[Social-sciences-list] Schedule A hiring Authority

[Peter Wolfe]

Hey Martin,


    I'm going to have to keep you with your word on helping us with
additional information on the hirign process with the federal
Government! The problems with any VR client is that there are tons of
resources that VR Counselors don't know anything about and each
nonprofit safeguards for their own network of preferable clients.
Leaving as a result the vast majority in the cold with no where for
answers on that success. Another major deficiency is not having
adaquate internships or proper communications of accessibility like
The Washington Center not informing me of the exact screen reader
application that was availible that they didn't even know for me or
another Washington State University student for that matter. All that
is appalling and quite honestly shameful in my eyes as a future
government worker.

    Secondly, you know another problem facing the blind is a skill and
compitency gap that I've seen as well in the U.S. Lots of blind people
are turned away as nontraditional college students. At E.H Gentry in
Talladega, Alabama that much of the staff didn't think that learning
math braille e.g. Nemeth Code was up my ally because of not learning
it earlier. This limited me from a field in computer science just
cause I wasn't born blind and actually this happened as well for the
School for the Blind as well. So, I had to take a GED over a high
school diploma that is just a small example of corruption in the
system. So, I graduated with only knowledge of Window-Eyes that isn't
used that much and wasn't reassessed nor are thier avenues of
alternatives of learning courses on assistive tech online by companies
or anybody for that matter. Its all to me a joke anymore and am
surprised that the unemployment level isn't higher than it is now.


    Lastly, what I think this boils down to are multiple factors of
level of vision, economic class, year of blindness, rehabilitation
quality and social networking. People can argue but upward mobility is
decreasing in the western hemisphere at an alarming rate like
education outlook is artificial as well and not for a want of trying
either for that matter. I've always strived to be middle class but am
given incompetent government bureaucrats that are lazy, corrupt and
just rubber stamp agreement specialist. Where did the word counselor
leave the VR mantra? This is what is missing in this picture, so the
poor do without cause of this ineptness and are ultimately blamed for
falling threw the cracks. Lastly, I feel the same with my advisors on
campus with their inane generalizations and lack of cooperation with
career counselors as well.


