"Job you qualified for why?"

April 24, 2012 12:07 AM

I got a summer job interview over Skype! Tell me what to expect. The twist: it's in American Sign Language.

So earlier this year when I was looking for summer jobs, I applied for a job working as a camp counselor for Deaf children. And just today, I was informed that I managed to score myself an interview! Very exciting stuff.

I'm super confident in my credentials: I've had a ton of work dealing with both children and with disability, and I have a stellar track record for both as well. Looking over the sheet of responsibilities and qualifications, I pass every single one of them - except possibly one, which is fluency in Sign Language. I am fluent enough to understand what an interpreter is saying in an academic environment, but I'm concerned that since I haven't had any real conversations in ASL for the past two years, I might be out of practice. I'm not a native ASL speaker; while I'm able to express myself in ASL with enough fluency to carry on conversations, I find my vocabulary to be limited at times.

Furthermore, a job interview is a completely different environment and I have no idea what to expect in terms of language and vocabulary! I emailed them with this concern prior to applying for the job, and they seemed okay with it (and still seem concerned with it considering they're asking me out to an interview), but I'm still a bit concerned.


That's the background. My questions are a little bit more all over the place:

- I tend to use a form of Signed English over strict ASL grammar and structure. Considering that this job is inside the Deaf community, how much of an issue will they think this is? Will they understand my Signed English? (Possibly relevant: the job is located in Vancouver)

- What vocabulary can I expect in a job interview that wouldn't normally pop up in every day conversation? How bad would it look if I was asking my interviewers to fingerspell words that I may not be familiar with? Similarly, how bad would it look if I was fingerspelling some words which I might not know the translation for?

- What are the rules of etiquette when signing with someone over webcam? I've only had real life face-to-face interactions in terms of ASL, and never used a webcam to sign.

- Is there any way you can recommend that I prepare for this interview, considering that there are no users of ASL other than myself at my University?

- What should I do in the worst case scenario that I absolutely don't understand what they are saying?


Thanks in advance! Take these questions as a guideline rather than specific focused questions that I need answered; any general advice and tips would be greatly, greatly appreciated too.

posted by Conspire to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Best answer: I suspect you'll be fine. (I'm Deaf, and use both spoken English and ASL, though I didn't acquire the latter until I was in college. Since you mention being able to use an interpreter in academic setting, our histories might be pretty similar.)

Signed English is probably okay as long as you're relatively smooth about it. If you're doing things like translating word-by-word as you go along, that shows a lack of fluency; if you're using English word order but able to communicate clearly, that's less of a concern. And pretty common among some otherwise very fluent signers.

Asking people to fingerspell, even just by repeating a sign back at them questioningly, will not be a problem as long as you're not doing it again-again-again. Fingerspelling is a natural part of ASL discourse; it's how we get around words that are unfamiliar due to regional variation, lack of situational experience (exactly like your example - "I use it academically, but not for work"), and dialectal differences. Even just "I didn't understand that because it didn't come through the speakerphone clearly", or "your pronunciation is not what I'm used to". Too much of that, again, shows that you're maybe not fluent enough; but fingerspelling or asking for explanations of words is not going to instantly hurt their perception of you.

There's some etiquette and social norms bound up with VPing. I'm not sure anyone understands them well enough to go into detail in a forum like this; it's just in the early stages of being discussed. But common sense will serve you well - make sure before the interview that your camera is set up to cover signing space (so, waist or mid-chest to the top of your head, and make sure you know how far out your hands will be visible). If your interviewer looks away from the camera because something is going on on their end, wait for them to come back. If you need to pay attention to something on your end, tell them to hang on a moment, regardless of if it's you or them speaking.

Prep: probably not necessary, but if you're feeling nervous, think about what they might ask you, and how you could answer. Good advice for an interview in your native language, even better advice for an interview in your second language.

Worst case scenario, if you struggle to understand them, ask for help. It'll become clear to them that you're having trouble, but you can guide their response - ask them to slow down a bit, or telling them that your ASL is a bit weak, and would they please use "more English". Explain your language background if you need to. You are definitely not the first person to have a story like yours, and folks like us manage to enter the Deaf world all-the-time. People in our world are used to dealing with people from a variety of language backgrounds, and if they're running a summer camp, I bet that goes double. (I'm not actually familiar with DYLC - I assume that's the camp - so YMMV. But that's my guess.) They'll also be very aware that signing in a VP setting can be harder than in person; even fluent signers tend to need more error correction and repetition when VPing.

I guess my final bit here is to realize that even if you don't get the job this time, it's not a reflection on you as a person. If your ASL is rusty or weak, and you're just not ready yet, that's okay. Try again next year if it doesn't work out this year. (Okay, that was a pessimistic paragraph. But prepare for all eventualities and all that.)

Best of luck to you!
posted by spaceman_spiff at 3:41 AM on April 24, 2012 [3 favorites]

Oh! And I just noticed that you already mentioned these concerns, and that they're interviewing you anyway. That's a good sign already. They want to make sure you can hack it, but they're interested even with whatever you've told them.
posted by spaceman_spiff at 3:43 AM on April 24, 2012

I can't really help with much, except for one thing, which actually goes for all Skype interviews, but I would guess double for an ASL one. Find a WIRED internet connection. It will invariably give you a better, more reliable, and less laggy picture than a wireless connection.
posted by rockindata at 4:24 AM on April 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

Yes. Test your connection ahead of time by Skyping with someone else. Or yourself on another computer. Check out the framerate, make sure you aren't moving too quickly for the camera to catch your nuances.
posted by gjc at 5:47 AM on April 24, 2012

When you test your connection, make sure to also test your lighting. You might even want to test it with the clothes you plan to wear. I've skyped a couple of times from a backlit location and while it was okay, it was rather difficult to see me clearly. In fact, if you can do a practice interview with an ASL-speaking friend, it would probably iron out a lot of practical potential difficulties. Best of luck!
posted by wiskunde at 7:24 AM on April 24, 2012

Some tips from an ASL-fluent friend who skypes a lot: "Wear clothes that are opposite in darkness from your skin, and long sleeves. It will help your hands and their configurations stand out when you are signing so the other person can see you better. So if you are white, wear dark colors. If you are black, wear pale colors. Don't wear nail polish or jewelry, even watches or rings, when sign-skyping, the glint can mess up an otherwise fluent conversation."
posted by juniperesque at 8:24 AM on April 24, 2012 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for the advice, everyone!

The interview went great. I guess I was a little TOO concerned, I understood everything and was able to give perfectly fluent responses too! I asked them at the end if they could understand me, and they gave overwhelmingly positive responses.

Also, good eye for the "dark clothing" tip, I wore a black suit.

Thanks!
posted by Conspire at 1:35 AM on April 28, 2012