8am – Today I’m booked in to transcribe an interview. We tend to transcribe a number of these which could range from interviews conducted for grievance or disciplinary hearings to journalist-led interviews for media outlets.
11:45am – I have a large monitor where I can split the screen so I can easily access information from different sources. A message pops up on my system to tell me that an urgent job has come in. One of our corporate clients has a requirement for a transcript to be produced by the end of the day. This job needs urgent attention so I know to deal with it immediately.
3:20pm – I return to the interview – I generally find that I can turn these round in good time. Accuracy is incredibly important and I know this client doesn’t want all the unnecessary breaks (those “ums” and “errs” again!) and the repetitive “of course” in the final product so I remove these. I’ve learned through my experience how to ensure the transcript is accurate, even when the sound quality is poor. People may not realise that the air conditioning or even pouring a glass of water within the meeting room can block out the sound, so sometimes extra stopping and replaying the recording is needed to properly catch all the speech.