Employee vs. Contractor in Medical Interpreting
This episode of "Making Meaning" is your guide to understanding the differences between W2 employment and 1099 contracting. We explore the flexibility, stability, and opportunities each path offers, equipping you with the knowledge to make the most empowered choice for your professional journey.
Why This Episode Matters to You
Your career path is as unique as your interpreter skills. The decision between being an employee and a contractor is a lifestyle choice. This episode is designed to help you feel capable and equipped to take on this critical decision.
Gain Control: Understand the nuances of each role to take charge of your work-life balance.
Reveal Potential: Discover which path aligns with your long-term career aspirations and financial goals.
Feel Empowered: Move forward with confidence, knowing you have the insights to build the career you truly desire.
Episode Highlights
Hear directly from our seasoned interpreters, Johnny (French) and Katia (Greek), who have experienced both sides of the industry.
- Expert Guidance: Get an insider's perspective from Talent Acquisition Supervisor, Jessica, on what AMN Healthcare looks for in both employee and contractor candidates.
- Day-in-the-Life Comparison: Explore the daily realities of each role, from the flexibility of a contractor's schedule to the stability and benefits of a full-time employee role.
- Making the Transition: Learn what it takes to move from over-the-phone (OPI) to video remote interpreting (VRI) and how to prepare for success.
Meet Our Panel
- Kristen Burk (Host): Recruiting Manager for Language Services at AMN Healthcare.
- Johnny (French Interpreter): An experienced interpreter with a background in both video and OPI roles, shares his journey from geology to medical interpreting.
- Katia (Greek Interpreter): A former lawyer who transitioned into a certified medical interpreter and shares her extensive experience as both a contractor and an employee.
- Jessica (Talent Acquisition Supervisor): A leader in recruiting who oversees the hiring of contracting and employee positions and explains what makes a candidate stand out.
Ready to Define Your Future?
Your skills are vital, and your career should be empowering. Whether you seek the freedom of contracting or the security of employee status, AMN Language Services has opportunities for you.
Transcript:
0:00 – 1:30 Welcome & Introductions
Kristen: Hello everybody, and welcome to our Making Meaning show. My name is Kristen Burk. I'm your host and I'm also the Recruiting Manager for Language Services. I'm joined by our fabulous sign language interpreting team. You'll see Shawn on the screen here, and behind the scenes we have Sasha. So today we are going to be talking about the difference between contract interpreting versus W2 employment interpreting. We have different job opportunities here for contractors and employees. And by the end of today's show, you're going to know all about the differences between those two. So before we get started, just want to make sure everybody in the audience knows that this is your opportunity to get a direct line to us here at AMN Language Services. OK? So we want to hear from you, drop your questions in the chat, your comments. We'll try our best to, you know, either answer them in the chat or go ahead and answer them aloud. OK, So, and while we're at it, we want to hear where you are, who you are, where you're listening from. So please go ahead and drop that in the chat as well. And we have a fabulous panel today. So let's go ahead and bring out our guests. We have Jessica, we have Johnny, we have Katia. There they are. So nice to see your faces. Let's go ahead and do some introductions. Katia, can you please tell the audience kind of a little bit about yourself?
1:30 – 3:45 Meet the Panelists
Katia: Quick introduction. Yes, I'm a Greek language interpreter. I was working with AMN the last 9 or 10 years. I was an OPI, over the phone interpreter, for eight years. In the last year, I'm, an employee, so I think I'm, experienced in both.
Kristen: Yeah. We're happy to have you.
Katia: Thank you.
Kristen: Johnny, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Johnny: Yeah, my name is Johnny. I was born in Democratic Republic of Congo. I've been working in the medical interpretation field since 2020. I worked in video for certain time, and then I left. I went to OPI for a few months, and then I came back to video. So, here I am as a French interpreter.
Kristen: Excellent. Happy to have you.
Johnny: Thank you.
Kristen: And last but not least, Jessica.
