I don't thing depression or recession has anything to do with it. sm
Posted By: mqmtMQMT on 2008-11-13
In Reply to: Alas,I think that in this day and age - blackswan
I think it is because all the work is going overseas and since the companies have that option, they don't care anymore. In fact it is not just our professon but all of corporate America does not care about employees and then they wonder why the employees don't do a good job for them. It is a 2-way street. Just my 2 cents!
Complete Discussion Below:  marks the location of current message within thread
The messages you are viewing
are archived/old.
To view latest messages and participate in discussions, select
the boards given in left menu
Other related messages found in our database
I don't think there is such a thing as a recession proof job... sm
but I sure can tell you this...I have been doing transcription for 13 years. I have done it in house and at home, at home since 1998. I have worked for so many companies I can't even remember most of them from Lanier to Medquist to Spheris to Cardioscribes to Transform. I could go on and on. My three children are young but not so young anymore that I can't leave them alone for a while during the day now. My oldest is in high school now and all I can say is that I have had enough with this transcription bullcrap business. When I tell people what these transcription companies have done to me, their eyes bug out of their heads. I had gone to work for Cardioscribes leaving a very good paying job only to have them tell me that they weren't going to pay me because, as a salaried account manager, they felt I didn't work enough the two weeks before. They decided to pay me for only five days of the pay period instead of 12, took their sweet time sending the check, and then fired me. Now I have a really pretty $400 phone bill from conference calls that I get to pay with no paycheck. I had one company tell me after working 90 hours in a 2-week period and after sending in my timesheet, Gee, quite frankly, we really just can't afford to pay you this kind of paycheck for QA so we are going to change your pay from hourly to a cents per line salary retroactive for the last two weeks. They took my paycheck from $1350 to $500 then fired me two days after I received my almost $800 short paycheck. MDI you ask??? I currently just got hired by them. My training was to start on Oct. 7 and you know what... they don't even have enough work on the account to get me through my DQA training, which lasts for two weeks where you can only type 20 minutes per day, and the liason went out of town so I was told not to bother to type until Monday!!!! However, when they hired me, they expected me to commit to so many lines per day and I had to commit to working at least 3 holidays and one day on the weekend, and this is all as an IC!!! The other company that I was just hired for took three weeks to get me hired and now has sent out 3, either broken or the wrong foot pedals. I have spent these years as an MT hanging around all day waiting for work (sometimes for weeks and months) and some, if not most days, getting no work at all. I worked for Focus Infomatics as a SWAT QA and watched them fire 50 people in a weeks time for absolutely no reason at all and most of those people were just hired within a week who left good jobs to go work for them. I had one company tell me on a constant day-to-day basis that there just wasn't any work available. This went on for three months until they finally decided to put their work into a pool. When I got access to viewing the pool, you should have seen the work available but I sat for three months with no work at all and no paycheck either. I complained to the payroll person about the lack of work and she said she didn't understand because she was processing some really great paychecks and as far as she was concerned, nothing had changed within the company so she couldn't understand why I had no work. I was an IC for that company and everyone else was an employee. The owners knew everyone because they worked with everyone while in-house at a big hospital before the MT manager decided to open up his own MT company. All of the MTs at the hospital decided to go with him so he gave all the work went to them, although I was told by them that my work was excellent. They are now being investigated for cheating the MTs on their line counts, I believe. I have had QA people send screaming e-mails regarding work that I did telling me that the dictator was a truly horrible dictator but that I did a horrible job and that they don't get paid to fill in the words or phrases that I couldn't get. Last year, a month before Christmas, I got axed by CBay as a QA as they eventually ax everybody they hire. I couldn't even buy Christmas gifts, not even one. We had to purchase one gift for each one of our children and we had to put those three gifts on a credit card. I am now extremely overweight, smoke like a chimney because of massive financial stress and the stress of having no life, have absolutely no friends and absolutely ZERO social life, and I am virtually financially ruined (credit score is less than 500). I have had it with this field. It was ok to do this when my children were very young as I had no choice because I couldn't afford daycare for three kids. My husband works very hard but there is no way we could afford $400 a week for childcare back then. The key words here are I had no choice. I do now though I am getting the hell out of this crap before anyone else has the chance to screw me over. It seems to me that the ones who are making more and more money only make it because they are putting in more hours...not because their cents per line has increased. I have read on these boards that MTing is the only job where the salary goes down after years of experience instead of increasing and that is the absolute honest truth AND THAT IS JUST WRONG!!! I have interviews set up, one with a job just about a mile down the street from where I live, and I just can't wait! I can't wait to have a normal paycheck every single week. I can't wait to not be screwed over anymore! I can't wait to make friends again! I can't wait to be out of my house every day and be social every day with human beings and be glad to come home at the end of the day! Maybe this year I can even buy my kids some Christmas gifts. Every person who asks me about MTing I tell them, don't you dare go near MT work. It will ruin your life. As far as your questino about a recession proof job, there really is no job that is recession proof, but after reading my post and hopefully realizing that this can happen to you too as it does so many of us MTing, do you think that a recession is what you really need to be worrying about? YOU NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THE DECISION YOU MADE TO GET INTO THIS FIELD!
