Thank you for your interest in working with TFE. We know that you will feel right at home with us. TFE is a transcription company run by transcribers and for transcribers. We work with transcribers from all religions from all over the world. You just won’t find another company like us! We employ revolutionary methods and technologies to ensure ours and your success in the industry. We are here to help guarantee your success. We provide free training and work in the legal, general and Torah transcription fields. Please note we are strictly hiring legal and/or general transcribers (not medical) and strictly hire independent contractors (non-employee status).
The first step is to ensure you will have the right equipment. This maximizes your efficiency and earnings potential.
A high-quality over-the-ear headphone is required for transcription. They should also be comfortable so you can wear them for hours at a time.
A good external keyboard you are comfortable with is vital to your success. Preferably it should have an anti repetitive-stress injury design. An ergonomic keyboard is designed such that the natural position of your arms coming in from the side allows the wrist to remain straight with the arm, thus preventing long-term injury.
Make sure you have an infrared external mouse with working scroll wheel.
These are also very important for your long-term health. Wrist pads at the base of the keyboard and mouse will keep you comfortable and efficient.
You must position your chair, desk and monitor in a proper position so you work comfortably and efficiently. It’s vital to have a quiet workstation where you won’t be interrupted. This will be discussed in more detail when you begin your training.
You must have at least a 10MB speed internet line at home. Filtered internet is fine, but you will have to unblock a few sites, namely: Dropbox.com, Google.com, m-w.com, redbooth.com and wikipedia.org. Using a limited data USB stick or tethering through a smartphone for internet is not suitable.
You should be able to type blind at about 70 WPM. Practice at typing.com as much as you can. If you don’t type this fast yet, it’s okay, you will once you transcribe more regularly. We have had typists begin with us literally typing with two fingers just learning the basics. So this is a recommendation, but not a requirement. Your speed will ultimately affect your earnings, of course, so you will want to build your speed as much as possible when you can.
Your ability to use Google, m-w.com, and Wikipedia are important. Your ability to guess spellings of words a few times on these search sites will ensure you spell correctly words you are unfamiliar with.
Transcribing is a career and you should be prepared to invest in learning the formatting rules and guidelines. Know that your speed and accuracy will improve with time. It can be difficult to keep focused while working at home. Be prepared to invest at least three months of your time to get your skills up to an acceptable minimum standard.
Please be prepared to sign/scan our attached standard agreement. Please do not train with us if you will not agree to the terms of our contract, so please review that carefully. Best is to scan and e-mail it to us. A good digital picture of a printed copy is also acceptable. You must sign it with a pen. Please note that while the agreement asks for a minimum of 30 audio minutes four times a week, we understand during the earlier phases of your working with us that you might do less audio minutes. That’s perfectly fine.
Once you return to us the below confidentiality agreement we will send you a test packet to assess your skills. This packet consists of a variety of training materials and a video as well. We will provide you with detailed feedback, which we hope you take positively and in good stride. Since we are a large company who often splits audios between multiple typists, it is important everyone is working the same way so the final combined files are consistently done.
During this testing/training we will specifically be looking to see that you are open to feedback and that you can incorporate what you’ve learned into the next exercise. You cannot fail this training/testing as long as you complete it.
Legal files pay per page (different courts have slightly varying page sizes, but it is typically your standard 25-line Courier New Size 12 page with normal margins and some tabbing for speaker IDs). Some clients also pay per audio minute or even per word transcribed.
Our transcription process is three (or four) pronged; transcribing, editing, compiling (and for some clients the additional stage of proofing). Here is a brief explanation of the process and the pay rate associated with each step. The rates here are per page, but some jobs do pay on a per-audio minute basis. Some jobs also pay a slightly different rate. The varying rates are of course made available to our team and you can choose not to work on particular clients’ jobs should you wish.
Our base rate is either $2/1,000 words, $0.40 per audio minute of $0.40-$0.45 per client’s templated 25-line page. This is paid both to the typist and to the editor. Quality work receives positive ratings (thus increasing the pay percentage given to the typist from the editor (or conversely, a negative score can be given whereby the editor receives a higher portion than the typist to compensate for the lower quality work. TFE’s goal is to get our transcribers editing and working without the need for an editor, thus earning double the base pay rate.
