Keep in mind you're not making any
Posted By: BeenThere on 2008-09-02
In Reply to: ..those other tasks ... (sm) - midwestMT
money while answering those phone calls and handling tech issues. Before you know it, you're ordinary 14 hour day turns into a 24 hour day. It's not as if you take on the client and clear your .14 cpl - it's FAR from that.
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Do you mind making 0.07 cpl?
If you're in the 37% tax bracket, you're making over
100K per year. Quit complaining.
They're making themselves look bad.
I clicked on jen has a big nose and there's an ad there for OSI.
CMT with only 8 mo exp? I think you're making
If you're referring to your CMT as a certificate in medical transcription for completing your course, you're misrepresenting yourself.
CMT is a certification that can ONLY be obtained through the CMT challenge exam with the AAMT (AHDI).
Please, stop with the CMT for just finishing your course.
No wonder you're not making $25+
an hour. Give yourself a chance. You've only been at it 2 years. It took me almost 10 years to really start making a good hourly wage. Prior to those 10 years, I worked as a medical secretary doing a little transcription. I went to college for my Associate's in medical secretarial. During the 10 years I transcribed, I also worked part-time in an office a couple of days a week, as I am not one who can sit 8 hours a day, 5 days a week and type.
It has taken me this long to make an *hourly wage* that I am happy with. However, I must say I am far happier at the fact that I work from home, don't have to pay a babysitter or buy office clothes or put gas in a car to go work. Give yourself a break. Two years is not that long in this biz. 7 cpl isn't bad for 2 years either. When I left my last MT job, I had been there about 9 years and was only making 0.775 (even less for voice recognition). So, please cut yourself some slack. You'll get there eventually.
Try not to focus so much on the money and look at the many other rewards. The money will come, just try not to focus on it. 
If you're making it to the
testing stage but not getting any offers, you might look into how you're doing on the tests. Maybe you could have an experienced fellow MT look over some of your work & see if they can offer you any tips or corrections that might be causing the problem.
I had this happen to me & had 10 yrs experience at the time. I had no trouble with any actual medical content, but I was so used to doing things the way my previous employer wanted that I wasn't as up to date on my BOS as I should've been. Just a thought...
LOL is right...If you're only making 4 cpl at TT
You're grossly inadequate. Anyone who just makes base pay at TT with all of their incentives and bonuses must be in over their heads.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL is right!!!
They actually think they're making themselves look GOOD to us!
LOL
Nope...they're making more
when they offshore the work. American MTs all want 10-12 cents/line. When they offshore they pay 6 cents/line for transcription, 3-4 cents/line for QA, so they're making more money offshoring than giving it to American MTs at 10-12 cents/line and then having to still do QA at 3-4. See the picture?? Do the math...
They're not making a profit.
I work at Futurenet. I don't mind paying the 25.00. It's guaranteed by 10:30 a.m. It has only been late once and I was reimbursed the cost. It's worth it to me for the peace of mind.
You're making me have flashbacks...
I'm going to have to go take a Zantac - LOL :)
Changing jobs is such a nightmare now. It used to be so much easier when we all worked on Word, used our own expanders, etc. They'd basically just send the account rules & turn you loose... We could be up and working full speed in no time. All these weird platforms have really complicated it!
Unless you're secretly making FAR MORE than
I just find it very hard to believe that anyone could feel their paycheck is 'just fine'. If your company is 'in keeping with every other MTSO out there', then I would take that to mean that the pay there sucks, just like it does at every other MTSO out there.
Think about your level of expertise, your knowledge, the skills you have that probably 98% of the U.S. workforce does not have. Believe me, even looking information up on the internet takes a certain level of savvy. I know people who never seem to be able to find what they're looking for on Google, for instance, because they don't know how to search. And how to read between the lines once they find information they think might be accurate.
You make thousands of judgement calls every day as you work. Do you really hear this word, or this drug dosage? Or not? Do I flag this for QA to check, or do I send it through? Your judgement calls can impact patient other people's lives.
Your typing skill, hearing and memory have to be far above average in order to succeed. You have to know prefixes, suffixes, a certain amount of Greek and Latin, anatomy, and your way around a PDR like the back of your hand. And so on and so on.
Imagine if your level of skill were being applied at just about any other line of work out there. Or if you were a legal secretory or a court reporter (2 jobs with similar skill-sets and intelligence requirements). Most of us have probably looked at those careers in the past, and we have a pretty good idea what they pay. And it's far and above what any MT can ever dream of making, even if they work 10-12 hour days, 7 days a week.
I'm 'managing' on my income, too. Just barely. I know how to budget, how to do without most things, and where every penny I own is located. But just 'managing' is a far, far cry from 'thriving' or 'succeeding'.