I am waning on the depression and getting mad.
I have so much to say to the mgmt, it is going to be hard to keep a lid on it and to be professional. But I will say they would do well NOT to come on line and say where are all the people who said we have no work? Because just maybe we are basking in the excitement of this new opportunity (while they roll in the dough we earned for them). Gee whiz, let us bask a little too!
Welcome to the recession everyone!
**
Recession proof job
In these uncertain times, just curious how everyone sees the outlook of an MT? With voice recognition, how do you see the job market in 10 years? I am an instructor at a local small community college that teaches basic transcription and this is a topic of discussion. Any help would be appreciated!
Recession proof .. ??
I think that you need to tell your students we are in a situation now that eludes all reason as tight money makes us all possible victims of this recession. If hospitals or businesses cannot borrow money in a fluid way then payrolls become a problem. Otherwise, MT is not going away, but it is changing and to stay relevant you have to change with the time and the technology, which drives the train. A dose of realism is often the best way to make a point.
As for recession proof sm
I feel pretty recession proof.
I have 2 jobs and will make more as an MT this year than I have ever have. I don't work as much or as hard as you might think. I am break taker and if I actually spent 8 hours a day physically typing I would be surprised, but I will still come up over $45K this year. It is my speed and accuracy that allows me to be the break taker I am. When I am at the keyboard, I AM ALL IN and when I break, I break.
I am also aware that MT is changing, but not going away. I don't feel taken advantage of and I don't feel I am underpaid. I don't think that corporations are squeezing me or that I have overseas competition. I feel that as MTs go, I am sitting right up there at the top of the heap. If either of my companies start reducing staffing levels, I will not be one of the ones they let go. In the one case, I know I would be the first on the list to be retained. I don't actually worry about having a job or finding a new one when needed. My problem is usually fielding offers and deciding which one to pick.
This is not most of us though and I understand that. I worry for those of you who are not at the top of this profession and will have to worry about where it is going a lot sooner than I shall.
Healthcare and recession
we have an aging population, I know I'm one of them. Many actually have health benefits and will have Medicare. Healthcare is pretty recessionproof. Some of your slowdown may be due to the economy, but there is undoubtedly some change in management reason also. If people wait to see the doctor, they will not necessarily get better. Clinic work, however, I think will stay busier than acute care until this medical neglect lands people in the hospital.
We're in a recession. If you want jobs, you'd
nm
My take: They're using the recession as an excuse
justify sending more work out to India. Just one more reason to convince our legislators to pull the plug on offshoring without some kind of monetary consequence for those companies that do it.
Debate is one thing, and posting is one thing,
but this is getting absurd. I think it must be the same person, otherwise multiples who cannot stay on topic?? Why can't you STICK with the subject? The subject of my post was NOT what your cent per line rate was or is - I could care less- and not how much money you made last year, this year, or in your life, but how silly the comment was that your cents per line rate means NOTHING, that its up to you - some fluff like that. That is just so silly. Again, working for the same company, same account, is one going to make more money being paid more per line? OF course! This is so frustrating and really makes me so tired of reading this garbage let alone posting. Its like a nightmare. And also makes me completely believe that the original company must pay peanuts.
good thing it is a temporary thing sm
because people with your attitude don't stay in anything very long anyway. Nobody has to listen to that crap to keep their job.
