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

Recently Graduated from MT School, Can't find a Job! - OptimisticMT

Posted: Feb 14, 2010

I have recently graduated with a certificate in Medical Transcription and am finding it difficult to find a job! I am a Respiratory Therapist full-time and just want something part-time at home for extra income and to gain experience to hopefully do transcription as a full-time career. Can anyone give me any advice on how to go about finding employment? I have put my application in for several jobs but my lack of experience has been a problem. I think that maybe I am just looking in the wrong places! :)

Thank you in advance,

OptimisticMT

jobs - not enough

[ In Reply To ..]
I have 35+ years experience and not getting enough work to get me any line count or a pay check, and even I am having problems finding a different job. This profession is not like it used to be and the jobs are being outsourced, offshored, and replaced by EMR. Stick with your RT and hopefully that is enough to give you a nice income, as I have a sole income with being an MT and at 57 this profession will probably not be enough to keep me going until I can retire. My income for 2009 was over 12K less than 2008 and almost 25K less than 2005. Made more money in 1980 at $13 an hour.

Try contacting the medical records at the hospital where you do RT and see if you can get your foot in the door by doing some per diem work there. That would be a good place to start as they would be able to be close if you have any questions. Kinda hard to start out at home right out of school.

Do you know of anything that didn't pay less last year? - Sincere question about job losses

[ In Reply To ..]
When I think of all of my family members and friends, I'm not seeing people in any career field who are doing well right now.

Website designers - dime a dozen - no jobs

Graphic designers - same. Lots of them. No jobs.

Homebuilders - Not good.

Drug Reps - Being laid off in huge numbers.

Nurses - Wanting out. Jobs being filled by people who barely speak English.

Teachers - Wanting out. There are jobs, but you take your life in your hands and have to deal with unruly kids and parents too.

Law - Too many attorneys not making it unless they are involved with foreclosures.

Healthcare - Even those jobs are drying up because people have lost jobs and health insurance. They can't afford to have elective procedures done.

If you want to limit it to work-at-home jobs other than medical transcription, those jobs are okay if you can find them. They last about a minute and a half.

Landscaping - The first to go when people cut back on their expenses.

Clothing Store Owners/Clerks - OUCH!

You get the point. People are struggling right now other than the ultra-rich. Let's hope 2010 will be a better year for all of us.

Good point - LK

[ In Reply To ..]
My husband is an executive (Chief Financial Officer) with over 30 years experience and made $20,000 less this past year than he did in 2008, thanks to a pay cut imposed by his company. This is happening across all job fields and levels during this recession.

A major difference, though, is that many of the professions you mention will eventually rebound back when the economy improves. I'm not at all sure MT will ever rebound. It really does feel like a sinking ship.

I think it will, but it will change again just as it always does - Sincre question

[ In Reply To ..]
Medical transcription changes every few years. First we had standard typewriters, then electronic ones, then computers, then great reference books, then electronic ones, then the fear of overseas outsourcing, then the fear of speech recognition, then jobs that left for those two came back, then some went again, then the electronic medical record, then the knowledge that not all reports can be done by point-and-click and doctors aren't going to type 8-page reports, and then it goes on and on and on. What comes next? Nobody knows, right? All we really know for sure is, the knowledge of the patient's medical record and how to find information on it is a good skill to have. We will probably have another job title in 5-10 years and will have to modify how we do our work, but hopefully we'll still be able to work from home. I think we will because it's profitable for hospitals and clinics to have us working from home so they can use that space to make money.

Re: Recently Graduated from MT School, Can't find a Job - Just Wondering

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In her 15 Feb 8:04 post, Jobs - not enough stated: "Kinda hard to start out at home right out of school."

I agree totally. However, the school I attended stated in its advertisement that it was possible to get a job working at home by just completing the beginners course which could take up to a year. After completing the beginners course which took about 9 months,I was told by the school that more advanced training would be needed if I wanted to work from home. When I started, I had no reason to doubt that the beginners training was enough because after all this school and others are supposedly run by experts in the MT field. I know now it is extremely difficult if not almost impossible to get work at home as a newbie even when you have sufficient training.

I've seen a few on this board who have been able to get employment, and I'm happy for them. However, consider the thousands of students like me who enrolled in MT schools and have invested a considerable amount of money as well as time hoping to be able to work from home. My reason for needing work from home employment was health related. Unfortunately, there are many current students who may not be so fortunate as to find work at home employment.

