A list of typing jobs to work from home or start a career
Advanced typing skills are no longer a job requirement only for professionals like secretaries, transcriptionists, or translators.
Because our lives revolve around keyboards and smartphones no matter what our profession is, it is imperative that our abilities to type are at least better than average.
When you think about the fact that people actually make a living out of their keyboarding skills, it’s no coincidence that more and more people want to learn to type faster. Below is a list of websites and typing jobs to help you start working from home or boost your career. Are you a beginner? Don’t worry! There are other typing jobs available too.
Common Skill Requirements
Employers always appreciate strong keyboarding skills and unless it is a typing job with strict requirements, they are happy to accept applicants with less experience. Why? They are cheaper, or the job does not need a highly qualified typist.
Core skills to land good typing jobs
- Accurate 10-finger-key skills
- Good communication skills
- Excellent writing and spelling skills
- Attention to detail. Willingness to re-edit.
How much can you earn?
You can expect anything from $5-$25 for data entry. It also depends if you will be employed in a company or accept a project offered on an online platform. Entry-level transcriptionists can expect hourly rates between $15 and $75. Keep in mind those typing jobs will pay by audio minute or per word, which can influence the rate.
Typing Jobs Requiring Fast Typing Skills
We refer ‘fast’ to a speed of at least 60 wpm or more. This is required to find a typing job in a company or organization. However, as most of those typing jobs can be outsourced slower typists may have a chance too if they meet deadlines and quality standards. However, the hourly wage will drop with slower speeds.
1. Typists or Word Processors
Becoming a typist is a great job opportunity for people with exceptionally fast and accurate typing. Anywhere between 55 to 90 wpm is considered an efficient speed in these fields.
Typists’ daily work consists of writing reports, correspondence, and any other provided content and putting it into a specified format. You will be expected to type text from a printed and hand-written copy to create a professional, official document.
Typists can earn up to $20,000 per year, and getting promoted to administrative positions like a secretary or office supervisor is relatively easy.
2. Transcriptionist
Transcriber (or audio typists) type material into documents as they listen to it from a tape or recording. It’s a professional position that can be used in several different fields, often specialized, including medical, legal or audiovisual types of transcription.
Fast typists can easily land a typing job as a transcriptionist because this is a growing field, and not many people have the speed and accuracy required. Apart from accurate and fast skills, you need also to have great listening skills and broad knowledge of the subject you’re transcribing, which helps you avoid mistakes.
Transcribing is a typing job that requires more accuracy than speed, though both are equally important. Home or part-time transcriptionist typing jobs are great to start gathering experience. A Medical Transcriber can make between $50 to $75 per audio hour.
3. Legal Transcribers
Legal transcriptionists work exclusively with content related to legal documents. They transcribe dictated reports or notes and create all the other documents attorneys, paralegals, and everyone else in the legal profession might need. Because of the high level of specialization and jargon used in legal professions, legal transcriptionists need to possess substantial knowledge of the workings and language used in law offices and courts to succeed.
A legal transcriber creates legal memoranda, motions, pleadings, and many other official documents. Legal transcribers could get promoted to an administrative position in a legal office or firm after a few years’ work, although they might be required to take a short training course, depending on the firm and its requirements.
Consistently being accurate and fast at writing is the number one prerequisite for this typing job, which can pay a salary anywhere between $20,000 and $50,000 per year.
4. Data Entry Specialists
Knowing to type fast lends itself to various data entry typing jobs. Whether they use an offsite contractor or an on-site employee, large firms tend to have data entry clerks who input various sorts of data into databases, systems, and other data programs.
If you wish to enter the data entry profession, you’re more likely to also engage with other administrative activities apart from data entry. Attention to detail, consistency, and a result-driven approach are necessary skills to add to your keyboarding abilities.
If you get employed by a company, you will probably need to prove parts of your skills. However, there are a lot of online typing jobs in this area accepting average speeds. You will need to be able to meet deadlines and high accuracy standards. These remain crucial skills when you want to work from home in this field.
5. Closed Captioning and Subtitling Typing Jobs
Subtitling typing jobs can be a rewarding career path. Subtitling consists of creating the written text that accompanies any audio-visual piece that’s broadcast on TV, cinema, or over the Internet. Subtitlists work mostly as freelance contractors with media and television production companies. Apart from work experience, subtitlists need to have exceptional editing skills as well.
Closed captioning typing careers entail subtitling for a specific audience like the deaf or the hearing impaired. Many TV and media production companies offer both online (i.e., real-time) and off-line closed captioning typing job opportunities. Both closed captioning professionals and subtitlists can secure a good salary when working with big firms; however, the same cannot be said for freelance or part-time subtitlists.
6. Court Reporter
Becoming a court reporter is another career option that requires efficiency and accuracy. Although court reporters use a form of “keyboard stenography” to type verbatim text, they can achieve breathtaking speeds ranging from 200 to 230 words per minute.
(Online) Typing Jobs Requiring Standard Typing Abilities
The typing jobs listed below can be increasingly outsourced and done from home, for example, someone needs you to write an article about a given topic with a fixed deadline and budget. If you have excellent writing and keyboarding skills, you will be able to complete more of those online typing jobs in less time.
7. Journalist/Writer
Reporters, journalists, writers, and authors are professionals who obviously benefit from great typing skills. Although not a prerequisite in any of these jobs, having such a skill can boost your productivity and let you focus on the things that really matter.
However, you do not have to be a journalist to get a typing job using your keyboarding skills. With millions of blogs around, there is a strong demand for people with good writing skills. If you know to type well and fast, you can finish those typing jobs quickly, but more importantly, with fewer errors and good punctuation, which is always a plus.