Jessica: Hey! So, let's see here. I am the Talent Acquisition Supervisor with AMN Language Services. This November, I will have been with AMN for nine years in the healthcare staffing business and been with Language Services for about 5 years now. I have the pleasure of overseeing the recruiting team for our contracting positions here. So hopefully, we can share some good knowledge with you guys today.
Kristen: And Jessica also has experience leading the team that recruits for the employment positions as well. So you'll probably notice the trend here. All of our panelists have exposure to both employee and contract work, which is IPI and OPI. So you get the whole enchilada here. These people have done it all. So, OK, Johnny, I'm going to ask you what led you into the profession of medical interpreting.
3:45 – 7:40 Career Journeys
Johnny: Sure, thank you for the question. Firstly, I was trained with the basic skills of interpretation right after I graduated university. I have a background in geology, which is a way different field. So when I graduated, I had a difficulty finding a job in my field. So, as I had a little bit of background in interpretation because I was interpreting when I was still at the university, I was interpreting some conferences already by then. Then I, when I got the training here in America for interpretation to become a professional interpretation interpreter, I had to, I was hired by a company and I was interpreting in social fields mostly schools, lower grades, offices and then some other places. That's where they needed interpretation. So and then I did find out that in that field the demand was less, more than it is in medical interpretation. Then I decided to join medical interpretation, and I got training, proper training. I started interpreting in person in the hospital as a medical interpreter and moved on up to video interpretation here.
Kristen: Good, good. Well, we're happy to have you.
Johnny: Thank you.
Kristen: And Katia, what, what led you into the profession of interpretation?
Katia: My background is, was, I was a lawyer in Greece. I had a lot of degrees. Yes, I was practicing law for 20 years. So when we moved to the United States, and we moved to the United States because my daughter was going to go to college, and, now, she's a doctor, actually, after so many years. I was, it was difficult for me to practice law here, to be a lawyer here. So, but, I was really good in Greek language, and I thought that this would, well, first I was teaching Greek and then I found this job. I tried, I said, let's give it a try. I loved it. I just loved it. I got certified. That was the smartest thing I think I did. And like my colleague said, the medical field needs a lot of interpreters. So I specialized in medical interpretation.
Kristen: Good, thank you. And then, so Jessica, tell us about kind of what led you into your career path of talent acquisition for interpreters.
Jessica: Yeah. I mean, you know me, Kristen, I am a people person to the core. You know, I, like I mentioned earlier, started out in the travel nursing world. And gosh, I guess it was right around the pandemic. It used to be called Stratus Video, right? Came into the fold with AMN. And I don't know what it was. There was just kind of a call to me, you know, to kind of go over to that side of things. And gosh, just so glad I did. You know, I love the mission, you know, of what we do, you know, connecting interpreters to patients and just really positively affecting patient outcomes.
Kristen: So yeah, awesome. Thank you. All right, so next question is for Johnny. Tell us more about your language background. You know, I know you gave us a little bit of a back story on where you're from, but how did you become so proficient in more than one language?
7:40 – 13:30 Language Proficiency Stories
Johnny: Yeah, thank you. Firstly, as I said, I was born in Congo. For those who know, who know Congo well. And in Democratic Republic of Congo, we have one language which is a French language, which is official language. And then we do have four other languages which we call them national languages which include Lingala, Swahili, Chiluba and Kikongo. So I was raised by my senior brother who was working for the American company British American Tobacco and he was he is a public accountant. So he was working and they moved him into different regions while I was still young. I had to attend school in two and three different regions among those four groups of languages. So I was first in the Chiluba speaking region, I went to school there and then later they moved us into the Swahili speaking region and then I attended school there. Still in the elementary level. And then later we went to the Lingala speaking region, which is in the capital. And there too I attended. That's where I graduated my elementary school and attended my high school. I started high school over there. So that's what made me still young to get 3 languages beside French, which I was getting since my birth. So that's how I became a polyglot still under 10 years of age. And then when I moved on, I found that I was pretty good in languages. I always wanted to speak language efficiently and professionally. I also I wanted to imitate my uncle who is a journalist. I always admired whenever he's presenting a journal, whenever he's on TV, I always admired, wanted to be like him. So that's one of the mentors that I I had growing up in my childhood. And then later I encountered English and then Russian. So always was a language polyglot already. I always have had such a nature of understanding language and studying language deeply so that I can be in the level of interpreting. So in the level of teaching that language to others. So that's what led me into getting multiple languages.
