How Typing Tests Help You Land Better Remote Jobs

Remote work has changed the hiring landscape in ways that benefit fast, accurate typists more than ever before. When your entire professional presence is mediated through written communication — emails, Slack messages, video call chat, shared documents — your ability to produce clear, fast, error-free text becomes a visible and measurable differentiator. Typing tests are increasingly used by employers as screening tools, and the skills they measure are increasingly central to remote job performance. This article explains how typing proficiency affects your remote job prospects and what you can do to maximise yours.

Why Remote Employers Care About Typing Speed

In an office environment, many forms of informal communication are verbal: you walk over to a colleague, ask a quick question, and move on. In a remote environment, almost all of that communication moves to text. The volume of writing a remote worker produces daily — in messages, emails, documentation, and meeting notes — is substantially higher than their office-based equivalent. A slow typist in a remote team is a bottleneck that is visible to everyone around them through delayed responses and shorter messages.

Remote hiring managers have told researchers that written communication quality is among the top three factors they evaluate when hiring, and that response speed in written communication is a proxy for engagement, attention, and reliability. Fast, accurate typing underlies both of these qualities.

Industries That Use Typing Tests in Hiring

Several industries explicitly test typing speed and accuracy as part of their hiring process:

• Data entry and administration: Minimum WPM requirements of 45 to 60 are standard, with many roles requiring 70 or above for senior positions.
• Customer support and live chat: Live chat agents need to maintain conversation with multiple customers simultaneously, making typing speed directly tied to how many customers they can serve per hour.
• Medical transcription and legal transcription: These roles require not just speed but extraordinary accuracy, often with minimum requirements of 98% or above.
• Virtual assistance: Executive virtual assistants are expected to handle high volumes of correspondence, scheduling, and documentation with minimal friction.
• Technical writing and content creation: While not formally tested as often, fast typing is an implicit expectation in roles where word count targets are part of the job.

How to Prepare for a Typing Test in a Job Application

Many online job applications include embedded typing assessments, and interview processes for text-heavy roles often include a live typing evaluation. Preparation is straightforward but requires advance notice to be effective:

First, know your current baseline. Take several timed typing tests on Monkey Typing Test and note your average WPM and accuracy across five or more sessions. This is your starting point. Second, identify the minimum requirements for your target roles and calculate the gap. Third, design a daily practice schedule targeting that gap: 20 to 30 minutes of deliberate practice per day, focused on accuracy first and speed second. Most people can improve by 10 to 15 WPM within four weeks of consistent practice. Our ultimate guide to increasing typing speed gives you the exact daily practice plan to get there.

Beyond the Test: Writing Quality Matters Too

Typing speed gets you through the test, but it is only part of the picture. Remote employers also evaluate writing quality: clarity, grammar, tone, and conciseness. A typist who produces 80 WPM of muddled, error-filled prose is less valuable than one who produces 60 WPM of clear, well-structured communication. Use the time you save by typing faster to review and improve what you have written — fast typing is most valuable when it is paired with good judgment about what to write. Also read our guide on improving your typing accuracy — remote employers notice error rates as much as speed.

The Competitive Advantage Nobody Talks About

In a competitive job market, most candidates are working on the same differentiators: qualifications, experience, portfolio quality. Very few are working on their typing speed and accuracy as a deliberate career strategy. This means that the candidate who shows up to a remote job application with 80 WPM, 97% accuracy, and excellent written communication skills stands out in a way that is both measurable and rare. It is an advantage that compounds over time — every job you perform better because of your typing speed makes you a more attractive candidate for the next one. Start building this advantage today. Start with the ultimate typing speed guide to build a structured improvement plan.

Final Thoughts

Improvement in any skill follows a predictable pattern: rapid early gains, a plateau, a breakthrough, another plateau. Typing is no different. The typists who reach their goals are not always the most naturally talented — they are the ones who practice consistently, adjust their approach when they plateau, and do not give up during the frustrating middle stages. Use Monkey Typing Test to track your progress, identify your weak points, and celebrate every milestone along the way. The journey from where you are to where you want to be is made one session at a time, and every session counts.