Scopist Jobs – How To Earn $4000 Per Month At Home In 2024

Today’s article is going to be really interesting because I’m sure not a lot of you have heard of this career path before.

It’s one of the most lucrative and full-of-potential WFH jobs that we’ve ever written about! Ever heard of anyone doing scopist jobs from home?

Not many, right? That’s exactly the factor we’re going to leverage about this job. So, grab a pen and diary, and start taking notes!

The field of Scoping isn’t widely known, which makes it all the easier to enter and earn as a beginner!

Remote Scopists work from home under court reporters and help them transcribe shorthand notes and other related legal documents for court proceedings.

Let’s dive right into this intriguing profession and how you can make the most out of it!

 

 

 

Who is a Scopist?

Not a lot of you might have heard about Scopists until today. A Scopist’s job is to take notes of court reports and then transform them into complete court transcripts.

The general process involved in scopist jobs are:

• The court reporter types everything that’s being said in the court in shorthand, using a stenotype machine.
• The scopist receives the audio of the court proceedings, along with the report typed by the court reporter.
• The scopist refines these shorthand reports into complete transcripts.
• They also ensure that their transcript is accurately close to the recorder’s notes.
• The scopists’ job also includes making grammatical corrections and corrections in spelling, punctuation, formatting, etc.

If you decide to give this scopist job a try, know that it’s an extremely important job, as the transcripts you produce will be kept as the legal record for all future proceedings of that particular case (by lawyers and record keepers).

Hence, accuracy is vital in this role.

Read: 9 Amazon Proofreading Jobs For Beginners – $20/Hr.

 

What is the Scopist Job Description?

The job of a scopist is to basically make the court reporter’s work easier. They help correct errors and convert shorthand court reports into a complete transcript.

All court reporters don’t require or use scopists, but the ones that do are greatly benefitted from increased productivity and higher accuracy in their tasks.

After they receive the court reporter’s shorthand notes, the scopist is responsible for translating and converting them into full English transcripts.

But that’s not the case: the scopist also ensures that these transcripts translate the records properly and every single thing makes perfect sense.

As a professional scopist, it is part of your job to double and triple-check that all names and technical words have been spelled correctly.

When the processes of completing stenographic jobs and converting shorthand notes into clean transcripts are done by two different individuals, the entire procedure speeds up and moves smoothly.

A scopist converting verbatim records into transcripts is the easiest and fastest method used by court stenographers to save time and effort!

Scopists usually work for only one court reporter at a time. This is because they become accustomed to that reporter’s style of shorthand typing and can easily predict their strategies to effortlessly translate the notes.

A scopist who understands his style and strategy is an invaluable asset to that court reporter.

You can easily find freelance scopist jobs under different court reporters. Alternatively, you can work for a particular reporter and receive an annual salary from him. The court reporter is responsible for your annual payment.

Do check, 27 Best Online Transcription Jobs For Beginners – $15+/Hour.

 

Why Are Remote Scopist Jobs in Demand?

Let us first discuss a few reasons you would want to consider becoming a scopist and looking for scopist jobs in the first place.

Scopist jobs hardly ever get boring

Your job is literally listening to true crime documentaries all day! If you love crime shows and podcasts or have a general interest in the thriller/crime genre, this role is perfect for you.

On the other hand, steer clear if you get squeamish listening to crime stories or are prone to nightmares.

Believe it or not, Scopist jobs are pretty flexible

Like all freelance jobs, scopist jobs are flexible too. You can decide your own schedule and choose what hours you want to work, how much pay you want, and which days you’ll remain off the job.

So, if you want to cash in from the job as much as you can, keep your schedule packed. Similarly, for casual scopists who want to focus on their families and personal lives, keeping a loose schedule works best.

Flexibility also includes your only hardware requirement being a computer with a stable internet connection! Travel and work from anywhere across the world with your laptop.

Getting trained for scopist jobs is inexpensive and quick

Scopist jobs don’t require a professional college degree!

You can train yourself (with certification) from any accredited scoping school within a matter of months. And the best part is that it costs a fraction of what a college degree course does.

Scopist jobs pay surprisingly well

If you think that a scopist job that only requires 3-6 months of certified training pays less than a job that requires a professional university degree, then you’re very much mistaken. Some scopist jobs’ pay surpasses those of professional salaries.

The amount of money a scopist job can make you depends on a few factors such as your experience, typing speed with accuracy, number of working hours, the projects you take, and the number of rush orders that charge higher.

Freshers can earn somewhere close to $30,000 a year as they get accustomed to the job and better themselves at it.

Experienced professionals have an earning potential of $60,000 a year without even leaving their homes.

Scopist jobs are one of the least competitive freelance jobs to get into

You will face very low competition while applying for scopist jobs. This is because, unlike popular freelance jobs like copywriting, graphic designing, video editing, etc., not a lot of people know about scoping as a job.

Also, the entry bar is relatively higher, meaning that whatever you did have, they reduced even further.

Nonetheless, you have to be impeccable at your job. This is serious work; one mistake, one hint of unreliability on your side, or one sample of error-ridden work can cost you your job. Your reputation also hugely affects your job’s lifespan.

Read: 27 Best Online Proofreading Jobs For Beginners (Earn $30/hr)

 

How Can I Get Trained For Scopist Jobs?

There are a handful of popular scopist training courses that a potential scopist must check out before they try to land a serious job in the industry.

