Okay, you found yourself a good correspondence school or a community college course. You made it through the course. You passed the test and got your certificate (congratulations!). Now what?
If you went to one of the better correspondence schools, I hope you participated in the student forums, because you will get a lot of advice from the teacher mentors and the other students, and the graduates of that school who will "tell it like it is in the real world." The schools and programs most likely will offer assistance with finding a job.
But the first thing that will happen, as you begin to look for work, is you will be overwhelmed by the number of online transcription companies. So many companies, how to choose?
Second thing that will happen is, as you tentatively begin to investigate all these companies, you will find hiring requirements that put YOU out of the picture. Most companies want at least 2 years' experience and often 5 years' experience in acute care transcription.
Then there's the 2000-lb gorilla: MedQuist.
MedQuist does continue to have one of the lowest "current experience" requirements at 1 year's experience. They used to be the "ace in the hole" for new MTs because they were about the only national service that would hire you directly out of school, provided you had just graduated from one of their approved schools, what they called a "PIE" school or Partners In Education school. Their web site used to include a list of those PIE schools, but it disappeared from the site.
So I recently contacted MedQuist to ask about their list of "approved" schools and was told that currently MedQuist's policy is that they don't recommend any one school over another, but there are definitely schools from which they they will test new graduates. The schools need to be ADHI (formerly known as AAMT) approved. I was told that the best way to find out if your course qualifies under the waiver is to apply and list your educational program and wait to be notified.
On MedQuist's website under their "FAQs" and the question: "What experience is required?" I take this statement verbatim from their answer: "We require one (1) year of recent full-time experience transcribing acute-care hospital medical records reports, multispecialty clinic reports, or radiology reports. In certain instances, we will accept candidates with less than one year experience if they graduated from one of the medical transcription schools that we have a relationship with."
I have it on good authority from both schools that graduates of Career Step and Andrews School of Transcription ARE being tested and hired by MedQuist.
So if you are considering attending one of these two schools, are currently attending, or recently graduated and would like to try to work for MedQuist, I would certainly go on Medquist's website and put in an application, or check with your school placement counselors and get their advice. But remember, you still have to pass their skills assessment test no matter how you qualify.
Be aware that as of 2007 MedQuist is changing over to mostly medical editing work. See my page on medical editing to get a feel for what that work entails.
Okay...two years, five years...no matter what, you realize YOU don't come close to meeting most national company's posted experience requirements. Even MedQuist's one-year requirement is out of your grasp unless you graduated from one of their "approved" schools.
Your school forums and teachers may have already prepared you for this news, but you may be thinking "So was this schooling all a scam after all?" The answer is an emphatic NO! It was NOT a scam, and you CAN get work as a "newbie" MT.
Immediate choices for work DO exist. Again, on good authority from the two schools above, I am told that their graduates ARE being tested and hired by MedQuist and other national companies, so even if the posted years of experience seem to put you out of the picture, apply anyway. If you don't get through the door of the national companies, local options are another choice (see below).
I know probably most of you took classes in transcription because you want to work at HOME. Of course you do. It's great! BUT, the hard truth is that you may not be able to get work at home immediately, or handle the work if you did. Remember, if you work at home, you will be working ALONE. You can have a shelves and shelves of reference books, and you can have the Internet and forums like MTStars where you can ask questions, but all that doesn't replace EXPERIENCE.
I know you won't want to hear this, but I recommend that new graduates try to get work locally either in a medical clinic, small physician office, or working for a small local transcription company. With the exception of the latter, that could mean working OUTSIDE your home. But your chances of getting work are better, the infrastructure of staff to help you is there (I can't emphasize enough how valuable that assistance is to a new MT), and you will get that valuable EXPERIENCE you need.
And about that working-at-home dream...take heart, even some of your local physician offices or clinics may allow you to work at home once you have proved yourself. And then once you have a minimum of two years' current experience and have progressed in your speed and knowledge over that time, you can probably get hired at most any online national or regional transcription company if at that point you still want to go that route.
