I previously published a history of the court reporter and captioning jobs summary provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics to show our median pay was falling despite the demand claimed by the fraudsters I call the STTI Bloc.
Bureau of Labor Statistics court reporter summary published as of 11/30/2024.Bureau of Labor Statistics court reporter summary as of 7/1/2022
I’m just not quite sure how to interpret things anymore. If you glance back at the median pay article the jobs and job outlook were all over the place. At face value this would indicate a loss of 3,800 jobs over 2 years — which is over a tenth of our field even by the rosiest estimates in existence (~30,000). That would mean either a tenth of our field went jobless and nobody’s talking about it, a tenth of our field retired in two years and those jobs evaporated with them, or…. maybe it’s all just bullshit and the Bureau of Labor Statistics is worthless. Can we get the Department of Government Efficiency over here? (Joke).
But for the sake of truthseeking, look at this infographic I pulled from old STTI materials.
The Speech-to-Text Institute fraudulently claimed there would be 17,260 stenographers by 2028. The actual number, by my own analysis of the numbers in years gone by, was higher.
So even using the fraudsters’ materials, coupled with the BLS statistics, there should be enough stenographers to cover just about every courtroom vacancy in this country up until 2028.
Yeah, you read that correctly.
The bottom line is none of this adds up to me. If it does to you, I want your comment. Because quite frankly if this is accurate we are lying to our students when we tell them there will be a job for them, and that is something I will never take part in.
I once again must point to our media and messaging. I know my methods are unorthodox, but ask yourself who killed the Speech-to-Text Institute? Private people like me or Trey Perez. Where are you getting this information from? Me. Doesn’t this seem like the kind of thing your National Court Reporters Association should be talking about? You pay an executive director hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to charm you and you pay me a couple grand in a good year to bring you the facts and the hard takes and do the publishing work that everyone else is terrified to do — Steno Imperium excepted! Maybe if I had hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, given my track record for caring about people that I’ll never know, your page rates would be higher and your companies would be off your asses when it came to the ridiculous deadlines and expectations they sometimes have. Maybe the good companies that don’t break the law would win investors and expand to swallow the big box brigade of today.
And maybe you just trust and have faith that everything will work out and be okay. And I guess that’s fine. But just remember that if all of us have your attitude, the people running the show can cut you at any time for any reason, and you’ll be met with the same apathy. Too bad, so sad, good luck.
“Hi, Christopher. [REDACTED]. I was a decades-long practicing [REDACTED] court reporter, and [REDACTED]. I edited my own work, so I was well aware of my good days and bad days. I started scoping/editing full time for reporters in around [REDACTED]. I am still scoping/ editing for reporters from all over the US — [REDACTED]. I have to say I am extremely disappointed and dismayed at the lack of qualifications I have experienced from the majority of these reporters. I find they are dropping an extraordinary amount of text, at times 15-20% and I am typing in the missing text for the reporters. This is not a one-off or occasional occurrence. I only bring this up to you because of the threat this industry is facing re AI, digital recorders, big box corporations, etc. I don’t know if this is a subject you (gingerly) would consider addressing in your Stenonymous articles – which I thoroughly enjoy, by the way. You are a driving force in the fight to save this industry. I do not expect a response from you. I am asking that you please keep this writing anonymous and confidential.”
I have to say that I have been a voice for quality in our field since before Stenonymous’s time. We used to have this weird mannerism in the profession where we had to pretend we were all perfect and never made mistakes. That may seem like a foreign concept to students of this day and age, whose mentors seem more willing to say everyone makes mistakes. It was never true that we didn’t. Being in New York City, I saw firsthand the degradation of skill in the stenographic reporter. By the time I came into the field, audio had become ubiquitous and many were reliant on it to the point where they couldn’t pass the civil service test that the state eliminated a few months ago. And worse, people pretended, and encouraged others to pretend, that the audio was not in use.
