As for an ice breaker– my ice breaker was actually 1/2 way through the interview when they asked me about how I work in a noisy environment. I told them I just turn off my hearing aids. that got the guys laughing quite hard.

Just be yourself, don’t forget to smile, and use your sense of humor, but keep it clean! Don’t go on and on with your answers, keep them brief, but not to the point where they’re just 1 or 2 word answers. Hope this helps a little bit! Good luck!!

With you being on the other side,
What is a good ice breaker?

I am perfectly confident in my deafness. I communicate VERY well but would it take the stress off me AND the interviewers to briefly mention that I may misunderstand a question and that they should feel free to clarify. What is the best way to “bring up my disability”?

Personally, I can’t stand being peer interviewed, since as you say, it’s not very easy being judged by a group of people. I’d rather be interviewed by one or two people at a time, max.

But when I participated in peer interviews as an interviewer, it actually gave me a better perspective on interviewers in general and what a good interview process involves, and what to look for in an ideal candidate, etc.

Interviewing candidates isn’t just about finding a person who will “fit” within the company…you also have to make sure that the person will DO/wants the job, and has the skills needed to do the job, and is reliable, etc. And since we all know that nearly all candidates are on their best behavior and will parrot responses designed to make them look good as possible, which makes the interviewer’s job much tougher.

I was hired. And lest you think they gave me a hard time about using interpreters for meetings, they didn’t. I get interpreters for team and department meetings. It hasn’t really seemed to faze anyone.

Good luck on your job search! I know it’s not easy!! If you’ve gone through the first interview, be sure to send a short note in the mail (yes, snail mail), thanking them for their time & going over why you’re right for the job.

I know they tend to really appreciate that! Hope this helps!

It was instructive though - when I asked them how did they keep their work and personal life separate, they all laughed themselves silly and didn’t really answer the question. That’s when I realized I really didn’t want to work there (that and a few other things I picked up from there helped me form a negative impression of the company). My feelings were confirmed when they never bothered to let me know if I had made it to the next step or not.

Which is another pet peeve of mine - companies who don’t let candidates know of their status AFTER the interiew (much less during the application process - yes, I know you guys get lots of resumes in response, but don’t leave us hanging and wasting our time waiting for a response).