[humanser] JOBS

[Ronit Ovadia]

Hi Mary, JD and all,
Thanks for all your congratulations. Since many of you have asked, I'll 
summarize how my year went and how it ended with me getting a job. Be 
forewarned, this will be a rather long message. :)

I started my job search last December and went on several interviews 
between January and June. Many places I never even heard back from, and 
a few I got rejection letters. The major place I applied to during this 
period was Genzyme, a company which creates genetic tests for prenatal 
patients but also hires genetic counselors so they can contract them out 
to private doctors' offices. In the Los Angeles area where I am located, 
they have the monopoly of jobs. Almost all hospitals and doctors' 
offices use Genzyme so I was really hoping I could work there. I applied 
in March, and got called in for two interviews in May. I didn't hear 
anything for a few months and then in July, I was asked to come in to 
visit a clinic and meet a few more counselors. I felt this interview was 
positive and went well. I explained how I do things as a blind person 
and as a blind genetic counselor and they seemed to be impressed, so I 
was hopeful. Then in October, I got called in to have an interview where 
I'd be meeting with the genetic counseling manager whom I'd already met 
and an HR representative. The meeting was to discuss accommodations that 
I would use to complete my job successfully. I didn't ask them for 
anything, I just explained how I do things and again, I felt it went 
well. I had an answer for every question they put to me and I felt like 
I portrayed myself in a very positive way. I didn't hear anything for 
another couple months and then finally, after I'd followed up with them 
by email several times, a phone call was scheduled with me. I was hoping 
this would maybe be a job offer. Instead, it was the HR representative 
from the east coast who I had not met and the genetic counseling manager 
on the phone. They told me that I was not selected for the job and the 
reason was because it was determined that due to my blindness and how I 
complete tasks as a blind person, I would not be able to keep up in a 
busy clinic. This, as you can imagine, was very shocking to me and I had 
no idea what to say or how to respond on the spot. I was not prepared 
for such a blunt rejection. They basically told me that this position 
was closed to me in the future because of the way that I do things as a 
blind person. It's totally illegal but unfortunately I have nothing in 
writing. I contacted the national office about this and was told the 
same thing, that since nothing is in writing, we wouldn't get very far 
if we tried to fight it. So I decided to not fight this battle. But it 
was very crushing and I got even more discouraged after this happened, 
which was in early December.

Throughout all this time, I have been in contact with several genetic 
counselors who I job shadowed during college and had told them that if 
there was ever a job opening that they should let me know. One genetic 
counselor who I had been in contact with got back to me after a long 
while and said that there was a position open with her group and that 
she'd try to set up an interview for me. She did set up an interview for 
me and the week before Christmas, I went and met the doctor. I thought 
the interview had not gone so well because the doctor was concerned that 
I did not speak Spanish, even though she said that it seemed like I had 
figured things out as far as my blindness. I was so discouraged that I 
thought for sure this would not go anywhere. A few days later, she 
emailed me to offer me a private contractor job. This means that I would 
be paid per case that I do for her. She likes to hire her counselors 
this way so they don't complain about being overworked. I was willing to 
take anything at this point so of course I said yes. It's not the ideal 
position, and I still don't have many more details but hopefully I will 
soon. I know that I will be traveling to at least two different clinics 
and must carry all my computer equipment with me. This is not the ideal 
situation as you probably all know, since it's hard to keep a consistent 
setup when nothing is permanent. I hopefully will make it work though. I 
will also probably be needing to hire a reader, which I have never 
really done before on my own without the help of a disability office or 
dean of students office. If any of you have tips on the best ways to go 
about this, I'd love to hear them. The charts are not electronic, 
although I do think parts of them will be. I'm just planning on hiring a 
reader and even if I don't make a lot of money from this first job, it's 
experience, and that's what I really need to get my foot in the door. I 
will be seeing prenatal patients who are contemplating genetic testing 
or who have had an abnormal result on a prenatal test and I will be 
explaining those results and options to these patients. So it's a lot of 
education but also a lot of psychosocial counseling since all these 
patients will be quite anxious.

So that's my job in a nutshell and how my year went. As I get more 
details, I'll be sure to update the list. I"m waiting for the doctor to 
get back to me as far as a start date and I'm hoping I'll have a bit of 
time to hire a reader before I start.

The job search is not an easy road and I was strongly considering 
switching paths even though that's not what I wanted but I knew I had to 
get a job doing something and I was getting quite discouraged. I don't 
think I necessarily have any words of wisdom, I Think I just got lucky 
and the connection I had with the genetic counselor probably helped too. 
But it's so difficult to get in to the medical field as a blind person.

Happy new year everyone!
Ronit



JD Townsend wrote:
> Hi Ronit & All:
> 
> How exciting -- excellent news!
> 
> Please tell us about your long job search and, especially, your successful conclusion.
> 
> Inquiring counselors want to know.
> 
> JD Townsend, LCSW
> Daytona Beach, Florida, Earth, Sol System
> Helping the light dependent to see. 
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