8. Secretary/Personal Assistant
Personal assistants are basically the people who hold an office or a small company together. While it can be a rewarding position, you’ll find that many responsibilities and too little time mean that it’s also a stress-filled, multi-tasking career path. Efficient skills are a necessary qualification, with 60 wpm being the minimum requirement.
9. Virtual Assistant
Virtual assistants will do any type of office work that can be outsourced and are competing with in-house assistants (see above). Duties range from email communication and correspondence to writing, editing or data entry. Good skills are required to keep up with the pace. The salary is roughly $15-18/hour.
10. Translator
As in most professions, translators today work with software to optimize their productivity. Even so, skills are still a good addition to the list of qualifications. When you don’t have to think about your hands’ position on the keyboard, it’s easier to keep up with the flow. Efficient typing proficiencies can double your productivity.
11. Web Designer/Developer
Those in IT need to be able to type at least 45 words per minute. Efficient skills can substantially facilitate and promote creativity and productivity in other aspects of the job, be it programming or web designing. If you considering or are training to be in the IT career realm, sharpening your skills will definitely help you reach your goals.
12. Chat Agents
This is rather a support than a typing job. However, the skill is crucial to be able to serve many customers a day. The pressure and workload are high and the salary can be low ($10-12/hour). Furthermore, those typing jobs are on the way to being replaced by artificial chatbots.
It is nevertheless one of the easiest ways to get a typing job you can do from home. Popular places are online shops and the customer service departments of larger companies. Some positions may require in-depth background knowledge.
Websites to Get Online Typing Jobs from Home
Below is a list of websites and companies that offer various types of online typing jobs. All skill levels are included and beginners have a good chance to land one. It is not meant to be comprehensive and I hope it will help you get started.
Upwork
Upwork is one of the best-known platforms to hire freelancers for jobs such as programming, writing, design or business activities. Of course, it is also great to find a job which can be based on the project, by the hour or on a fixed salary.
There are a variety of typing jobs available, particularly in the field of transcribing, data entry or word processing (browse here). You will need to apply for any of these jobs separately which is a bit of a hassle to get things running on a bigger scale.
On the other side, you can use your skills to find a job in blog and article writing as well as translating documents or scripts. There is no real need to mention these skills separately; it is rather you who will benefit from higher productivity.
Freelancer
Similar to Upwork, you can find or hire talents on many digital work skills. The hiring system works by bidding on a job and freelancers can introduce themselves with a cover letter, a brief biography or proof of work. Writing, data entry, translations but also programming and computing are great categories to get a typing job with good skills.
Freelancer also offers a dedicated page listing hundreds of copy typing jobs and secretarial services. Competition is rather tough as those services are the easiest to outsource and many people have proficient skills. We recommend having a completed profile page, image, work examples where possible and last but not least a personal approach when applying to a job.
Rev
Rev is an online service to offer transcription, translation and caption services. It is used by many well-known companies such as Lynda, BuzzFeed, Uber or Kanopy. Rev has a team of freelance transcriptionists to transcribe audio and video recording. If you want to become a captionist you can apply here and get started within 48 hours.
TranscriptionHub
TranscriptionHub (website) runs a pool of remote freelancers who will take care of transcription gigs added by companies from all around the world. This is a good opportunity to work from home or anywhere in the world.
You will need to get evaluated and perform some type of quality tests to make sure you are eligible to do the job. Based on the results, applicants will be rated and able to apply for certain typing jobs that match their skill level. Salary might be lower for beginners.
Indeed
Indeed is one of the biggest job search platforms online. There are hundreds of typing jobs available. However, you will need to think a bit outside the box a bit to get to the one that will suit your skills and needs.
We recommend brainstorming a variety of skill related keywords or job ideas before starting to research, and to avoid getting lost in unrelated offers. “Online Typing Jobs” is a good phrase if you wish to work from home. Skip the ‘online’ and you will find more office related opportunities.
CareerBuilder
This is a Chicago based job search engine listing a few hundred typing jobs. The main focus seems to be on data entry either as an employee in a company or as a freelancer working from home.
Employers commonly list strong 10-key skills in their listings but often enough you will find offers for online work that only require basic levels.
Other companies listing typing jobs
- Casting Words
- Transcribe Me
- SpeechPad
- Go Transcript
- AccuTran Global
- SpeakWrite
- Tigerfish
Typing Jobs from Home – Summary
Fast keyboarding skills open up many career paths, and there are many other fields where typing is essential. If you are considering any kind of typing jobs, you’ll need to improve your abilities to the best of your potential. Even if it isn’t your job’s focus, you’ll find that you’re much more efficient if you can type in the 45-60wpm range.
Leveling-up – In either case, it will definitely help your career advancement if you’re 100% efficient, fast and accurate as a typist. Several programs, like Typesy, can help you improve or develop from scratch the necessary level of skills that could land you the job you dream of.
Outlook – On the other side, voice-to-word technology or speech dictation software has seen great improvements in the last few years, and those assistants have become more reliable to understand spoken languages and local accents. It is likely that classic typing job as we know will probably disappear at all, and good skills are rather a default requirement as content creation and quality management will become more important.
Did we miss any careers or online typing jobs here? Please, let us know in the comments! If you are new to the topic, please find an overview of typing techniques here.
Photo credit: Cytonn Photography, Pexels | Christopher Gower, Unsplash | rawpixel, Unsplash, Christin Hume, Unsplash