You don't know me either. you can say old fart all you want (when did 53 get to be old fart....too funny) but at least I am a valuable employee who can get a decent job!
Well for one thing, it would not be a professional thing
to do for any MTSO to have a board to do this as part of being an MTSO involves the ability to identify and hold on to confidential information. Even if a person is a job hopper (which in this business rather than go against you can make you a stronger better MT if you can do just about anything thrown at you), if a person is looking for a job, a company needs to have the MT's permission to contact their current employer. Where one has worked or has not worked is something that is very unprofessional being discussed on a board by MTSOs.
Being a business owner of any kind comes with it possessing what it takes to maintain ethical practices.
MDI-FL is not the same as it use to be. They say one thing sm
and do another. MDI-FL has their pets and it is so evident.
One more thing
Do you know anything about Medical Transcription Services out of Texas. They hire graduates of Andrews and other schools. Thank you.
Oh-one more thing...
You never said how many lines you type an hour-- over 350 to 400 typing and 600 editing??
DIDN'T THINK SO--you don't know what you are talking about in regards to the problems a lot of us are having because it is probably better for you. Even the Transcend CEO said it would be better for the SLOWER MTs. I guess you are one of those I take it. If you EVER get your line count up and then have it snatched away, then maybe you will understand what we are talking about, but right now you are clueless sweetie!!!....LOL
That's the thing and
I've been watching this board for a few months now and whenever anyone has a good position as the the poster above states, they never post their real name or where they work. Hmmmm.
OSI did the same thing to me ....
It took them 2 months after I got an acceptance letter. Nobody knew what anyone else was doing and they would never call me back or answer my E-mails or anything, so I went elsewhere and boy am I glad I did
Another thing...
I find it particularly pathetic that someone at Transcend is so willing to put my name out there, yet doesnt post their name. I am sure that you are one to get on here and complain and whine about how you hate Transcend and are so unhappy and trash the place while hiding in secrecy. Why not post your complaints on the forum? To afraid? It really burns me that someone could drag me into this thread while being a coward and not post their own name. 
She had one thing that the other
management knew nothing about....RESPECT for the MTs!
And the sad thing about this...sm
they have some great accounts, great dictators...but they are pitiful to work for. Happened to me 3 times. When I told them their check was no good...her response was....funds will be available in 3 days. yeah right!!! I was stupid to stay on that long to receive 3 BAD checks.
Know what will happen, one day some of those MTs will get pissed off and they MAY just lose some of those good accounts they have...and that 8% allowance for spaces..yeah right, who does Deb Garrison think she is fooling? Does she really think all MTs can't "figure" that this is so wrong!!!!
She and her husband are a piece of WORK...
Here is the thing. (sm)
Those who fail a test for employment at other nationals can be hired by OSi. So, how does that make you feel? OSi does not require a decent score to be hired....they are desperate!!!
I would not feel too superior working for OSi...I would be embarrassed!
They are doing the same thing at MDI-FL.
Overhire and no work for current employees.
Only thing I know is... sm
I've seen the recruiters name listed for at least 4 companies in the last couple years and have been misled to two companies she recruited for, I would be wary of any promises she makes. Just my observation of the job boards, won't work anywhere she recruits for.
And another thing (sm)
We all will make this profession or what used to be a profession what it is today.
We are selling a service. If I hired an attorney, I would not ask him for a psychological test or a credit report. I wouldn't ask a contractor that was doing some work in the backyard for a credit report.
When companies ask me for too much for too little, I blow them off. They are already taking a lot of your pay. For them to want you to be an IC, you pay for your own equipment and internet service, you give them an hourly schedule when you are supposed to be an IC, they want 3 references, etc., and now they want a psycological test? Ask a contract attorney or contractor for that, they'd probably hang up the phone in your ear.
Yes, I want to hire you as my attorney, but I want to see a credit report, want to know exactly what hours you will be working and you will need to take a psychological test. All this and I will pay you $10.00 an hour.
I think it is nonsense and they are not treating us like professionals and with the respect that we deserve. And with that, good luck ladies and gents!
