"QA manager needs to go back to school for English 101"

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I am so happy.  I am going back to college.  Depending on where you live, with the stimulus plans and everything else, there may be funding available to help you train for another profession.  I live in Michigan.  The state has a program called No Worker Left Behind where they will pay for schooling and books up to 10,000.  To qualify you must have a total family income of less than 40,000 a year (easy on MT pay).  That's basically it. Check into your state and see what's offered.  There's a list of the need for jobs to be filled in 2012 and you can pick from that list, there's probably 300 different types of jobs listed.  It includes everything from truck driving school to a chef to a college associate degree in a variety of subjects. 

The accounts weren't too horribly bad.  The reason I ended up leaving was because slowly but surely they began to inch closer and closer to paying QA by production.  When I first started, the quota was something like 30 reports a day.   We simply had to make sure that we QA'd all reports that were close to being out of TAT first and then do the rest.  Then, my supervisor left and they hired a new one who immediately called a big teleconference meeting and said we had to up production to 60 reports a day.  Then, they started counting lines.  Which was fine because they were still paying hourly.

Next, there was an MT who used VR software because she was blind - yes blind.  Again, when I first started, I was told we had to edit her entire reports because she used the VR software and we had to make sure that everything was correct and made sense.  Then, we are told only check the blanks.  I wasn't comfortable with that and I continued to completely proof every word.  Then I was called on the carpet not because I wasn't meeting the production quota, but because I was ONLY meeting the production quota.  I told them I was proofing all of the MT's work that used VR, I was told that no one ever told me to proof every word of the VR reports and that I needed to fill in blanks and move on.  When I voiced my concerns, I was told that was my job, to fill in blanks and I should move on and strive to product above the standards.  Next thing you know, rumors abounded about changing the QA staff to being paid on production.  So I left. 

There just seemed to me to be too little concern for quality and more emphasis on quantity and I just didn't want to be part of company who would take money out of my pocket just to line their own and that's what they were doing by putting QA on production.  I also am not comfortable with the job of QA being thought of as a blank filler.  There is much more to the QA profession than just simply filling in blanks. 

I don't know if Transcend ever did start paying QA by production, but I could see that the idea was being floated there.  Maybe there was a enough protest that they didn't change from hourly. 

Good luck to you!

A and M, as you put it, open the doors to companies that otherwise would not speak to a newbie, and  I did not have a problem securing a job.  You missed the point because you did not take the time to read my message.  Instead you judged me!

It is not fair or realistic to expect an MT that has just graduated to be as good and productive as someone that has been an MT for several years.  It is not right to ask the applicant to reveal social security and driver's license numbers along with granting permission to do a background check and to test before the applicant receives basic information about the company and/or job.  Also, a number of companies, recruiters and MTSOs have been complaining about the bad quality of some MTs, that they do not show up for work or constantly need time off while at the same time there are numerous graduates from the top two schools that are eager, willing and knowledgeable that are not given a chance despite the good name of the schools and a good GPA.  Many companies overhire which leaves some MT to find an empty queue at work sometimes.  Account managers make promises to give you more accounts but never find the time to do so.  It is also very difficult for a newbie if the QA people have less knowledge of the BOS, grammar, punctuation and terminology.

Many new grads post on the various boards that they send out a number of resumes and/or tested and never hear anything or after several weeks.  Any honest MT with several years' experence will confim that even after going to one of the top two schools it still takes up to a year before it clicks.  You never stop learning as an MT.  How is a newbie supposed to learn if he/she receives no feedback?   Some companies post on their website that they accept newbies but that they will treat them like MTs with experience.  Like the other responder stated, they seem to have forgotten what it is like as a newbie.  These people forget that at one point in their life they started as an MT with no experience.  How many of those people were grateful for that opportunity that enabled them to get where they are today?

I see an opportunity to build a whole new generation of willing and capable American MTs.  If we want to have better working conditions, if we want to be treated better, then we need to have an excellent education and be reliable.  We need to deliver, and then we can make demands.  Companies and MTSOs make promises they do not keep.  What is so wrong about letting an MT do discharge summaries if that is what he/she prefers and train them on other reports and accounts when work is a bit slower?  What is so wrong about limiting the number of doctors the MTs transcribe for?  Why don't companies that require the MT to use their computer provide an up-to-date spellchecker and drug database?  How can a company offer 5 cpl for an IC job?  Why doesn't anybody approach the doctors about their dictation practices? 

Why can't we all just work together and try to change those things so many people are complaining about on these various MT boards? 

I was just curious....

How long have you been an MT?

Did you attend an MT school, or did you receive on-the-job training?

That's all for now.

I never think it's too late to do what you really want to do!.  I am an R.N. and can tell you that there is a severe shortage of nurses who really care about the people. 

     Go to school!  Make a difference in somebodys life!