St.Louis Business Journal
DEAL DIRECTLY WITH KNOWN DISABILITIES WHILE JOB HUNTING

By Anna Navarro

August 2006  

Author's note: Client stories in this column are based on actual situations fictionalized to protect privacy and told with permission.

Job hunting is especially challenging for people who have perceivable disabilities or potential drawbacks to employment that are known to an employer. The issues can range from going through a messy divorce that is gossiped about, to having a stuttering problem.

The best approach in these situations is to anticipate the concerns of a prospective employer and address them directly, ideally with a touch of humor.

Often the first hurdle to be overcome is an interviewer who is too embarrassed to ask questions about your circumstances and how they affect your capacity to do the job. If you can’t get past that you run the risk of being rejected.

Moira was a junior partner in the same law firm as her husband, Jack, who was one of the firm's founders. He had a drinking problem and was having an affair with the firm’s business manager. Moira had had enough. She wanted out of the marriage and out of the firm.

She suspected her situation was widely gossiped about. She needed to figure out how she was going to deal with it in job hunting.

I advised her to call the heads of pension and benefit departments (her specialty) in other firms to ask if she could meet with them confidentially to ask for their input and advice on a career change she was contemplating. She made it clear she wasn't calling to ask for a job. Most agreed to see her.

During the meeting, she talked about her work, who her clients were, what her referral sources were.

Then she said she needed to leave her current firm for personal reasons and was there to get their advice on the situation she faced. She succinctly described Jack’s behavior and her decision to divorce him and leave the firm. She also described the custody arrangements for their two children, and Jack's agreement to pay half of the cost of their full time nanny.

She asked for their frank advice. How did they think firms would assess her strengths? Her weaknesses? Would they perceive her current situation to be a problem? If so, what were they likely to be worried about? She asked for honest feedback on her resume and for any tips they could offer her about job hunting. She closed by asking for names of recruiters they respected.

She didn't ask for a job. She focussed on telling her story, convincing the people she met that she had the situation under control and was a good lawyer with a “book of business”. Within two months she was offered a lateral move to a great firm.

Larry was a tax attorney who had a severe stuttering problem. He’d been with his firm since he clerked there. He was now convinced it was time to move on, but wasn’t sure how to deal with his very noticeable disability.

I suggested he raise the issue early in his interviews by saying: “I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that I have a speech impediment,” then he would laugh ruefully, saying “I guess it would be hard NOT to notice!

He explained briefly that his stuttering was congenital and that he dealt with it by just persisting until he got the word out, a process he was comfortable with even though it might look difficult from the outside. He said he hoped they would bear with him if it sometimes took a minute, but that the advantage was he was a man of few words!

He described the tax problems he dealt with and the clients he served. He made a point of saying that he was able to do 90% of his client communication in writing, and was very efficient. In fact, he typed faster than his secretary.

His cheerful coping and willingness to be open about his situation put his interviewers at ease, and also helped him relax. He had no problem getting hired.

Both Moira and Larry followed a similar strategy: they raised the issue interviewers might be too embarrassed to mention, and talked about what they did to keep that issue from interfering with their productivity. In the process, they got points for being frank, thoughtful and easy to talk to.

Important note: This is a great strategy for disabilities that are discernible or concerns that are known to employers. This approach should not be used for issues about which the interviewer is not likely to be aware.

Anna Navarro is the founder of Work Transitions, a nationwide career consulting firm that trains independent career strategists and consults with individual clients.

This column was originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. The actual title of the column and date in which it appeared in the Business Journal may be slightly different from what appears on WorkTransitions.com.