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View Full Version : Need info and advice
luckynky
03-22-2011, 07:08 AM
I am looking into becoming a transcriptionist and I have some questions for those that are experienced and also for those that are newer to the profession.
I am wondering about how much you make as a general transcriber versus a legal or medical transcriber. How many hours do you work and what is your average income? What do the busy and slow periods look like? Is anyone not getting enough work or is there so much work that you can refuse jobs?
I see that you typically get paid per audio hour, but what does this mean? If you type 65+ wpm, how long does one ah take to transcribe (average)?
I am not sure if I want to do transcribing or become a scopist. However, when I looked up scopist jobs, nearly every single one says that you must have audio capabilities and from what I understand, many scopist jobs want you to also do audio transcribing. So it seems to me that you're going to do legal transcribing either way. Any thoughts or personal experiences?
I think I have a good idea about what the pros of this job are, but what are some cons that I may not have thought of?
For those that started working from home with no solid transcribing experience on their resume, how difficult was it to get the ball rolling and quit your brick and morter job? How long did it take?
I think this job is for me. I am an English major and am really great at typing. I have 10 years of solid administrative assistant type work which involves a lot of typing, including transcribing meeting minutes. But transcribing the meeting minutes is only a very small part of my job, so I am unsure how to make my resume look good to transcription businesses. Any suggestions?
Thank you so much for responding!
I am wondering about how much you make as a general transcriber versus a legal or medical transcriber. How many hours do you work and what is your average income? What do the busy and slow periods look like? Is anyone not getting enough work or is there so much work that you can refuse jobs?
I see that you typically get paid per audio hour, but what does this mean? If you type 65+ wpm, how long does one ah take to transcribe (average)?
I am not sure if I want to do transcribing or become a scopist. However, when I looked up scopist jobs, nearly every single one says that you must have audio capabilities and from what I understand, many scopist jobs want you to also do audio transcribing. So it seems to me that you're going to do legal transcribing either way. Any thoughts or personal experiences?
I think I have a good idea about what the pros of this job are, but what are some cons that I may not have thought of?
For those that started working from home with no solid transcribing experience on their resume, how difficult was it to get the ball rolling and quit your brick and morter job? How long did it take?
I think this job is for me. I am an English major and am really great at typing. I have 10 years of solid administrative assistant type work which involves a lot of typing, including transcribing meeting minutes. But transcribing the meeting minutes is only a very small part of my job, so I am unsure how to make my resume look good to transcription businesses. Any suggestions?
Thank you so much for responding!
pawp11
03-22-2011, 10:45 AM
If you read around a bit, you will find most of those answers. :)
Just my thoughts upon reading your questions:
My experience is purely in General Transcription.
An audio hour can take 3-8 hours depending on a ton of factors (typing speed, audio quality, research required, verbatim versus clean, et cetera) I think 4-6 hours per a/h is a good guess for someone just beginning. The average you will read is 4 hours, but I think to begin with you can assume it will take you longer.
I do this full time. I can usually depend on 1-2 hours of audio a day depending on my availability. Yes, there are slow times. I would suggest having two or three contracts. This ensures when it slows down with one, you have something else to count on.
Whether you can make a living at it depends on how much time you would be willing to devote to it and how good you are at it. It would also depend on what quality of contracts you can achieve. $40 a/h versus $60 a/h is a large difference!
The cons? For me, the cons are that I have to type until I am finished regardless of how tired I may be. If it is due at 9 am and I don't have it finished at bedtime, I work until it is finished. That can on occasion mean I work all night. Hunting for contracts was extremely scary for me also.
Definitely play up that ten years typing minutes! That matters. Also play up any computer and word processing experience you have. A transcription resume looks very different from the typical resume. Transcription companies don't particularly care if you worked at Burger King when you were 17.
Have you downloaded ExpressScribe? Do you have a foot pedal? Practice! :) Good luck!
Just my thoughts upon reading your questions:
My experience is purely in General Transcription.
An audio hour can take 3-8 hours depending on a ton of factors (typing speed, audio quality, research required, verbatim versus clean, et cetera) I think 4-6 hours per a/h is a good guess for someone just beginning. The average you will read is 4 hours, but I think to begin with you can assume it will take you longer.
I do this full time. I can usually depend on 1-2 hours of audio a day depending on my availability. Yes, there are slow times. I would suggest having two or three contracts. This ensures when it slows down with one, you have something else to count on.
Whether you can make a living at it depends on how much time you would be willing to devote to it and how good you are at it. It would also depend on what quality of contracts you can achieve. $40 a/h versus $60 a/h is a large difference!
The cons? For me, the cons are that I have to type until I am finished regardless of how tired I may be. If it is due at 9 am and I don't have it finished at bedtime, I work until it is finished. That can on occasion mean I work all night. Hunting for contracts was extremely scary for me also.
Definitely play up that ten years typing minutes! That matters. Also play up any computer and word processing experience you have. A transcription resume looks very different from the typical resume. Transcription companies don't particularly care if you worked at Burger King when you were 17.
Have you downloaded ExpressScribe? Do you have a foot pedal? Practice! :) Good luck!
Alba
03-22-2011, 12:23 PM
Just to add to Pawp11's excellent post, this site may help you work out the difference between scoping and legal transcription:
http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=ws-crforum
As a rule, scopists do not transcribe. However, they do use audio in their work.
I am not sure if I want to do transcribing or become a scopist. However, when I looked up scopist jobs, nearly every single one says that you must have audio capabilities and from what I understand, many scopist jobs want you to also do audio transcribing. So it seems to me that you're going to do legal transcribing either way. Any thoughts or personal experiences?
http://community.compuserve.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=ws-crforum
As a rule, scopists do not transcribe. However, they do use audio in their work.
I am not sure if I want to do transcribing or become a scopist. However, when I looked up scopist jobs, nearly every single one says that you must have audio capabilities and from what I understand, many scopist jobs want you to also do audio transcribing. So it seems to me that you're going to do legal transcribing either way. Any thoughts or personal experiences?
