I have an interview coming up on Monday and I will need to use speech recognition software to be professionally productive.


I use a power wheelchair so obviously, I cannot hide the fact that I might need some assistive technology to be productive. Really the only technology I can see myself using is a headset for the telephone and one for Dragon. I was just wondering what some other people have done to address this issue.

 Obviously you want to spend very little time talking about what you need help with and spend more time talking about what you can do well. And obviously with Dragon you can be incredibly productive

knowing all of those things I'm still a little bit unsure about how I should handle this.

Any advice is encouraged and appreciated.

 

Wheels,

First of all, the very best of luck: I'm sure you will wow them at your interview!

I  have no direct experience, not needing to use a wheelchair, but my perspective on your situation is this:-

1.  If your interviewer is not well disposed to your situation, no amount of good interview technique is going to get you the job;

2.  If your interviewer IS well disposed, he or she is going to want to hear dispassionately what you can do well, what you can't do at all, and what you can do better if you have some help;

3.  However well disposed, your interviewer may not be used to interviewing people in powered wheelchairs, and may feel non-plussed when you come in the room: have you mentioned that you will be in a wheelchair? Maybe you can take the initiative and help the interviewer feel at ease? That would be something of a reversal of roles, but might well help, because if the interviewer is not at ease, however hard they try, they are not going to do justice to the interview:

4.  So, in general terms, I should recommend taking the bull by the horns and starting off by saying something like: "Before you start with questions, perhaps you would allow me to say a few introductory words?"

5.  I agree you want to spend as little time as possible talking about the wheelchair aspect, but the time you do spend, should be spent by you TELLING rather than them ASKING - if that can be arranged. And do it at the outset, so they have no time to fill their heads with false ideas.

I have no experience whatever, as I have mentioned, of this specific issue in practice, but those are my thoughts, and they may be helpful: if so, I am happy!

Ed 

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DNS 12 Pro, Windows 7 Professional, SP1, i7-2700K 3.50 Ghz Sandybridge, 16Gb DDR3 PC3-160000C9 2000Mhz dual channel RAM, SpeechMike 5276 and Samson Airline 77

wheels,

Not being absolutely certain where you are located, I would thoroughly review the laws as far as what can or cannot be asked by an interviewer legally. For example, in the US, an interviewer cannot legally ask you anything about your age, religion, or any things that are protected under law with regard to disabilities and/or privacy.

Obviously, you can't hide some of these. However, I had some very good training on giving depositions and the person who trained me had one very good piece of advice that applies to just about anything. That is, "If it isn't asked, don't offer." In other words, it's like a dance. One person leads and the other follows. Let the interviewer asks the questions (lead) and you answer as appropriate. The problem that many people get into with regard to interviews, and particularly job interviews because I used to conduct job interviews, is that interviewees often open their mouths to change feet, rather than providing appropriate and productive answers to questions. So, the best approach is to listen carefully to what is asked by the interviewer, take as much time to think about it before you answer, and then answer appropriately. There is nothing in a job interview or any other one-on-one interaction that requires you to respond immediately (i.e., without thinking about what you want to say just as with Dragon). No one is going to grade you down because you took 30 seconds to a minute to think about your answer. Many interviewees think that they have to respond immediately, and that's an equation for disaster. You have the right to take your time and no one (interviewer or otherwise) has the right to press you for a response. The best way to handle that kind of pressure is to politely that you're just thinking about the question. More often than not, that will impress an interviewer, but I've never held it against someone who took time to answer a question properly as long as the response that they gave was clear and precise. Some interviewees make the mistake of trying to formulate a response and then hem and haw and/or stumble through their answer trying to give an interviewer what they think the interviewer wants to hear, rather than taking the time to carefully think about the question and the response. Nonetheless, the bottom line is be honest, but don't get caught tripping over your own tongue.

A good interviewer is very capable of picking up the fact that you don't know the answer to a question, or that you're being deceptive, or when you're trying to give them what you think they want rather than what you should be saying.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Chuck Runquist
Technical Project Manager
VoiceTeach LLC
Home of VoicePower®: We don't make Dragon NaturallySpeaking, We make it better! 



"A good listener tries to understand what the other person is saying. In the end he may disagree sharply, but because he disagrees, he wants to know exactly what it is he is disagreeing with." ~Kenneth A. Wells

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I would bring your ability to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking up as a positive.   Effectively, using dictation software, I can type at about the same speed as I can think, whereas typing manually I have about one third of that speed. You may well be far more productive than other members of staff who type manually.

