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#92820 - 03/07/08 06:08 PM
Contacting Companies as a Student
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AmandaLee
New Member
Registered: 02/28/08
Posts: 9
Loc: Virginia Beach, VA
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Has anyone out there contacted companies while still a student and had it lead to a job offer later? I'm going to be enrolling in the M-TEC program within a month or two and I'd like to start taking advantage of networking opportunities as soon as possible. I'm also going to get a student membership with AHDI and participate in my local chapter for more networking opportunities there. Do you think I will have any luck e-mailing some of the recruiters for transcription companies? Any insight or experience any of you would be willing to share would be greatly appreciated!
_________________________
Amanda
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#92821 - 03/07/08 06:21 PM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: AmandaLee]
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Boop
New Member
Registered: 05/26/01
Posts: 9
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I landed a job halfway through my training. I opened the yellow pages and started calling transcription companies. The 40th company I contacted gave me a chance and tested me. (I don't know if it was really the 40th company, but it seemed like it!)
At the time I was actually trying to find an internship for the upcoming semester, but I guess they needed a warm body to rough out some reports for them and thought I'd do.  I worked for free for a month and when the month was over they offered me a job.
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#92823 - 03/07/08 06:32 PM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: Boop]
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haggis
Member
Registered: 04/29/04
Posts: 2866
Loc: Left Coast, FL
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It is generally accepted as a bad idea to try to work before completing training. Not only are the odds against you even finishing very high, but you'd be trying to do the job from an incredibly ignorant standpoint. Even grads of the best courses aren't experts when they start working, but to start before you really even have a clue what you're doing is just silly. I daresay no MTSO worth your time is going to hire someone practically off the street for this job--and working for free is another boner because you not only devalue yourself, but every MT out here. 
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#92826 - 03/07/08 06:57 PM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: haggis]
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AmandaLee
New Member
Registered: 02/28/08
Posts: 9
Loc: Virginia Beach, VA
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I agree with you, haggis. I also love your avatar, by the way! ;) I wouldn't try to get a job as an MT before I finished my training and education. That would just go against my nature as a perfectionist. I don't even want a job as an MT until I know that I have learned and practiced enough to do it extremely well. One of my favorite sayings has always been, "Is 99% good enough?" My boyfriend and I say this to each other all the time when we need to give ourselves a kick in the rear and get moving!
I appreciate your response, Boop. Maybe getting a job as an MT before your training was complete was a positive thing for you. What I'm looking for is simply an opportunity to converse with people responsible for hiring MTs. I'd like to get an idea of what companies are out there, what positive and negative aspects each possess, and what companies I would ultimately most like to work for after graduation. Who knows? Maybe I'll talk with a recruiter from a great company and come back after graduation with a fantastic GPA to apply at that company. Maybe that recruiter will remember me as the person who took the extra time to be inquisitive and show interest in his or her company many moons ago. Maybe I'll get an excellent job offer out of that little bit of extra effort. That's what I'm aiming for here.
Also haggis, I've read several posts on new MTs underselling the market and making conditions worse for the thousands of working professionals out there. I don't want to be one of those people who has to take a job with an embarrassing line rate because I didn't take the time or didn't put in the effort to make myself more marketable. I have heard many wonderful things about M-TEC and I don't think I will be disappointed with the education I'll receive there. Other than keeping my GPA as high as I possibly can, do you have any tips on what new MTs can do to make themselves more desirable and avoid underselling the profession?
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Amanda
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#92830 - 03/07/08 08:08 PM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: AmandaLee]
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LTR
Member
Registered: 10/19/06
Posts: 101
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Hi Amanda--I know just how you feel and can relate exactly to the feelings you are having. While I was an MTEC student, I also felt that I should be doing something to prepare for graduation and should be doing whatever I could to "get a foot in the door." Trust me, you are going to be just fine. I would recommend waiting until you are finished. You won't believe how many jobs are waiting for you on the Career Forums. It's too bad that you won't be able to view that forum until you graduate because I know you are filled with anxiety about jobs now.
I won't tell you not to start "networking" now, but I really do think that you might be wasting your time. Having been in your shoes and with the advantage of hindsight, I can honestly say that your time is better spent learning and getting the highest GPA you can achieve. I might have made a mistake if I had started looking too early. Be patient and work hard to get a good GPA and you will be overwhelmed with the choices that are available to you when you finally submit that final exam.
