[nabs-l] If or where to include center training on a job application.

[Jedi]

I think it depends on how relevant the training is to what you're 
doing. If you're applying for a food service job, adding your training 
with emphasis on your home ec course is a great idea. just talk about 
what you did in that home ec course that would impress an employer: the 
meal for eight and forty, the complicated recipes from scratch, the 
various types of cookery methods, etc. If you're applying for a 
computer job, talk about the computer course: your Word training, your 
training with PowerPoint and Excel, your training with the internet and 
social media. If it's a job related to people, you might talk about 
your contributions to Seminar if appropriate. Or talk about any 
mentoring you've done while in training. You get the idea. This will 
hlep you discuss the relevant content of your training in a concise 
manner. So for the food service job, you might say something like this:

BLInD Inc. 2010
Took non-visual home economics course
baking from scratch, pan and deep frying, barbecueing; prepared and 
served a restaurant quality meal for eight; prepared and served a 
buffet-style meal for forty; researched recipes from books, the 
internet, and word of mouth.

For the computer job.

BLIND Inc. 2010
Intense training in microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, the Internet, 
and social media; studied the basic hardware components of a desktop 
machine; created a braille restaurant menu using Microsoft Word and a 
braille translation program.

For the people job.

BLIND Inc. 2010
Intense blindness training including peer mentoring and support; 
participated in a weekly diswcussion group on blindness and its role in 
our lives; used the group discussion to assist others in coping with 
blindness; participated in a peer mentoring program in which 
experienced training participants assist newcomers in adjusting to 
training; now spend time discussing the role of BLIND Inc training in 
my life to potential participants

In each of these examples, experiences are listed in a way that jives 
with what employers want out of their employees. How you actually word 
what you want to say will depend on the job description. Good luck.

Respectfully,
Jedi
Original message:
> Cindy,

> The only way you can begin to answer this is to ask yourself what you
> would want to see if you were hiring someone with an 11-month gap in
> their resume. Put yourself in the employer's situation. How would you
> want a potential employee to handle this?

> Let's assume that attending a training center for blindness skills is
> not something an employer or HR manager understands or wants to see on
> a resume. In this situation, there probably is NOT a short way to
> convey that you went to a great center and learned great skills.
> You're going to have to get innovative and creative.

> You said you could not have worked very much if given the opportunity
> while living at BLIND, Inc., but I disagree. I'm sure you've gained
> some transferable skills during the past 11 months even if not in an
> office setting. Does BLIND Inc. require their students to do some sort
> of community service activity during their training? If not, and you
> didn't volunteer or become active in the community during your year of
> training, maybe you held a position in the NFB's student division. You
> can work with this experience to fit a resume and show recent
> experience. For example, under "Work Experience," you might list
> "President" or "Secretary, Association of Blind Students." Then you
> can use bullet points to show, not tell, what you did: "Developed a
> website for students to interact with others." "Increased
> participation by 55% through Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Email
> postings." "Researched venues and helped plan a three-day conference
> in San Diego." You get the idea. You only need mention blindness in
> passing here, and this does not automatically indicate that you are
> blind yourself. Instead, this show's that you've been actively doing
> something during the past 11 months and counts as experience without
> mentioning blindness training. You may have to rework the headings a
> little on your resume to make this fit, but this fill's a gap in your
> resume. You never want giant gaps in a resume, but it's possible to
> fill gaps with something relevant, even if that something seems
> irrelevant or far-fetched to you.

> I think you dismissed the cover letter too soon. Your cover letter
> narrates your resume in more detail and can be used to tell a story
> about something you might not otherwise want to discuss. Your cover
> letter can address your qualifications for the position and your gap
> in employment at the same time. Depending on the organization, the
> company culture, the responsibilities of the position and the person
> most likely to read your resume, your cover letter can (briefly)
> mention blindness training and how increased training and confidence
> will help you adequately meet the expectations of the position.

