Court Reporters as Career
According to NCRA.Org "Court reporters are highly trained professionals who share a unique ability to convert the spoken word into information that can be read, searched and archived. This specialization has created new career paths for reporters, including broadcast captioning and real-time translation services for people who are deaf and hard of hearing."
Many community colleges and technical institutes offer post-secondary certificate programs for court reporters.
Certifications
For example; in the United States the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) offers certification for court reporters and broadcast captioners. Certification as a Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) includes a written test and a skills test.Training
After completing their formal program, court reporters must complete short-term on-the-job training.
To maintain their certification with the NCRA, court reporters must complete continuing education and online training.
Specific continuing education requirements to maintain state licensure can be found by going to the state association’s website.
Job Prospects of Court Reporters
Employment of court reporters is expected to grow continuously as fast as the average for all occupations. Demand for court reporter services will be influenced by new federal legislation requiring increased captioning for the Internet and other technologies.
Reporters will increasingly be needed for captioning outside of legal proceedings. All new television programming will continue to need closed captioning, while broadcasters are adding closed captioning to their online programming in order to comply with new federal regulations.
Job prospects for graduates of court reporting programs are expected to be very good. Many training programs report that nearly all graduates are able to find jobs. Those with experience and training in CART and real-time captioning will have the best job prospects.
For detailed employment prospects in your area look into official website of Department of Labor of your local government and other job boards.