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Aug
13
Should You Omit Your Gay Related Work Experience From Your Resume?
Filed Under Business, Employment, Gays, LGBT, Twitter
If you’re like millions of Americans, you’ve been job hunting for awhile. If you’re not job hunting yet, your chances of becoming unemployed in the future are pretty damn good. After reading a forum post on GayWallet.com where a member expressed her job hunting frustrations, it prompted the following question: If you have work experience related to a gay or lesbian business, are you adding that experience to your resume – or are you omitting it because you fear negative responses from hiring managers and human resource personnel?
Some of my Twitter followers replied:
clarekrmiller – Not sure if this is what you mean, but I have my leadership with my college’s GLBTQ club on my resume
Biodana – I don’t hide or lie but the resume/cv is not explicitly lavender either. I would be out during parts of the interview, tho’
RevJArthurRank – Personally, I would include any work on a resume.
not_tonight00 – my resume is all lgbtq-related stuff.. if i omitted the queer things, i wouldnt have much of a resume
AresandEros – I have lots of LGBT items on my resume, instead I say “Pride” or “diversity” and then i open up about the LGBT at the interview
SaRaDestruction – It would depend on what type of job it is wheather or not I hide it or tell
scoutout – I wouldn’t have a resume if I hid the LGBTQ stuff. It’d be my address, degrees, and then a blank page
lexoh – I’ve chosen to include past lgbtq leadership & activism experience. I figure I want to work for a progressive employer anyways
ChanelSaysSo – If i had any gay business related work to include, I would most definitely! I include my lgbt writing in my writing portfolio
jayd – I wouldn’t care if I had any, but I don’t
Matt Skallerud – founder of PinkBananaMedia.com, former owner of GayWired.com, LesbiaNation.com and GaySports.com – believes that in 2009 it’s still a personal choice for job seekers. While he feels it’s a lot safer than it used to be to add gay business related jobs and internships to your resume, he believes we have a long ways to go before it’s completely safe to associate yourself with gay businesses.
I have experience in employment recruiting/talent acquisition. In my experience, it’s safer to add gay business related work experience to your resume in areas like Atlanta, Chicago, New York and DC – but not so safe in other areas of the country. Of course, there are lots of Fortune 500 gay-friendly companies located in some not so favorable parts of the country that wouldn’t mind seeing gay related work experience on your resume. You can see a great list right here.
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6 Responses to “Should You Omit Your Gay Related Work Experience From Your Resume?”
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Great topic! I actually thought really really hard about that. I decided that I'm not excluding anything. My website clearly states that I'm passionate about LGBT issues and my resume also lists every article that I've written that's LGBT related. I'm not sugar coating or watering myself down for anyone. If they don't want to hire me because of my sexuality or the fact that some of my work relates to my sexuality as well then i don't want to work there anyway.
Glennisha: Glad you liked this topic. I know lots of LGBTQ folks are debating this – especially with the economy being the way it is.
I'm sure it is definitely up for discussion. I've gotten denial replies for jobs and I'm sure some of them were because of this but, again I can't be bothered working in a "homophobic" environment anyway. I would honestly hate to miss out on an opportunity but, I'm not going to be fake or phony. There has also been lots of discussion about being pegged or boxed in as a "Lesbian Writer" or "Lesbian/Gay ____________". As far as that I honestly don't care because it's the truth. I'm a lesbian and writer but, anyone that looks @ my portfolio can see that I write about way more than just LGBT issues. If they can't get over a small portion of my work then that's sad.
In my small town I would never add anything to my resume that's gay related. I don't think I'd ever get a call for an interview
Don't omit anything, but remember, a resume won't get you hired in the first place. It's about networking, connecting through communities, and solving a problem for a company. If you're known as someone who works hard and is recommended by peers and colleagues, you won't need a resume to get hired.
I agree with @punkrockhr – almost every job I have ever had in my professional career has been through networking. Ironically, the one job that I didn't get through networking was when I worked for Gay Games VII in Chicago – that was an ad in the paper.
I actually talked a little bit about this over at Gals Guide (http://www.galsguide.com) yesterday. I got to the point where if a company wasn't ok with me being out at work, then it wasn't really a place I wanted to work anyway.