WAHM Forums

I'm starting to get some response to some of the resumes I've put out there over the last few weeks. One prevailing question I keep getting from employers is asking my rate per minute. I am NOT asking anyone to broadcast the exact pay they are getting, because I know some of you are open about what companies you work for, and that is just not a good situation to get into... Could I get some sort of ballpark figure though? I know the companies on mTurk are only paying about 10-30 cents a minute, and that those rates are probably REAL low. I know that, depending on audio quality and client requests, those same companies (and other companies I've looked at online) CHARGE the customer $1.50-$2.00 and more per minute.

I know it depends on company, etc, but if several people can put numbers into the mix, it would greatly help me (and other new people, I'm sure) to not suffer rejection for asking too much money from a potential employer, AND to not sell ourselves short and only get .40 a min when the employer would have been more than willing to pay .90. Thanks, all! I know I haven't posted much yet, but I've been browsing here for weeks. It's a great community, and I look forward to having more to contribute. :)

If you post some insight on rates, please specify if you're referring to MT or general (or some other branch). Thanks!

-M

Well it really depends on what type of audio you're doing. A focus group is going to take you A LOT longer to transcribe than, say, a one-on-one interview, and thus you should be compensated accordingly.

At the minimum, though, you shouldn't accept really anything under than about $0.50 per minute. Ever. The low end of what I would say "good" pay for average audio is $0.75/minute.

Be prepared to get a lot of lengthy posts criticizing the posts of others, but almost nothing that actually helps you.

Well it really depends on what type of audio you're doing. A focus group is going to take you A LOT longer to transcribe than, say, a one-on-one interview, and thus you should be compensated accordingly.

At the minimum, though, you shouldn't accept really anything under than about $0.50 per minute. Ever. The low end of what I would say "good" pay for average audio is $0.75/minute.

Workathomedad42,

Please don't even consider accepting/quoting $0.50 per audio minute. That kind of rate brings the whole profession down.

$0.75 per audio minute is still too low. As cloakzore says, it depends entirely on the audio but unless you are looking at crystal-clear one-speaker audio and you can type it, research it and proof it in three hours max, that rate is not the way to go either.

Hope this helps.

Absolutely the lowest I will consider is $0.75 per a/m, and as others* have said, that's for crystal clear audio and one or two speakers. I generally consider that my "student discount" rate and would offer it to university students with the understanding that if the audio isn't clear there will be an additional charge.

Aside from students, my minimum rate is $1.00 per a/m.

*Edit: fixed typo

For general transcription I think $.75 an audio minute is acceptable for newbies. My first gig was $0.66 a/m regardless of difficulty. It was miserable work! I think that once you pass that inital newbie stage, anything in the $.90 to .95 a/m range is good. It should go up depending on the difficulty of the transcript. As your experience increases so should your pay.

I don't do medical so I have no input there!

I agree with the $0.75 per a/m being the lowest. Anything lower than that and you're not even making minimum wage, especially if you're a newbie.

Like pawp11 mentioned about their first contract, I had a contract that paid around the same, but included lots of formatting and timestamps. At the end of the file, I was making less than $5 a working hour. That's not worth my time, or sanity.

ETA: The companies that I've worked with that hire newbies, start you out at 0.005 per word, or at least $40 per A/H, never lower.

It sounds like denyann and I might have had the same first contract! :eek:

I might even take that, at this point :rolleyes:

Thanks for all the valuable insight, guys. The odd jobs that I've done so far have all come back with excellent reviews, but I know without too much verifiable experience, I'll be looking at the lower end of the scale. I just didn't want to sell myself too short, and end up doing REAL quality work for someone that should be paying me a lot more. lol... The numbers are a little higher than I expected, which is good, but now the trick is in convincing someone to pay that ;) My journey continues.

Thanks again!

-M