To the Employers Who Refused Me a Job, You Lose!
Reflecting upon the video I created yesterday, I indulged myself briefly in a sense of pride and accomplishment. I had followed a creative idea through development to completion using various software programs and skills that I had learned myself.
Surely those are characteristics of a valuable employee! Yet, during my job search years, only one employer chose to take a chance on me, and that was for a grant-funded position. Once the year was up and the funding gone, I was out of a job. No other employer gave me the opportunity to prove what I was capable of and what I could bring to the organization. They could not see past my jerky cerebral palsy movements, my significant speech impairment and my painfully slow typing speed.
In recent years I have questioned why did I bother with five years at high school and seven years at university, working hard to keep up (and sometimes surpass) my classmates and friends, only to watch them land jobs with decent salaries, Christmas bonuses and pension plans while I’m still stuck on social assistance, labeled as unemployable. Was all of that work for nothing? Why did I bother?
But then I think back to what I have accomplished by not having a J O B. I’ve written and self-published a book, which took umpteen skills, creativity, determination and perseverance.
Just this year I’ve wowed the pants off of many with my SOBCon and WordCamp presentations – not only with the content but also by the method. Who else combines PowerPoint with captions and a text-to-speech voice the way I do?
My blog, now four years old (another sign of determination and diligence), has a loyal worldwide readership and currently has an Alexa ranking of 357,412, which is higher than many so-called experts’ blogs and websites.
Daily I connect with hundreds of colleagues, friends and contacts, regardless of location or time zone, on Twitter and Facebook – essential tools nowadays. Last night I Skype chatted via video with friends on the Gold Coast of Australia and then with my brother in Alberta.
To those employers who refused to hire me because of my typing speed and “poor†communication skills, you failed to think creatively and to think outside of the box – an ability I could have brought to your organization. The name, reputation and exposure, which I have created for myself, I would have willingly and gladly created for your business, had I been given the opportunity. But, you didn’t look beyond my cerebral palsy to see what I could offer. For that reason, you lose!
By persevering and thinking creatively, I know that opportunities – with benefits better than Christmas bonuses and pension plans – await. By combining these skills and tools that I have acquired I know I’m on the way to hitting it big and to getting off of social assistance permanently. For that reason, I will win!
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