9 ASRT Membership Perks That Go Beyond CE Credits

Welcome to A Couple of Rad Techs Podcast.

I am Sean, your host and in today's episode 9 ASRT membership perks that go beyond CE credits we're breaking down the top benefits of ASRT membership way more than just managing your CE credits.

I know this episode is for every medical imaging professional and radiation therapist who wants to increase their job security.

Find exclusive job resources, network with industry leaders and grab some cool discounts at the same time.

On this episode, you'll learn how nine perks can take your career to the next level.

Let's dive in and unlock your full potential with ASRT membership.

You know, when most technologists hear about asrt, the first thing that comes to mind is continuing education.

And not only continuing education, but being able to just manage continuing education and report them to the arrt.

And yes, SRT does provide CE credits management of them, transferring them to the arrt, which does make it convenient.

But if that's the only reason you're considering membership or haven't considered membership, you're missing out on some of the biggest career changing benefits available to us in the medical imaging profession Today.

I am again talking about nine ASRT membership perks that go way beyond CE credits and management.

I'm going to talk about some of those CE credits because y'all, they are fantastic and I just don't want you to miss out knowing about that fact.

Whether you're just starting out, looking to advance your career, or wanting to future proof your career, ASRT has so much more to offer than just checking off your CE requirements.

Here's the biggest misconception.

People think ASRT is just about CE credits.

I get it.

Keeping up with CE credits is a big deal and many times you could do it yourself.

But here's the reality.

CE CE credits are just the tip of the iceberg.

Let's think bigger for a second.

What if your ASRT membership could help you land a better paying job, build your professional network, protect your career from legislative threats, even open doors to leadership and entrepreneurship?

Now I got your interest.

Stay tuned to this episode.

Too many technologists sign up for ASRT just to meet their CE requirements and completely miss out on the resources that can actually elevate your careers to the next level, open up your minds to opportunities and push away that myth that we're limited as medical imaging professionals, that there's no growth in our profession.

That's why in this episode of nine SRT Perks that Go Beyond CE Credits, you're going to learn the steps that you need to take to elevate your career.

And it starts with the membership, with the asrt.

And if you're already a member, how to really take advantage of that membership.

We're going to put it all into perspective.

I'm going to share a quick story.

You guys know I love to tell a story, but I feel like it drives home the point because you get to realize that you're not alone.

I'm doing this podcast talking about this subject because I've been there.

I'm speaking from personal experience.

I used to have a membership to a gym.

I'm not going to say the name of the gym.

Whatever gym you go to, most people have a membership.

And you know, I only joined that gym for these two reasons, the sauna and the pool.

It may sound silly, but those are the only reasons.

I pay that monthly fee.

For years, I literally would sometimes use a wait or two, but I pretty much just would go to the pool and then get in the sauna, go to the pool, get in the sauna.

I completely ignored the rest of these things that came with my membership.

Free classes, free training, smoothie bar with some of the best smoothies, y'all.

When I finally got the smoothies, I was like, I have been missing this for how many years?

Even free personal training sessions, there were so many things that I just did not bother to look at.

I was paying for all of these incredible benefits with this gym membership, and I was not using them.

That's what happens when people join the ASRT just for CE credits or just for CE credit management.

You, you know, when you join the srt, you're paying for access to career changing resources, networking, job protection, and leadership training.

But if you're only logging in for CEUs or joining for CEUs, you're leaving so much on the table.

And I don't want that to happen.

I want you all to really go beyond the CE credits.

Now it's time to talk about those nine ASRT membership perks.

Are you ready?

Okay, let's break it down.

Number one, education and career growth.

The ASRT is known for providing structured career roadmaps, certification prep courses, and with your membership at a minimum, you get 17 CE credits per year renewed every year.

This helps technologists advance in modalities like mri, which is a hot one, Connecticut, which is another hot one.

Mammography or radiation therapy.

But ASRT members gain access to professional development opportunities without that hefty.

Price tag.

I just want you guys to soak that in.

How many of you have paid for leadership training?

How much did it cost you?