Thanks,
Peter

On 8/6/13, Vincent Martin <vincent.martin at gatech.edu> wrote:
> Paul,
> I wrote it.  Getting an education and becoming competent enough to do your
> job is just the first part of going to work.  The rest of it involves so
> much more that is not normally conveyed in the rehabilitation process.  I
> was just talking to a member of the Association for Computing Machinery and
> the data now is showing that in Computing, a full forty percent of jobs are
> not even advertised to the general public.  Many companies are now relying
> on the network of their internal employee structure to vet potential hires.
>
> In the past twenty years, I have seen the Schedule A hiring authority and
> other methodologies be used to the benefit of people with disabilities, but
> only when all parties are apprised that it does exist and know how to
> implement it.  I have a mentee who just graduated from Emory University
> with
> a Master's degree in Public Health.  She also has an undergraduate degree
> in
> International Affairs.  She is in the Presidential Fellows program and is
> currently interviewing for various positions with the Centers for Disease
> Control.  Since she has Lupus, she has Schedule A hiring Authority on her
> side, but she is running into the Veteran's preference trumping it.  We, in
> this country, are putting so much emphasis on hiring Veterans in the
> Federal
> Government that we are quite good at hiring people that are not that
> qualified.  She is losing out in certain situations to Veterans that now
> have attained their Master's in Public Health from the University of
> Phoenix!  In the business world, The University of Phoenix is a bigger joke
> than it is to the general public.  I am helping her "back door" the hiring
> process by using her Schedule A hiring authority and that is done by using
> the network of people that I know that r in the position to hire her.  The
> goal is to have a position "created" that she can become a temporary hire
> for.  The can hire her non-competitively for that and then she can become a
> permanent hire after a year.
> There are three members on this list that I have been in contact with over
> the past four years in some capacity.  It is this type of network that is
> almost a necessity to obtain the edge in any chosen profession.  When I
> started to lose my vision to Retinitis Pigmentosa, Monsanto rescinded their
> job offer, because the ADA did not exist then.  I told my father at
> graduation that there was a great job for me somewhere, the conduit between
> it and I just did not exist.  I went about the process of making sure that
> this conduit was created and that it now thrives.  I even had it working
> for
> me before I even knew it existed.
> I have the distinction of having only applied to one college for
> undergraduate, Masters, and now my Ph.D.  That sounds reckless and
> irrational, but I was not remotely hesitant to approach it in that manner.
> I originally attended Georgia Tech as an undergraduate in 1982, but had
> been
> accepted the previous year under early enrollment for qualified state
> residents.  Since I had wanted to attend the school since my childhood, and
> was being actively recruited to play football, I did not even consider any
> other school.  I returned twenty-eight years after my initial enrollment
> for
> graduate school and had only applied to one school again.  I even had my
> application get caught up in the process and was not evaluated with the
> rest.  I finally found out after the school visits were over that this
> snafu
> had occurred.  I had a friend sitting next to me when I read the e-mail
> about the problem and he inquired what I was going to do then.  My response
> was that I wasn't going to do anything!  The academic advisor for the
> school
> of Psychology went into action and called my advisor about the problem.
> Since he was a personal friend, a tenured professor, and a person that we
> had collaborated with when I was a researcher at the VA, I was quite
> relaxed.  Two weeks later, I received a message saying that I had been
> accepted into the school of Interactive computing!  In early April of this
> year, I received my letter telling me that I had been officially denied
> acceptance into the Ph.D. program in Human Centered Computing.  They
> normally bring in three to four new students a year.  My advisor told me to
> disregard that crap.  Three weeks later, he told me that I had been
> accepted
> and that the school was not funding my GRA.  Mine is being paid directly by
> the National Science Foundation and it covers me for the full twelve month
> of the year.  He wants me to finish as soon as possible and this can get me
> out in three years.  I literally have only two classes left to take the
> qualifiers anyway, I just have to add the seminar classes and get a few
> more
> experiments completed before next spring.
> The most interesting that the occurred in the overall process is finding
> out
> in 2010 that the networking had started for me when I was sixteen years of
> age.  I was reading on the Wikipedia page about the Rambling Wreck mascot
> car of Georgia Tech and read about how the restoration of it was
> spearheaded
> by a Georgia Tech graduate that was the plant manager of the Ford Motor
> Company Hapeville Assembly plant.  In a few seconds, clarity came over me
> that had me laughing hysterically.  My wife thought I had lost my mind.  My
> father was one of the men that restored the car!  He was a thirty year
> employee of this plant and worked as a metal finisher.  He also was a
> carpenter and owned his own remodeling business on the side.  I was working
> for him in high school when we were roofing a house that belonged to the
> plant manager of the company.  When we were talking to him, he inquired as
> to where I wanted to go to college.  When my dad told him that I was a
> Yellowjacket and wanted to be an engineer, Pete George told him that if I
> had any problems getting, then to give him a call.  At that time, he had no
> idea that I was a straight A student, was a highly regarded four sport
> athlete, and had just been already accepted to start there after my senior
> year was completed.  We also had no idea that he was a Georgia Tech
> graduate
> and that is why Ford Motor Company had supplied the labor as its donation
> to
> the school!
>
> Getting back to Schedule A and the topic of getting hired, there are other
> ways as well that work.  I can confidently say that every job I have had
> since I was in high school was through some connection.  At one point,
> three
> jobs in a row were created just for me.  One time, I even filed out the
> application and supplied my resume after I had been hired.  Over the past
> twenty years I have gotten to know a myriad of people with visual
> disabilities and I see a pattern among the ones that are gainfully employed
> and are advancing in their careers.  I have one friend that got his
> undergraduate and Master's degrees from Princeton and Yale, but ended up
> unemployed after graduation!  He told me that he learned everything in
> school, except how to get a job!  He quickly acquired that skill and has
> been gainfully employed for many years now.
> When Arielle first proposed this list, I gladly joined.  I first got some
> information from her about how to use SPSS from the Syntax line back in
> 2009.  I had always used it with the menus, until they went JAVA crazy and
> it started to become silent.  I think that we should produce our own group
