Become a Transcriptionist with Rev

Updated on: by Amy Kennedy

Rev Transcription

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Recently I applied to become a transcriptionist with Rev Transcription.  Though I wasn’t accepted, I wanted to share what I found out about the company.

What is Rev Transcription?

Rev Transcription is another company that provides transcription work to people who work from home.  It was founded by two former oDesk employees, Jason Chicola and Josh Breilinger.

What makes Rev different from other transcription companies?

Though I didn’t get to experience this firsthand, according to one article I found, Rev has tools that allow its transcriptionists to rewind audio by a set number of seconds, quickly denote each speaker’s name while transcribing, and add shortcuts for words that are typed often.

Do you need experience to work with Rev?

The website says they are looking for skilled transcribers, but there’s nothing in the application that actually asks for information on transcription experience.

What kind of projects are available?

There are different projects available – according to the website, you could “transcribe a police investigation one day and book research the next.”

Do you get to choose what you work on?

Yes, according to Rev’s website you get to “freely choose which projects you work on” – this is different from sites like TranscribeMe, where you have to transcribe whatever audio comes up.

What equipment do you need to transcribe with Rev?

According to the website, all you need is a computer and Internet connection.  Though the test involved me downloading two short audios and then loading them into Express Scribe to transcribe them, I am not sure if that’s the way the actual transcriptions are done since I never got past the testing stage.

How much does Rev pay?

According to the website, their pay rates range from 40 cents to 65 cents per audio minute, the average earnings per month are $240, and the top monthly earning is $1,495.

How and how often does Rev pay?

Rev  pays their transcriptions via Paypal once a week for all work completed.

Does Rev provide feedback to transcriptionists on their transcriptions?

Yes, according to the website Rev does provide feedback to their transcriptionists on a regular basis – this allows you to improve your transcription skills.

What countries does Rev hire transcriptionists in?  Is it only limited to the US?

No, Rev does hire transcriptionists in other countries  – there are testimonials on the website from people that live in the US, as well as the UK and the Philippines.

How do I apply?

Just go to this website, fill out the information requested, download the Style Guide and the Word Template, and transcribe the two sample audios.

How long will it take me to find out if I’ve been accepted?

There’s no way to know exactly how long it will take for Rev to get back to you – when I did my transcription test, I applied on September 16th and I didn’t hear anything until September 23.  It depends on how many applications they have to review.

Alternatives to Rev

Temi

Temi is an automated transcription service that utilizes advanced speech recognition technology. It offers accurate and fast transcriptions, making it an efficient alternative to Rev. You can upload audio or video files, and Temi will provide you with a transcript in a short amount of time.

Trint

Trint is another popular transcription platform that combines automatic speech recognition with human editing. It offers an intuitive editor that synchronizes the text with the audio or video, making it easy to make corrections.

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Trint also provides features for collaboration and sharing, making it suitable for team projects.

Sonix

Sonix is a cloud-based transcription service that uses artificial intelligence to transcribe audio and video files. It offers real-time collaboration, speaker identification, and the ability to integrate with various platforms like Dropbox and Google Drive.

Sonix’s user-friendly interface and accurate transcriptions make it a viable alternative to Rev.

GoTranscript

GoTranscript is a transcription service that combines both automated and human transcription. It provides high-quality transcripts at affordable prices and offers additional services like translation and subtitling.

GoTranscript supports various file formats and delivers quick turnaround times.

Happy Scribe

Happy Scribe is a transcription and subtitling service that utilizes automatic speech recognition technology. It allows you to transcribe audio and video files in multiple languages and provides an interactive editor for easy editing and formatting.

Happy Scribe also offers translation services, making it a versatile alternative to Rev.

I hope this post has provided some information about Rev and how to apply for a job with them – good luck to those of you who do decide to apply!

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Comments

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Leisa Good

October 8, 2013 at 11:11 am

Excellent post, Erica. I don’t think $.60 cents is bad for an audio minute. I am seeing $.40 to $.60, so I guess that is the going rate these days.

Thanks for writing this.

There

August 19, 2016 at 4:29 am

Actual pros make 60 an hour at this. Rev pays less than minimum wage but if you’re really desperate for a cup of coffee you worked 8 hours for well then…

Sophie

July 15, 2021 at 7:12 am

Agree, actual pros make way way more than the rate here.

Renee

October 14, 2013 at 10:35 am

My submission was not accepted after I spent hours perfecting it. Although I have no experience I have been a teacher for 20 years and I am excellent in spelling and grammar. I tried to follow their guidelines to a T, but it really did not help. When I called the 800 #, the rep said the submissions have to be perfect. If you make one tiny mistake – you are automatically disqualified. They give a person 6 months to reapply they give you no idea what needs to be corrected!!

Miranda Grimm

October 14, 2013 at 10:38 am

Thanks for sharing this with us.

