postr/StutterSeptember 1, 2019

Just curious, what do you do for work/have done for work?

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Just curious, what do you do for work/have done for work? Like most of you here I stutter. Currently, I'm a teacher, and have been teaching for 4 years. I still find it crazy that I can be an effective teacher, and (try to) never take a day for granted. Most of my previous jobs had me do public speaking of some sort. When I was about 11, I used to umpire baseball, which I guess was easy enough in terms of not really having to talk to lots of people. At 16 years old I worked at a theme park, and in all honesty, they probably just hired anyone they could. During my high school years, I applied to work at Ross, who didn't hire me for the cashier position. The interviewer said that she could see me working in the stock room (she didn't say why, but I could take a guess....). I also interviewed at McDonald's and didn't get the job. When getting rejected from jobs, I was never sure if I did not get the job because of my stutter or because I'm just not qualified/the right fit. At around 18-19 years old I interviewed at the local YMCA. I used to play basketball there all the time and have been a member there since I was about 5-6. I got the job. This job had me giving tours of the gym, talking on the phone to people, and just interacting with people in general. It was probably one of the most fun jobs that I've had, and I was extremely well-liked there. Around that time I also had a job at a casino. I had a friend who's dad worked at the casino and basically just got the hookup. I don't even remember doing an interview tbh, so it must not have been too traumatizing. When I was 20, and at a university, I interviewed for an internship position. It was basically doing research on animal subjects in a lab. I got the position, and the interview went pretty well. If I recall correctly, once I was hired, my bosses said I was probably one of the best intervieewees. During the first year of the internship, all of the student interns had to give two speeches (one per semester). Both went horribly in terms of stuttering lmao, but I think everyone just thought I was nervous or something. I stayed there for another year, not as an intern, but as an actual employee (no speeches thank god). After graduating with a degree in biology, I decided to take a year off to think about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. My main three options were to perhaps go to med school, go back to school and get my masters in biology so I could do other lab work/research, or become a teacher. In the state that I live in, you can become an emergency substitute teacher if there is a shortage of teaching subs, and if you have a four-year degree, so that is what I did. I liked teaching enough to go back to school and get my masters in education/teaching certificate. Every interview that I've had for a teaching job led to me obtaining the job (three different teaching jobs). Not sure if it's because I teach science, which is a high need subject, or if was just the better candidate, or because I'm a relatively new teacher so I'm low on the pay scale. This last interview that I had in June had 2 or 3 other candidates, and honestly, it feels great beating them out. I'm not sure how many people applied to my second teaching job, but for the first job, I was guaranteed a spot in the school district at a job fair. The job fair featured an impromptu interview, which went over well. I then had an interview at a school, but I was already hired there. The interview was just a formality. That was the one and only time that I really talked about my stutter at an interview. My second teaching job interview was a phone interview. We had tried to do skype, but it wasn't working, so we opted to just do it via phone. The phone interview went ok; the connection wasn't that great, so it was kinda hard to respond to questions well since it was hard to hear. The principal actually knew me, from when I was subbing, so maybe he knew I stuttered? The school was also a rough school, so I'm not sure that many people actually applied. ​ Beating out other people at the last job interview was a boost of confidence and felt amazing. Sorry for rambling, and I hope everything I've written was coherent. It's just nice to talk about this in a safe space. ​ So, what jobs have you all worked?

Themes

School & WorkCauses & VariabilityIdentity & Disability

Subthemes

Employment & CareerSeverity & FluctuationIdentity & Self-Perception