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Here is the surprise – typing speed is not critical when considering the general transcription profession; especially for work-from-home job opportunities which generally pay based on production of transcripts.
Customers only care for accuracy, proper transcript formatting & timely turnaround. A slow-typing transcriptionist will earn less in the beginning, and increase their hourly earnings as their typing speed improves. Customers will never know or care about the typing speed.
Successful transcriptionists need to have the following skills:
- Good Ears
- Fast Fingers – don’t worry if you don’t have them now, it’s not a must-have to start. You will have them once you start working
- Recognition of Terms
- Knowledge of Punctuation
- Patience
- Responsibility
- Be smart and informed
- Good grammar and spelling skills
- And lastly, a decent typing speed
Most people think that all one needs to become a successful transcriptionist are good ears and fast fingers. You do need good ears and your typing speed will improve, but you also have to be well rounded enough to know to transcribe “Bear Market”, not “Bare Market”.
You must be able to recognize the difference between "discreet" and "discrete". And you must be afflicted with an enthusiasm for punctuation that borders on fetish in order to make people read as they sound.
- Good listening and attention to detail
These skills should be obvious, given the job. Very often transcriptionists encounter recordings spoken with different accents and a varied level of clarity. Good listeners will complete transcriptions faster and more accurately. Given that the earnings in this profession is determined by performance, this skill will result in highest income for a general transcriptionist. Also, typically transcription fees for “bad recordings” are higher, which means that a transcriptionist can make more money for the same amount of work if they can pay attention to details.
Patience is a real virtue for a good transcriptionist. Very often (almost always for bad recordings), transcriptionists will need to go back few times to understand exact words. Patient transcriptionists typically have higher accuracy, resulting in more regular customers and fewer returns.
- Discipline & Responsibility
Transcriptionists need to meet deadlines. Clients will not meet their deadline if transcripts are late. Transcription is a profession that requires discipline and responsibility to complete work on time and follow client instructions.
Transcriptionists need to understand the context of recordings in order to consistently generate above average quality transcripts. A transcriptionist will often need to make a judgment call because the recording is not clear.
- Good grammar, spelling & vocabulary
Transcribers may need to fix the grammar & spelling of the recording. Good grammar and spelling skills will increase the transcript quality, resulting in loyal & higher paying customers.
Transcriptionists will encounter not-so-common words while transcribing. Thus, a good vocabulary will help complete the transcription quickly.
Proficiency in MS Word is required for a good transcriptionist. Clients not only expect accurate transcripts in MS Word format, they quite often ask that the transcript to be sent in the specific format that they use. Transcriptionists will need to be able to convert transcripts to customer preferred formats.
- And lastly, typing skills
This may come as a surprise that this is listed last because of the conventional wisdom that a transcriptionist needs to be a fast typist. Fast typing helps earn more per hour, but this skill is NOT needed to start as a transcriptionist. Transcriptionists are paid by production, so slow typing will result in less income, but will still be a decent income so long as transcripts are accurate and speed is moderate. |
