We were recently asked by a potential transcriber what the benefits were of working for our company and I have to say this question threw us a little bit because it was something we hadn’t really thought about for a while! So here is an article on the benefits of working as a transcriber for TP Transcription Limited.

About Us

A quick bit about us to start with. We are a rapidly expanding company undertaking transcription and translation work for a wide range of clients primarily in the academic sector but also for government agencies, the NHS, private companies, individuals, law firms, other professionals, celebrities, the occasional rock band, PR agencies and media companies. Our company was established in 2003 and we have regular clients placing orders for work with us across the UK and worldwide. Our USP (unique selling point) is that we offer a high quality transcription service (entirely manual, no automation) for a competitive price and we tailor our service to the individual needs of our clients.

We started off many years ago with a very small caseload and a couple of transcribers, but now have a team of over 50 regular transcribers plus a team of 60 occasional transcribers. Our team is managed by Anna Gresty, who is assisted by our quality control manager Sarah Bevington, and our company holds a number of accreditations including ISO 9001 and Cyber Essentials. We hold BPSS clearance for our transcription manager and a number of our staff are DBS checked.

Type of Transcription Work

Our transcription work is mainly one to one interviews, often done for academic research purposes, but we have worked on a load of different types of things including group recordings of between three and 30 speakers, covert recordings, police station interviews, disciplinary hearings, conferences, seminars, lectures and everything else in between. We specialise in Jefferson transcription (highly detailed conversation analysis) as well.

What job opportunities do you have?

We have opportunities most of the time for transcribers to join us, provided they are experienced. You will need to be able to type at a good speed and be a native English speaker for UK work. You must be residing in the UK for our client work as we have strict GDPR compliant policies in place for the processing of data. We also regularly recruit translators for all languages who possess an appropriate qualification in their own language and have evidence of the work they have undertaken.

What equipment do I need?

The role does require you to have your own equipment which usually consists of a foot pedal, an inexpensive piece of software, a good broadband connection and a PC desktop or laptop. Undertaking transcription work on an ipad or a smart phone is definitely not recommended!

What are the benefits of working for us?

I suspect the main benefit of working with our company is the flexibility involved in doing transcription work. We do not have specific hours, we contact you at the start of each week to ask how many hours work you want for that week and how you complete the work is up to you. We do not force you to work at specific times but you will be working to a deadline for each recording we send over. We will stick with the same transcribers for specific projects and we do not chop our recordings up into very small segments and send them out (some of our large competitors do) and our transcribers work on recordings in their entirety wherever possible.

Total Flexibility for Life

Flexibility means that transcribers are able to fit the work around other commitments. For example if you are semi-retired but have other interests, you can take the work, complete it when you have the time and still go off and do the things you want to do around it. It suits people who have other commitments in their family, so for example if you have a need to work for a period of say three months but then take a period of two months off, transcription work is ideal because you simply tell us you’re not available for those specific weeks when you don’t want to take any work. We don’t take you off the books, you remain one of our transcribers and you simply tell us when you are available again.

Variety

The second benefit is the variety of work that will come your way – we can be dealing with research projects to a whole host of different things, as well as undertaking covert recordings or recordings of hearings, inquests, conferences, lectures and many more besides. Sometimes the work can be very fast-paced and interesting. For example in 2020 we transcribed the BAFTAs in real time for a media company, which meant that you could read the acceptance speeches online in a proof format almost immediately the ceremony had finished. Some of our transcribers were sat undertaking transcription work whilst the BAFTAs were going out live and had the pleasure of seeing their work live on websites afterwards. Others have worked on extremely high profile projects involving well known cases and individuals.

What are the rewards?

So as far as our company is concerned, the primary benefit is the flexibility that the work offers to people who may have other more pressing needs in terms of their family or personal life that work simply has to fit around. Most work doesn’t happen like this – work comes first, everything else comes second, but at TP Transcription if you work through us as a transcriber this is not the case – your life comes first and work comes second, provided it is done by the deadline set.

How long do people stay with us for?

Some people stay for many years. We have transcribers who have been with us since we started in 2003 and others who have joined us since for a much shorter period of time. We expect high standards from our transcribers but we treat everyone fairly. We like to think our transcribers appreciate our company’s ethos. You can also rest assured that you are working for an ethical company who apply strict standards to everything we do – we have a range of policies (which we adhere to) covering our environmental impact, our relationship with our workforce, our handling of data and our pricing. We donate 10% of our net profits to the Ten Percent Foundation every year, which is distributed to charities in the UK and Africa.

How do I apply for work with TP Transcription Limited and University Transcriptions?

If you would like to go through the process of applying to be a transcriber with our company, please take a look at the website and go through the process of making an application. The link is here: