Hearing Loss LIVE! sits down and talks about that next job interview and the big question, to disclose you have a hearing loss or not.
We can't answer that for everyone as it is different for each individual, but Michele and Chelle will talk about what's worked in the past.
Julia will bring in a perspective that she'd like employers to adopt a more wholistic approach when it comes to offering individuals with a disabilities a chance for a successful interview.
Video of this Podcast can by found on our YouTube page. If you subscribe you get early access to our video each week.
Hearing Loss LIVE! sits down and talks about that next job interview and the big question, to disclose you have a hearing loss or not.
We can't answer that for everyone as it is different for each individual, but Michele and Chelle will talk about what's worked in the past.
Julia will bring in a perspective that she'd like employers to adopt a more wholistic approach when it comes to offering individuals with a disabilities a chance for a successful interview.
Video of this Podcast can by found on our YouTube page. If you subscribe you get early access to our video each week.
Hearing Loss LIVE!
Talks job interviews.
Julia: Hello.
Good morning.
Good afternoon.
Welcome to Hearing Loss LIVE!
Today, we are going to talk about job interviews.
We hope you get some information and tips
to help you maybe with that next interview
coming up if you've got one and if you've
got some you didn't think we touched on, we'd
be happy to hear from you as well.
I kind of take a different angle.
I'm hearing, I did some time in human resource
and operations management.
I kind of looked at it from the employer aspect.
A couple of things came at me.
One, do you offer a day for those with hearing
loss to come in and interview where you could
have CART available?
You might want to look into that, especially
if you're one of those companies that's offering
a day where somebody can sign up with a sign
language interpreter, but they block out an
eight hour day of interviews and have a sign
language interpreter available or English
as a second language interpreter.
So are you offering that possibility?
Do you know about apps that can be on your
interview panels' phones?
I'm talking kind of one-on-one when I talk
about that.
If you're not doing this, maybe you should
look into it.
The reason I say this is because one of the
things I hear a lot of over the years is how
difficult life is made once somebody's employed
with a hearing loss.
They have to ask for things that they feel
they shouldn't need to ask for over and over
and over again.
I know there's some rules with ADA and compliance
for human resources.
I get that.
But my thought process being, if you're that
person whose employment has made you so nervous
to apply for a job, because the negative look
on possibly having a hearing loss, if you
are a company that says so on Tuesday, when
we do our interviews, we will have CART available
captioning and you can sign up that day to
use those services. That's an inclusive work area.
This is a place if I was looking for employment,
I would want to go work.
I know I'm going to have a company who understands
hearing loss is not one size fits all.
I can be honest right up front and comfortable
in my skin and know I'm going to be interviewing
for a job that's for me.
That's kind of my employers take another look
at how you set up your interviewing.
Is there something that can make you stand
out for people with a hearing loss.
Who would like to talk first about maybe some
comfortable interviewing ideas for people,
tips and tricks I'm going to call it.
Chelle.
Chelle:
I am going to stay with my, I think what I
said in my blog, and that is to be as confident
as possible.
I know that's hard with the hearing loss because
we're so unsure of what's said, but this is
why it's important not to fake it.
Okay.
Don't fake it.
Bad idea.
Say, I'm sorry.
I didn't hear that.
Can you repeat that or repeat the part you
heard and have them repeat the part you didn't
hear.
Do something like that.
Take charge, show that, your hearing loss
is not leading you around.
You are in charge of your hearing loss.
Sorry about that.
Julia:
Nope, you're good.
Chelle:
I've had a cold and my voice gets raspy so
I want to clear my throat sometimes and I
don't think I want to do that for our listening
members out there.
You can thank me later.
I kind of want to, even though I have my own
business here with Michele and Julia I want
to go out and try interviews with everything
that I know now and being up front.
I think I would not be up front until I was
in the interview or just before the interview.
I would request the questions being printed.
Even if I just stand there at the front desk
and read over the questions, at least I know
for sure what the questions are when I go
in and I won't mishear them.
I would want to do that.
And then I would make sure I tell the person,
I use lip reading and I need you to face me
when you're talking to me.
I would not be afraid if there was multiple
people about going closer and walking, being
near, which everyone was talking.
Just do it and I would do it to the best of
my ability.
I know that a lot of times we're already really
nervous when we're interviewing.
Lip reading can sometimes fly out the window
at that point so you have to find that relaxation
point.
it's always five to ten minutes.
