What are Transcriptionists?
While most people are familiar with the idea of transcription and captions, many do not realize how large of a role it plays in their everyday lives. Transcriptionists continue to contribute to the success of almost every industry and government agency. From automotive to aerospace and retail stores, transcriptions and captions play a significant role in most businesses.
A transcriber (or transcriptionist) listens to audio, video, or recorded memos to reproduce written versions, aka a transcription, while ensuring the accuracy of every word. Most transcriptionists work as freelancers, while many are employed full-time in specific industries. They use specialized software and hardware to make their work faster, easier, and more accurate. In addition to transcribing, many also perform related clerical duties, like producing reports and preparing documents.
Professional transcribers maintain accurate records, improve training, comply with regulations, boost sales, and can even help develop new products. They typically work for companies, corporations, nonprofits, and even government organizations. They also ensure court decisions are crystal clear (and on record), help patients receive the best medical care possible, and make information easier for nearly everyone in our society to absorb. To state the obvious, transcriptionists are involved and essential to many aspects of everyday life. Thanks to advances in technology and software, their impact could become even more prominent in the near future.
What fields employ Transcription Jobs?
While the primary fields listed below employ the majority of transcription jobs, transcriptionists can also be found in law enforcement, entertainment, business and finance, and academia and are often employed as foreign language translators.
Medical
Transcriptionists who work in the medical field are often referred to as healthcare documentation specialists. These individuals listen to voice recordings that doctors and other healthcare workers create and convert them into written reports. They must be able to interpret medical terms and abbreviations while preparing discharge summaries, a patient’s medical records, and other related documents.
Legal
Legal transcriptionists (often called stenographers) are typically found in courtrooms and law firms nationwide. In order to transcribe court proceedings, interviews, and other meetings with legal professionals, they must have a keen ear and the ability to type quickly and accurately. Grammar and proofreading skills are also essential because a person’s innocence, legal precedence, and even legislations often rely heavily on recorded records.
General
Transcriptionists can also be found in almost any industry. They might work for television, universities, or content creators for captions or notes of an important lecture series. They are working in government to provide communication clarity and transparency for constituents and public servants. Some work in the entertainment industry to create captions for podcasts, radio shows, or movies for entertainment to be enjoyed by a wider audience. Transcriptionists are a prevalent profession, and with that much to cover, there is a push for more automation in both their jobs and the machines that may one day replace them.
The Future of Transcription Jobs
From how people communicate to their everyday processes in their jobs, technology has changed how nearly everyone communicates. Transcription services, like every other industry, have been heavily affected by advances in technology. Many people view speech recognition technology as the future of the transcription industry. According to research conducted by the international marketing research firm MarketsandMarkets, the speech recognition industry is expected to more than triple (from $4 billion today to about $12 billion) by the time 2022 rolls around. In fact, even the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the job outlook for medical transcriptionists will decline over the next ten years, despite the increased demand for the services they perform. While legal transcriptions are expected to continue to grow, the rate is slightly lower than the average predicted growth for all industries over the next ten years.
Despite this predicted slowing industry growth, the transcriptionist profession will continue to be an essential part of accessibility and documentation in many industries. And while speech recognition software advancements can make many transcriptionists' jobs more accessible, there are still industries in which speech recognition cannot or will not be used exclusively.
Link Electronics
While human transcription services have been and will continue to be an essential part of many industries, the future is turning to automation to make the task more accessible and less expensive, making content and facilities more accessible. Link Electronics is here to help get you ahead of the curve with the latest technological advances and stellar customer support.