paramedic

nurse practitioner

registered nurse

physician assistant

technician

International SOS

The benefits: You're helping people while they're abroad. A few of the managers and trainers are actually supportive, a rarity in this company. The benefits are great and you'll have four days off a week.They constantly feed you.The office is extremely diverse.  

The bad: You will get "extensive training", where a person mostly talks at your for two months, with not nearly enough case management work. When you finally start you be given maybe 20 cases, shortly after this you should expect anywhere between 80-120 cases a day. In reality you should have at most 40 cases. From the second your job starts to the end you will likely feel completely overwhelmed and drained.The job is very difficult, and you'll be constantly told to ask questions and that people will understand you're new, and cases can be very complicated so questions are welcomed. This, however, will not be the reality at all. Everyone is stressed and can't even afford a second to answer questions. The company seems more focused on replacing people rather than maintaining staff. Because of this, there is a revolving door of people leaving and huge training classes coming in. Within months, these classes will dwindle down to a few people still left. 13 hour shifts can easily become 15-16 if you get a call that involves a very complicated case at the end of your shift. People are considered veterans in the job after a year or two of working there because they either try to go to another department, quit or get fired. They are extremely understaffed, hence the constant revolving door of new people. 40% of the management and 2 out of the three trainers are really great. The rest talk down to you, are passive aggressive and take their anger out on the staff. The job, by nature, would be stressful even with the right amount of cases and without the poor treatment due to the nature of the job. There are 26 other assistance centers from around the world. This seems very interesting at first, until you realize they have significantly less cases than you. And their job often seems like it revolves around them harassing you to do things, many of which they should be trained to do considering they have less cases and not getting around to cases can result in someone not getting care, being billed when they shouldn't be and angry customers.

The best part of this job was assisting the the military members. The  nurses are very professional, compassionate and hardworking. This is a very high pace call center like environment, with a lot of nursing and clerical documentation involved. Nurses are constantly rushed to pick up the phone to answer a call (if does not matter if you 5+ open cases with unfinished documentation) you will be told to get on the phone. Every year there is more work to do but there is no monetary compensation. Nurses frequently have to stay passed their shift to complete cases. Some of  the operational staff treat the RN's  in a very unprofessional and condescending manner. Nurses are burnout and struggle to provide good quality service. Unfortunately they are focusing in quantity based in number of cases completed based in daily #s (which is unrealistic 1 case can take your whole day). The nurse manager is approachable, and has organized the team.  It would be helpful if the nurse manager is more active in case management. Too many changes to be implemented in a short period of time with no proper training. The Medical Director needs to dedicate time to study and learn the department  policies. The DON has small interaction with the nurses and also needs to learn the department specifics. The nurses really need to be shown appreciation , they are wonderful. Every day as a nurse you will learn something new, and will not get bored.  High nurse turnover, and there is no plan for nurses retention.

The job is great (in theory). It ultimately is proven to be significantly less exciting than it is portrayed to be in the early stages. The every day employee does not get travel opportunities like they say in the interview and training stage. The job is difficult but doable and it can be really exciting. The issue is that the work gets harder because the work load gets bigger and the position is always understaffed. In interviews they will tell you it isn’t a call center, but it is. An overworked, unappreciated call center. Turnover is high because upper management is awful. Upper management does not listen to concerns - they may listen but the issues still continue. Management as a whole does not receive sufficient leadership and people management training. Between the lack of staffing, the overworked employees, the management with no people skills and the emotionally draining work environment, it’s not worth building a career here. 

It is a great stepping stone to get you to where you want to be. You will learn a lot of great skills that will be valued more elsewhere. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
The company as a whole seems to be a great place, but the Government Services Business Unit is mismanaged, misleading, and the office culture brings no joy or excitement.   

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
The unrealistic performance expectations after receiving minimal training and guidance.   

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
The environment is stuffy, strictly business and has no redeeming qualities.  There are no activities, no festive decor, no birthday celebrations, and all staff are expected to be in office 100%.  

