Advice on landing a graduate job

[Dilan]

I am not sure if I am posting this in the right sub-forum; forgive me if I am mistaken.

I really appreciate all the work the WSSA community is doing for PWS. I just need some specific advice. I recently graduated from university with an engineering degree and I am currently in the process of applying for graduate civil engineering roles. I have a pretty severe speech impediment. My question is should us PWS mention that we have a speech disability in the resume (CV) and cover letter as it would be obviously noticeable later in the interview stages.

And I would really like to connect if there are any engineers here who are PWS or PWSS.

[Javier]

Hi Dilan,
first of all, welcome to WSSA! My name is Javier, I live in Madrid (Spain) and I’m one of the Certified Speech Coaches here. My bachelors is in Economics, but I have a lot of students who are engineers (and a lot of them in computer science, actually). We also have a bunch of medical doctors and people with PhDs.
I don’t know if you’ve been able to watch my before-after video, shown in the homepage of this website (if you scroll down a bit, until you see 6 videos; I appear in the 3rd one). If you watch it, you’ll also see that I used to be a very severe PWS. And I fully agree with what Lee says in his book: don’t disclose your stutter.
My personal opinion is that the rest of the world doesn’t know anything about stuttering, they don’t understand it. And, wether we like it or not, when we stutter, we make the listeners feel awkward and uncomfortable too. You’ve seen their faces, and how they look away, pretending nothing’s happening, everytime we get stuck on a word. It’s unpleasant for us, sure, but they also feel our suffering. So, if an employer sees your resume and sees that you’re someone who stutters, most likely they will reject your resume, unless you have some extraordinary background. Whereas, if you don’t say it, well you’ll have more chances of getting that interview. And when you’re in that interview, let your speech talk by itself. I think that the chances of getting hired are higher this way….

But let me tell you something (although I’m sure you know it already): you can stop stuttering. I have never talked to you, so I don’t know how you sound like, I can’t give you any specific advice for you, but a lot of people have become PWSS, and some of them have been very severe cases (I include myself in this group, although there have been worse cases than mine too).
I don’t know how long it will take you. That depends on you, on your work ethics, your diligence. Some severe PWs have been able to stop stuttering faster than milder cases, because they’re more desperate to stop stuttering, and will work harder than the milder cases!

Have you started the video courses of the Stuttering book and Crutch Mastery Series? (https://worldstopstuttering.org/courses/)

Are you attending to Crutch Practice sessions (https://worldstopstuttering.org/crutch-practice-group/) and SAM meetings (https://worldstopstuttering.org/speech-club/)? In these meetings you can practice our methods, see how others do it and learn from them. WSSA is also a support group, and we like to help each other achieve fluency and learn to love to speak!

Are you watching videos of our coaching sessions? (https://worldstopstuttering.org/videos) There are several search filters that will help you the most appropriate videos for you. The advice the coach gives in those coaching sessions will surely help you too. When I was a PWS, I used to watch one of these sessions almost every day.

Are you receiving coaching? Obviously, this would accelerate the process.

Are you reading aloud and doing mind training treatments every day? And using the Crutches as much as possible.

If you’re a Free Trial Member, you can get a free Q&A session with one of us and ask us anything regarding your speech and the program. And if you’re a Stuttering member, you have 3 free coaching sessions that will surely help you a great deal.

I hope to see you in one of my Crutch Practice Sessions (if your time allows, of course) and on Saturdays at 10am NY time at SAM!!

Have a great day, and let me know if you have any questions or comments!!

[Javier]

Hey Dilan, it’s me again. I almost forgot to mention one thing. In a lot of our coaching sessions we work on job interviews, we drill them, we give tips and many more things. If you to to the “Videos” Section of WSSA, you’ll find a search filter that is precisely “Job interviews”, and there’s another one named “Stuttering at work”. Check them out, I’m sure you’ll find very useful videos of coaching sessions too!

[Dilan]

Hey Javier, thanks a lot for taking your time to write this. I completely agree with what you said; many people do not understand stuttering and its better to let my speech speak for itself. I have seen your progress video, its really inspirational and I hope that I could be that fluent one day too. I am still a free trial member but I plan to get the “Stuttering and Anxiety Self Cures” course soon after I finish reading Lee’s book. I have recently started reading aloud and I plan to start mind training sessions along with crutch practice sessions soon. I am looking forward to meeting you in SAM meetings and crutch practice sessions soon!

[Javier]

Good morning Dilan! Tanks for your kind words. You can also do it! Many people have done it already, and they are no different from you, so there’s no reason to believe that you can’t.
Start working on the 1-2-3 punch (read aloud massively, do multiple mind training treatments daily and use the Crutches as much as possible, even when not needed), and you’ll see how your speech improves every week.
I look forward to seeing you today at the SAM meeting!

[Author]

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