Here are two of them:

1. The Internet Scoping School

The most immersive and comprehensive scopist training available online, the Internet Scopist School, is run by its sole instructor Linda Everson, who has been training aspiring scopists for the last 22 years (since 1999) and has over 35 years of scoping experience!

2. Accolade Scoping Education

This school not only provides training to aspiring scopists but also to reporters who want to shift their careers into scoping.

It’s self-paced and has 30 recorded training classes students can view in their own time.

An added feature of this platform is that they allow aspiring scopists to have one-on-one conversations with previous students who now have successful scoping careers.

 

How To Become a Scopist and Make $48,000 A Year?

So, you have trained and acquired a certificate and are all set to step into the freelance scoping market. Now, you want an idea about how much you can get paid right away. Here’s where we can help you.

One way to categorize the job and its pay is to determine whether you’ll work part-time or full-time. Another factor that determines your pay is experience; the more experienced you are, the better your pay.

The average scopist gets paid $1.25 per page, which increases as you gather experience and get better at the job. It also depends on the speed of your work and turnaround time.

The more court reports you convert, the more you earn. This is the not-so-secret way to earn $48,000 a year as a scopist!

Read: 25 Ways To Make $50k Fast [#1 Makes $80k For Us]

 

How Much Money Does a Scopist Make?

How much you earn from scopist jobs depends completely upon you because, as a freelancer, you choose your own work schedule and pay rate.

If you plan to work from home part-time, you can expect a payment of around $500-$2000 a month. The same jobs can earn you $4500 if you work full-time.

An income from a work-from-home job that’s as good as one that requires a college degree! Scopist jobs have huge potential if you look in the right places and take the right training.

Read: 50 Best Online Jobs That Pay $20+ An Hour or More

 

What Skills Do Scopist Jobs Require?

You have to possess some virtues in order to become a truly good scopist.

Some of the qualities court reporters look for in their scopists are reliability, patience, an excellent work ethic, extraordinary listening skills, and decent communication skills.

 

Tech and Tools That Scopists Need

Two of the most vital tech necessities of a scopist are definitely

• a laptop
• a scoping software

Spend some time researching and determining which software will work best for your scoping needs. If your training program also included advice on how to choose a good scoping software, good for you!

Here is a few popular scoping software that has a generally good name:

• DigitalCAT
• Stenocat Scopist Software
• Eclipse Edit Scoping Software
• CATalyst Edit For Scopists

As you get better at your job, gain more experience, and need additional equipment to complete your tasks in a poof, here’s what you might consider buying.

They will make a significant difference to your efficiency and turnover time, increasing your overall output accuracy.

• A pair of good-quality headphones
• Speakers
• Foot pedals (not exactly a necessity, but your turnover time will differ significantly with and without it).

Read: 45 Best Side Hustle Ideas to Make Extra Income

 

Best Places to Find Entry-Level Scopist Jobs From Home

One of the easiest and most common ways to find online scopist jobs is on websites like StenoSearch, Scopist, and ProfessionalScopists.

Although they’re not the best way to land a scopist job, the method is definitely one of the easiest. Why isn’t it the best?

Because as you can guess, loads of scopist freshers choose this method to look for their first jobs, increasing the job competition on these websites.

If you were enrolled in a training program that advises the best ways to find scoping jobs online, you might want to try those instead.

A lot of scoping schools tutor you on using LinkedIn’s potential to bag a scopist job. You can also try creating a profile on an online freelance marketplace, creating your own gig, and letting clients come to you!

If you’re a true hustler, try visiting law firms around town and introducing yourself, handing out your business card.

This will not only help you bag a job but also increase your work network. Remember that only a handful of clients can take you a long way in your scopist career!

Read: 33 High-Paying Work-at-Home Part-time Jobs Perfect for Beginners.
 

Scopist Jobs – Conclusion

We bet you’re a fan of scopist jobs now that you’ve learned about how they work and how much earning potential it has!

It’s a fantastic career option for WFH enthusiasts who want to work a high-paying job with the ease of their own flexibility.

Like all other work-from-home jobs, you have to keep in mind that scopist jobs also require a great amount of self-motivation. Sticking to a fixed schedule, even if it’s made by you, can sometimes get difficult.

But the sunny side of working from home never has to sit inside stuffy offices, waiting for the clock to strike the hour when you’ll finally head back home and relax!

Read: 15+ Best Jobs Like Instacart to Make Extra Money

 

FAQs

Can Scoping jobs be full-time or part-time?

Whichever way you want it!

Some people prefer to earn an additional income on top of their regular income source with scopist jobs. Others make scoping their full-time job.

The factors that determine whether you make a part-time or full-time income are your writing quality and accuracy, speed, turnover time, etc. It depends on these factors whether you make $1-$2 a page or more.

 

What is the course duration?

Most online scopist training is self-paced; the average course is between 3 to 6 months.

But it really depends on the individual and their learning capability, the time they devote to the course, etc., that determines how much time they take to complete their training.

The most difficult parts of training for the job will be learning how to read stenography, understanding and mastering the software and bettering your English skills.

 

What is the salary of a Scopist?

The average pay per page is $1- $1.25 for a job turned in within 2-3 business days (which is the usual turnover time for scopist jobs).

As a fresher, if you have trained well, you can earn $30,000 a year right from the beginning and work your way up to $50,000 by improving your speed.

 

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