Do you have what it takes to be a court reporter?

If you think you have what it takes to be a court reporter, we’d love to talk to you! Ducker Worldwide estimates that by 2018 there will be a shortage of more than 5,000 reporters nationwide. It might not seem like a lot but the reality is that the shortage is already being felt in rural counties and we need your help. As an industry, we need to attract new reporters with the right qualities to be successful. Here’s a few we think matter.

Attention to Detail

We don’t just mean that you get to appointments on-time or write emails without grammatical errors. As a court reporter it’s your role to accurately record what’s being said by everyone in the courtroom. If you’re easily distracted or take short cuts to complete projects, this is probably not the right career choice for you.

Focus

Reporters sit for hours in courtrooms, conference rooms, and at our own desks transcribing, editing, and refining our work for delivery to our clients. If you’re easily distracted (think: squirrel!), this is likely not the right choice for you.

Technical Ability

Whether we’re setting up conference rooms for depositions or are working remotely on live depositions, there’s a certain level of technical ability required. If we lost a cord on the way to a deposition, we’ve got to either have a back-up on hand or know where to get one fast. Clients don’t like waiting and we don’t like delaying meetings.

Get Organized

If you wake up late and have no idea where your first appointment of the day is, you may not be a good candidate for court reporting; you’ve got to get organized! We recommend ending the day by looking at the following day’s schedule so you know what time you need to be to an appointment, including time for traffic.
We also have some sort of system for getting ready before we leave the house. It sounds silly but many people say they’re late to work simply because they don’t know what to wear! Lay your clothes out the night before or employ the idea of billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg and Steve Jobs and wear similar outfits every day.

The more organized and focused you can be, the better you can serve your clients.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to be a court reporter, we’d love to talk to you!