[humanser] for Lisa Fwd: Job and job interview preparation

Tue Apr 14 13:47:25 UTC 2015

About your other concerns.

About traveling:  I reply that I traveled her in a timely manner and like 
being punctial.
About paperwork:  I don't especially like paperwork, however I am always 
most comfortable when I am doing it fully and promptly;  that it bothers me 
to have things hanging over my head.
About how I might go about my job as a blind person:  I have been successful 
as a student and in many other areas of my life.  All of us are always 
adjusting to changing circumstances and I have done so with my blindness. 
One of those ways is to be a positively contributing member of a treatment 
team.

As you see, I do not avoid blindness, but neither do I focus on it.  For the 
interviewer is interested in my work ethic, ability to work in a team, and 
my professionalism.

-----Original Message----- 
From: Hooper, Robert M. via humanser
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2015 3:14 PM
To: humanser at nfbnet.org
Subject: [humanser] for Lisa Fwd: Job and job interview preparation

The below message is the original post.

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Hooper, Robert M." 
<hooper.90 at buckeyemail.osu.edu<mailto:hooper.90 at buckeyemail.osu.edu>>
Date: April 13, 2015 at 11:03:43 AM EDT
To: "'humanser at nfbnet.org<mailto:humanser at nfbnet.org>'" 
<humanser at nfbnet.org<mailto:humanser at nfbnet.org>>
Cc: "Social Sciences List 
(social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org<mailto:social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org>)" 
<social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org<mailto:social-sciences-list at nfbnet.org>>
Subject: Job and job interview preparation

Hello list(s):

First, a logistical prefatory note: I am writing this message to both the 
Human Services NFB list and the Social Sciences NFB list in order to solicit 
advice from as wide a pool of wisdom as possible, so thanks for your 
indulgence and my apologies for the duplicate emails, for those of you who, 
like me, are subscribed to both lists.

I am currently a fifth year student at The Ohio State University, graduating 
this May with a degree in Psychology-I have also studied neuroscience. 
During my frantic scrambling to assemble something like a proper life after 
graduation, I was offered an interview at North Central Mental Health 
Services in Columbus for a position as Case Manager. Although I have had 
plenty of experience in research labs, volunteering at various summer camps, 
fund-raising, etc. I have never had a job nearly as relevant to my field (it 
is my ambition to become a professional clinical counselor). I have some 
ideas about what I would be doing as case manager-it is the prospect of 
actually interacting with clients that I find so appealing about the job. It 
is my intention that I gain some work experience before I reapply to 
graduate schools, in order to strengthen my application and prospects-this 
job would fulfill that requirement spectacularly. However, I have some 
concerns about the position and interview process. It is my understanding 
that case managers do a lot of traveling-mainly to visit clients and such. 
This would be the biggest hurtle to employment-and quite a frustrating one, 
as the act of slipping keys into an ignition and using my feet, hands, and 
eyes to pilot hundreds of pounds of metal about the city is entirely 
unrelated to the skills required to be a good employee in my chosen field. 
Have any of you had jobs as a case manager? What was the everyday experience 
like, and did you have to creatively get past any travel requirements? If 
so, how did you manage this, and were your employers and colleagues 
supportive, cooperative, and understanding in these matters? I'm looking for 
any input whatsoever, so don't feel compelled to limit your responses to the 
parameters of my hastily written questions.
In addition, what have you found to be the "best" ways to handle the 
inevitable blindness-related interview questions, both generally and the 
travel-specific ones? I want to focus on the things I can do, not the things 
I can't-so rather than just saying, "Um, yeah, I can't really drive so..." I 
would like to be proactive with my approach to providing solutions, 
especially for the travel component. I should note that I was offered an 
interview after speaking to an HR coordinator at a career fair-in fact, I've 
met her previously, as she did my BCI and FBI background check and 
fingerprinting for a volunteer position at the suicide prevention hotline, 
which North Central operates. She didn't seem overly concerned about the 
travel component, seeming to dismiss it with the air of "Oh, we'll work 
something out," so this gives me the impression that they will be receptive 
to suggestions-that is, I don't feel as strongly on the defensive as I 
otherwise might. Nevertheless, my experience with the brutal competition of 
graduate school (and life, generally) has left me jaded and skeptical about 
all things related to the job market, so I am inclined to thoroughly prepare 
for this interview. I would love your experience, advice, soapbox rants, 
blog entries, novels, essays, musings, research, guidance, and any other 
fathomable piece of rhetoric or verbiage you can muster with regards to this 
topic. As I stated before, feel free to mention anything you feel is 
relevant-my questions are a product of my concerns and inexperience, so 
doubtless I have left out something. Also, as a final aside, I believe that 
I will be required to do some record keeping. Having seen some 
less-than-optimistic posts on the subject of such on these lists, will this 
be another one of those frustrating problems whose prevalence costs us as 
blind people the respect and equality of consideration engendered by the 
lack of accessibility standards? Thanks for reading this post, and I look 
forward to (hopefully) officially joining the ranks of those in the Human 
Services field.
Regards,
Robert Hooper
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JD Townsend LCSW
Helping the light dependent to see.
Daytona Beach, Earth, Sol System 