Steno-related jobs that don't require CSR

[Lora Parkinson]

I've passed two legs of the RPR and hope to pass my Q&A in May and take the CA CSR in July.  I'm looking for steno-related jobs to 1) pay the bills and 2) expand my dictionary and obtain all the steno experience I can.  Is there anybody out there that knows of LA/Orange County area agencies that hire non-CSRs to provide steno for business meetings or conventions -- any type of work that does not require a CSR license?  Thanks!

[Deborah DeSilva]

I will echo Sophia's comments.  When I was waiting for my CSR results (back in 1986), I decided to try reporting hearings to earn some money.  Luckily, one canceled after I got there.  Unfortunately, one did not.

The client hired us to report an agenda item before the Laguna Beach City Council.  The item wasn't heard until about 11:00 p.m.  It was horrible and hard to report.  People were just getting up and speaking, and I was given no spellings or names.  Oh, and the transcript was expedited.  We didn't get a complaint about the transcript, but that was just luck, if you ask me.

I've done tons of hearings since then, and they are usually the hardest things to report.  They are not a good place to start your career, but the skill level needed to "comfortably" report a hearing is definitely something to aim for.  It will always make you valuable to your agency.  

[Sophia Elamrani]

Meetings and hearings are harder than your regular old O+2 EBT so I personally wouldn't recommend going straight into that. I know a few students in the last class of school back when I was in school who were poached by this agency who is known to send newbies out on jobs that they have no business being on. The ones who were able to complete the jobs got creamed and had to piece it together through the audio, which I wouldn't say is because they lacked skill, it was just technical work with a large number of speakers and these are kids who have never taken even an easy car accident deposition with two attorneys. Anyway, I wouldn't say it was a growing experience or a profitable one and for one girl, it ended up in her name being thrown in the toilet because her audio wasn't good enough to pick up the parts she missed and she sat there helpless for three hours listening to medical dictation from nine people in a huge conference room. She sent in her raw notes and the audio file and the agency contacted the school to express their feelings on it.

The point is, hang in there, get a part-time job in something not related to court reporting, pass that CSR and/or RPR and then go to work. You don't want to have to put yourself in an uncomfortable position or undersell your skills just to make a few bucks now.

[Patricia Babits]

You could check on the Office of Administration Hearings Web site. See who has the reporting contract. Call the agencies and ask if they will hire you without a license. You don't legally need a license, but some of the agencies have it in their contract to only use licensed reporters. The money isn't great, but they are excellent preparation and probably harder than a lot of the depos you'll be going on.

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

I don't know about that, but you may want to try scoping with the software you already have.  Scope other reporter's work.  You can make relatively good money if you're good at it.  You can also proofread too.  A lot of agencies do get transcription work, like, needing meetings typed up from MP3 files or whatever.  You don't need a CSR for that.