'Just getting by' is what you do if you sneak into the country and pick lettuce for a living. It shouldn't be what medical transcribers have to settle for.
Mind if I ask what you're going to school for? I'm looking at my options and
am thinking about going back to school. Trying to decide what might be a good career change that would still utilize my skills or at least be an interesting line of work.
they're the ones griping about making min wage
and barely making line counts
so they have the qa. so what? they don't have the production.
BRAVO!! I'm sure you're making lots of $$$s..sm
But if you were like the rest of us peons who had to run back every few seconds of footage because you can't understand most of what the dictating clown is saying, whether ESL or native train-catcher or sleepwalker or can't-make-up-my-mind-what-I-want-to-say, Ah...Hmmmm...Scratch that!...Let's see, ..uh...where were we.. uh... zzzz (yawn) zzzz. And then they race through the labs & medications 78 RPM. But they're God's chosen people while we can't miss a comma...QA gets p..... off if we send too many blanks, well, I hope you see my point. My hat goes off to you!
You're making $400 a day on voice recognition?
How in the heck are you doing that? What kind of rate are you getting? How many lines are you doing a day? I'm just blown away at people making $50,000 a year in this business, much less $104,000. WOW! Congrats! Talk about depress me even more LOL.
QA compensation - anyone happy with what you're making?
I'm sorely tempted to look into a QA position and I was wondering how the compensation compared to transcribing. I would love to be paid hourly, but it seems most offer by-the-line pay. I know there are variables (platform, ESL, etc.) but I'm trying to come up with some type of comparable compensation formula just as a jumping-off point for negotiation. Anyone care to elaborate on what they're earning, how they're paid, and how this compares to their transcribing earnings?
If you're making yourself sick over no work
why not get another job instead of complaining about no work all the time? No job is worth getting stressed and sick over it.
Don't forget, TT is not the only company that has low/no work. Haven't you read the other posts on the other companies or do you just concentrate on putting TT down all the time?
Find another job, leave TT if it makes you so sick.
If you aren't management & you're making good
money on VR, then why are you so desperate to attack those who don't want to do VR & try to shove it down their throats? A fellow MT wouldn't do that. They'd simply say they like it & how much they make rather than having a meltdown over other MTs not being thrilled about the switch....
You're making mountains out of mole hills. A vindictive
.
FUNNIEST THING..they all think you're making all this big money (LMAO) -nm
Ok - here ya go. I went from making $1800 per pay period to making just under $900.
Is that significant enough for you? Believe us, we are not just being negative with a grudge or anything like that. This is real! A month later, I was gone from there fast!
Hope you're enjoying those slave wages you're earning.
.
So you guys feel you're getting paid what you're worth with VR?
I'm not trying to be snarky. I've never done VR, so I'm trying to understand.
You're happy with your paycheck with VR? Do you find the files to be as bad as the original post implied?
So you're telling me, basically, they're bad news?
They offered me 0.095/line and you know - it sounded too good to be true, but I SWEAR the recruiter told me they do not outsource. Oh brother... I just wish they'd be honest. I really don't know what to do.
Not the OP, but they're supposed to take out all the other taxes as you're an employee with th
s
No, they're not losing money....they're gaining!
If a company charges their clients by the line, I'm sure that line rate does not go down even though the MTs pay does.
ASR pays about 2/3 normal line rate to its MTs. Their ultimate goal is to have the MTs do twice as much work. Therefore, the client is getting their work faster, but paying their normal rate, while corporate gets that money and the MTs get the lower line rate.
Whether the newbies want to realize it or not, MTSOs have not increased MTs' salaries in the past 10 years. They still start out at the same pay as the last century!
This used to be a very lucrative profession. Nowadays, most MTs are considered to be paid at the poverty level. You don't believe me, look it up!
Hey, you're in luck then. They're hiring! (nm)
x
If they're in Nebraska, they're www.medigrafix.com nm
m
If you're an IC, you pay all your taxes. Otherwise you're an SE or employee. nm
s
If you're PT you're required to work
8 of your hours in one weekend day. There's no extra pay for it though.
The face we're wising up is exactly why they're
xxx
We're not 'so scared' of it. We're trying to help
you to not make a huge mistake, but I guess you're determined to learn the hard way, so good luck with that.
Nobody in their right mind
Would work for MQ ever again. I promise - even if they offer you 12 cpl - they adjust the line count and you DO NOT KNOW IT. It's a program they use. I know this for a fact!
do you mind me asking
how much did you make last year?
don't mind at all
Made 32K last year. If things continue like they are now (if I don't break my arm or something) I will make at least 36K this year.
