Transcriber Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Are you searching for a transcriber job description? Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a transcriber. Feel free to use our transcriber job description template to produce your own transcriber job description. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a transcriber.
Who is a Transcriber?
A Transcriber is someone who turns speeches or recordings into text documents. A person or a business can provide transcription services. A transcriber listens to recordings or attends live events and writes the contents into a document to provide the customer with a written record of what was said.
Transcribers can apply their skills in various contexts and settings, such as transcribing interviews for journalists, recording lectures at conferences and panels, podcasts, and teleseminars, and listening to and writing down oral histories for memoirs.
Transcription comes in legal, business, academic, medical, general, and law enforcement forms.
General transcribers work on a range of tasks, as the term suggests. They could work on an event lecture or a series of vlogs and podcasts one day and transcribe a business sales meeting the next.
Business transcribers work on projects like corporate investor calls, sales meetings, board meetings, focus group research initiatives, etc.
Depositions, jury trials in the courtroom, custody and punishment hearings or appeals court hearings are all given to legal transcribers.
Typically, law enforcement transcribers work with audio files from interrogations and interviews, which are crucial to police departments and other law enforcement organizations conducting criminal investigations.
Medical transcribers transcribe physician notes written by doctors and other healthcare professionals who treat patients in virtually every medical discipline.
For graduate-level dissertation and thesis work, academic transcribers transcribe lecture audio and video files, research projects, or focus groups.
Transcriber Job Description
What is a transcriber job description? A transcriber job description is simply a list of duties and responsibilities of a transcriber in an organization. Below are the transcriber job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a transcriber job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
The duties and responsibilities of the transcriber include the following:
- Attend scheduled meetings on time.
- Correct any mistakes or inconsistencies right away.
- Communicate any problems with the client or the supervisor.
- Keep up with transcribing software upgrades and attend refresher training sessions as necessary.
- Listen to the audio and transcribe those sounds to text files.
- Complete transcriptions promptly, checking them for grammar, punctuation, and spelling before submitting them.
- Protect sensitive information and all confidentiality rules.
- Complete typing drills to help keep your typing skills honed and sharp.
- Submit finished versions to customers and fix any mistakes in response to their comments.
- Take note of any formatting or notation requests and comprehend the client’s requirements before finishing the transcribing.
Qualifications
- A high school diploma, GED, or an equivalent
- Bachelor’s degree (Optional but recommended)
- Have a laptop or workstation, a good pair of headphones, and a reliable internet connection
- Excellent grammar comprehension and writing
Essential Skills
Here are the essential skills a transcriber should have to excel in the career:
- Adaptability
- Customer-centric
- Attentive Listening
- Fast Typing and Excellent Accuracy
- Grammatical Skills
- Detail-oriented
- Focus
- Goal-driven
- Research Skills
- Sharp Memory
- Technologically Savvy
- Time Management
Adaptability
Transcribers must be quick learners who can grasp new concepts quickly. Only then can they provide transcripts of high logic and accuracy.
Customer-centric
Every day, remote transcribers work with a wide range of customers. Most of them are rational, yet occasionally one may encounter challenging clientele. Before applying for a job, one might wish to examine evaluations of the clients that other freelancers have written. No matter how unreasonable some of them are, one should always act professionally and politely. Follow through on commitments to your customers to help you retain them. Avoid making commitments you can’t maintain. Maintain open channels of communication. Update the client regularly on the project’s status.
Attentive Listening
A good set of ears is exacting when it comes to transcription work. Transcribers must grasp discussions despite audio difficulties such as background noise, crosstalk, and quiet voices when transcribing common themes.
In extreme circumstances, an audio transcriber should be able to infer meaning from the audio using sounds like predictions.
Fast Typing and Excellent Accuracy
Transcribers need to learn to type fast while ensuring accuracy. It’s crucial that transcriptions accurately capture what speakers are saying, so they must pay close attention. While certain jobs may involve manual writing, others use computers to generate papers. Transcribers might not always be able to go back and correct a mistake depending on the tool they are using to transcribe.
The average human can type 40–45 words per minute, whereas a transcriber may type 60–80 words per minute while making very few mistakes. In contrast, a skilled transcriber may type as high as 100 words per minute.
Grammatical Skills
Although some clients prefer non-verbatim or clear, easy-to-read transcripts, some transcribing requests are verbatim-specific. To produce neat transcripts without distorting the content or original intent of the conversations, a transcriber should possess strong grammar, punctuation, and spelling skills. Although there are digital technologies that can discover and fix errors like this, it is still critical for them to have a solid knowledge base to avoid fundamental yet embarrassing mistakes.
Detail-oriented
To ensure they don’t miss anything, a transcriber must frequently reread what they are typing. It is easy to omit a single letter or a little word that drastically alters the meaning of a statement.
Good transcribers are attentive listeners who pay close attention to the minute details necessary for accurate verbatim transcriptions. Transcripts also provide information about pauses and laughter.
Focus
To be a qualified transcriptionist, one must be focused and motivated to handle tasks correctly. On average, it takes 6 hours to transcribe a 1-hour file. It’s not a game for kids. A transcriber should be able to ignore pointless interruptions and focus for extended periods to achieve perfect accuracy and on-time task completion.
