Former Stenomask Reporter has questions about Scoping

Hello,

Just found about scoping and now I'm curious and want to learn more. In the early 90's I completed training for stenomask reporting, and passed my state's Supreme Court tests and the stenomask assn tests with 97% accuracy. I'm very detail-oriented, friends call me "the walking dictionary," and I love to look for errors and correct them.

My court reporting career was extremely short-lived. I feel like that-home course I followed gave me the book smarts, but not the street smarts. I plastered the town with business cards, went around and introduced myself to attorneys. Got a couple of jobs but one atty took 9 months to pay for my services. During the other job, right in the middle of the deposition, the atty instructed me to do something I had never heard of -- and my training did not cover this or prepare me for it. Had I learned from someone with more experience perhaps I would have known what he was talking about.

Anyway, I did not keep my certification current. Just tracked down the phone numbers to call and find out exactly when I took the tests for the sake of putting that on my resume. I never even refer to it -- I've worked as an administrative assistant/secretary/executive assistant for the last 13 years and now I'm finally completing my college degree and not working.

Are there any opportunities for scopists who used to do stenomask? I live in a medium-sized city where stenomask is not accepted, but the counties surrounding my town are OK with it. My problem was I wanted to work in town, but no one wanted a mask reporter in town, so I ended up driving an hour away to get jobs.

It was one of those deals where I jumped in, studied hard, knocked the socks off the test, then didn't have the practical knowledge necessary to get it off the ground as a freelance business.

Sorry to babble on... I am now curious how I would learn the shorthand needed to be a scopist. And, since my test scores were so high, is it necessary for me to go through an ENTIRE scopist course? Can I just do the parts I need? Or since it's been so long, would the refresher do me some good?

Thanks a bunch!

Nick:	Jill
Date/Time:	Tuesday, May 21, 2002 at 9:39:08 AM CST
Browser/OS:	Microsoft Internet Explorer V6.0 using Windows 98
Subject:	Former Stenomask Reporter has questions about Scoping
Message:
Hello, Just found about scoping and now I'm curious and want to learn more. In the early 90's I completed training for stenomask reporting, and passed my state's Supreme Court tests and the stenomask assn tests with 97% accuracy. I'm very detail-oriented, friends call me "the walking dictionary," and I love to look for errors and correct them. My court reporting career was extremely short-lived. I feel like that-home course I followed gave me the book smarts, but not the street smarts. I plastered the town with business cards, went around and introduced myself to attorneys. Got a couple of jobs but one atty took 9 months to pay for my services. During the other job, right in the middle of the deposition, the atty instructed me to do something I had never heard of -- and my training did not cover this or prepare me for it. Had I learned from someone with more experience perhaps I would have known what he was talking about. Anyway, I did not keep my certification current. Just tracked down the phone numbers to call and find out exactly when I took the tests for the sake of putting that on my resume. I never even refer to it -- I've worked as an administrative assistant/secretary/executive assistant for the last 13 years and now I'm finally completing my college degree and not working. Are there any opportunities for scopists who used to do stenomask? I live in a medium-sized city where stenomask is not accepted, but the counties surrounding my town are OK with it. My problem was I wanted to work in town, but no one wanted a mask reporter in town, so I ended up driving an hour away to get jobs. It was one of those deals where I jumped in, studied hard, knocked the socks off the test, then didn't have the practical knowledge necessary to get it off the ground as a freelance business. Sorry to babble on... I am now curious how I would learn the shorthand needed to be a scopist. And, since my test scores were so high, is it necessary for me to go through an ENTIRE scopist course? Can I just do the parts I need? Or since it's been so long, would the refresher do me some good? Thanks a bunch!