It is reasonable for employers to want to see that potential recruits are able to carry out the work. Therefore, I would be prepared to prove that I can use DNS effectively.  Personally, I would be prepared to turn up with my own laptop and microphone to demonstrate this. If that is not practicable, I would certainly turn up with some examples of work that I have dictated.

A copy of DNS costs about £60 - £80 in the UK, which is a miniscule cost compared to the other costs of recruitment. 

In the UK, employers are not allowed to discriminate on the grounds of disability, so I am sure that the interviewer will at least appear to give you a fair hearing.  Of course, some people have a closed mind, unfortunately. In addition, employers are required by law to make a reasonable provision for people with disabilities, and if all you require is a copy of DNS, that is certainly reasonable.

 

 

Wheelstb,

Another approach is to potentially "play your card" looking at your situation as a trump card. The fact that you are there interviewing, being obviously physically disabled and in a wheelchair should show the interviewer that you've got gumption. You not only have the will and desire to overcome your handicap, but have indeed done so in terms of being a candidate for a job. It shows that you have the moral fortitude, the drive, the work ethic, the ingenuity, the "go get them". You can then say that your situation (not disability) has lead you down the path of becoming extremely proficient with speech recognition out of necessity, so much so that you can run hurdles over people without a physical handicap who still type and are thus self-disabling. It's just like when my wife went back to school at age 41. They actually like older students as they are there because they are very motivated and truly want to be there. Take the positive approach, letting them know why you are a motivated, stronger candidate than others, and can do a better job.

MDH

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I was in a private Pathology practice for nearly 25 years before being swallowed up by the hospital. I did have to re-apply with the hospital for my job. The fact that I use dragon for my dictation was a large factor in my getting the job. That saves the hospital 1 fulltime secretary. Only 2 of us out of 5 were hired.......good luck my friend.

I use a power wheelchair so obviously, I cannot hide the fact that I might need some assistive technology to be productive.

Right. It's obvious. Period. End of story. Nothing more needs to be said during the interview. Get the job first. You're a worker first and a person with a disability second.

Focus on the job, your company, your knowledge and abilities and how you can help your organization be better than it is without you. Since you don't have experience, it's all about the skill and insight that you bring to the table. Focus on that. As well as your ability to learn new things, take instruction, and solve problems.

Acknowledging your limitations upfront and talking about how Dragon (or anything, really) can help you overcome them could be seen as proactive. It could also be seen as pre-emptive excuse making, or lacking in confidence. Just like you said... if you're rolling into the job interview, you can't hide your disability. Why are you focusing more on it? Think very carefully about what, if anything, is to be gained by saying more about it. And just like Chuck said, have a clear sense of what questions are OK and what questions aren't OK -- from a legal perspective, and from a moral perspective. Don't be afraid to say -- without being defensive or accusatory, of course --  "I don't mean to dismiss your question, but I don't think it's relevant to this situation. Is there a particular reason you're asking? What are you really getting at here?"

Of course, there COULD be situations where something is to be gained. If people are clearly surprised or made uncomfortable by or focusing too much on your chair, you might score a quick win by saying "hey guys, you seem uncomfortable. Do you have any concerns that I might be able to address?" Disability or not, the most important thing ANYONE can do in a job interview (and really, in interacting with people in general) is read the reactions of your conversational partner and anticipate how you can improve them.  

Generally speaking, there are better times to address any accommodations you might require: like once you get the job, or once you get a second interview.  

Good luck! And for whatever its worth, if you'd like to share some details about the position, you might be able to get some more relevant advice. Asking for advice is a lot like asking for tech support. Something about the Mona Lisa and blind people.

Cheers,

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Eric Wright At work: DNS 12 Pro. At home: DNS 11.5 Pro,  KnowBrainer 2011, and Utter Command by RedStart Systems; Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac

 

Appetite for Dictation - My Blog

Wheelstb,

You need to read about Erik Weihenmayer, a blind person who climbed Everest. There is a great movie about it: "Touch the Top of the World".

MDH

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The following advice should probably be taken with a grain of salt:

In 1999, I attempted to demonstrate NaturallySpeaking to a large international law firm. Unfortunately, my notebook computer wasn't fast enough to make much of an impression but NaturallySpeaking did. They offered up front financing to purchase a few suits (without so much as explaining what was wrong with my jeans and tie-dyed T-shirt), a private office with a window and a six-figure salary to train their international staff. The company offered me 5 times more than I was currently making but I turned them down because I wanted to work for myself. And before you ask… yes, I was probably an idiot.

