Health part on application form

Own_Worst_Enermy

Hi,

I could really use some opinions on an application form asking to be sent before interview. I have had a telephone interview to get the interview invite at which I brought up that I have had surgery/going through out patients.

A *Do you consider yourself to have a disability or heath condition?

Options:
Yes
No
Prefer not to say

Form then goes on to read.
B *What is the effect or impact of your disability or health condition/s on your ability to give your best at work*
It then gives you space to write what you like.

I’m torn and feel perhaps I should tick prefer not to say box as I believe I kept my latest condition which went on to need an operation, well hidden even when it was totally agony at work during December 2022 but should I use B as the place to write that I may have difficulty with stairs?

Same with the diabetes that never got in the way of work except my current employer would make me take leave and whilst appointments were yearly they have now for time being changed to three monthly.

My fit notes have read surgery recovery, I now have a copy of the X-ray picture that the inside of my neck is pinned so it’s made my spine stable, more then willing to show this.

Could the potential new employer get their occupational health involved before making an offer? (should I be so lucky)

They will get to see me walking with an aid at interview if that makes any difference, I just need to get form back ahead of interview.

Thank you 🙏 

Marcon

Own_Worst_Enermy said:

Hi,

I could really use some opinions on an application form asking to be sent before interview. I have had a telephone interview to get the interview invite at which I brought up that I have had surgery/going through out patients.

A *Do you consider yourself to have a disability or heath condition?

Options:
Yes
No
Prefer not to say

Form then goes on to read.
B *What is the effect or impact of your disability or health condition/s on your ability to give your best at work*
It then gives you space to write what you like.

I’m torn and feel perhaps I should tick prefer not to say box as I believe I kept my latest condition which went on to need an operation, well hidden even when it was totally agony at work during December 2022 but should I use B as the place to write that I may have difficulty with stairs?

If you ever answer any question with 'prefer not to say', the majority of people reading that response will conclude that you have something to hide, otherwise you would have answered 'no'. If you answer A as 'prefer not to say' and then give details under B, it's clear you do have some sort of issue, so why not answer A honestly and openly? 

Own_Worst_Enermy said:

I’m torn and feel perhaps I should tick prefer not to say box as I believe I kept my latest condition which went on to need an operation, well hidden even when it was totally agony at work during December 2022 but should I use B as the place to write that I may have difficulty with stairs?

Same with the diabetes that never got in the way of work except my current employer would make me take leave and whilst appointments were yearly they have now for time being changed to three monthly.

My fit notes have read surgery recovery, I now have a copy of the X-ray picture that the inside of my neck is pinned so it’s made my spine stable, more then willing to show this.

Could the potential new employer get their occupational health involved before making an offer? (should I be so lucky)

They will get to see me walking with an aid at interview if that makes any difference, I just need to get form back ahead of interview.

Thank you 🙏 

There generally aren't any prizes for suffering in silence, especially if you are already established in a job. If you don't tell a potential new employer that you have some issues, how can they be expected to support and help you on occasions when you might need it? If you use a walking aid, it seems rather pointless to be anything less than open when completing the application form - you've already got an interview lined up, so that's your chance to confirm how well you can do the job and why you're the perfect candidate.

Good luck!

Own_Worst_Enermy

Thank you for the guidance, in the end I’ve ticked yes - written temporarily and used the space in in question B to make clear and declare I was off work for surgery.

I should have thought sooner by going for option 3 I would most probably do the employers customer base a right old discredit as I did say I was drawn to the job through my own reliance on the items.

Thank you so much again. 🙏🙏

Ditzy_Mitzy

What sort of job is it?  Difficulty climbing stairs may scupper any application for warehouse work but be of negligible importance when working in an office with a lift.  

If the condition isn't relevant to performance of the job, it makes perfect sense to disclose it and then explain why you think the employer won't be unduly affected.  

