One of the major things that companies look for when you test with them is your spelling and grammar proficiency.
And if your resume or cover letter is full of mistakes, don’t expect to hear back from companies. Luckily, if you’re a bit rusty on grammar, there are many free resources online.
We have included a list of grammar guides and resources, including common homonyms – words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings, in case you need a quick review.
When you reach the grammar section, spend a few days brushing up if you need to, so that you don’t make mistakes when you’re applying to or working for companies.
You can access this here: Download Grammar Guide
In this Grammar Guide, you will find:
– Typing Practice Tests
– Capitalization Guides
– Common Homonyms
– Commonly Misspelled Words
– Grammar Tests
Quick and accurate typing is a basic skill for any transcriptionist. The more you can type and the less time you spend on fixing mistakes, the more work you can accept and get paid for.
Grammar Skills And Research:
Part of creating a clean transcript is finding the right spelling for spoken names, cities, companies, and more. If a speaker mentions a telecommunications company located in California, you need to use Google or another search engine to find the correct spelling for the company.
In an ideal world, every file would have perfect audio quality. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world. That’s why having good listening skills is very important to being a transcriptionist. When you’re dealing with focus groups or files with multiple speakers, you have to be able to tell voices apart so that you can label them correctly.
You also need to be able to understand different accents. Ability to follow directions. Every transcription company has its own set of guidelines, often referred to as a style guide. Different companies will format documents differently and have certain spellings they prefer. As a transcriptionist, it is very important that you follow the directions for each company’s style guide.
You’ll need to have good communication skills. Follow your company’s instructions on when and how to contact them with questions or concerns. We’ll talk more about how and when to communicate with your company in a later lesson.
Professionalism and a healthy dose of perfectionism. Even if you’re working from home in your pajamas, you still need to be a professional. This means putting in your best effort on every transcript and taking the time for things such as researching terms, following style guides, and re-listening to hard-to-hear audio.
It’s also important if an emergency comes up and you can’t turn in your file on time, that you communicate this to your company. Late files should be a very, very rare thing. We also recommend that, as a professional, you proof every file to audio, which means that after you’ve done your first run-through, you go over the transcript again while you listen to the audio at a faster rate, to catch any mistakes or inaudible you had the first time around.
Tenacity. Although the majority of audio files are of good quality, there will be times where you’ll be very, very frustrated. Perhaps you have three people talking over each other at the same time, or maybe you have difficulty with a certain heavy accent in the file.
This is where you just push through, do your best, and, if needed, eat lots of chocolate. So, there you have it. These are the traits of a successful transcriptionist. I’m a firm believer that you can teach yourself anything. So, if you’re rusty on some of these skills, practice, and soon you’ll be ready to start working with companies