In 2001, a company by the name of nextVoice, in Marietta Georgia, paid to fly me from Nashville to interview for a job. I even told them that I wasn't really interested but they wanted to see a demonstration DNS Pro 6 (I think) and KnowBrainer on a large monitor. Halfway through the dog and pony show I was asked to stop demonstrating because they were laughing so hard over the KnowBrainer Bad Computer command which does nothing more than undo my last mistake and verbally apologize. I was immediately offered a starting salary of $100,000 and another $2 million for the KnowBrainer company. Luckily, nextVoice went under before making any payments. The point that I am probably stumbling around making is that if you put together the right demonstration, you can take the focus off your disability and put it where it belongs; making the company more efficient and increasing their bottom line. When you're done, no one is going to care that you rolled into that office. They're just going to be glad you did.

If I was going to do another job interview, it would be fun. For example, 1 of the KnowBrainer 2012 11,000 commands will allow you to speak in around 40 different languages. Imagine being able to flip open your notebook computer, in Italy and saying “I would like to order the chicken Parmesan and a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer”. Then follow that up with Say it in Italian. A rudimentary version of this command currently exists and KnowBrainer 2011 but requires that you dictate in a word processor and is now out of date. The new version of the command will allow you to dictate almost anywhere; including your desktop. Your job probably doesn't you to speak French but this is just 1 example of pushing the envelope or perhaps we should say blowing the envelope up ! You might not get the job you want but they would be crazy not to hire you to make everyone else more efficient .

A few weeks ago, I received another job offer with a starting salary of $150,000 which I politely turned down because I'm still an idiot!

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Click KB 2012 REV D to Download a 30 Day Evaluation of KnowBrainer 2012 

 

 

 

Wow! Everyone has made some fantastic points. Way more than I can even address in one form post or even 17 forum posts.

What I'm gathering from the majority of the information presented is that I should focus on what I am able to do instead of what I am unable to do. This is exactly what I was planning to do and had been thinking about all along.

The potential problems I see are at this. Upon my introduction the interviewer may automatically assume that I do not have what it takes to be very productive. How do I protect myself from this issue?

Also in the last few interviews I have been on the first thing that happens is they present you with a clipboard and about six pages of paperwork that needs to be manually filled out. I am not very good with pen and paper tasks and so immediately I am presenting my weakest suit.

To remedy this particular problem I was thinking about bringing my laptop with me and asking if they had an additional version of the paperwork that I could fill out. Or asking if I could take the paperwork home and fill out the remainder of it and bring it back.

To me none of the solutions seem to be inconspicuous and inconspicuous is exactly what I would like my physically weak points to be.

Any more advice?

Upon my introduction the interviewer may automatically assume that I do not have what it takes to be very productive.

You know what happens when you assume.

How do I protect myself from this issue?

You don't. It is what it is. But you've got two things going for you. The first is the ability to mitigate the issue to the extent practical. Let me know if you want to talk mitigation strategies, but really: don't worry about it so much. Be yourself. You're more than your wheelchair. The second thing you've got going for is the law. If you're in the United States and you feel that you were genuinely denied opportunity on the basis of your disability... well, that's illegal. 

Also in the last few interviews I have been on the first thing that happens is they present you with a clipboard and about six pages of paperwork that needs to be manually filled out. I am not very good with pen and paper tasks and so immediately I am presenting my weakest suit.

 So present two strong suits: your confidence and your ability to problem solve. There's no shame in asking for help when help is needed. "Excuse me, but I'm not so good with a pen. I can write -- I'm quite good with a computer -- but the pen poses a particular difficulty. If I dictate to you, would you mind writing for me?" Seems to me like a reasonable accommodation -- and a service any reasonable person wouldn't think twice about providing.

To remedy this particular problem I was thinking about bringing my laptop with me and asking if they had an additional version of the paperwork that I could fill out. Or asking if I could take the paperwork home and fill out the remainder of it and bring it back.

Not a bad idea. I'd opt for the dictation/scribe option myself: it's low tech, and it solves the problem in the moment and on site. But there ain't nothin' wrong with a solution that allows you to work independently.

I'll tell you a story: the last job I applied for was as a copy editor. A test was part of the interview. They gave you an hour, a pencil, and a stack of pages that was absolutely littered with mistakes. Some of them were obvious, some of them were devious. My job was to correct them. They'd warned the candidates (including me) ahead of time that the test was famously hard. Nobody had ever found all of the mistakes, and more than 70% of the applicants failed on the first try. 

 I'm able to write with a pencil, but I'm not very fast or very neat. Regardless, I took the test and did my best for that hour. I didn't get to the end of the pages. I failed the test and got passed over for the job. When I asked for a debrief, I was told that they didn't even look at my test. A requirement for being considered was that you finished the test. In my mind, that's a reasonable requirement. Editing involves deadlines, and a successful candidate should be able to meet them.

