What are your thoughts on mentioning having diabetes in a job interview? If you were interviewing with a company that dealt specifically with diabetes, where having the disease and knowing a great deal about it would be great asset to the company. Would you bring this up if asked about “How do you know so much about diabetes?” or “How did you become interested in diabetes or more specifically our company?” I think there are a few pros and cons to answering the ? What do you think. From an ethical and legal standpoint companies are not allowed to ask if you have diabetes, so it probably wouldn’t come up. What do you think?
In most cases, I would say don’t mention it. If it has nothing to do with the job, then there is no point in drawing attention to it. After you’re hired, of course, you should tell them so they can make accommodations. But if you are interviewing for a job that is about diabetes, then obviously your experience is an asset and it makes you even more qualified as a candidate. I can’t think of a reason why they wouldn’t. Obviously the company would be educated enough to know that you can work as a diabetic, so that is unlikely to be the reason they don’t hire you. They won’t ask you specifically if you have it because that’s illegal, but there’s no reason you can’t bring it up or put it on your resume. If you have it on your resume, then they can ask you about it because you’ve disclosed it. If having diabetes is going to make you an asset to the company, then my question is why wouldn’t you tell them?
If I was interviewing with a company that dealt with diabetes, like a pump company, then I don’t have a problem stating it. But in any other interview I have never stated I was diabetic, nor will I ever. I always tell the company after I have started. I believe they should know just in case anything happens at work.
If they ask you “how did you become interested in diabetes?”, you could always just state that you know someone with it. I don’t see why they would discriminate against you since they deal specifically in diabetes. Won’t they find out anyway?
Yes, if there’s something specific about the job that makes having diabetes an advantage, then I think it’s OK to say you have it. Otherwise, it’s generally better to keep it on the DL. You never know what misconceptions people will have about it, or they might be concerned that you would miss too much work or not be able to stay on top of the job responsibilities, and even if it’s illegal to not hire you for that one thing, you would never be able to prove that’s why you weren’t hired. In most cases, it likely wouldn’t work in your favor, but if it’s a company that specifically deals with diabetes in some way, it would probably be seen as an asset. In the end, you just have to make a judgement call based on the circumstances.
I would just break out my meter and bust a blood test in front of the interviewer. They can’t stop you from doing that…and you won’t have to say a thing.
Then you can say something cheesy to yourself like “look at that, another normal reading…sweeet (fist pump)…anyway, you were saying?”
I think it should only be mentioned if it will help you get the job. Most employers are not legally allowed to ask about it or other conditions – I think airlines are allowed to ask about people applying to be pilots, but UPS is involved in a lawsuit about dismissing a diabetic truck driver.
I’ve had diabetes come up in interviews twice. The first time, I had a low BG in the middle of the interview. I told the people interviewing me what was happening, fixed it, and we carried on. While I was coming back up, they were talking about other people there who were diabetic.
The second time was during a meeting with a potential employer where I was trying to decide whether they were right for me. One of the interviewers saw my pump and, with the preference that he probably should not ask, but, since his wife was diabetic, he thought he would take the risk, asked if it was an insulin pump and what my experience with it had been.
Great answers people. I did a phone interview with the CEO for the diabetes company. He liked what he heard and Ill be meeting with them for a face-to-face. Will probably hold off on telling them I can get the job without saying anything due to prior experience and have come up with an answer should they ask about the diabetes interest. Much thanks.
When you start crashing during the interview and then down a bottle of juice in 3 seconds you could explain “by the way I’m diabetic”.
This actually happened to me during an interview…good times!
Brian funny!
I mention that I have Diabetes to my Job! I let them know sometimes I have spare of the moment appointments and I also let them know the signs of me being low. I also showed them how to use the PDA to the OmniPod and told my co workers where I keep extra glucose tabs. It never stopped me from getting a JOB:) Good luck with the face to face interview