| When many people think about doing transcription at | | | | To build your basic skills, most community colleges |
| home, medical transcription is the first to come to mind. | | | | have classes you can take to learn basic transcription. |
| It's a great job but requires serious training beforehand. | | | | You can also check for online courses if you think you |
| However, there are other possibilities for people who | | | | will study well that way. The advantage to online |
| want to do transcription. | | | | courses is that they most resemble your hoped for |
| General transcription jobs often require some training, | | | | working conditions, as you will lack the face to face |
| as you need to understand formatting and practice | | | | interaction present in a classroom. |
| transcribing, which is far more challenging than just | | | | Your equipment needs are fairly minimal. You probably |
| typing what you hear, even when you are typing | | | | already have a computer. Most companies prefer high |
| verbatim. | | | | speed internet access as in many cases you will be |
| The challenge with transcription jobs is that most | | | | downloading the sound files and uploading your finished |
| companies will want experience. It's a tough job and if | | | | product. |
| you want to work at home, that means you aren't | | | | You will want a foot pedal to control the dictation. |
| directly supervised. It makes it tough for a company to | | | | Some companies will provide this while others will |
| trust someone who hasn't done the job before. | | | | expect you to provide your own. The best selection |
| Working as a transcriptionist has some advantages. | | | | for these is on eBay; just make sure you buy from a |
| Many jobs have highly flexible hours, as in most cases | | | | reputable seller. |
| you will be transcribing recorded. The amount of | | | | You will also probably enjoy noise cancelling |
| background noise you tolerate is a personal | | | | headphones... something to make the sounds around |
| preference, although most transcriptionists prefer to | | | | you a little less distracting. These are generally very |
| keep the noise to a minimum so that their work is | | | | easy to find. You don't need top of the line |
| heard more clearly. | | | | headphones, but something to cut out at least some |
| All transcription jobs require tremendous accuracy. To | | | | background noise can be very helpful. But any |
| be sufficiently accurate you need to develop an ear | | | | headphones that will work with your computer will do |
| for transcription, which quite simply takes practice. It's | | | | the job if you don't care about blocking background |
| amazing how much better and faster you can work | | | | noise. |
| once you have done this. | | | | General transcription is an excellent work at home job. |
| Obviously a transcriptionist needs great typing skills. It is | | | | With pay generally being based on production, you can |
| not uncommon to see jobs require a minimum typing | | | | be limited by the availability of work but it also means |
| speed of 80 wpm. Of course, this is a skill you can | | | | you can improve your pay by improving the speed of |
| develop on your own and there are plenty of online | | | | your work. This can be highly enjoyable yet |
| tests you can take to show your skills. | | | | sometimes frustrating work. |