Category: Jobs and Employment
Has anyone gotten a job in a new city while still living in the old (when blind)? If so, how did you manage interviews. I may move someday. I am terribly afraid of not finding a job in my new city. I have had good luck with Voc Rehab in the past with situational work assessments. I would maybe like to work in medical billing or some other type of claims processing. (I have Case Management experience and monitoring experience now). has anyone ever moved and had good luck with finding a new job with the help of Voc Rehab? I would like the extra assistance with job leads and additional training. I have contemplated getting a Master's, but would hate to get that degree, just to end up applying for jobs that require tons of driving. I would almost rather be more comfortable with a computer-based job that doesn't require lots of driving/paperwork, even if it is below my skill level. Do you think DVR would really push me to use my degree? I have a ton of transferrable skills. I'm just not sure how to navigate the whole moving/DVR process. I would ideally like to find a new job before moving, but know that might not be possible. If I were applying for a job in my city, I wouldn't leave that job before finding another one. Luckily CO doesn't have a waiting list for VOC rehab. I could put together a great resume, and have lots of job interests. Anything else I can do to make this whole process smoother? If I move, it will be after I get married, and I'm not even sure if I will move. Any perspective would be great. .
You mentioned VOC Rehab three times in your post. Don’t depend on that. VOC rehab will offer minimal assistance and won’t get you a job.
Job searching out of state can be difficult, regardless of disability. Consider the blogs and guides from Ask a Manager (www.askamanager.org) for genuine, professional advice.
I most likely would stay in CO. Any luck with employment agencies? I really feel i would
need outside help landing a job. Has anyone had a good expierence with voc rehab
especially in the denver area?
Why do you feel you would need outside help landing a job? The key to getting a job, beyond building relationships through networking, is to demonstrate a track record of results that the hiring team is looking for through your resume, include a personal, compelling cover letter and be friendly, responsive and enthusiastic. Why can't you do this?
I had good luck working with dvr before. I understand it's all about networking. It was
nice to have the business specialist's help to collaborate with potential employers. If your
working now, did you find your job on your own?
Brice is right. While DVR did amazing things with helping me find my current fulltime employment, I got my first ever part time job on my own. Whether DVR is doing for you or not, it is worth knowing how to job search on your own. Resume, cover letter, preparations for interviews... these are all necessary things to know. What if DVR is on a wait list? What if they are really busy, as I'm sure Denver must be, and don't get to you right away? I don't mean to be critical here, but who likes eating ramen and easy mac while they sit on their hands and wait? I don't like being poor!
Let me tell you. I had some horrible, truly horrible interview experiences while job searching on my own. My worst was for a receptionist position at a chiropractor's office. I was so epically unprepared for that interview. I seriously hope I never see that man again. But I learned so much from that bad experience.
I did most of my searching through indeed.com. I found their site pretty easy to work with. They post a lot of ads from external websites, and a few internal leads. Have your resume ready to go, because you can post it up there and auto-fill some job applications. I had a general template for my cover letter, but I would heavily modify it for each new lead. Read about medical billing interview questions online so you can prepare yourself for what employers might ask.
DVR has been a great resource for me, but I really do encourage you to be proactive about this. It's going to be awkard. It's going to be hard at times. You're going to have some bad interviews, but at least you're out there trying, and not waiting on slow DVR to eventually get around to you. Use the Zone as a resource on how to job search on your own while you wait for DVR to get their butts in gear.
PS
I moved from North Carolina out to Colorado. I had to wait 2 years to get DVR services. Even while the business outreach guy job searched for me, I still did work on my own because he was going too slow for my liking.
