How to Get an Entry Level Job in Medical Transcribing
Breaking into the medical transcription career field may seem difficult, but demand for medical transcriptionists is expected to grow 14% by 2016---faster than average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Keep at it; with the growth of the health-care industry, there is a constant demand for qualified medical transcriptionists. There are several ways to go about finding that first medical transcription job.
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Instructions
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Complete a medical transcription training course. Associate degree or certificate programs are often offered by community colleges, vocational schools or through distance learning. You will complete coursework in medical terminology, anatomy, grammar and punctuation and legal issues pertaining to health-care documentation. You will also practice transcribing medical dictation.
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Network. Join a professional organization such as the Association for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI). Attend a local meeting of the AHDI and make yourself known. Often, companies or hospitals looking to hire medical transcriptionists will contact the local AHDI chapter. Join a medical transcription forum, such as MT Daily or MT Stars, where jobs are often listed and employers often search.
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Post your resume at websites like monster.com or careerbuilder.com. Owners of smaller medical transcription companies and recruiters for larger companies often check online first for a pool of prospective medical transcriptionists to choose from.
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Apply to local medical transcription companies. Often, medical transcriptionists have started their own companies with accounts from doctor's offices and sometimes hospitals. A local company may be a good place to get the two years' experience needed if you want to work at home for a national company or at a hospital. Depending on the size of the local company, you may either work in an office or work from home.
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Apply to local hospitals. Many hospitals have in-house medical transcriptionists. Some will hire at entry level, although often experience is required. Get your name out there, and let the hospitals know you want to work for them. Often, an in-house transcriptionist will "graduate" to working from home and will need to be replaced at the hospital.
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Apply to small medical transcription companies. Check online. For medical transcriptionists, the digital age makes it possible to work at home transcribing for a company in the next state or on the other side of the country. You may be more likely to be hired in an entry-level position by a smaller company. You may be required to take an online test to determine your level of proficiency.
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Apply to national medical transcription companies, such as Acusis, Spheris, MedScribe, MedQuist, StenoMed, or numerous others. You may need to send your resume and wait for a recruiter to contact you, or you may need to take an online test to determine your level of proficiency. Though these companies often require at least two years of transcribing experience, some may hire you if you do well in their online testing.
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