How do you handle job interviews?

It's a tough question -here is an article concerning IBD and our employment rights:

According to Title I of the ADA (which is the section that relates to employment), you cannot be discriminated against during the recruitment or hiring process. For example, Title I restricts the questions that a prospective employer can ask about your disability before making a job offer. Note, however, that Title I applies only to employers with 15 or more employees in 20 nonconsecutive workweeks of the current or preceding calendar year. Your state may have a law that applies similar protections to smaller employers.
I often am asked whether a job applicant should disclose that he or she has IBD. In my view, there are only two reasons to disclose your IBD: if you are requesting accommodations under the ADA, or if you are requesting leave under the Family & Medical Leave Act2.

Employers are allowed to ask some health–related questions in a job interview. For example, they can ask how you handle stress, whether you work well under pressure, and whether you have a physical condition that would interfere with your ability to do your job; however, they cannot ask whether you have a chronic illness, whether you have a disability that would prevent you from performing the essential functions of the job even with accommodation, or whether you would need reasonable accommodations if you were hired.

Job offers also can be contingent on passing a medical exam. This is permitted only if all candidates for a job are given the same test. The physical exam cannot exclude you because you have IBD; it can exclude you only if your IBD would make it impossible for you to perform the essential functions of your job with or without accommodation. It is not the label that counts; it is your ability to function (i.e., what you can and cannot do).

Gosh - I am sorry that your UC affects that much of your life. This is a good question. I don't know what I would do in your shoes. My disease has not interferred to that extent with my job. Sorry you are dealing with this!

WingZero said...
I've always wondered if I should disclose my condition when interviewing for a job. I feel like I often get turned down for work because I'm just not able to meet their requirements (full time, 8+ hours a day). Sometimes I wonder if I should just lay it all out on the table from the start, but at the same time they don't ask so I don't tell. So HW, how do you go about finding work?

There is no reason to tell them. I used to have a compulsion to be overly open/honest - it was just plain stupid. It is none of their business. I give them reasons to hire/contract me I do not give them reasons to pass on me.

Personally I think bringing up something that is not within the legal bounds of the interview or 'fair game' just makes a person look stupid which is a great reason to not hire you. Play the game like a winner that is what is expected of you.

beth75,
I don't think the interview is the time or place to divulge medical info. I'd think focusing on getting the job first would be the way to go. Then if your ailment gets in the way while working, you can discuss it at that point.
I've been through all this , the company I worked for was really great about it.

I was recommended for key role at a startup and I had the job and went to lunch with the head guy and mentioned that I have UC and if it flares up I just have to work from home for a week and get with my doctors and adjust the meds or something.

My take is he never heard of UC before and felt I was pre-canning a fabricated excuse that I planned to use in the future.

You do not know for certain you will flare on the job - so why even go there.

I used to work fulltime, before my UC diagnosis. Since being diagnosed, I have been fairly lucky. I had one job where the environment was very casual, there were only 3 people in the office and another where I worked from home most of the time. A year ago, I had a part-time job where I worked in a small office and having UC was very difficult because I shared one bathroom with a guy around my age. I started to flare up and I felt terrible using the bathroom there all of the time. A few times I opened the window and he asked why the window was open, lol. That aside, I ended up leaving that job and I have been working from home again. I am now looking for work and I definitely wouldn't mention my UC. My condition is stable, if it becomes unstable, I will cross that bridge when I come to it. If you're not stable, I would focus on getting healthy while you're not employed. This way you can perform well when you find work. I know if I had brought up UC in my past job interviews, I wouldn't have gotten the job. Employers are out to help themselves, not out to help you. A worker that is not focused, available and enthusiastic is not beneficial to the company and probably won't stick around long-term. Companies hate to rehire over and over.

I don't tell them. All people that work for me now have issues that keep them from working as productively as I expected. Some can travel or present easier but all have some issues be it divorce, sick infants, ailing parents, outside committments, etc. During interviews you're compared to others who present their best attributes so to call out one of your limitations while others do not would be unfair to you. Certainly though it will depend on the job you're applying for. If you cannot perform the job yet you sell that you can then that's dishonest. Most likely you can. Ask your doctor for antispasm drugs or, in worst cases, pain medication. It helped me a lot. Pain medicine is very addictive so watch out.

beatuc - I meant after the person got the job if they found that they were having problems that knowing it is from a medical condition, rather than not wanting to work, I would work with them.

If one of your former employers is called for a reference, are they allowed to tell the person who calls that you have UC? That's what I'm worried about. If it got to the point that they were checking my references, and I hadn't brought up my UC, I'm worried that they would think I was just trying to hide it.

Well, he said he *would* tell anyone who called looking for a reference about my illness, but that was awhile ago, so I don't know if he still feels that way. I am concerned that this would stop me from ever getting a job again, though...

No need to worry:
"in order to share the information about an employee’s disability with other people within your organisation (for example, staff in the human resource department), you must get the written consent from the employee, unless the sharing of that information is otherwise authorised or required by or under law.

It is important to remember that you are required by law to respect the employee’s right to privacy. Failing to protect confidential personal information in relation to a person’s disability may involve or lead to discrimination in some circumstances."


http://jobaccess.gov.au/Employers/Before_you_start/Frequently_Asked_Questions/Pages/Disclosure_and_privacy.aspx

You should be able to do some research on the internet into your labour/privacy laws in the US. It should be a fairly quick search to unearth something like that. Once you confirm it, you can advise the guy who threatened to tell that he cannot do so. For example, get some kind of link like beatUC had for Australia and forward it to him. That is what I meant by nipping it in the bud.

If you are still worried after that and want to check what he tells other people? Get a friend or family member to call him and say they are checking your references for a job and see what he says.