What Is Quicktate and what do I do there?
Quicktate is an online platform that offers transcription tasks. It was founded in 2008 by Lee Dorfman. The company is located in San Francisco, United States, and California.
The website hires transcribers from different parts of the world. Thus, people are at the liberty of working from home at their convenience. You only need a reliable network connection and a personal computer.
The company transcribes many documents, including legal files, medical files, phone recordings, voice messages, conference calls, and other audio files. The files are between 2 minutes and one hour long.
You can choose to sign up as an independent contractor, pick a task and earn cash from the platform.
Converting these files to text requires a typing speed of about 60-80 words per minute. You have to ensure accurate punctuation and spelling as required. That speed is also necessary due to the high workload they have. The company works with huge brands such as CNN, Coca-Cola, and Ford, among others.
After picking an audio file, you have to be attentive to capture every detail talked about. You only write what you hear, based on the company’s rules. Each company has its formatting that they stress during the training and application process.
As mentioned earlier, Quicktate is available across many countries beyond the United States. However, the list of which available countries can transcribe through Quicktate is unknown. Moreover, you must provide your tax ID number to work with the company.
Their application process is easy, as mentioned below. You don’t have to produce a resume to be inducted. However, providing references and proving that you can work well for the company is necessary.
Working At Quicktate: The Application Process
Start your application process by clicking on this link. You will be asked about yourself and be required to add three references. As you apply, you have to be informed of the following requirements:
- Provide accurate and error-free work.
- Follow instructions to the latter.
- Excellent grammar skills and fluency in English.
- Reliable network connection and a computer
- High-quality headphones
- Lack of a criminal record (they do a background check through your referrals)
After filling in your information, you proceed to take their tests. Your score determines whether the team will pick you. Also, they have an affiliate program, iDictate, that allows you to pick jobs.
Successful applicants then agree to a background check. The referees you provide should not be people who are very affiliated with you. They must be distant but ready to offer your review as asked. Background checks cost $20, payable through bank transfers and PayPal.
Background checks don’t take much time. Once done, you are accepted into the team and can start earning. After taking a task, the audio will start playing once you have logged into your account.
Passing a typing test is one of the requirements mentioned above. The best thing about the website is that you don’t have to be skillful initially with transcribing.
How much can you earn from Quicktate?
Quicktate has two sections of transcriptions, general and medical forms. You earn $0.0025 for general transcription, while medical transcription jobs earn you $0.005. They pay $1 for 400 words transcribing general audio or 200 words for medical files.
These earnings are less, and Quicktate definitely isn’t a full-time job. Infact, some workers say they were never able to earn more than 200$/month from it. So it should be treated like a part-time gig at best.
Quicktate pays weekly through PayPal. Sorry if you’re from a country that does not support PayPal since it will be hard for Quicktate to make payments.
Quicktate is a good platform for individuals seeking jobs with flexible deadlines outside developed countries. However, you should not make this your mainstream source of income since the site pays poorly.
Quicktate is a legitimate and reputable firm with which you can trust your funds, as reviewed by most independent contractors.
Some alternative websites for finding Transcription Work
Even though Transcription work is getting harder and harder to find these days, you can find it on some new platforms that have emerged over the years:
Rev.com is one of the most popular platform. It has a short and simple transcription test that you need to clear. It also has captioning work available.
Other options (Appen China Platform: a new platform offering rates up to 15.75$/hour for English-Hindi Transcription).
BabbleType
An old transcription site that accepts people worldwide. Pays via Paypal. Earn upto 30-40$ per audio hour.
ProZ Language Job Board
(One of my contacts earns 300-400$ monthly working on a transcription job on this site. She’s a housewife, I guess.)
Lionbridge Transcriber Opportunity
(Might not last long)
Oneforma
(has a translation and transcription section: though work available depends on different locations…
Some similar jobs are also available on remote.co (Data Entry | Writing)
aTexto
A new platform that has transcription work from time to time.
AudioBee
A new platform that has transcription work from time to time.
