Just who is the expert?

One of the ACS team sent a message yesterday about an advert she saw. This is it:

· Work from home listening and typing up lectures
· Paid $15 per completed transcription

Transcriptionist required to listen to recorded lectures and transcribe lectures in fields of either :
1. medicine OR
2. organic chemistry OR
3.physics and mechanics of solids

Lectures run for no longer than 1hour in duration
Can do as many lectures per week as desired but minimum of 6 required

She sent an enquiry to the guy and his response was rather, well, you have a look and see what you think!

Thank you for your expert opinion, but since this job requires no expertise or previous experience/knowledge,and since you can work conveniently from home, not incurring any expenses such as transportation costs etc, I say this is a pretty great way to make $15 an hour , how many jobs out there can you find that reward you by sitting at the comfort of your own home listening to audio and simply typing what you hear at your own pace,(not many I can assure you being in the recruiting for over 20years).

Who’s this person kidding? His ability to type an email properly (I have not edited the above at all – that’s how it came) was certainly lacking and also showed that he did NOT have 20 years’ experience in an office, let alone the recruiting field – unless he meant he’d had 20 years’ experience going for jobs himself. And who’s he to say that there is no expertise or experience required for doing transcription work? As for overheads – there’s still the computer and relevant hardware (headphones, foot pedal, etc for transcription work) relevant software, internet connection, phone bills, stationery, and training that is required from time to time to keep up to date with technology. Plus the learning required for medical terminology or even chemistry and physics terminology.

Another thing in his response above which showed his lack of knowledge: he states that you can get paid $15 per completed transcription but then says in his response that it’s $15 an hour – which is it? Or does he think that one hour of recording is equal to one hour of typing? NOT!
Which certainly doesn’t allow for time to proof the job either! But perhaps he’s looking for someone who has little typing skill, at home all day and happy to make a tiny little amount of money for a job that really would be at the least 3 hour’s worth of work (now $5 an hour) or at the most 6 hour’s work (now $2.50 an hour). Perhaps he needs to read my article When is an Hour, not an Hour? written in September 2004.

If you’re a new VA and/or someone looking to do transcription work at home because it appeals to you, or you’ve had some experience with it in the corporate world, be assured that there is a requirement for experience, lots of practice, and skill and that the rewards for doing this type of work are worth it – and worth a lot more than $15 a recorded hour! KMT

transcription, $15 an hour, expert, experience