Lucky but also need to score high on testing - CareerStepGradandWorking

[ In Reply To ..]
I realize that I was very lucky to find work right away (I mean, RIGHT away) after graduation, but I scored well on pre-employment testing. That's what you need to do. All the courses in the world won't help you if you can't score at least 98% on the transcription portion of on-line tests. There are lots of companies that hire newbies - Inscribe, MQ, and lots of others. You could also consider general transcription just to earn some money while you're trying to find an MT job. There are many general transcription companies that will hire MTs, some of them outside the US - in Australia, UK, etc.

I wish the schools would start being - honest

[ In Reply To ..]
with students about this profession.

So that people will stop signing up for MT courses? Not gonna happen! NM - deb

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x

me either - spice

[ In Reply To ..]
I have been looking since December and no one once you without experience. I have been a nurse for 25 years. Anyone have some suggestions. I really love doing transcription.

Recent Graduate - Plugging along

[ In Reply To ..]
No you are not looking in the wrong place you are just like many of us that should have looked into MT more closely!!! I graduated in Dec and have been looking and if I would have looked into this career more closely I don't think I would have taken this as a choice. They say they have a shortage but nobody is willing to take a chance on a new graduate. Sad but true!! Just be glad that you have another career some of us foolishly thought this would be our career. It is hard to have to pay off tuition on a career you can't get a job in!!

jobs - mickey

[ In Reply To ..]
Just keep trying - MT daily also has jobs listed. There are sometimes posts for newbies, but they only pay around six cents a line, but whatever can get your foot in the door, you should try. Apply, apply and apply...what do you have to lose? Spheris is really good for beginners - I was with them for a few years and now I work for private companies that pay more, but Spheris gave me the opportunity and experience I needed.

Spheris - see notice

[ In Reply To ..]
Spheris is going through bankruptcy, so check on that before applying there, or see where they are going.

RE: Recently graduated from MT school, Can't find a Job! - Sadiebug523

[ In Reply To ..]
I can feel your pain. I took a MT course with my community college and it took me close to 2 years to find a job. But I found one. I worked for Sten-Tel in their extern program and got my experience there. From there I got an in-house hospital job until we were outsourced to Medquist. You can get a job but you have to be patient. I put in applications to many national companies even though I didn't meet the requirments, and some allowed me to test for them. Eventually I did well enough to get on with Sten-Tel. You just have to keep putting you application out there. Also, solicit your local doctor's offices and hospitals. Offer to do overflow work or fill in for vacations to get some experience under you belt. Good luck to you. You will find a job.

It is not easy, was not easy back in 2002 when - sm - HLINVA

[ In Reply To ..]
I stated. I just applied everywhere I could and took every test I could. Landed a job in about six weeks of completing my course. I did not stop there and soon landed 3 in all small part-time IC jobs. So that was great for me in terms of experience. I am nervous now as I fear my MTSO losing the account I am on, I am finally making my goal salary and don't want to lose that. I used to be diversified but now do 4 docs of the same account. I used to have another IC job too, I have always liked to have 2, so if one blew up I had another to fall back on, but I left my staple back up when my "new" better paying IC job took off with a good work load and my old IC job/MTSO has since gone out of business from what I can tell. I need to call the former manager at home and see what happened as the office numbers do not work any more. Sad, it was a good company, but paid less than I wanted to make unfortunately. So lost my safety net as I'd rather work for them for less pay than no pay, and I know they would have taken me back if I ever wanted to. I suspect they lost their main hospital account and that was probably the end for them because of that. --- so that is the sad story for the smaller MTSO's. But as suggested you have an in where you are now, try to use that to your advantage. Or apply at small local MTSO's who would be willing to start you out slow and simple and go from there. But you will need to fill out many applications and take many tests before you hit paydirt.

just keep applying - ggmt

[ In Reply To ..]
Just keep applying over and over again. If someone doesn't reply to your resume, email them again after 30 days. Find places online that test and test for them to get the practice.

I will tell you that it mostly doesn't matter what your other qualifications are, employers see you as either newbie or experienced. The other issue is that it's all about luck. I only got my job because I just happened to email a company the day they needed someone. That's why you have to keep applying. Good luck.

ggmt - Typin_away

[ In Reply To ..]
Congrats on your job!!

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