How Individuals With Disabilities Can Prepare for the Job Market After College
The above picture is of a group of college graduates at dusk throwing their hats in the air.
Finding a career when college is done can be hard for any student, but it tends to come with a few more difficulties for those who have disabilities. Students who deal with emotional or physical disabilities are going to face a number of challenges that their peers may not. This can include:
Hiring practices that are discriminatory
Fear of disclosing information about their disabilities during an interview
Inadequate education regarding their rights concerning the disability
Lack of mentors or career counseling
Because of this, recent graduates who have a disability end up being less likely to find the employment they need when they are done with college. The good news is there are a few steps that these individuals can take to help them prepare and ensure they get the career that they deserve.
How to Prepare for the Job Market After College with a Disability
While finding a job while dealing with a disability can be tough, there are a few options you can work with. Some of these include:
1. Consult Their Career Counselor
Many students are unaware of the fact that their campus provides career counselors who can help with preparing for the job market while you are still in school. This is a great resource, but according to research, most students will never end up contacting this career center, and even fewer will participate in any events hosted by this center while they are in school.
There are so many great resources that are available to students who decide to utilize the career center when they are in school. This can be true for any student, but there is an extra incentive and benefit for those who suffer from a disability.
A career counselor is able to help students through all stages of getting a job, including the job application, making a resume, getting prepared for an interview, and more.
When it comes to your disability, the career counselor will be able to help you navigate through this. You do not have an obligation to discuss this disability with a potential employer and interviewers are not allowed to ask due to the ADA. But it is impractical to think that the disability will never show up when you get the job.
A career counselor will be able to provide you with strategies for discussing the disability in a tactful way. This allows you to focus the interview more on your qualifications, but still gives the courtesy of knowing about the issue as well.
The services provided by the career center are all free. You pay for them with the tuition and other fees that automatically go to the school when you are there. You may as well utilize these services and get better prepared for a job.
2. Work-Based Learning
To help you get better prepared for a job search when you are done with college, you need to learn more about your goals, skills, and interests. And the best way to do this is through an internship program. This can give you some valuable experience and will help you develop good work habits and contacts that will help you be employed later on.
This kind of learning can also help you better understand the kind of accommodations you will need for your disability when you enter the workforce. There are many types of internships and learning programs that are out there for those with disabilities. These include:
Job shadowing: This is a great way to explore a profession for a few days up to a few months. You will take the time to follow someone around in a chosen career, seeing what they do on an average day and getting a chance to ask questions. You may or may not do a lot of work during it, but it gives you some insight into a career choice.
Apprenticeship: This is a structured system of training that includes a long-term commitment, usually between two to four years. The student gets a chance to learn from experts and progresses through different tasks until they get the right skills for that career.
Service-learning: This is going to provide you with a chance to work towards a career goal with community service. It can be done through a charitable organization, government, or a nonprofit to name a few.
disABLEDperson.com is a good place to start when you need help finding an internship or another work-based learning option for you. This organization can help those students with disabilities if they are struggling to find the help they need.
3. Try Out Some Extracurricular Activities
It should come as no surprise that participating in extracurricular activities is a great way to bolster up your resume and build some of the experience that you need for a career. These are great places to learn some of the skills that you need for a new career while making your interpersonal skills even better.
One place to consider is any activity that involves STEM. People who have disabilities are not highly represented in the STEM fields and this can help set you apart and make it easier to get into the career that you would like.
The good news is that STEM activities can take many forms, including finding volunteer activities or finding a way to be involved in professional and academic organizations in these fields.
In addition to helping strengthen some of your skills for a career in the future, these activities are a great way to make your resume look amazing as well. Any time you apply for a new job, your goal will be to highlight how you have worked hard to develop the most important professional skills in that industry.
Developing these skills can be hard for those with disabilities. Being involved on campus and exploring some of the different extracurriculars can be a great way to learn those necessary skills and then add them to your resume.