As best I can tell, this was under pressure from agencies, who were under pressure from high-strung clients. The Introverted Lawyer, Heidi Kristin Brown, once spoke to a crowd of court reporters about the nastiness she’d experienced in the legal field. I’ve met that nastiness too. So I understand the wilting nature of the court reporter and its agencies. Without each other to hold us up, it is easy for outside influences to cause us to feel less than — and it is easy for the people holding the wallet to screw any individual “person” out of a day’s pay. That’s understandably scary.
But I never ran from the digital problem or the misinformation campaign spread by the corps. I can’t run from ours either. This is not the first scopist to mention this to me. Probably won’t be the last.
I’ve been on jobs where I’ve been ordered not to use audio even where others factually do.
I hired a scopist once who called my writing “labyrinthian.” Haven’t hired one since.
I understand, more than anyone (hyperbole), the importance of the use of the tool, where appropriate.
But if you’re at the point where you’re dropping a fifth of the testimony in your stenographic note taking, it’s time to identify and correct that issue. And might I suggest that the issue is likely that you never learned to “control a room” because you used audio as a crutch. And that’s okay. It’s what you do with the future that counts. Making mistakes in our line of work is a much smaller problem than taking no action to correct them.
Those “button pushers” we denigrate? Some of them are better. Think about the ones that are honest about who they are and what they do. What do we have on them? Isn’t that what all this is about? Speaking out against corporate dishonesty and corner cutting because the transcript is important? I know some of them have told me they were trained to lie, obfuscate, or even provide fake names (cough, cough, Naegeli rumor, cough, worst court reporting company in the country?) But for the ones that are honest and feed us info, aren’t they “on our side?”
Maybe I’m kidding myself.
Maybe everybody’s afraid of the truth?
After all, you don’t think people in positions of power have heard my allegations? I sent them directly to a judge quoted in an article about us once. You think he wrote back?
People so afraid of looking foolish they’d rather promote a comfortable lie or ignore a terrible wrong than look at a situation with the analytical nuance that they do any day-to-day issue or case. It’s not their job. Why care? And the people whose job it is? They can make up excuses ad infinitum why they can’t care right now without consequence or accountability. This is why my publishing strategy is to get louder and louder until they all look like assholes for ignoring it. I don’t see another way forward. Doesn’t anyone else get it? Being nice to people that deny the truth got us where we are.
Anyone actually good at fundraising/P.R./sales? Maybe we can make a deal and split donations. It’s a gamble. I can go months with minimal funding or make $1,000 in a day. It’s not like the money isn’t there to turn this into a small media operation. It just needs to be redirected a little bit. My real-life friends are too busy to help, so I leave it up to my readership.
Having our marriage ceremony soon. It’ll probably get pretty quiet on here for a while. Thanks for putting up with my double-post days these last few weeks. Have a wonderful weekend.
Ever eager to be a platform for your…
Words & Voices, Stenonymous.com
Addendum:
Toward the end of March 29th, Erin Blair made a comment that I asked to share with my audience. They are a respected member of the field, so I’m happy to share their views with my audience.
Erin Blair’s comments on Stenonymous’s blog post “Scopist: Degradation of Reporter Skill is Helping AI.”
We also had a brief discussion where I tried to explain I don’t mean to victim blame and believe the issue is nuanced.
One thing I’ve learned in this business is never be too predictable, and that’s why I completely skipped July. Before we get to actual jobs posts that have popped up in the last two months, we’ll get down to something for our freelance friends. and people looking to make a difference in this field. NYSCRA is promoting no fewer than three online sessions that should have a little something for everybody. First, on August 16, there will be a session with Jason Wisdom on freelance success. On August 24, Jessie Gorry and Joshua Edwards are presenting Zoom for Freelance Reporters and will be talking, as I understand it, about best practices and hardware stuff you can do to make your life easier. Finally, for those of you seeking to build some skills and confidence in making a difference, Project Steno will be hosting courses on clean writing, developing a high school program, and conducting a training course. Even more for people looking to make a difference, you should see NYSCRA President Joshua Edwards’s message in the Summer 2020 Transcript. Without further delay, in steno, if we want to change something, we hit the asterisk, right? So change the job up with August Asterisks.
