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Ask HN: What is a physiically disabled person to do in this job market?

41 points amathew | 2 comments | 14 Jul 25 22:50 UTC | HN request time: 0.029s | source

I am a 39 year old with cerebral palsy (use a walker due to mobility issues) who lost their job in late January 2025. I worked as a senior data scientist in the past and have been applying to analytics, business intelligence, and data science roles.

Six months later and I am still without a job.

How have those of you with disabilities overcome the difficulties in this market?

I'm totally lost and don't know how to proceed.

I've rewritten my resume and do get interviews

There were 4 instances where I went through the entire process and they ended up hiring another one of the candidates

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abraham-mathew-21221b29/

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billy99k ◴[14 Jul 25 23:40 UTC] No.44566512[source]▶
Why do you think you aren't getting past the interview process?
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1. amathew ◴[15 Jul 25 00:48 UTC] No.44566836[source]▶
There were 4 instances where I went through the entire process and they ended up hiring another one of the candidates

I don't the interviews are going bad... it's just super competitive so companies have so many options on who to hire

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2. leakycap ◴[15 Jul 25 03:10 UTC] No.44567528[source]▶
> it's just super competitive so companies have so many options on who to hire

Yes, it is this and not likely related to your abilities or disabilities so much as the natural flow and quality of the interview.

Having interviewed a lot of people, some candidates really make an awesome impression and stand out. If we don't have one of those stand-out, hire-them-now candidates, we don't hire. So I would work on being the person they can't wait to send an offer to -- in addition to skillset, this most often comes down to charm, a sense of "getting it" or clicking with the overall role/company, reading the room, and excellent natural back-and-forth, which is super hard over video calls.

The key here is numbers. In a tough market, you probably need 10 interviews to get hired. Figure out what got you those first few interviews and lean in and make many more happen. You'll find the people you click with and your experience of going to multiple interviews will give you great practice in the meantime.