Miss-Delectable
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- Apr 18, 2004
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The Ashburton Guardian (New)
No matter what side of the employment square you are on – jobseeker or employer, it seems the business of matching people and jobs is far from easy. Some skills are keenly sought with far more jobs than people available; other skills are oversubscribed. But for some people finding a job, a good job, proves to be almost impossible. Two people who know just how vicious the jobseeking cycle can be are Sandy and Michael Collett. They share with chief reporter Sue Newman the challenges of being deaf jobseekers in a hearing world.
Sandy Collett has a ready laugh, a quick wit and a can do attitude to life.
She’s intelligent and it takes a lot to get her down. But right now, Sandy is feeling life has dealt her a pretty rough deal.
And she’s not alone.
For Sandy, her husband Michael and dozens of other people around the Ashburton District, they’re jobseekers who cannot find work in a district that is supposedly a jobseekers’ paradise.
While many employers are tearing their hair out, trying to find skilled people to fill the ever increasing gaps in their workforce, there are many jobseekers who are equally disillusioned as they apply for job after job and are rejected at every turn.
Sandy and Michael Collett are two of these. They’re in employment but both are seeking new jobs.
Sandy is a manufacturing jeweller and Michael a truck driver and machinery operator with a long list of experience behind him.
They apply for jobs, but for both, there is one phrase on each of their CVs that seems to turn an employer away – the words “I am deaf”.
Employers seem unable to look beyond those words, Sandy said.
“For us finding work is very hard, especially for my husband. He has to drive to Christchurch every Monday and back home on Friday afternoon, just so he can get a job.”
Michael has been with the same construction company for a number of years, and while he’s one of their top operators and his work is valued, he wants a job closer to home.
In spite of endless applications, it seems no one wants a person who cannot hear on their staff, Sandy said.
“Where he is, he might be deaf, but it makes no difference to his work, he’s a very good worker.”
The couple have a five-year-old son, who would love his dad to be more than a weekend father.
The couple chose to move to Ashburton four years ago to give their son a country upbringing. They never imagined finding work down here would be so difficult.
They live 10 kilometres from the state highway in Tinwald and Sandy bikes to town two days a week for work. She covers almost 40 kilometres a day by the time she rides to central Ashburton and back.
She wants to work, and would love to work in a full time job, preferably the one she’s trained for.
“I need the money to make ends meet and then I could save up and buy a car,” she said.
Being deaf needn’t be a handicap in the workplace, Sandy said.
She signs, lipreads and speaks very clearly. Michael signs and lipreads, and while his speech is not as distinct as hers, he can make himself understood.
“To compensate his sight is very good, he’s very aware.”
At his workplace a sign is clearly displayed: “Deaf person working”.
Sandy desperately wants Michael to be working in Ashburton, but she doesn’t want him to take a cut in pay to find a job close to home.
“He just shouldn’t have to do that because he is so experienced at what he does. He can do any job a hearing person can do; he uses his vision extraordinarily well.”
Michael was born with perfect hearing, but a bout of meningitis when he was a young boy left him completely deaf.
A bout of rubella when her mother was pregnant took away Sandy’s chances of normal hearing, but she’s not bitter.
“It’s far better to be deaf than blind,” she said.
The couple were both educated at separate schools for the deaf, Michael in Wellington and Sandy in Christchurch. They went on to so-called normal careers and they just want the opportunity to continue with the careers they trained for.
“It’s frustrating because people don’t realise you can do the job, they won’t give you an opportunity to try.”
No matter what side of the employment square you are on – jobseeker or employer, it seems the business of matching people and jobs is far from easy. Some skills are keenly sought with far more jobs than people available; other skills are oversubscribed. But for some people finding a job, a good job, proves to be almost impossible. Two people who know just how vicious the jobseeking cycle can be are Sandy and Michael Collett. They share with chief reporter Sue Newman the challenges of being deaf jobseekers in a hearing world.
Sandy Collett has a ready laugh, a quick wit and a can do attitude to life.
She’s intelligent and it takes a lot to get her down. But right now, Sandy is feeling life has dealt her a pretty rough deal.
And she’s not alone.
For Sandy, her husband Michael and dozens of other people around the Ashburton District, they’re jobseekers who cannot find work in a district that is supposedly a jobseekers’ paradise.
While many employers are tearing their hair out, trying to find skilled people to fill the ever increasing gaps in their workforce, there are many jobseekers who are equally disillusioned as they apply for job after job and are rejected at every turn.
Sandy and Michael Collett are two of these. They’re in employment but both are seeking new jobs.
Sandy is a manufacturing jeweller and Michael a truck driver and machinery operator with a long list of experience behind him.
They apply for jobs, but for both, there is one phrase on each of their CVs that seems to turn an employer away – the words “I am deaf”.
Employers seem unable to look beyond those words, Sandy said.
“For us finding work is very hard, especially for my husband. He has to drive to Christchurch every Monday and back home on Friday afternoon, just so he can get a job.”
Michael has been with the same construction company for a number of years, and while he’s one of their top operators and his work is valued, he wants a job closer to home.
In spite of endless applications, it seems no one wants a person who cannot hear on their staff, Sandy said.
“Where he is, he might be deaf, but it makes no difference to his work, he’s a very good worker.”
The couple have a five-year-old son, who would love his dad to be more than a weekend father.
The couple chose to move to Ashburton four years ago to give their son a country upbringing. They never imagined finding work down here would be so difficult.
They live 10 kilometres from the state highway in Tinwald and Sandy bikes to town two days a week for work. She covers almost 40 kilometres a day by the time she rides to central Ashburton and back.
She wants to work, and would love to work in a full time job, preferably the one she’s trained for.
“I need the money to make ends meet and then I could save up and buy a car,” she said.
Being deaf needn’t be a handicap in the workplace, Sandy said.
She signs, lipreads and speaks very clearly. Michael signs and lipreads, and while his speech is not as distinct as hers, he can make himself understood.
“To compensate his sight is very good, he’s very aware.”
At his workplace a sign is clearly displayed: “Deaf person working”.
Sandy desperately wants Michael to be working in Ashburton, but she doesn’t want him to take a cut in pay to find a job close to home.
“He just shouldn’t have to do that because he is so experienced at what he does. He can do any job a hearing person can do; he uses his vision extraordinarily well.”
Michael was born with perfect hearing, but a bout of meningitis when he was a young boy left him completely deaf.
A bout of rubella when her mother was pregnant took away Sandy’s chances of normal hearing, but she’s not bitter.
“It’s far better to be deaf than blind,” she said.
The couple were both educated at separate schools for the deaf, Michael in Wellington and Sandy in Christchurch. They went on to so-called normal careers and they just want the opportunity to continue with the careers they trained for.
“It’s frustrating because people don’t realise you can do the job, they won’t give you an opportunity to try.”
