BLIND IN BUSINESS - PARENTS WORKSHOP VIDEO SERIES

When Blind in Business hosted a Parents Workshop in December 2012, it was filmed in order to make sure those who couldn't attend the event, were able to benefit from our role models' insight as young visually impaired people.

Our five candidates talked about education, disclosure, technology, and coping with social situations and confidence.

THE ROLE MODELS

Matt Pougher is an Account Manager for Ovum, a technology company and studied in Southampton.
Michael Smith is in his final year at King's University studying Human Geography and is also a member of the Blind Football Great British Team.
Gillian Bramley is a Higher Scientific Officer at Food Standard Agency and studied Nutrition and Public Health at Oxford Brookes University.
Ian Ketterinham is on the Met Police Graduate IT Scheme and gained a MSc Environmental Management at Liverpool Hope University.
Ghazi AbuYounis is in his final year at City University studying Law will go on to study for his LPC this September.


If you would like more information about Blind in Business please visit our website: www.blindinbusiness.co.uk or email info@blindinbusiness.org.uk

Goal Setting and Job Seeking - GUEST BLOG

Happy New Year Everyone!

To kick start 2013, we have a guest entry for our blog from Steph Cutler, founder of Making Lemonade. Steph is an employment trainer and coach, who works with visually impaired people, helping them to achieve meaningful employment and raise awareness of disability issues with employers.

Goal Setting and Job Seeking

It’s that time of year when talk turns to resolutions. This year as I looked ahead at what I want to achieve in 2013 it struck me how the principles of setting successful goals and seeking employment have a great many similarities.

As a coach I regularly work with people who achieve their goals.  One thing all these people have in common is that they will all tell you it wasn’t easy. Let’s face it, if it was easy you wouldn’t need to set it as a goal or a resolution and there would be far fewer smokers, overweight people and more people exercising. Looking for and gaining work is also not easy, especially if you are blind or partially sighted. I know this from personal experience, I found it disproportionately difficult finding work after experiencing sight loss, and I know the visually impaired job seekers I regularly work with rarely find it easy.

From a coaching perspective, there are five questions which can help you set a resolution that you are seriously going to strive to achieve.

Ask yourself:

 1.   Have I got a clear picture of where I am now and what it is I want to achieve?

 2.   Do I have a written plan and does my goal have a deadline?

 3.   Am I sufficiently passionate about achieving my goal?

 4.   Do I strongly believe I can achieve my goal?

 5.   Do I have the absolute determination to see my goal through regardless of what other people say, think, or do?

As you would expect,  I am going to say that you need to be able to say ‘yes’ to all of the above questions to give yourself the best shot. However, let’s take a minute to look at these in a little more detail AND apply them to job seeking.

1.   Have I got a clear picture of where I am now and what it is I want to achieve?

It is important that you have a clear picture of what it is you want to achieve and you maintain your focus on this. I know this can be hard if you are not exactly sure what you want to do work wise. Spend some time eliminating what you don’t want and being as specific as you can about what you do. The reason I say this is that working towards something vague is far harder than when you have clarity about what it is you want to achieve.

2.   Do I have a written plan and does my goal have a deadline?

 

Draw up a plan that works for you which includes steps you are committed to taking to get where you want to be. Written plans and deadlines help prevent procrastination. The fact that you put your goals on paper (or on a Dictaphone or computer) is an act of commitment and your goal is then real.

 

In 1953 Yale University carried out some research on goal setting! They sampled a group of final year students and found that 4% had goals that were written down. 20 years later the researchers went back to the sample group to find out how they were doing. The 4% who had written down their goals were streets ahead of the rest of the group when it came to indications that might suggest success. Each individual within the 4% group was financially secure; indeed as a group they were worth more than the other 96% - who did not write down their goals put together.

 3.   Am I sufficiently passionate about achieving my goal?

Passion puts action into your plans and intentions. Without passion you will struggle to motivate yourself to achieve your goals, regardless how worthy your goal is or how workable your plan. This can only come from you, so you should feel excited about hearing you have been the successful candidate.

 4.   Do I strongly believe I can achieve my goal?

Sorry to sound harsh but….if you don’t believe then why would anyone else? Keep reaffirming to yourself that you can do this, you are capable and you have what it takes. You are going to have to persuade a potential employer of this and it is WAY more compelling if you believe it too.

