A Career In Court Reporting

It seems today in this world of advanced degrees that today's graduates are being steered toward a long and arduous journey of a four-year degree at minimum with many feeling that to get anywhere they will need to obtain at least a Master's Degree for maximum earning potential. Drop-out rates among college students are alarming. According to the Department of Education first year drop-out rates are 50%, and by year four only 20% of those who entered college will get a degree.

What if you were told that you could have a career, not just a job, in as little as 18 months to 2 years with an earning potential upwards of $100,000? This career has a ZERO unemployment rate in New Jersey; it is "economy proof" and never slows down. As a matter of fact, this career will have potential employers literally bidding for your services. This career is Court Reporting.

Forbes reports, "A skilled typist who's willing to train intensely to get up to about 200 words a minute will qualify to be a court reporter — a highly specialized skill always in demand. There are only 50,000 to 60,000 of them in the U.S., according to Labor Department statistics, and job openings are expected to grow steadily through 2010. The national median salary is $62,000 annually, though it tops $100,000 in many cities. And some are surprised to discover that only about a quarter of reporting jobs are actually performed in a courtroom. The skills translate to lucrative gigs like broadcast captioning and real-time reporting for Web casts." Also, MSN has reported that court reporting is in the top 10 "surprising six-figure income jobs."

The court reporting industry has exploded with opportunities over the last decade due to advancements in technology that cannot be matched by any other method of recording the spoken word, including video and digital voice recognition. Also, bolstering this career is an FCC mandate that all TV programs be close-captioned, which is done by court reporters.

Editorial provided by By Regina A. Berenato-Tell, President-Elect, Certified Court Reporters Association.