Wiki CPC-A--- Frustrated and about to give up

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BEVYGRAM

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Hi all.... I am newly certified, Sept. 2017, and am having NO luck getting calls or interviews. I have applied for everything, no matter what kind of experience they are needing. I am about to give up. Any suggestions? I am in IL.... Not too many job listings in my area.
 
Project Xtern sites are always being added, so check everyday.

I too felt like giving up, but eventually got lucky. Try to not get discouraged, something will eventually pull through. Try volunteering at a local hospital, even if it's just something simple like filing or scanning records. Don't settle for just 'coding' jobs... You may have to get your start within billing or front desk. I know a lot of hospitals also have temp projects with scanning medical records, it's an opportunity for some experience.

Sometimes Craigslist actually has local jobs listed or temp projects, so give your local area a try.

As a last resort, you could also try going door to door to private physician practices, introducing yourself, and ask them if they need any help & that you are a certified coder through AAPC looking for work...you never know.
 
Are you involved in your local chapter?

Networking within your local chapter is invaluable. Reach out to the member development officer or the president of your chapter and ask him or her to introduce you to members at the next meeting. Bring copies of your resume with you. Find out where these people work and if they are hiring. When you are at the meetings, talk to people, don't sit quietly and hope someone approaches you. We have a formal dinner at our chapter meetings followed by a presentation. Too often I see CPC-A's sitting in their seat and not mingling and getting to know the others. Consider becoming an officer when elections come up in the fall. Many officers in my chapter have landed their first job or a better job from a fellow officer. I can't even tell you how many times that has happened. Who you know is very important in this field and if you can manage to give your resume directly to the person that is doing the hiring rather than becoming one of many in an HR stack of resumes will make a big difference. Our education officer backed out at the last minute and a new member, a CPC-A with no experience, stepped up to take the position. She is doing an amazing job and she is the first person I would recommend to my supervisor should a job open up. Had she not stepped up I wouldn't have known her name or what she is capable of.

Heather CPC
Treasurer, Cape Coders 2018
 
Re: About to Give Up

Allow me to recommend the following:

1. Attend AAPC Local Chapter Meetings - It helps to meet other coders in the area and the networking possibilities are fantastic!
2. Check out jobs listed on Linked In
3. Facebook Groups geared towards Medical Coders like Jobs for American Medical Coders (national and regional pages) and CPC-A Job Search Support Group.
4. Connect with one Dr. Lisa L Campbell, PhD. on Linked In. She's an educator and has a great training program to help CPC-A level coders in the Chicago area.
5. NETWORK LIKE CRAZY!!!
6. Sign up for an AAPC Mentor & you can post your resume in the appropriate forum!
7. Connect with recruiters and employment agencies like Maxim Health Information Services or Office Team.
8. Remember why you started. If this is truly something you want then you'll find it in yourself to dig in, re-focus, get creative and make it happen!!

We are actually in the same boat - I graduated May 2016, passed the RHIT in October 2016 and the CPC in December 2016 and I still don't have that all important FIRST coding job yet. I agree it's frustrating and even heartbreaking with every "Thanks, but no thanks" reply to my application/resume. Now is the time to get CREATIVE! There are a couple documents in the FILES tab for the Jobs for American Medical Coders page for Remote Coding Companies, many of which are rather friendly to CPC-A coders. Places like Altegra Health, Aviacode, Arro Health, GeBBS, and many, many more! There's also a medical coding specific job board called http://codersdirect.com/ that always has TONS of possibilities. The AAPC Project Xtern is also a fantastic idea!

I admit this constant rejection gets depressing so I admit I spend a good amount of time remembering my professional goals to keep me motivated. For now that's a coding compliance gig up in the Seattle region. But it also very important to have a support system so do your best to get plugged in and if you find any way to volunteer in medical coding I vote you jump with both feet!

All of that being said - If you give this new adventure a serious and honest think and you finally decide that the medical coding path is NOT the right thing for you then I vote you don't waste too much time with this. I only mention that as a result of a conversation I had on Linked In where I learned a lady had been waiting FIVE YEARS (and counting) for her first medical coding job :eek: and I promised myself that would NOT be me.

Finally - I used CCO.us to review for and pass the CPC exam on my first try and they have some lovely free resources that might help. One of which is an e-book on how to land your first medical coding job. Have a look here and scroll down until you see the title: https://www.cco.us/free-tools-reports-and-exams-for-medical-coding-and-billing/ They have TONS of marvelous info to share, check out their FB and Youtube pages!!

CHIN UP and GOOD LUCK!!

Adrienne, RHIT, CPC-A
VP Portland Metro Oregon Chapter
 
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Consider yourselves lucky

I am just trying to pass the cpc exam. I can not wait to see passed on my exam!! Good luck guys we will all make it.
 
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