Onto the jobs. First, a very special posting. Eric Allen, President of ASSCR, was kind enough to post this excerpt from what I believe to be the Chief last month. In my very first post about finding a job in New York City, I talked a little bit about Workers Compensation and how they no longer seemed to be hiring even though the application was up. So to see these very recent, current postings for Verbatim Reporter 1 in New York State is very comforting. It should be a clear message to every jobseeker and our employers that what we do has a lot of value. We will rise to the challenge of filling these positions, but we need the shotcallers to keep the demand for court reporting steady so that people are not scrambling in and out of jobs. Every former Verbatim Reporter 1 that I have ever spoken to has told me that it was an amazing job that they really liked. If you’re a reporter looking for change, this just might be your sign. Also, if any legislation comes up regarding that position, as it had in the past, I urge every reporter to support it, because you are supporting the stability and sustainability of your field. Thank you, Eric Allen, for bringing this job post to everyone’s attention.
For the first time in a while, there do not seem to be any grand jury reporter jobs open in New York City. I’m actually happy to say that because it shows that we can absolutely fill vacancies. We can beat the reporter shortage. Please, take my advice seriously when I say if you want a grand jury job with New York City, check the district attorney sites of every borough every single month, including the SNP, and check DCAS. It is very easy to miss these postings. If you need the links, they’re under the grand jury section of Get A Real Job.
The statewide provisional posting for court reporter is still up. This should surprise no one. We need stenographic court reporters. If you’re waiting for the civil service exam to come out so that you can get a permanent position, make sure you’re checking the exams page every month. You don’t want to miss out on a test that, by law, can only be held every 1 to 4 years. If you’re interested but want more information, why not reach out to Michael DeVito? His contact information is at the bottom of the posting, and it just might help you make your decision.
For the reporters out there looking for a spot in the federal judiciary, there’s plenty for you. We are looking at open spots in New York, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Illinois, Arkansas, and California. The federal judiciary jobs page remains a great resource for finding these job postings, and every reporter out there should take the time share it and familiarize themselves with it.
For those looking for a little more, NCRA’s got a jobs page too. As of today there are 87 results to flip through. Alternatively, if you’re looking to put down the machine for a little while but stay employed “in the field,” you could apply to become an NCRA Content Specialist. I’ve had the pleasure of interacting with NCRA staff before, and it’s always been really positive. I can only hope whoever fills that spot is just as positive, dedicated, and wonderful as the rest of the team. I have a lot of faith in Dave Wenhold and the current Board of Directors. There’s good leadership. There’s good staff. There are good committee volunteers. There are great general members. There’s a real chance for stenographic reporting to prove its adaptability, superiority, and technological advancement despite all the world has gone through in the last six months. Humans have known for a long, long time that when there’s a chance of something happening, it can happen. There’s even a latin phrase for it, a posse ad esse, which translates roughly to “from possibility to actuality.” So let’s take that chance, hold onto it, and make sure that our markets know stenographic reporting is here and ready to do the job.
Time to jettison whatever’s not working for us and have a look at the jobs posted around the internet for June 2020. Having a hard time this year? Consider finding a mentor! There are many mentoring programs available, and even Facebook groups conducting mentoring sessions. There are lots of general job listings to wade through at both NCRA and USCRA. NCRA’s also looking for a content specialist!
In the New York area, we still have the New York grand jury reporter posting up. The DCAS test schedule for reporter/stenographers has not yet been updated. The State’s Verbatim Reporter 1 position remains posted, though it’s a little unclear to me on whether they’re actually hiring. The statewide court reporter provisional posting remains posted by our state court system. Michael DeVito’s contact information is at the bottom of the application. If you are looking to become a court reporter for our courts in New York State, you should contact him. I had one very brief e-mail exchange with him months ago, and it left me with a great impression. Every prospective reporter hire with questions should make an effort to contact him. Court reporter is one of maybe six titles that have been posted throughout the pandemic, and in my view, it outlines the need for stenographic court reporters, even if there are not immediate hirings. There has been no civil service test posting, but it’s worth checking the exams page every month if court is the dream job! In our federal courts, the Southern District has a posting up. The federal judiciary jobs page shows New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and South Carolina all have spots for stenographic reporters.
