Tags: career planning, job interview, Vision loss, Visually impaired
John Erickson, a long-time successful career professional, has also been living with vision loss since childhood. We asked John to share with us how he faced the skepticism of others and rose to meet these challenges. Here’s John’s story and advice to those who are embarking on new careers.
My name is John Erickson, and I am a retired investment advisor. During my 35-year career, I worked for three different companies in the wealth management industry here in Chicago.
I became legally blind at the age of 12. I planned to choose my major in college specifically to help me get a job after graduation. I’d always loved history and initially thought I would choose that as my major, with the intention of becoming a history teacher.
When I shared this plan with my best friend at college freshman year, he said “Are you nuts?! Business is where the jobs and good salaries are.”
After I earned my Finance degree, I interviewed for jobs but received no offers. I sensed I needed some kind of “edge” to set me apart from my sighted classmates. I needed to offset what I thought had to be an inevitable doubt on the part of interviewers. How can a visually impaired person perform as well as a sighted person in the workplace?
So I went and got my MBA and started interviewing all over again. One interviewer confirmed my beliefs when he said “You seem pretty smart, but I don’t know how you would do my job.” I did not have an answer for him.
However, the interviewer gave me the name of a visually impaired guy who had his own company selling municipal bonds. I contacted this person, and he helped me finally land a job buying bonds.
In retrospect, I know today exactly what I should have said to that interviewer. “Of course you don’t know how I would do your job, you’re not familiar with the vast array of aids and appliances for the visually-impaired, like CCTV’s, talking calculators, talking computers, etc. I plan to use these same tools to do whatever job I find myself in.”
My strong advice is don’t wait for interviewers to ask you, “How would you do this job?” Or worse, don’t try to hide your visual challenge. Take the offensive and educate them. Tell them how you’ve accomplished getting through school and overcoming all the hurdles a VIP (visually-impaired person) faces every day. You absolutely have to get past their understandable doubt that you can succeed to be in the running for the job.
I don’t think there is any magical attitude or characteristic someone can try to learn to be a success at work. It’s important, though, to pay attention to your workplace and co-workers and use your own talents that fit in. Work to understand the workplace culture. Show an interest in your co-workers and what they like to do.
John Erickson is the author of What I Saw When I Went Blind. This autobiography is the story of his journey from childhood through college and career and how he adjusted to and accepted vision loss. His book is available on Amazon.com.