Kristen: Wow, I'm in awe. OK, Did I count 6 languages, or, I was trying to count, Yes, 6 languages. Wow, that's amazing.
Johnny: Thank you.
Kristen: And then, Katia, tell us about kind of how you became proficient in, you know, more than one language.
Katia: Of course, I was born in Greece. I went to school in Greece. This my native language, but in Greece we learn a lot of languages. This is a part of our education. So as a child, I was going to a secondary school that was a French school. It was at the French Academy that was actually, it was run by the 1st French government. So I had the Sorbonne degree from there. And at the same time, I was attending after school English lessons. So I learned French and English, you know, it's the first language for everybody in Greece now. And later I went to get institute and I learned German, but mostly my main language of course is Greek and then French and English.
Kristen: Wow. So for you, 4 languages.
Katia: Yes, but German, not so good anymore, you know, I don't, I do not practice it.
Kristen: I'm still impressed. OK. All right. And we have a few folks in the audience. I just want to say hello to Carolina from from Saratona, Pennsylvania. We have Bee from South Florida. We have Sharia from Utah and Geneva from the Bronx. Thank you all for tuning in. All right, so this next question is for Jessica. Well, maybe you speak other languages, maybe you don't. But if you could speak, I already know you don't, any language what would it be?
Jessica: Yeah, I speak English on a good day, honestly, you know, not fluent in another language. I tried to learn French, and I did actually learn French in high school and college. But let's be real, this Midwest accent doesn't do anything great for the French language. But ultimately, and like I've told you before, KB, to throw you a curveball, if I could learn it, I would love to learn Luxembourgish because that's actually where my family's from. And it's definitely my dream to get over there one day. So it's sort of a German language. So I've tried to brush up on my German, but that's the goal someday to learn that.
Kristen: That's ambitious. And I apologize to poor Shawn for having to interpret that word. Luxembourgish.
Jessica: I should have thought that through before throwing Luxembourgish out.
Kristen: Yeah. OK, Good deal. So let's talk a little bit about how you kind of prepared, you know, to come into these roles that you all have here with AMN. So Johnny, what was the process like for you to come on board as a contractor with AMN?
13:30 – 18:00 Training and Certification
Johnny: Sure. As I said previously, I was already interpreting in the medical field in person in the hospital. So I had started looking for another job because I didn't have many hours in the hospital. So that's how I encountered looking online. I found Stratus Video back then in 2020, it was still Stratus Video. We at the time I knew I, I knew only two companies, LanguageLine and Status Video. So I decided to join Status Video based on some comments that I saw actually on their website, like a lot of good comments, good views. At that time I found out that, OK, this is the right place. So let me apply here. So that's how I applied and then worked for about a year in video and then I got a job as a geologist, as I have a background in geology. So I got a job in the geology field and then I had to leave. So, but as I have this passion of helping, of interpreting, I didn't want to leave and cut off my route with interpreting. So I asked by the manager that I, I had back during that time, I asked him if I can go into the OPI department, and he told me that yeah, that's a good thing, that's a good idea. Let me connect you. So he connected me with the director, whoever was in charge at the time, at that time the OPI department. And then I got the training necessary, training mostly the app, and then, yeah. And then from there I started working the OPI and mostly I was working a lot of hours in the weekend.
Kristen: Yeah. Good. Was it a pretty easy, like interview process and onboarding process? Do you remember, Johnny?
Johnny: Yes. Coming out from video, I already had a login. I had my ID number. So it was easy for them to get my profile transfer into OPI. It wasn't that difficult because they had already my profile opened. So it wasn't difficult.