They invited me -- and all the other candidates who failed that day -- to come back again in six months and give it a shot. So I did. But before hand, I talked to the recruiter. I asked if they'd let me bring my computer and take the test using Dragon and KnowBrainer. After all, I said, most editing and publishing will be done on the computer anyway, won't it?

They agreed. I came back in six months, and I took the test again using Dragon. I STILL didn't get to the end of it. It was really hard! But they invited me to come back and take the test again in six months. I took the test again, and again I took it with Dragon. I still didn't finish it and still failed. They invited me to take the test again in six months.

"I don't think that I will" I conceded. " I can't do the job. The position's not right for me. But I'd still love to work for the company. Is there anywhere else I could fit?" They were impressed with my persistence and my candor, and after some prodding on my part they looked at my series of incomplete tests. The tests showed that I was a skilled editor, but not one who was suited to the task of copy editing. They offered me an editorial job, but one without the time constraints of the copydesk.

I'm not sure if this story has a happy ending because I turned down the job. I do know, though, that it wasn't because of my disability. As my current boss says, "talent is the great equalizer."

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Eric Wright At work: DNS 12 Pro. At home: DNS 11.5 Pro,  KnowBrainer 2011, and Utter Command by RedStart Systems; Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac

 

Appetite for Dictation - My Blog

In a wonderful turn of events, I woke up this morning with a cold. I'm hoping am still able to dictate productively tomorrow.

 

 Lunis,

If I might ask, how do you do this? What is the code?

Thanks.

MDH

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The following KnowBrainer command will take up to 10 seconds of your speech and translate it into spoken Russian via the Google text-to-speech reader. Note that this command requires Google Chrome although it could be easily converted to any other browser. We left out the other 50 or so languages to abbreviate the command in this posting but note that the following is KnowBrainer code and not DNS Advanced-Scripting:

SetMicrophone 0
HeardWord "view","recognition","history"
Wait 500
SendSystemKeys "{Up 2}{Alt+u}{Ctrl+c}"
Wait 500
SendSystemKeys "{Alt+F4}"
Wait 500
HeardWord "start","google chrome"
Wait 2000
SendSystemKeys "{Alt+d}"
SendKeys "http://translate.google.com/#auto|ru|"
SendSystemKeys "{Enter}"
Wait 2000
SendSystemKeys "{Ctrl+v}"
Wait 1000
SendSystemKeys "{Tab 6}{Enter}"
Wait 10000
SendSystemKeys "{Alt+F4}"
TTSPlayString "ready"
SetMicrophone 1

The actual command contains numerous arguments but you basically dictate up to 10 seconds in English (you can always raise or lower the time out), pause for a second and say Say it in Russian. This command opens the view recognition history box, copies the appropriate text to the clipboard, closes the view recognition history, starts Google Chrome, pulls up the translation address for Russian, translates the text, clicks the speaker icon to playback the text in the Google text-to-speech reader, exits Google Chrome and verbally responds with “ready” for the next phrase.

KnowBrainer 2011 also includes a Translate to command collection which works by copying highlighted text to the clipboard on browsers or just copying your last utterance to the clipboard (without having to select it), opening a new Tab in your default browser and translating to the desired language. We use this command more often than you might think for our overseas clients who sometimes forget that we barely speak English in the South.

PS: If you suspect that you are interviewing for a job with a Trekkie, just say Computer and KnowBrainer 2012 will respond with “Yes Captain”. Hopefully you will not have to resort to saying Initiate Self-Destruct Sequence which is impressive but only works once

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Click KB 2012 REV D to Download a 30 Day Evaluation of KnowBrainer 2012 

 

 

 

Lunis,

Thank you very much. Just too cool! I just made one for using Interner Explorer using Advanced Scripting.