While I was a student, I thought I had a very good idea which company I wanted to work for. Once I saw the Career Forums, I discovered a "whole new world" of opportunities that I had not expected. Needless to say, I went with a different company than the one I had originally picked as my dream job. Network if you want to, but leave your mind open to the unknown possibilities that are available. Completing a good program like MTEC with a good GPA really will open doors that you might not have even known were there. Now nine months after graduation, I still receive emails from MTEC every week about new job opportunities. Not that I am looking to change, haha.
Please understand that I am giving you encouragement NOT discouragement. I am just trying to reassure you that you have nothing to worry about. Keep your focus on what you have to do today, which is studying and learning. You are in a great program, and you don't need to worry about the "unknown" that lies ahead. It really will fall into place for you just like it has for many, many other grads before you!!!
Good luck,
Lynda
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#92831 - 03/07/08 08:14 PM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: haggis]
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Boop
New Member
Registered: 05/26/01
Posts: 9
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In my program it was a requirement to do an internship (usually, yes, free) as a credit toward completion. I was hardly devaluing myself. Instead of paying to land a job, I achieved my goal in half the time at less expense. The point of those courses is to work. I hooked up with an incredible MT with 25 years of experience. She knew more about the business of transcription than anyone at the school.
It wasn't that long ago this job was strictly on-the-job training. Somehow they all managed back then.
My MTSO has been doing very well for very many years, so I guess he knows something about what he's doing.
Edited to say that I went to a community college, not some matchbox school.
Edited by Boop (03/07/08 08:41 PM)
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#92832 - 03/07/08 08:26 PM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: LTR]
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AmandaLee
New Member
Registered: 02/28/08
Posts: 9
Loc: Virginia Beach, VA
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Hi Lynda,
Thank you so much for your response. It is wonderful to hear things from the perspective of an M-TEC grad. After carefully reading though your post a couple of times, I can see where you're coming from. As I stated, I have heard nothing but positive things about the M-TEC program and staff. Believe me, I put A LOT of research into the important decision of which school to attend. I've seen posts both here and on the M-TEC forums from grads who have said that they were able to find good jobs right after graduation. Perhaps I shouldn't worry so much about the future. I'm so much of a "planner" that sometimes I really do need to step back, take a deep breath, and focus on what's in front of me. I'm very fortunate in that I have a good paying job that I absolutely love. After graduation I'll have time to apply, test, and choose my future employer wisely. I will still take advantage of opportunities to network through my local AHDI chapter and maybe even speak to some recruiters if possible. I've seen and heard both the positive and the negative aspects of the AHDI and I certainly respect the well-educated opinions of those with a great deal of experience in this field, but I still feel it is an avenue worth pursuing, just not the ONLY avenue. (On a grammatical note, should there be a semi-colon after "pursuing" instead of a comma?) I will, however, heed your advice and focus primarily on my studies as opposed to focusing on getting my foot in that proverbial door. Your comments were not at all considered to be discouraging. I am looking for honest feedback here and I certainly appreciate your input!
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Amanda
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#92849 - 03/08/08 03:10 AM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: AmandaLee]
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haggis
Member
Registered: 04/29/04
Posts: 2866
Loc: Left Coast, FL
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Amanda, Lynda is right. I think with your choice of school, your GPA is the perfect focus for you. You're going to find your diploma from that school will open more doors than you can cope with. Being able to say you've graduated from M-TEC makes employment kind of a no-brainer, especially if you're a good student--and your 99% thing makes you sound like you have one of the biggest requisites for the job, perfectionism.
As far as networking, you might be surprised how many connections you can make here. Amongst these grumpy, overcritical characters is actually a respectable percentage of employers and recruiters, to say nothing of the employers who simply read the board scouting for talent. As for mentoring, you'd probably fare as well on your own school board, especially as you've already paid for the perk.
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#92866 - 03/08/08 11:20 AM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: Boop]
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FarAwayDeb
Member
Registered: 03/15/02
Posts: 2917
Loc: just south of Rochester, NY
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In my program it was a requirement to do an internship (usually, yes, free) as a credit toward completion. ... I hooked up with an incredible MT with 25 years of experience. She knew more about the business of transcription than anyone at the school. ...
