I would like to apply for part time work in an office/clerical type environment. How do I bring up my diabetes in a job interview? I’m fairly well controlled and wear a sensor so I feel confident I can handle diabetes in an office setting. I just don’t know how to bring it up? Is it something I want to mention until after I get a job? I don’t want to come across as needy or difficult. I want to make a great first impression. Do I not even mention it in the interview? What are the laws? In my dream world my resume would say, I’m a type-1 diabetic therefore I am superhuman. I’ve been a stay at home Mom for a long time so the whole idea of even pursing part time work is intimidating enough!
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I have been following @workwithillness on Twitter for some time. Rosalind is a career coach with a chronic illlness herself (I think MS). Here’s one of her blogs on the subject
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There is no reason on earth for you to mention this during a job interview and I would strongly discourage you from doing so. By law they aren’t allowed to discriminate if you are able to perform the duties of the job with or without a reasonable accommodation— but that is certainly not a discussion you want to have during an interview-- and this is the real world, not a perfect one.
I had to take a supervisors course for my job and a lot of it involved proper and appropriate interviewing methods— as a supervisor I would immediately change the subject if someone even tried to mention their health in an interview because it leaves the door open to claims of discrimination if I didn’t hire them, no matter what the actual reasoning was.
Keep the focus on your qualifications, experience, and abilities. Your health, and all other aspects of your personal life are absolutely none of an employers business, whether current, potential, or past.
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I don’t say anything until I get my first job review - much later after I am hired… That way I am known as a hard worker and not just that “diabetic”. Let them know who you are first, then tell them about the diabetes.
I’m going in to the HR field, and my advice (from many, many HR classes plus recruitment experience) DO NOT EVER EVER EVER talk about ANYTHING other than your job qualifications. It doesn’t matter. You are trying to prove that you are qualified for the job. This is true, too, of other things in your life. You do not and should not let them know anything about your personal life. Marriage status, if you have children, if you go to church or not, nothing. And if they are abiding by employment laws, they shouldn’t ask you. Asking about you personal life opens the company up to discrimination lawsuits.
Also, you do not ever have to tell anyone n the company about your diabetes. There is no need to. There are no rules stating that you have to disclose a disability. If you feel that you will need reasonable accommodations, you should talk to HR about it. I tell my co-workers and direct supervisor about my diabetes because it’s hard to hide, but that’s a personal choice. My big boss, the administrator, probably doesn’t know. She doesn’t have to for any reason. After you get the job, you choose who to tell, you don’t have tell anyone, though.
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Amen! DO not tell. I am convinced I lost a job because I did tell. I am almost certain that it led to me being fired but I can’t prove it.
I’m in HR. The facts are diabetes is considered a disability under ADA. If an hourly employee needs to take a break, needs certain times, areas to test, store insulin, has a severe blood sugar reaction…someone should know. YES, the company has to follow ADA guidelines, which consists of a reasonable accommodation(s). They’re not required to make a "reasonable accommodation’ unless and until you declare you have a disability which warrants it.
this is incorrect. of course personal information is forbidden. but it’s part of the application, employment process, in terms of declariing a disability…and has nothing to do with employment laws. they’re required to ask this just like they ask for gender, race, military status for their EEOC reporting. One can decline answering the questions - they’re voluntary, but then one can’t expect employer to cover them under a reasonable accommodation should they need it for their disability.
Sorry, I should clarify. I was discussing the interview, as this is what the OP was asking about. During a job interview these things should not be discussed.
usually the job application comes before the interview. an employer can indeed ask (whether be on paper or in person) during an interview if potential candidate has a disability (not the specifics of it), can perform the job required without a reasonable accommodation. An employer is only required to offer the accommodation if it doesn’t significantly impact the company in terms of productivity, safety, profitability, etc…It’s the role of the HR Executive to not only, hopefully, provide a workplace adhering to laws and career advancements and harmony, etc…his/her role is also to protect the company (employer) from an potential liability as well as be an employee - client advocate. Many times an employee will be termed for non-productive employment, low performance, etc…then they turn around and state they have a ‘disability’ which requiring an ADA accommodation. An employer can’t read ones mind.
