[humanser] JOBS

Fri Jan 2 10:59:10 UTC 2009

Congratulations!
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ronit Ovadia" <rovadia82 at gmail.com>
To: "Human Services Mailing List" <humanser at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 01, 2009 5:04 PM
Subject: Re: [humanser] JOBS


> 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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