Instant Interviews: 101 Ways to Get the Best Job of Your Life

Chapter 81. Disabling a Disability Instantly

In doing the research for Successful Job Strategies for the Disabled, I started appreciating the wondrous way disabled jobseekers compensate.

Strap yourself in, up, or whatever. I'm now going to show you how to go, go, GO to incessant interviews—laughing all the way.

Don't Disclose Your Disability Before the Interview

Whether to disclose a disability is always the first issue. The thinking goes, "I'll have to disclose it eventually, so why not just get it out of the way now?"

Don't do it. Not in your resume, a cover letter, a reference letter, or any other pre-interview correspondence.

If you're out and around on I.I.'s and use a cane, walker, wheelchair, or other obvious assist, just ignore that you aren't walking in like the others.

This is absolutely essential to your interviewing prowess. You won't interview as well acting or thinking disablement.

Do you need me to tell you that you have attributes I'll never have? If you're blind, can't you hear, smell, feel, touch, and taste better? Don't you really see better?

If you're in a chair, don't you maneuver it as though it was an extension of your body? Isn't a walker just something to move you faster? A cane to either keep your balance or help you see?

The offeror can't consider this, so you're just helping her comply.

So let's be real clear on this business of disclosure prior to the interview.

Don't.

Disclosure During the Interview

The shock value of you tapping or wheeling into an interview is ...