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