« Ross’s Disillusionment | Main | Handling Over-protection While at Work »
October 22, 2008
Learning From Judy's Journey
I'd like to tell you about Judy.
When she moved to San Francisco 15 years ago, Judy
started volunteering for a local computer non-profit,
Frisco PC, which had 4,000 members (all volunteers).
Her background was not in computers. She was a public relations officer for the Navy before she began losing her eyesight due to retinitis pigmentosa. She had a degree in journalism.
She started writing for the non-profit’s 64-page
monthly magazine, began an Internet Special Interest
Group (when the public Internet was just kicking off)
and volunteered to design the group's web site. She
also ended up giving talks about the group to local
civic organizations.
Judy managed to implement quite an extensive job
search campaign while she carried out her volunteer
assignments for Frisco PC. She added every new
volunteer task she completed for Frisco PC to her
resume.
She may not have realized it at first, but she was
gradually honing essential on-the-job skills and
gaining experience in the civilian job market. And she
was learning how to frame her civilian experiences so
prospective employers could easily evaluate them in
addition to her accomplishments in the Navy.
Judy admits that she felt discouraged because she
couldn’t seem to get beyond the first interview for
the open jobs she targeted in her job hunt. She found
her visual impairment was more of a barrier than she
at first thought it would be.
Yet, in the process, she also realized at least six
things about how to make her volunteer experience
meaningful in the civilian job market.
First, her work in the Navy was, in some cases, not as
important as what she had done as a volunteer in
showing that she had the necessary skills for the jobs
she targeted.
Second, it was important to show she was taking full
advantage of her volunteer opportunities to develop
these less "trainable" expectations of prospective
employers: reliability, cooperation, punctuality,
focus, organization and collaboration.
Third, she learned it’s the work -- not the industry
-- that counts on a resume. It didn’t matter where she
got her experience.
Fourth, by volunteering, she was showing prospective
employers that she was a self-starter and valued work
-- and that she was self-motivated and committed.
Fifth, it was important to identify job titles that
most closely reflect the work she did as a volunteer
and to describe the work as she would for a "real"
job.
Sixth, during a job interview, it must be apparent
through her narrative that her volunteer experience
had prepared her for the job at hand.
Two years after Judy first started volunteering for
Frisco PC, the non-profit’s public relations director
left for another job, and Judy applied for the
position.
Judy felt she was ready for the opportunity. And she
was right. She got the job.
For more about managing your career journey when you
have a visual impairment, see the following two eSight
articles.
"How I Dealt With my Sight Loss at 52" by Jeremiah
Taylor.
"You Don't Vision to Focus!" by Nan Hawthorne.
Please join this week's discussion by replying to this question:
Which step in Judy's career journey is most
instructive for you as you seek meaningful employment?
Add your comments to this posting
Posted by Jim Hasse at October 22, 2008 10:44 AM
Comments
As we've seen with Judy's case, her using her volunteering opportunities to the max,helped her hone her skills and give her essential work experience outside her Navy background.
Becoming disabled later in life can be more hard than having a disability from birth or even acquiring one in early childhood.
However after going through the mourning process and people who acquire disabilities later in life do indeed mourn the acquisition of a disability, like Judy they need to go out and emphasize their strengths and experience, either volunteering or part-time or full-time work. They mustn't sit home and just vegetate.
Heard on the Today show this morning (October 22nd) that most people dismiss their strengths and concentrate more on their weaknesses, which is the exact opposite of what a person with a disability or anyone should do.
Attitude and self-esteem control almost everything you do or think about in your life. It affects how you view you, how you view the opportunities or lack of opportunities in the world , how you view society's reactions to disability.
Judy became proactive and did everything she could to enhance herself and self-esteem, by offering to be of service and volunteer and it paid off in the end.
Posted by: Liz S at October 22, 2008 01:20 PM
Judy's case is a perfect example of how one should not give up in life and continue walking down the road of life, as the destination is bound to come, sooner rather than later. It highlights the need to be proactive in whatever one does and look at the strengths rather than weaknesses. If we ourselves do not focus on our strengths, than who will? Most of the times employers refuse to look at our strengths, even if a fully abled person is incompetent than us in performing a given job. It is our duty to remove this misconception about us regarding our level of competence from the employers mind and treat us with equal dignity, respect and courtesy as any other fully abled person. There is a urgent need to harness our skills in the right direction.
Posted by: Arun at October 23, 2008 04:00 AM