I have never mentioned having diabetes during an interview. As others have posted, I’ve brought it up once I established myself, and figured out who would be good to tell, mostly from an emergency perspective.
I have never told any employer - it’s none of their business. I had to tuck my shirt in at a sandwich shop and had my pump in a case wrapped around my belt. No one ever noticed it. I would simply go into the bathroom to check my sugar, and if I got low, I would simply fix a small regular Coke to drink on. I never made it a big deal. I was just sure to eat good before my shift started. However, there was one particular shift where my sugar kept getting low, I didn’t put tomatoes on the sandwiches, and they called me into the office. Before my manager called me into the office, I said I need to get something to eat (did not say my blood sugar is low). The owner chewed my ■■■ out, all of this happening while I’m at around 60. Because of the low sugar, I smart off and say something like well you don’t have to give me a second chance i’m tired of this crap i’m quitting in two weeks. He said that I could just quit then and fired me. My doctor wanted me to take legal action but I never did. I should have sued the crap out of that guy.
sue employer for what?? it’s none of their business unless employee is asking for a reasonable accommodation. believe me, an employer does not want to know your personal business either. just sayin’. you would have no grounds to sue this past employer.
I think it really depends on the nature of job and responsibilities, i.e., an exempt employee wouldn’t need to ask for a special ‘break’ to test sugars, etc…but someone working on an manufacturing assembly line might, so…just depends on the needs of diabetic and how it relates to their JD.
Sue for not accommodating my low. Didn’t let me treat it.
If you didnt tell him you were diabetic and needing to eat for a medical reason you would not have much of a case to sue him with. That’s an entirely different scenario than mentioning it in an interview.
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fire you, he accepted your resignation, all that remained was how long to let you hang around. your employer did the right thing.
i smarted off because my sugar was low and told them i’d quit in two weeks, and my sugar was low because they didn’t let me get something to eat, and i did express the need to get something to eat.
I worked in Human Resources for 6 years for a large, large company.
This was before I had diabetes, but same advice still applies.
The prospective company doesn’t need to know anything about your health until you are hired and working there. In interviews, you stick to the job, your qualifications, skills, nothing else. If you share your diabetes info prematurely then you risk the prospective employer discriminating against you. You may or may not know if it was due to your job skills or the diabetes. It is also illegal to ask health/personal questions in an interview, unless is a requirement of the job. Even then its very restrictive as to what can be asked.
Its none of their business until you become part of their business and even then, I would restrict how much you share with whom. Diabetes is a disability under American with Disabilities Act. Here is a link to ADA guidelines for diabetics. It might help you proceed further.
Thats why my best advice is to keep as much as you can to yourself. I would find a couple of coworkers, possibly your supervisor/manager that you trust to not over share and share your diabetes stuff with them as a precaution in case you have a hypo event/eating extra meals, i.e. an emergency. I’m not saying you shouldn’t share your diabetes to anyone, but be selective and cautious. Diabetes isn’t part of the job, its part of who you are.
Its really up to you to take responsibility for your health.
There is a difference between an exempt position vs a non exempt position but I won’t go into that unless you know you are Non exempt.
I wish you the best!
Busybee
correct. however, if one needs a reasonable accommodation they’ll have to disclose that they indeed have a disability, an employer can indeed ask during interview, pre-interview, typically done during the EEOC- AA application process if he’/she can perform the duties, etc…the same as if an employee has a service dog, employer can ask what service the animal will be performing but not much more then that. Most employers know this. However, there have been many situations where an employee is termed due to “whatever” fill in the blank and then the employee comes back and claims he/she’s lack of performance was due to a health related (possible ADA) issue or disability, PTSD, depression, whatever. true, one doesn’t want to disclose too much but the employer also needs the information to accommodate the employee, if applicable. Many states are ‘at will’ and employers don’t need a reason to term an employee anyway.