DullGreyGuy

A is a fairly normal question used for D&I monitoring

B is a very oddly worded question and hints at something more negative, normally this Q would be about any adjustments you may need either for the interview or the job

Assuming its a large company then both would normally be on a separate part of the form that is kept by HR and not passed to the hiring manager. This section often also asks about race, religion, gender etc again for D&I reporting purposes plus potentially monitoring trends in the hiring manager. 

Own_Worst_Enermy

Many thanks again for the guidance.

(I attended the interview on what was my annual leave) which turned out to be in a contact centre but kind of larger then expected, (I think all this work from home has just sizzled my expectations) but I got through it and perfect building if you needed easy access but I just think the job is a replica of everything near enough I’m trying to get away from.  I just want a job where you answer inbound calls but appreciate this is getting rarer.

(It did give me a push to want to get back to work)

The form also chucked up another odd situation which probably should have given me more kittens that you sign away to authorise reference/s prior to getting a job offer - in this case am I best making a decision to decline the role at the earliest? It seems a lot of work to reference say a lot of candidates being interviewed before anyone gets an offer but from the interview questions, I picked up they may have made wrong hires in the past.

Many thanks again.

DullGreyGuy

Own_Worst_Enermy said:
I just want a job where you answer inbound calls but appreciate this is getting rarer.

What else were they wanting you to do? Cross sell? 

Own_Worst_Enermy said:

The form also chucked up another odd situation which probably should have given me more kittens that you sign away to authorise reference/s prior to getting a job offer - in this case am I best making a decision to decline the role at the earliest? It seems a lot of work to reference say a lot of candidates being interviewed before anyone gets an offer but from the interview questions, I picked up they may have made wrong hires in the past.

It's unlikely that they will reference people before making an offer for a call centre environment. It's more meant to be a self screening tactic. Some think they can blag the reference if they have already been interviewed and wowed them, accepted and agreed a start date etc. 

Did a decade of call centre work and in one case a candidate was taken out the training session, think it was the start of week 2, and never was seen again. Turned out they had a bad reference received.

Own_Worst_Enermy

Oh right many thanks I was thinking it odd, thinking if the employer interviews a half or third of all the candidates (say out of 100 applications) then that is a lot of time taking up referencing entry level hopefuls and potentially putting people in jeopardy with current employer. 

No not any selling as such, just one of those roles where now many corporates/companies are switching off phones to incoming calls, so you are await a form by way of a ticket from the ‘frustrated at process’ customer and then make outbound contact *if* needed or handling three live chats on the go at once. I’ll give the company I interviewed at one thing they did say we hate templated responses, just really dropped myself in it when I said I thought my current role would see us answering inbound calls. 🙈 I really think I talked myself out of this one. 

DullGreyGuy

Own_Worst_Enermy said:

No not any selling as such, just one of those roles where now many corporates/companies are switching off phones to incoming calls, so you are await a form by way of a ticket from the ‘frustrated at process’ customer and then make outbound contact *if* needed or handling three live chats on the go at once. I’ll give the company I interviewed at one thing they did say we hate templated responses, just really dropped myself in it when I said I thought my current role would see us answering inbound calls. 🙈 I really think I talked myself out of this one. 

Tickets can be fine, as long as the customer is articulate. In my day we had worse... letters! So painful to go back and forth with potentially a fortnight between each communication... "My statement is wrong"... fantastic, which one? In what way wrong? Two weeks later... "the promotional code hasn't been applied"... like I said, which one? on what items? what did you expect it to do. 

Live Chat wasn't a thing in my day, can imagine trying to follow multiple simultaneous conversations can be difficult. At the same time the instant resolution is more akin to conversations than letters/tickets. 

Even though since leaving call centres I've written coming up to 100 call centre FAQs or templated letters I'd much rather be writing a personal response to each customer than try and get their square peg into a round hole of an answer. Nothing worse than half answers which only get elaborated with another half answer