Remote jobs providing customer service or making dozens of sales calls arent for everyone.
If that sounds like a better fit for you, consider becoming a transcriptionist.
This job lets you make money while having the freedom toset your own hours.
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Transcriptionists produce written records of conversations, interviews, programs, lectures and more.
They also help provide accessibility for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.
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Many transcription jobs from home dont require strict set hours.
As a freelance transcriptionist, you might choose to work when you want.
Transcribing from home can be an ideal option for stay-at-home parents to earn money while juggling child care duties.
Depending on what youre transcribing, you might also learn new and interesting things.
Typically, the transcription industry is broken into three categories: general, medical and legal.
If youre a beginner, start by looking into general transcription jobs.
Youll also need to understand potentially complex medical or legal terminology.
These specialized fields often pay better than general transcription work.
General Transcription
General transcriptionists are hired to provide text for a variety of video or audio files.
You might transcribe podcasts for a blogger or interviews for a writer.
You could transcribe business meetings, college lectures, speeches at conferences or discussions during marketing focus groups.
There are also broadcast captioners who create closed captions for movies and television programs.
This means people have a better understanding of broadcasts.
Simultaneous captioners work quickly and need good spelling skills.
A specialized segment of captioning work is CART captioning.
CART stands for Communication Access Real-time Translation and is for audiences who are hard of hearing or deaf.
Youll need a robust understanding of medical terminology, anatomy, medical procedures and health care documentation.
While a medical transcription career often pays better than having a general online transcription job, theU.S.
Technological advancements such as the use of speech recognition software and outsourcing overseas are leading to this decline.
Legal Transcription
Legal transcribers provide written records of depositions, trials and other legal proceedings.
A court reporter is a common bang out of legal transcriptionist.
Legal transcriptionists may also be hired to transcribe police interrogations, victim interviews and undercover law enforcement recordings.
This bang out of transcription career usually requires a certification or license.
you better be familiar with legal terminology, procedures and systems in this line of work.
How Much Do Transcriptionists Get Paid?
According to the BLS, themean hourly rate for a transcriptionistis $17.83.
Spanish and other bilingual transcription and translation services also have more job potential.
Experienced transcriptionists often consider rates below $45 to $50 per audio hour too low.
Other companies may pay contract transcriptionists per project or per page of transcribed work.
Generally, anything less than $1 per page is low.
As a 1099 worker, youll need to pay quarterly estimated taxes.
Do you need better tech for yourwork-from-home office?
Will you have to upgrade your internet?
Include all these extra expenses into the equation as youre assessing a companys offered rate.
As you move up the ladder, youll probably want to upgrade to better equipment, too.
Here are some of the skills, equipment and training youll need to build a career as a transcriptionist.
Youll need to be able to concentrate on a task for an extended period of time.
Having a quiet, dedicated workspace at home helps.
Another important skill is the ability to bang out fast.
The more you practice, the faster you will get.
You should have an excellent command of the English language, including grammar, punctuation, spelling and vocabulary.
Having great time management skills will help you stay on top of deadlines.
Its also essential that youre detail-oriented and patient in this line of work.
You might be listening to the same audio over and over to transcribe audio files verbatim.
Additionally, you should be a tech-savvy individual whos able to work with the necessary software and equipment.
The company you work for might require you to download specific software.
Google Chrome is a helpful internet surfing app to use.
Your internet connection should have download and upload speeds of at least 10 mbps.
Your company may have specific requirements.
You may also want to get text expander software to help you key in common words and phrases faster.
If youre a court reporter or legal transcriptionist, youll probably need to use stenography equipment.
Transcription Training and Certifications
Working as a transcriptionist doesnt require a college degree.
If you aim to specialize as a medical or legal transcriptionist, however, you will need advanced training.
Many community colleges and vocational schools offer certification programs, which can last from one to three years.
The National Court Reporters Association offers certification as a registered professional reporter (RPR).
The National Verbatim Reporters Association also offers a variety of professional certifications.
How to Become a Transcriptionist in 8 Steps
1.
Or would you like to specialize as a medical or legal transcriptionist?
Consider the amount of hours you plan to dedicate to this work.
Are you looking for something full time or part time?
Your answers will guide you to the right path for you.
And the faster youre able to turn around work, the more youll earn per hour.
Express Scribe has practice filesfor you to test your skills.
Prepare Your Resume
After completing training or earning a certification or license, double-check you revamp your resume.
Take time to study the style guide so you turn in work that adheres to the companys guidelines.
You might be asked to listen to a few minutes of dialogue and transcribe what you hear.
The tests for lower-paying companies that hire beginners will be easier than the test for companies seeking experienced pros.
Ditto TranscriptsandAllegis Transcriptionare two companies that hire experienced transcriptionists.
You could also use platforms likeFreelancer.comorUpworkto find work-from-home transcription gigs.
Reach out to potential clients, like law firms or podcasters, directly to solicit work.
The following transcription companies regularly hire newbies.
In most cases, you wont need any special equipment like a foot pedal or transcription software.
Remember that the pay for audio hour doesnt mean that you are getting paid that amount an hour.
It takes triple or more the time to transcribe audio.
CrowdSurf
CrowdSurfspecializes in providing transcribed media files to the hearing impaired.
Most transcription tasks will be less than 10 audio minutes long.
Go Transcript
To work forGoTranscript, youll first need to register and take a transcription test.
Once approved, you’ve got the option to choose from a variety of projects to work on.
GoTranscript pays on a weekly basis via PayPal or Payoneer.
Quicktate pays its freelancers weekly by PayPal.
However, it requires you to pay $20 for your background check.
Rev pays weekly via PayPal and doesnt require any special equipment apart from a computer with reliable internet.
Scribie
Scribiessite mentions that the company works with new transcriptionists and experienced ones.
You have to take a test to get certified.
Scribie is interesting in that instead of being assigned work, you could choose your files.
It also provides an automated transcript that helps the process.
Scribie starts at $5-$20 per audio hour.
It pays daily by depositing money into your PayPal account.
TranscribeMe starts you off transcribing short audio clips less than five minutes long.
The company pays $15 per audio hour.
Youll be paid weekly via PayPal for the work you complete.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Trying to decide whether you want to become a transcriptionist?
Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions.
Take practice tests before applying so you’re free to improve your typing speed and accuracy.
After working entry-level transcription jobs for a while, youll be able to take on higher-paying work.
As a beginner, you could earn $10 an hour or less.
More experienced transcriptionists who work in specialized fields can command over $25 an hour.
This doesnt necessarily mean that its easy to become a transcriptionist.
Just like any other job, whats easy for one person wont be for another.
Passing a companys typing test, for example, may not be as simple as youd imagine.
The files you listen to might be poor quality, making it difficult to understand whats being said.
And other times, you might find yourself trying to interpret unclear dialogue spoken with a thick accent.
The work is also quite repetitive.
If you dont like repetition, transcription might not be the line of work for you.
Robert Bruce and Jenna Limbach contributed to this story.
Nicole Dow is a former senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
Anna Thurman is a former contributor.