MDH

SetMicrophone 0
HeardWord "view","recognition","history"
Wait .2
SendDragonKeys "{Up 2}"
Wait .2
SendDragonKeys "{Tab}"
Wait .2
SendDragonKeys "{Ctrl+c}"
Wait .2
SendDragonKeys "{Alt+F4}"
Wait .2
AppBringUp "C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"
Wait 5
SetMousePosition 1,168,38 'clicks address box
Wait .1
ButtonClick 1,1
Wait .2
SendDragonKeys "http://translate.google.com/#auto|ru|"
Wait .2
SendDragonKeys "{Enter}"
Wait 2
SendDragonKeys "{Ctrl+v}"
Wait 1
SetMousePosition 1,439,201 'clicks language box
Wait .1
ButtonClick 1,1
Wait .2
SetMousePosition 1,827,451 'clicks Swahili
Wait .1
ButtonClick 1,1
Wait 1
SetMousePosition 1,556,335'clicks box for focus
Wait .1
ButtonClick 1,1
Wait .2
SendDragonKeys "{Tab}"
Wait .2
SendDragonKeys "{Enter}"
Wait 2.5
SetMousePosition 1,959,7'clicks x to close
Wait .1
ButtonClick 1,1
Wait .5
SetMicrophone 1

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Lunis,

I am getting a syntax error with this line of yours, when trying to save the command as a global command:-

SendKeys http://translate.google.com/#auto|ru|

Any idea why?

Ed 

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DNS 12 Pro, Windows 7 Professional, SP1, i7-2700K 3.50 Ghz Sandybridge, 16Gb DDR3 PC3-160000C9 2000Mhz dual channel RAM, SpeechMike 5276 and Samson Airline 77

Ed, you need quotation marks.

SendKeys"http://translate.google.com/#auto|ru|"

Lindsay

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www.pcbyvoice.com
www.pcbyvoice.co.uk

Lindsay,

You are so right! At least the command is now accepted, and I have got as far as the Recognition History opening. Then everything grinds to a halt.

No time tonight to find out why. I shall have to investigate another time.

Ed 

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DNS 12 Pro, Windows 7 Professional, SP1, i7-2700K 3.50 Ghz Sandybridge, 16Gb DDR3 PC3-160000C9 2000Mhz dual channel RAM, SpeechMike 5276 and Samson Airline 77

Ed,

Try adjusting the wait times to make them longer. As written, that's a pretty speedy script. Slowing it down might help ensure that each step triggers -- or at the very least, give you some time to observe what's going on once it's activated. Once you're sure the script works, then you can speed it up again so that it fits perfectly into your workflow. 

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Eric Wright At work: DNS 12 Pro. At home: DNS 11.5 Pro,  KnowBrainer 2011, and Utter Command by RedStart Systems; Dragon Dictate 3 for Mac

 

Appetite for Dictation - My Blog

Eric,

Many thanks, I'll try just that when I see a window of time.....!

Most grateful,

Ed 

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DNS 12 Pro, Windows 7 Professional, SP1, i7-2700K 3.50 Ghz Sandybridge, 16Gb DDR3 PC3-160000C9 2000Mhz dual channel RAM, SpeechMike 5276 and Samson Airline 77

Ed

I am just curious how well Dragon is able to run on an AMD machine with 4 MB of cache. Everyone around here myself included seems to be in favor of Intel but it seems like AMD gives you a pretty good bang for your buck.
Tom

Well Tom, I am pretty much hardware agnostic. When I need a new computer, I ask my knowledgeable friends, and at the time I bought this one, October 2008, it seemed to be my level of cat's whiskers - so I ended up with AMD.

I have had absolutely no issues with it, save that corrections in v.11.5 take longer than I would wish - but then v.11.5 is so staggeringly accurate that there are fewer errors! It is just the corrections - the initial dictation still comes on to the screen at the speed of light. 

Not sure I can usefully add more, but I hope that is some use. I keep seeing these arcane exchanges between Lunis and Chuck about 12GB of RAM, and I  shake my head and assume that they must need it to keep a thousand programs other than Dragon running at the same time. It is certainly the case that I do NOT usually have other 'heavyweight' programs running at the same time. If you do, then perhaps that is an area you should be wary of.

Ed 

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DNS 12 Pro, Windows 7 Professional, SP1, i7-2700K 3.50 Ghz Sandybridge, 16Gb DDR3 PC3-160000C9 2000Mhz dual channel RAM, SpeechMike 5276 and Samson Airline 77

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful advice. The interview went very well at least from my perspective. When the time of those I told the interviewer that the only accommodation I would need with special software to help me type. I told him that I could whisper into a headset and I was able to type at 100 words per minute this way. He seemed very intrigued by this and actually liked the idea.

Thank you again to everyone for all the awesome advice.

Congratulations! Here's hoping you get the job offer.

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Crohn's News Blog: www.crohns-news.net

Thank you. I wrote that really cross my fingers

Sorry Ed. Lindsay is correct. For some reason, when we posted our command script, the quotes were removed from the web address. We just reedited the command.

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Click KB 2012 REV D to Download a 30 Day Evaluation of KnowBrainer 2012 

 

 

 

Non c'e Pabst in Italia!