Transcription

Transcription is defined as the transfer of audio files into text format and the person doing transcription is called a transcriptionist. Transcription may be of different types as follows. Transcription has opened new opportunities to work in India, and it gives people freedom to work at their convenience.

Medical Transcription : As the name suggests medical transcription involves transcribing medical records into the physical format. This includes patient's history, report, consultations, clinic reports, lab reports, x ray reports, discharge summary and other medical records. Earlier medical transcription was done by lab technicians, nurses or staff from hospitals. With outsourcing boom there are lots of opportunities for individuals to become medical transcriptionists. One has to undergo training in order to become a medical transcriptionist. Good knowledge of typing, English and medical terms are a must.

Legal Transcription: A legal transcriptionist is in charge of transcribing the various cases relating to labor law, company law, litigation, malpractice, accident/insurance claims, real estate etc. In order to become a legal transcriptionist a person need not necessarily be a law student but a clear understanding of the law terms and knowledge of the governing laws is essential. A fresher would start off, as a trainee becomes a transcriptionist/senior transcriptionist and then supervisor, proofreaders, editors and managers. In addition to law firms opportunities are rife in outsourcing firms.

Media Transcription: Media transcription is a relatively new stream in outsourcing. While medical and legal transcription are restricted to their respective specializations media transcription offers a wider variety. A person does not require any particular qualification and can learn on the job. Here an individual is a given media clip which could be a newsreel, talk show, a debate, discussion and it has to be transcribed. Since this stream is relatively recent job opportunities are vast and competition is less. The awareness among people is also less.
Business Transcription: Business transcription arose from the need of documentation of all the business meetings, seminars, conferences, teleconferences, interviews due to the businessmen traveling and conducting their business from everywhere be it a boardroom or on an airplane. It is not restricted to any one particular industry and spans across all industries be it manufacturing, insurance or healthcare. The basic requirement for a person to be a transcriptionist is good typing and language skills.

General Transcription: This refers to the transcription work that is not covered under any of the above. This could be related to just plain data or any other technical topic.
The skills required across transcriptionists are good listening and understanding skills with command over English. Accuracy and speed are also very important. Also one should be able to pick up the various accents that will come up in the audio and a certain amount of typing and computer skills.

In addition to opportunities in the various organizations or firms transcriptionists can also work from home. This is possible through the organizations that provide training and facilitate work at home or through jobs on the internet. However due to the sensitive nature of data there are not many work from home jobs for media transcriptionists.