A Commitment to Professionalism

By Cynthia Hill, Mill Creek, Wash.

Professionalism encompasses many traits and is executed in myriad ways, but most importantly, I think of it as a byproduct of our commitment to our profession. Ask yourself: Have you ever known any truly committed individual in our industry to be unprofessional? While the connection may seem like a chicken-egg issue, we should consider that if we're seeing a lack of professionalism among our ranks, maybe the root problem is that their commitment is lacking. By strengthening that link, we automatically improve the level of professionalism.

If you didn't catch the article on professionalism in the March 2005 JCR, I'd recommend it. There is something there for everyone, even those of us who've been around the block a few hundred times. There was a quip circulating a few months ago in the New York Times about the only professional-looking person you see in a business suit anymore in our society has a resume in his hand and is unemployed. Of course, appearances are only the first layer of professionalism and mean nothing without the commitment to the profession, but on the other hand, our appearance (whether physical or demonstrative), can be everything.

The impression you make in your profession helps define those who come after you and those who came before you. Not one of us lives or acts in a bubble; we're all connected in some way. It is an individual issue, certainly, but how you affect the industry is even more important. We are all human and can certainly have a bad day occasionally, but the bottom line is you are the only one standing between the job and your client (colleague, staff member, et cetera). Whatever impression you make in those moments will define not only who you are personally and professionally, but what your profession is about as well.

In today's relaxed society, I think it is imperative we be very careful about how we represent ourselves and our profession and how we interact with those outside it, especially since we are such a small and unique industry without some of the protections that other larger industries possess. Just one contact touches so many people, and we should be mindful of the power we wield. It doesn't matter if that contact is made in person, over the phone, in e-mail or other written matter; it's the quality or substandard impression you leave behind from that contact that becomes the defining measure of your professionalism.

I was recently asked by an NPR feature reporter, towards the end of an interview on captioning, what I wore that morning while captioning. I instantly recoiled. To be fair, I think it was a conversation she had been following at a local court reporting school that morning, but I chose not to plunge into the joke about wearing fuzzy slippers and sweats while captioning because I think it leaves people who are struggling to grasp what it is we really do with the wrong idea - that the position or industry is perhaps to be taken less seriously or trivialized because of our attire. Sure, we can exercise that kind of levity among ourselves and only we and our families really get the big picture to why that's amusing, but I really doubt it is something that should be allowed to float freely into the overall view of the industry, and especially to those outside our industry. This sort of loquacity is very dangerous in the existing economy where clients are continually looking for ways to cut costs and wondering why they need to pay the rates they do for captions.

I don't particularly subscribe to the speculation that captioners and CART providers are less professional due to the "isolation" factor; at least, I haven't found that to be the case in my career. If there are such individuals, I believe they'd be unprofessional in whatever their endeavors might be, or they never learned or perfected those skills before entering the industry, and they haven't found or taken advantage of the tools within our industry to strengthen that area of their professional lives. Selfishness and greed are big stumbling blocks to exercising true professionalism. Professionalism isn't something with which we "hatch" into the industry. It is taught, learned and constantly refined throughout our careers. Many of the captioners and CART providers I've met are even more professional as a result of having to overcome certain unique factors inherent to the job.

The wonderfully caring people who gave me their time in this industry, their attention, their coaching, their instruction and insight, directly contributed to not only my success, but the level of professionalism I'm able to demonstrate. I hold them dear, even today, and still look to their example. Continuing education aside, I think mentoring is the single-most important contribution to improving professionalism and knowledge within our ranks. When I'm contacted by a person interested in captioning, the first thing I tell them is to find themselves at least one mentor, possibly more than one, someone who's already captioning, someone with an immense background who can coach them through the transition. No matter how busy we become, we must take that time to offer that to newer captioners and CART providers.

In my role as a captioner, I'm given daily opportunities to make a professional impact ranging from contacts with station personnel, fellow captioners, aspiring student captioners, captioning company support staff, equipment retailers and service providers and so on. Even the simple question of "and what do you do" in a social situation I handle with kid gloves. I try to convey the commitment for which we caption, the growing market for our skills and those who utilize it, the uniqueness of our career and that it isn't just anyone who can be successful in our field. It isn't that I'm arrogant about what I do for a living, but rather protective of our image. If we give our profession and the individuals within it the proper respect and nurturing, and are committed to doing that, then we're probably also able to fill all the check-boxes of being professional.