Oftentimes one of the biggest deterrence for people trying to get a transcription job from home is that they don’t know that they are qualified. It feels a little bit strange applying for a job that you have no experience at, but the question is, is it possible to work from home in transcription with no experience?
In today’s post we will cover the following:
- Do you really not have experience in transcription?
- What credentials and equipment do you need for transcription?
- Where can you find transcription jobs from home with no experience?
Do you really not have experience in transcription?
First things first, let’s talk about whether or not you have experience in transcription.
Have you ever typed on a computer before? Have you ever had someone say something to you and you had to type what they were saying in shorthand using a computer? Have you ever taken notes in a meeting and summarize many of the key points? In school, did a teacher ever say things to you and you either wrote down or typed out what was being said?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, you already do have experience in transcription. Now, you may not have the formal training and experience that transcription companies look for, but that doesn’t mean that you don’t have experience.
The reality is that many of us do transcription on a relatively regular basis because at the end of the day all that you need to do to be a transcriber is to listen and type. Most of us type a significant amount of words in our everyday lives on a daily basis. So the question isn’t whether or not if you have experience in transcription, because you do. The real question here is do you have formal experience in transcription?
The good news is that even if you don’t, it’s still okay and you’re going to be able to find transcription jobs because many of the job listings don’t have any requirements at all. Odds are that if you decide to do transcription freelance from home and have absolutely no experience, you’ll have to work at a cheaper hourly rate, but as you build yourself up and your profile as a transcriptionist, then you’ll be able to charge more.
What credentials and equipment do you need for transcription?
Considering that this post is for people who have absolutely no experience in transcription, were going to keep this to the absolute minimum amount of credentials and equipment that’s needed.
In terms of credentials, technically you don’t have to have any credentials at all to be a work from home transcriptionist. In fact, it doesn’t even matter if you have a high school diploma or a GED.
From our experience, all you really need to succeed as a transcriptionist is the ability to listen and. Truth be told, you don’t even have to be of the type fast in the beginning, especially when you are starting out.
In an ideal world the credentials that you have is that you are a fast hyper and an excellent listener who has familiarity with the language that you are transcribing. For instance, if you are transcribing English, it’s going to go well if you understand grammar and punctuation. Aside from that, you don’t necessarily have to go to any transcribing courses or transcribing schools to be considered for employment.
It should be noted that having those type of credentials and formal training is definitely not a bad thing, but it’s absolutely not a requirement to be hired.
In terms of the equipment that you need to do transcription, it’s a simple as a computer and yourself. Sure, there are other tools that you could purchase like transcription pedals and software that helps you focus on certain words in a time, and even automatic transcription, but why make that investment now when you’re just trying to get into this field? Our advice is to focus on getting the jobs first and trying it out to see a much you like it.
Where can you find transcription jobs from home with no experience?
Now we get onto the question that many of you are asking yourselves. Where exactly can you find a transcription job that allows you to work from home with absolutely no experience? Believe it or not, there are numerous websites that can help you do this.
We’re lucky that we live in an age where the Internet exists and allows us to work as freelancers from home as we please.
Because you are looking for transcription jobs that you can do from home with no experience, we highly recommend that you join Elance for free to get started. Getting started on Elance is pretty simple, and the three steps below explain exactly what you need to do.
- Go to this page and create an account. Make sure to spend a little bit of time on your profile and focus on highlighting how many words per minute you can type and that you are great listener with excellent typing skills. Again, you are going against the fiercest competition here, what you want to write something that is compelling.
- Once you’ve created your account, search for “transcription” or “transcribing” in the Elance search box. Once you do that, you’ll be able to see a large amount of transcription jobs that are looking to hire. The great news about this is that these employers are looking to hire now and would love a very quick turnaround time. We suggest that you submit numerous proposals to any job that you think looks within your skill set.
- After submitting your job proposals, keep an eye on your inbox and make sure to reply promptly to anybody who expresses interest in hiring you. Realize that it’s okay to work for a low hourly amount when you first start off. From our experience, we know that once you become a reliable transcriber if you give someone a quote for $1 per audio minute, that’s going to make you extremely competitive.
The good news about this is that when you do the math that comes out to $60 per audio hour. It’ll take some time, but if you can get efficient enough to type that fast then you’ll effectively be making $60 per hour as a transcriber.
Not so bad for somebody who doesn’t have any experience!
The second place where you can find transcription jobs is obviously this website. We suggest that you use this link to check out the listings. Make sure you put your location in the search box as it will return better results.
The thing about many of the jobs listed on this site is that they do require some experience to get started, but if you use the tabs below the search bar, you might be able to find a job it’s a good fit in your area.