Share this
Are you a good listener with great typing skills? Have you ever considered a work-at-home job doing transcription? Maybe you should: AccuTran Global is hiring, and they’re offering bona fide opportunities!
AccuTran Global is a Canadian company specializing in transcription and has been in business since 2002. For the past 15 years, they have built a strong reputation as a company that provides accurate, fast, and reliable transcription service for all of its client’s needs. They primarily serve the financial sector, but also provide services for legal and medical transcription. AccuTran Global’s client base and transcriptionist base are both global (as you’d imagine from their name). Their independent contractors provide transcription services such as real-time captioning, voice writing (from court reporting), and scoping (editing transcripts). AccuTran Global is relentless in its pursuit of quick, efficient, and accurate transcription of conference calls, focus groups, roundtables, court reporting, and more.
Note: Current openings and requirements can change at any time. Please refer to the company’s website for recent openings.
Also see: 5 legitimate typing jobs from home
They’re always looking for new independent contractors to add to their network. If you’re in Canada, you’re especially in luck since they currently have a specific need for Canadian transcriptionists. They are also looking for contractors who can work between 4 PM EST and 8 PM EST from Monday through Friday. In order to apply, just head on over to their site – you’ll download a packet they request you read over thoroughly, and then you’ll take a questionnaire and begin the testing process.
Their questionnaire mainly involves getting your basic information, checking to see if you have the correct equipment, and taking down your availability and commitment to the work. The tests include a typing test to check your speed and accuracy (60 WPM is the absolute minimum), a transcription test using an audio file they provide, and some exercises (one-timed) to check your punctuation, spelling, grammar, and comprehension skills.
What exactly do AccuTran Global’s entry-level independent contractors do?
The company will assign you audio to transcribe based on the schedule you commit to work each week – you tell them when you can work (within certain guidelines), and they’ll assign you what jobs are available within those times. You download the assigned audio files from their website, listen to and transcribe the audio quickly and efficiently, and upload your completed transcription in a .txt file to their website.
This process must take you no longer than 6 times the length of the audio file – for example, a 10-minute audio file should take you a maximum of 1 hour (60 minutes) to transcribe. AccuTran Global will provide you with transcription software (for PCs) to use and any training you may need. They also supply researched terminology for an audio file when necessary, and occasionally you may need to do limited research about the corporations or subjects involved to ensure accuracy. Most of their transcription jobs are for financial sector conference calls – especially earnings releases. Their other most common types of audio files are financial conference presentations, financial sector interviews, and analyst day meetings.
Once you become an experienced transcriber, AccuTran Global is happy to offer advancement and may give you the opportunity to move into better-compensated departments. You may end up scoping, reviewing, and editing transcriptions for them after you distinguish yourself as a reliable and fast transcriptionist.
What are AccuTran Global’s Requirements?
In order to begin transcribing for AccuTran Global, there are a few things you’ll need. Preferably, you should have a PC running Windows XP or later; if you’re on a Mac, you must have ExpressScribe and word processing software that is compatible with Microsoft Word. Your computer should be less than 4 years old, have high-speed Internet access, and be capable of downloading and running audio files.
If you’re not great with computers, make sure you have someone who can help you maintain your computer and install or update software. AccuTran Global does not provide its contractors with any real tech support.
Beyond this basic equipment, you’ll need a good pair of headphones and to have AOL Instant Messenger installed – additionally, AccuTran Global asks that their contractors purchase a transcription foot pedal by their second peak season working with the company.
As far as skills go, anyone hoping to become a transcriptionist with AccuTran Global must type a minimum of 60 WPM and preferably 70 WPM. You must have great accuracy. You must be available for work sometime between 4 AM EST to 2 PM EST and 4:30 PM EST to 7:30 PM EST. You must also have a quiet home working space with no regular distractions – AccuTran Global specifically says this is not a good position for people working from home with small children.
The company also prefers people with some transcription experience, but it’s not required. Those best-suited to become quality transcriptionists will have great listening and communication skills, an excellent command of the English language, work well under pressure, and be up to date on world and business current events.
Also See: How To Not Get ****ed Over Starting As a Transcriptionist
What Does AccuTran Global Pay?
Note: Pay rates and job requirements can change at any time. Please refer to the company’s job page for current details.
Compensation for transcriptionists is by the word and varies depending on your experience – entry-level transcriptionists can expect to make $0.004 per word to start, up to their top rate for experienced contractors of $0.0055 per word. So, let’s say you transcribe an average of 90 words per minute – that means 36 cents per minute or $21.60 per hour. (The top rate would have you making about $29.70 per hour.) On top of this, AccuTran Global pays a 20% bonus for foreign calls from non-English speaking countries or for calls heavy with technical terms. If you make $2000 with them in your first 6 months, they’ll also pay you $50 for training. Payment is made once a month (for the previous month’s work) on the 15th via Paypal or check.
An important thing to note about being an independent contractor with AccuTran Global is that this is NOT full-time work. According to their materials, you can make almost full-time pay during their peak seasons, but there are several low-volume months throughout the year. Their peak seasons fall from January 20 – March 15 – April 20 – May 20, July 20 – August 20, and October 20 – November 20. They cannot guarantee work at other times, but they definitely need all hands on deck during the peaks. Their busiest days of the week are generally Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with some bumps on Friday mornings as well. All of their contractors are required to be available on Thursdays during peak seasons. (This isn’t a good job if you’re looking for mainly evening work, I’m afraid – unless you’re able to get one of their editing positions.)
Whew! That was quite a bit of information, but that’s a good thing – transcription work is something you could build a career on, and AccuTran Global is a wonderful, legitimate opportunity to launch that career. I’d love to hear from any of my work-at-home transcriptionists out there – have you worked with AccuTran Global? What do you think?