Same Thing For Me
The same thing happened to me. Got a call yesterday stating that I started the testing, but never finished and they would like me to work with them. The reason I didn't finish it is that I got a pop-up screen that said I didn't have enough experience, but the caller yesterday said they stress the 2-year experience heavily and I don't have 2 years yet.
even my mgr says there is really no such thing
as straight 'verbatim'. We have to use a little common sense, and esp with obvious errors of dictation, we put what is right, ie, the he/she thing.
I work a verbatim as my primary account, and at times would LOVE to put it character-per-character verbatim, but it'd never fly and at least my mgmt understands that (at MQ)...
Here's the thing.
I came to this board in a sincere search for info about companies. When I saw all the OSi bashing and name-calling and the tendency to berate anybody that might disagree, my immediate impression was that this was just a disgruntled employee taking his/her bad feelings out on an ex-employer. If anything, it made OSI look more appealing to me. I was relieved when the adm. finally took measures to get some proof because when facts are presented in an irrational, angry way, they're really questionable. Presentation is everything. If you want to express your opinion, why not do it in such a way that you're believable and don't come across as an unreliable source. What's so difficult about that? People want your honest opinions, but aren't looking to be insulted or read your personal vendettas. And now that I'm comfortably with a co. again, I won't be coming back to this board. It's been a very negative experience for the most part.
One more thing to add...
Remember, we don't have time to give kudos for every good report you do too - most of us (I know at my company we do) we have an extremely high production level to meet every day, which I don't agree with because it makes it difficult for us to give much feedback and we only have time to say if someone is doing something wrong, etc. We don't have time to say on every report for someone who is training -great job on this one, good job on that one - it's just not the way it is.
One thing I can say for sure is that
medical transcription keeps recruiters busy. One recruiter pays $1200 rent in Florida, not to mention other expenses. She told me this herself. Sounds like recruiting is big business more than MTs. Another recruiter whose last name rhymes with day probably makes as much or more. Her name is continually on this board. Thanks for the freedom to post on this board.
One last thing.
You are just annoying people on this board who have a rapport with me. Maybe you are just annoying people on this board who have a rapport with MQ'er. I agree with her, and I'll thank you not to accuse me and the others of being her. You're the one using foul language and calling people names because you got CALLED OUT for making the mistakes and having a negative attitude, and you don't like it one little bit.
One more thing, lol
I'm going to assume you are talking about the fact that _____'s name is being used. I'm guessing that because she came on the board to defend her position and used her name, that it opened up the door, so to speak, for her name to be used in posts. If my assumption is wrong...well then my previous post still covers it! :)
the thing too is
no job is safe anymore. Sure you can go to school for your bachelors degree, but look how many people who are degreed to the hill with experience are out of work.
The last thing I would want is to be put on a
they have just hired too many MTs, period. I have worked for MDI for several years and working whenever you wanted was never a problem before that I knew of. But I think now there are just too many people competing for the work. Every time there are a few reports everyone jumps on and grabs them, we run out again, and we all have to keep checking back in looking for more work. There is just not enough work to go around and that's the whole problem. It took me 10 hours yesterday to get 1000 lines. My goal had been 2000 lines, but can't get 2000 lines if there's not enough work.
The best thing to do!
Be honest. Better to look up what you don't know, and admit to having to do that than be cocky and guess at it.
There are a lot of things I know off the top of my head, as another poster put it, but it, along with everything else, escapes me when I'm hit with something like that.
Look at it this way: Actors memorize their lines and could probably recite them in their sleep, but if they get stage fright, it all goes out the window. Same thing.
That's the same thing I did...
We moved to another town and I went from in-house back into the hospital world. To make a long story short ----- I'm back working at home after almost 2 years. We had a MT manager that made Hitler look like a sissy. What an ego! You can take that favoritism, cherry pickin', loudspeaker, etc. and keep it. At least now, I'll just keep movin' from company to company until I find a match. There are plenty of them out there......unlike a town with 2 hospitals. Good Luck!
PJ ... one more thing....
I actually am leaving my email address in this post. I forgot to put it in on the last one - sorry for all the bother!!
