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February 27, 2007
Using Adaptive Technology as a Competitive Advantage
John Lewis, one of the eLearners currently involved in eSight’s 10-week “Online Networking as a Job Search Tool” course, recently observed:
“I think that simply losing nearly all my vision has made me a better writer. I say this because, if I had not utilized a screen reader (which affords me the opportunity to have my text read back to me), I wouldn't have improved as much as I have at this point.
“It's like having your own personal reader sound the sentences or paragraphs immediately back to you. If it doesn't sound right (you can always tell), you keep changing until it sounds just right.
“I can't tell you how huge the screen reader has been in improving my ability to write.”
In today’s mainstream workplace, communicating accurately online as well as in person and working well within a team (online and in person) are four essential skills for success.
For instance, in “Six Ways to Stay Competitive in an International Work Force,” Andrea Coombes states:
”The question is how do U.S. workers stay competitive when companies can pick and choose from workers across the globe? Talk to any expert in the field and the first words they're likely to say are ‘the ability to communicate well.’"
Here is one of recommendations Andrea picked up from Tom Kochan, a professor of management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management and co-director of MIT's Institute for Work and Employment Research:
“At college, learn behavioral skills as well as skills related to your particular profession. That means learning the ability to work in teams and to communicate effectively, to write effectively, to resolve conflicts and work in a coordinated way... It's the combination of a particular discipline or specialization and these abilities to navigate the modern world that are key skills in a global workplace.”
Thank you, Jim Elekes, another eLearner taking the course, for leading me to Andrea’s article.
Maybe those of us who use screen readers have not fully demonstrated how adaptive technology, while helping us work at levels comparable to our non-disabled counterparts, can also provide us with unique opportunities to hone business skills sought by employers -– opportunities that are not available to non-users.
John believes using his screen reader has helped him find his online voice.
How has adaptive technology helped you gain a competitive advantage over your non-disabled counterparts in the mainstream job market?
Posted by Jim Hasse at 05:49 PM | Comments (0)
February 20, 2007
Networking With a Hiring Manager Who Doesn’t Hire You
In "Networking as a Job Search Strategy," Julie Jansen provides two bits of advice for job seekers that I find interesting.
First, she advises, “Network with people who are not like you. Step out of your comfort zone.”
Second, she says, “Stay in touch with HR people and hiring managers who don’t hire you.”
For the average abled job seeker, those two suggestions may not appear to be particularly important.
But, for those of us with disabilities, who often step out of our comfort zones anyway and are looking for creative ways to gain an edge over our competitors for the same job, Julie may have hit on a valuable one-two punch.
It’s a one-two punch because Julie’s advice can result in not only more effective job searches but also more effective disability awareness among employers.
Consider this rationale:
1. A hiring manager needs to select a job candidate who is a “good fit” with the other employees of the company, particularly within her department.
2. By asking current (and former) employees what kind of people succeed within the company, you can gain a feel for what the corporate culture is like (perhaps even what the department is like) before you even meet the hiring manager at the job interview.
3. As a result, you may have some insight to share with the hiring manager about how your temperament, approach to work etc matches those of the existing workforce.
4. You have just found a way to connect with that hiring manager in a meaningful way because you are directly helping her solve one of her over-arching concerns: how to put together a team of people who work well together.
5. Because you have displayed insight into a real issue (in the mind of the hiring manager) which is at the core of hiring and managing people, you have the potential of forming a mutually beneficial networking relationship with her, even if you don’t get the job.
6. By keeping that networking relationship alive, you’ll have an inside window to the company and industry as well as future job prospects and job openings.
7. By nurturing that networking relationship, you have an opportunity to influence how a hiring manager and those within her network view disability from an employment perspective.
Networking with a hiring manager who doesn’t select you for a job may not be the easiest task to carry out. But think of the potential you could create for yourself and for others just by going beyond your comfort zone and establishing a mutually beneficial relationship with a receptive manager within a department, company, job sector and industry you’re targeting in your job search.
I believe this type of networking is important because change in the perceptions and attitudes of employers about disabilities is probably not going come in one wide sweep.
Instead, it’ll likely come one person at a time, and we can all be a part of that change while, at the same time, networking ourselves into the mainstream job market.
