Career Step
Posted By: wileo on 2007-09-06
In Reply to: Anyone heard of Career Step program?..cost?..legit? - Tessa54
Career Step is legit (and I don't get any $$ for recommending them). The course is self-paced and allowed me to work from home right after graduation. The website has all the cost info. on it.
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You don't have to go to Career Step
I smell something a little fishy here. Are you advertising for Career Step? I repeat if you are already a transcriptionist, then you can apply for online jobs. It does not take a certificate from Career Step. I have been offered many jobs online, and I do not have a certificate from Career Step or any other training program. 
Career Step
Just to clarify about Career Step, the cost is nowhere near $5000. It is in fact, between $1500 and $2000 the last I knew. I do not work for them, but graduated a year ago and they did prepare me for acute care MT work. (After 9 months I am making about $20,000 a year, working 2 IC jobs for a total of about 40 hours a week).
Career Step
CS has been a dream for me. With their training, I had 7 offers for at-home MT employment within 2 weeks of graduation. It is a hard course, and the final exam has a 50% fail rate, but it really prepares you for the real world of MT. If it wasn't that hard I think I would be dead in the water. If you want to learn more, they have a forum for people who have questions about joining at http://careerstep.groupee.net/eve/forums/a/frm/f/6960008433
and their website is www.careerstep.com. Before joinging, I checked them out with the BBB and called them probably 20 times with questions. They were very helpful and have a shiny record with the BBB. Also, they are one of the few schools approved by the AAMT, as you can see from the AAMT website. They are also a lot cheaper than most places. Hope that helps!
Career Step
If I knew then what I know now, I would not have attended Career Step. I would have attended MTEC or Andrews.
Career Step
My sister took this course 3 years ago and was hired as a graduate. I was able to view this course and was very impressed with it and how it prepared the students. There is a lot of practice dictation starting from beginner to advanced, working your way up. Another good school is M-TEC. When I helped my sister research what companies were looking for in graduates, these were the 2 schools that always popped up as being recognized by companies that hire graduates.
I went to a local business school and worked on site at a hospital/clinic for 5 years before working from home.
They do get a fee for all who actually enroll in career step.
Career Step is $1320 or $1560
x
If they use MTTEST by Career Step - Don't bother...
...just like Career Step's program, MTtest is GREATLY flawed. And the potential employers don't bother to review this or your testing. If an employer lazily uses MTTest (and is recruiting people to buy Career Step's scam terrible training program), I don't bother. Even if you get it right, the module is flawed and will likely say you got it wrong. Don't waste your time being insulted by same.
Companies that actually send you dictation to transcribe are the best to test with. They test your true knowledge/ability, not through a flawed and inadequate multiple choice module that's sole purpose is to recruit people to Career Step.
Just my 2 cents... :O)
Yes...Career Step has a referral program where you receive something like sm
50.00 for every person who signs up for Career Step through you. I BET they are affiliated. How unprofessional can one co. be?
Spheris - is it true they will hire Career Step grads without
making them take employment test? It is so stated on New MT board.
Anyone heard of Career Step program?..cost?..legit?
I checked out the Spheris website and I don't have enough experience to apply...but they directed me to Career Step kind of as a prerequisite to get your foot in the door for employment....there's gotta be a some kind of cost, but I didn't stick around to find out....link, after link, after link..yada yada...anyone have any comments on this setup?
Spheris will hire you. They have lots of Career Step people.
As long as you do not need health insurance, they are fine for a new grad.
We should go one step further than that!
We should stop buying products made in other countries if at all possible (Wal*Mart comes to mind). Don't forget: Every time you buy a foreign product, an American somewhere at some point lost her/his job to offshoring because of that product. MTs represent ONE segment in a loooooooong line of people who are losing/have lost their jobs to offshoring.
One step further
You got one step further than myself. I sent my resume but didn't even hear back from them...so I am guessing they were probably inundated with resumes. Doggone it anyway!
Maybe Transcend needs to step up
to the plate and fix these issues before their investimate goes down the drain.
Yes but Transcend needs to step up
They are loosing a lot of their money by allowing MDI to continue to operate they way they do. I personally would love to see them merge MDI into Transcend and be one company. I'm holding out hope this happens, if it does not then I'm leaving MDI.
Been there . . . this is actually a step up on dictators for me!!! NM
NM
Does feel like the new Q. This is step 1...
Beware.
I agree, but it's a step up from
and I don't care to the Nth power.
Hold on there! Now I must step in.
Don't be putting down people who like to do VR. I did straight typing for over 15 years and I am making the same, if not more, doing VR now. I was not a very slow typist, and quality is my first priority. I've been doing VR for almost a year now and love it. What makes it easy for me is I never really relied on Expanders to up my line rate since my hospital didn't really allow them, except for autocorrect. I didn't have an Expander until 6 years ago. Doing VR, I can't use the expander I did finally learn, but it's no big deal.