Erica

October 14, 2013 at 10:47 am

I agree, thanks for the information.

Crystal LeRoy

September 11, 2017 at 2:12 am

I had the exact same experience and I have applied twice! It’s rather interesting though, I have two other Freelance contracts with two other companies for Transcription and I had no problem getting a contract with them. This company should give the person applying that doesn’t pass some feedback as to why. It’s just proper communication in my book.

Alasia Bennett

October 16, 2013 at 2:08 pm

Please do not think this is the “going rate.” It is far from the going rate. The industry standard is $1.00 per audio minute (and more for multiple speakers). I think this would be good for paid practice though.

Laura

October 30, 2013 at 11:38 am

Yeah, I applied with them and got accepted. I haven’t done any work for them yet, though, because of that very reason. I think the rate is too low. My time is valuable! I need to be paid what I’m worth! You can go in and pick and choose what files you want to do and listen to the audio first if you’re unsure. They also have a board that let’s you know the file stats: how long it is, how much it pays, how many speakers there are, when it’s due, etc. They also will have QA take a look at your work for a time (not sure how long), and if you’re good enough, you, too, can become a QAer. They seem to be changing / revising all the time. So if you can get in, it’s probably not a bad place to hone your transcription chops. I’ve been a transcriber, for about 30 years, however, so I don’t think it’s necessarily for me.

Samuel

May 16, 2014 at 6:04 am

Hi, I’ve been trying to sign up with them and they are yet to get back to me. Now that you have an unattended account, why not let me make use of it? Can you? [email protected] is my email, please let me know what you think about that. Thanks.

Chaos

May 3, 2017 at 1:14 pm

Okay, hmm, where do I start? First of all, not only is this very dishonest to try to get work under someone else’s credentials, but if you’re trying to go this route because you don’t think you can pass their test, they will absolutely EAT you in there!

In order to pass the test, speed is not as important as having great command of the English language. If you are not a native English speaker you will have a difficult time. My extremely intelligent DIL has been speaking fluent English for over 15 years and is married to a native English speaker, and she would not be able to pass their test. You must be skilled at proofreading, spelling, punctuation, grammar, sentence structure, and differentiating between often-confused words such as affect/effect

When you first start you are a “Rookie” and the pay is extremely minimal while their testing you to see what you can do. You earn around 20-30 cents per minute, and keep in mind that an audio minute takes 4 to 8 minutes to transcribe, depending on the quality of the recording, peoples’ accents, and many other factors. I have listened to the same word 15 times and still not been able to figure it out. It takes about 3 days to a week to get out of the “Rookie” phase, depending on how many files you do and how high your scores are. EVERYTHING you do is graded. Then the pay for the audio files goes up to 45 cents and up, usually about 55 – 60 cents. The first audio file I did was ten minutes long and it took me 3 ½ hours to transcribe. I earned about a dollar an hour on that one, lol. Now that my speed is gradually increasing, my “listening ear” is improving, and I’m earning more per audio minute, it is slowly getting better.

In my treatise up above I have included two errors. If you were able to spot them on your first read-through, you may do well on the test.

What were they?

No period after affect/effect.
“minimal while their testing you” should read “minimal while they’re testing you.”

Zeh

February 14, 2019 at 2:24 am

“They also have a board that LET’S you know the file stats” – third error, in your first reply 😉

Jessica

December 28, 2013 at 12:46 pm

I just got accepted by Rev. They’ve changed their application process – you no longer have to download the audio clip into Express Scribe or other software, they provide a link to a player with the audio loaded. You do still have to download the template, though.

Miranda Grimm

December 30, 2013 at 9:37 pm

Thanks for the update Jessica! Sounds like a nice improvement to the ease of applying for Rev. Good news.

Lana

February 6, 2014 at 8:25 am

Hello!
Is anyone so kind to send me transcripted samples on my email so I can check for mistakes and have greater chance to be accepted ?
My email is: lanamumelj at gmail dot com
Thanks

Jay

August 10, 2014 at 6:13 pm

I’m not impressed with rev.com. I’ve been in the education field, and I have excellent skills in spelling etc…AND I’ve done transcription work before. They didn’t accept my application, either.

Anna

September 16, 2014 at 11:23 am

I was wondering if anyone had recently applied to Rev. Something I would like to know is what would be the minimum on wpm, and if you can provide any recent info. on the application process. Thank you.

Shahaunna

October 26, 2014 at 12:35 am

There is no minimum WPM, and I am already working for them so I am not sure about the application process. I have been with them for just over a year, and I love every minute of it.