I know I've been a part of some leadership trainings and it was pretty pricey.

Some cost even more.

Your ASRT membership comes with it and it's strategic, is strictly within the medical imaging and radiation therapy profession.

Now, when it comes to job and career resources, I know we have a lot of places we can search for jobs and careers.

But the ASRT Job bank isn't just another job board.

It's an exclusive hiring platform where imaging companies can actively seek out ASRT members because they recognize the value of technologists who invest in their careers.

Right.

They know the audience they have with the asrt.

Individuals who take pride in being members of one of the top organizations that represents them.

Companies can post specialty jobs for members who show dedication to professional growth by joining the srt.

These are the people they are trying to attract when it comes to job and career sources.

The SRT Job bank is not just another job board.

There are many out there, but think about this.

It's an exclusive hiring platform where imaging companies actively seek out ASRT members because they recognize the value of us as technologists who are investing in our careers by being members of the asrt.

What are some of the things that are available under the Job and Career tab on the asrt.org well, you have the job bank where you can search for jobs, upload your resume, sign up for email job alerts.

I want to talk about that for a second because how many of you out there on your resume have your personal information like your address, your phone number, your email address?

I mean so much where you've worked in the last so many years, like where did you go to school?

All of your personal information is on there.

And some of these job boards, you're sending it out to them and you don't know if this is a real company.

You don't know if this is a legitimate job.

Right.

But your information is out there.

You don't have to worry about that with the ASRT Job Bank.

They are vetted employers so there's safety with being a member as well.

Also, how many times have you been on some of these job boards and you see these jobs posted, hiring, urgent, apply quickly.

You know, it's just like this urgency to it, but they've got like a hundred plus applicants on it, people that have applied to it, then all Of a sudden, the job expires.

You never hear anything about it.

That doesn't happen with the ASRT job bank.

These are real life situations that happen.

You, you don't want to just be putting your information out there in hopes to get a job that wasn't even a real job in the first place.

On some of these job boards, you, you can trust that.

On the ASRT job bank, these are legitimate and reputable jobs and companies.

I also get in my DMs all the time.

How much do MRI techs make in California?

How much do CT techs or radiation therapists or medical dosimetrists?

You know, they want to know how much each modality makes.

Well, you have a salary estimator, and this is the most up to date.

Because one thing about the ASRT and the art, they work close together.

There are surveys that are sent out to technologists who want to participate, who tell what their salaries are, what avenues do they work in.

Outpatient education, leadership, how long have they been working?

So these salary estimators are not based off of data that is just thrown out there.

This is researched data that is really up to date.

So if you're wondering how much should you make or possibly could make and how to negotiate your salary, you need to be a member of the ASRT and be under that career tab.

Because you get to compare wages of those other RTs who have the same job title, work in the same setting, same number of years, right?

This is how you get accurate information.

Number three, employment roadmap is under this tab.

We all need a roadmap.

I wish I had a roadmap available to me.

This is going to help you guide yourself through the process of finding a new job.

I don't know about you, but it's a job.

Trying to find a job, it really is.

It's exhausting.

That's why a lot of people just don't go for new jobs.

But sometimes you need that change.

But you need a roadmap.

You need a plan.

The ASRT has you covered.

Then you have the career center.

You can research career paths in radiologic technology.

They have videos on how to conduct job research.

I don't know about you, but.

But the way I learned how to write a resume was in school.

They helped us write on word, a resume.

And it was kind of basic and generic.

I took a couple classes to kind of revamp my skills through the years.

But resume writing is no joke.

It is an art to it.

Why not?

As a member of the asrt, Use that opportunity to learn how to write a resume that is going to get you the job you want.

And not just a resume that lists your jobs.

It really paints a picture of who you are as a technologist in medical imaging.

The next one I want to go to is CE credits and scholarships.

It's a wonderful thing that the SRT has an education tab.

Continuing education is one of those things that is first and foremost because as they educate us and keep us educated, we just don't get one and we're done.

