Job Searching Discrimination

By Jamie Berke 


Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy

Deaf Job Searcher Loses to Hearing Job Searcher
This is a story which happened to a friend of mine. He is hard-of-hearing and uses strong PSE. He had applied for a job working with young deaf children in a mainstream progam through our local [school district]. There were 2 positions vacant and 3 people applied. They had him show up for an interview and had him spend a day with the student in class. After that, he was never called back. The [district] ended up hiring the other two people (hearing), one had minimal signing skills and the other was a house-wife from the local community who never even knew how to sign! Eventually, the [district] realized she wasn't going to work out, so they fired her just before her probation time was up (90 days according to the Union rules).
All during this lady's time of hire, my friend went and made sure he was "hire-worthy". He checked to see if there was some kind of "glitch" in his application process. None was found. The [district] still had the position posted...they never called him back. Three quarters of the way through the school year... a CODA finally applied and got the job.
Deafblind Professional's Frustration
I am deafblind and a computer professional.
I was laid off from the job due to office restruction. Since the last day, I have been faxing and emailng my resumes to recruiters and now am taking computer classes to upgrade my skills. At the beginning, I used the relay number along with my phone number on the resumes and I didn't receive any phone calls. Then I left out the phone number and replaced with my email addresses. I got many good results from the recruiters asking me to call them using their phone numbers. Sometimes, I would disclose myself that I'm hearing impaired and using the relay operators. So many times, I heard nothing from them after the calls. Very few times, the recruiters would email me with list of questions. One time there was a job opening for a help desk analyst and I had a very good talk with the recruiter and at the end all of a sudden this job required managerial experience.
It seems that many recruiters first probably realize that I use the relay operators regardless I mentioned of my deafness or not and they usually screened me out and overlooked things I have pretty good computer skills and work history. I am continuing looking for job openings over the internet. My favorite job search is www.monster.com because I got many replies from the recruiters and I had a few job interviews. My job counselor has excellent job networking with companies and government agenies.
Operations Manager Can't Get Promotion
My husband who is deaf has been an Operations Manager for 7 years with a company that teaches vocational training for the disabled. He does not have a degree but has been a very loyal employee and is willing to do everything they throw at him. A certain position became open on three seperate occassions all of which he applied for. His boss told him that he was not qualified. This, despite his 7 years with the company and the fact that she herself had just been promoted without a degree. They ended up filing the position with a staff less qualified than my husband. They later had to let her go only to fill the position with another applicant that was eventually let go. We thought by this time he would be a shoe in. Of course this did not happen and they went with a staff from another office that was looking to transfer closer to home. During his search outside of his current company, I received a call from a perspective employer via the relay service, I answerd for him and as him and was surprised when she told me (under the assumption she was speaking with my husband)I wasn't what they were looking for. I was angered and asked "Didn't you look at my resume before you called?" She responded yes, and I then questioned why, if after seeing my qualificatins on my resume would you call me if I wasn't qualified. What had changed." Her only response was that she was just calling to check. He is still at the same company but still seeking other opportunities including furthering his education.