Edited to say that I went to a community college, not some matchbox school.
Just my own personal opinion, but I think any school that requires you to do an internship (especially an unpaid one) is pushing off some of their responsibility onto someone else. Instead of giving you enough dictation practice and feedback to teach you what you need to learn to get a decent paying job right after graduation, they are having you "practice" by working for someone else and letting that other person/company give you feedback and teach you things that the school should have taught you. You paid the school to teach you (and I know community colleges aren't cheap) yet they are requiring that you get at least part of your training elsewhere. You seem to be working at a good place, but others might not be so lucky. If the place where someone "finishes their training" is not good, they might be unable or at least find it difficult to get a job anywhere else later on.
_________________________
Good grammar ain't easy.
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#92878 - 03/08/08 01:11 PM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: FarAwayDeb]
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Linda Andrews CMT
Moderator-Andrews School
Registered: 12/31/69
Posts: 5317
Loc: Oklahoma City, OK US
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Back in the 'old days' when we learned on the job, we were being paid.
I'm very much against internships and apprenticeships.
Our graduates prefer paying jobs rather than working for free or committing to work for one organization for a significant amount of time, for a very low income. Internships and apprenticeships are just an invitation for schools not to teach. Don't even get me started on the QUALIFICATIONS of the people doing the teaching in some of these internship or apprenticeship situations.
In addition, those in an internship learn only how that one institution wants things done. If they don't hire the intern because the intern doesn't meet their requirements or simply because they don't have openings, that creates a huge problem for the intern. Other employers interviewing them will want to know why their internship didn't work out for them. If THEY didn't think you were good enough to hire, why should we? We're not going to hire a competitor's rejects.
Then again, employers look at someone who went through a competitor's internship and are not that excited about hiring a competitor's work, especially since they do things differently. They also still have questions in the back of their minds and wonder why that internship or apprenticeship didn't result in a job for you.
Let's say it did. Let's say you were offered a job after the apprenticeship and you worked there for several years. Your education there was very narrow, focused totally on what that one situation required. A good school will expose you to a number of options that you may encounter with various employers. When you graduate, your work should be marketable enough to get a paying job, not work for free.
I'll stop now because if I get started on this subject I could go on indefinitely. There is NOTHING good to say about apprenticeships and internships, but the negatives are endless.
Edited by Linda Andrews CMT (03/08/08 01:26 PM)
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#92890 - 03/08/08 05:14 PM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: Boop]
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Endiqua
Member
Registered: 04/28/05
Posts: 3558
Loc: At the computer - where else?
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It wasn't that long ago this job was strictly on-the-job training. Somehow they all managed back then.
Probably because those who had OTJ training weren't expected to work for free or crumbs. I learned OTJ and was paid (and paid fairly) for every bit of my time.
Linda's post is, in my opinion, truly excellent.
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#93029 - 03/10/08 04:41 PM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: Endiqua]
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deblh
New Member
Registered: 03/04/08
Posts: 6
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Wow, I am also a student and not far from graduating and I am very nervous after reading all the advise. I am at a community college and will have to do the work experience portion.
Do any of you have advise for those of use required to do this to keep us from the ruts and bad qualifications.
My goal is to find an online job to possilby do part time.
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#93070 - 03/11/08 07:36 AM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: deblh]
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Linda Andrews CMT
Moderator-Andrews School
Registered: 12/31/69
Posts: 5317
Loc: Oklahoma City, OK US
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Still another brand new member with a first post this week! This is absolutely inspiring that our forums are growing so fast.
First, I would advise you to listen carefully to all that your instructors say to you regarding your work. Your instructors know your work and can help you with it. We don't know a thing about you or your skills, so we can't offer much help other than what has already been posted.
Pay careful attention to the small details. Ask your instructor for help when you don't understand things. That's why your instructors are there. Many instructors are very talented and motivated to help students learn.
Good luck with your new career!
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#96604 - 04/26/08 01:44 AM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: Linda Andrews CMT]
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harvest
New Member
Registered: 12/16/07
Posts: 12
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Thank you so much, Lynda, for your input in this thread. I had no idea of the wonders of the M-TEC grad forums, as I am only on Session 3. I can now put my worries to rest and concentrate on schooling instead of worrying about getting companies lined up and researching opportunities WAY before I've graduated.
