Please don't encourage something like this!
Posted By: Whoa!! Hold on!! on 2008-09-04
In Reply to: That is the nicest thing I've seen on this board! - MTQA
praising. This Company board is notorious for some of the most heartless scam artists and shark recruiters in the industry. I needn't name names, but anyone who has hung here for a while knows. They constantly prey on newbies, use them for a month or two, never pay them, and then toss them when they are done. They are shameless. You have no idea that kk is not one of these sharks. Maybe kk means well, but obviously kk has no idea of the industry, either. If kk were to hire onto a job for 11.5 cpl, or anything per line, and then turn around and farm out her work to someone else, a stranger, who then returns their work to kk for proofing, who sends it in to their MTSO, well, guess what? KK is now a SUBCONTRACTOR. There are lots of legalities to that, the least of which is taxes to newby who is getting paid by KK, not to mention KK's original source of work, who might not allow subcontracting. Remember those pesky little laws we have in MTing?? You can't do what KK is just so casually offering the OP. Let's hope for the best that KK was, indeed, just trying to be nice. But I seriously 100% doubt it - nobody can be in this business enough, and make an offer slick enough as that, to not know what they are doing. PLEASE believe me on this one, KK might not be the saint you would like to believe. I understand your wanting somebody out here to be a good guy, but I doubt this is the case here.
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Trying To Encourage You
Sometimes people fire you for reasons they don't want to explain. You mentioned that your company is increasing its outsourcing on a daily basis. That's one possibility. Other possibilities include the proverbial personality clash, jealousy, or just wanting to hire their relative instead of you.
That said, wait a couple of days and then take a deep breath, and go back in and ask to see examples of your reports that demonstrate the quality issues they referenced in firing you. Ask them to show you your mistakes.
If they agree to do that, try to write down the biggest mistakes, then go home and learn from those mistakes before you apply for new positions elsewhere.
If they don't agree to do that, see paragraph #1. You probably weren't fired for quality problems in that case.
Either way, you have already invested yourself in MT as a career. Don't let one person (who may be misinformed, jealous, vindictive, or anything else) take away your dignity. You can and will find a better job, and if you want it to be in MT, it will be!
Good luck!
The owner will encourage you to
talk to her current staff, etc., but that is definitely biased. An anonymous board like this is is a safer.
Don't know about platform. They do encourage (sm)
backup accounts.
It might even encourage the companies who care...
to truly offer more for American MTs. If they know we are willing to make them stronger against the Indians, et al, this might be the encouragement to pay a little more for better quality.
So, MTSOs actually ENCOURAGE the leads.sm
to cherry-pick only the work they want to do -- a wonderful setup!. This, and their salary, too. Which doesn't surprise any of us, but where does this despicable and unfair practice leave the regular MTs, who are not salaried and only have the measly few pennies per line for the garbage that they are allowed, even encouraged, to throw at us? 
Yeah, but the AMA doesn't encourage patients to go
Yes, it happens. But the AMA doesn't encourage it. The AAMT on the other hand has done more to systematically destroy the MT profession than any other organization out there.
Careful. If you encourage poster to be proactive & U
x
Does the Medical Transcription industry encourage job-hoppers?
First off I want to make it clear that I am not “bashing” any MTs by asking the questions below. Also sorry this is so long. Please bear with me. -- Spelling and grammar police please take a break !!!
I have been following some posts and just got curious. So if we all could just take a deep breath, give it some serious thought, stay on point and not get carried away with other opinions, I think we can get some good honest opinions about why the MTSOs are treating their employees like “equipment.”
What I have noticed is that when there are MTs looking for information about certain companies they often get replies such as: I worked for them but “left after 1 month – 2 months – 6 months,” Then there are MTSO owners who complain that after offering an MT a position the MT either says “no thanks” the day they are suppose to start working or are never heard from again. This gives me the impression that there are MTs out there who treat working as an MT like they treat buying a new pair of shoes --- try them out for awhile and then return them if they don’t fit. No emotional attachment involved.
I am fast approaching 60 years of age and have been an MT for over 35 years. I was one of the first to take the CMT test when AAMT first organized way back when. My first MT job was transcribing from cassette tapes, using a typewriter and sticky paper for clinic notes and sheets of paper for hospital reports. So obviously I have seen a lot of changes in the MT business. Personally over the past 35+ years I have had 6 employers (4 inhouse before MTSOs offered working from home and 2 national MTSOs for the past 15 years). Personally I am TERRIFIED of having to find a new job --- interviews, equipment setup, new platform to learn, loss in earnings during training, and so forth and so forth. That being said I have a feeling I will need to be looking for a new position within the next six months and I am curious as to what type of employment search atmosphere I will be encountering.
My curiosity stems from my impression that many MTs are comfortable “job-hopping.” When they state they only stayed at a company for 1-2-6 months it is presented as matter-of-fact – no-big-deal. I can see why they feel that way. With several hundred MTSOs out there and most constantly looking for new employees, even the worst MT in the world could start working at age 20, work for a different company every 6 months and still not work for them all by the time they retire. In my opinion that is what is causing the MTSOs to treat their MTs so badly, offer them less and less as starting wages, and not be responsive to questions or problems. The MTSO invests quite a bit of money into hiring a new employee. They either have to pay someone in their HR Department or a Recruiting Agency to do the initial resume search, testing, and interviewing. There is a ton of paperwork. If the MTSO supplies the computer, their IT Department has to set up the computer and ship it out which means shipping charges for the computer or paperwork. And someone has to train the new MT. All those expenses are incurred by the MTSO before the MT even starts to produce. I can see why some of the MTSOs are resorting to questionable “bait and switch” tactics. They probably also send out the oldest computers to the new MTs to cover themselves in case the MT quits and doesn’t ship it back in a timely manner. It seems to me that the majority of complainers about type of work, amount of work, or computer problems that they are experiencing are the newly hired MTs.
