From nerve-wracking job interviews to the nail-biting waiting period, navigating the tech industry’s hiring process is often a roller coaster of emotions.
Add in the additional layer of being a member of the LGBTQIA+ community in tech and identifying as a queer or non-binary individual. The ride becomes even more complex.
To shed light on these experiences, we have collected authentic narratives from seven LGBTQIA+ tech professionals.
These candid conversations reveal a spectrum of encounters, both empowering and challenging, and propose crucial strategies for cultivating a more inclusive recruiting landscape.
Read on.
Here’s what the LGBTQIA+ community in tech had to say about their interview experience
1. Cecilia Righini (They/Them), Founder and Creative Director of Studio Lutalica
a. Was disappointed when the employer asked them to omit their pronouns from the company signature.
Cecilia: As I was looking for my first job within the Design and Tech fields (as a Project or Design Manager), I had been asked by a potential employer to omit my pronouns from the company email signature. They said they were ‘absolutely ok with it’, but their clients ‘may not be’.
Asking someone to hide their identity at work is discrimination, and (now I am an agency owner myself) I believe agencies should take a stand against any type of discrimination. Educate your clients when possible or even consider not working with them at all.
b. But on the other hand, they also had a delightful experience.
Cecilia: When I interviewed with Lattimore and Friends, a London-based (remote-first) web development agency, I was told they were actively trying to employ more women and non-binary people as the tech industry is overwhelmingly male-dominated.
Once I joined, my employer immediately changed his signature to include his pronouns and asked everyone else to do the same, so I would feel comfortable including my pronouns in my signature.
Also read: How To Build Safe And ‘PROUD’ Workplaces – A Personal Story
2. We interviewed Lizi Gigauri (She/Her), Marketing Coordinator, Alphamoon.
Here’s what she had to say:
a. Can you share what kind of experience you had during the tech interview/hiring process?
Lizi: I have gone through many stages of recruitment with numerous tech companies in my downtime and not once have I explicitly been asked about my sexual orientation. I do however provide my pronouns.
From my (and my friends) experience the tech industry is the least judgmental about queerness – your job speaks for you, not your sexuality. It’s refreshing to see that no one cares about anyone’s sexuality. It’s not theirs to care about.
b. Was it a positive or a negative experience? Please elaborate.
Lizi: Some of the highlights in the past three years have been the support from people and culture officers who go out of their way to make it a comfortable and inclusive space for the LGBTQIA+ community in tech. One of the last companies I worked for donated money to several LGBTQ+ charities operating in Poland. The company also encouraged us to attend the pride parade (a very scary event) during pride month which was awesome to see.
In another company, I could choose to add another person to my private health insurance (gender or relation not specified). I’m pretty open about my sexuality and highlight it whenever there’s a possibility to see how others react.
In this country, you really need to test the waters and I often raise conversations about the living conditions in this country along with the struggles we have to go through. So to see the willingness to ensure the safety of their employees in every regard is undoubtedly a plus.
c. What do you think needs to be changed to make tech hiring more inclusive of the queer community?
Lizi: I think one thing that could be changed is the linguistics. Due to the linguistics of the country which is gender-specific like most Slavic countries, the job offers are also gender-centered. For example, instead of saying writer (non-binary), it’s often writer (male).
Apart from this, I would also encourage more tech companies to ask and respect the pronouns of the applicant since here it’s seeped into the society to assume the gender based on the presentation.
Also read: 5-Step Guide To Gender-Fluid Tech Job Descriptions (+Free Checklist)
3. Swetha Harikrishnan(She/Her), Senior HR Director, HackerEarth
a. Can you share what kind of experience you had during the tech interview/hiring process?
Swetha: I’ve never really had much of an experience specifically being queer. However, there was this one time at this interview with HR folks with a global advertising/marketing Tech company. It had proclaimed to be really progressive when it comes to D&I and specifically had a target for reaching 50-50 composition on gender (men-women) in the company.
But I experienced behaviors that strongly demonstrated that I lost the final selection there because I said that I was queer and wanted to be a visible role model and work on LGBTQ+ inclusion under their D&I umbrella.
b. Was it a positive or a negative experience? Please elaborate.
While looking for new opportunities in terms of work, I was very clear that I wanted to be my whole self with the next company and brand I associate myself with. That means that I would transparently be letting the new employer know that I’m queer, I would like to visibly and vocally role model my personal journey as being queer and also talk about inclusion with that lens. Thus, carrying the brand/projecting the brand with me alongside my personal brand.
When I interviewed with HackerEarth, something that really stood out to me very naturally was that the group (leaders of the company) that I interviewed with was extremely diverse. And not talking in the sense of a typical ‘gender’ or LGBTQ+ diversity, but just naturally felt like they had a very diverse set of individuals with diverse personalities. Now this got me really excited. To feel ‘diversity’ in that sense. This was refreshing.
It’s riding on this feeling that I also decided to talk about my representation from the queer community to Sachin (the CEO) and my intent to visibly role model myself with the next brand/company that I associate myself with. When I asked him how he felt about it, he said that’s totally up to me and that he doesn’t see why I wouldn’t be able to do that with HackerEarth.
Now it’s one thing to talk the language, and it’s another to actually walk it. You need to be fiercely authentic and bold to walk it. The conversation with Sachin and his views here felt very honest and genuine and he did not appear as a trained ‘leader’ who’s blindly following a language without believing in it.
Fast forward to the date today, I stand here vouching for HackerEarth being the most inclusive company I’ve worked with, as a culture.
This is very difficult to establish. I’m not saying that we don’t make mistakes. I’m saying that with ‘inclusion and creating a safe space for everyone’ being at the heart of the company, we take every step to acknowledge our mistakes, correct them, and not make the same mistake again.
