Would you like to make a living doing transcription work from home? In essence, transcription work involves listening to audio files, and typing what you hear into a word processing program like Microsoft Word. With the proliferation of podcasts and other digital media these days, there is no shortage of work for the transcriptionist. If you can type accurately and with relative speed, and if you have a decent grasp of spelling and grammar, you can get into transcription work today.

Right now, you can download free software called Express Scribe (http://www.nch.com.au/scribe). This will let you slow down the audio so you can more easily type along. Also, it lets you start and stop the audio with either keyboard controls or a foot pedal that you can purchase (often for around $70). This makes transcribing much easier, since you can stop the audio with your foot and keep typing with your hands, but it's not necessary to have a foot pedal to get started. You can start by using the keyboard controls in Express Scribe, and the Express Scribe website has all the information you'll need on purchasing a foot pedal.

If you want to practice transcription, and see how you do, try downloading a podcast from the Internet, put it in Express Scribe, and get started! You can set up keyboard controls if you don't have a foot pedal. A great way to get started is a website called Shrinkrapradio, which asks for volunteers to work on transcripts of their podcast. Many podcasts will be glad to have volunteer transcriptionists -- just ask. You'll be an experienced transcriptionist in no time. You don't need anybody to hire you (yet) -- just start typing!

There are several types of transcription that you might want to consider. One is medical transcription which often involves typing the dictations of doctors. Legal transcription involves anything and everything related to law. General transcription is everything else, from podcasts to television and informal interviews, and it's probably the best place to get started. Try a website like Transcription Essentials (http://www.transcriptionessentials.com/forum) for all sorts of detailed information on how to begin transcription work as well as information on many legitimate companies that are hiring transcriptionists. You can work from home for the vast majority of these companies. Tip: on your resume, do not say "work from home," but rather, call yourself an independent contractor.

If you have children and don't want to leave them to go to work during the day, or for whatever reason prefer working at home, transcription might be the profession for you. It takes time to hone this craft, but if you want to get started and test the waters, there's nothing stopping you from taking that plunge right now!

Well, there are many reasons and one of the most prominent among them is that offshore outsourcing is carried out mainly from developing countries having a vast talent pool of young and ambitious professionals, for whom it is a dream come true to work for large financial companies listed on Wall Street. This makes it easier for outsourcing firms to hire the required number of personnel as might be necessary for managing outsourced processes of financial companies. Finding people having the right qualifications is not a problem because some prominent outsourcing locations such as India produce thousands of qualified MBAs and CFAs every year, making it easier for outsourcing firms to hire them.

These professionals can work within the arena of financial research, which in itself is comprised of different internal activities. For example, an analyst could be linked to the overseas, client-facing side of an investment banking division and be required to provide support for merger and acquisition activities. Or he may do equity research for a brokerage firm or provide information to hedge funds. So functions like company valuations, credit analysis, financial and statistical modeling and tracking stock prices can easily be managed by these professionals.

In addition to CFAs and MBAs, mathematicians, statisticians and business graduates with some experience can also be employed at very low costs. These basic qualifications are enough to get in, but they form just the raw material. The equivalent skill set between the US and India is hard to define and this is why financial companies and outsourcing firms want people who have passion and the potential to be trained. Outsourcing firms believe in providing the necessary training as not every educated professional is well versed in what he or she might have studied during school. To train the young recruits, outsourcing firms organize compulsory training schedules that include sessions on valuation and U.S. GAAP rules, building familiarity with the functioning of ibanks and Wall Street, and cross-cultural training.

For filling up senior positions at their outsourcing hubs, outsourcing firms prefer to recruit people having two to three years of experience with banks, financial services firms, finance-related BPOs or with the corporate finance departments of companies. Although average salaries payable to these professionals is rising at an average rate of 15 to 20 percent per year, the benefits still outweigh the costs many times over and this is why financial companies are still bullish on India. Salaries payable to these professionals vary depending on their qualifications and often an additional payment component is also included in the form of bonuses.

However, increased pay packages are not the only thing that outsourcing firms are offering to their employees. The quality of work is also important since an analyst in India does the same company profile, DCF analysis and capital structuring analysis as an investment banker analyst in the U.S. In terms of advancement within the organization, professionals can look forward to additional job responsibilities, higher pay, better exposure and, in more senior positions, client-facing roles. At the senior level, people have to take responsibility and they should have the right attitude and be committed towards getting things done. Such people are being given preference by both outsourcing firms and financial companies. When the right people are on board, it helps financial companies achieve desired goals and objectives.

Since the time it was first started around two decades ago, data entry outsourcing and its affiliate programs have grown by leaps and bounds, propelled forward mostly by the ever increasing demand created by both multinational companies and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Yet another interesting bit of information that defines the basic characteristic is the fact that the data entry outsourcing industry continues to achieve newer milestones and set new standards at a time when most other industries are witnessing a downturn due to rising oil prices and a seemingly never-ending credit crunch situation. Not many are aware as to how the industry has managed to keep itself protected from harms way in face of emerging adverse developments. Finding the right answer is certainly difficult and may require in depth analysis, something that has been attempted in the following paragraphs. To unravel the mystery from the very beginning, it would be worth mentioning that the data entry industry, as concentrated in some developing countries, has certain inherent advantages that enable it to be more competitive than a "in-house" facility located in a developed country like the U.S. or the U.K. The most visible of these advantages lies in the fact that most of these countries were once a British colony, something that has created a large talent pool of qualified professionals who are proficient in both written and spoken English. However, the industry does not have its roots in every developing country because even when economical and infrastructural backgrounds may be the same, not having the requisite number of English speaking professionals acts as the biggest obstacle.

In that context, it is also true that relatively more opportunities are available to developing countries that have managed to create a large network of both govt-owned and private colleges and universities that together churn out a huge number of industry-ready professionals every year, ready to be employed by any outsourcing firm that might need them. As per the principles of economy, an increased supply automatically brings down prices; the same being the case with the data entry outsourcing industry that does not have to spend too heavily on human resources. This allows the industry to create optimal cost competencies, something that is one of the main requirements of both multinational companies and SMEs.

Yet another reason that explains the phenomenal growth of the data entry outsourcing industry in developing countries is the fact that most local governments provide continuous support to this sector. Emerging sectors such as IT and ITES services have been identified as the primary growth drivers and keeping that in mind, local governments in developing countries have launched many industry-friendly programs and legislation over the years. Support from the government usually comes in the form of flexible labor laws, tax incentives, simple merger and acquisition rules, etc. It is not surprising then to learn that outsourcing firms continue to achieve newer milestones year after year. Things may change in the near future, but as things stand now, it would not be wrong to assume that the data entry outsourcing industry is all set to achieve greater heights of success in the years to come. That is certainly good news for both clients and providers since they can continue to do business together without any worries.