Because of all the “short-term” complainers, someone looking for information about a particular company is often given incomplete or misleading opinions based on limited information. Can anyone honestly with 100% accuracy adamantly state a company is “#1” or “the worst on earth” when they only worked there for 2 months? I would love to see any MT who posts a positive or negative comment about a company to also admit to how long they actually worked for the company and if they are currently employed there or not. I think that would give their opinions a lot more weight.
Obviously, not every MTSO is the “dream job” for every MT and for any MT to state they work for the “best company” is hubris and can even be fighting words to employees of other good or even great companies. It can also lead to disappointment when an MT applies to the “best company” only to find out it does not fit their needs. I feel that if the MTs on this board would try to leave personal opinions aside and give relevant information about a company it would be easier for an MT to find a good fit with ONE company and not have to “job-hop,” If more MTs would work for a company for at least a year before quitting and moving on maybe the MTSOs would actually be willing to offer newly hired MTs the same respect they offer the MTs that have been working for them for 5-10-15 or more years.
Finally to my questions. I am curious to see if my opinion is based in fact. Are there a significant number of MTs who “job hop?”
These questions are primarily directed at employees of MTSOs, large or small, but inhouse hospital or clinic MTs are also welcome to respond. I realize IC MTs have a whole different set of guidelines they go by and often have multiple clients at the same time. But if you are an IC and wish to give your opinion, please feel free to do so – just state that you are an IC so there is no confusion.
Please answer as many questions as you feel comfortable giving information about (I hope you will answer most because of the anonymity of this board):
1. How long have you been working as an MT?
2. How many DIFFERENT companies have you worked for (even if it was only for a few hours) in the last 10 years? (If you left but came back later that is only 1.)
3. How many companies have you accepted an offer of employment from but then never actually started working for them?
4. How many companies have you quit working for within the first pay period?
5. How many companies have you quit from?
6. Have many companies have you been terminated from (I guess the word “fired” from is no longer politically correct) i.e. you were not meeting line requirements, QA requirements, time commitment requirements (signing on late, leaving early), or being told you don’t have the necessary experience/expertise for the accounts assigned to you, etc?
7. How many companies have you left because they were bought out by another MTSO and you did not like how the new MTSO was treating you?
8. How many companies that you were working for completely went out of business (was not bought by another company) and told you that you had to find a new job yourself?
9. What is the shortest period of time that you have worked for one company? (Even if it was only for a few hours) What is the longest period of time that you have worked for one company?
10. Have you ever continued working for your former company while training with a new company?
11. Have you ever worked for two different companies (2 part-time or 1 full-time and 1 part-time) during the same time period? For how many months/years did you work for two different companies?
12. What is your primary reason for applying to a certain company (pay, insurance, flexible schedule, equipment provided, sign-on bonus, referral from another MT, etc)?
13. What is your primary reason for leaving a company (cannot maintain minimum required number of lines, not assigned accounts or job types as originally discussed, running out of work too frequently, difficult platform, computer slowness/crashes, management conflicts, QA conflicts, other “bait and switch” type of issues where the MTSO said one thing but you ended up doing something entirely different, personal, family, etc)?
14. Are you really happy at your present company or are you just working there because you are afraid if you try another company it will be worse and not better? How long have you worked at this company? Do you plan to continue working at this company for at least 1 year (of course barring unforeseen personal or professional events). Would you be willing to give the name of your present company?
15. Do you think you will retired as a Medical Transcriptionist (or in the Medical Transcription field, such as an Editor, Supervisor, etc) or do you think you will switch careers at some point before retirement?
Thank you for your time.
If you would like to e-mail me with any questions or responses, I would be happy to hear from all of you.
Thank you for satisfying my curiosity and giving me some insight as to where the Medical Transcription field is heading in the future.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS.
If you've switched companies, encourage the rest!
If you've decided to join us in the fight to keep our confidential health information and MT jobs in the states and not sent overseas, PLEASE let us know and help encourage others to do the same. I recently have and currently work for MDI-MD. We really need to keep encouraging each other to make the move. If you're not sure if a company outsources to either Pakistan, India, or the Philippines, just ask here. We'll help figure it out for you!
Let's not quit and let this just remain a hot topic for a week or so! WE HAVE TO COME TOGETHER! Remember, if you take a cent less in pay, it's well worth it to help an American MT-based company prosper and help these companies that are more concerned about money than Americans' jobs lose MTs and possibly large accounts that these American MT-based companies could have a chance at acquiring.
This is US TAKING A STAND! I just want to encourage you all to truly consider this.
The companies I know of that definitely don't outsource offshore right now after THOROUGH research are Keystrokes, Axolotl, MDI-MD (where I work). I'll keep researching. Just remember to post here if you are questioning a company. I'm still researching others and am including Pakistan and the Phillipines in my searches.
I'm contacting medical facilities in my area (Pennsylvania) to let them know that their confidential medical information could possibly be outsourced offshore and to consider helping keep jobs in America by researching their MTSO and hire a company that doesn't do this. If you feel inclined to reach medical facilities in your area/state, PLEASE do this for all of your fellow MTs. I know there is at least one of you in each state on this board! 
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