Top 12 Transcriptionist Skills to Put on Your Resume

In today's competitive job market, standing out as a transcriptionist takes a sharp mix of accuracy, speed, and judgment. Showcasing the right skills on your resume signals you can turn messy audio into clean, reliable text without breaking stride.

Transcriptionist Skills

1. Touch Typing
2. Proofreading
3. Grammarly
4. Microsoft Word
5. Express Scribe
6. Audio Editing
7. Google Docs
8. Time Management
9. Confidentiality
10. Transcription Software
11. Listening
12. Multitasking

1. Touch Typing

Touch typing is typing without looking at the keyboard. Your fingers know the keys by feel, which unlocks speed and steadiness that point-and-peck never reaches.

Why It's Important

For transcriptionists, touch typing means fewer pauses, fewer typos, and faster turnaround. You stay in the audio, not stuck staring at your hands.

How to Improve Touch Typing Skills

1. Practice daily: Short, focused sessions win. Aim for accuracy first; speed follows.
2. Dial in posture: Neutral wrists, elbows at 90°, screen at eye level. Comfort keeps you fast.
3. Memorize the layout: Cover the keys or use a blank keycap overlay until muscle memory sticks.
4. Use training drills: Structured lessons and drills help isolate weak keys and patterns.
5. Track metrics: Monitor words per minute and error rate. Set bite-size goals.
6. Mind ergonomics: A supportive chair, proper monitor height, and a reliable keyboard reduce fatigue.

Consistency compounds. A few weeks of steady practice can transform your baseline speed and precision.

How to Display Touch Typing Skills on Your Resume

2. Proofreading

Proofreading means scrutinizing your transcript so it mirrors the audio—grammar, punctuation, sense, and tone all aligned with what was said.

Why It's Important

It protects meaning. It prevents costly misunderstandings. And it makes your work look polished, not rushed.

How to Improve Proofreading Skills

1. Slow pass, then fast pass: One line-by-line check for accuracy, one skim for flow.
2. Read aloud: Your ear catches awkward phrasing your eyes skip.
3. Know the subject: Light research on context and jargon reduces wrong guesses.
4. Build a checklist: Names, numbers, acronyms, timestamps, speaker labels—check them every time.
5. Use tools sparingly: Spelling and grammar checkers help, but your judgment leads.
6. Take breaks: A short reset sharpens your eye for small errors.
7. Collect your common mistakes: Keep a personal “watch list” and hunt them down.

How to Display Proofreading Skills on Your Resume

3. Grammarly

Grammarly is a writing assistant that flags grammar, punctuation, and clarity issues. For transcriptionists, it’s a second set of eyes that never gets tired.

Why It's Important

It speeds cleanup, surfaces subtle mistakes, and helps maintain a consistent style—especially when you’re moving fast.

How to Improve Grammarly Skills

1. Tune settings: Pick the right audience, formality, and domain to match your transcript style guide.
2. Custom words: Add client names, technical terms, and acronyms to your personal dictionary.
3. Learn the “why”: Open explanations and decide case by case. Blind acceptance creates new errors.
4. Shortcut your workflow: Use keyboard shortcuts and turn on only the categories you value most.
5. Final human pass: Let Grammarly speed the fix, then do a quick manual review for context and intent.

How to Display Grammarly Skills on Your Resume

4. Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is the workhorse for typing, formatting, and delivering professional transcripts.

Why It's Important

Styles, templates, find-and-replace, spellcheck, and review tools help you produce consistent, client-ready documents without fuss.

How to Improve Microsoft Word Skills

1. Customize AutoCorrect: Expand frequent phrases and fix your common typos automatically.
2. Master shortcuts: Navigation, selection, and formatting shortcuts slash minutes off every page.
3. Use templates: Create transcript templates with styles for speakers, timestamps, and headings.
4. Quick Access Toolbar: Pin your most-used commands so they’re one click away.
5. Dictate and Transcribe: Use Dictate for voice entry and Transcribe for draft audio-to-text, then edit carefully.

How to Display Microsoft Word Skills on Your Resume

5. Express Scribe

Express Scribe is transcription playback software built for speed and control, including foot pedal support and variable-speed listening.

Why It's Important

It trims friction: precise rewinds, clean speed adjustment, hotkeys—less fiddling, more typing.

How to Improve Express Scribe Skills

1. Use a foot pedal: Keep your hands on the keys and your focus on the words.
2. Map hotkeys: Customize play/pause, skip, and bookmarking to match your habits.
3. Clean the audio: Use noise reduction and EQ tweaks for muddy recordings.
4. Text expansion: Pair with your expander or AutoCorrect for boilerplate phrases.
5. Right-speed playback: Find the fastest speed that preserves comprehension.
6. Draft with ASR if helpful: Generate a rough machine transcript, then edit line by line for accuracy.
7. Stay updated: New builds often improve stability and format support.

How to Display Express Scribe Skills on Your Resume

6. Audio Editing

Audio editing means shaping the sound so speech stands out—removing hiss, taming hum, evening levels, trimming dead air.

Why It's Important

Cleaner audio means fewer mishears and a quicker path from playback to polished text.

How to Improve Audio Editing Skills

1. Learn the basics: Signal levels, EQ, compression, noise profiles—know what each tool does.
2. Use good headphones: Detail matters; clarity saves time and rewinds.
3. Build a starter chain: Light high-pass filter, modest noise reduction, slight compression. Subtle beats heavy-handed.
4. Practice on tough clips: Background chatter, accents, phone calls. You’ll level up fast.
5. Shortcuts and presets: Save repeatable settings for common problems so you’re not reinventing the wheel.
6. Don’t overprocess: If artifacts creep in, roll back. Intelligibility first.

