Before the job interview, we suggest you ask a sighted person you trust (friend/relative/professional) to help find an outfit to wear for the occasion. You can decide how you wish to dress according to the company culture: you can wear formal, casual, sporty, etc. A sighted person can help you to choose the right clothes and he/she can help you to match the colours of your clothes, with hair styling or to put make-up on (Cascio & Ebels, 2016, p35).
The way you act with your body has a great influence on the way you are perceived by others. A large part of communication between people is done through eye contact, facial expressions, gestures and other aspects of body language. These aspects can be very challenging to someone with a visual disability. If someone is blind, they cannot see the body language of others and so they miss out on a part of interpersonal communication. For someone who is visually impaired it depends from person to person how much of the body language of others they can perceive.
Teaching body language skills to the visually impaired is important because in some situations their body language can be lacking. This causes others to perceive them as less capable, friendly or social than they might be in reality. This can especially be a problem for people who have been blind all their lives. As children we learn to use body language by observing adults and imitating their behaviours. Someone who has always been blind has missed out on this visual learning. It is especially important to teach these people how to use their body language.
The first important part of good nonverbal communication is keeping eye contact. By looking at people we indicate that we notice them or listen to them. Of course is often very hard or impossible for someone with a visual impairment to make exact eye contact. However it is possible to simulate eye contact to a very believable level. They can do this by turning and tilting their head to where they hear the other person’s voice coming from. People who are not used to dealing with someone with a visual disability will greatly appreciate this, because it gives them the illusion that they really have eye contact.
Another important basic part of good nonverbal communication is body posture. A slouched position suggests laziness or low self-esteem, while an upright position shows confidence and competence. This is true for sitting as well as standing.
A third important part of body language is mirroring. Mirroring is basically the imitation of the body language of those you are in contact with. For instance, when two people are talking it is normal for them to reflect each other’s body language. If one person is standing, the other will almost automatically also stand up and vice versa. It can be very uncomfortable for one person to be sitting and one person to be standing while having a conversation.
A last important part of body language that is of influence during a job interview is the handshake. When meeting and saying goodbye to the interviewer you shake their hand. If you are blind or visually impaired this can be a little hard to do because you cannot see their hand. The best thing to do is to take the initiative and hold your hand out toward them when meeting them. They will automatically grab your hand. During the handshake it is important to have some tension in your hand. If you keep your hand too weak, you will come off as having low self-confidence. If you use too much force, you risk coming off too strong and dominant. It is important to find the right balance of strength. Here you can also use the technique of mirroring; if someone is giving you a strong hand return with strength and vice versa.
Source : Cascio & Ebels, 2016, p33-34.
During a job interview, you must speak and especially introduce yourself. Here are some tips to make speaking easier during the interview:
Extra important points for the visually impaired:
Source: Cascio & Ebels, 2016, p31-32.
It is very important, during a job interview or when writing a cover letter, to explain your skills.
Among the skills, we find the use of technology and adapted equipment. These may be tools suitable for the blind or visually impaired. Or simply use basic program skills such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.
Showing the employer that we know how to use these technologies is important.
Showing them the right tools also helps them understand that you have autonomy and that you will be able to do the job properly.
It is also necessary to inform the employer in case of specific needs (computer with adapted programs etc.)
Prepare a disability statement that gives a little bit of information about what you can see or how you compensate for not being able to see, but mostly focus on your abilities and capacity to do the job. Explain how you may accomplish tasks differently than fully sighted workers, but can do so competitively.
Source: http://www.perkins.org/services/workplace/job-seekers/interviewing-successfully (Consulted the 4 June)
Should we mention the visual impairment in the CV/cover letter?
We would say: no!
In fact, we wouldn’t mention our disability in the CV/cover letter if we are not sure it is a strength point for the job vacancy.
But, it can also depend on several factors and it is important to assess them to make a responsible decision.
We suggest examine the company culture, mission and values, as well as the culture of your country. Then, you should be sure that you can perform the job you are applying for.
If you think that your disability might be seen as an added-value or a strength by the company, because of the company’s values and culture, or because of the kind of tasks you should perform if you will be engaged, then you can decide to mention it in the CV / cover letter.
Otherwise, as said at the beginning of this paragraph, we advise not to mention it.
If you decide not to mention your disability in the CV/cover letter be aware that, if contacted for a job interview, the recruiter will definitely notice it.
At that moment, before the job interview will take place, you should decide whether you wish to inform the employer before the job interview (e.g. if you call asking for the way to reach the company workplace you can mention your visual disability explaining you need to know the way to go by bus), or during the interview itself: in this case, don’t be surprised if the recruiter is astonished at your arrival! And be prepared to face his/her reaction.
During the EBU 2015 training, a participant mentioned a blind girl who took different assistive devices with her to the job interview, in order to show them to the potential employer. We had never thought about this, and we guess it might be a good idea to take some assistive devices. The interviewer will see with his own eyes that assistive technology exists and can support blind people in performing many tasks.
Another concrete example: once, a young Italian person told that he mentioned his visual impairment in his cover letter. He described briefly how a screen reader works and he added the Internet website of a screen reader producer so that the company could get more information. Thanks to this, he was able to get the job without any problem because the company took information and the employer felt more comfortable in hiring a visually impaired person.
Unfortunately, we have to say that recruiters and employers aren’t always so open-minded… they are often capable of prejudice or stereotyping.
If you manage to get the job, it might be your challenge to demonstrate that a blind person can be a resource for the other workers and that sometimes the disability can be an added-value for the company! For instance, thanks to the engagement of a blind worker, the company might decide to process all data in electronic format (excluding thousands of paper-printed documents)
Source: Cascio & Ebels, 2016, p19-20.