| One of the most frequent enquiries I receive in | | | | 8. Excellent independent judgment and decision |
| my practice is for transcription services - digital, | | | | making skills; |
| microtape, standard tape - not just from potential | | | | 9. Superior on-screen proofreading and editing |
| clients but from new VAs wanting to 'get in on' | | | | abilities; |
| what seems to be a burgeoning niche in the | | | | 10. Ability to recognise errors and inconsistencies |
| Virtual Assistant industry. So, here are a few tips | | | | in dictated material while transcribing; |
| and facts to help clients understand the costs of | | | | 11. Proficiency in clarification of dictation without |
| providing transcription services, and 'newbies' who | | | | altering meaning or style; |
| want to add this service to their practice. | | | | 12. Hearing acuity and language discrimination skills, |
| A: Transcriptionist -v- Typist | | | | including familiarity with and understanding of |
| There are varying typing speeds, varying levels of | | | | accents and dialects, and recognition of voice |
| expertise - both with WP software and with | | | | inflections within a document. |
| PC-based player software - and as a result, | | | | What?! I hear you say. Indeed, these are the |
| varying charge out rates. If you are a client | | | | identified requirements of a professional |
| looking for transcription services who cares about | | | | transcriptionist. If you do not partner with an |
| the resulting product without having to do too | | | | operator with this skill set then you can be sure |
| much post-transcription checking, you need to find | | | | that not only will transcription time be longer, but |
| a professional service. The skills of a | | | | your post-transcription proofing and editing of the |
| transcriptionist vary from a typist. According to | | | | document will defeat the purpose of outsourcing |
| the Industry Production Standards (IPS) Guide: | | | | the job in the first place. |
| "Tape transcription is a specialised service, very | | | | B: Transcription Time Determinants |
| different from general text keyboarding [which] | | | | Understand that transcription time is determined |
| relies on visual processing and can be measured | | | | by the quality of the audio - any noise, accents, |
| as words or characters per minute; then | | | | multiple speakers, poor tape quality, or poorly |
| corrected for accuracy. Transcriptionists however, | | | | positioned recording device, will increase |
| must rely on aural processing, and the rhythm of | | | | transcription time. If you have an hour of audio it |
| the work depends on the person doing the original | | | | is NOT going to take an hour to transcribe - even |
| recording. The keyboarding portion of the tape | | | | for someone with a typing speed of 120wpm. |
| transcription process includes a certain amount of | | | | Conversational English is in the vicinity of 200 to |
| editing 'on the fly' by the transcriptionist - ie | | | | 250wpm - add to that relistening to identify |
| paragraphing, insertion of punctuation, capitalisation, | | | | speakers in multiple-speaker audios or any undue |
| correction of grammar (in non-verbatim | | | | background noise and things start to slow down. |
| transcripts) and sometimes aural identification of | | | | The IPS place transcription time for a |
| speakers". | | | | straightforward, single person, clear audio file |
| So what should you look for when assessing | | | | (think, dictating a letter) (Class 1) at 1:3-5 - ie for |
| candidates? | | | | very minute of recorded audio it will take |
| 1. Someone with at least 2-3 years of business, | | | | approximately 3-5 minutes to transcribe. This |
| office or secretarial experience; | | | | means an hour of audio will take approximately |
| 2. Keyboarding speed of around 70 words per | | | | 3-5 hours to transcribe. The range covers things |
| minute (wpm); | | | | like complexity of the recording, whether it |
| 3. Good language/grammar skills; | | | | contains jargon or technical language, if the |
| 4. The software skills to handle the project; | | | | speaker has an accent, and whether there is any |
| PLUS: | | | | looking up of addresses, internet searching and so |
| 5. Someone with a minimum of 2-3 years basic | | | | on. This range goes up to 4.8 to 8 hours for a |
| transcription experience; | | | | Class 5 file. |
| 6. Mastery of advanced language skills, including | | | | Clients can decrease the amount of the final |
| grammar, punctuation, spelling and sentence | | | | invoice by ensuring that their audio files are |
| structure; | | | | recorded in the best possible circumstances: |
| 7. Exceptional level of accuracy; | | | | better quality = less time to transcribe. |