In addition to all your education, experience, and great skills as an LGBTQ job seeker, you might be wondering how to locate an employer who will value and support you as a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer human too. Which companies should you be targeting? Knowing if a company has the following policies and practices is a great start:
- Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Policy
- Gender Identity Non-Discrimination
- Domestic Partner Benefits
- Supports LGBTQ Equality Globally (if operates in more than one country)
- LGBT Inclusion Competency
- Public Commitment to LGBTQ Equality
- Requires Similar Policies for Contractors and Vendors
Search Company Site and the Internet for Signs of Gay-Friendliness
Having the above policies and practices are obviously great signposts that the company is LGBT-Friendly. But how do you know a company has them in place? They are rarely listed in the average job description. If there, you may find it buried at the bottom of the job description of their EEO section. It then usually only lists non-discrimination based on sexual orientation and every now and now and then gender identity. That is typically as far as it goes.
Naturally, you will be scouring the corporate website of every potential employer you are submitting your resume to. Seek any public information there regarding diversity and LGBT policies. Also, seek out any employee Pride or Out groups. Do an internet search using the company name and “pride” to see if there is any posted news about it and/or it’s employees participating publically in pride festivals. If your city’s Pride Event has a website, check that out for lists of sponsors and corporate parade participants.
To be Out or Not on Your Resume/CV
Check out a recent OutBüro titled “Are You Out as LGBTQ on our Resume/CV?”
OutBüro Provides Every LGBTQ Employee a Voice
OutBüro (OutBuro.com) recently launched filling a void in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and queer employee community by providing an LGBTQ-focused employee company rating site similar to Glassdoor.com. LGBTQ employees can rate their employers not only on general topics but those particular to the company’s LGBTQ policies, benefits, LGBTQ community support. Typical topics along with work-life balance, job security, CEO performance and much more are included to provide an LGBTQ specific view along with the broader picture of the employer. Every company listed in the OutBüro Company Rating directory and posts any jobs on the OutBüro Job Portal must, absolutely, cannot pass go unless they answer if they have the above LGBTQ policies and practices in place. The required responses to each are: Yes, No, Unknown and N/A. One of those four choices MUST be selected. Companies are encouraged to Claim their listing so they may ensure the information on the site is accurate.
Ratings incorporate a free-form text entry together with prompting for cons and pros in addition to a message to the CEO. Registered members’ evaluations are displayed anonymously so you may be honest with the best intentions. Ratings should adhere to our Community and Company Rating Guidelines. Other members can indicate your rating as helpful in addition to flag improper content for community self-governance.
OutBüro enables every LGBTQ individual to rate their current and previous employers. Since we are new and growing you might not locate a company. No problem. If a company is not currently in the system, simply add it in just a few minutes. Then continue with your rating. Yes – You can do that.
Every business may be added no matter its size or location.
Leverage LinkedIn’s Largest LGBT Professional Group
OutBüro’s founder, Dennis Velco, founded LinkedIn’s largest LGBT professional networking group 12 years ago and now has 47k worldwide members. Today it is a service of today OutBüro and is a great additional resource. Short background story here. Connect your target company current employees via OutBüro on LinkedIn group members or via the main OutBüro community.
Get the Inside Scoop From Current and Past Employees
At the era of consumer-review websites, it is no real surprise to discover that more than half of possible hires stated they’d trust an organization’s current employees to get an accurate and fair review of the firm itself. That is greater than the percentage of individuals who’d trust either the organization’s HR group or site. Should you use consumer-review websites that will assist you to decide on what type of restaurant to try next or what film would be well worth the ticket cost, you ought to do exactly the same with prospective companies.
General Company Rating Sites
In addition, you should use general employee company rating sites to glean what you can about the general culture, work-life balance and more. They can be very helpful in your overall information discovery with past and current employee reviews. Here are the top sites to leverage:
- Glassdoor.com (general)
- Indeed.com Company Ratings (general)
- Monster.com Company Ratings (general)
- Vault.com (general)
- Kununu.com (general)
- FairyGodBoss.com (by and for women)
Summary
Do your homework and be prepared. On Employee Rating sites including OutBüro’s Company Rating, glean what you can and pay it forward. Leave your reviews so that others can benefit from your first-hand experiences. On OutBüro specifically, you are providing past and current employers with an anonymous appreciation for a job well done in supporting you and the LGBTQ community as well as tactfully providing constructive feedback on how they can improve for the betterment of all.
Your voice counts and we appreciate your participation on OutBüro.
Get involved!
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