Disclosing Your Queer Identity in the Job Search

Job Searching is one of the most stressful processes that anyone living in a capitalist country will go through. Jobs are being phased out left and right, college degrees are sinking people into lifelong debt, and companies are paying less money for more work. If you experience a marginalized identity, it can be twice as hard to job search while navigating discrimination and bias.

Those of us who identify as queer spend a lot of time during the job search wondering when we should disclose that fact. Can we mention a partner without it costing us the job? Can we mention LGBTQ+ Organizations on our resume? When should we mention our pronouns? These questions become amplified when companies don’t offer symbols of inclusion like Gender Inclusive bathrooms, or use inclusive language in their applications.

At best, if a company is looking to build diverse teams, it may benefit you to mention your identity. At worst, 28 states offer no legal protection for LGBTQ+ candidates. Title VII, which prohibits discrimination on sexual orientation, only applies to companies larger than 15 people which can make smaller businesses and start-ups exempt to this rule.

So at what point should you bring up your queer identity, if at all?

The first step in your job search is to do your research. Find out which companies have queer friendly policies. Check out our LGBTQ+ Friendly Company page for more information. If you know going in that a company is more likely to hire queer candidates, then you are much better off from the start. If you find in your research, that a company is unfortunately not accepting, you can avoid applying altogether, or decide if the position is worth it, (No Judgement).

As a candidate, you are interviewing a company as much as they are interviewing you and it is important that you feel comfortable at a place where you will spend 40+ hours a week. You need to consider what your deal breakers are in terms of how out you can be at work. If you are someone who wants to be open about their life outside of work then you may not want to work for a company where your queer identity will be an issue.

So we at QCB are in favor of mentioning your identity during your interview, if you feel safe in doing so. It is important to lay everything out in the open at the beginning, so that you ensure your comfort later when you land the job. If you participate in queer activities outside of work, that are relevant to include on your resume, then list them.

It is better to give yourself and the company all of the information up front so that there are no surprises later on. This can help you to answer other questions you may have later on, such as whether or not you can bring your partner to company events, or whether or not your pronouns will be respected.

So how should you broach the topic? One option is to briefly mention a partner or your pronouns when an interviewer asks you about yourself, which is typically the first question in an interview. Another option is to call the HR department and ask for their statement on diversity hiring or to see if their healthcare plan offers coverage for same sex partners or covers gender affirmation procedures.

However you choose to disclose, know that your identity is valid and deserves to be respected. Companies that are not open to queer candidates will be phased out as times change.