NR

November 25, 2014 at 4:46 pm

Hello, I applied today and already found out that I was not accepted. 🙁

Would any of you who are working for them kindly share how you did your application so that I may improve mine for later? I am extremely detail oriented but I cannot figure out what went wrong. I feel sure that I answered all of the questions correctly. I wrote a nice description of my hometown according to their prompts. I have a BA and MA and have done transcriptions and translations before. I’m confused on what their minimum standards are that I did not meet. Thank you for any insights!

aceZen

July 8, 2016 at 12:53 pm

Rev are idiots. They’re just looking for newbies. Screw up your tests as much as possible and come off as a completely clueless newbie and they’ll probably pass you. I’ve worked in transcription for a decade… They rejected my application. Someone I know who has no transcription experience whatsoever and who isn’t even interested in the work, they passed that person. And I saw that person’s transcription test, the adjustable paint pole group transcription, and I know it was full of errors. Yet, that person passed when Rev supposedly requires a 100% error-free application. I, who without blowing my trumpet am good at this stuff, as, after all, I’ve been at it for 10 years, plus multiple other people with transcription experience and/or study/work experience that would only benefit this silly company, get rejected. Tells me they’re only looking for noobs who won’t be too much of a braindrain on their team with questions and comments that only an experienced transcriber would ask, like, “Why is your pay so crap?” Rev are idiots.

There

August 19, 2016 at 4:37 am

You are absolutely on the money here. They don’t like people who are educated or who stand up themselves. I got terminated by them after two years with outstanding metrics because I pointed out on their forum that the pay was bad and they should not
Be asking contractors to work for free, which they did. They asked if anyone wanted to create training video s for their use without pay. They also expect you screen videos in the work queue which is the job of an employee. The should be reported to the IRS and workforce commissions for wage theft. There is also a woman who has over 7000 posts on their forum who will viciously attack and go after anyone who doesn’t act like rev is gods gift. She is utterly bizarre. She lied about her name being Brendan because her parents wanted a boy. That is a total lie because her Facebook says her real name. Delusional, just like rev.

CR

March 9, 2015 at 2:08 pm

Well, add me to the list of befuddled rejectees. I spent several hours on their application only to be told in less than a day that I did not meet their “rigorous minimum standards.” What? My grammar and spelling are excellent. I do freelance writing and editing, and have been working at home for over a decade for companies like Google and Microsoft. I’m fairly certain there were no errors in their grammar test. I’m also sure my three paragraphs were well written. That leaves the transcription, which I presume is where I failed. Maybe I’m not cut out for transcription. Considering how long it took me to do, and re-do, and re-listen and re-do again, maybe it’s just as well. I wouldn’t be making any money anyway. So ok, back to looking for actual writing jobs, where I know I excel. Still, rejection sucks. 🙁

Miranda Grimm

March 9, 2015 at 2:20 pm

yes rejection does suck. No matter how much you expect it, it still feels like a dagger to the heart. At least for me. Maybe I just don’t handle rejection well.

Taylor

March 16, 2015 at 1:02 pm

Since Rev does not provide you with any feedback as to why you failed I wonder what we can find out by sharing and comparing. First of all did you all do exactly 3 paragraphs and use 600 words? If you feel comfortable please share.

Adam

April 16, 2015 at 3:01 pm

I wrote 2 1/2 paragraphs and about 300 words. I wrote more in a magazine style than anything.

Aaron

January 14, 2016 at 12:16 pm

I recently applied for both captioning and transcription with Rev. I’m a native English speaker and constantly got high grades in any English course I took, along with spending two years editing and correcting fiction for a website. I followed Revs instructions and style guides to a T, as well as anyone could do on their first application after getting used to their software, and double and triple checked my work to make sure there were no spelling or grammatical errors.

Lo and behold, less than 24 hours I got the standard rejection e-mails saying I didn’t meet their “rigorous minimum standards”. And I’ve seen other people, far more qualified than me, still get rejected. If by some miracle you get accepted, consider yourself lucky.

There

August 19, 2016 at 4:43 am

Don’t consider yourself lucky because you will be for extreme poverty wages below minimum wage with tons of guidelines to remember. They have fired people when their metrics were outstanding. And there is no work anymore because they hired too many people and don’t have enough customers. They pay less now than ever before. They used to have bonus pay. That’s been gone for over a year. The guys running rev are extremely greedy. They used to pay for rounded up minutes but now they pay per second so they can scrape a few pennies off your alredy dismal wage. Imagine their business sucking so badly they have to take pennies away from the workers. Pathetic.

Peter

March 20, 2016 at 6:42 pm

Join GoTranscript and be part of a global team of professional transcriptionists. GoTranscript is a thriving online-only transcription and translation company. We are growing our freelancer transcription team, to keep pace with the rapid growth in customer orders. If you are a skilled transcriptionist who takes pride in your work and wants to make a difference in the world, we want you.