 

 5.   Do I have the absolute determination to see my goal through regardless of what other people say, think, or do?

You will need to develop a strong determination to follow through on your plan. Actively seeking work can be a thankless task and you will very likely experience knock-backs along the way. The people who succeed into employment are the ones that persevere and are determined. Unfortunately, many capable and talented people, sighted and visually impaired, do not achieve their employment goals because they lose the determination to keep applying.  

I’m not going to wish you luck, as I am not a big believer in luck when it comes to gaining employment or keeping resolutions (note the absence of luck in my top five tips). I am going to wish you the very best for the year ahead, whether you have made a resolution or not. Hope 2013 is fulfilling and fun.

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Steph Cutler

www.making-lemonade.co.uk

Twitter: @Steph_Cutler

 

BLIND IN BUSINESS CANDIDATES - NAOMI STEVENSON

listen to ‘BLIND IN BUSINESS CANDIDATES - NAOMI STEVENSON’ on Audioboo

Blind in Business Candidate - Kevin Satizabal

listen to ‘Blind in Business Candidate - Kevin Satizabal’ on Audioboo

More stories from the Blind in Business candidates.

CHRIS WALLER

I first came into contact with Blind in Business in July 2012. I had just graduated from university but despite studying for four years, I still had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. I received an e-mail from my university telling me about the annual Education to Employment event BIB were hosting in Surrey and this seemed like a good opportunity to gain some idea of the options available to me. 

I didn’t have very high expectations of the event. I assumed it would all be very patronising – a weekend full of people telling me how I could be an astronaut or an airline pilot if I really wanted, all I had to do was be positive. As such, it was a very pleasant surprise when I arrived and I found that the event was being run by very driven and knowledgeable people who had a lot of time for those who were focused and dedicated, but absolutely no time for those who blamed all their failures and problems on their disability. So it was with that, my experience with BIB begun. 

After the incredibly insightful and enjoyable event in Surrey had ended ,I quickly learnt that the help and advice they were willing to offer had barely been realised. There were months and months of regular trips to their office in London in which they would dedicate hours to finding me suitable jobs. They arranged interviews and meetings with people who I would never have been able to speak to otherwise. I had a tour of the PwC London office and a mock interview with someone who had experience interviewing at Ernst and Young, and this was all completely free. I haven’t been in contact with BIB for very long, but in such a short time they have not only shown me the wealth of opportunities that are available to me, but also made it crystal clear that whatever problems I have with my sight, it would not prevent me finding the career I really want.

 GHAZI ABUYOUNIS

I am currently in my last year completing my undergraduate Law LLB degree at City University London. I have white hair, a very fair complexion, colourless grey eyes, and a dependency on reading aids by the age of ten.

Coming from a different region of the world to study in the UK was a major step my parents and I decided to take. At first, I had mixed feelings as to whether I’ll cope with living on my own for the first time, in a country which I had previously visited during the summer holidays but never resided in.

I consider myself lucky to be visually impaired in a time-period where technological innovations are on the rise, making our lives easier. I can’t illustrate how dependant I am on technology to fulfil varying aspects of life such as travelling throughout London, reading course material, or to flip through the pages of City A.M. every morning on the train. Life just keeps getting better.

I knew about Blind in Business’s services through my University Student Support Centre. I attended a law event in May 2011, and in February of this year, I got back in contact. I spent 6 weeks during the summer at their offices, to submit Training Contract applications, and just can’t describe the impact the charity had on my life. I no longer think of my disability as an obstacle, but see it as an opportunity to inspire others who may or may not have a similar condition to mine. Their welcoming community allowed me to know other candidates on a personal level. There is nothing better than sharing your experiences with others who know exactly what you go through, because they too go through it, but in a different way. It was remarkable to realise that as BIB candidates, we share one thing in common, but yet we are so different from one another. The charity does an excellent job in making us competitive: shaping-up our CVs and job applications to make them as good, if not better, than other applicants. Today, competition for jobs is at its toughest levels, and the charity ensures we don’t get caught out in the process.

Blind in Business boosted my confidence by showing me what other visually impaired persons have done; thus proving to me that having low vision does not stop one from achieving. One of my own achievements this year was receiving the Recorder of London Award for the Best Law Student. Thus aside being told of the achievements of others, Blind in Business now use my achievement as a mean to inspire candidates. Operating within this two-way process encourages us to work harder to further carve our recognition within society.

