The Job Interview

By Veronica Leonard

A job interview is like an old-fashioned courtship: one party offers a name, financial security and fringe benefits, and the other offers abilities, personality and loyalty. If the chemistry is right, they will make music -- or widgets -- together.

So there I was, in the middle of this marvellous courtship dance of potential employer/employee; metaphorically speaking, the violins were playing, the candles were flickering and he was about to utter those magical words, "I want to hire you"... when I, with indecent haste, decided to bare it all.

"I think there is something you need to know about me. I’m visually impaired. I cannot drive and I will need a larger monitor for my computer screen."

I am not so "visually impaired" that I could not see the impact of my words. In an instant, the interview had ended and the interviewer was searching for a polite way to get me out of the room.

Why did I do this?

Of all people, I should know better. I teach interview skills to unemployed people for a living. I routinely tell clients that, while you should never lie at a job interview, you do not have to tell all. There are positive ways to answer questions about your weaknesses:

"I think that, because of my background, I see things from a different perspective compared to many of my co-workers."

"I tend to tune out office gossip and focus my attention on the job at hand."

"I am not a clock watcher. I will work overtime to get a job done properly."

"I have had to rely on computers a great deal in the past, so I am often the office expert."

In other words, turn a weakness into a strength, stay positive and don’t allow negative thoughts to enter the interviewer’s mind.

Unfortunately, the negative thoughts are often in our own minds, not the interviewer’s. We want to avoid any unrealistic expectations. We feel obligated to map out the parameters of our abilities in advance, despite this honesty routinely backfiring. It is not the disability that scares off the employer, it is the fact that we need to tell them, holding it up to them like a bulletin board on which every future excuse will be pinned.

In reality, there are no perfect workers out there. Everyone has some sort of physical, social or psychological hurdle to overcome. I have worked with people whose weaknesses run the gamut from alcoholism to xenophobia.

Instead of worrying about our personal shortcomings, we need to go into a job interview concentrating on the requirements of the job and the strengths and strategies we bring to the position.

This point was brought home to me by an impressive client who is blind, who visited me the other day to prepare for a job interview. She walked into my office with confidence, relying on her guide dog and my good manners to get her where she needed to be.

She had graduated from a degree program that is rigorously selective in its entrance requirements; she had worked in a number of businesses to build up her experience; and she had been self-employed for the past five years. She now had the opportunity to take on a supervisory position with a government agency. As she had accomplished so much, I never doubted that she could do the job, until she brought up the problem that was worrying her.

"How can I persuade them I can do the job, when I cannot see the employees I am supervising?"

I know MY supervisor has never watched me do anything. He seems to spend a lot of time writing reports, going to meetings, strategizing, budgeting, scheduling, facilitating and occasionally sitting in my cubicle with a mug of coffee and mentoring.

By defining the role of a supervisor as mentor and team leader, it was easy to assess her strengths in this area in terms of her education and previous work. Without focusing on the disability, she would explain her approach to a task, and, in doing so, answer questions that an interviewer might be afraid to ask.

"I use a talking computer system to write my reports and do my scheduling. This is a tool that has benefited my sighted co-workers in the past as well, as it is easier to detect errors through listening rather than reading.

"If you are not already computerized, I have been informed by the employment centre that a grant of up to $10,000 can be made available to set up this equipment for me. Until this can be arranged, I would be pleased to bring in my own system."

The disability has become a non-issue, and my client has subtly reassured them that hiring her could have some positive benefits to the unit.

Like everything else we do, job hunting requires the preparation of a strategy for success. Find out in advance what technology, services and special funding is available from your support agency or employment centre. Get a copy of the complete job description and know how you will approach the position.

If your disability is socially invisible and you know you can do the job, do not feel you must mention it at the interview. Wait until the job is offered to you, and bring up the financial assistance programs at the same time.

If you have an obvious disability, don’t mention it on your resume, but let the potential employer know about it in matter-of-fact terms when being scheduled for an interview: "Would someone meet us in the lobby, as my guide dog and I have not had the opportunity to pace out the building?" or, "Your building is, of course, wheelchair accessible?" This will give the employer the chance to prepare for the interview with an open mind.

The disability is not the issue, the ability is. Let the courtship begin!

(Veronica Leonard is a freelance writer and an Employment and Insurance Officer with Human Resource Development Canada. She lives in Port Elgin, New Brunswick.)