruiter for a large national

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Some of these are obvious and some might seem cold, but they are the reality of a busy recruiter.

1. Sounds obvious, but have someone proof your resume for typos or missing words. Most, if not all, companies will toss a resume that has a typo or grammatical errors. It is nearly impossible to proof your own resume, as you will miss errors because you see what you think should be there because you know what it should say. It is not a shortcoming or a fault, just human nature. My advice would be to have another transcriptionist proof it and give advice; we're the pickiest of the picky!

2. Make sure that your resume is only one page. I can get 100+ resumes a week, and my eyes will glaze over by page 2, no matter how great the applicant is.

3. Have a great cover letter that summarizes your resume, i.e. number of years of experience, speciality or specialties, looking for full-time work. Don't mention company names or other details in the cover letter, and make it short but sweet. Three or four sentences will make them notice your resume.

4. Concentrate on 4 or 5 companies that you're interested in or narrow it down to 1 or 4. Follow up with them relentless, but not too often. For example, if you don't hear back after 3 days, follow up with an email. They might not have received your resume. Attach the resume and cover letter again, so they don't have to ask you.

5. If you don't hear back 3 days after the second email, call their office. You'll stand out if they are getting a huge number of emails that week.

6. Don't copy different services into your emails. If I receive an email and resume from someone that copied in 20 other MTSOs, I don't look too hard at the resume. If I am super swamped with resumes, I don't even bother. I figure that they will be contacted and hired by one of the others, and I don't want to get into a bidding war. I want to hire someone who wants to work for our company and has done their research. If the person is copying in every company out there, especially in alphabetical order, they don't even know who they're applying to.

7. BE HONEST! We do check your references, often before we call you (usually not your current employer though). If you have a company on there that denies that you ever worked there, you are added to our permanent no-hire list. No matter what anyone tells you, most of us have one, so make sure not to burn any bridges.

8. Explain the gaps in your resume but in a positive way. Never say, "I went through a period that I was just too unmotivated to work." The company will figure that if it happened once, it will happen again. "I took 4 years off beween Company A and Company B for family reasons" is very acceptable and reasonable. No need for more details than that.

I hope this helps. We are always looking for great transcriptionists, but we do get 100s of resumes every month. Sometimes we do not receive an email or it gets deleted by mistake. It's not personal or intentional, but it happens. For every 100 resumes we receive, half are offshore (we do not hire offshore), 10% have typos, 10% have never done transcription or gone to school for it, and 10% don't have the specific experience or only want specific days and hours that we do not have open right now.

Question about #7 - see message

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The first company I worked for is the type of place to not keep records and, if you catch the OM in a bad mood, she will say an MT never worked there out of spite. There are plenty of places mentioned here on MTStars that sound as though they would be the same, especially the places that don't pay, delay payment, or have other serious issues.

I think you may wish to re-think your policy on #7 because of these problems. An MT who found out too late that the company they worked for was a bad one shouldn't be punished forever because of the MTSO's problems.

Way to work around #7 if you had a bad experience. sm - Recruiter for a large national

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When I said be honest, that goes for bad experiences. Did not get paid or slow pay or difficult office manager are definitely solid reasons to leave somewhere. We all are, or at least should be, aware that there are companies that are downright criminal, and those would not be called. Don't go into too much detail, literally just say did not get paid or late pay or something along those lines.

This hasn't been my experience as a recruiter. - see message

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I've worked as a recruiter for two large nationals that the MTs on these boards will have heard of. Stunningly, neither of them had a practice of checking references at ALL, let alone checking them before ever interviewing an MT. Elsewhere, the standard has been that there are just way too many MTs who submit resumes to ever waste time checking references *before* an interview. They certainly SHOULD check references before hiring, but I'd be surprised if even 50% of them do.

I have also never seen a company put an applicant on a do not hire list because one of the references said they never worked at the company previously. That's a potential legal issue, as it's one person's word against another's. I'm not saying that this recruiter doesn't have this happening at his/her company, but just that I've never seen this as a *common* practice in the industry after having some wide experience in recruiting in the MT field.

I also have never noted anyone cared about a gap of a few weeks or even a few months in employment. I think most understand that life happens, and there are various reasons why an employee works and takes time off work. It's really not the recruiter's business why you didn't work for six months, IMO. If, however, you've taken years off and your skills are lacking because of it, it becomes the potential employer's business.

In my experience, I would say you generally don't need to worry about #7 with most of the MT employers out there. Usually if someone lies, it's because they don't have the skills and experience necessary to do the job. If they don't have the skills, they don't pass the test, and they don't get hired on those grounds. MT employers who are thinking logically realize this and don't need to mess around with (and expose themselves to potential liability of) trying to determine who's lying, etc. I'm confident in saying most MT employers aren't going to be putting you on blacklists, etc. because it's unnecessary.