Transcribing – Typing out the file as best as possible.
Editing – An experienced transcriber (promoted to editor strictly from within TFE) does a full audio edit of the transcriber’s work. The final document is always sent back to the transcriber to run a redline/compare to see what changes were made and a dialogue of feedback is encouraged so the transcriber can improve. Each assignment is also awarded a rating which affects the rates paid to the transcriber and editor (see the contract for more detail).
Compiling – This person runs a macro on the document to ensure it is aligned correctly and changes all the shorthand IDs to the final IDs. The compiler also usually prepares the cover pages and index pages and changes any headers when necessary. Cover/cert pages are paid to the compiler as well as a flat rate on the total document paid when a file contains a table of contents to be created.
Proofer – Does a final read through from start to bottom of the transcript – rates vary.
Everyone starts out as a fully audio-edited transcriber. However, you can/will find yourself promoted to either editor or what we call a self editor (SE) whereby you are both transcribing and editing your work. Ideally, you can complete all four of the steps yourself to produce truly client-ready work.
Typists can earn up to $25 per hour, though it is rare to be this good. This means a typist is typing 25 audio minutes per hour at client-ready quality. Typically typists type 15 audio minutes per hour of their time and require some level of editing. The better your work, the more you will earn. The faster you type, the more you will earn. At TFE you will be able to work regularly, thus steadily building your speed and quality. Some typists find they earn as little as $5 per hour when they start, but see a steady increase as they go. Most people average between $10-15 per hour of their time. Typists who demonstrate the ability to produce solid documents will be promoted to audio-transcript editors or to non-editor level position, thus earning even more. It is our audio editors which enable beginners to gain valuable experience in the field and are here to work with you and guide you. Our audio-editors all started off as inexperienced transcribers, just like you. They are the proof that everyone can succeed in this business.
Please note we provide macros and templates to aid the transcription process as well as other software to assist with things like automatic timestamping and the use of hotkeys if you prefer not to use a pedal.
If you are interested in further extensive training, we do offer a 16-hour lecture series to aid your training process. The value of these videos is $99 + VAT (if you reside in Israel). These videos are purely optional and do not at all affect the required testing/training discussed above. If you would like to have the videos made available to you at no cost, please contact us. Those who have not passed our initial training should opt for this option and then re-test with us again in order to join us. Click here to see more about what our course covers: http://transcriptionforeveryone.com/professional-transcribers-course
We strongly recommend using ExpressScribe to work on your transcripts. This program allows you to control audio files without having to switch programs and allows you to use hotkeys. There are other programs out there and you might want to use a foot pedal. It is highly recommended you change the rewind hotkey(s) to the [ and/or \ keys (something near the backspace) in order to best use this program. You should be as comfortable as possible with this program so practice, practice, practice with it as much as you can. See the attached file to properly setup your Word and ExpressScribe.
It’s important to download EScribe from the link below and not from NCH’s website. The first 14-days are free of charge. After 14 days of use they will ask you to upgrade. Go to Control Panel, Add/Remove programs and uninstall ExpressScribe. It will ask you if you really want to uninstall or downgrade to the free version. At this point you can decide to accept the terms of the free version or pay the well worthwhile $30 to upgrade to the pro version.
We provide you daily work to do at the hours you desire and as much as you desire. We do everything we can to make the life of the transcriber as good as it can be and we look forward to working with you. I would like to take this time to remind you that you have to think of transcription as a long-term career and not as just a job. It takes time to get good and we afford you the opportunity to gain that experience. This career path is not for quitters and you can and will succeed under our guidance. All it takes is your determination and understanding that you will not be an instant expert and to think of this long term.
Here are the files you will need to get you started:
Download/View the TFE Transcriber Agreement (optional for training, mandatory for paid work)
Download/Sign the TFE Confidentiality Agreement (send this to us to receive the training packet)
Download/Install Express Scribe
I sincerely look forward to working together and securing your future at Transcription for Everyone.
Thank you kindly,
Ahuvah Taub
Chief of Recruitment, Billing and Payroll
recruitment@transcriptionforeveryone.com
www.transcriptionforeveryone.com