Like some other posters stated, it depends on who else is doing the reports whether or not VR is easy or hard. Some days, my reports are easy, other days tough. It's the same when doing straight typing. Some dictators are easy, other are tough.
I don't think VR is really made for large companies with hundreds of transcriptionists. It's made for the smaller companies that all conform to the same verbiage.
If you're good/fast/quality-oriented with straight typing without expanders, then VR would be good for you. If you rely on an expander to get those lines, you will have a problem in the beginning, but if you're flexible, it will pan out.
Don't down people because they like VR. You know what they say......try it. You may like it.
Let's take a step back
Okay. I think we can agree that in this industry, like every other, there are some bad apples. There are some bad MTSOs, some bad MTs and even some bad clients. And there are some good apples, too.
Unfortunately, even the best MTSOs have to deal with a lot of new realities in this business that limit their options. Over the past 15 to 20 years, the business has become much more competitive, clients are now being run by bean-counters who squeeze every penny out of contracts that they can, and the investment that an MTSO has to make in technology today has simply skyrocketed - not only the initial investment, but the ongoing investment in tech people, etc. to keep it running. On top of that, there's been the deteriorating business climate that has actually been going on since 2007, although it didn't attract significant notice until late in 2008.
And now comes speech rec. There's a lot of MTSOs who haven't been thrilled about this because it's a huge investment and because they know how crummy SR really is - but clients become sold on the exaggerations in savings that the SR missionaries preach, and start insisting on it. So you'll do SR or they'll find someone else.
The costs to every business in America for what we call compliance (to all of the jillions of laws that affect business) have also skyrocketed. You can find plenty of information about this yourself. These costs include all sorts of insurance and a lot of costs in terms of your operation just to keep yourself out of court or an administrative hearing of some kind.
MTSO's don't run the industry like some people here seem to think. Clients run the industry. Technology runs the industry. Congress and various administrative agencies at every level of government run the industry. Lawyers run the industry.
There is one thing that I do criticize many MTSOs for, however, and that is the crappy line rate that many of them are paying for SR editing. The typical scenario is that they promise you'll be able to edit jillions more lines per hour than you can transcribe, so you shouldn't mind going from 9 or 10 cpl to 3 or 4 cpl. Unfortunately, you buy into this and then discover that if you do your editing job properly, you really can't do all that many more lines per hour. So your next paycheck sucks. You give it a little longer...and your paycheck still sucks. A couple more paychecks that suck, and now YOU are the one who is out of options.
It's no good telling people who get caught in this trap Well, then, get into another field! because by this time they have no money to be trained in anything else. Their kids are already fighting with the dog to see who gets the food in his bowl. So my criticism is the shameful way that many MTSOs have dealt with their people.
What bothers me the most about this is that every line of an SR document gets edited - even if it doesn't need to be changed. In other words, there's really no difference in the KNOWLEDGE that an Editor has to bring to a line whether she declares the line to be correct or decides that it needs correction. That line is correct is PRECISELY THE SAME SORT OF JUDGMENT as saying That line is wrong.
This is a knowledge business, not a typing business. There is absolutely no excuse for reducing the line rates so drastically (and little experience to show that people can still earn the same living). This means, then, that the MTSO is buying knowledge on the cheap - and that's one thing that I can't forgive them for. That, and the way they sucker people into accepting editing jobs in the first place.
its true, but wish WMX would take the first step
been here for awhile and I am not an underperformer by any means. Yet i still get the NSA message dozens of times a day for the past month. So while I think that waiting it out is the right move for me and that those who can't will go someplace else and create more work, I do wish mgmt would evaluate who is not performing up to par and cut them loose. Sorry if that sound harsh, but i consistently do over 200 lph straight and close to 300 ASR and I think those that perform better should have some kind of preference over those that are at 125 to 150 lph, which i believe is below what mgmt expects each day. don't mean to be offensive to anyone personally, but this is what the industry has come down to.
okay, your first step would be to find out...
What the sale or merger involved, if the sale involved assets only or if it included ALL contracts. If the sale was assets only (meaning accounts) you SHOULD be free of the contract. This would mean they could not have included employees as an asset. If the terms of the sale included existing employee contracts or included the employees as assets, you would be bound by the noncompete clause. Sounds confusing but makes sense. In other words, you need to know if they sold you guys along with the company. That is what happened to me in the past (this was way long ago, 1970s). The new company paid $1000 per employee. We got no notice. one day they told us at 2 p.m. today you no longer work for _____ but are an employee of _____. I walked right then and there. I was not then nor will I ever be for sale! Fortunately for me, at that time we had no noncompete clause in place so we just went and recruited the old clients and started our own service.