See...the thing is...
on this site for every company that is recommended by someone as being a great company to work for, someone else will come along and say that very same company is a terrible place to work. It really is best to reasearch the companies on your own by going to their websites and asking the companies directly. You can ask on here...you just have to try and weed through all the muck to get to the truth. The company I work for I great, but I don't talk about it on here because I don't want to have to see all the untruths come about from other posters. A good website that lists pretty much every MT company is:
http://www.transcriptionresource.com/companiesa.htm
one more thing
I guess what is really upsetting is that a lot of us came on here defending our company stating that this would never happen while others were accusing us of sticking our head in the sand, and then come to find out it was true, no fun looking like an idiot, a little heads up would have been nice along with an explanation of why the offshoring had to be done because of the slackers. That's all.
You did the RIGHT thing.
.
But it also does not mean that it is a BAD thing either. sm
Remember that AAMT accepts applications for Emp of the Year from employees of that particular company. I believe that it takes multiple applicants and information to make that happen too.
same old thing
it was like so many others, they hired a bunch of us, put us through training, and then told us to wait a couple of months until they got their big new account going. They all seemed extremely nice but I need to work, not wait
I was going to say the same thing....
Just by noticing what the current employees are saying and how they handle situations like comments on this board reminds me of I KNOW YOU ARE, BUT WHAT AM I, LOL!
Same thing!!!
Wow!! Same here, I complained to the recruiter, and I have not heard back from her. I have never had such a difficult test and I have been doing transcription for 23 years!!!! I am guessing this is the way it is with their company, since I did not hear back from their recruiter after I complained about the sound quality. I didn't have a test smaller than six minutes, either.
same thing here
lasted only 2 weeks there
The best thing I did was set a sm
special ring tone to DHs number and the school's number. Unless I hear those tones, I don't answer. I have told my friends/family that I work until 1 and I will not answer the phone.
I had a friend who asked me to babysit once--it was a one-time deal, really in a bind, so I did. Well, next month she asked again. I just nicely said I really could not do it because I had a lot of work to do and that was that. She hasn't asked again.
Like the saying goes--Just Say NO!
They always say the same thing the same way, because that is the only sm
way they know to say it. You just have to get samples and figure out what they are saying. Personally, I think they are much better than the English as first language ones, who like to play around with words, show off their verbal skills. give me a break.
any such thing...
What company/companies can start a FT employee w/9 years experience out at 10 cpl? Are there any?
another thing
When I first started (I won't say how long I was there for obvious reasons) we really did want to make sure the quality was good, now it's just get them gone. It's like the owner doesn't even care anymore. My direct super would tell me just send them. That's really scary considering how bad some of the offshore shops were. The op notes were so bad it was frightening. I guess it will take somebody getting hurt from a bad report. Sure makes you feel stupid for doing quality work and then finding out you aren't worth anything but a few cents a line and the offshores are everything. I bet the people here from the US typing are less than 5%, and the ones they got that I would edit were the hideously bad ones. Yet another quality shop down the tubes.
We are all going through the same thing right now!
I wish I knew what to tell you but I'm in the same boat. The first 7 or 8 months I worked at Amphion everything was GREAT; tons of work, overtime pay, same account most of the day. Now, the work is so slow I'm switching to 3 or 4 accounts all day long and every single one of them have a million different rules and way to do demo screen so it's hard to make any money like that. I can only hope that they get things straightened out QUICK and things go back to the way they were because they were such a good company before. They have already lost a lot of MTs for this very reason so I hope they wake up soon. I'm thinking about a 2nd job myself. Good luck to ya
One more thing. The one thing that
I did not call perfect was their line rate. I do believe the line rate for someone who had been doing this for many years could have been more, but if you weigh all factors in (I am thinking of other companies, etc., that was not enough of a reason not to take their position). From wearing many hats, I do know what the companies are paying. Some pay more per line, but bottom line is they have sound problems or other problems, downtime problems, communication problems. There is always something. This company has it all, but I do feel they could pay more money for a seasoned MT who knows all work types, accents, etc. You get the picture. I still think that had I been able to do FT MT again that even though they paid less per line that they still would be the best to work for by how they make you feel.
I also wonder the same thing.
Especially the folks who get emails from their supervisor and then come to this site expecting us to explain what the supervisor meant. This truly baffles me. I don't get it.
This is no different than if they worked in an office and their supervisor told them something that they didn't understand...and then this person walks out on the street flagging down strangers expecting the strangers to explain to them what the supervisor meant...instead of just asking the supervisor.
I am beginning to think that mental illness is rampant amongst MTs.
|
