Job Searching and Interviewing in the Medical Transcription World.

Hey Guys!  :)  Here is last nights' blog I had planned, only I am doing it this morning because we had some good ole family time last night watching a movie and having dinner (homemade Chicken Soup).  So, here ya go.  My job search blog.  I will blog about the changes coming to my company if I have time later today.

August 24, 2009, I received my email saying I was officially a graduate of Career Step, and I graduated with High Honors!  The highest graduate level possible.  Excited doesn't begin to express my feelings.  At the time of my graduation, this was a rare feat, High Honors on the first testing attempt, they have made great changes to the program since my time in it and now High Honors on the first attempt is not rare at all.

Needless to say, I was proud, ecstatic, excited, relieved, just every good emotion there can possibly be.  I just KNEW that with my High Honors scores that the employers would be drooling over my resume.

Hahahaha.  Yea.  Didn't happen.  It took me 102 companies contacted and 60 days to get my job.  I had Standard graduate and Honor graduate friends who all got hired before me!  Was it because I didn't do something right?  Nope, it is all about timing!  Here are my stats as I have them on my spreadsheet.

Companies contacted: 102.
Date started:  August 25, 2009.
No Hires:  36
No New Grads: 2
Waiting list: 1
Tested: 7
Interviews: 2
Keeping my name on file: 6 (2 have since contacted me for an interview but I declined)
Companies I applied with but have not yet heard from: 53 (seriously, I counted twice)

So, looking at those stats, you see that the job search is NOT an easy task!  My last followups are made on 10/13/09.  My interview with my current company was on 10/15/09.  I was hired a week later and have been there since.  As I said, two of those that were keeping my name on file have since contacted me.  They wanted an interview but I let them know I was happy where I was.  Those numbers up there do not add up to a perfect 102 (companies contacted) because some of them I tested with and wasn't contacted, one I was interviewed by and was not hired (hours were wrong for me).  So they do not add up but I assure you, those are the statistics for my 60 day job search. 

How did I tackle the job search?

~1.)  I made it a full time job.  From the time my kids left for school until the time they got home (7:30-3:30) I was at my computer researching companies, applying, typing cover letters, sending resumes, testing, searching, etc.  I did whatever I could to find companies and apply to companies.
~2.)  I made a spreadsheet.  I had these columns set up:  Company Name, Contact information, Email Address, Part time or full time, IC or employee, Status, Original Contacted Date, Last Contact Date, Type of Contact, Notes. I kept up with this spreadsheet diligently.  It was my lifeline and my sanity because I sent 23 resumes in ONE day at one point!  If I hadn't kept track of all of this I would have gone crazy.
~3.)  I researched these companies until I found everything out I needed to know, I then sent them my resume and cover letter.  For the companies I REALLY wanted, I typed a personal cover letter, not just the generic one I had written originally.  I did my homework.  I found out everything possible about these companies and had it in a notebook, I even had the year founded/established written down!  I wanted to be ready for the interview if I ever got one.  This also made me decide if I really wanted to work for this company or not.  Funny thing is, the company I work for, doesn't even have a website!  I only knew of them because of a person who worked there who had contacted me on the school forum because she lives close to me.  She sounded so happy with her job that they automatically went to the top of my wish list.
~4.)   FOLLOWUP!  Religiously!  You MUST followup EVERY 2 weeks!  Write followup cover letters individually.  That way when they finally find your emails then they will see that you are willing to put work into the job search.  Do not think that just because the company has not contacted you, they are not interested.  That is not always true!  Some companies simply do not have the manpower to contact every single applicant, but they do keep the resumes that they like on file.  I know one MT who had her application in and had sent 7 followups!  SEVEN!  She was about to send her 8th one and the company contacted her.  Her diligence proved to them that she wanted that position.  They knew that if she worked that hard to get noticed, then she would be a hard worker for their company. 
~5.)  Patience.  You have to remember that these companies get hundreds, if not thousands, of resumes and emails a day.  Imagine having to go through all of those!  You just have to trust that they will find your email.  Make it as eye catching as possible!  That subject line for me was Sharon Bradley: High Honors Career Step graduate.  You have to make them want to open your email.
~6.)  Find some tips online about interviews.  Just because you are dressed in your PJs (as I was) and at home doesn't mean that it is a nonprofessional interview!  It is a job interview!  YOU have to treat it as such.  Find other people who work for the company you are getting an interview with.  I discovered that my company was laid back and wanted friendliness along with professionalism.  So, they call me for my interview and I am in the middle of cooking.  They ask if I am available (they were a bit late on the call) and I say "oh yea, I was just cooking Chili, my fiance can take care of that.  I am all yours."  I then kissed Rob, he whispered good luck  (which they heard), and went to our bedroom (where I now work).  We had a few laughs during our interview and I had a notebook ready for my questions and answers to the most common interview questions.

There you have it, my job search and interview technique. Other tips are helpful also.

Make absolute sure that there are NO typos on your resume.  No typos, no misspelled words, use good grammar, etc.  Basically, show them that you know your stuff and that you will be an asset to their company! 

NEVER send your resume or cover letter as an attachment!  In a world filled with viruses, a lot of companies automatically delete any emails with attachments.  So, unless you are instructed to do so, never send attachments.  Use your cover letter as the body of the email and put your resume below it.

Understand that the job search is tough and that a high graduation score is not always going to automatically open doors for you.  Find a support group online if you need to.  The job search had me in tears numerous times (6 of my "no hires" came in on the same day).

Finding companies is as easy as typing them into Google or the Swagbucks search bar.  I actually wanted to work for a smaller company so what I did is pick a state and searched for all medical transcription companies in that state.   This way, I am looking into the smaller companies, the little known companies.  Yes, you will have to put a little faith in these companies and trust them because they may not have a lot of feedback out there but this just comes with this field.  If I had trusted only online feedback for my company, I wouldn't have applied because there is not much out there about them.

Okay, I think this blog is now a book and you guys are busy people!  Get out there and live your life, I am going to sit and prepare the blog for later today since I don't have any work.  I will pre-write it so that I can just Copy and Paste it later tonight or tomorrow morning.  I would do it immediately after this one, but you are already giving me enough of your time for this morning!  :)  Again, I appreciate the time you take to read my blog! 

Have a great day everyone!!
Sharon ♥