Kristen: Yeah, good. And for anybody in the audience, I just, you know, want to take a quick moment to say that, you know, we have some requirements that are different. We'll certainly talk about that later. But we do require that anyone coming onto us has a training. So we want to be sure any contractor is, you know, well trained. So we like to see a 40 hour training and also a language assessment if there is one available in the language that you speak. So thank you, Johnny.
Kristen: Katia, you mentioned that you got a certification. Tell me a little bit about the kind of training that you went through that prepared you for your work as an interpreter.
Katia: I had the 40 hour training and then I got the test from the Certification Certificate Commission of Healthcare Interpreters, and I became certified because in the Greek language at that time there was not a specific certification. That was back in 2017 and in 2023 the committee provided the new certification, the performance in a specific language, it is CCHI performance in Greek. So, I said yes, I have to move on now. And I got the test. It's a different test, and I was certified also. But of course, in order to keep your certification, you have to have training every two years. And of course, because I like it, I watch several videos. You have always to study actually, have to study, because you have to study the vocabulary you have to study even if you're not a doctor. We have to have an idea about some specific medical problems. That was my and also I'm an evaluator at the same time, an evaluator of the Greek language. So I know roughly what they need, the companies.
Kristen: Good. Thank you. Yeah, it's so valuable that CCHI or the core CCHI is just such a valuable certificate. So, yeah, that's great. Jessica, tell the audience a little bit about some of the contractor opportunities available for interpreters.
18:00 – 21:00 Contractor Opportunities
Jessica: Yeah. So that covers a lot, right, 'cause like you talked about earlier, we've got in-person opportunities in some different states. We're still really bringing back that in-person side of our business, you know, since COVID. And then of course we've got our over-the-phone, which is probably where we have most of our opportunities, right, because our over-the-phone team covers well over 200 languages. I think we're verging on about 250. The big needs for over-the-phone really are in those more rare languages, right? So some of the ones we've been hiring for lately are are Pohnpeian, Kekchi, Quiche, Soneki or I'm sorry, Soninke. Oh gosh, I wanted to think of a couple more Navajo. Belarusian is one that we've had a hard time finding. So if you or any of your friends out there, you know, have, you know, multiple languages, some of those rare ones, definitely send them our way for in-person. You know, the big struggle right now is ASL everywhere. There is just a massive shortage of ASL interpreters out there. So, you know, big ones for us are Texas, Boston area. We're looking in Nashville, in Southern North Carolina, gosh, just anywhere and everywhere that we have in-person right now. Massachusetts as well. We definitely could use some good ASL folks.
Kristen: So, yeah, So what I'm hearing is lots of opportunities. Lots, lots of opportunities. If you're listening, apply or tell a friend to apply, ‘cause we've got you covered. Just got a couple more folks. We have a, a great audience, people from all over, all four corners of the US here, Beatrice from Miami, Isabel from Orlando, Harley from New Mexico, Luis from Mexico, Chihuahua, and then Mr. A from Texas. Mr. A, do you like to do in-person interpreting? OK, so let's talk a little bit about the advantages of each role. And you know, Johnny, I'm going to ask you a little bit about the language assessment you went through. Do you remember going through that process and can you tell us a little bit about that?
21:00 – 27:00 Contractor vs. Employee Roles
Johnny: Sure. The language assessment at AMN is a little bit different than what I got actually before in my previous role. Here at AMN, we have a very robust language assessment, which is which includes a broad view of human body health. So a lot of things to study, a lot of information to get you equipped to know as the role of interpreter. Because as you know, we're dealing with human life and every day we have, we're in a session, it's very sensitive information for the people we're helping. So it's very necessary that we are equipped with this information so that we don't make any mistakes. And of course, we are human beings, we can make a mistake, but we always, we are trained in a way that if a mistake happens, we correct it right away so that it doesn't impact human life. So it's AMN I would like to thank. Thank you guys for this training material that you guys have for us, which is, which is equipping us every day with this important information for the role of interpreting.