What are your thoughts about networking -- for the good of your own career in particular and disability employment in general -- with a hiring manager who doesn’t hire you?
Posted by Jim Hasse at 06:47 PM | Comments (1)
February 13, 2007
Job Interviewers Who Can’t Stop Thinking About You
On this forum recently, Bill Dennis posted this tidbit:
“I have been partially sighted since 1995 and employed as a legally blind computer programmer ever since.
“I have had more problems in job interviews ever since I lost my right leg (I now walk with a prosthetic) than I ever did due to my blindness. Unfortunately, I still have enough vision that I can see the look of horror on people's faces when they realize that I am an amputee.
“So, to combat this, I have had to learn new people skills and use my sense of humor to put them at ease. My talent is no longer enough anymore.
“However, my talent is a big part of the interview process. I bring my laptop computer and demonstrate both ZoomText and JAWS (even though I am not a regular JAWS user).
“In most cases, between my warm personality to them and the presentation I give them, they are so amazed by what I show them, they cannot stop thinking about me. That's what we want.
“I am now a Software Development Manager and manage a team of five programmers, three of whom are totally blind. For any cosmetics, I have two sighted programmers.
“My team and I are an example that, just because we cannot see, doesn't mean that we cannot perform a job and a good one, too.”
Job interviewers who can’t stop thinking about you: That’s everyone’s dream. And Bill has found a way to make that dream become real for him.
There are all sorts of ways to become “memorable” in the minds of job interviewers. And that brings us to this week’s discussion question:
What have you done in your job marketing campaign to make sure job interviewers can’t stop thinking about you once you’ve presented yourself as a candidate?
Posted by Jim Hasse at 05:52 PM | Comments (11)
February 06, 2007
Separate But Equal?
Our thanks go out to Rita, Mike and Ruth-Ellen, who forwarded this same article to us a couple of days ago: “Recruiters Seek Disabled Students: ‘Untapped’ Pool of Potential Employees Called on to Fill Posts.”
The The Daily Pennsylvanian article points out:
“Last week, PepsiCo -- the parent company of Pepsi, Frito-Lay and Tropicana -- visited the University specifically to recruit students with disabilities, both physical and mental, for employment positions.”
Morris Street Partners, New York, facilitated the recruitment dinner/presentation at the University of Pennsylvania. It “hosts events that are just like standard on-campus recruitment ones but are exclusive – and tailored – to disabled students,” the article says.
The non-profit organization is active on five campuses and is in “contact with 15 others.” It usually works through a campus career services department in organizing and publicizing the disability-only recruitment events, according to the article.
I suppose this is progress, but I wonder if the separation is necessary, particularly when perceptions among employers and co-workers about a variety of disability employment issues seem to be out of synch with what those of us with disabilities know as reality.
For instance, here’s what blogger Cynthia Jones submitted this week on the eSight Networking Forum:
“…I will graduate in June as a member of Alpha Sigma Lambda National Honor Society with a 3.75 GPA. I cannot see; this is an obstacle. (But) it does not stop my or other's abilities to learn or to function.
“Disabled workers are tired of being subjected to less than fair wages for jobs performed. We still have to pay the same cost of living as sighted or non-disabled workers. When sight is a BOQ (Bona fide Occupational Qualification) -- such as driving a car or ambulance, flying air craft, or operating any motorized vehicle, this is understandable. Administering medications in a medical or hospital environment or using technology in lab research such as a microscope are jobs we probably can’t perform.
“Outside of those mentioned, all else should be based on learned skills -- not what one can see or if one can walk or hear.
“Change needs to be addressed and fairness implemented.”
Are disabled students such as Cynthia that different from their non-disabled counterparts that recruitment on college campuses needs to be that segregated?
Would other minorities be enthused about “separate-but-equal” on-campus recruiting?
Isn’t separate recruiting on campus working counter to the drive many of us have to work and thrive in the mainstream?
Are we passing up an opportunity to inform everyone gathered at mainstream recruitment events about how we can carry out the responsibilities of a job with the help of often simple adjustments or accommodations?
This week’s discussion is this:
What do you think about separate-but-equal recruiting efforts on campus for students with disabilities?
Posted by Jim Hasse at 06:17 PM | Comments (7)