After that, I'm in my space and I can work
with it.
Be upfront and be in control.
Julia:
This is Julia.
I like that.
That's good advice.
Anytime you can be in control of your look
at an interview, you are going to come across
much better in the interview.
A lot of times nowadays, especially for larger
companies, they do have a script.
I think you're right.
They have the same script because they ask
the same question to every candidate.
They do not go from anything else.
It's probably pretty easy nowadays to get
that ahead of time.
You brought up a panel and that's interesting
to me because again, this is where employers
can be ahead of the game and offer CART services
for those panel interviews.
If they have a day where the panel interview
is going to have a sign language or a second
language interpreter to do those interviews,
you should be offering a CART day, a captioning
day as well.
I say live CART for one reason.
A lot of times there's a bunch of different
languages.
There may be accents.
There may be foreign accents.
If you're going to be able to show what you
know, live CARTs going to be more than likely
your best bet.
It also brought up thought to me, there's
a lot of phone interviews right now.
Before they even bring you in this new day
and age, your first interview is on a phone.
What caption app are you going to use?
How are you going to get through that interview
and know that you've got that split second
when you're reading what's being asked of
you, if you don't have the questions ahead
of time.
Employers need to train staff to wait a little
second.
They sometimes think the connections dropped
and so there's a lot of hello, hello, hello.
Instead of just give it a second, treat everybody
the same, have the same pause.
I think that's a good employer technique actually
to instill on those your training for your
interview panels was the thought.
Michelle.
Michele:
It's really true.
Confidence level is going to play a big part
in how well you do in interviews.
When I was a young adult being called for
an interview was right up there at the top
of the most terrifying things that could happen
along with me talking on the phone.
I used to hate talking on the phone and I
wasn't confident at all.
I didn't know what my needs are because I
really hadn't owned my hearing loss by then.
I just didn't know.
I came across kind of wimpy probably in interviews.
I lipread and I'm a good lipreader.
I did pretty well with just that.
But, I can't say that I was a real confident
person in an interview situation, but life
happens and you learn things about yourself.
And later on, when my kids were all in school
and I started back working again, I got a
few different jobs actually though my preschool
job, I actually was a temp or I can't think
of what it's called, a substitute teacher.
My son was in preschool and they needed substitutes
so I volunteered.
I always said yes, when somebody asked me,
which was very surprising to everybody, but
I learned a lot in that job.
And then after my son went to school, they
hired me.
They asked me if I wanted to work there.
I didn't really interview for that job, but
that job taught me a lot.
I found a look at my hearing loss very differently
because I saw in some ways how my hearing
loss was an advantage.
The different ways that I communicate was
an advantage.
The kids who didn't have clear speech, sometimes
I could communicate with them better than
a hearing person, because I'm a pretty flexible
communicator.
The same thing when I interviewed for a caregiving
job, I had a little bit more confidence having
worked teaching preschool for seven years
and realizing that I had some good skills
because of my hearing loss.
There were a lot of residents who were stroke
victims and didn't have clear speech or no
speech at all and I had no problem communicating
with them just because I'm such a visual communicator.
Those two jobs really helped me build a lot
of confidence up.
I think now when I go into an interview, I
exude a lot more capability.
I show them that I'm capable.
It's a big plus, if you can partner with your
state's career workforce if you're looking
for work because they will put you in touch
with the deaf, hard of hearing services divisions
in your state if you have one and those two
offices can work as an advocate with you.
If there are duties in a job that you're applying
for, that the employer might be worried that
you might not be able to perform them, you
actually can use those two offices as an advocate
and they will help you let the employer know
about equipment or anything that is going
to help you perform that job.
That's always a plus to have somebody else
on your side when it's just you advocating
for yourself.
Sometimes that's not enough.
You need other people there with you.
It has more impact when you have coadvocates.
I'm just looking at my notes here.
I've lost my train of thought.
The big thing is defining your needs, actually
becoming more educated about your hearing
loss, more knowledgeable about it.
Those are the things that are going to make
you come across as more capable.
When you can present yourself in a light where
you know you're capable and you can actually
tell a person that is I interviewing what
you need confidently and in a way that's not
demanding and threatening, that's a big plus.
I've not done any interviews for jobs per
se recently, but I have worked with my career
force office in Minnesota recently and I did
a lot of you would call them phone interviews,
but during the pandemic, it all became online
video conferencing.
