Archive for November, 2009

Court Reporting Agencies Resumes

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Court reporting agencies receive many resumes each day. The first step to get yours opened is that cover letter. Make it personal to the reader and stress how much you know about the company you are writing . Stress how your resume will show what a good fit you are for their court reporting firm. That should get the resume opened.

Now what? In the past, a neat ,concise resume seemed to be sufficient. Not true any longer when they are coming in droves. Everybody has to personalize that resume to the firm they are addressing it to.

Most resumes list years of experience. I personally think that explaining in depth what that experience is saves everybody a lot of time and trouble.

So my interest is peaked and I open that resume. Our firm brands itself as doing complex litigation. It is a waste of the court reporter’s time and my time for somebody who is looking for personal injury work to send me a resume. We just don’t have that type of work. I rarely see in a resume listed the type of depositions one is looking to do. We are also very interested in court reporters who do meetings. This tells a lot about your level of skills and the level of hard work you are willing to do. Very important piece of information. Also education and volunteer work makes a big difference, too. List your interests and hobbies. I rarely see that. Avid reader? Great.

My main piece of advice is, take the time to personalize that resume and make it relevant to the company you are sending it to!

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Court Reporting Agencies Submitting Resumes

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

In writing about how to go about getting jobs in the court reporting profession when there are limited number of jobs and lots of experienced reporters to compete with, it is important that at each step of the way you make yourself stand out from the crowd.

Your cover letter is the first step. Personalize it to show you have a special interest in working with this firm and give lots of reasons and show lots of knowledge about the company. You have spent a lot of time doing searches for names of firms. Now spend lots of time doing a little research on the firm. No sense attaching a great resume if your email doesn’t generate any interest to open the attachment.

Personalize that resume. I personally always write back with questions on the resume. I want to get to know the person behind the resume. The email responses I get back to my questions might or might not open up another door.

Let’s say you do open up another door and get an interview. Be prepared with lots of info about the company on that interview.

And finally, a new reporter recently got through all these steps, we gave him a chance, spent time putting a transcript together with proper formats, gave in-depth feedback, and guess what, never got a thank you for all the time and effort I personally put into getting a professional looking product and giving this person a chance. Thank you never goes out of style. This is a classic story of how not to succeed.

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Court Reporter Resumes

Tuesday, November 10th, 2009

In writing about court reporter resumes, I should note that I do read them all and respond to most. I think every court reporting agency owner should be sharing any insight they may have on how to get court reporting work. It was not that long ago that most of us could not cover our depositions and hopefully those days of plenty will return.

I received today a resume from a recent court reporter graduate which impressed me. The most unique aspect of this resume was the volunteer work that was listed. Yes, put all those good deeds in. They do matter on resumes. Also awards and high GPA averages. This new reporter had joined both the state and national associations. The cover letter stressed being a hard worker and quick learner. You got the picture of somebody you really would like on your team.

Another thing I rarely see listed are hobbies. If you are a reader, put in everything you like to read, fiction, nonfiction, magazines, newspapers. Reading brings so many skills to reporters so it is important to stress. I was very impressed with this resume and will keep it on the top of the pile.

When you send those resumes, take a step back and think, if I got 10 resumes and this was one of them, where would it be in the pile?

Tomorrow, some more resumes and some more ideas for getting jobs.

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Court Reporter Resumes – More Tips

Monday, November 9th, 2009

Getting a job with a court reporting firm in this tight market involves a lot more than in the past when there was a real shortage of court reporters in the court reporting industry.

A court reporter has to sell themselves, make their resume stand out very clearly from the rest. I have been focusing on the initial email which is the first impression, and the vehicle which will make a court reporter agency owner want to look at the resume. Personalize, personalize and let me stress again, personalize that email so that the person receiving it wants to get to know you a little better.

How to personalize the email. For starters, know something about the court reporting firm the email is going to, ie, look at the website and make reference to information you learned about the firm from their website. I can’t stress enough how a little personalizing goes a long way. Say something nice and relevant about the website, ie, it was helpful because of or interesting because of or good design. Give a compliment. That goes a long way.

I am looking at an email I received today. Instead of Hello, try Hello, Ms. Feldman. And, yes, please use the right gender. Most of the emails I get are addressed wrong. Tell me about the experience you have with the type of work we do. And I don’t think I have ever seen anybody list the professional organizations they belong to, ie, state and national court reporter groups. More tomorrow.

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Court Reporter Resumes

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

Court Reporter resumes come across my desk daily. Here are some ways to make your resume more relevant to the court reporting firms you are sending them to. Most importantly, personalize your email to the court reporting firm to which you are attaching your resume. Personalize means, you have visited a court reporting website to determine who to send resumes. So what do you know about that court reporting firm besides it is geographically appropriate? Most court reporting firms proudly list their clients and the type of court reporting they specialize in. Write in your email, I really would like to work with your firm because my court reporting skills of xyz fit perfectly with your client base. If you are right out of school, it doesn’t make sense to send a resume to a firm which says, we only use experienced reporters and specialize in complex high-end litigation. Our firm happens to do a lot of meetings and we do list that on our website. I would be extremely interested in somebody who starts right off with, I notice that you do a lot of corporate meetings, and I really enjoy that type of work. That’s why I am really excited about having an opportunity to work with your firm. More on the importance of that initial email and what to put in it other than, attached is my resume. I am looking for work.

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Jobs in a Down Economy

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Court reporting job, scoping jobs, proofreading jobs, videographer jobs, referrals to court reporting agencies, each and every day I receive emails relating to job searches. Most of them are very similar and nothing really stands out or peaks my interest. The simplest job search is somebody who doesn’t even take the time to attach a resume and requests a return email if I am interested. I don’t think anybody wants to take the time to respond to that type of approach. I think it is very very important to personalize the email. Tell me why you want to work with my firm and what skills you have that set you apart from the rest of the other emails I received that day. Give me a real good reason to look at your resume and in that resume make a real good pitch on why you stand out from the crowd. But most importantly at the initial contact, say or create an email that will lead the reader to want to learn more about you and open and read your attached resume. I personally do look at each and every email we receive and answer most if not all. I am much more diligent about this in our new economy because I understand how difficult it is for all of us and I try to do my small part in making the court reporter agency community a little more responsive to the pressing issues we are facing.

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Court Reporting Agencies Jobs

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

I have been doing a lot of thinking these days about how I would go about getting deposition work as a new reporter and also an experienced reporter. What would make me stand out from a crowd of many looing for job opportunities? I would certainly take notice of anybody who showed a genuine interest in working with my firm and had reasons that went far beyond a pay check. I always appreciate somebody who at an interview shows knowledge of our firm and it staff.

I also spot check the transcripts and paperwork that goes through the office. I am very much aware of who fills out the paperwork properly and gets it in on time. I do not want to see my employees have to spend valuable time and effort trying to get something in that should be done without any followups.

I also spot check transcripts and I am amazed sometimes at the sloppiness that I see in reporters trying to get more work from us. The reporting community is much smaller than many think. Many of us turn up at the same meetings, and obviously discuss reporting and reporters. It is hard to get a good reputation but it is even harder to get rid of a poor one.

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