There are exceptions to the ways various MT companies recruit, of course. And companies change their practices with time as well, so I wouldn't worry if I were you. If one were to blacklist you unfairly, just choose a different company. Would you want to work there anyway if they took someone else's word over yours after you had passed their test with flying colors?

Happy hunting!

Ok...then answer me this! - Jean

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Why does it seem that MTSOs never want to give a pay raise, but only to CUT pay? Yes, I know there is competition from India. However, their cost of living is so much less than ours there is no way we could live on what they are paid. If they are so good, then why hasn't 100% of the work (or nearly so) gone there? That being said, why is it that people work 5, 6, or 7 years for one MTSO and never get a pay raise? Management is getting raises, you can be sure of that, and it seems like everyone but the MT is getting raises at these MTSOs, with all of the pay raises awarded being on the backs of the ones bringing in the money from the customers, i.e.,the MT, who NEVER gets a raise! Also, why is it that pay is being cut in half to work on VR? It has been documented that the high producers have the least to gain by the introducton of VR under these circumstances. MTSOs are driving out the high producers who no way can double their production, because they are already fast! They can, for the most part, only get to between 25% and 30% or so more lines on VR and thus have to take a massive pay cut! Maybe someone producing 150 lines per hour typing can get to 300 lines per hour on VR, but somebody doing 250 lines per hour can NOT very quickly get to 500 lines per hour on a consistent basis, if at all! Eventually MTSOs are going to have to wake up and smell the coffee. By driving out the high producers, while their difference of what they get from the client and what they pay the transcriptionist may remain the same, they are going to wind up spending it on more IT personnel, more training, and more turnover, more skimpy benefits, etc. A high producer, even doing 25% to 30% more is still doing more than what used to be a lower producer! So MTSOs will eventually pay the piper having a higher net expense after driving out all or most of their high producers who were typing traditional transcription. Maybe not so much in this particular economy, but things will eventually change. I hope so, because we who produce big lines for so little money editing are simply going to bag it (as many already have), and work somewhere else for better pay, so it's either pay better now, or pay better later, and by the way, start giving us pay raises...maybe not in this economy, but in the future, because it will change.

Ask the MTSOs! Recruiters aren't responsible for the lack of raises or other - conditions of this industry. nm

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nm

But at least you might have an inkling... - Jean

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...why it is that MTSOs treat MTs they way they do. Quite honestly, the more they abuse transcriptionists, with low line rates, absolutely no pay raises for years, if ever, and cutting our pay in half after imposing VR on us (for what amounts to a further large pay cut since nobody who is already fast doing straight typing while transcribing is ever going to double their output)the more you should be aware of it, and, may I say, be ashamed to carry out their agenda. Why on earth do you work for such people, when you surely must know what their pay practices are? Let me guess...they pay you well! I know whereof I speak. When one large MTSO, the name of which you would know very well, imposed VR on me, I lost $400.00 a month at least in take-home pay. I type 250 lines an hour straight typing. No way could I double that to 500 lines an hour on a very consistent basis...maybe one hour out of every shift. When I asked them for a raise and they told me no, I quit. That was after three years of their nonsense and that large pay cut after VR. Well enjoy your big pay if you are getting it and remember whose backs you are enjoying that pay on, if in fact you are getting big pay. Maybe they abuse you folks financially as well? If so, how?

Oh, give me a break. - sm

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Seriously, direct your bitterness at the target itself, not the recruiter. One could equally ask you why you work for people you think are so evil. Maybe you're the one who should be ashamed. And no, I have no clue as to why MTSOs function as they do or why this field is (and always has been, IMO) a lousy one to work in. Why would I?

Finally, go back and reread my post. Did I say somewhere that I currently work as a recruiter (or that I make big bucks?). Laughable. Why do you assume that I am not currently or have never worked as an MT and am unfamiliar with the challenges of the job? You jumped to plenty of conclusions in your post, didn't you? Maybe an apology is order.

I do not deserve to be the target of your issues with MTSOs and the industry itself. Go direct your anger in the appropriate place and consider treating others with some respect.

Thank you - Aggrevated

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Thanks to all for your comments. I will take all of these helpful hints into consideration. Good luck to you all out there as well.

not for nuttin' - but

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the name you're using indicates to me you might want to have someone else review your resume.

Good luck!!

Hearing from companies - Anonymous

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They are flooded with resumes but I have been getting some responses. Most of them are not hiring at the current time and will place you on a waiting list. There are a lot of new MTs entering the field and it seems to me a lot of job hopping is occurring. Hang in there.

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