With the cost of education continuing to increase at a rapid rate, more and more young people are turning to new ways to try and make it in this world. The story is similar for many graduates: you finish your degree program, apply for jobs in your field, and more often than not are met with a litany of “not enough experience/no jobs available” roadblocks. One profession that more people who aren’t quite sure what they want to do with their life should consider is becoming an NCRA court reporter.
The National Court Reporters Association is a nationally recognized certification program that currently represents over 20,000 stenographers in the United States. According to WKYC.com, there’s good reasons for court reporting’s recent popularity: low debt and good starting pay.
“People don’t usually roll out of bed and say they want to be a court reporter,” said Kelly Moranz, program manager for the Tri-C court reporting and captioning program. “”They capture the spoken word, either through a stenograph machine or voice recognition technology.”
Depending on howmuch time a person wants to dedicate, you can become and NCRA court reporter in as little as 18 months, but for some it takes closer to three years. As mentioned by Moranz, there are a variety of different jobs a stenographer can perform that isn’t traditional court reporting. In fact, more than 70% of the nation?s 50,000+ court reporters work outside of the court.
For those that do choose to work in a court room the pay can make it worth it. The starting salary for a court reporter is usually around $45,000, a number most recent grads would kill to come close to. On top of that, the supply and demand is such that right now is a great time to get into the field.
“In the last 18 years, all of our graduates have successfully walked out of here with employment,” Moranz said.
Becoming a certified NCRA court reporter can take a lot of time and dedication, but with these kid of perks and security it’s certainly a worthy profession to consider for the short, or long term.