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September 28, 2009

Manage Employer Perceptions About Your Visual Impairment

Last week, eSight member Jeff Smith gave us his approach for disclosing his visual impairment to a potential employer.

He writes:

"Thus far in my job search, I've not mentioned my visual impairment in my resume or other written documentation. I figure that ‘first contact’ information needs to focus on where I add value to the company -- experience, skills, and training which can help them do what they do ...

"When I do meet with (employers), somewhere in the conversation, (I) refer to my visual impairment in some way. I then let them know I already own most of the adaptive equipment I'd need to do the job …

"I also carry a tool with me that gives normally-sighted people an idea as to what I see, (letting) them know that I can see, even if it's different than they do …

"I usually end by telling them the vision issue has had a positive effect on my attention to detail …"

Notice how Jeff proactively manages to reveal, explain and position his visual impairment in terms that relate back to how he can help a prospective employer continue to be successful.

eSight members Amenah and Cecila also have specific recommendations for disclosing your disability to potential employers.

Amenah says:

"... My strategy is that I inform them after I have confirmed the interview -- generally the day prior to the interview itself -- that I am blind. I also prepare and give a PowerPoint presentation for the interview where I weave in the alternative skills that I use and how my skills transfer into the job itself. I have had great success with this. In fact, the first time I did it, I landed the job on the spot.

"...It really showed the hiring organization that I could present well and that I was creative about how I presented the issue as it relates to the organization. In doing the presentation, I had to do some research on the organization and learn what its priorities were."

Cecilia gets more specific:

"...If an employer responds to my resume by calling me with an appointment for an interview, I keep it short and make the appointment. The day before the job interview, I call to confirm and say, 'When I get off the elevator, which is the best way to find your office? Is it right or left? I have a visual impairment and knowing this is how I can acclimate myself.'"

Read about what Disability World’s Rob McInnes says about disclosing your disability to employers.

Check the eSight article, "Develop a Good Answer to Questions About Your Disability"

Please share your thoughts about how you can best manage the perception prospective employers have about your visual impairment.

Posted by Jim Hasse at 06:39 PM | Comments (3)

September 22, 2009

Addressing Employer Concerns About Your Disability

This summer we have been looking at ways to use social media as a job search tool. We have also discussed ways to use it as a marketing tool for those of us interested in self-employment.

We are approaching National Disability Employment Awareness Month (October) and now have an opportunity to use social media as a tool to educate employers about the benefits of hiring individuals who happen to have a disability.

Disability Mentoring Day, which this year will take place on Wednesday, October 21, 2009, is yet another way we help employers to change their perception when they open their doors for participants to explore career paths, learn interviewing skills and job shadow for a day.

Here are two eSight resources worth revisiting to help
us prepare for October:

Let's share our thoughts for helping employers become
more aware of their unwarranted disability concerns by
replying to this week's discussion question:

How do you help prospective employers see past your visual impairment so they can focus on your abilities, skills and knowledge?

Then in October we will use Social media to share your
ideas and together begin to engage employers and
hiring managers in meaningful discussion.

Posted by Jim Hasse at 01:18 PM | Comments (1)

September 14, 2009

Who Can Best Use Your Creativity?

As you continue to refine the focus for your new small business, think of broad issues within our economic and political system which are important to you.

What skill, experience or insight do you have that is valuable to those who are presently working within those sectors which, you believe, need reform?

Honest answers to that question will help you identify a demand for what you can offer as well as an issue that will truly motivate you and propel you to success.

You can identify that demand and confirm your motivation by actively participating in social media networks. Social media networks are your "playground" for doing some serious secondary research about what your small business should offer before you commit to your venture's complete game plan.

You can integrate our society's need, your personal skill and your self-motivation into a social network research project that you can conduct for yourself.

Here are six examples of how to do that.