Kristen: Yes, yeah. And you know, you touched on something that I just want to expand on a little bit more, which is, you know, the assessment process. It may be a little bit more intense than some of our competitors, right. But we pride ourselves on our quality here. That's basically our #1 attribute at AMN is the quality of our interpretation. We're very proud of it. And I think it speaks for itself to say that we do require proof of language proficiency. You know, if we're putting our interpreters in this extremely valuable role, patient centric role, we want to be sure that they're going to do a good job. So thank you for that.
Johnny: You're welcome.
Kristen: Alright. And Katia, tell, tell us a little bit about what it's like to be kind of your own boss as a contractor and how does that fit in with your lifestyle?
Katia: You're a freelancer, so you have a lot of flexibility, meaning that you can start working at 4:00 AM and you can stop working at 12 midnight. You can make your breaks, you can do other things if you have scheduled. So there's a lot of flexibility. This is most important being a contractor, I think.
Kristen: Yeah, yeah, definitely. And I think it's nice that we have typically options for both, you know, whatever suits your needs. So Jessica, tell us a little bit about the differences in requirements for employee roles versus contractor roles.
Jessica: Yeah. So they actually kind of mirror each other. I would say the requirements for both. But with our contractors, since you are going to come in with so much autonomy and so much flexibility to come and go as you want. And who knows, maybe there's a month where you might only work for like an hour, right, and another month where you'll work for 50 hours. All that to say, we want you to come with your own certifications, training, that kind of thing. So basically you can come in, you already know, you already have some experience with medical interpreting and you know you're going to hop on the phone lines and be able to with confidence handle some of these high acuity calls. And as Johnny mentioned earlier, you know, we deal with a lot of calls of, of life and death, right? So like KB has highlighted a little bit, you know, we need a language proficiency assessment. There's a lot of different ones out there that exist. There are of course, for our rare languages, the possibility that maybe an assessment doesn't exist. But we are going to find a way then in your background for us to be able to sort of highlight and prove that you do have that proficiency in that language. We always prefer a medically based assessment. I think Johnny kind of highlighted that a little bit. If there is a medical assessment that exists out there, we definitely want to use that one as opposed to maybe one that's just covering, you know, business or community type of roles, right? The other big key piece that we need too is that medical interpreter training that you'd kind of touched on earlier, KB, you know, here we have to follow the standards of the hospitals we work with. We have to follow the standards of the Joint Commission. We also are expected to follow the standards of state, local and federal practices. And they all say that we have to work with qualified interpreters. So these are the two key pieces that we, you know, use to ensure that all of our interpreters, whether they be VRI over-the-phone or in-person are qualified. So at least that 40-hour medical interpreter training and that language proficiency assessment, preferably also medically based.
Kristen: So yes, yeah, thank you. Excellent. All right, So Johnny, next question is for you. Thinking back to when you worked as a contractor, what was your day to day like?
27:00 – 30:00 Daily Life & Transition to Video
Johnny: Yeah, working as a contractor is very flexible. As mentioned previously, I was focusing on the weekend because weekends, you, we know that’s the time we don't have a video department working, so all calls are coming to OPI. So that means that you get a lot of calls, maybe every 10 minutes or 15 minutes or 20 minutes. So as Katia said, you establish your own schedule, you can work whenever you want and wherever you want. It has to be just quiet and then you do the job your way. You can get a call and understand, get a good voice from your phone and then also make sure that you also are being heard by the person listening. So that's one of the important things. So you make your own schedule and then you capture, you get, you prepare for your own taxes because you're a contractor, so you work on your own. So you get a 1099, which means like you have pay your taxes by yourself. So that's a little bit of what I can say. It's very flexible and very free from your side that you know when to open to put yourself in active mode and then start waiting for the call. You don't have to miss that call because it can help save someone’s life.
Kristen: That's great. Thank you so much. And you touched on something important, which is to say that the weekends are very busy for you. So, for anyone who is interested in applying or maybe you're going through the process already to be an OPI interpreter with us, certainly talk to your recruiter and make sure they explain when the high volume times will be because they are different based on the language. But that's a very good point because, you know, typically Monday through Friday, daytime hours are not going to be as busy for our OPI interpreters. OK, great. So, Katia, next question is for you. Of course, we have some people in the audience who have probably never worked on video. What was it like for you to transition from an OPI interpreter into a video interpreting role?