> Don't just tell them you went for blindness training. Explain to them
> that you made the decision to learn quality travel skills as a blind
> person because you understand this job requires extensive travel and
> that your training taught you to independently and efficiently
> navigate airports, train stations and hotels without vision. This can
> be tricky and it's more likely to work with small organizations rather
> than large corporations, but it is not impossible to show in your
> cover letter that attending a blindness training center helped you
> identify and develop skills needed for the job. If you're working with
> an online application system that does not allow you to upload
> supplemental documents, weaving blindness training into the body of
> your cover letter and not including it on your resume might be your
> best option. Your resume can highlight your volunteer experience
> you've held during the past year and your cover letter can touch on
> the blindness training. Also, reconsider your use of supplemental
> documents at all. Why do you think they're necessary? If I were an HR
> manager, I'd rather someone creatively demonstrate their work gap or
> disability without asking me to slog through additional information.
> If resumes and cover letters spend only a few moments in front of
> someone, how much time and attention do you honestly think additional
> and unnecessary documents are going to receive?

> The bottom line is to avoid the blindness training as much as
> possible, not only because blindness can be a hindrance when finding a
> job, but because BLIND Inc., unlike your university education,
> probably has nothing to do with the job you are applying for. If you
> feel like you can't avoid the center because you didn't gain any other
> experience during your year of training, creatively work your training
> into the cover letter or resume by either explaining how your training
> helped you develop skills for the job or by explaining what you did
> during training that kept your skills relevant and up-to-date. If none
> of this works, or if you think the organization would be receptive to
> your training, you could fully disclose your training and boldly
> discuss how you maturely recognized the need to gain total proficiency
> in blindness skills so you could effectively handle all the
> responsibilities of the job.

> These same types of suggestions are used by students who travel abroad
> after school. If they don't write travel blogs and stories or actually
> volunteer internationally, they can modify their experience to fit a
> resume: "Developed budgeting and planning skills while interacting
> with citizens from over a dozen foreign countries." "Cultivated
> language and communication skills through contact with people around
> the world." The idea is to be sincere and completely honest while
> showing creativity and initiative. The difference is that blindness
> comes with a negative stereotype and travel usually does not. But you
> can make this work. You just might need to brainstorm to figure out
> how.

> Brice

> On 7/20/12, Cynthia Bennett <clb5590 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I am currently job searching and running into a quandary.

>> If a stranger looked at my resume, it would appear that I ended work
>> in August of 2011, and that I have not worked since. When in reality,
>> from September to April, I was attending BLIND, Inc. and could have
>> not worked very much even if given the opportunity.

>> Sharing the blind thing before appearing at an interview has always
>> been a tossup for me. I always love giving my first impression in
>> person so I have more control over the first impression than allowing
>> some HR assistant’s mind to marinate in all of the possibilities of
>> bad stereotypes only to throw my application out because of some
>> “excuse.”

>> But I am starting to think that maybe this gap on my resume is hurting
>> me more than including blindness training as a part of my education.
>> But therein lies another problem. I do not have nearly enough space on
>> my resume to properly explain blindness training. I have included
>> supplemental documents sometimes. If I feel it is appropriate for a
>> certain job, then I go ahead and divulge it. I provide a plethora of
>> information and give the website and contact information if they are
>> so inclined to learn more. I definitely do this when gaps in
>> employment require explanation.

>> But right now, I am working with an online application with no place
>> to upload a supplemental document. There is just one place for a
>> resume, and in my cover letter, I want to focus on the job
>> qualifications rather than explain 8 months of unemployment. Normally,
>> I would submit my application and be done with it, but as I keep
>> submitting more and more unanswered applications, I am always
>> wondering what I could be doing better.

>> Thoughts?

>> If there is a short way to convey that I went to a great center and
>> learned great skills, what is it?

>> I know that we could go on for volumes about whether blind people are
>> still discriminated against in the workplace, good job finding
>> strategies, etc. but I would appreciate if direct replies to this
>> message pertained to the question at hand and that emails regarding
>> other blindness and job related issues be introduced with another
>> subject line.

>> Thanks.

>> Cindy


>> --
>> Cynthia Bennett
>> B.A. Psychology, UNC Wilmington

>> clb5590 at gmail.com
>> 828.989.5383

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> --
> Brice Smith
> North Carolina State University, Communication - Public Relations
> Brice.Smith319 at gmail.com

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