Target Job Candidates With Disabilities Who Are Risk Takers

Summary:
eSight members show what traits to seek in job candidates with a disability who, even though they may give you less turnover, can also be among your best leaders because they know how to take appropriate career risks.

A Sense of Self

A Feel for Reality

A Taste of Success


The eSight article, "High Turnover Antidote: Hire Employees With Disabilities," says one of the most economical solutions to high turnover is hiring and retaining qualified employees with disabilities.

But, as a employer of individuals who have a disability, you'll probably only gain that advantage of lower turnover if you heed one pitfall. eSight member Bonita best describes it:

"The attitude is sometimes very subtly conveyed that we must stay at one job and grapple with gratitude because someone gave us a chance. That is wrong. We should be hired because we can do the work. If it is not workable, then changes must be made. I know of cases where (disabled) employees have been taken advantage of because the employers thought they would not or could not quit. Always seek to better yourself -- your whole self."

Participants in eSight's "Swimming in the Mainstream" (SiM) shared their personal experiences about when they realized they were functioning as an adult by taking a calculated risk in a career-building situation.

Specifically, the SiM participants discussed this question:

When is it time to ignore advice to "play it safe" and take a risk by changing jobs?

You can review their complete discussion about this topic on the SiM blog.

This discussion yielded three traits you, as a potential employer, might want to consider as you seek job candidates with a disability who are right for your organization. Those traits are a sense of self, a feel for reality and a taste of success.

Even though they may give you less turnover, disabled job candidates who possess these three characteristics can also be among your best leaders because they know how to take appropriate career risks.

Here is how the SiM bloggers revealed those traits during the discussion about their own risk-taking experiences.

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A Sense of Self

"I was a case manager -- was placed with (an assistant) who had no computer skills and was going to school full time (which left me with no help to accomplish my job tasks). I resigned my position after five months because I was set up for failure."
- Cindy

"The time to ignore advice is when the voices you hear in your head and in your heart become louder then what those on the outside."
- Debbee

"Funny, every time I 'play it safe,' I find the safe way was much more trouble than I expected. Avoiding risk has kept me in relationships and on jobs far longer than was personally healthy. On the other hand, taking a risk often has unforeseen consequences.

"I arrived on this planet with no material things and will leave the same way. So, I have decided that the collection of stuff isn't anywhere near as important as my growth as a human being. I have discovered that risk aversion is another term for fear of the unknown, and, frankly, no one really knows what is around the corner, anyway."
- Laine

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A Feel for Reality

"Good jobs are not easy to find for the visually impaired. I say have your ducks in a row before you even think of quitting."
- Paul

"Sometimes you have to learn how to be non-confrontational, and, at the same time, you can't take 'no' for an answer.

"So, balance and persist at whatever you are doing. If the job is too much trouble, find another one before you leap into the unemployment percentages.

"People may expect you to jump through flaming hoops, but you can put the heat on if you need to when it comes right down to it. I wouldn't give up the security of my job unless it was intolerable. and, before I gave up, I'd fight.

"Most jobs that I left I was adept enough to have secured another job equal or better prior to resigning. Proper notice and effective resignation are very important.

"No matter how well you have prepared for an occupation, overcoming the disability barrier is a major event. Once the job has been secured, be observant, plan, strategize, know if you are fitting in, and either plan to advance in that environment or begin laying the groundwork for the next job. Every job should be the platform for a higher level."
- Fred

"I have made a career of changing jobs when the costs of a given job significantly exceeded the benefits. By and large, I am happy with all of these decisions, but it is worth remembering that it is harder for us blind people to find work than those who are blind-impaired."
- Peter

"Countering inappropriate work place practices is not easy. If you are prepared to risk putting out a call for help. then you may find you don't have to do it alone. This has been my personal experience."
- Kate

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A Taste of Success

"The day when I stood up and defended my personal strength-based career goals, refusing to simply take the first job that came along, was the day I embarked on my adult career journey. The result was a very beneficial and largely satisfying two decades in Information Technology and management."
- LuRetta

"I moved 2,000 miles away from my friends and family to a small town in Alberta that wasn't exactly welcoming in 1981 for someone who was from Ontario and who had a disability. I lived independently, ran a household, shopped, cooked, cleaned and taught.

"I did the best job in special education as a teacher that I could. I did it so well that I taught myself out of a job the next year, but I learned that I could live on my own, function as a mature individual when a lot of the 'professionals' around me didn't. I built my self-confidence and self-worth.

"The students' parents I had said I was the first of 12 previous special education teachers in that school who actually gave a damn about the kids and worked on their behalf, rather than sucking up to the administration.

"I knew I had done a good job placing them in schools and classes where they would get the best teachers and education -- which is what they deserved. My kids knew they were capable, wonderful human beings and not ' space cadets' (the label the administration used to describe them).

"This to me is a fully functioning adult: looking out towards the community and doing the best you can with what you have to make a difference."
- Liz

"I've been lucky to have good family support and good friends, who have encouraged me to do the best I can and then some. I really started to believe it this last semester, when I finally realized the truth in what they are saying -- that I can do a lot better and need to believe in myself.

"I am now in a much better position to reach out to the community and use what I have to make a difference. I know I'm a lot better than I give myself credit for."
- Natalie

In another comment on the SiM blog, Liz gave her fellow participants a new context for an individual's willingness to take risks on the job and within a career. She wrote:

"All life is a risk to those of us with disabilities, be they physical, emotional, or cognitive. We take risks from the time we acquire our disabilities or are born with them, and we get so used to it that we don't even realize it.

"You've been risking things all your life; you just may not have recognized it."

Do you see any potential leaders in this group of SiM participants? Be sure to check their comments on the SiM blog, where their e-mail addresses are available.

Some of them have posted offering statements on eSight, and those also may be of use to you.

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Made possible by a grant from the American Express Foundation.

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