Katia: Actually, there was not a lot of difference. I, I did not, I found it easy. You know, it was, in OPI,you have to visualize things, you know, you have to, to have an imagination, let's say. So, now [with VRI] you see the real world. Make the same interpretation, you follow the same rules, just you have a schedule. For me, that was the difference. Of course, you have always to be, you know, well dressed, well dressed, you know, have to be good looking, let's say, because they won't see a nice image otherwise and have to set up your background, things like that. Otherwise, for me, it was the same.
Kristen: Good. Glad to hear it was a smooth transition.
Katia: Very smooth with AMN was extremely smooth. I don't know how it would be [elsewhere].
Kristen: Excellent. So Jessica, in your mind, what are the advantages of working as a contractor versus an employee for AMN?
30:00 – 32:15 Pros & Cons of Each Role
Jessica: Yeah, I mean, I think there's pros and cons to both sides, right, or advantages and disadvantages. You know, obviously with contracting, like we've kind of highlighted a couple times, the key thing is flexibility, right? Come and go as you please, work as much or as little as you want. You know, the trade off being that we don't always know when the calls are going to come in, right. Even if you do talk to a recruiter and they say, hey, you know, this line is going to be heavier on the weekends. You just still don't know how many calls, you know, exactly you're going to get that weekend. Some weeks are busier than others, you know, things like that. But you know, so big trade-offs being like I say, flexibility for those contractors. For employees, you know, you're going to have that set schedule. You're getting paid by the hour, you know, no matter how many calls are coming in. And then you have some benefits like, you know, PTO and things like that, but it's not as flexible. So that's why I say there's advantages and disadvantages to both, right? But at the end of the day, it just depends on what kind of work life balance you are looking for.
Kristen: Exactly. Thank you. So everybody loves to hear stories from the field. This is where, you know, you interpreters tell us about a time that like, oh, you remember this call like it was yesterday because it had such a profound impact. Johnny, can you tell us about such a call that you might recall that was very impactful to you?
32:15 – 39:00 Impactful Stories from the Field
Johnny: Oh, sure. I know that's a, that's a really good question actually, but I'll say that as an interpreter, we make the difference every day in the human body, a human life, because every call, every session we are in, we, we're making a difference, an impact, a positive impact. I can recall two cases. One was a family from Geneva. They, they came to the U.S. in a visit and suddenly the wife started getting sick and they were admitted. So they were using like a phone for translation. You know, nowadays you can use a voice interpret into translating. So you talk and then somebody else talks. And that's the way they were communicating. They registered using that method. And then when they get into the, into the place where they had to be seen by the doctor, the doctor, told them that they were going to use an online video interpreter. So they didn't believe that they could find somebody more competent who could speak French, clear French, because they thought that it's maybe an American who speaks French that may have difficulty pronouncing some words. So they were very surprised that they could get a clear and good understanding of French language here in the United States. So they were very, very happy. And another case, I encountered a lady. She was practicing her English most of the time. She used to decline interpreting service, but one day the provider said “I have to use an interpreter because I understand you speak English, but I really want to make sure that you understand.” So, she agreed and then there I was in a session. So she asked me to let her interpret, that she understood and kind of continued with her conversation. And that actually I should kind of step back and then wait. If there is some misunderstanding, I should intervene. So that’s what happened and then at some point they reached the level that they, the provider mentioned something about why she was under a certain medication, and she didn't understand that. And they asked her that, you know, you havie a cyst on your kidneys. She said that what does that mean? So I intervened and then she said, wow, what is going on? No, I don't have such a disease. And then she [the provider] said that, but you are on the medication for this, and you have been on this medication for three months. And she said that, no, but the provider put me on this medication. I didn't know. I, she, she did not explain why she put [me on] it And the current provider said no, you, you have been told. There is no medical doctor who can give you a medication without telling you the reason why you are getting this medication. [It happened] because you wanted to interpret yourself. You didn't want to use the [interpreting] service that is provided free of charge to you. You don't want to use it. That's why you misunderstood the provider.
