Being aware of your competition

There's a lot of talk out there about now within the stenographic association about having a competing method having a seminar at our national convention; the working title is "ER/DR, what it can and can't do."

Now to me, knowing what your competition is, how it works, what it can and cannot do as compared to you seems like a good thing. If you know its strengths and limitations, uses, problems, etc, it makes you stronger and more well prepared to argue against that position and to advocate for your own.

I've always believed that knowledge is power. Some would say that because of my willingness to listen to all sides that I have no loyalty to my profession. I would say that absolutely, because of my ability to listen and to hear and to evaluate, it makes me that much stronger as an advocate for my chosen field.

Never would I say that you should abandon your strongly held opinion - that is, unless and until you have sufficient evidence to sway you otherwise. But to hold yourself away from information that is available to you, perhaps, is keeping yourself in the dark and more close-minded than you really wish to be.

Simply an observation. I will always opt for more information than less; but, as with everything in life, personal choice is the prerogative.

Garth Brooks and unanswered prayers.

So today was the second day for the court reporting manager. He had to be at work yesterday at 9:00 a.m. and work all day in an office. I was in court yesterday, with some fun lawyers - playing "whack-a-mole" with them at a hearing. Really, it was fun!

Today I got the gift of being on the board - time to produce my transcript pages. If I had gotten the job, I would've been in that office, going through paperwork and my transcripts would have been sitting here, not being worked on. My proofing wouldn't be as far along as it is. And I'd have a huge list of things to do for a new job with a huge learning curve. Right now, I'm pretty comfortable with the responsibilities before me.

So I've mastered the disappointment - and sometimes you really do have to thank God for the unanswered prayers. Life is good and you just have to let go and let God.

Closing doors, opening windows.

Well, sometimes you can have a letdown. You can't let it get you down, though.

The position of court reporting manager looked like a perfect fit based on the job description. The interview went well. My skill set and curriculum vitae, I would say, stacked up to the competition. But the job went elsewhere.

Now, being the competitive soul I am, I am very disappointed. I still believe in myself. I just can't linger over it. Negative energy is detrimental. The decision is made and I can't change it. I can only be a professional and move on. I've written a thank-you note to the judge I called at the last minute to thank him for at least giving his opinion of me. I've sent a note of congratulations to the person who got the job. I've had a good wallow in self-pity. And now it's time to get back on the horse and realize that the bigger picture may be that there's something better out there for me.

Just because you think you're right for the job, you may not be. Take a moment to step back and reflect on what you want for your career. Look at the big picture. Maybe there's something inherently off about the fit for the position. Maybe there's something looming right around the corner. Whatever it is, jump back up and dust yourself off. This is your life. You can spend it in negative ways or positive ways.

I choose positive.

Work Smarter

We court reporters spend a lot of time in front of our computers. We have specialized software that helps us be efficient. What many people don't do is learn how their software can make their lives easier.

Take advantage of training sessions. Most of our CAT (computer-aided transcription) programs have user groups that meet yearly, if not more frequently. Some groups meet in exotic locations (Las Vegas, NY, LA, etc) and make for a nice business trip/escape/networking opportunity as well as a training experience. If you can't make a big trip, join with a group of local reporters who also use your software and have a little meeting quarterly and share tips and tricks.

My software has its annual user group meeting in Las Vegas. We spend 2-1/2 days learning about how to make our lives easier, do tasks more quickly, learn new features. Our software developer takes our suggestions - and usually implements them into the next development version.

This year's trip paid for itself: I learned - really learned - how to make the transcript indexing portion of the software work for me. Instead of manually typing an index - on every transcript - I can literally hit a button and it is made for me. A little work up front - maybe an hour or so - to set up how it should look will save me hours for every transcript I ever produce in the future.

By working smarter, not harder, I have freed up just that much more time for a real life. And in the end, isn't that why we work, to enjoy our life?

Always Strive to Grow

So I had a job interview on Friday - for a managerial position which at first blush looks like a really good fit. Only time will tell, however, if it happens.

One of the key things that was brought home to me in the interview was the importance of life-long learning and continuing to strive to challenge yourself and better your skills. This position doesn't require much reporting, but it was stressed to the interviewer that simply because it wasn't a 40-hour in-court job didn't mean that I would give up my desire to get my realtime certification. I also shared that I would be willing to take a certificate program to get better familiarized with an aspect of this position (HR) that I have only hands-on experience with.

Being passionate about our profession and being willing to continue to push ourselves is what makes us stand out a little bit more. I love my career and want to continually want to push the limits. I sure hope that that passion came across. And even if I don't get the position, I will still keep taking my CRR/RVR certification examinations until I pass and I will work on the Trial Presentation certificate... and maybe that HR class too.

NEVER rest on your laurels. There is no limit to what we can learn except our lack of willingness to do so.

Juggling

As mentioned in the last blog entry, time management is an essential skill for any successful court reporter. The question becomes, how do we juggle ALL of the high-priority cases that land in our laps?

For example... I'm currently in a private-pay only situation - which means technically no appellate deadlines. That's good. But I'm also trying to meet self-imposed ones; I want to provide good service to the captive audience that are the parties to any cases an official reporter takes down.

To my mind, the best way to handle any situation is to write it down. When you can visualize where you are, you can project out to where you need to be.

I have a white board. It lists the cases, when taken, when ordered, how many pages - and who's handling it. I have a scopist and two proofreaders, so I can tell where they are at certain stages. It's very helpful.

Be realistic in your time estimates. I like to be "Scotty" from StarTrek. I estimate long - most of the cases I have now I estimated five weeks on (I was in trial for two - see my last post) and I just didn't see myself getting them done faster - and then if I come in early, I've "worked a miracle" just like Scotty did.

And now there's some good news. One of the files is in final edit stage already. Another of the files (the long one) is already off to the proofer on volume one, my scopist has the last day, and I'm working on the middle. Things are progressing nicely. Of course, today I got a call for another transcript.

Where are those white board pens??

Time Management

It's a skill that's so important, and so many of us just don't have. In court reporting, a profession defined by deadlines, we really need to have a better handle on our time - and a keen understanding of our personal abilities.

Speaking from the standpoint of a working official reporter now, if you're in court all day, the last thing you want to do is come home and transcribe. ANYTHING. I would strongly suggest you find someone to scope for you. Doesn't matter how bad you think you wrote; your concentration at the end of a long day is shot, which means your editing skills will more than likely suffer. If you hand it off to a scopist, they can take the time to listen to your audio (all the way through, if you like) and give you a pretty clean document to proofread. They can check your case cites for you. Look up funny words. Run spell check. Think of all the things that you could do in the time that they're working for you!

The best thing that a scopist can do for you, though, is keep you on task. Meeting those deadlines is of paramount importance. Our legal system depends on us to do our part to keep the train running along smoothly. Too many extensions, by too many people, slow the wheels of justice and in the end make us look bad.

We must, both for our sanity and for our profession, learn to delegate some of our transcription duties so that we can actually have free time to relax and so that we can better manage the other aspects of our lives.