Anyone hear of Future Step?
I received an email from Future Step telling me about a job. Never heard of them. Never applied with them?????
QA is not a step up. They make less than the MTs and are on quota.
x
but of course, people in the 10-step program
.
Watch that first step off the horse. NM
nm
let the MTSOs step in the MTs shoes - sm
If they cant pay a decent wage, them maybe it is time to let some of the clients go and work for yourself. It is just like MTs, if you accept a low rate of pay that is what you get. Stand up for yourself MTSOs and ask for more money. Get a back bone.
To follow that logic one step further,
then why is Transcend trying so hard on this board to convince everyone they are not the anti-Christ? If they were that good, everyone would be beating a path to their door and they wouldn't have to be defending themselves to the degree we are seeing...
but correct me if I'm wrong...
new career
I have been transcribing over 10 years and love it, but with the industry robbing us blind and using us I have been making less and less each year. I am in my mid 40s and hate to be thinking of going back to school, but I think I have to. I have always done office work but it is lower paying and I hate being stuck in a cubicle all day. I like the medical field but do not think I am cut out for nursing. Does anyone have any ideas that are decent paying in the medical field that do not takes years to earn a degree at? I looked at ultrasound tech, but I have to investigate this further, not sure if there are any schools in my area.
Trying to be optomistic.
Each journey begins with one small step.
If one hospital/MTSO sees the folly of VR, the lawsuits, etc., they will stop this NONSENSE. Thank you for your validation of my efforts.
When I went to school for this MT career
What happened? I barely clear $30,000 a year in this field working for a national. I'm in debt up to my eyeballs. Someone please help me.
I was told to think of it as a career.
/
been in this career for almost 2 months
Basic rate of pay that I have been seeing is 7-8 cents per line for IC and thats basically what it is set in stone at. I would be told that in some cases before even sending a resume and giving them my experience.
That is crazy, considering you can be paid that much as an employee. I agree about the taxes also.
Why would you have to give up your career?
If you can't get your job back, apply for a remote job - most companies are more concerned with *if* you can do the job (which will be apparent if you test well). As to a two year lapse in work record? Who says you have to be that precise with your dates?
I like it! Most sites having to do with career changes - sm
seem to be geared to high-powered professional types, or computer geniuses. We're in such a NICHE, (or is that just a nice word for 'RUT'?), and our skills are specialized. Also, quite a few of us have been doing this for 20 or 30 years, and have specific problems with changing careers because we concentrated all our energies into MT. I, myself, lack the BA Degree so many places seem to want, even for lower-paying jobs. I only got as far as an AA Degree, and it's in Art. Totally useless. So, currently looking not too far down the road to my 60s, the thought of going back to school (which for me would mean all the way back to high school math, chemistry, etc.), just doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. Still, I have to eat..........
Career Steps
Everyone seems to want to hire Career Steps people. I went to Ashworth Career School online. I thought I was doing fine there, I liked the convenience of the course and the low monthly payments. But, they are not very recognized by MT companies.
Career decisions
I've done nursing and I am here to tell you all that it is not as easy as it looks. The money might be great, but it is so frustrating and exhausting, especially when you are right there on the front lines, so to speak, dealing with life and death right up close working in a somewhat dysfunctional medical system.
If you are young and energetic or just energetic at any age, it might be a viable solution to study nursing. For me, like some others, working from home, at home, is my top priority.
Through the years, I have noticed that many of the really happy MTs are those who do not have to depend on their MT jobs to pay their main bills, but may do medical transcription work part time to supplement their income. No, I am not discounting those who do it full-time and are very successful and really love it; I'm sure they do exist.
However, the suggestions made in this thread make total sense to me, kind of like having the best of both worlds. Now, the challenge is to find that perfect part-time MT job, as well as a really good career with a promising future, doing something else.
career change
ultrasound and radiology tech schools are pumping out a lot of students every year with not enough jobs to go around (have friends who are recent candidates who cannot find work). what is really in demand is occupational therapy tech and physical therapy tech and of course nursing. good luck with your decision.
Ouch. This hurts but it's so true. It might be time to step
I think it might be time to give up some benefits in exchange for someone who knows what I look like and treats me mostly like I'm a human being. I'm so discouraged.
For seasoned, fast transcriptionists, hourly would be a step down ...
I agree with your post. I've given a lot of thought lately to whether hourly would be more fair (given the extras that we have to do), and I've come to the conclusion that it is not. In the spirit of honesty, if I were to take an hourly position, my production would suffer for it.
As an experienced and fast transcriptionist, the amount of time I spend looking up unfamiliar terms is negligible, and I've reached a point of knowing what mush-mouthed blanks I won't get, after listening six or seven times.