My placement coordinator set up a bunch of
these types of meetings to connect me with
organizations who help people with disabilities.
Many times in the Google meet sessions that
we would have, I would be educating these
people about captioning in Google meet.
They were really surprised.
They were used to using video relay service
for the deaf who use sign language and that's
great, but they had no idea about Google meet
and the automatic captions and they worked
very well.
It makes you come across as kind of impressive
when you know about your disability and you
know the tools that are out there to help
you.
That's always a plus.
I realize that people who are new to hearing
loss aren't going to have that confidence,
but it's something that you can build and
that's something that Hearing Loss LIVE!
Can help you with.
We've all been there where we lacked confidence
and couldn't define our needs.
We understand that and that's not a put down
or anything.
We've all been in that place.
We could help you with that if you're looking
for a job and you have an upcoming interview,
just contact us.
We could help you.
Julia:
Thank you, Michele.
It's Julia.
That's a really good idea.
Yeah.
I'm happy to sit down and pretend to be the
interviewer if somebody even wanted to do
a mock interview to prepare themselves.
I had a thought and I've lost it so let me
think a minute.
The thing I see most is the knowledge of,
okay, let me give an example.
Let's say you are interviewing, they know
you have a hearing loss.
If it's a company who no, they're not supposed
to say, I can't take you be because you have
a hearing loss.
We know that right.
Most of us know that I would hope in this
day and age, though there might be some companies
that still are silly.
But they know you have a hearing loss.
What do you think about if, okay, so I've
said the questions are scripted so you ask
for them ahead of time.
Sorry, I'm trying to put this thought process
together in my head to get it out of my mouth.
Try not to do my "Julia speak" here a minute.
You know the questions a little bit ahead
of time.
When you go to answer, what do you guys think
about because of my hearing loss, this challenge
is meant to me because of this.
Does that kind of make sense?
Because of my hearing loss, I'm going to listen
to you a little more closer so odds are, I'm
going to remember the conversation a little
better.
Can you spin that?
And I say spin it in not a bad way, but can
you work that into your, because it will show
that you are in charge of your hearing loss.
It's not going to be a crutch.
It's a tool to help you perform job tasks
better.
With the same thought process, are you applying
for a job where they're not going to be able
to accommodate you?
Do you know if you can get accommodations?
I would suggest before you interview with
somebody, just because they're supposed to
get you accommodations, are they going to
fit you to be your ability to do your best
job?
Does that kind of make sense?
Any thoughts on that?
Chelle:
Yes.
This is Chelle.
I would not want to work anywhere that I'm
not accepted.
If during the interview process, I get the,
okay, I'll be nice, the jerks because the
jerks don't always get it.
All right.
I've had a few in my life.
For the most part, everybody's going to be
helpful.
But if they're going to be that certain jerk,
I don't even want to be there.
I will say goodbye at that point and try somewhere
else.
Just because it's not worth banging my head
on the brick wall.
I've done it too much in the past and there's
just certain people who are not going to get
it.
They're never going to get it.
If I feel that way in the interview and they
turn me down, I would just be like, yeah,
not meant to be.
I can move on.
I think, look for employers who are open to
diversity and inclusion.
Utah, the State of Utah with Workforce services
has a job fair at the Sanderson center here two
or three times a year, I think.
They invite employers in and they have American
sign language interpreters right there because
it is deaf and hard of hearing center.
But you can also request cart.
It says so on the flyer.
But it's not just deaf and hard of hearing
people.
I see all kinds of people coming into these
interviews and you can weed through which
company is going to work with you in which
may not.
Well, I think if they're there, they're going
to work with you.
I would say, try to find these job fairs with
disability type ideas for inclusion.
That I think would be more comfortable.
You're there with a bunch of people.
You know they're open or they wouldn't be
there.
Try checking on something like that at some
point in your state.
Michele:
I saw my mic was on already.
Sorry about that.
I'll have to say, I have that thing you have
Julia.
I'd driven for 15 hours and just had a little
bit of sleep this morning.
I'm not getting what's in my head out my mouth
very well today.
There are a lot of things about people who
are hard of hearing.
It really depends on how you lost your hearing,
how long you've had a hearing loss.
People are different levels.
But I find that people who like me started losing
their hearing as a child were very good problem
solvers.
We've always had to set ourself up for success.
Even in grade school, I was making sure that
I was sitting in the right position or I needed
to know the material beforehand so I would
always do a lot of work to find things out
before.
