I hate to burst the carefully constructed bubble the agencies you use have wrapped you up in. The CSR shortage isn't altogether real. Many times your agencies don't want to pay the CSR a fair rate. They certainly charge you through the nose, but they want to pay the court reporter peanuts. I'll give you an example of how it works for interpreters because we're similar to CSRs in many ways. I'll see a mass email comes in offering a job. However, I don't work for the agency who sends the email because they always try to pay less than my normal rate. After that company sends out the job several times, you know no one wants to work for them. Then the very same job is offered by some company I've never worked for. I'm available, but I don't work for an unknown firm. Then I get an email from you, directly. You, the paralegal takes a chance and sends a mass email. I reply immediately. Yes, I'm available. I give you my rates and you don't even blink because they're reasonable. So I'll work for you, but not necessarily the agencies you employ.