[Jobs] disclosing your blindness to a perspective employer
james.homme at highmark.com
james.homme at highmark.com
Wed May 14 14:26:39 CDT 2008
Hi Josh,
The way we work is this. We have clients all over the country. If one of
them needs to have someone work in any of the locations you mentioned, we
will try to find people with disabilities from that area. If we don't find
candidates quickly enough, we start looking for people who are willing to
relocate to an area. We do not pay for relocation expenses. We do all we
can, though, to help people find a place to live that is accessible and
makes it easy for them to get to work. Sometimes, if you relocate into a
place where we have current or former employees, the people who are already
there are very nice about helping you get settled in.
We work with people by getting them placed at companies we know are willing
to hire people with disabilities. Our clients want to hire people after
they have seen them work, so we normally have an arrangement whereby our
new employees work in a company for about six to nine months. We do all we
can to make sure that at the end of the trial period, the company hires you
if you have performed well enough. We generally provide a manager and a
mentor. The manager is whom you report to politically speaking. The mentor
is more of a buddy kind of person. I get people who are blind as mentees
because I know what it is to go through getting a new job as a blind person
and the special circumstances that go with that. Sometimes, we assign
mentors to particular geographic locations. About ninety percent of the
people who come to us get permanently employed.
We also have a program our former employees put together that we use to
keep in touch with you after you have worked for us. We try to use that
continued contact to help you get promoted. Last year, in December, we
hired someone whose manager was one of our former employees. That was very
nice to see, especially since I interviewed the new employee.
Thanks.
Jim
James D Homme, , Usability Engineering, Highmark Inc.,
james.homme at highmark.com, 412-544-1810
"it is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis." --
Margaret Bonnano
Highmark internal only: Consider Usability Engineering On Your Next Project
or release. http://highwire.highmark.com/sites/iwov/hwt093/
"Josh"
<jkenn337 at gmail.c
om> To
Sent by: "Jobs for the Blind"
jobs-bounces+jame <jobs at nfbnet.org>
s.homme=highmark. cc
com at nfbnet.org
Subject
Re: [Jobs] disclosing your
05/14/2008 01:49 blindness to a perspective employer
PM
Please respond to
"Jobs for the
Blind"
<jobs at nfbnet.org>
Hi,
Is Bender or is there a branch of it in Colorado, or Philadelphia
Pennsylvania at all? Does Bender help future employees relocate?
Josh
email: jkenn337 at gmail.com
msn: kenn6498ku at hotmail.com
skype: jkenn337
----- Original Message -----
From: <james.homme at highmark.com>
To: "Jobs for the Blind" <jobs at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 9:56 AM
Subject: Re: [Jobs] disclosing your blindness to a perspective employer
> Hi Jessica,
> If you interview with Bender, it won't be a problem. I interview a lot of
> our blind candidates. I am a blind employee. I just care that you can do
> the job and I would do all I can to help you succeed if it gets that far.
>
> Jim
>
> James D Homme, , Usability Engineering, Highmark Inc.,
> james.homme at highmark.com, 412-544-1810
>
> "it is only possible to live happily ever after on a day-to-day basis."
--
> Margaret Bonnano
>
> Highmark internal only: Consider Usability Engineering On Your Next
> Project
> or release. http://highwire.highmark.com/sites/iwov/hwt093/
>
>
>
> "Jessica"
> <jessmonsilva2003
> @sbcglobal.net> To
> Sent by: "Jobs for the Blind"
> jobs-bounces+jame <jobs at nfbnet.org>
> s.homme=highmark. cc
> com at nfbnet.org
> Subject
> Re: [Jobs] disclosing your
> 05/14/2008 09:43 blindness to a perspective employer
> AM
>
>
> Please respond to
> "Jobs for the
> Blind"
> <jobs at nfbnet.org>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Let's say you're applying for a job and you don't have any college
> education
> but you do have some kind of certifications. The problem is you got them
> from a school that works specifically with blind people. In that case
> wouldn't that be considered disclosing your blindness as well, but kind
of
> like you had to disclose your blindness by showing your qualifications?
> Jess
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <craig.borne at dot.gov>
> To: <jobs at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 2:51 PM
> Subject: Re: [Jobs] disclosing your blindness to a perspective employer
>
>
>> Leslie,
>> In my opinion, it really depends on where you are applying. For
>> example, if you are applying for a job with the NFB or the Lighthouse
>> for the Blind, then disclosing your blindness up front is no big deal.
>> However, if you are applying to "mainstream" employment opportunities,
>> then I would not disclose my blindness in my cover letter or resume. I
>> would typically wait until the interview, or if an exam is necessary,
>> when I call the HR department to set up the testing date.
>> Importantly, if you are applying to a federal agency, disclosing your
>> blindness up front may be beneficial. The feds have something called a
>> Schedule A Hiring Authority, which means that a person with a targeted
>> disability (such as blindness) can be hired without going through the
>> competitive hiring process. There are some more caveats, which you can
>> explore at www.opm.gov.
>> I hope this helps.
>> Craig
>>
>> Craig Borne
>> NHTSA/DOT
>> (202) 493-0627 Voice
>> (202) 493-2990 Fax
>> craig.borne at dot.gov Email
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: jobs-bounces+craig.borne=dot.gov at nfbnet.org
>> [mailto:jobs-bounces+craig.borne=dot.gov at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Leslie
>> Hamric
>> Sent: Friday, May 09, 2008 4:43 PM
>> To: Jobs for the Blind
>> Subject: [Jobs] disclosing your blindness to a perspective employer
>>
>> Hi all. I'm curious to know about experiences you've had regarding if
>> and when to disclose your bliindness to a perspective employer. I've
>> heard all kinds of things like just showing up at the interview, putting
>> that your blind on your resume, etc. I know it's a matter of personal
>> preference so I'm looking forward to getting some responses. Thanks.
>> Leslie and GEB dog Lava
>> _______________________________________________
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>
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/jobs/jessmonsilva2003%40sbcglobal.net
>
>
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