Job Interviews and Illness Disclosure

Two chronic issues for people with chronic illness who are  job interviewing  are: disclosure and employment gaps.

In this post, I’ll discuss disclosure.   I’ll cover employment gaps next time.

Disclosure centers on 3 big questions:

• Should I say it?
• What  should I say?
• What is the right time?
  

Recently while discussing what he’d say in his upcoming job interview, my client said that I seemed to have shifted my position on whether to disclose or not.  He was referring to Managing Your Career in The Wall Street Journal (”Should Job Hunters Reveal Their Illness“  — scroll down to the article on my web page),  in which I seem to make a case solely for pre-employment disclosure.  The article makes some good points and is worth reading.

But that article was written over 5 years ago, in a very different job market when jobs were plentiful.  And the reporter only captured part of  what I said.

For the record, I’m not a believer in rampant disclosure. I haven’t heard a good reason yet to disclose a chronic illness if you can do the job as it’s expected.   This is your health history and there’s no reason you have to share it if it’s not relevant to the discussion.    “Leave This Info Out Of Your Interview”,  offers good tips and puts your health history in the red light, tmi zone.

But what if you live with symptoms that affect your performance? Or maybe you’re  “fine” at this moment but frequently have symptoms that make work difficult?   In that case,  disclosure might be a good idea. 

Yes,  there’s stiff competition for this job and you don’t want to create  “red flags” unless it seems necessary.   On the other hand, if you ask for a flexible schedule in the first of work because of illness that you never brought up, you could make people pretty angry with you.  Tred lightly and carefully.

If you decide to disclose during the interview stage, wait until you’ve created a positive impression. Don’t bring it up in the first interview when they’re getting to know you. Keep your explanation simple, to the point and focus on how the symptoms affect how your work.

Now — use this to your advantage.  Demonstrate that you’re a proactive employee by offering a few suggestions for what can be done relatively easily to accommodate your needs.  Show that you’ve done your homework and found that their employee benefits policy allows for the flex scheduling you need.  You might even suggest that illness has to you how to think on your feet, problem solve and be resilient. Just don’t go overboard with the sob story

Looking for more info and ideas?  I discuss this in detail in my booklet (Are You Talking? – part of the Career Thrive Series).

What have you found works –  or backfired –  for you?

Rosalind Joffe built on her own experience of living with chronic illnesses for 30 years, including multiple sclerosis and ulcerative colitis, when she founded cicoach.com. This career coaching firm is dedicated to helping professionals with chronic illness develop the skills they need to succeed in their careers. Rosalind believes firmly that living with chronic illness does not preclude living a full and successful life. * She will be speaking during our Invisible Illness Week Virtual Conference.

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Can You Job Hunt, Live with Illness and Stay Motivated

Looking for a job in a depressed economy and living with a chronic illness that makes your employment history a bit “sketchy”.

Yikes, it doesn’t sound pretty. But at the moment, that describes many of my clients. Not surprising, is it? Ten years ago, a robust, growing economy made it much easier for anyone – even with disabling symptoms – to find a job. But that’s not now.

As one person confided recently, “The good news is that when I go to networking events, so many are in this sinking boat with me . At least I don’t feel like it’s just me and must be my fault.” Cold comfort.

How do you keep the job search going when all you hear is how bad it is? How do you force yourself out of bed each day, especially if your body is in pain or a state of extreme fatigue?

On a recent call, L started by setting “desired outcomes” for our meeting, as we always do. She wondered how to stay motivated when she keeps hitting stone walls in her job search. She spinning – – feeling hopeful with a new lead and then, realizing it’s going nowhere, losing heart.

For a brief moment, I was right there with her and felt her fear. But then I realized that we could break this overwhelm feeling into pieces she could hold onto and manage. As we discussed it, we both realized that a project management approach would help her stay away from distracting emotions and keep her on point.

Four questions to frame the “finding a job” project:

1. What do I want to achieve? Just like with any project, you have to be able to define your desired outcomes. Describe the kind of job AND what it would do for you so you can remember why this is so important.
2. Why do I believe this is possible? Identifying this helps you stay motivated and focused. Even if your first response is to say, “I don’t”, that’s just not true. Some part of you believes . Dig deep and find it.
3. How long can I realistically give this? It’s easy to spend some time every day worrying that since this hasn’t happened, it will never happen. That’s a waste of your time and energy. Create a realistic time frame and don’t let yourself look back until you’ve reached it.
4. What will it take to get there? This is the specifics. Create a list of activities, including people to meet, places to go, ideas to research. Then put some kind of time frame to it. Put it on a big white board -and check off when you’ve done something so you can see how much you’ve done!

Now, for the tactics. How to keep going every day in the face of rejection or even worse, no possibilities?

1. Start every day with one thing that makes you feel good. A delicious cup of coffee, a walk , read the newspaper. Something that you look forward to and helps you get out of bed.
2. Next, do one productive thing. It doesn’t have to be work related but it has to yield tangible results. It could be washing the bathroom floor, planting some flowers, writing a note to a sick friend. This gets your juices moving.
3. Now, look at your activities list and give yourself 3 things to do that day to move your job search along.

I’d like to know what helps you? Are there things you’ve done that keep you motivated?

If you find this helpful, there are more suggestions like this regarding looking for work in the Working With Chronic Illness Workbook on my website. You don’t have to be a passive rider on the roller coaster of job hunting.

Rosalind Joffe built on her own experience of living with chronic illnesses for 30 years, including multiple sclerosis and ulcerative colitis, when she founded cicoach.com. This career coaching firm is dedicated to helping professionals with chronic illness develop the skills they need to succeed in their careers. Rosalind believes firmly that living with chronic illness does not preclude living a full and successful life. * She will be speaking during our Invisible Illness Week Virtual Conference.

Popularity: 3% [?]