  1. Education

      Society's Need

      How do we help children (and adults) jump from the sequential learning patterns of the past to a synergy in learning that is more appropriate in a world that is exploding with knowledge in unpredictable ways?

      Personal Skill

      Do you have teaching experience? Have you transferred those skills to online eLearning?

      Self-motivation

      Do you enjoy helping others learn new things and improve themselves?

      Use of Social Networking

      Join, listen and participate in a LinkedIn group about educational issues. That will help you learn about 21st. Century educational methods and how you can build a business around the needs of those in the forefront of educational reform.

  2. Political Campaigns

      Society's Need

      How do we develop a framework for political campaigns in the U.S. that is not based on the financial contributions of those who want to influence legislative outcomes?

      Personal Skill

      Do you have blogging experience? Have you volunteered to work on a political campaign?

      Self-motivation

      Do you enjoy working with others on a public policy issue? Is campaign finance reform important to you?

      Use of Social Networking

      Use Facebook to identify neighborhood groups in your area that you can join in person to work on this issue. That could help you identify needs that could develop into a small business for yourself.

  3. Health Care

    Society's Need

    How do we use what we have learned in building teams and maintaining effective communications between shifts in manufacturing operations and use those same skills to improve patient care involving multiple shifts of caregivers?

    Personal Skill

    Do you have a medical background? Do you have team building and supervisory skills gained from business or volunteer experience which called for effective interpersonal communication? Can you teach or coach others to use those skills in a medical setting?


    Self-motivation

    Are you excited about showing medical personnel how effective communication can improve patient care?


    Use of Social Networking

    Use LinkedIn to form relationships with nurses and others directly involved in patient care to discover where they think the major stumbling blocks to excellent patient care lie. Use that insight to build your consulting/training business.

  4. Energy

      Society's Need

      How can we reduce our carbon footprint fast enough to avoid the natural and economic calamities that global warming, if unchecked, will cause?

      Personal Skill

      Do you have the scientific background to understand and explain the issues involved in developing clean energy?

      Self-motivation

      Do you believe developing clean energy is a priority for our time? Does the prospect of helping people find ways to reduce their carbon footprint really raise your interest?

      Use of Social Networking

      Build a following of like-minded folks about clean energy by using StumbleUpon to share interesting sites and articles about reducing the carbon foot print of humankind.

      Use your following to identify information needs that you can fulfill through a monetized blog or web site about global warming issues.

  5. Finance

      Society's Need

      How can we devise a workable system of checks and balances within our world-wide financial system so that it will continue to spur innovation and, at the same time, discourages self-destructive behavior that eventually harms everyone in every nation?

      Personal Skill

      Do you have financial experience or an educational background in finance? Do you understand how individuals in most financial sectors view the issue of regulation?

      Self-motivation

      Do you enjoy helping others understand financial issues?


      Use of Social Networking

      Join, listen and participate in a LinkedIn group about financial regulation issues. If you don't find such a group, form one of your own. You might find a need for a paid online newsletter about financial regulation that you can develop.

  6. Journalism

      Society's Need

      How can we save the probing, investigative journalism that is so essential to self-governance when it is rapidly collapsing in the U.S. due to outmoded business models for supporting the function within the major corporate media?

      Personal Skill

      Do you have a background in journalism? Do you write well? Do you know how to help an organization gain online visibility through social networking?

      Self-motivation

      Do you believe saving journalism as a craft is going to be one of the most important issues for our society during the next five years?

      Use of Social Networking

      Use Twitter Search to identify journalists who are involved in finding a workable business model for journalism. Listen to them. Identify associations (including non-profits) which are working on this issue. Evaluate the potential of becoming a core independent contractor for one of these organizations, working as a "social networking facilitator."

Note that each of these six small business concepts (and the online research to initially test their viability) are "visually impaired friendly." Most of the work involved can be done from your keyboard.

What other small business ideas would benefit from "social networking" research?

Posted by Liz Seger at 06:48 PM | Comments (1)