She said, wow, so from now on I would like to use an interpreter because I didn't know that I had this disease in my body, and I'm being treated for it. I knew that I'm getting kidney treatment, but I didn't know about the cyst. Thank you so much.
So that's a way to get, we do get a lot of stories like that daily, every day in all the sessions, every session. We do encounter people like that who are happy with the service that we're providing, and they feel confident when they have an interpreter because they can express themselves freely. So that's a little bit that I can share.
Kristen: Oh, thank you so much. That's awesome. And that really must make you feel good to hear stories like that when you know you're having such a profound impact.
Kristen: Awesome. Katia, next question is for you. So is there a time that stands out in your head when you're like, oh, I just feel like I'm working in the right place?
Katia: Oh, yes, there's was an older lady. She was 95 years old. She said no one, nobody was alive from her family and she needed an interpreter, a medical, of course. And I remember that at the end she told me, you know, it is God who's sending you today to help me. I still remember that, the way she told it. And I I will say a funny thing. Also, you know, it was a fine interpretation. So it was OPI, over-the-phone, and you have to speak in first person, and the provider was saying, I'm going to listen your heart, your lungs. So I was explaining. I'm going to listen your heart and your lungs and in first person. So the man there was a patient. Then he was thinking, he said, OK, but how can you do that over the phone? So he embraced that I was a doctor, and I was going to examine over-the-phone. [Laughs] And the last, I will be very brief. It [the call] came to me, an older lady with a stroke here from California. And to make a long story short, the lady that had the stroke was my mother.
Katia: Yeah, this is the funny thing in life, you know, because my sister was calling me, but because I was working, I saw the calls, but I said, OK, I'll call her later. And she was calling me to tell me that they just transferred Mom with a stroke. So as I was interpreting this [session]. At some point, they said the name. And I asked the date of birth. And I said, you know, this is my mother. Yeah. I could not believe it, but it happened.
Kristen: Wow. That's one that you were not expecting. I'm sure. Yeah, well, thank you both for your stories. Just wonderful the impact that you have. And Jessica, you know, of course, you've spoken with a ton of interpreters over your career. Is there anything that kind of stands out to the person that gets the offer? Like, OK, this is the right person for AMN.
39:00 – 48:00 Advice for Aspiring Interpreters
Jessica: You know, there's a lot of different reasons, you know, somebody could just come across as a good fit, right? But the ones that are easiest for me to pinpoint are those that, you know, clearly have that compassion, that strong desire to do this job, whether they've never, you know, if they even if they haven't done it before, I guess I mean to say, but you can tell those who come in there who are just looking.] You know, for a job and they're bilingual and so this is where they want to go. There's a difference between those and, you know, those who really have that passion to come in and use their language skills to help our patients who are in need. And those are the ones who are the quick yes for me.
Kristen: For sure, yeah. And that's a very important distinction because I think I've said this in every live show that we've done. But, you know, to be an interpreter is much more than just being a bilingual person, right? You're not a robot in the room simply transmitting information. You are really part of the care team. And to be an effective interpreter, you have to want to do it because it gets hard. I mean, you're going to have days when, let's be honest, there's some stressful stuff going on in the hospital. So you do really have to want to help and to kind of, you know, be there. So thank you. We did get one question. Somebody on LinkedIn is asking if there's any other opportunities aside from interpretation. And then are all positions remote? So I'll answer the first or the last one first. Over-the-phone interpreting and VRI are remote, and we have, of course, on site the in-person interpretation as we call IPI. And as far as other opportunities, you know, this team is really focused on hiring interpreters, but you can always go to the AMN website and there's nurse opportunities, there's corporate jobs for maybe finance and accounting, all kinds of things. And certainly take a look at our website, amnhealthcare.com/interpreters. If you do want to be an interpreter, even if you don't have a ton of experience, we would love to talk to you because we do have some training options as well. So, OK, we're going to kind of wrap it up here. This has been such a great call I just want to hear the final advice, Johnny, anything you can give to an aspiring interpreter to kind of help them along their path?
