1.
Listening: A transcriptionist must have a keen ear to decipher what is being said.
They transcribe single speaker dictation through to multiple participant recordings.
They transcribe heavy accents and take account of people who speak slowly and others who speak very fast indeed! 2.
Problem solving: There are daily challenges to face if you pursue a career in transcription.
You will need to differentiate between multiple speakers, decipher mumbled or garbled speech and deal with a multitude of environmental noises! A professional transcriptionist will always use tricks of the trade to get through particularly tricky audio.
Sometimes it might just take a few moments to decipher one or two words and other times it will require some research to get it right! 3.
Quality control: Yet another skill you need under your belt.
A good transcriptionist will ensure consistency throughout the finished transcript and has great attention to detail.
They will be on guard at all times to pick up on any client errors during dictation such as the use of different dates or names in the middle of dictation than was used at the start or at the end.
4.
English language: A professional transcriptionist will have an excellent command of the English language including first class grammatical skills, punctuation and spelling.
This includes the use of homophones which are words that are pronounced the same that differ in meaning so, for example, carat and carrot.
And they will also know not to confuse words like effect and affect, their and there, principle and principal.
5.
Time management: You must be able to juggle projects that run simultaneously and have the personality to remain calm under pressure as fast turnaround times and sometimes hourly deadlines are the name of this game! 6.
Speed & accuracy: An obvious skill to have is touch typing and whilst it is really important to be a fast typist, this is skill is rendered useless unless you are accurate as well.
7.
Industry knowledge: Most transcriptionists have a particular niche like medical transcription or legal transcription or they learn the necessary skills to move into new areas with which they are unfamiliar.
This requires sector-specific knowledge and experience in each sector's terminology.
8.
Non-disclosure/Discretion: a high level of confidentiality and discretion is crucial to ensure the safe keeping and safe disposal of sensitive data which clients disclose to you as a transcriptionist.
All transcriptionists worth their salt will be happy to sign a client's confidentiality agreement or they will provide the client with a copy of their own.
9.
Internet and PC skills: all round computer skills are required by a professional transcriptionist as they will communicate with clients via email, research material via the internet, use a variety of software packages to type their documents and send transcripts via File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
10.
Specialised software and equipment: An experienced transcriptionist will use many different transcription software packages to read the variety of digital file formats used for transcription purposes such as.
wav,.
mp3..
wma and.
dss files.
In addition, they will most likely use an in-USB foot pedal and professional headphones, such as BEYERDYNAMIC DT-770 PRO.
They will also use specialised software to convert files into different file formats and to rip and splice audio recordings where necessary.
It can take time, sometimes many years, to fully develop the true art of professional transcription but practice makes perfect so these skills can be acquired over time.
Statistics show over 70% of transcriptionists are home based so if you would like to work from home this career the way to go!
Listening: A transcriptionist must have a keen ear to decipher what is being said.
They transcribe single speaker dictation through to multiple participant recordings.
They transcribe heavy accents and take account of people who speak slowly and others who speak very fast indeed! 2.
Problem solving: There are daily challenges to face if you pursue a career in transcription.
You will need to differentiate between multiple speakers, decipher mumbled or garbled speech and deal with a multitude of environmental noises! A professional transcriptionist will always use tricks of the trade to get through particularly tricky audio.
Sometimes it might just take a few moments to decipher one or two words and other times it will require some research to get it right! 3.
Quality control: Yet another skill you need under your belt.
A good transcriptionist will ensure consistency throughout the finished transcript and has great attention to detail.
They will be on guard at all times to pick up on any client errors during dictation such as the use of different dates or names in the middle of dictation than was used at the start or at the end.
4.
English language: A professional transcriptionist will have an excellent command of the English language including first class grammatical skills, punctuation and spelling.
This includes the use of homophones which are words that are pronounced the same that differ in meaning so, for example, carat and carrot.
And they will also know not to confuse words like effect and affect, their and there, principle and principal.
5.
Time management: You must be able to juggle projects that run simultaneously and have the personality to remain calm under pressure as fast turnaround times and sometimes hourly deadlines are the name of this game! 6.
Speed & accuracy: An obvious skill to have is touch typing and whilst it is really important to be a fast typist, this is skill is rendered useless unless you are accurate as well.
7.
Industry knowledge: Most transcriptionists have a particular niche like medical transcription or legal transcription or they learn the necessary skills to move into new areas with which they are unfamiliar.
This requires sector-specific knowledge and experience in each sector's terminology.
8.
Non-disclosure/Discretion: a high level of confidentiality and discretion is crucial to ensure the safe keeping and safe disposal of sensitive data which clients disclose to you as a transcriptionist.
All transcriptionists worth their salt will be happy to sign a client's confidentiality agreement or they will provide the client with a copy of their own.
9.
Internet and PC skills: all round computer skills are required by a professional transcriptionist as they will communicate with clients via email, research material via the internet, use a variety of software packages to type their documents and send transcripts via File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
10.
Specialised software and equipment: An experienced transcriptionist will use many different transcription software packages to read the variety of digital file formats used for transcription purposes such as.
wav,.
mp3..
wma and.
dss files.
In addition, they will most likely use an in-USB foot pedal and professional headphones, such as BEYERDYNAMIC DT-770 PRO.
They will also use specialised software to convert files into different file formats and to rip and splice audio recordings where necessary.
It can take time, sometimes many years, to fully develop the true art of professional transcription but practice makes perfect so these skills can be acquired over time.
Statistics show over 70% of transcriptionists are home based so if you would like to work from home this career the way to go!