What Color Is Your Parachute 2018 by Richard N. Bolles copy

Disability or Prejudice?
That’s the $64,000 question. It is crucial to keep in mind that “Handicap”
is a broad term, which can refer to two entirely different things. On the one
hand, job-hunters’ disabilities. On the other hand, employers’ prejudices.
There is a huge difference, and you need to remember that.
Suppose you are completely deaf; you cannot hear, even with
technological augmentation. If you are considering a job that requires
acute hearing, then that is a disability: it means there are certain skills you
don’t have that are essential for doing that job.
But now let us suppose you can hear perfectly, but you are way
overweight. If you are applying for that same job, overweight is not a
disability unless it interferes with your ability to do that work. Nonetheless
a particular employer may be prejudiced against overweight people, and
simply won’t hire you, even though this has nothing to do with your ability
to do the job. So, there you have the difference: a disability is something
within you. A prejudice is something within the employer.
Both may technically be handicaps, because both may keep you from
getting hired, but it is important to understand that a real handicap is a
disability you have—it may be that you simply cannot do some important
task required in that particular job. On the other hand, a prejudice is a
phantom handicap. It may raise its ugly head in one particular interview or
more, but if you keep on going, find the right employer, then poof! the socalled
handicap vanishes.
You must just be sure you don’t share those prejudices. That is, don’t
look at yourself through their eyes. Look at yourself through your own
eyes.
The Key Employer Prejudices
1. Out of work too long. The employer prejudice that is getting all the
attention currently, relates to how long you’ve been out of work. We
saw this in chapter 1. It is a prejudice that some employers have, and
some employers don’t. If you’ve been out of work a year or more,