The short version is that there are typically no shortcuts. Work history is always a good thing, if it's stable, but remember that just by virtue of your having a disability, you already have a strike against you, no matter what the law says. You could probably utilize them for some job leads, but I can tell you from experience they can only do so much for you. Firstly because it's not their life and they have many people to serve, which means you only have so much of a priority, and second because most VR agencies are understaffed. If you do decide to seak assistance through VR, I'd limit it to having them helping you develop your resume and helping you find job leads. Speaking from the experience of someone who has hired other people, and I've obviously had to hunt for work to be able to do that, nothing makes me like a candidate for a job less than someone else doing the work for that person. I actually had a job placement specialist contact me to set up an interview for a client of theirs, even though the client was perfectly capable of contacting me himself. Yuck! I'm not saying you are going to do that, I use that as an extreme example, but my point is to limit the type of support you are willing to accept, regardless of whether they make you feel it's acceptable. Unless you're working for a sheltered workshop, or you happen to find an employer that needs you for diversity numbers, that will not get you anywhere. I'm not here to judge, so if sheltered workshops are a form of employment you wish to entertain, VR would gladly place you in an environment where you can have this when it becomes available. It's an easy successful closure for them, and so they are happy to do that. But if you want to be in the competitive relm of employment, then beyond relying on them for leads and behind the scenes stuff, I wouldn't permit them to do anything further. This is just my perspective, as someone who went through the VR system and who also holds a masters degree and has been working in different cities for the past 5 years, I'm certainly not an expert. I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide to do!
I've moved back from Europe to Canada, and it took me a year and a half to land my current full time position as an education assistance through professional networking. This process meant Putting my name as well as the fact I was seeking employment, attending some career faires, did a numbers of cold calls to request for an information gathering interviews...
I am still getting interview requests and although I am not job seeking anymore, I still call them back to thank them for potentially considering me. No point in shutting doors as you never know when you might need them.
Unless you have strong interview skills, know how to write compeling cover letter and resume... all of which help to market yourself to a potential employer... do yourself a favour and acquire these skills first.
I should have stated that I have a good resume and can write a good cover letter. I have
good interviewing skills. I would do my own job searching. I will have been with my
current employer for five years in June. I do like the business Outreach program in that it
serves as a bridge between employers and candidates. When I worked with the program
the first time I landed a couple interviews on my own.
I have b a and would definitely not consider a sheltered workshop! I think those are
totally demeaning, not to mention outdated! I would consider doing lots of jobs, but
nothing like that.
Hi.
Ok, well, I tend not to assume anything, which was why I wrote what I did. In that case, if you're confident in all of your job seaking skills, I'd say maybe just utilize them to help you find open positions that you would consider applying for. Also, it couldn't hurt to go to a career fair or 2 to network, as sometimes this also helps you get your name out there. Denver is a rapidly expanding area, and DVR in the area isn't currently backlogged like they were in 2014 in to last year, so it would certainly be an option to consider among doing the search yourself. Good luck!
I recently had the experience of looking for jobs in New York City while
living in Seattle (I scored on the third interview). It's doable, and I
managed this without any intermediaries in the job process. Further,
disability disclosure didn't happen until the in-person (or Skype, or Google
Hangouts in one case) interview, the advantage being that, at that point,
their first impression of me was my resume (NB: In my experience, working
in positions that work with or for the blind doesn't automagically flag you as
blind--I had one person ask if my freelance work in that arena was because
of a personal interest).
That said, if you have five years' experience in your field and a strong
resume and list of references, I'm not entirely sure why you'd need to
involve VR in the process.
The only reason DVR is useful is if you need some special accommodation, or equipment set up. Otherwise, look for the job on your own.
I’m kind of a person that believes in staying were your money is.
As a disable person, if I had a job and a decent job, my living would be where that job was.
I live in Co. and even the seeing has a bit of trouble finding work quickly from time to time depending on the field.
Use DVR once you have your job prospect, I don’t think they do well at job finding or development.
Good luck.
I will probabl be doing this soon. My husband and Ia re VI and work full time but my hubby applied for a job that will move us to another state. I am glad to read others answers on this.
I had a job once that fell apart. the job was no longer available for me to work there anymore. I had no clue what to do.
I went to my counsular to ask for some dirrections. I had a few ideas in mind of things I was interested in doing and had asked her how other blind people went about accomplishing the same goals.
she completely blew me off.
It was so upsetting.
she told me I had to find all the work myself and then she would get credit for it.
That's basically what had happened.
I went without a lot and with luck found a job on my own.
Things are better now and she thinks she is getting credit.
Remember they get paid for every time they get a blind person a job, even if they did nothing to help.
They get to sign off saying they did.
So, make sure it is in your case that you found the job on your own unless you do need some service from them to do that job.