SPEED RECRUITMENT SCOTLAND

 SPEED RECRUITMENT SCOTLAND
On Wednesday 28th November, was the first Speed Recruitment Event in Scotland.
Ernst and Young in Glasgow, whose Graduate Recruitment Team were kind enough to host the event.
E&Y, PWC and Acumen Solutions spent the afternoon interviewing the candidates, giving feedback and passing on their knowledge of applications and their industries.

Adeela Akram – BSc Accounting and Finance Graduate, University of Bradford

The Ernst and Young speed recruitment in Glasgow was the first Blind in Business event I have attended. Therefore I was unsure on what to expect. However I found it to be extremely useful. I had the opportunity to meet employers from a range of organisations such as Acumen Solutions and Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Each recruiter offered a short interview and valuable feedback was provided based on my strengths and weaknesses during the interview. This was an excellent learning experience as I realised what I must do to improve my interviewing skills, it was also a very good social experience as I had the chance to meet new people.

John James Laidlaw – Masters, Dundee University

I was invited along to the speed recruitment event at Ernest & Young in their George Square office in Glasgow. The event gave a number of blind and visually impaired graduates and undergraduates the opportunity to be interviewed by different organisations from the business world and gain invaluable feedback on their technique. An insight into what they look for in potential candidates for some of their grad schemes was also given. I personally felt prior to the event that this would be a valuable networking event from which I could learn a lot. This proved to be the case as everyone involved was keen to give constructive advice, share their personal experiences, as well as delivering a realistic interview scenario. I personally was totally new to these types of scenarios, but felt as though as the event progressed I grew more comfortable with these. The event was in my eyes a complete success and these types of events have the potential to help give many blind and visually impaired people the confidence to embark upon a long and fulfilling career.

Paul Murray – MMusic, University of Aberdeen

The Speed Recruitment was a new depth for me. As a student, I haven't explored employment options or opportunities and with coinciding issues I was dealing with, I was more than nervous. The actual event was by far the most informative and interesting day I could have experienced. I managed to up my confidence in an employment environment and also got to give my newly acquired skills a try out. From this event I have made ties with some employers and gotten some valuable knowledge in the process.

If you would like to get involved in our next Speed Recruitment in London on March 26th in 2013, then please email justin@blindinbusiness.co.uk for more information.

 

Meet the Blind in Business Candidates

At Blind in Business, we work with a wide range of people struggling to find employment, help them to use assistive technology in the workplace and education, and make the step between education and employment.

'My name is Daisy Robson-Odugbemi, a law graduate and I am originally from Nigeria. I have oculocutaneous albinism which is a lack of pigment in my eyes, skin and hair; a ‘black girl trapped in a white girl’s body’ as my family like to say. I am registered blind as my eyesight is really poor. Even though I have been lucky enough to have a good family and supportive network of friends, my scholastic life has been difficult. University was an exceptionally trying time and I began to have doubts about whether it was even possible for me to achieve my goals and ambitions. I heard about Blind in Business through my University Disability Centre and being involved with them has been wonderful. They have offered practical guidance, are friendly, always available to help and provide a listening ear. I have also gained a lot by attending their networking events and ‘Speed Recruitment’ sessions, where I met employers and other young people with visual impairments. 
For the first time, I gained friends who know exactly what I am going through. I feel happier and more confident about my future prospects for the first time in a long time knowing that Blind In Business are there for me through this journey from education into a career'. 


My name is Maya Haynes and I am a 2nd Year undergrad at Keele University. I first got involved with Blind in Business when I was home from my first year of University for the summer, and wondering what to do with it.

I came across Blind In Business through a few web searches and realised that they could give me work experience whilst helping me to find summer work at the same time, which was perfect for me. I started by doing 2 weeks work experience at the London office. 
However I really enjoyed it and was offered the opportunitiy to stay on for another week or so.  Working at Blind in Business gave me a lot of confidence last summer and made me realised that employers ARE interested in people like me who have very limited vision. Of course there are limitations to very few jobs, but Blind in Business are always honest about these, and they always focus on the positive as opposed to the negative. It was a great experience and I will definitely be approaching Blind in Business next summer, to go into the offices and get help with applying for jobs and doing some work experience on the side. 

To hear more stories from candidates, check out our Candidate diaries on Youtube.