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#96816 - 04/28/08 07:42 PM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: harvest]
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Margie Kahn CMT
Member
Registered: 02/17/99
Posts: 996
Loc: Oakland, California
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Forty-one years ago, when I started my OTJ transcription training, I was 15 years old (OK, now I've given it away), a high school senior with a year of biology under my belt. I was "hired" by a radiologist friend of the family to help his secretary transcribe the x-ray reports for a small community hospital (100 beds). She took me under her wing and gave me a start on the best education I could've asked for. I spent two weeks working for free, first copy-typing old reports, then listening to old dictation and learning the machine. After two weeks, I was doing current work. At that point, I approached the doctor and said I thought I was ready to start getting paid. (BTW, he offered me $1.25 an hour, which was a $.10 per hour pay cut from the selling-popcorn-at-the-movie-theater job I'd held prior.)
Of course, that was in the Olden Days. I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to do things that way now.
To Amanda Lee: I can tell from what you are saying in your posts, and how you say it, that you will make a great MT. If I were still in the business of employing MTs, I'd probably contact you right now based on what I've read from you in this thread and tell you to stay in touch with me as your education progresses. Your language skills and work ethic are obvious, and I don't think you'll need to worry about finding a great job after you graduate. Best of luck.
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#96817 - 04/28/08 08:08 PM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: Margie Kahn CMT]
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2kids3dogs
New Member
Registered: 04/01/08
Posts: 16
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I'm going to stir the pot I guess with my post but I disagree.
I started back in 1990 working front office at a medical clinic and fell into transcription by default. It wasn't my job to do it, it was something that was tossed on me and I learned from scratch, trial and error and reading everything I could get my hands on. I took a medical terminology course at the local community college but didn't need to pay someone to teach me how to use a foot pedal, use microsoft word (word perfect and multi-mate platforms back then), etc.
I've had steady MT work since then, strictly MT, both hospital and clinic, at home and in-house and not one single person has neglected to hire me because I didn't go to a fancy school and have fancy initials behind my name.
I'm self-taught and am proud of it. I don't think there's anything wrong with you contacting prospective clients, Amanda. When I started looking I sent off resumes and cover letters to every single doctor in the phone book and was actually getting ready to take a job as a legal secretary when I got hired. I flipped a coin and decided I was much more interested in medical transcription and here I am 18 years later, still employed and making up to $40 per hour depending on the work.
None of the MTs I work with have had "formal" MT school training and we've all been long-term in the same business, making decent money, setting our own work schedules and loving our jobs.
Personally, and this is just my opinion, the over-stressing of formal MT education is one of the reasons it's so hard to find decent positions for some. I'll bet 9/10 doctors couldn't tell you what the initials RHIT or CMT stand for.
Network your buns off, find a decent position and enjoy this profession! In fact, if you find a position before you graduate, you might just save yourself some money.
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#96818 - 04/28/08 08:21 PM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: 2kids3dogs]
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Margie Kahn CMT
Member
Registered: 02/17/99
Posts: 996
Loc: Oakland, California
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In all fairness, 2kids, that was 18 years ago. The landscape sure has changed a lot since then. I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to try to get into transcription "through the back door" at this point.
And there's a world of difference between getting a good education and getting a CMT or RHIT or whatever after your name.
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#96819 - 04/28/08 08:21 PM
Re: Contacting Companies as a Student
[Re: 2kids3dogs]
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tropsicleAfter
Member
Registered: 10/30/06
Posts: 2683
Loc: Vicksburg, MS
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While you describe a great "I fell into this and it worked out for me" scenario, I think you do a disservice to most others by implying that everyone else can do it the same way. I agree about the credentialing, but couldn't disagree more about the formal education. Again, most people are not going to have the same initial setup, capabilities, or (yes) absolute luck that you did.
However, implying, as you do in the end, that if the poster were somehow able to find a job before graduation that she might just save herself some money (by not finishing school?) borders on the criminal as far as advice goes.
Sure, everyone is entitled to their opinion and no one is excluded from posting it. When you post this kind of thing, however, you do more to point out the flaws with that klnd of plan than you intended with your post.
And that is just MY opinion.
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tropsicle
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Moderator: Annie
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