JMeganSnow Posted August 13, 2007 Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 (edited) Hello, everyone! Dan Edge and I work for the same company (actually, I work for Dan), and we're currently looking to add some independent contractors to our team. Edge Medcom is a transcription company, and most of the work we do is turning audio recordings into text transcripts for companies that hold seminars, presentations, and discussion groups for doctors. Now, I know there aren't likely to be a large number of medical transcriptionists on this board, but it occured to me some time ago that medical transcription is a decent first job if you are young, without transportation, expert in English and competent in computers. Since a lot of the participants on this board are all three of those, I thought it might be worth posting something here. Now then, the job requirements: Must be in the U.S. Sorry, we can't hire anyone that lives in another country. Hawaii and Alaska are fine though. Must have high-speed internet access. Some of the audio files we use are reasonably large and you don't want to spend hours downloading them. Must be extremely competent with English and know or be willing to learn medical terminology. That last is important because if you don't know it yourself, you have to be willing to do research online or buy some books to help you out. Must be self-motivated and willing to work on a deadline. Most of our jobs have 1-3 day turnaround, and an hour of audio takes about 4 hours to transcribe, all of which must be spent sitting in front of a computer listening to doctors drone on and on about drugs or their vacation in Maui or whatever. It is a bit boring and a lot tedious, so you have to have a lot of self-disicipline to get the job done on your own initiative. Now, transcription is not for everyone. This is a good job for you if: You are looking for supplementary income. It is very, very difficult to turn this into a regular full-time job, but if you're looking for a little extra walking-around money, it can be beneficial. You have consistent amounts of free time. Jobs don't come in on a schedule so you need a good amount of time available to be able to work on them. You are looking to build a resume. If you're in high school or college and you're looking for a good first job that doesn't involve grease and "would you like fries with that?" This is a decent place to start. You are meticulous. Consistency is very important. You want to work from home and have your own business. You wouldn't find it difficult to work with Dan or myself. And when I say "work with" I mean "have us call you 14 times over the weekend to make sure that job is really going to get here when you said it would get here and each time we make small changes." Since we never see people in person, we talk to them on the phone a *lot*. This is NOT a job for you if: You are looking to make buckets of money. It just doesn't pay that much. You have a low boredom threshhold. You can't spell. You make frequent grammar mistakes. You procrastinate and are a poor judge of how much time a task will take you. I've pulled at least one all-nighter to get work out, and if it turns out to be necessary we would like the same level of dedication from the people that work with us. However, if there ever is a day when our staff has to work all night, you can bet that Dan and I will be as well. We are willing to take people on that haven't tried transcription before if they can demonstrate that they have good character/work ethic. The pay is $50/audio hour, and we estimate that it takes about 4 hours to transcribe one hour of audio. Now, that's an average estimate: some jobs are complicated and take a lot longer than that, some are easy and don't take nearly as long. If you've read through all that and are interested at all, you can email me at [email protected] Edited August 14, 2007 by JMeganSnow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenure Posted August 13, 2007 Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 May I say - obviously I cannot apply, and that's not why I'm posting, but you do an excellent job of producing a job listing. Almost everything I would need to know is here. I'm just saying, with the scant listings I get sent from Agencies - "Warm living human body needed, Tuesday" - it's refreshing to see something honest, concise and clear like this. If I were in New York, I'd take this job in a heartbeat. I'd love to work for you and Dan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cogito Posted August 13, 2007 Report Share Posted August 13, 2007 If I were in New York, I'd take this job in a heartbeat. I am in New York, and I probably will take this job... But not in a heartbeat. I need to wait till I get parental permission and get accepted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMeganSnow Posted August 14, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 14, 2007 Thanks, Tenure. Cogito, email me when you get a chance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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