WE PAY TRANSCRIBERS:

Range of pay per audio minute: $0.21 – $0.42
Average earnings per month:$150
Top monthly earnings: $1215
Payments are made using Paypal. (Weekly)
Apply by email: [email protected]

Work proccess:

Every time a client uploads a file, you will receive an e-mail. After that, you need to go to the converter page and choose the files you want to transcribe.

There you will also see information about turnaround time, text format (clean or full verbatim) and timestamping type, if one is required.

After you finish your transcription, go to the converter page again, choose the file and upload the transcription in Microsoft Word format.

After your transcription is uploaded, you will see your current earnings on the converter page.
Payments are done every weekend, on Saturday. There will also be a statistics page where you will see how much you have earned for each file.

All of your transcriptions are going to be checked by editors. You will receive a rating and comments to help you improve your work.

If your average rating is better than 4,5 you can try to become editor.

Sometimes the quality of audio or video files is horrible, so please let us know about that. We will contact the client and provide refund for that file.

More information: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jEkvqaatOjHmFjpUv72O-Rpawcxk-NX7mmDAv7D6cbo/edit

There

August 19, 2016 at 4:45 am

42 cents are you out of your minds? You should be ashamed to offer such a ridiculously tiny amount for this work. Disgusting.

Adele

October 11, 2016 at 4:13 pm

You’re an idiot, Mr/Ms. There! Your attitude is probably why you were terminated! It is about time someone verbally slaps you down for your “disgusting” superiority. You DARE to talk about other people lying???? You don’t even have a human name!!!!!

Go get a life and BUZZ OFF!!!!!!!!!

Charelle

October 22, 2016 at 12:59 pm

*pointing to Adele’s comment* Baha! Hear! Hear! re: There

margaret

April 16, 2016 at 3:58 pm

i have taken that test 4 times and i really cannot figure out what it is that I’m doing wrong, does anyone have an account they don’t use? need the cash.

There

August 19, 2016 at 4:46 am

Don’t feel bad , there is no work at rev anymore just an empty queue. They are tanking.

Tatyana

September 7, 2016 at 9:03 am

We are VoiceTranscribing – a transcription company. Join our team of home-based transcriptionists: http://voicetranscribing.com/join_us. All you need is a computer and stable Internet connection. Our transcriptionists are free to work as much or as little as they like. We pay weekly by PayPal.

janet

September 28, 2016 at 7:00 am

Hello, a bit more information about this site. Like what is the pay per min? I have tried to apply but the site is not working.

Alina Mughal

September 17, 2016 at 7:51 am

Interesting post and little bit informative for me.

janet

September 28, 2016 at 6:47 am

I had perfect ratings on Rever+ and i just got fired a few hours ago for no reason. This company is just weird as hell. I wont even attempt their impossible exam. Anyone know another site with similar pay rates?

Titus Livingston

July 25, 2017 at 7:37 pm

Rev is a perfect place for a newbie as you can grow your talent and income.

Crystal

November 15, 2017 at 6:03 pm

After reading comments here I’ve decided against attempting to apply to Rev for the fourth time. I know my spelling and grammar are good, and I think I must have been let down by the audio, but can’t think what because I tried my absolute best. I am sure I followed the “rules” to the letter, so what is the point of being accepted if somewhere down the line, I’ll inevitably make a tiny mistake? I think most transcription companies are not good, and Rev is not unique. Rev seems to be just yet another company who prey on people’s desperation to get work done for nothing.

Eretreia

January 9, 2018 at 5:43 am

Definitly don’t join Rev. Ignoring their ridiculously low pay, they also have ridiculously strict rules you have to follow when doing a job, and if you mess up in the slightest they will fail and fire you. These mistakes can be as simple as a misplace comma or the grader thinking a proper noun isn’t a proper noun. Once you start making decent money they look for every way possible to knock you down and fire you. They can pay newbies a lot less money than experienced workers.

Leanne

August 11, 2018 at 9:16 am

I have just completed the test. I’ll wait to see if I’m successful. I probably should’ve read these comments before applying with Rev! The pay rate does seem quite low but, like most of you on here, I need the work. If anyone can suggest another transcription company that has a better pay rate, please let me know. My very first transcription job paid $1.80AU per audio minute. Back then, I didn’t realize how good I had it. I moved on to other jobs and have recently decided to get back into transcription. What a shock! A pay rate of 0.60 per audio minute is the highest I could find. How can that be possible? Surely there has to be a transcription company out there who pays their freelancers what they’re worth. If anyone can offer some advice on where to search for decent paying transcription work, I will be forever grateful!

Edorenel

September 17, 2018 at 11:56 pm

Yeah~ Reve was great. Made $200-something dollars per week, paid every Monday of every week. But yeah, was fired because I made some tiny grammar mistake…and that project was completed, sent in, and graded a 5/5…….and straight after receiving that awesome news, I received news I was fired right after that. LMAO! Quite illogical and foolish! Makes me not want to return to them as a result. :p