Many have asked about CART. I have a lack of familiarity with CART, but I do know there’s a CART provider directory. Many are current or past practitioners. Many are out there and willing to answer questions when asked. Let’s put it this way, if you knock on 100 doors, at least a few are going to open. The world is at your fingertips in exploring this wonderful side to reporting and stenography.
Every month I bring jobs posts. I can’t give people the jobs. I can’t post all the jobs. But if one person walks away with an idea, or a place to search, or a plan to move forward in their career, it’s worth it! I encourage people to continue sharing and promoting all the different ways to find work.
Obviously, this goes up during the COVID-19 outbreak, and many of my colleagues or their families are impacted health-wise or economically. It’s serious stuff. Some of us have lost people or been in danger of losing people. This is a time when mostly everything has slowed down, and for many it may not feel like there is an end in sight. That said, I assure you there is an end in sight, and when this is all over, we’re going to need to pick up the pieces, move forward, and help each other move forward.
There’s a lot of fear and a disruption in our normal lives. So to keep with some semblance of normality, I’m going to move forward with a jobs post. Keep in mind that with this outbreak, many places are running on a skeleton crew, so they may not be actually hiring right now, but when things start to speed up again, stenographic reporters are needed all over the city, state, and country. They’re needed outside the country too, but I’ll let the experts handle that. Remember that if you’re a student or a newer reporter, there are also programs out there designed to find you a mentor. Mentors are no doubt having difficulties too, but they may be able to offer advice or ideas nonetheless.
Running along, NCRA has a good number of job listings up for reporters. They’re also looking for a certification & testing program manager. I know here in New York we have some reporters who are extremely gifted and passionate about certification and testing, so if that’s something you think you’d put down the machine for, take a look. Looking at the federal judiciary jobs page, there are openings in New York, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Iowa, Missouri, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Federal courts all over the country want stenographic court reporters.
The NYS statewide provisional court reporter application remains open to anyone with the guts to step up and give reporting for the state judiciary a chance. The courts in this state need people that care about the record and want to do a good job. If you’re looking for a steady job with paid time off, this is a first foot in the door while we wait for the civil service exam together. Before this outbreak and mess, I had a brief e-mail exchange with Michael DeVito, whose contact information is on the bottom of that application. Paraphrasing what he said, any employment prospects are encouraged to contact him. You have someone in the system to reach out to in addition to the unions that represent New York City court reporters and senior court reporters.
Last, but certainly not least, the Bronx DA has a posted position for grand jury stenographer. The DCAS Reporter/Stenographer test remains postponed.
Try to remain positive. I know there has been a marked drop in freelance work. You are not alone. At the beginning of this, several of NYSCRA’s officers and board members, Joshua Edwards, Diane Salters, Karen Santucci, and Dominick Tursi, got together to show our community an example of a remote deposition. The full video is available. Many members asked additional questions, which I tried to address via this video, and wrote some more information in the description box. If you’re a NYSCRA member or a potential member, don’t be afraid to send e-mails to board members. We can’t wave a magic wand and make everything better, but we can try to use the association’s resources that we all pay into in a responsible way. Remember that you are integral to those resources, and that even if you can’t get a membership right now, you can still throw in support later when work starts booming again. And we are not alone. Many state associations, and the NCRA, have been promoting ways to get reporters back to earning a living for themselves and their family. Many reporters have independently taken the time to host webinars or put up videos to help each other. Many CAT trainers are scheduling remote appointments to help people with their software. As an example, I personally follow Dineen Squillante and Anthony Frisolone. Some help is free, some help is for fee, and the bottom line is that we’re going to get through this together.