> on linked in or create our own autonomous one that we can use to network
> and
> to also assist people just getting started with the job hunt process.  We
> might even be able to provide the connection that will allow another member
> to attain a position that they did not even know was available.  I know my
> current job (thankfully ending this Friday) was secured through my
> connections at the University of Washington.  I have been working with
> Microsoft since March on a part-time basis and full-time all this summer.
> The project that I am working on will not officially end for another month
> and a half and they have decided to have me assist as much as I can
> possibly
> can once school starts.  They were so surprised to find a totally blind
> person with my background and skillset that they have compensated me
> handsomely.  Most of all, I have helped to assist in changing the design
> culture for one section of the company and have made Usability as high as a
> priority as Accessibility has been.
> Anyone that wants to contact me about the process of getting employed or
> anything else is free to do so.  I have benefited so much from the
> assistance I have received from other people with visual disabilities, that
> I just consider it as paying it forward and passing it on.  I pretty much
> maintain an eighteen hour a day cycle that I work, so I might respond to
> you
> at anytime.  I was up this morning at 3:30 am and worked until around 9:00
> am.  I think I will log back on the network around 1:00 pm.
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Social-sciences-list [mailto:social-sciences-list-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> On Behalf Of Gabias, Paul
> Sent: Tuesday, August 06, 2013 7:01 AM
> To: Blind Social Scientists List
> Subject: Re: [Social-sciences-list] Schedule A hiring Authority
>
> Who wrote this?  Very interesting!
>
> All The Best
>
> Paul Gabias
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Social-sciences-list
> [mailto:social-sciences-list-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Vincent
> Martin
> Sent: Monday, August 05, 2013 6:31 PM
> To: 'Blind Social Scientists List'
> Subject: [Social-sciences-list] Schedule A hiring Authority
>
> Peter,
> The Schedule A hiring authority is a very unique and tricky entity to use,
> but can be the most powerful one for getting a person with a disability
> hired.  Other than Veteran's preference and political appointments, the
> hiring authority is extremely powerful.  What is the most powerful portion
> of it is that it can be used to hire a person with a disability without
> competitive consideration.  That means that if a job is not advertised
> through the normal means, a hiring manager can hire a person with a
> disability and not have to even interview anyone else!  During the normal
> hiring process, if you let a hiring manager know that you are Schedule A
> eligible, that puts you in another category.  It is then up to you to
> impress the hiring authorities.  I was just at the US Census Bureau last
> week making a presentation and had a long conversation with the Diversity
> and Inclusion employee that is responsible for recruiting veterans and
> people under the Schedule A hiring authority.  I had a very good personal
> friend get recruited away from her job at the VA to go to work there and
> she
> was hired using the Schedule A hiring authority.  They flew her up to D.C.
> to interview and we don't think they even interviewed another person!
>
> When I was working for the VA as a research scientist, my supervisor used
> it
> to hire several severely visually impaired and totally blind employees.  He
> even used it to hire a Bio-medical engineer that had ADHD as well.  He was
> so sick and tired of the hiring process and how long it took to get a
> person
> hired that he thought it was more efficient to hire competent people with
> disabilities and get the projects done.  The center is the center for
> excellence for Visual and Neurological Rehabilitation now.  I will probably
> go back to the facility when I finish my Ph.D. to continue the research
> that
> he started about twenty years ago.  The primary focus is on wayfinding for
> blinded veterans and that is extremely complex.  He, and the center head
> and
> medical directors know that having competent researchers that also have the
> disability can lead to an insight that they cannot get from focus groups or
> by reading journal articles.  They are very discriminating in who they even
> remotely recruit to work there and they rarely ever post a job.  Although I
> am not officially on staff anymore (I got kicked out and pointed to
> graduate
> school, (lol), a part of my duties is to still scour the country for bright
> and intriguing students that they think will fit into the research goal for
> the future.  The US Veterans are aging at a phenomenal rate and blindness
> is
> one of the afflictions that affect many of them.  With the use of body
> armor
> and better helmets, a huge number of Veterans have returned from Iraq and
> Afghanistan with vision problems related to brain trauma and direct trauma
> to the eyes.
> Having competent researchers who are passionate about working with this
> population and who realize that so many things are necessary to make their
> lives comfortable is what the mission of the research facility is.
> Over the past few years, they have extended inquiries to three people and
> two have been members of this list.  So far, only one has come in to tour
> the place and is seriously considering making it a career choice, but the
> Schedule A hiring authority is there to be used when it is needed.  In the
> area of rehabilitation research for the VA, there is also a Disability
> research award available.  It can be used to pay the employee's salary for
> the first three years as they transition into their research role and start
> to write their own grants for their own projects.
>
> In conclusion, I would advise you and anyone else that is considering
> Federal employment to "get" to know as many hiring managers as possible.
> Be willing to look at every Federal agency and see who is the hiring
> manager
> for the Agency or for the particular facility or building you are
> considering working for.  If you get hired this way, you can have up to two
> years of probationary period, instead of the normal six month period
> though.
> You can also still become eligible to move to another job or agency after
> one year of work.  You could start as an employee in the Forestry
> department
> and get into the agency you actually want to work for in a year.
>
>
>
>
>
>>Does anyone know how the opm operates in the special hiring authority
>>with
> section a in the U.s? I'm thorughly confused by the complex machinery of
> the
> process cause of the application side of it.
> For example, applying for a job but this Hr specialist in San Fran said
> that
> "in addition" phrase that I could apply for certain job hiring authority
> for
> persons with disabilities via a certain url page that he gave me. Not even
> my VR coun selor nor any blind people till this date can fully understand
> this process, so any insight would be great of you to share with me.
>
>
> Thanks,
> Peter
>
>
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-- 
Cordially,
Peter Q Wolfe, BA
Auburn University | Cum Laude
Email: peterqwolfe at gmail.com
"If you don't stand for something you're willing to fall for anything."
-- Stand up for your rights --
Bob Marley