Johnny: Sure, sure. I'll first say, as you mentioned previously that it's got to be something that you really want to do and we face a lot of challenges daily. So those challenges are like emotional challenges because no one likes to die. So if you are experiencing like an end of life session, something like that, it takes some time at certain points, even though I'm an interpreter, I'm not physically there, but I do get also some emotion. If, you know, you're in a session and the provider is telling the patient that in seven days or in a month, he or she will be gone. So for those types of sessions, you’ve got to be morally prepared.So they don't affect you personally. And another advice is to learn the language and improve it because dealing with interpreting, interpreting is not just translating. We're not translating. We are interpreting, meaning that we are providing the meaning from one language into another language. So you got to know how to manipulate those languages because if you don't know, you may be stuck in [direct] translating, like getting word to word. And that way you won’t help because the real help we need here and what we do here is interpreting the meaning. So learn the language, both target language and your language that you actually know better. Learn it on the level where you can actually explain it to someone else. So that’s it and keep improving it because, you know, language, you know it or you lose it. If you don't learn, keep learning it, then you keep losing it all the time, day by day.
So that's why you got to keep up with that language. So more practice, more grammar knowledge and more video screening in those languages so that you get proficiency in both languages that you are working in. Yeah, that's the two pieces of advice that I wanted to share with you guys.
Kristen: That's great advice. Thank you so much for all of that. You checked all the boxes. So hopefully, Katia, you can still think of something else to say because you've got the next question. What advice? I know he covered it all. What advice would you tell a would-be interpreter who's just getting into the field?
Katia: Love your job, get training all the time and be kind with people. Smile even if you are over the phone. I remember, they [the training team] said even when you speak over the phone, you have to smile. People can understand. I think they need someone there to feel, to feel comfortable. So you're helping people. Just know that you're helping people. This is something. You're helping the patient. You're helping also their providers. You cover them, you know, you cover the providers. So they both need you. And be thankful for that. It's a beautiful job
Kristen: Thank you. It really is. Thank you so much. I want to answer one last question because I think it's an important one. Isabel applied on the website for Haitian Creole and French, and she may not have gotten a response. But this is a language that kind of comes and goes. Sometimes we're covered on it. Sometimes we do need applicants. So, you know, if you haven't heard from a recruiter, please just stay tuned. Hopefully, we will have some openings that come up soon for those languages, and then we can contact you. Jessica, last question of the day is for you. What is the advice that you would give to, you know, somebody entering the interpreting field?
Jessica: Yeah. My two biggest things. Be prepared. You know, we've talked about the importance of, and Johnny really covered it too. You know, you have to be at a pretty highly proficient level in your language, you know, for this type of job. But almost just as important, be authentic. You know, we really value those interpreters that are obviously skilled linguistically, but just as much, we appreciate those interpreters who are passionate about this role, about patient care. I would say what we do here is probably not good for anybody just looking for a side gig, right? We do, like we said, deal with life and death. We take a lot of heavy calls, a lot of heavy cases. And so not only would it maybe potentially be bad for us taking on somebody who's not really in it authentically or passionately, but it'd probably be bad for you, a bad time for you, right? Because this can be a high burnout role just with all of the tough things and challenges that our interpreters deal with on a daily basis. So if you truly think this is something that you're passionate about doing, absolutely apply, apply immediately. But you know, just keep in mind, you're going to have to keep learning daily. Language is still evolving. Medicine changes all the time. So keep that in mind.
48:00 – End (~49:00) Closing Remarks
Kristen: All right, well, thank you so much. That brings us to the end of our show. This was really amazing. Always so nice to hear from our panelists. So thank you all for taking the time to be with us. To our audience, we appreciate you so much. If you have more questions, more burning desires, don't worry because we will be here at the same time, same place next month, different theme, but you can still ask whatever question you want. And thank you to Shawn and Sasha doing just an amazing job with all those crazy languages we threw at them. So, you're all awesome. Have a great rest of the Wednesday and we'll see you next month. Thank you.