Every year we need to get 24, but we also have other continue educations that we have to do and they're on top of making sure it's just not some basic education, but it's a quality most up to date, challenging, helping us to grow.

And every year you get 17 CE credits put into your access bank as a member.

17, we need 24.

17 is not bad.

And if you have a premium membership you get 20 credits.

So you only need four more.

I mean this is.

And there are so many other things I want to talk about that are the perks of being a member of the SRT that getting those extra 4 or getting those extra 7 would be no problem.

I'm telling you, no problem at all.

And of course with the CE you can get the track and transfer where I'm gonna tell you it helps.

It really does take another job off of.

You can check that off and you're done with that.

There's also free access to more than 30 online courses with easy compliance.

You can look into that and learn more.

And I'm gonna talk about scholarships and grants.

I would love to know how many of you in that are listening to this podcast, have used or taken advantage of and have been rewarded.

How many of you have applied for scholarships and grant with grants with the asrt.

And if any of you have ever won one, I would love to know that.

But you have access to multiple scholarships and grants.

I get DMS all the time on my socials asking scholarship, how do I find a scholarship?

This scholarship that, scholarship that grant.

A lot of people don't even know these things exist, but they are out there.

And being a member, it is tedious trying to find scholarships and grants.

I mean it's a whole job.

I remember when I was in school having to go to the library and open a book and go through this really thick book and find scholarships and grants.

Oh my goodness.

It was, it was another job.

Like finding a job, but as a member that is taken off your plate and it's also good for members who are pursuing higher education certifications.

It reduces the financial barriers to career growth who could not benefit from that.

Next is advocacy and Professional Protection.

The previous episode before this talks about what the ASRT is doing for us when it comes to advocacy.

If you have not heard that podcast, you want to go back after you finish listening to this one and make sure you listen to it.

I would definitely put the link down in the description in the notes and if you're listening to this on YouTube, I will put a little link at the top where you could just click on it at the end and be able to watch that podcast and listen to it.

It's phenomenal.

Gives you great options for how they options for how you could participate, but also how what the SRT does behind the scenes Making sure our profession is not watered down because none of us want to wake up and find out our state no longer requires a license for medical imaging professionals and anybody is sitting there doing X rays or radiation therapy or any of the above, right?

No, no, no.

We put so much into our profession.

Let's learn more about what the SRT is doing to protect us.

Now the financial discounts and liability insurance.

I don't know if you guys know about this, but there is a tab.

As a member you can get discounts say 15% on regularly priced merchandise online and in the store at Scrubs and Beyond.

I use that because that's where I buy my scrubs from and I always did and then I stopped and then I realized wait, I get a discount on paying for with my membership.

Yes, I go to Scrubs and Beyond and get some of the cutest scrubs and you also get other member perks and it's under the tab.

ASRT member perks.

Radiation protection, aprons, eyewear, auto insurance, local dining.

You get to save on rental cars like so many other discounts that come along with this membership.

Also there is a discount for essential education powered by the SRT.

It's a SRT store discount.

You get 50% off continuing education courses, books, merchandise and more.

There are a lot of places you can buy continuing education from but think about somewhere where you could just get it all at a one stop shop.

It is Vett it you know that it is going to stand up to at the end.

You would hate to get to the end of the year and I'm going to tell you I've done this before.

Gotten to the end of the year for my 24 hour credit.

24 credit hours and realized that the course that I took for continuing education did not hold the quality that the asrt, excuse me, that the art required.

And it didn't count.

I was scrambling so fast to hurry up and get those few little ces.

I mean, I'm just saying it was me.

I might be the only one that's experienced that, but, yeah, I have.

So these are some of the discount.

These are some of the benefits of using these discounts even in your education.

And I love to travel, so I'm always making sure I use all of my benefits.

And being able to use it on rental cars and hotels is a plus as well.

Well, and the other benefit, I don't know if some of you have a liability insurance, but as a contractor, I carry liability insurance.

And I was struggling to find a company that would cover a radiologic technologist contractor staffing.

And.

And it just was.

They kept saying, well, are you a radiologist?

Are you a nurse?

And I'm like, no.

