The job market is wide open for you.
No matter how you capture the spoken word, there is a huge need for people with your unique talents. Don’t let anyone question your career choice or bring you down. Your skills are so needed!!!
Not only is the job market growing to expand outside the courtroom and beyond the realm of depositions, but the number of Court Reporters is declining.
There simply aren’t enough students to fill all the job openings that are being created by Court Reporters who are retiring. And that’s why the number of enrollments in Court Reporting schools all over the country is skyrocketing!
Even as far back as 2013, the Drucker Report which was commissioned by the NCRA projected that the demand for Court Reporters will exceed the supply by 5500 in 2018. Two years beyond this prediction, when COVID hit hard, many Court Reporters were sent home with no on-ground jobs. A large majority of Reporters adapted and found joy in working remotely. Others took the opportunity to retire earlier than anticipated, leaving the market desperate to find replacement staff with the very skills you are learning today.
It’s hard to believe that with as essential as a Court Reporter or Captioner is, there are so few people in the profession. The last official estimate was just 32,000 stenographic reporters in the US.
There is more than enough work to go around.
- Think about all the courtrooms in the USA and around the world.
- Think about all the depositions that take place.
- Think about all the insurance work and lawsuits that are settled which never see a courtroom.
- Think about all the tribunals, interviews, and witness statements.
- Think about all the captioning that goes on: live and post-production.
- Think about all the people who are hard of hearing and ADA requirements.
- Think about all the authors who dictate and the boardrooms of corporations, townhall meetings, theatres, synagogues, and churches that offer live streaming of the spoken word.
There is absolutely no shortage of opportunities for you!
So, stay in school. Tough it out. It is so worth it.