Also read: Embracing DE&I At The Workplace – #1 Back To The Basics
Swetha provided the following pointers on how the process can be improved to make it more comfortable for the LGBTQIA+ community in tech:
Educate your staff and give them the proper tools for hiring. We need to ensure that we walk the talk. A queer representation on the hiring panel/team would be awesome too.
- Train your employees on the overall inclusion definition, how to tackle unconscious bias, what personal definitions for inclusion look like for each individual (reflect internally, then externally), and what is psychological safety (respect for all & their views)
- Next, train them on what LGBTQ+ means under the larger umbrella of inclusion.
- Tools: Hide PII + make all elements gender-neutral.
- Organize a recruitment drive for hiring folks only from the queer community – be bold and transparent in the communication and intent here. It’s okay to positively have a selection to move towards ‘equity’.
- Use gender-neutral language: on the job descriptions that TA folks use to communicate with potential candidates, on our website, etc.
- Ensure that our policies & benefits have LGBTQ+ inclusion and talk proactively about:
- Anti-harassment policy coverage
- gender-neutral restrooms, if any.
- insurance for same partner coverage + gender affirmation surgery coverage etc.
- EAP (employee assistance partner) – covered for queer community-related mental well-being and language.
- Create & talk about the queer support groups/ERGs (employee resource groups) in the company.
5. Shakambari Jaiswal (She/Her), Customer Success Associate at Recruit CRM
a. Can you share what kind of experience you had during the tech interview/hiring process?
Shakambari: This one time when I was interviewed for a job at an IT company, they really didn’t seem queer-friendly and didn’t care much about pronouns. I also noticed their minimal knowledge of the LGBTQIA+ community in tech.
I identify as bisexual and I have never really felt safe to disclose my identity during interviews or even once I become an employee, often because people are too quick to judge.
b. Was it a positive or a negative experience? Please elaborate.
Shakambari: However, my experience with Recruit CRM was pleasant. I feel incredibly grateful for the recruitment process that introduced me to this remarkable team. Right from the start, they displayed a remarkable level of inclusivity, ensuring that my pronouns were consistently acknowledged and respected. Their open-mindedness and lack of bias toward my bisexuality were truly inspiring, making me feel valued and welcomed as an individual in their inclusive work environment.
Also read: 8 Unconsciously Sexist Interview Questions You’re Asking Your Female Candidates
6. Employees and the Founder of COMPT share their views on the tech hiring process
- Amy Spurling (She/Her), founder & CEO, identifies as lesbian:
Amy: There is so much that needs to change – too many to enumerate here. One place I’d point out is that too often, companies get into the space of “we are a family-oriented company,” but then all of their definitions of family are straight, cisgender parents with kids. Families come in all shapes, sizes, and designs.
As a member of the queer community, I often feel like I have to justify or further define my family (in prior companies). Normalize that everyone has a family, but every family looks different.
Normalize your “family” benefits to include things beyond fertility treatments and child care – things like adoption, surrogacy (where it’s legal), pet care, eldercare, or even just supporting mental and physical wellness (what family doesn’t need that!).”
- Anonymous (She/Her), Marketing Manager, identifies as gay
a. Can you share what kind of experience you had during the tech interview/hiring process?
“I had an awesome experience interviewing with Compt. For one, I didn’t have to create an account in one of those applicant tracking systems where it feels like your application just disappears into a black hole. I sent my application directly to the hiring manager via email, and he reached out personally to schedule an interview. Every step of the interview and hiring process that followed was equally thoughtful. Many companies claim to be people-first, but Compt truly walks the walk.
b. Was it a positive or a negative experience? Please elaborate.
Unfortunately, I have not felt comfortable disclosing details about my personal life in past job interviews out of fear of experiencing discrimination.
However, Compt publicly talks about its efforts to hire a diverse team, even going as far as sharing data on what percentage of the staff identifies as LGBTQ+.
The fact that our CEO personally tracks this information made me feel like there is a genuine commitment to creating an inclusive work environment, which put me at ease.”
c. What do you think needs to be changed to make tech hiring more inclusive of the queer community?
“I think companies need to take it a step further beyond just saying, “We don’t tolerate discrimination.” They should make it clear that they are actively searching for candidates from diverse backgrounds, including individuals from the queer community. This could be especially helpful for companies located in states where anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is prevalent.
Also, training people who are in positions to make hiring decisions is crucial. Sometimes a hiring manager simply wants to develop rapport with a candidate and may ask an innocent question like “Do you have kids?”, but it’s important to understand what questions should be avoided to promote fairness in the hiring process.”
- Tim Faherty (He/Him), Customer Success Manager
Tim: I had a seamless experience during the hiring process for Compt. The leadership team stayed transparent throughout and set expectations and next steps accordingly for the interview and follow-up process. All my questions were answered thoroughly, and expectations were set on when I could expect more information about the next steps in the hiring process.
Tim believes that transparency is the key to ensuring a smooth tech recruiting process:
Knowing you’re interviewing for a diverse company makes hiring so much easier from an applicant’s perspective. If a company doesn’t outwardly advertise its diversity, then it can add anxiety as a person never truly knows the work environment they might walk into.
A queer person is never finished coming out, as things like a new job put that person in a position where they will inevitably address their sexuality. Transparency is the key to eliminating potential anxiety.
As we unwrap these stories, we realize that the journey to an inclusive hiring process is a shared responsibility – demanding transparency, active inclusion, and constant learning.
Let’s champion diversity by remembering these narratives and embedding their lessons into our tech industry’s hiring tapestry.
