Curiousity has struck again, and maybe this is a question for graduates who have their credentials, etc. How tough was it to get hired upon graduation? Did it take days, weeks, months, a year? As it is with every job, "experience" is the hurdle to face when applying and interviewing for a new position. Sometimes, we take a position just to get our foot in the door, and sometimes personal "connections" can help. I've been there, and have had my share of some ups and downs with potential jobs.
I am curious as to those who have graduated from "Andrews" how successful you were in securing an actual coding position, and even how your interviews with prospective employers went. Are you working in medical facilities, or insurance companies, small/large clinics, etc.?
Most of the graduates who let me know about where they are working tell me that they are working in or for hospitals. We don't know about all of them because, as we all know, coders are very quiet people. They don't talk much.
I am also interested in this, but from the medical transcription profession. I am currently on my first module for the MD certification program with The Andrews School; so I have a while before I need to worry my head about employment. But, I am a planner and always like to know a little more about my future employment chances when starting a new career. I am also a new mother and am hoping to be a work-at-home medical transcriptionist. I hope to get through this program in 9 months and hope to have a job in 9-11 months. Is this feasible? Anything I can do to make it more likely? Thank you in advance for your input.
Jenn,
I graduated from Andrews in 17 months. That was while I was working a part-time job as a secretary. I got my Andrews certificate in October 2004 and started working in February 2005. I delayed my job search until after holidays, so I was pleased with the timing. My first job as an IC didn't pan out as there wasn't enough work to go around. My second IC job went much better, but I also was hired by a national company in April 2005, and I've worked for national companies ever since then, for 7+ years.
You are getting an excellent education at Andrews and will be well prepared for work in the real world. :) Just take it a day at a time.
Jenn, I graduated from The Andrews School MT program over 10 years ago. I believe if you do well with your program, your future employment chances are excellent. The quality of the education of The Andrews School graduates is well known throughout the industry. When I was in my last month of the program, I tested for several companies. Because of the education I received here, I did very well on the tests, and I received job offers from every company I had tested with and was able to decide which offer was the best for me. My advice would be to listen to the instructors and Linda in regard to the pace, and within those guidelines, find your own pace. It is a little different for everyone, I am sure. Concentrate on your studies, and you too will be prepared to test and test well. That in turn will bring good job offers. The key is to focus on your studies. I am wishing you the very best of luck.
Thank you Jean.
Jenn, I took 18 months to get through the course. I, too, thought I would breeze through in well under a year because I'm an x-ray tech - not so!!! The first several momths I felt like I was back in high school English. Very late in the course, I discovered a post on the old transcription board that I wish I had found much sooner. It's titled _Rosemary's famous timer article." It's on the second page, near the bottom, of the section for "All MT students, graduates, instructors, and mentors." I strongly advise you to read it. I did, and I was amazed at how little actual time each day I was spending on school work. Being at home, you tend to get up frequently to do things other than working on transcription. I found a timer and took her advice, and the rest of school went faster. Another very good article on the boards is under the "Instructor's Comments" section of Module II. You probably don't have access to that, yet, but as soon as you do, I would advise you to read it. It's titled "The Wisdom of Redpen." I actually printed that one out and read over parts of it fairly often, because it has a lot of very good advice in it. You definitely will find a job after graduating from Andrews :) Good luck in school and getting through as quickly as possible, but still taking the time to make the very best grades you can. You want to be able to include that on your resume, and the higher the better!
Is there a way that us new students can access the old boards? I would love to read the timer article.
I'm sorry, Candice. I didn't realize that newer students don't have access to the old boards. I've copied it here, just the timer part - not the art part. Glenda or Linda could tell you about accessing the old boards.
