Networking Forum

Firstly Jenmifer , congratulations! Thrilled for you!

After I had major surgery sixteen years ago, I knew that I may be limited in the type of work I could do , as I fatigued easily so I started volunteering for an friend from high school at the Canadian Red Cross. Eventually I made contacts with people from all sorts of places while at the same time I was volunteering with the Disabled Women's Network Niagara Chapter and with our local Port Cares Resource Centre. I sharpened up some of my soft people skills . That renewed relationships (and in some cases started off contacts )from people I hadn't seen in awhile and actually led me to eSight. My friend Jo-Ann heard about Jim's tellmeyourstory.com and told me to submit some of my stories. Jim, Nancy and I corresponded for about three years, then eSight was launched and I was asked to do some coordination and content writing for them.

Volunteering, may seem like it's a waste of time. You're not being paid , you're at low level positions, however as Jennifer's story shows, commmittee work, presentation and networking with people she has met , provided her with an opportunity to work and more are coming in. Perhaps she'll be able to help someone else in her network to find work too.

You've probably heard the line there are no bit players in theatre, well there are no small jobs , voluntary or otherwise with committees, potential placements and employers. Every little bit you do contributes to your skills. Keep in touch on social networking sites, but be careful exactly what you post there. Tell people you'll be looking for work. Get involved in volunteering in your community, you'll never know where it might lead or who it will lead you to.

I have almost always gotten jobs through the Social Work Vocational Bureau, newspapers, and friends. However, the last time I looked for a job, there was no Social Work Vocational Bureau; and none of the ads in the newspaper were a good match for me. I made a list of all the people I knew who might know about job openings, and I systematically worked my way down the list. One person knew about two job openings in the place where she worked. I was offered and accepted one of them. I was not entirely satisfied with my initial responsibilities, as they required a lot of travel, taking with me heavy suitcases of devices and print materials. Eventually, I was able to change job responsibilities to those that are more appropriate for me.

Back in about 1998 I joined an organization which paired disabled people with non-disabled people in an effort to increase awareness of those of us with disabilities. The person who recruited me had actually gone to junior high with me, and we had been good friends ever since. At the time he was the program director for this organization. He and I went to lunch one day and then he had to pick up some things at their office. So I came along with him and got a tour of the office. Whhile there, the executive director, who had been the founder of this organization several years before, asked me out of the blue if I had ever given thought to working for them. I thought he was only joking, but he and the other staff pursued the matter with my parents and the rest is history. This was a nonprofit organization. Aside from a hang-up with my state VR agency, things went really well for me. I started out on a volunteer basis, and then I started getting paid after about a year. But due to inaccessible technology and some structural changes within the organization itself, I went back to being a volunteer again. A similar thing happened last week. I was given an opportunity to help out at another nonprofit which seeks to create living options for people with disabilities. I completed a job application with the help of a sighted tutor, and it is currently pending.

It is well to understand that, when you’re replying to most any job opening, it usually is a fact that the job was filled prior to the posting.

Newspaper job ads are to be viewed with a Jaundiced Eye. Employers use the newspaper classifieds for a variety of purposes. It is cheap advertising the company, and they are used as research -- to gain information as to how many people are reading and responding -- therefore maintaining local statistics for future expansion, etc.

Most people secure employment through family connections, friends, church and other community organizations and social clubs.

Academic and vocational training facilities often prove to be a valuable Resource.

Well, things are looking very good regarding the possible job with the nonprofit organization. A few days after I turned in my job application, I was contacted by someone at the organization and she asked me to come in for an interview. I wasn't that nervous, considering this was my first ever job interview. The interview went very well, and about a week after that the person who interviewed me called back and informed me that I did in fact get the job, and she told me there would be an orientation for those who got jobs there during the first round of interviews. This orientation took place the following week at the organization's headquarters. There were four other people in my group, not including the three staff members conducting the orientation. We went through some basic rules for working in an office setting, and we also went through the organization's Policy and Procedures manual and were quizzed on it. We then got a tour of the office, and we went in small groups across the street to the mailbox and then back to the office. I officially start this job in a couple of weeks. I met the job coach who is scheduled to work with me.

Jake