A home-based 
job can be an ideal option for those who want to manage their own time, with the flexibility to fit the tasks around family or other personal commitments (see here if you are ready to apply for a Transcription Job). It means no commuting in traffic, saving on travel expenses and allows you to choose how much and when you work.
Transcription can be a tricky market to break into if you are a beginner looking for an entry-level role. We have put together a few tips on how to get a foothold in this competitive industry.
What does a transcription job involve?
Transcription jobs from home involve listening to voice recordings and converting them into written transcripts. The source could be a lecture, a conference call, a podcast, or simply someone taking notes and wanting them transcribed. With the right skills, a transcription job from home can be a flexible and rewarding entry-level opportunity to begin a work-from-home career.
Transcription Skills & Experience
There are a few boxes you need to tick, some of which you may already meet, needed to apply for a Transcriptionist role and begin your work-from-home life.
- A great Command of the English Language, some recordings can be poor quality with multiple voices. So a good understanding of what you are listening to is extremely beneficial.
- Excellent listening skills, with often multiple voices and sometimes detailed subjects good hearing and listening is a key attribute for a Transcriptionist.
- Good research skills, recordings can contain words or places you have not heard of before -such as medical language, new technology or foreign place names. It is important that you are able to research these and spell them correctly.
- Accurate and fast typing speed of at least 40wpm; the faster you type, the more you will earn. If you are a slow typist – you will just not earn enough money to make this worth your while. Clients expect their scripts to be accurate with most companies requiring a 99% accuracy rate.
- Experience, and being able to show a history of your transcription work will make you more hireable. A clear work history – identifying roles where you performed and learnt your transcription skills and a recent client base whom you have been doing projects for will show you are low risk high and high performing. Think about how you might show evidence of your business can-do attitude.
Places like Transcript Divas are open to applicants who meet the above criteria, with a reliable work history.
Don’t meet the criteria but still want to work from home?
A Transcription Service usually won’t hire an inexperienced beginner transcriptionist for a remote transcription job.
So how can you gain an entry-level role?
- Training is key. Completing a course, usually online as a medical or legal Transcriptionist, something similar to canscribe.com will be very beneficial.
- Practise your skills. This will help build up your speed and accuracy, and motivate you as you be earning more.
- Get started, look for small entry-level roles to begin your career. Some won’t pay much but experience is key to getting hired for bigger better jobs down the track. Try places like Fiverr or freelancer.com.
- Gain a reputation, start small, completing a wide variety of smaller jobs. As you complete more jobs you will move to bigger and better jobs while also building a work history, aim to get some regular clients.
Working from home as a Transcriptionist can be a great choice for anyone. You may already be qualified to begin your ‘working from home’ career as a Transcriptionist. If you do not yet qualify for an entry-level role then begin your practice and training and build your work history, it won’t take long for you to be a fully-fledged fast, accurate Transcriptionist, living your dream of working from home.