12 Transcription Careers

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Are you interested in a transcription career?

Here are several career paths for transcriptionists.

If you have excellent typing, grammar and listening skills, you may want to look into transcription work from home. Transcription is listening to an audio or video recording and typing what’s being said on the recording.

Many people have heard about medical transcription. But transcription is not limited to medical transcription. Here are a few different types of transcription jobs: General transcription, legal transcription and medical transcription.

This post discusses several ways you can work as a transcriptionist.

1. Medical transcription career

Here are several related articles that I recommend you read if you're interested in medical transcription work from home.

Medical Transcription Resources

A medical transcription course will teach you medical terminology, typing skills, transcription skills, listening skills and how to set up medical record documents.

2. Medical transcription editor

A medical transcription editor or MT editor edits transcripts that are generated by other transcriptionists and speech recognition software. They ensure that the transcripts are error-free and match the content of the original recordings.

Medical transcriptionists are now often working as medical transcription editors. Here's why there is a big demand for medical transcription editors.

  • More healthcare providers are using speech recognition (SR) technology, also called continuous speech recognition (CSR). Medical transcription needs to be very accurate and the transcripts created by this technology are NOT accurate enough. Problems such as heavy accents, mumbling and poor speech affect the accuracy of transcripts done by recognition software. That’s why medical transcription editors are needed to edit the computer-generated reports. A transcription editor listens, reads and edits the transcript.
  • MT editors also verify and edit transcripts done by other MTs to assure that all transcripts are highly accurate.
  • MT editors are also often used to edit transcripts done in other countries as many foreign MTs are not familiar with American expressions, slang, names and places.

The U.S. Department of Labor reports that the middle 50% of medical transcriptionists earn between $27,810 and $42,690 a year. However, the majority of transcriptionists are paid on a production basis, which offers the opportunity to earn more as you become more experienced and increase your speed or efficiency.

How to Become a transcription editor.

3. Legal transcription career

Legal transcription deals with the legal industry and legal topics. You'll need to know legal terminology and formats and get specialized training unless you have a legal background.

Legal transcription pays well.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a Legal Transcriptionist can earn around $60k per year.

Legal Transcription Resources

4. General transcription career

General Transcription is non-medical transcription. It's the easiest type of transcription to start your transcription career.

There a several transcription companies that accept beginners with no experience to work for them, including ScribieQuickTate & iDictateTranscribeMeSpeechPadCastingWords, AppenScribe, Rev.com, GoTranscript, GMR, Tigerfish and others.

No experience is required to work for those companies but you have to pass a test. But those transcription jobs for beginners that don't require experience don't pay much. You can use those to get a feel for transcription work and to build some experience. And after building some experience, you will be able to get more job opportunities and better pay.

Top 25 Transcription Jobs for Beginners – No Experience Required

Legal Transcription Free Mini-Course
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14 Work From Home Transcription Jobs That Pay Every Week

Transcription Jobs – Transcription Companies Hiring Now

Transcription work from home can pay very well. But to get that kind of pay, you'll need to build some experience first. One way to get that experience faster, is by taking a good transcription course.

Janet Shaughnessy from Transcribe Anywhere mentions that the average annual income for a general transcriptionist is $45,000, and the average for a legal transcriptionist is $60,000.

The average annual income for a general transcriptionist is currently believed to be $45,000.  ZipRecruiter’s numbers show just under $40,000/year.

graph showing typical salaries for transcription work

Ready to get started in general transcription and get well-paying transcription jobs?

Get this detailed, online, multi-media general transcription course now. It's the most detailed training I know about to help you become a transcriptionist.

General Transcription Resources

Here are even more ways to make money with transcription.

5. Provide a combination of the above or all of the above.

6. Work from home as a transcriptionist for one or more transcription companies as an independent contractor (many people start that way).

7. Work from home for a business or organization as an employee.

8. Work from home as a freelance transcriptionist and get your own clients (you'll make more money).

9. Start a large transcription business and recruit other transcriptionists to work for you (this is how you make the big money).

10. Work for a transcription company in-house as an employee.

11. Work as a transcription supervisor.

12. Teach transcription.

Not sure if a transcription career is right for you? 

Find out what's involved in getting started as a transcriptionist.  Subscribe to  FREE general transcription mini-course

Ready to get started in transcription?

If you’re interested in getting in-depth training to start a work at home general transcription career,  I highly recommend  this general transcription course.

TRANSCRIPTION RESOURCES

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