In India roughly 1% of India’s population are deaf, and currently I am experiencing this one percent of population by recruiting them for my client. My client is in the business of delivery process and hiring deaf candidates for the position of delivery boys. I now lead this process of hiring deaf candidates for almost 3-4 months and its really been a good exposure of mine into the deaf community of Mumbai.
When I was shortlisted for my current position, at the time of interview I was told that this is really a hardworking job, there will be a lot of field work and there will also be a need of learning a sign language. So, with all these I accepted my responsibilities, I accepted the role I was going to play and I started working towards it.
I still remember, I had a great start into this type of recruitment because on the first day of my job I visited a job fair at NASEOH. And trust me this was the point in my life where I find myself blessed and grateful for whatever I have in my life. Why? Because there were almost 1000 of handicapped students who were striving hard to get a job in that Job Fair. And after looking at their energy, their positivity towards life, I was indeed very surprised. I must have screened 150-200 candidates that day, I have never been so exhausted much in my life. But above all these things at the end of the day, I was feeling blessed because I was loving the work and I was extremely satisfied though it was just my first day I felt I achieved a lot.
With this energy later in my first week where I got in touch with many NGO’s and their coordinators. And after that I have visited many NGO’s all over Mumbai. First as their HRBP, I used to discuss with the respective coordinator of NGO and used to discuss what are our needs, what types of candidates we want. And after the discussion we used to conduct the first Interview at NGO only, it was more like screening of a candidate. Here I used to check where the candidate has work before, where the candidate stays etc. However while selecting the candidates, above all the things I used to consider one point and that is whether candidate has the necessary drive for a job or not?
Many candidates that I met seemed to be carefree. So, for me it was very necessary to quickly understand the mindset of candidate and i.e. is he really interested in job or not.I not only make candidates understand their job role but also (just the way I was), I even clear the doubts of their parents because they were worried about the fact that now their ward is going to work somewhere.Hence It was necessary for me to gain the confidence of the concerned parents.
I have now recruited fifty handicapped candidates among which 6 have become the permanent employees of the client and rest are in their training period. I’m also looking forward to recruit more and more candidates but only those who are hungry for a job and who is much curious about their career and goals.
I have always believed God gives us few chances only in our whole life and through which we can make a beautiful life for ourselves. So ultimately, it’s on us whether we are going to give our absolute best or not.
As a person I am so self-motivated after working with those who are challenged, I am also a lot more self-confident. The most important thing I have learnt from them is that I am going to give every drop of sweat, every drop of blood, every ounce of energy I have to give my absolute best towards my work.
