When going on job interviews recently, I encountered a personal dilemma. When all of you go on an interview when do you tell your employer/potential employer about your diabetes? I am a nurse and when things get hectic sometimes I need to take a break and eat and test more and if I'm found laying in the floor I want someone to know. How do you tell people you work with?
I personally dont bring up my D until I'm hired. Then I fully disclose it in HR and the physical immediately. Supervisors in a day or so and co-workers I try to fill in within the first week or so as I determine that they need to know. Probably would be tough to know how they are about D without spending time with the employees or being frank about it in the interview process. However, I dont want diabetes to be a factor in hiring me or not....good luck in searching.
I also have never disclosed until I was hired.
I'm fortunate to work where I do...everyone is amazingly understanding and comprehends the disease. My secretary now has the ability of looking at me and she can discern whether I'm starting to fall. It's nice to know that there are some work environments that aren't totally hostile (previously, I had worked for a few firms like that, where keeping it a secret was the thing to do because the culture just wasn't open to anyone having any perceived 'issues.') I once had an HR person ask me after I had had a low spell and had been falling out at my desk whether I could do that someplace else, because it 'sends a bad message.' Like if I could control that at that moment I would totally be losing consciousness at my desk. Idiot.
I only mention it if I am hired. I never bring it up during an interview but after I am hired I don't care who knows. Good thing for me though is I work for a Bio-Tech company that makes Cochlear implants so there are a ton of people there with different medical conditions and devices and such.
I bring it up only if needed. Some bosses don't like people to eat at their computers, so I ask, "Is it okay for me to eat at my desk? I have diabetes, and sometimes I need to grab a snack in the middle of the day." Or if meal breaks aren't at a set time, I might have to ask to take my meal break at a certain time due to the diabetes.
I too wait until being hired. Unfortunately a lot of places dont want to hire a diabetic because they think we will pass out and die while working. So after they hire me I tell them on my first day, by the way I am diabetic, but i have good control and know when my blood sugar drops. I have never passed out from a low blood sugar and always keep food with me. I also offer to answer any questions. then if you get fired right away, you know it was from your diabetes and you can sue them. I have only brought it up at one interview because they asked me "tell me one thing you WOULDN'T want us to know about you." so i told them that I was diabetic, because its usually not something i bring up in an interview. needless to say i got the job.
Hi !
I usually don't tell. Not on interview and not after. I someone discovers I have diabetes I don't deny it, but I don't advertise it either. If someone asks me if I have diabetes I say Yes, but if someone asks me if there is something wrong with me I say No...
Andy
It would be illegal for an employer to discriminate based on your diabetes. However, if you are just interviewing it isn't necessary to disclose your "condition" at that point. Wait unitl you are hired to give out that type of information just so those you work with are aware in case anything goes awry.
Like most people who have posted, I don't disclose my diabetes until I am hired. The first person I told was HR and then I told my boss and the other full time librarians I work with on a daily basis (I'm a librarian at a public library). I figured since I spend at least 40 hours a week at work that it was important for the people who are around me to know of my diabetes in case something happened.
I am really fortunate and work in a place where all of the employees are very caring and very helpful if I am low and need to take some time off of the reference desk.