Rosemary's Famous Timer Article + "art discussion"
by Grad Mentor Cindy Cr » Thu Apr 27, 2006 10:56 am
Subtitle: Confessions of a Perfectionistic Dreamer
By Rosemary posted 2 Oct 04
Believe it or not, instructors are people! And we have the same problems and hindrances in life that everyone else does. Working and studying at home means that you don't have to get to class at any certain time or even on any given day. The problems of life crowd in, and it's easy to put things off. I hesitate to share some of the ways that I motivate myself because they reveal my weaknesses, and teachers are reluctant to reveal their weaknesses to their students. Hopefully, the steps that I take to overcome my weaknesses will be helpful to some of you, so here goes:
MY MOTIVATION CYCLE -- In summary, my motivation cycle looks like this: place--time--reward--place--time--reward--place--time--reward--place--time. It works like this:
GET TO THE RIGHT PLACE: There are days when the simplest of tasks can seem difficult. Those are the days when it is easy to put something off. Let very many of those same kind of days go by, and the task looms even larger. It is best to stop that procrastination cycle before it begins. What can you do?
First, you have to get yourself to THE RIGHT PLACE. You have to get there physically, and you have to get there emotionally. When I was in college, I had to get in my car and drive to class. There were days when I was glad for the 30-minute commute because it took "that long" to get myself emotionally prepared, especially during my last semester when I felt like I was going to "flunk out" of Advanced French Seminar. Oh how I dreaded that class! But I had to finish it to get my degree because French was my minor, and I couldn't get my degree without passing the class. I was wa-a-a-y over my head in that French Seminar class, and there were days when the pressure was almost unbearable, but "this too shall pass," and I passed and got out of there!
When you work and study at home, you STILL have to get yourself to THE RIGHT PLACE. Getting yourself there physically is easier than getting yourself there emotionally. Here is a psych-myself-into-doing-it* exercise that works for me!
When I don't feel like I can even begin a task, I say this to myself: "I'm not going to do that now, but if I were going to do it, here's how I would go about it." Okay, the pressure's off. I'm not going to do it now! I'm really not. I'm just going to think about how I might get started when I do get around to doing it. If it's cleaning out the closet, the first step might be open the closet door or get a garbage sack. See! I already thought of two easy steps. If it's study for a Chabner test, it might be to find my book and get a pencil and turn to the right page. If it's get some grading done, then it's walk into my office and turn on the computer.
What happens to me at this point is that I realize that the first steps in getting started are not that hard at all. In fact, they're a whole lot easier than the awful feeling that I have when I'm procrastinating, so THEN I actually do get started! I at least get to the PLACE where the task can happen. Sometimes you don't dread the task at all, but you just can't find a way to leave what you ARE doing and get to the task. Again, my "imagining exercise" can be helpful for that too. You have to get to THE RIGHT PLACE.
SPEND ENOUGH TIME ON TASK: Once you get to the right place and work through those first few easy steps, you get to the hard part that was causing you to postpone the task in the first place. You just have to work your way through that part "one bite at a time." This is the all-important "keep on keepin' on" phase. You have to spend enough time actually ON TASK to get the task accomplished. You can't let yourself daydream or get sidetracked. If you've come to the message board "to study," it's easy to get sidetracked onto the conversation board or the pet board or the cookbook board instead. I bought a clock for my desk that is also a stopwatch. It's called a table timer. It can be set to count up or count down. When I begin work, I hit the start button and the clock counts up. When I stop work for any reason, I hit the button and the timer stops. When I get back on task, I hit the button. I've trained myself to do this. If I move from posting something helpful in Rosemary's Notes to reading something on the pet board, I have to stop my timer. My stopwatch keeps me from psyching myself into thinking that I'm accomplishing something when I'm really not! I know how much time I must spend at work each day to achieve my goals. I can look at my timer and determine how well I've done with actually keeping on task. When you get a job as an MT working from home, you'll be paid on production. You don't get paid unless you spend your time staying on task. Train yourself to do that as soon as possible. That leads me to the next phase of my motivation cycle.
REMEMBER THE REWARD: When you're working at a job, it's actually easy to remember the reward. It's called a paycheck! Most of you are in this course with that same reward in mind. I suggest that you do something to tangibly measure your progress toward your goal of completing this course. If you keep the reward in mind, it will be easier to make yourself get to the right place and to spend enough time on task to get something accomplished! Keep your eyes on the prize. Keep your goals ever before you!
