Tapping Job Candidates Who Have Transformed Vulnerability Into Authenticity

Summary:
As a hiring manager, you look for employees who will level with you, who are problem solvers and who build valuable networks inside and outside your company. Here are some real-life examples of that type of individual.

From "Thriving in a Larger Corporate Environment"

From "Dale Carnegie"

From "Ollie" D. Cantos VII

From "Blindstorming"

From "Swimming in the Mainstream"


Comments among members of eSight Careers Network at several different levels often converge into a common impression that may be valuable for you as an employer. That happened recently with the apparent vulnerability of individuals, often evident as a "disability," and its relationship to working with authenticity in the business world.

We draw from eSight member comments within five eSight venues to illustrate this relationship between vulnerability and authenticity.


From "Thriving in a Larger Corporate Environment"

"I have found that visual impairment is often accompanied by humility, and I am no exception. Although I feel that humility is an admirable trait, it is not a prevalent corporate attribute," observes Curt Woolford, who has written a series of articles for eSight Careers Network's Career Management Resources section about thriving as an employee with a disability in larger corporate environments.

"As a visually impaired worker," Curt continues, "you must bear in mind that you are competing with colleagues who have not benefited from the character development that can accompany the rigors of living with a disability. You may be more familiar than others in your work group with the physical, emotional and psychological vulnerability of human beings."


From "Dale Carnegie"

Dale Carnegie may seem to "old fashioned" today, but taking Carnegie courses over the years has helped me to break out of my shell as a person with a disability. I still think his guideline to "express genuine appreciation to everyone you meet" is relevant. The post-Enron buzz words for the same concept: being authentic.

Being authentic in our business relationships means we need to first be comfortable with ourselves and be ready to build a future on positive memories. Here's what Carnegie says about self-acceptance:

"Be yourself! Don't imitate others! You are an original. Be glad of it. Never before, since the dawn of time, has anybody been exactly like you; and never again, throughout all the ages to come, will there be anybody exactly like you. So make the most of your individuality."

Through that kind of self-acceptance, people with disabilities are breaking into mainstream employment everyday. Those who do make that breakthrough usually have the quiet creditability that matters in today's business.

Those who are comfortable with themselves know, from first-hand experience, that vulnerability is a part of life which stimulates problem-solving ability in human beings. And problem-solving skill, combined with a recognition of the universality of vulnerability in people, can produce individuals who know how to reach out and create valuable business-generating networks for your company.

They are also the individuals who recognize they need to earn and create a niche for themselves in today's competitive workplace.


From "Ollie" D. Cantos VII

The guest speaker for this eSight Phone Conference was Olegario "Ollie" D. Cantos VII, Special Assistant to Assistant Attorney General R. Alexander Acosta in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. He provided eSight members with an excellent blueprint for avoiding isolation and changing attitudes.

"Add value to your networking contacts through displays of genuine appreciation of another's strengths," Ollie, who has been blind since birth, advises. "That builds people up," he says. And then, he adds, "help develop partnerships by matching the strengths you discover in others with needs among the people you meet."

But Ollie goes one step further. In an e-mail follow up to a question from Annette, one of the participants in the eSight Phone Conference, Ollie wrote:

"I ask that you please do whatever you can to help others in the way that I have taken the time to help you. 'Pay it forward' by being of assistance to at least three people and, in return for what you do for them, ask each of them to help still three others and to make your assistance conditional upon their promise to help at least that number."

From "Blindstorming"

Not long ago, participants in an eSight Blindstorming, also reaffirmed Ollie's premise.

For instance, Blindstormer John writes, "Networking allows for the discovery of mutual interests and concerns that are important in a work setting. It is more than just making friends. It has to do with wanting to walk together in a certain direction for a common goal."

Roger, another Blindstormer, tells this story:

"...I learned to consciously focus on ways I can be a valuable contact for those I network with. We need to control the urge to concentrate on our needs and to be of value to the contact. To extend this, a trick I learned from the past governor of Florida, is to secure the contact by follow up.

"I met this Florida governor on a flight from New York to Georgia. We talked for some 15 or so minutes; then he excused himself and took a tape recorder out of his briefcase and recorded my information. Later I received a letter about how he enjoyed our conversation on the flight. I, while on the flight, had no idea that he was the governor of Florida, and it was quite an experience to receive the letter from his office.

"This happened about 20 years ago, yet I will never forget it. Such is a great lesson for networking: Extend the connection through later contact."

Blindstormer Mike offers this problem-solving example:

"Networking with management will help them better understand what you need to better perform your job. One way in which this helped me was the problem of getting written communication to visually impaired (workers) in a timely manner.

"After networking with a sighted co-worker who read memos to the visually impaired workers, we came up with the idea of adding voice-mail boxes to the existing voice-mail system in which supervisors and other individuals could leave all important items that were normally distributed in written form.

This has worked well and is much more cost effective than producing the information in braille."

Another Blindstormer, Karen, writes:

"I stopped leading with my challenge and networked based on the career interest... (It turned out) I was the best expert on how my visual challenge might or might not impact my job choices."

From "Swimming in the Mainstream"

Contributors to eSight's "Swimming in the Mainstream" (SiM) blog had a chance to tell how they surprised others by rising above the low expectations others had for them. They shared stories about not only feeling vulnerable but also being authentic in workplace situations.

Specifically, their discussion question was this:

When have you surprised others in the workplace by rising above the low expectations they had for you?

Says Jake:

"My work and social involvement in Natural Ties was a very positive and rewarding experience for me. From the moment I received that call from my friend Dan inviting me out to lunch, I knew the experience was bound to be a good one and it was."

Natalie writes:

"I remember when I was 17 and a junior in high school and had the opportunity to attend a language camp in Bemidji, Minnesota, as my study emphasis was Spanish. My grades were very good in this subject, and attending this camp was an opportunity to further my education in this area and get college credit. I was the first person with a visual impairment to attend this camp and the only one at that time.

"All the campers and counselors were sighted, and they wondered in astonished silence how I could keep up with the curriculum and how I could take care of my personal needs... I was assertive in my communication skills, practicing Spanish and demonstrating my manual typewriter, tape recorder and talking watch.

"It didn't take but a couple days before everyone started looking at me as Natalie, not that poor, little, blind girl just being here for nothing better to do. I still keep up my Spanish practice and am quite fluent.

"I'm looking for employment in human services and (a job) in which I can use my Spanish. I like to help people, especially those with visual impairments and other disabilities."

"Upstate" admits:

"Many people have very little interest in (disabled) people. Able-bodied are having a tough time of it themselves, and this trend may continue for many years.

This is not the same nation of 15 years ago. To 'create opportunity' will mean outside of the business organization as (it) exists today."

Roger asks these probing questions for society in general:

"If we do encourage the disabled who desire to work access to education, any job they are capable of performing (and opportunity for) achieving their full potential, what modifications does society have to make?

"Do we jail potential employers who refuse to hire the blind/disabled? Do we restrict the blind/disabled access to transportation, access to information/the Internet, and isolate them into enclaves of "disabled" who survive but are considered second class citizens with limited rights?

"Do we allow the blind/disabled to actively participate in deciding their careers, educational pathways, lifestyles, quality of life, or do we allow government-based "experts" to design their programs for the poor disabled?

"We need, as a society, to begin to address these questions before those in the disabled/blind community can assume their rightful place in society as a whole."

Be sure to view the offering statements of each of these SiM blog participants.

And, in your recruiting efforts, watch for other individuals with disabilities who have used their experiences with vulnerability to develop authentic interpersonal relationships in the workplace.

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