We grew up with those skills.
We do much better when we know what to expect.
I think it would be great if interviewers
would provide you with questions beforehand
so that you could be prepared and know what
you're going to be asked.
I don't know if that's still a practice where
interviews try to like trip you up and throw
things in there.
Hopefully it's a little more fair these days,
but it would be great for people with hearing
loss or people who are visual to be able to
know what to expect to certain degree.
Now, of course I can answer questions in an
interview that are off the cuff.
I have no problem with that, but we just have
a lot of skills that our hearing loss has
helped us acquire and attention to detail.
I've had some jobs where there's a legal aspect
to the work I did and there's a legal perfection
aspect.
My attention to detail really made me have
a good aptitude for that kind of a job.
I actually was recruited for that job because
of my attention to detail.
There are things about you with hearing loss
that are absolutely good selling points with
an employer.
Give yourself credit.
When I first started interviewing as a young
adult, I think I came at it as I'm going to
be lucky if I get this job, rather than this
employer's going to be lucky if I take this
job.
You have to make that shift.
I didn't do that until I was in my late thirties.
There's just a lot of things about you.
You need to be a little introspective and
figure out what those things are and sell
yourself.
Come across as capable and any unique talents
or unique skills that you have.
That's always a good thing.
One thing in working with vocational rehab
and my placement coordinator, our first meeting
was kind of like an interview.
My vocational rehab guy knew how to help people
who were culturally Deaf, who used sign language
interpretation, but he had no clue about me.
When I went in, I sat down and I had sent
him an email telling him I was a lip reader
and all the things that he needed to do to
help me with that.
I sat down and he asked me if I needed a sign language interpreter.
And I said, well, no, thank you.
I can communicate for myself and I'm a pretty
good lip reader, but I'm going to turn on
the speech to text app on my phone because
it gives me an added more information to go
on in case I've gotten something wrong.
When I did that, he was totally impressed.
Wow, that's really cool.
They usually want to know about it and you
can explain about it.
When you do things like that, you come across
as very capable.
You come across as someone who knows what
your needs are and isn't afraid to tell people
what you need.
That's always a huge plus.
Throughout our relationship, which has spanned
years now, my vocational rehab guy and I have
worked out tons of things that if we do a
meeting in public, he met with me in a restaurant
once, which was the worst case scenario.
I told him I'm not sure that I've gotten everything
you've said so when you get back to your office,
would you please send me an email to summarize
everything that you've discussed and any action
that I'm supposed to take so that I can be
competent that I got everything and that didn't
come across as a weakness to him that came
across as someone who was knowing what their
needs were and knowing what their capabilities
were and knowing how to ask when they needed
something more.
You can apply those types of things, interview
situation and it's always going to make you
come across us more capable.
Chelle:
This is Chelle again.
I just wanted to say that I've sat in on quite
a number of interviews with the state office
and I was in the interviews a couple times,
myself, of course.
The questions are all the same.
HR will not allow you to change them.
Always the same questions.
Every person.
There should not be something just thrown
in.
Julia:
This is Julia and Chelle, I totally agree
with you, especially the larger the company,
their interview staff is going to be taught
this is the list of questions.
These are the answers you're going to write
down and they're not going to ask.
I totally agree with Michele, the interview
staff, if you go in confident with what you
need to show you can interview for this job
and you're confident in your ability, they
don't look at the disability.
They look at the ability you can bring to
the company.
I hope and hope that more employers look at
maybe some of, and I'm sorry, it's going to
get noisy here in a minute so I apologize,
the more, now I lost my train of thought.
I am on one today.
I would hope smaller employers look at bigger
employer centers and emulate how do we make
it inclusive.
Cause again, if you're not being inclusive,
you are going to leave a member of the community
out who could really be valuable on your staff.
Now, some of the smaller employers probably
might throw in a question here or there that
might be winging it.
But if you are interviewing for that type
of job, you are probably already aware that's
going to happen because it has something to
do with your degree or the type of work you
do.
You're going to have some level of comfortable
there.
If it's a company that's really, I'm going
to say tech savvy, they may not allow for
any type of interpreters due to confidentiality
and how do you handle that is a good question.
I don't know the answer, but if you're going
into those type of industries, make sure you
know what you can do to get through those
interviews.
I'd love to talk to somebody who interviews
for tech and how they maybe handle those privacy
issues because I know they become a problem
sometimes.