I do my monthly job posts to try to help connect people with their dream steno job and give them ideas on where to look. As always, we’ve got a pretty healthy selection of places to jump to from here. That said, if you’re a newbie or student concerned with finding work, it makes good sense to reach out and get yourself a mentor today. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been doing this five hours or five years, you can find someone out there to help. Mentors can also help you locate many Facebook groups dedicated to official and freelance job openings in addition to your state association groups. Do not suffer in a place where you’re unhappy. Reach out to people and try to find out the opportunities available to you with this wonderful skill.
Bronx DA is still looking for a grand jury stenographer according to their postings. Remember, it’s a City of New York job with good union representation. There have been rumors that Kings County will hold a test, but nothing solid has been posted. Note that the Queens DA site is under construction, so I have no idea if they’re looking for reporters. The Citywide DCAS test for Reporter/Stenographer is still listed as postponed.
NYSUCS has a statewide court reporter posting still up. My understanding is that the number of passing marks for the civil service exam were not high, so if you want to serve the public as a state employee, this application just might be your shot. Remember that the state court system has two main job titles for stenographers, court reporter and senior court reporter. If you are a permanent court reporter when you apply to become a senior court reporter, you go to the front of the line and pass members of the public who are also applying, a huge competitive edge. So apply today and start accumulating leave time and all sorts of other perquisites.
I count about 20 federal judiciary positions still open across the country. There are openings in West Virginia, North Dakota, Idaho, Massachusetts, Texas, Iowa, Arkansas, Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Washington, Missouri, D.C., and North Carolina.
Jersey neighbors, the New Jersey Courts have an official court reporter position open. My understanding is they require at least one CRR.
At this time I do not see any postings for US Senate or US House reporters, but that’s probably because the people doing that work are just too good.
Even if none of these are for you, take the time to share. You just might make somebody’s day!
Southern District, which is federal court, wants a court reporter. This is the first federal NY job to open up in the last few months, so if you’re looking to take that career path, take the shot. Even if they don’t take you, they’ll probably tell you what will better your chances next time. There are potentially up to eight other federal positions available nationwide.
Plaza College is seeking court reporting instructors. Start teaching the future of court reporting today!
Esquire continues to make efforts to advertise for freelance court reporters on sites like Glassdoor. If they don’t meet your rates, your best shot is opening the discussion and asking them to. It’s clear they need qualified people. Why not you?
If none of these are for you, it’s time to hit the pavement and start looking for opportunities. They’re out there, but it’s a careful mix of effort and networking that’ll bring them to you — or you to them!
This’ll be the May job postings I’ve come across. We’ve got a pretty good information network. People from all over scrape up NY work and post it around. It’s only fair that I continue the tradition and make sure everybody’s aware of where to find work in New York.
New York Court Reporter Test filing closed May 9. Even if you have no intention of being a court reporter, you give yourself an option by signing up. A fine example. I have no intention of being a court clerk, but I’m going to take the test May 4 because it brings mobility. It gives me options. See our previous post on this. Read your orientation guide!
Grand Jury Stenographer, Bronx. This has been open since Feb 2019. I’ve heard some rumors it’s filled — but the easiest way to not get the job is to not apply.No one is ever allowed to leave New York — but if you want a federal job, right now you’ll have to. Seven positions around the country, but not here.Make sure to check out Glassdoor and similar sites. There are stenographer jobs advertised today that you’re going to want to look into.If teaching is your dream, go look at your favorite school’s job postings. As an example, Plaza at this very second has posts up for court reporting and English adjunct instructors.
One of the most common reasons people don’t get the job is they do not apply. Do not be intimidated by potential rejection. If you want one of these jobs, go out there, grab it. You’re the protagonist of your story. Might as well do something you like. Doesn’t pan out? Try again next time. Think of any great story. How great would the story be if the main character hit a bump in the road and said well, better give up and never try again?