4. Explore the Different Career Paths
If you are still wondering what kind of career path is going to suit you the best, you may need to look more into the career paths available for students with disabilities. While your disability does not define who you are, there are certain career paths that are more complementary for certain disabilities. It is at least worth taking a look at some of the options.
For example, if the disability is related to hearing loss, you may need to work in a field that allows you to communicate more through email rather than relying on face-to-face communication or talking over the phone.
Those who tend to have chronic health conditions that go along with their disability may appreciate a career that offers them a flexible schedule or even one that has policies in place to let them work from home more often.
There are different careers that are out there that you can choose, but some of the career paths that seem to be the best for those with disabilities include:
Communication careers specifically for content and social media marketing.
Computer-related careers including accountants and support specialists.
Healthcare careers
Human service careers
These careers have a lot of options available and some of the flexibility that you need when looking for a new industry after you leave college.
5. Know Your Rights
When you have a disability and are seeking work, it is important to understand your rights under the ADA or the Americans with Disabilities Act. This was signed into law in 1990 and makes it unlawful for any employer to discriminate against an applicant who has a disability.
This same law will also protect employees, allowing them access to opportunities in the workplace and at school. If you are qualified to perform the work and you have a disability, this law is going to protect your rights to work, with or without reasonable accommodation. This can help you when searching for the job that you want.
Another thing to consider is that the ADA dictates that applicants to a job do not need to disclose their disability to an employer and an employer is not allowed to ask. However, if you need to ask for some accommodations to do the work, the topic of your disability will come up. This also allows the employer a chance to understand your abilities and needs.
The DOL, or Department of Labor, has different suggestions on when and how you can disclose your disability. The requirements of that job and your specific needs will come into play when it is time to choose when to tell an employer about the disability.
6. Know Where to Look for Jobs
When you are ready to do your job search, you may be curious as to where to begin. If you are relying on some of the common job-hunting sites, you are going to miss out on some of the key jobs that will pertain to you.
There are actually several job search sites out there that are designed specifically to help those who are searching and have disabilities. Think outside the box and look for alternative sites to find positions that make sense for your needs.
If you are worried about finding a job or are just not finding the employment connections that you want, it may be time to consider a work placement or recruitment services. These are beneficial because they can help a job seeker find the work they need by matching them with positions that are available.
The biggest issue with this one is that most of the positions are temp jobs, though some positions can turn into full-time offers. This helps you grow your professional network and gain more work experience. When you are ready to find another professional job, this experience is going to help you out.
7. Writing Your Resume
One of the most important parts that you must handle when applying for a career is the resume. This can be stressful for any job seeker out there because it is hard to know what to put in the resume and how to make your resume stand out from others.
There are a number of steps that you can take to help get your resume ready. A few of the best options include:
Be concise. Do not add in a lot of information or words that are not necessary
Highlight your education. You are just done with school so show where you got your degrees.
Add in keywords from the job posting to help catch the eye of the recruiter
Tailor the resume to each position you apply for.
If your disability has caused you to have gaps in any employment history, there are a few ways to handle it. If there are only one or two gaps, just disclose that an illness and recovery caused you to be unemployed for a time.
When the resume will have many gaps, consider using a functional resume. This type of resume will list out your work experience by the skill you have. This helps to market your skills more and makes the inconsistent employment history less obvious.
At the interview, you will be able to discuss some of the gaps in job history if you are asked. This is not lying about the dates of employment because you can still add them in, but it restructures the focus of the resume so the dates will not seem as important or prevalent.
Preparing for the Job Market with a Disability
Your disability can seem like it presents a lot of challenges when it is time to enter the job market, but in reality, it could be just the tool you need to set you apart from some of the other applicants. When you learn how to play to your strengths and work with a career counselor at your school, you will be able to find the right career for you!
Gabe Nelson is a content specialist with more than seven years of experience, currently working with samii.io. He has a passion for and keen understanding of the HR and recruitment industry. He has written hundreds of content pieces in numerous niches. Currently, he lives in Missouri with his wife and kids.