Collaboration#3: Perfect Employee

Good Evening

For this post I teamed up with Shivanee Loach, who's blog (findingameaningfuljob) is about getting the ideal job and the do's and don'ts of job hunting. We wanted to hear first hand from employers what they were looking for when hiring a new employee and also to find out about employers views on hiring deaf employees. We went to businesses in Port-of-Spain and got 20 businesses to give us a bit of their time and answer our questions about their hiring practices. We tried to find a different variety of business such as clinics, security firms, lawyer offices, supermarkets, insurance agencies, variety stores etc. 

We tried to keep it simple and asked each business what qualities they looked for when hiring an employee and if they were willing to hire someone who was deaf. Take a look at some of the answers that were given

Employers were looking for employees with:

• Intelligence: the ability to plan, organize and solve problems, common sense is also important
• Leadership abilities
• Qualification: must be educated in the field
• Integrity: admits to mistakes and demonstrates loyalty
• Likability: warm friendly and easy going, must work well with others, be a team player
• Competence: the ability to get the job done
• Punctual: being on time was really important for the company to function efficiently 
• Dress Code: must dress properly
• Competitive: a drive to succeed and be the best
• Ambitious: always striving to be better
• Ability to adapt to changes within the company
• Creative: formulate new ideas 
• Passionate: love the field and enjoy the job
• Decisive: willing to make tough decisions

Most said that through an interview and by asking prospective employees key questions they could determine whether that person would be suitable for the job.

Out of  the 20 companies only 3 said they would be willing to hire someone who is deaf. They believed that the deaf person once qualified for the job would be a great addition to their staff. The other 17 stated that they would not be willing to hire someone who is deaf and they gave the following reasons why:

• Communication barrier with other workers
• Unable to use the telephone
• Employer unwilling to spend the money required to make special arrangements for a disabled employee
• They felt it would be disruptive
• Deaf person may not be qualified
• The deaf person might not fit in with the other workers
• Co-workers may feel awkward about how to interact with them, may fear an increase in their work load, deaf person may receive special treatment from the employer
• Employers feared that customers would react negatively to the deaf person and they would lose money

Is these responses fair? I don't think so but guess what they are within their rights to hire who ever they please, there are no laws in place to prevent this kind of behavior. In other countries the laws make it mandatory for companies to hire disabled persons once they're qualified for the position, this makes sure that people with disabilities are not discriminated against and are able to provide for their families.

Deaf people in Trinidad have very limited job opportunities, they can become teachers of sign language, small business owners if they have a skill and most of all supermarket employees. I believe that government can play a critical role in the future of employment for the deaf, they must implement laws that make discrimination because of a disability illegal. Think for a moment if you owned a business would you hire someone who is deaf?