How to Display Audio Editing Skills on Your Resume

7. Google Docs

Google Docs is a cloud editor that keeps your transcript accessible, shareable, and versioned across devices.

Why It's Important

Real-time collaboration, autosave, and easy sharing make team reviews and client approvals painless.

How to Improve Google Docs Skills

1. Voice typing: Use Tools > Voice typing to dictate while you listen. For direct audio, route system sound to the mic input if needed.
2. Add-ons: Explore transcription-friendly add-ons for timestamps, playback controls, and formatting helpers.
3. Keyboard shortcuts: Master selections, headings, comments, and navigation. Speed multiplies.
4. Custom substitutions: Set smart autocorrect entries for names, phrases, and symbols you type constantly.
5. Styles and templates: Create a transcript template with consistent fonts, spacing, and label styles.

How to Display Google Docs Skills on Your Resume

8. Time Management

Time management is how you pace jobs, carve out focus blocks, and still hit every deadline without quality slipping.

Why It's Important

It keeps you reliable. It protects your sanity. It turns unpredictable workloads into steady output.

How to Improve Time Management Skills

1. Prioritize with intent: Use the Eisenhower Matrix to separate urgent from important.
2. Set SMART goals: Break projects into checkpoints with clear outputs and timeboxes.
3. Batch similar tasks: Proofread in one pass, timestamp in another. Context switching is costly.
4. Use the Pomodoro rhythm: Short sprints, short breaks. Momentum builds.
5. Schedule your day: Block your calendar for deep work, admin, and breaks. Protect the blocks.
6. Reduce friction: Silence notifications, clear your desk, pre-load reference material.
7. Lean on tools: Quality playback apps, text expanders, and templates shave minutes everywhere.

How to Display Time Management Skills on Your Resume

9. Confidentiality

Confidentiality means protecting sensitive content end to end—files, notes, names, access. Trust isn’t optional; it’s the job.

Why It's Important

Clients share private material. You keep it safe, follow laws and agreements, and maintain a professional standard they can rely on.

How to Improve Confidentiality Skills

1. Encrypt and secure: Use encrypted storage and secure transfer methods for client files.
2. Strong authentication: Unique passwords, a reputable password manager, and multi-factor authentication.
3. Limit access: Grant the minimum access needed. Keep clear roles and permissions.
4. Clean handling: Avoid public Wi‑Fi, lock screens, and separate personal from client workspaces.
5. Data retention: Follow client policies. Archive safely; securely delete when the retention window ends.
6. Written agreements: NDAs and clear scopes set expectations and protect both sides.
7. Refresh your knowledge: Stay current on privacy expectations relevant to your niche (legal, medical, corporate).

How to Display Confidentiality Skills on Your Resume

10. Transcription Software

Transcription software converts speech to text and adds tools for playback control, timestamps, and editing—your digital assistant from start to finish.

Why It's Important

It boosts throughput and reduces tedious steps, especially when paired with careful human review.

How to Improve Transcription Software Skills

1. Learn the suite: Explore ASR, timestamps, speaker labels, and export options. Know what’s there.
2. Tweak accuracy: Use domain-specific vocabularies and custom word lists for client terminology.
3. Hotkeys everywhere: Map shortcuts for playback, labels, timestamps, and navigation.
4. Foot pedal + mouse-free flow: Keep your hands on the keyboard; keep moving.
5. Noise control: Apply light noise reduction or room tone profiling before transcribing rough audio.
6. Integrate your stack: Smooth handoffs to Word or Docs, cloud storage, and QA workflows.
7. Always review: Treat machine output as a draft. Human ears finalize the truth.

How to Display Transcription Software Skills on Your Resume

11. Listening

Listening, for transcription, is focused intake—catching words, intent, tone, and context while your fingers keep pace.

Why It's Important

You can’t fix what you didn’t hear. Strong listening slashes misquotes and guesswork.

How to Improve Listening Skills

1. Active engagement: Anticipate structure, track speakers, note topic shifts in real time.
2. Repetition strategy: Don’t fear quick rewinds. Loop tricky phrases until they click.
3. Accents and jargon: Expose yourself to varied accents and build glossaries for niche terms.
4. Prime your environment: Quiet space, high-quality headphones, minimal visual clutter.
5. Focus habits: Short sessions, clear goals, brief breaks—attention has a battery.
6. Self-review: Compare your transcript to the audio and analyze misses. Patterns emerge; you fix them.

How to Display Listening Skills on Your Resume

12. Multitasking

Multitasking here means juggling playback, typing, on-the-fly research, and formatting—without letting accuracy wobble.

Why It's Important

It keeps momentum. When you can listen, type, and annotate in one smooth pass, projects fly.

How to Improve Multitasking Skills

1. Reduce context switching: Batch similar actions. Research unknown terms in brief clusters.
2. Strengthen typing: Faster, more accurate typing frees mental bandwidth for listening.
3. Streamline controls: Hotkeys, foot pedals, and window layouts keep your flow unbroken.
4. Pre-load reference lists: Names, acronyms, and key terms ready to go before you start.
5. Prioritize deliberately: If quality dips, split tasks—draft first, polish second.
6. Protect attention: Timed sprints, phone on silent, notifications off.

How to Display Multitasking Skills on Your Resume