More thoughts?
Chelle:
Yeah.
I have more thoughts.
This is Chelle again.
I wanted to mention a couple of the other
hard hearing advantages and that was my ability
to focus on jobs.
Distractions and noises in the hallway don't
even bother me and now I just sit there and
I keep working.
I'm a very focused worker and you won't see
me socializing as much in the hallways as
a lot of other people.
Not because I don't enjoy socializing too,
but that's just kind of my work ethic also.
When we're listening to you, you can be sure
we're focusing on every word you say, and
we are listening to you.
Our mind is the not wandering because we have
to focus when we're listening.
I think that makes us better listeners as
well.
My list says, oh, the
focus look.
This is something that can be misconstrued.
Did I say that right?
I hope so.
My focus look tends to be very scrunched up
and I'm looking.
It's just my concentration look, but I look
mad.
Okay.
And I even explained this to my grandson who's
11 a couple weeks ago.
I said, I want you to be aware I'm not mad.
I'm focusing.
And he said, that's good to know nana.
But it's the same thing in interviews, but
I'm upfront about it.
I can almost see, like Michele said, I'm really
observant so I can see people's look almost
reflecting mine.
And I'm like, oh crap.
I look mean.
I will say, I want you to know I'm not mad
or anything like that.
I am just so focused on the communication
that this becomes my look.
Be upfront about that.
But I do think we're very good at listening.
Julia:
Michele.
Michele:
I just thought of another thing that people
who are hard of hearing are good at.
I mentioned how I always had to manage the
situation even from grade school, but we're
usually really good anticipators.
That factors into lip reading, but that also
factors into your job.
I've had managers and bosses who would ask
me to do something, but I've already anticipated
and I've already done it.
My bosses love that about me.
You may get a boss who maybe doesn't like
that, maybe sees that as a negative.
But in my experience, my bosses have always
loved that I can anticipate what comes next
and I just go ahead and do it to save time
and to save that going back and forth.
It's not because I'm trying to not communicate,
but I don't need to because I've already anticipated
it.
That's a huge thing.
Bosses love that.
Point out anything about yourself.
It might not have anything to do with hearing
loss, but it might.
I didn't really realize that my being such
a good anticipator was related to my hearing
loss until later.
Like I said, give yourself credit.
And again, I think the most important thing
you need to remember or is that taking control
and disclosing about your disability and what
you need right up front is so much better,
going to come across so much better than sitting
on pins and needles, waiting for the first
thing that goes wrong and then telling them,
oh, by the way, I can't hear or saying it
in those kinds of words.
When you take control and you inform in a
really intelligent way, it doesn't come as
crossed as a negative as much as if you just
sit there and wait until you actually have
to inform.
Just doing that is going to be a big thing.
Chelle:
I just love that you brought up the anticipation
bit Michele because I have always been very
good at that as well, anticipating what's
needed and thinking ahead.
I bet it is the related in part to hearing
loss because I don't want to be caught off
guard.
I'm always thinking ahead.
That is a big part of lip reading is anticipation.
I want to say we got a lip reading class coming
up real soon and we're very excited about
this because lip reading is one of my favorite
classes to teach.
Julia:
Yep.
That's the perfect thing in an interview that
you could spin.
Because of my hearing loss, I use anticipation
so a lot of times I'm already working on the
next factor to bring in and make sure so that
my communication is fluid.
That's I think what I was trying to get to
earlier.
Those are the types of things you bring them
to an interview, an employer or an interview
panel's going to be, wow.
This really will take a lot of weight off
my shoulders or the boss's shoulders because
you're going to be ready there and working.
Because of hearing loss, I come to work and
my job is to do my job.
That's what I'm here for.
I like to socialize when it's lunchtime and
all of that, but I like to focus on my job
and my hearing loss allows that.
Spinning those types of things, I really like
that.
Any other thoughts, ladies?
Well, we hope this helps you find an interview
and be able to relax a little and get that
next job.
Next week we talk with Listen Tech.
We will talk more about them.
They're a local Utah company here and they
have a new listening system.
I'm not sure what to call it, but it's a listening
system and we're going to talk to them about
it.
Look forward to our next blog and podcast
with Listen Tech.
Remember to share us.
Remember to like us.
I think that's all I've got.
Sorry.
I had to look at my calendar a quick minute.
Thanks ladies.
Everybody have a good day.
Bye.