Goal-driven
Transcribers should be dedicated and goal-driven to achieve the team’s objective of delivering high-caliber transcripts on time. As a result, they are to adhere zealously to the high standards of the business. Their firm rewards them when they notice their diligence, strong goal orientation, and determination.
Research Skills
A quality transcriber may be an accomplished researcher, like most modern professionals. This is crucial for transcriptions are very technical. If one is to transcribe medical records or legal terms, the person should spell them accurately and use the appropriate capitalization, digits, etc.
Transcribers require exceptional research abilities. They often collect files on various subjects. Their research ability will help them spot unknown terms or terminologies and look up relevant facts and proper nouns like names, acronyms, corporations, enterprises, or brands in general. One can always use search engines if unsure. Knowing how to Google is also crucial.
Sharp Memory
Sharp memory and keen attention go a long way in helping with general transcriptions. They aid a transcriber in typing long speeches, getting every word without repeated listening or many stops to type.
Technologically Savvy
A person can work as a transcriber without being a technology expert. Basic knowledge of how to use Microsoft Word to its fullest potential for correct transcription formats and an understanding of how to perform Google searches are sufficient, though it’s essential to be open to learning how to use the necessary transcribing software.
Time Management
Some transcribers work from home, and it may be distracting. Chores, children, or guests may be distractions.
Decide when to wake up and when the day will end. The productivity of having a work plan rises.
Transcribers should create a schedule and follow it religiously. They should be aware of how much time they spend on social media and should ideally check on social networking sites after work or during mid breaks.
Transcribers can use time management software for productivity. The program can assist them in keeping track of time spent on various activities, and notifies them when they become sidetracked by social media and when their computer has been inactive for a certain amount of time. Once they start using time management software, they will notice that they are far more productive daily.
How to Become a Transcriber
Below is a step-by-step guide to help one become a transcriber:
Step One: Get a University Degree
Although a bachelor’s degree from a university is typically not essential to work as a transcriber, it can provide a person access to more in-depth training and education. Additionally, since most companies would prefer to have a bachelor’s degree, it is advantageous to get one.
Step Two: Specialize in a Field
Find a field to specialize in to become a transcriber. If necessary, get the relevant certification or license to prove qualifications. Though general transcribing work is still a respectable source of income, specialized transcription is better.
Step Three: Create an Online Presence
It is great to have a CV. However, one may announce themselves through an online presence. It’s relevant to promote services, expertise, and how hiring you to transcribe for businesses would benefit them, whether through a social media page for your transcription business or an online portfolio website.
Step Four: Find Jobs
The next is searching for jobs. There are several methods to achieve this, such as:
- Networking
Reach out to contacts to let them know what you offer. Set up LinkedIn and make your profile appealing. One may utilize various marketing strategies, from sign-up bonuses to introductory deals. Just be sure to use a tailored strategy rather than bombarding people with what you do.
- Apply to Companies
There are many transcribing companies online, and many of them are willing to work with newcomers. They might not pay as much as jobs one can get directly, but they can be a reliable source of consistent income and build one’s CV, which is usually the top goal when starting a career in transcribing.
- Volunteering and Internships
To have leverage, one can apply for volunteering or an internship. It will help you have experience and land future jobs. Additionally, one can be given a full-time role if the person does a good job.
Step Five: Train to be a Better Transcriber
Once you complete your first job, you have figured out how to become a transcriber. By delivering correct transcriptions on schedule and with enduring customer service, one may build on such success and obtain more and better-paying jobs.
Where to Work as a Transcriber
Although transcribers can operate from home and at their speed, they may work in places such as courtrooms, and medical offices.
Many work-from-home transcribing jobs do not have rigid working hours. Instead of being on the payroll and receiving an hourly or annual income, they can locate contract jobs that pay them according to the volume of work they can transcribe. They may pick when to work. They might work full- or part-time, during regular business hours, or at night. The best way for stay-at-home parents to make money while balancing childcare responsibilities is through being a remote transcriber.
Most of the time, transcribers use specialized transcribing software while sitting down. This often entails utilizing headphones to listen to jobs while sitting down for extended periods. They can purchase specialized typing machines and transcribing equipment to assist.
While nonremote transcribers are more likely to work in an office setting. They mostly work a typical 40-hour weekly from 9 to 5. Since transcription includes a lot of typing, which may harm fingers and wrists, it’s crucial to remember to stretch, get up, and do something physical frequently. Software, specialized tools, and noise-canceling headphones can all facilitate your work as a transcriber.
Transcriber Salary Scale
According to factors like region, industry, skill level, years of experience, etc, transcribing salaries may vary.
The average transcriber pay in Canada is $42,881 per year, or $21.99 per hour, according to Talent.com. More experienced ones earn up to $51,378 yearly, while entry-level start at $37,993 annually.
In the United States, the average annual salary for a transcriber is $39,000, or $20 per hour. The starting salary for entry-level jobs is $32,886 yearly, while the average yearly salary for experienced ones is $50,309. The extra compensation is likely worth $44,965 annually as it may cover cash bonuses, commissions, tips, and profit sharing.
The average salary for a transcriber in the United Kingdom is £21,057 per year, according to Indeed.com. In Ireland, a transcriber makes an average yearly pay of €34,821. In Australia, a transcriber can expect to make $49,470 per year on average.
In Germany, the average salary for a medical transcriber is €41,606 per year and €20 per hour. The range for a medical transcriber is between €30,789 to €49,262.