Typing and/or proof reading from home

myalphabetgirls

Its a wake up call when skills you learned and earned through hardwork and career choice amounts to not very much when the chips are down.

I learned to touch type in the 70's. Females in my family had a history of domestic work and my mum was determined I would have a useful career so she paid for me to have typing lessons privately. I passed both the Pitmans and RSA examinations with flying colours and also perfected shorthand which was a real pain in the bum but I did it.

After many years of legal secretarial work and now a 5 year break while I have enjoyed being a stay-at-home-mum to a third and surprise child I am now finding it extremely daunting finding work with the skills I have.

It would seem that the stereotypical "typist" no longer exists. No one wants a touch typist any more. It would seem anyone can be a secretary. Everything is pc based, most letters and documents are templates and typing on a pc keyboard is a doddle compared to the old fashioned "olivetti"! It is a shock to me.

I recall when i first started out as an office junior in a solicitors one of my duties was proof reading another typist's document (most often a "Last Will and Testament" or "Conveyance/Lease"). These documents would be typed on very specific judicature paper (like parchment) and then bound with green legal thread. God forbid you ever made a mistake but the experienced typist armed with a specialist rubber & brush could invisibly correct a mistake. The alternative was to type it all over again! i remember too when electronic typwriters were starting to invade our office space and when a secretary to the firm's senior partner was the first to be "awarded" one I was one of a few who gathered around her desk in awe at lunchtime as she was able to store words and sentences in its memory and we all coveted from afar the chance to have one of these all singing-all dancing humungous pieces of equipment. This was all in the 1980's. Not a lifetime ago.

I am saddened that my once envied skills are now outdated and forgotten. I recently went to one interview and the solicitor for whom I would work was newly qualified and hadn't even heard of shorthand.

So good luck OP in your quest for typing work. Myself, well I don't know now what I will do. New skills, nearly 50 - :eek:. Scared? yes I am!

m33r4

When I resigned from my job a couple of years ago I tried to find such jobs on the net without success as they were mainly scams. I touch type 70wpm and had been a PA/Sec for many years so was well versed in the job.

I eventually joined a temping agency and got work from there as a temp and eventually as a permanent staff when there was an opening by which time your skills/expertise have been tried and tested.

Good luck!

m33r4

If it's ok with the top heads who run this forum, may I just put a link to another thread on here to warn people not to get desperate and go for anything:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2138093

JAYk_2

kell.b wrote: »

Can anyone please reply with a list of reputable companies who recruit typists to work from home. I would also be interested in proof reading from home.

I'm a touch typist and have always used this in jobs I've done and have been doing proof reading in my latest job and I would love to do this in my spare time.

Quite a lot of people are finding it very difficult to find a job in this climate. If you have a great passion for typing/proof reading why not set up your own company. You can do this whilst searching for the job you want. You could offer virtual office/assistant/telephone services.

Telephone -- you can agree to answer all calls in the businesses' name and deal with them as agreed by the company.

Office/Mail-fowarding -- companies can use your address as a mail forwarding address. Most mail forwarding copanies charge £15 per month; you could do the same.