ONE LAST TIP FOR THE PERFECTIONISTIC PROCRASTINATORS: I finally figured out why it is that I have such a hard time finishing an art project. If it doesn't have a deadline attached to it--a project I'm doing for somebody else--then it often remains unfinished. If you're not like this, you won't understand it and have probably already stopped reading this post. If you are like this, then I hope this will help you as much as it helped me. It is better to get a good job done today than to get a perfect job done tomorrow!
WHERE I BOUGHT MY TABLE STOPWATCH:
If you're interested in a table timer, I ordered mine from www.wolverinesports.com. Click on Stopwatches and Timers. Then click on Table Timers. I recommend the $34.95 Giant Timer #TL042PWT because the start-and-stop button is easy to hit! The expense of this little device has been well worth it for me. If you don't have my weakness for drifting off task, you don't need it; but if you do, you do!
* a psych-myself-into-doing-it exercise -- Did you notice this compound modifier? It wouldn't need the hyphens if I had written it this way: Here is an exercise that helps me psych myself into doing it.
BTW, this post from Rosemary when I was in kindergarten was what made me love her and trust her beyond words! Not to mention how much it helped me in other ways! Thanks Maureen for reminding me to put this here for everyone... this was from 2 incarnations of the boards ago!
Meanwhile, I keep dancing.
-Rabbi Hillel, circa 100 b.c.
Thanks for posting the article. Looking forward to taking the time to read it thoroughly.
What a great article! Thanks for posting that here. I need to spend some time going over those old posts, there is so much inspiring stuff there. I just wanted to share that I have been following the Flylady and her website and emails, as I am an overwhelming perfectionist. I am for the first time in my life getting rid of clutter and keeping a clean house. This is such a huge change for me, and the stopwatch is probably the key for me. I never understood that concept before, being able to do something for 15 minutes and then stop. I always want to do whatever it is perfectly or not do it at all, hence the procrastination. This has helped me in so many areas of my life to overcome this kind of thinking, really has changed my life. I just wanted to share that and thank you for posting this, really does hit home how much a timer can change your life.
Flylady is amazing. www.flylady.net. It is nice to meet another Flybaby that is attending Andrews. Thanks so much for putting that post on this board.
I'll have to agree with all of you. This is an area where I've always had problems. If I can't be a PERFECT [cook] [housekeeper] [athlete] [artist], I just won't do it at all. That quote, "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" keeps coming to mind.
I love Flylady, although I pick and choose the parts that I want. My favorite part is the HOTSPOTS. Those are the areas in your house that you have nice and squeaky clean, like a coffee table or kitchen bar. Then ....[ominous-sounding music]...someone puts one item on there. Next time you look at it, that one item has multiplied and it's a D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R area! I have a couple of those right now. I don't want to start on them because I am overwhelmed by them. The smartest thing I ever do is this. When I leave a room, I find one item that doesn't belong in that room and take it where it does belong. That adds up. Oh yes, and the Flylady SINK! I don't carry it to the extremes she recommends, but I feel better when my kitchen sink is clean.
Do we know how to change the topic, or what?!!! I feel like someone is going to catch us and thump us on the head. It's a great thread though, twists and turns and all. Also, it's okay for us to veer off into discussions, even if we drift off the original topic. Nobody will 'get' us.
Thank you all for the advice, article sharing and kind words. I also want to fly, however, I have enough new things on my plate now. I may FLY shortly after I get used to working as a work-at-home medical transcriptionist, we shall see.
This thread is great! :D
It took me 18 months to get through, thanks to some illness and a vacation that I took, but I graduated in October of 2010. It took me about 6 weeks to find a job, even though it was not the typical time of year for a job search. I have been working steadily ever since.
I hope it only takes me 6 weeks to find a job after the completion of this MT certification program! That would be AWESOME!!!!!! :D