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Arrive, work at my cubicle, since office space is for executives and visitors only.  Lunch, work, then depart.  Noise-cancelling headsets or ear buds are crucial since there could be multiple individuals on separate meetings around you.  This stops you from hearing them, but not others from hearing your private, or at times, sensitive information.

Honestly surprised their still in business. This company is a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. You’re hired to be upper management doormat for any personal issues that have going on at the time. They’ll provide you incorrect information often and they say they didn’t. They refuse to take accountability and will bully or harass you with the aid of HR is you bring their inconsistencies to their attention. The nick pick you to death until for either go on medical leave or quit. Please please please DO NOT and I mean do not be more intelligent than any of your reporting management. If your smart play dumb to stroke their egos. Don’t smile don’t talk don’t breath too much. Be prepared for them to openly discuss everything you relay to them in private on the floor about yourself or your fellow colleagues.

It is one of the highest paying call center jobs availible, and that is what the job of international operations coordinator is. A call center operator. When I worked there, it was three 13 hour shifts in a row with a four day break. This sounds appealing but can be significantly draining at the same time. The workplace culture is focused on assisting people. Specifically, people with an affiliation with the company as clients. 

They hire over qualified personnel for approximately 20 bucks an hour. If you succeed in the role, it is difficult to advance in anything outside operations, which leads to higher pay, because your internal managers will prevent your movement into other roles. So mediocrity is rewarded so operations can find other people to fill your role, while success and hard work are punished so operations can hold on to you. 

I worked for International SOS for a very long time, and barely have a nice thing to say about TRICARE's leadership team. They demonstrate day in and day out that  they do not care about their people. They have made a very exclusive clique and keep all the incentive or bonus money to themselves whenever possible while the people who actually do the work are left scrambling for a proper bonus, merit, or even a cost of living adjustment. Things are also constantly changing because leaders that do not understand current processes agree on things that we are unable to deliver on. The company no longer exercises thought or even caution when implementing changes. They just throw things at the wall hoping for something to stick. The lower-level managers and Customer Service agents are the ones left picking up the pieces with 0 advancement opportunities. I would not waste my time working here.

I was an International Operations Coordinator there. My day began at 7A and went until 8P, I barely looked up from my desk to go to the bathroom. There was a tremendous amount of procedures to memorize, and you had to do it really quickly. There was not real learning curve and no time to slow down a bit. You can barely get any real individualized attention. I found myself very frustrated at the end of the day, and dreading the next. You get about 50-80 cases to work on, in addition to answering new calls coming in. Everything has to be entered into the database a certain way, and there are around 10 steps at least to follow for every case. Add that to the stress of this environment--everything needed to be done RGHT NOW, and it was too much.

The best part of working here are the nurses you work with they are amazing  I was proud of be part of the team  The new manager is trying so hard to make it work that I hope he can make it happens  Nurses no longer have the time to b nurses They have to do 25% clinical assessments and 75% clerical duties  Numbers are the priority at this moment  The medical director is keeping everything together  and people stay because of him  The communication is almost non existent between nurses and the higher administration there’s a non existent DON maybe with the heart to do the job but lacking the skills to make it happens I left with no notice and do not regret it  If you join the company be prepared for minute to minute changes but remember you are serving our military people

What is the best part of working at the company?
The people in the office are supportive

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Leadership is completely out of touch with frontline reality. They make decisions based on consultant presentations without understanding our actual work. When they implemented a new system that added three hours to our daily workload, they called it 'efficiency gains.' My manager is a yes-person who never pushes back on unrealistic demands, so we absorb all the consequences. The lack of autonomy is infantilizing—every decision requires three approvals, but when things go wrong, we're told we should have 'taken more ownership.' There's no winning. Professional development is a joke; I asked for training on the new software they forced us to use and was told to 'watch YouTube tutorials on your own time.'

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Paramedic 59 salaries reported	$33.91 per hour
Nurse practitioner 34 salaries reported	$71.91 per hour
Registered nurse 14 salaries reported	$46.54 per hour
Physician assistant 4 salaries reported	$73.13 per hour
Technician 9 salaries reported	$23.11 per hour

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