Applying for work

[Mr.Rainey]

I am trying to find a job. How do I navigate this minefeild as a transperson? I am still F on my ID but I appear male and have my name legally changed. I live in washington state if that makes any difference.

How should I check the gender box? Most online apps force you to pick one, will I get into any kind of trouble for checking male?

Since all my former employers know me only as female I need to use different ones (I don't want to explain my transiton to former employers) Who can I use other than a teacher?

Any other tips you can provide me with will be much appreciated.

[Zerro]

I still had an "F" on my license(but my name had been changed) when I applied for my current job. I wasn't filling out online forms, but I did end up ticking "M" on the paper application and didn't run into any issues with him. It may make more sense to potential employers if everything "matches up", you know? I used a teacher for a reference, but I don't quite know who else you can use other than your former employers.

You don't have to explain your transition to them, but you could contact the ones you might prefer to use as a reference and say "I am going by *name* now, just a heads up", if they didn't know you by that name when you worked for them.

Let's see...Any other tips...

Don't feel like you have to explain your transition to anyone. What you do for your health is none of your potential employers' business.

Try and be as flexible as possible, people are more likely to hire someone who doesn't dictate their hours to their boss. Of course, if you need to ask for a certain day off to do your business and such, I think that's acceptable. Everyone needs that.

If you have any concerns, ask about them! Write things down, especially because it'll help you remember them for when you have an opportunity to talk about them. I like to take notes when I job hunt, because it's good for future reference.

Make sure you can communicate well with your potential employers, too. It should be easy to talk to your boss, you know? Not like pulling teeth from a shark. :p

Good luck!

[Arch]

When you say that you are still F on your ID, I assume that you mean all of your cards. If you have a Washington license, can you change it to M?

[Mr.Rainey]

I can get it changed by social security. I have heard of some guys getting denied surgery because they changed their marker. I am not ready for surgery but I will need it in the future.

I am basically having a f***ing panic attack over submitting the fourms because I am scared that it will be considered fraud if I check male and the internet forms force you to choose. Man I hate this

[Arch]

I'm not sure what you mean by "I can get it changed by social security." Do you mean that you can get the SSA to change your marker, but you can't get your DL changed? Or do you not have a DL or state ID?

I'm not sure which surgeries you refer to or why you can get the SSA to change your gender but not the state...unless you don't have state ID. So I was just wondering what your state's policy is on ID changes. In California, we can get it changed provisionally or permanently, depending on our documentation. Some of my friends did that but had to leave their gender as female with Social Security because they hadn't had any kind of surgery.

I am no lawyer, so I know nothing about fraud. But I know that you are supposed to answer the questions honestly--in whatever way the PTBs consider honest. If you have at least a DL or state ID that says M, you can check the M box. If all of your docs say female, then I don't know what to tell you except that you are legally female with all government institutions. If you have a male name and are male appearing, that really kluges up the works. So I thought that if you could change your state ID/license right now, that would solve the problem.

[aleon515]

You might just NOT tick off anything. Leave it blank. If it is the only thing you leave blank the employer can fill in or might forget too. We think this thing is huge and fills up the entire page because honestly we think about this a whole lot. Your employer is probably cis and doesn't think about this for hours and hours like we do. This tiny little thing is blank.

I can even justify this route as I would think that I have a disability of my gender and assigned sex do not match. You do not have to give info re: disabilities. That's a federal law (otoh, don't think trans is there, but I don't know as it IS in the DSM for mental disabilities).

Btw, I have actually used this "trick"-- in some other context-- not filling in something I didn't want to fill in and had no issue at all.

--Jay J

[AdamMLP]

I can imagine the problem with online forms being that you can't leave a box empty or it won't let you progress onto the next page.  If it was me I would just tick 'male' and if they started to kick up a fuss about it just say that my hand must of slipped when I was clicking it, but then again I am a total chicken about telling people I'm trans.

[aleon515]

I can imagine the problem with online forms being that you can't leave a box empty or it won't let you progress onto the next page.  If it was me I would just tick 'male' and if they started to kick up a fuss about it just say that my hand must of slipped when I was clicking it, but then again I am a total chicken about telling people I'm trans.

I'd guess you're right about online forms. Dang as this works great, but I am guessing more forms are online these days. Haven't applied for a job in 10 years-- and even then I just sent a resume.


--Jay J