They could not find any type of coverage.

And the ones that did it was so high.

And I looked through my membership as an ASRT member and I said, wait a minute, this is a liability insurance company.

Let me call them up and see what benefits I will get.

There it was.

It was so affordable, such good coverage, and they knew exactly who they were covering.

The ASRT membership definitely rescued me.

The struggle sometimes with us in medical imaging is people don't have a place for us.

Aren't we kind of numb to that?

But when you're a member of the srt, they've already gathered the people and the things that we need that know who we are, that are willing to give us discounts.

We complain a lot about, you know, you hear where I bought this, and they don't recognize us if we're not a nurse.

Well, the SRT has companies that appreciate us as medical imaging and radiation therapy professionals.

This is where we come to support those who are supporting us as well and find those companies that want to give us the discounts because they recognize we are part of the medical community and an important part, conferences and events.

I want to speak on that.

How many of us have ever been to rsna?

It's the Radiological Society of North America.

I have not.

It always seems to fall when I have something already planned or covering someone at work and I can't get there.

But this year I have made it my goal, and it's in stone.

I am going this year.

I challenge each of you to do the same.

I've heard that every technologist should go at least once.

So I'm challenging all of you.

Pick a year.

It's the same time every year.

The same city.

Who doesn't love Chicago?

And as an SRT member, this is one of the conference and events.

There's also the Radiation Therapy Conference and educational Symposium, a hub for cutting edge treatment advances and therapy best practices.

Have you attended?

If you're a radiation therapist, these are things that are for us.

We need them.

They do inspire you.

When you go to live events and conferences, I'm going to tell you, you'll come back with a whole new appreciation.

You'll be excited again about your profession and ready to elevate yourself in the career.

Next, I want to talk about publications.

There are a couple of ways we can go with this if you love research.

I did a social media post about white white paper articles.

I had honestly never read any by the SRT and I read a few and I was like these are fabulous.

There's so much to the profession and there's a little bit for everyone in there.

So if you love research, ASRT offers exclusive white papers, clinical studies and member only magazines that highlight the latest in imaging technology and healthcare trends.

I love the SRT Scanner and the Radiologic Technology publication.

They also have the Radiation Therapist publication and many more.

Other SRT Resources Monthly newsletter that includes timely information about SRT programs and services for members.

They have the ASRT Insider.

Members with a premium membership option are the first to know about this newsletter and then we have the Direct Reading Supplement published and mailed twice a year.

This print publication contains 6 CE articles per issue.

Have you ever done your Direct Readings?

We used to do them all the time at a job that I had.

We just did you get the direct reading?

The mentors that I worked with, they were so excited about the direct readings and they would, they would just make sure everybody got a chance to look over them.

My manager would actually make it mandatory that we did at least one get one credit.

Everyone had to do it and it was very helpful.

It helped us to understand what the SRT provided and it also elevated us in our education, making sure that we stayed on top of things.

And I really do appreciate that.

These resources are perfect for technologists who enjoy staying ahead of advancements in medical imaging.

I challenge all of you to take a look and look through them.

There's something, there's a magazine newsletter in there for everyone.

You just don't have to be a research person.

You can be someone that just likes to stay current on medical imaging news and I promise you you won't be disappointed.

Some of the other ASRT events are the ASRT Symposium Education Symposium is to rediscover your passion for your profession and find out how to tackle unique work challenges.

It's a one day event you don't want to miss.

There's also the ASRT Educational Symposium and Annual Governance and House of Delegates Meeting.

These are where members receive complimentary registration for this annual event.

You get to see the governance process and third event is the SRT Radiation Therapy Conference.

You get to hear from the leading experts in radiation oncology as they come together to present information about the latest happenings in radiation therapy.

Have you attended?

Do you want to attend?

You want to know more?

Become a member of the asrt.

I'm telling you there's so much that is available to you as a member.

There's no way people know what they're talking about when they say we have a glass ceiling in medical imaging or you don't have areas for growth.

Attend some of these events and conferences as a member and I'm telling you, you will see a broader scope of our profession.

