My mentor 12 years ago.

• MENTORS? - ANGELA
  • Mentoring and mentors - Wally Bugg
  • My mentor 12 years ago. - Carol D
    • That's the problem with newbies starting at home...used to be- - MTSO
      • I worked inhouse and got little or no help from anyone - ?
        • Guess I got lucky! - Carol D
        • Newbies - GC
          • I think that's a myth or old wives' tale about getting help working on site - MT at home
            • I got lucky, too - sede

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Does anyone know of a  legit mentor or mentor program so I can get some experience.  I'm in catch 22 and can not get out of it. !!!!

Thanks,

Barb

While I don't know of any off hand . . . I can offer some advice.  Look for a local MT in your area who is willing to take you under her wing and show you the ropes.  It is the best way to learn . . . just my opinion.  An MT did that for me, not as a newbie, but when learning a new specialty and I will be forever thankful to her. 

I would like all the help I can get.  I have not found a job yet.

Thanks! 

Becky

Jackie,

I replied to your post via email.  My program will cost you nothing but your time, but you must test for placement.  Again, contact me if you are interested. 

-M. Brooks 

Dear old MT,

I took an online course and received my certification in June 08, I have been

trying to find a job ( I AM BECOMING FAMILIAR WITH THE WORD NO ) noone wants to take a chance on the newbies. Can you given me tips on what I can do?

Thanks  

I wanted to add something,  Sometimes it helps to have someone to call if you just cannot figure something out.  I have someone and you should too.  I feel very strongly about having someone to talk to about this job.  It can be very isolating, working at home and I was getting upset that I had no one to call or bounce stuff off of.  Since I had a mentor/friend, my production has gone from 50 lines an hour to consistently 150-200 lines an hour.  She tought me how to use my ShortHand efficiently and helped me with my  resume and how to use my books and online tools quickly and efficiently.  I was not the best student, but went to a very good school.  Later.

Before I started school I had a friend in the field. I really knew nothing about what she did and she gave me no promises of helping me when I was done with school. However, when I was just about done she suggested I come to her home and do a few of her reports for practice. I was really nervous. I did a few, she said I did well and I didn't hear much from there. Well, a month or two later when I told her I was actively looking for work now (I had had an interview somewhere else) she suggested I talk to her boss. Her boss had no one to train me so she offered. I really could not believe my good luck! It has been a wonderful experience. She helped me with all my software etc. Talking to everyone is the only way to get ahead. Besides her I had 3 interviews just with people in our area that I talked with. I am a very outgoing chatty person and I think this helped. I so appreciate the time and effort my friend gave me (she made money too). I has been really hard at times, but definitely worth it!

Hi ya all,

I've been in the business almost one year now.  I would so appreciate a mentor.  I hooked up with a subscriber at one point, but we never did get together.

Anybody interested in sharing and mentoring a grateful girl from Florida?

Thanks!  Steph

program set up. If you can, visit the AHDISA website. Just post that you are interseted in the postgraduate mentor program, and they will give you more info.

Website is ahdisa.org

Good luck!

I have Vista and cant' find a Mentor program that is compatable with Vista.  Can anyone help?

BT

Okay, it is time to let the cat out of the bag on how you are going to be successful as a Transcriptionist out of school.

The first thing I am seeing is that these schools promise that you will be working from home making in upwards of $40,000 a year. Forget about that. You are new to this. If you come out of school working on a production basis you may very well fall flat on your face and make $3 an hour by the end of the day. I was a transcriptionist for almost 5 years working for a hospital and I decided I could make more working on a production basis.......I failed miserably my first year.

First off, get experience under your belt and make an hourly rate in the meantime. How did I do this? Well, I started out getting a job in a hospital, any job I could get. I started out in billing, even though I wanted transcription. I watched and waited for openings, when finally someone in the psychiatric unit called me (I made friends with everyone, the key to getting calls like this one) and said they were losing their transcriptionist and I should apply. I applied and got my first transcription job, making an hourly rate. Had I not gotten pregnant with twins I would probably still be there.

After babies were born, went back part time in the evenings. This time since I had experience and another local hospital was willing to hire me in the radiology department. Again, hourly. I watched and waited once again (I hated radiology transcription). I got to know who was in charge in the transcription department. I sent her a fax asking her if she needed any part time help (back then there was no work related email). She said, yes, I could work part time (I now had "experience"). The part time went to full time with benefits. However, I got bored and decided to work for, of all companies, Medquist. I thought with my speed I would be making at least $20 an hour.....hahahahahahahahaha, what a joke. I was lucky to make $8 an hour with them. After about a year of struggling I finally got my foot back in the door of a hospital in another state. I had to commute to the hospital every day during training, it was awful, however, now I again work from home, have the ability to make about $20 or more per hour, I own my own home, own a half decent car, I am divorced and don't take any child support from my ex, instead we share in the custody 50/50.

The moral of my story........

Get your foot in the door. Look for jobs that are front desk, secretarial, whatever. Once you are in there and they realize how great you are you can go wherever you want. My first transcription job in the psychiatric unit also involved secretarial duties, so not just straight transcription. I highly recommend getting into a hospital. The bennies are the best and lots of hospital transcriptionists are working from home with full hospital benefits. If you can't get into a hospital, get into anywhere where you can do some sort of typing/transcription, that way you have your first reference/experience when you apply to a company that is strictly work from home. Everyone wants experience, they just don't want to be the ones to give it to you. 

I am so tired of seeing these schools and companies swindle people.

If you are looking into training, I highly recommend your local community college. You will probably take some credit college courses that will be able to be used should you decide to do something else. My local community college has a course for under $3000 and there are college credit courses that are able to be used towards another degree.

I did my training as a medical assistant, transcription was only part of the course. However, now I am so bored with transcription that I am going back to school to be a nurse.

I hope this helps someone out there. Good luck to you all!

in this business.  One lost an account to EMR and the other lost a good portion of an account to "writing in charts" which is a clue that particular account is going EMR most likely in the near future and trying to save money to purchase it...  It is very expensive for the doctors (more than our pay).  My PCP uses it and he said it is very costly but he is still using it. 

Now those MTs that lost accounts are working for nationals and averaging between 6 and 8 dollars an hour because they are being thrown horrible dictators and platforms that aren't up to par. 

Everyone in this business is struggling and thankful for what they have and afraid to ask for a raise.  I have 2 of my own accounts that I haven't had a raise in 10 years because I know someone will underbid me in a New York minute if I were to raise my rates. 

I just like what I do and like the flexibility, but if I were to spend $4,000.00 it would definitely not be to become an MT, not by today's standards anyway. 

How are newbies supposed to get experience?

Does anyone know of companies who hire newbies?

You say, "In-house jobs are being outsourced rapidly" and then draw the conclusion that there must be a demand for more MT's?  Where do you think those jobs are being outsourced? It ain't Kokomo, it's New Delhi, etc. It used to be new MT's COULD get a job, back in the old days when the market wasn't imploding.  But even then, you really needed to work in house before you could work from home. It ain't as easy as it seems, especially with ESL's.

Look I'm sorry you got misled about the field. But flogging a dead horse isn't going to help.