What would you do if your sign language interpreter is not clear during your job interview? Check out these tips sharing what you can do when this situation happens!

[TRANSCRIPT & DESC: A screen recorded online event of four women on Zoom. They are Renate Rose, Tyese Wright, Gisella Tomita, and Lori Taylor.

Renate: If the interview is with somebody who is hearing and working with an interpreter, and there is a miscommunication or doesn't understand the questions, how do you politely ask for clarification?

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Gisella: Sometimes it is nice to have an introduction with the interpreter before the interview. Especially when it's virtual! Would you both be allowed to have the time to introduce yourself, know your name sign, and have the interpreter become familiar with your signing style before the interview starts?

Tyese: It is a good idea to meet with the interpreter beforehand, for sure, yes! Sometimes it's important to discuss the keywords that you plan to use and make sure the interpreter knows the signs.

Lori: You can raise your hand and ask the interpreter to repeat.

Gisella: Let the interpreter finish getting the message out. Sometimes we tend to interrupt or cut off them. Once they finish interpreting, we can ask the interpreter for clarification or ask the interviewer to repeat.

Tyese: It is okay to ask the interpreter to clarify or to repeat something to make sure both of you are on the same page for everyone else to be on the same page too.

Gisella: Sometimes it can be difficult to tell whether the interpreter is not interpreting what we say clearly. Sometimes there are closed captioning on screen which is awesome, because you could check that to make sure things are interpreted correctly. You can catch the errors and ask the interpreter to repeat or use a different word. Closed captioning can be helpful! Otherwise, we wouldn't know whether the interpreter is interpreting something different that we said. It is important to let the interpreter do their job.

(an animated slide appeared with a dark greyish-blue brick as a background. A white text appeared, "ADVOCATE FOR YOURSELF")]