Be careful to avoid scams . . .
Posted By: sm on 2008-12-27
In Reply to: Not to shabby - MissaMT
A lot of people who contact newbies with offers to help them get training are scam operators. Some are just well-meaning, but misguided people who think they're "mentors."
They may offer you the opportunity to work for nothing, or they may offer to pay you, but subtract penalties for editing and errors, or they might just never bother sending your check at all. They figure that you're desperate enough to put up with it for six or twelve months, and you probably will be.
Please check carefully before you agree to this sort of thing.
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Be careful, though, a lot of the scams use this and Monster too
If it sounds too good to be true ($70,000 a year!) or if they are directing you to a course that they sell, it's probably bogus.
I am not saying all apprenticeship programs are scams.
I am saying that in the not-so-distant past, the companies that wanted you to pay up front for training or wanted you to pay to work for them were scams. Now, I think that companies have found more effective way to defray the cost of, or in some cases profit from, hiring and training new grads. Yes, it is costly and time consuming to get a new grad up to speed as far as quality and productivity, but in the past, having a mentor train and provide feedback and guidance to a new grad was SOP. It was seen as an investment for the future in a way. Now some companies want you to pay them or to work for free during your "apprenticeship" which has made it even more difficult for the uniformed or the desperate to discern which companies are scams.
I have previously been advised not to post names of companies that do hire newbies because they get inundated with applicants that either do not have the requisite training or have no training at all. Also, most companies,especially the small to mid-size services, only hire grads intermittently because of the resources required to train them.
The very best resource for who hires graduates of your education program is the school itself. Often companies or MTSOs that have an opening or two for a trainee will contact the schools they know provide quality graduates ready to enter the job market. www.transcriptionresource.com has a rather comprehensive list of companies with links to many of their websites.
Be careful what you say.
Before you say something about a company I would make sure I was absolutely right or you can get in trouble for libel. Just looking out for ya.
Be careful, please.
The typical scams here involve wanting you to work without pay to gain experience, to work at low pay, to be penalized for "errors," to pay for "training" supplied by their employees, and to pay them to supply your computer, software, etc., and/or to put up a deposit or something like that before you can work.
If you encounter any of those things and start thinking how wonderful they are to "give you a chance," remember that it's going to be less expense in the long run for you to just pay for another, better, school like Andrews or M-Tec, after completing which you will get a decent job.
You need to work on your writing skills, too. That problem area is going to hold you back, both in finding a job and in keeping one!
Be Careful
I just want to let people know it is very frustrating trying to find a job in Medical Transcription, especially when you are a new MT graduate! It seems to me no one wants to give us a chance, but I did have a chance with a company called Transmedical. But with this company it did not work out! In the little time I was with this company she lost 2 accounts and did not tell everyone that was working for her what was going on we all had to call and find out ourselves. So please be careful when someone does give you a chance! So please if anyone knows of anyone that is willing to give new MTs a chance please let me know. I do check MTstars and MTjobs everyday.
Thanks,
Sonnett
Good Luck to all new MT Graduates, we need it! 
Please be careful on using that term certified MT.
You are only certified if you have taken the CMT exam for the AAMT.
Otherwise, you have a certificate for completing a course.
You can face legal action for claiming to be a certified MT without an AAMT certification number to back it up.
It also misrepresents yourself.
Be careful. M-Tec may not be very forthright with you about it. It has often been posted here
about newbies being shocked at how hard it is to get a job. You may email me for any further questions. I have been in the MT business for 25 years, worked for hospitals, doctor's offices and now have an MTSO. I am always happy to help newbies. One more thing I would do right now is archive everything on this board. That will give you a taste as to what you are up against.
Be very careful of anyone promising you "experience".
The AIM program -- you do work for them for free in that program.
Please be careful about the term "certification".
Getting a certification for completing an MT course does not make you certified. Only passing the C.M.T. challenge exam by the AAMT allows you that.
Please be careful with use of the word profession vs. occupation..sm
though the two terms are sometimes used interchangably, they really don't mean the same thing. Occupation is what engages or "occupies" one's time, such as a job. Profession is considered a calling, vocation or form of employment that provides a needed service to society and possesses characteristics of expertise, autonomy, long academic preparation, commitment and responsibility. While MT's are dedicated workers supporting healthcare in a paraprofessional capacity, it's not really in the same camp as law, medicine, ministry, etc. MT's don't work on their own, unsupervised, such as a doctor does, nor do they have a long academic prep, even if they do go to business college...
Be careful when people have to write you off the board
It may be totally innocent, but often the scammers do that. If they offer you a job and you have to buy equipment, come back on the board and let us know.
If they offer you a scholarship or an internship or offer to be your "mentor" and you'll just do the work for free, you're about to be scammed.
Just be careful not to get Office Works or Suite
that is advertised as compatible with MS Word. I accidentally bought that once, the packaging was similar and the box said it did everything MS Word did. Well, it sort of did, but that software changed every document I had in my entire computer upon installation to its own version. That certainly would not have worked in transcribing and transmitting reports. While it did work with Word as the packaging said, it did so by changing Word to something else. I don't recall the exact name of this, but just read the packaging carefully and get Microsoft and not a lookalike. Just wanted to give you a heads up to avoid one of my many mistakes. Good luck.
be careful. not all companies can use Word 2007 yet.
many require 2000-2003, no older, no newer.
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