The only thing I ask for is pay commensurate to my experience and knowledge. With a decent line rate, I could accept that there are other things that go into my job and that my line rate doesn't just pay for my production - it pays for the emails, and the instant messages, and figuring out line counts, and spending ten minutes every so often looking for a doctor's address.
As it is, at 8 cpl, those things are not worth the amount of money that I'm making. They seem superfluous and cut into my real life.
So, in answer to the first question, with 12 years of experience, an ingrained attention to detail, and all the knowledge of this profession that 12 years can bring, I believe my worth is 13-14 cpl. That's roughly $47,000 a year at 1500 lines a day. I think, given the intensity of our work hours (and the fact that, unlike other jobs, we don't get to spend an hour talking to coworkers or daydreaming or resting for any reason), that's a very, very fair wage in this day and age.
I think the voice file is the next step. As far as the copy typing, sm
I didn't do as well as I thought I would either. That not being able to back up more than a word kinda sucks. Still, it was fun. I guess I need to get out more - ha.
Hoorah! I'm still a step ahead of a gas station clerk. n/m
f
I don't know when you started a nursing career but
I was more than happy to trade in mine for MT training. I worked as a R.N. for a health system that formed that wonderful alliance, as most have. I found myself working in all 3 hospitals, in 4 different areas. Years ago I worked in ICU and knew my patients and gave them ICU nursing care. The last time I worked in ICU, it was for 1 day, then it was off to a hospital across town to work a med-surg floor for 2 days and then back to ICU again, where I was told my patient had died. I blamed that on no one knowing her case and so much rotation that the patients have been forgotten. I worked swing shifts and weekends and witnessed more and more of my coworkers leaving for nursing homes just to have a half decent schedule, then becoming depressed when the elderly patients they got attached to passed away. I decided to go for what I now call hands on nursing care without really being there and I started working as a MT 4 years ago. I love it!!! Nurses may be paid more but for what in exchange? As for pay and benefits in the MT profession, I never expected benefits for being self employed so I provide my own. I also make more money doing this because I am in charge of my schedule and my work volume. I also no longer have nightmares about the patients I feel I had to abandon to satisfy a bunch of bureaucrats who run hospitals these days. So before you announce how much better nurses have it, become one and try out your skills in any hospital of your choice. Lots of luck!
I am hoping to start a new career with a new
company this year. Working on the resume now! I am so tired and burned out with my present employer and so unhappy doing QA. I want to transcribe again, or QA with a more professional company. Not too much to ask for, right? But change is hard. I hope I don't wimp out.
Worst experience of my career.
//
Career board dried up?
Have companies stopped posting on the Careers board? I assume work hasn't dried up in the two months I haven't been on here?
It's time to fine a new career.
nn
My god, and you stayed in this career while failing
the only one to blame as I can't imagine why you would think that summation of your career any step of the way was a success. Per your description, sounds like nothing worked for you after a year or 2 at best. I've been in the biz the same length of time and experienced the complete opposite of your story. I would never have endured what you have endured, as I would have had the common sense to realize that the job was not cut out for me or vice versa. You have thrown your entire life away on this industry, and yet came back again, and are on here bitter and spewing hatred at complete strangers to you. Honestly, you need to re-evaluate - read your own life story and take some accountability, realizing that you should never ever have stayed in this industry. You have nothing to show for it, have lost everything per your own claims, so please reconsider and have the back half of your life mean something - anything, whatever is important to you. Obviously this industry is not suited to you. Please don't lump us all in with your experience. I can't imagine many MTs have suffered as you have - why would we? We would find a new line of work ASAP and move on with our lives, not sacrifice them as you have. I can't even feel sorry for you as a reader - none of your story makes sense as to why you have persevered - its just a sad meaningless synopsis.
Of course its my career - has been my entire life
That's what makes no sense about this rant above me. She recounts 30 years of her life as an MT and how horrible its been, all the failings, and how it has ruined her life since nearly day #1. Per her own words, she blames everything, from her blood pressure to her endometriosis, blames her divorce, missing out on her son, blames everything on MTing, yet she has done it for 30 years and now is back at it again. She claims over and over to have failed at literally every aspect in her life she felt worth mentioning, blaming it all on MTing, yet here she is an MT. What part of that makes sense to you? We're to feel sorry for her?? I've been in this business 30 years and have been a success. I've had a zillion trials and hardships and battles, but my career is a success, or I would have gotten the heck out of it when it became a disaster. If that doesn't make sense to you, which obviously it doesn't, then there is no reason or sanity with which you can be approached. Substitute MTing for any career - if you are failing at it, and you've lost everything in life due to that career, why are you still doing it? That's a big question, because the blame is not on the career, its on the person. Nobody else to blame but yourself. Period.
I think it's a good career policy to always have a
(nm)
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