I want to also talk about the professional development and mentorship because who of us doesn't want to grow professionally and develop?

Who of us doesn't want to mentor?

The ASRT provides direct access to career mentors who help technologists navigate things such as the cqr, regulatory questions, career challenges.

Whether you need guidance for advancing into leadership or transitioning into a new specialty, ASRT Mentorship Program connects you with experts either by email or just a phone call away.

Here are some of the things you have which is a roadmaps to your future.

Again, back to those roadmaps.

These are resources to earn a post primary credential.

Wow.

Roadmaps to earn new credentials.

I get DMs all the time.

People asking how can I do this?

How can I do more?

I'm not getting cross trained.

Become a member of the asrt.

You'll get your roadmap to earning that new credential.

Then they have the Leadership Academy.

I'm telling you I didn't qualify to apply before but hey, I am ready.

Who is going to join me to apply for that Leadership Academy?

This is a way to attend this exclusive program for members interested in getting involved in the affiliate societies and more.

Educator Institute this program provides medical imaging and radiation therapy educators for classroom instruction by covering a variety of topics.

We've got to talk more about all of the benefits that the ASRT brings because many of Us even in the profession for a long time don't know and you can't do what you don't know.

And other people may not be able to tell you about it because they don't know.

Who wants to just rely on others passing down information?

When we are a member of the asrt, all of these things are at our fingertips.

The ASRT has a Student to Leadership development program.

Only students can apply, so this is special for this three year program.

It offers students a chance to get to know the SRT and more.

You guys, this is how you start.

Start when they're students and they'll grow within a profession.

I love this the Volunteer Roadmap There's a roadmap for everything with the asrt.

They're just not throwing you in and making you swim for it with the asrt.

You notice all of these roadmaps.

The ASRT has a volunteer roadmap.

There's systems and structures to this membership.

You're just not thrown in and pay your fee every month.

And here you go.

There are resources for you.

This is a guided tour of ASRT's many volunteer and professional development opportunities that are available and it spells it out.

It helps you decide what roles work for you.

Everyone doesn't want to volunteer the same way.

There are plenty of opportunities for you to build that roadmap of how you want it to look for you.

Then you have the SSA and Certification Exam Readiness, Student Exam Assessment Library, five practice tests for Radiography, Radiation Therapy, CT and Mr.

Self Assessment and Certification Exam.

As a member you don't have to piecemeal everything together without being a member.

You are out there taking a chance on low quality products, spending your hard earned money and maybe coming up short and having to look for another option to educate you instead of one stop shop being a member.

Everything's at your fingertips.

You know it's quality and it's backed with a guarantee from the asrt.

Members who volunteer can serve on ASRT committees or participate in projects that require as little as a few hours a year, making it easy to give back without disrupting your work life balance.

One great example ASRT Advocacy Action center where members can help influence state policies without stepping away from their full time jobs.

When it comes to publications, you can learn how to write for radiology and medical imaging publications.

If you're paying out of pocket for any of those discounts we mentioned, the ASRT can be putting money back into your pocket.

Here's the bottom line.

If you're only using ASRT for CE credits.

You're missing out on some of the biggest career changing benefits available to us.

And I say us because I am a medical imaging and radiation therapy technologist Education, career guidance and certification prep Exclusive job resources and employer partnerships CE credits and scholarships Professional advocacy and license protection Financial discounts and professional liability insurance discounts Exclusive access to research and industry publications Conferences that connect you to industry leaders Regulatory and career support Just a call away.

Leadership and Volunteer Opportunities ASRT isn't just about checking a box for your certification.

It's about securing your future, expanding your opportunities, and developing the entire profession of medical imaging.

If you're not a member yet, now is the time to join the ASRT and elevate your career.

Head over to asrt.org besene to sign up and start taking advantage of everything ASRT has to offer.

If this episode resonated with you, share it with a fellow technologist and let's make sure everyone in our field understands the real power of ASRT membership.

I'll catch you on the next episode.

And until then, keep making an impact and let's keep this profession strong.