Thanks - will keep in mind
nm
If you don't mind my asking,
Is it one of those 3rd shift hourly jobs? I have been intrigued by that but haven't applied. I'm just wondering if it consists of all the crap dictation that wasn't done during the day. I have plenty of that where I am now.
If you don't mind, what is the pay
x
One more, if you don't mind? sm
As an IC, they don't offer direct deposit, but you can pay to have your check overnighted. Do you do that or just wait to get it via snail mail? If so, how long do you usually have to wait for it? I love direct deposit, but it's really hard to get EVERYTHING you want in a company and if that's the only thing I don't like, I hate to turn it down!
Keep in mind that not everyone
takes all comments on this board seriously (at least I don't). I don't have any experience with your company in particular, but I did take a job several months ago with a company who is continually bashed on this board, about 90% of comments were negative ones over a period of about a year when I researched the archives. I still accepted a position with them and it's the best job I have ever had. I left an hourly inhouse position because I wanted to work on production. I am making over twice as much, plus working from home. After I started working for this company, I realized why most of the comments were negative, especially ones regarding my particular account. My hospital account insists on excellence and is very particular about quality. The company has had to weed out many MTs whose quality was not up to par. My company has been bashed again on this board several times this past week with negative posters discouraging people to apply. I have given up trying to defend the company.
Hopefully visitors to this board who are job searching will take things that are said here with a grain of salt -- not that they shouldn't consider it, but certainly it should just be one out of many factors in their decision on whether to accept a job or not. No company is perfect and some companies work better for some people and not to well for others -- everyone has different needs. You just have to find what works for you.
Just never mind - sorry I said anything.
x
Never mind.
I see it in one of the posts below. 
CMT-me, let me ask you this. Hopefully you won't mind.
Do you feel that any person who has been an MT for 2 years regardless of her situation, would be ready to train as a QA/editor? I too understand people taking low pay to break into what they may want to do, BUT by doing this, she is below McDonald's or Burger King or Walmart wages no doubt.
From what I hear, everyone is getting the same offer letter of this ridiculous 1.5 cents a line.
As an MTSO (I think I read that you owned your own service--correct me if I am wrong), do you feel that putting someone in a spot that has only been doing this for 2 years is really fair to the client?
Another question, even if this person is exceptional as an MT, don't you think she should be paid more than 1.5 cents a line?
Another question, do you feel that employers that do this and offer 1.5 cents a line lower the standards for QA, which is the final finished product before going to the client? Many I know that QA including moi have been MTs for quite a long time and have proven their worth before going into the QA/mentoring end. Companies that offer this next-to-nothing wage, do you feel this is fair to the MTs who have worked long and hard hours be the best for companies to demean the profession by offering this low wage? Remember, this wage is their standard offer to anyone I have spoken with, experienced x many years or no experience.
Just curious on your thoughts from an MTSO perspective.
Wow - thanks! Do you mind if I ask ..
where you went to school that you have no problems finding a job???? I can't seem to catch a break!!
Thanks again!
Would you mind...
if I emailed you as well. They have been in touch with me quite a bit in the last week or 2, and I would like to hear what they're all about.....
But you have to keep in mind --
That this type of transcription (legal/interview/etc) is generally done with a Stentura-type stenography machine and not a computer keyboard. That lets you transcribe at roughly 160 words per minute because the keys are based on phonetic words and not s-p-e-l-l-i-n-g everything out. It's a hugely different process. Much, much faster. I do legal, and everything I type is in real-time. Any good court reporting school can hook you up with training. I do both legal and medical on my Stentura now - hardly ever touch the keyboard except for scoping
keep me in mind
when you do, I think I would like to work for an MT... at least you would know how it feels to be working your a ... of with little money and even less respect....
Mind if I ask? (sm)
Maybe I don't have as much experience as they are looking for. Do you mind my asking how long you have been an MT?
Do you mind my asking how you got to .11 cpl? No one seems
to know (that I've asked) how raises work at MDI, if they offer, you must inquire, they give them after a certain length of time, etc. Do you mind my asking how/when you got to .11 cpl? I'd really like to know when I could expect that. Thank you!!!
If you don't mind my asking, how would you get
1800 lines per day? I'm struggling to get 700 lines per day due to lack of work. If more work becomes available, I wouldn't mind doing more lines, but I've heard the norm is 1000-1200 for FT. I am in awe if you can do 1800 and I am seriously wondering how you would do that. Do you have kids or are you able to work nonstop for hours? Once work picks up again (hoping very soon!), I would like to get more lines in for financial reasons, and I am very interested in any tips/tricks of the trade people have for getting high line counts, especially on accounts that have a lot of long (15-30 minutes each) difficult time-consuming ESL dictations. Any help is greatly appreciated!
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