The 27 Best Online Transcription Jobs for everyone - part 1

Have you noticed that there will be a huge demand for online transcription in 2022?

What is Transcription?

Transcription is the process of turning speech into written text. It’s been around for a long time. Think back to the days before the internet, when secretaries took dictation notes and typed up word-perfect letters and documents for people.

They listen to audio files and write down what they hear. The work can be fun and educational, but it can also take a long time and be very dull.

Isn’t AI taking away jobs from people who start as transcriptionists?

You might think that transcription would be dying a slow, painful death because there are so many AI alternatives and speech recognition software out there. But that’s not the case. In the beginning, they save a lot of time. But none of them are 100% correct, so they still need a human editor to fix the mistakes.

In other words, while some transcription companies want you to type directly from the audio file, others use AI to transcribe it first and then hire you to correct it after.

Many more people are using human transcribers than at any time in the past. This is why transcription companies are some of the best places to look if you want to make some extra cash.

There are some things I’ll need to learn as a new transcriptionist.

Most transcription companies say that independent contractors must have these skills before they can work for them:

• People who can type quickly and accurately usually get paid more per hour. You’ll need at least 70 wpm to get the job done quickly, which usually means a higher hourly rate. To improve your typing skills, you can use web-based typing tools, like this one right here.
• A high level of English language skills, including spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
• It can be very beneficial to be able to speak another language. That means you can work with transcription and translation companies, and it helps when videos and podcasts have words that aren’t in English.
• The ability to stay focused for a long time
• Ability to meet deadlines and work well under stress
• You’ll need quick research skills to find out how to spell words in your field, like product names, proper nouns, and so on.
• Be able to pass a background check and a transcription test from the company.

Do they pay well?

A beginner transcriptionist isn’t likely to make a lot of money at first. We say this in our 52 Best Online Side Jobs article, which talks about the best online jobs.

When you start in transcription, you can expect to make very little money. There is also the fact that you’re still learning new things and getting better. Many times you will be slow and make mistakes that you’ll have to go back and fix. There are a lot of things you can do every day to help you learn how to do them.

Often, the audio files aren’t very clear, and it will take you a long time to type even one minute of audio.

It takes the average person about four hours to transcribe one hour of audio, Rev says. There is a good chance that an experienced transcriptionist will be able to finish in half the time.

Transcription Service Types

General transcriptionists work with a wide range of audio and video files.

These can include emails, podcast transcripts, meetings and forums, college lectures, market research, and many other things. Our own HWC podcast is a good example of this.

Captions for video files that have closed captions

Most videos that are on the Internet have closed captions, but not all of them have them. There are a lot of places where you’ll see them, like YouTube and Vimeo. They’re also used in online conferences and course videos.

They offer CC as part of their general transcription services at some companies, and some specialize in it.

Transcription jobs in law

Legal transcriptionists work with lawyers, law firms, reporters, and the police, among other things. Legal transcriptionists write out letters and documents for lawyers and attorneys to sign. They do this by recording them into a device and having a legal transcriptionist write them out for them to sign.

There are many types of documents: depositions, motions, correspondence, memos, court proceedings, notes, and many more

There is a lot of work that pays well for legal transcription. Make sure you know some legal terms or take some classes so that you can understand them.

Jobs in Medical Transcription

Doctors and hospitals hire medical transcriptionists who work with them to write down audio files of correspondence, medical notes and reports, referral letters and reports, discharge summaries, and more.

Also, you’ll need to know some medical terminology and be very good at research to find the correct spelling for words you haven’t heard before.

You can do transcription work from home with the help of this gear:

When you start as a transcriptionist, you don’t need to have all of the bells and whistles. You will, however, need some important equipment and software.

• Desktop or laptop that has a good keyboard
• Microsoft Word is used to send professional and safe documents.
• To play the recordings, you need a player like VLC or Windows Media Player, like this.
• Some transcriptionists like Express Scribe, a free and paid audio player software for PC and Mac that lets them listen to and record audio.
• People who use dictation machines may also need the DSS Player.
• On some platforms, there are tools you can use to play, rewind, speed up and slow down the audio you’re working on. These tools are called “editors.”
• A good set of earphones or headphones.
• If you want to take transcription to the next level, it’s worth getting a transcription foot pedal like this one to help you. It will soon help you type faster because it will free up your hands.

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