Applying for jobs

[David27]

I'm graduating May and I'm looking for a job in a very conservative field of engineering. I don't pass 100% yet, but I don't like interviewing as female. My field has very few women and having a vagina is like something that gets pointed out to me every ****ing interview. I also don't know where ill be once I switch to a normal way of getting T (patches work ok, but the results are nothing like gels/injections/creams). I don't know if I should switch the name on the resume to my preferred name as it is not my legal name. I also need male business clothes.

Basically could any of you guys (or gals) give me tips on how you got your jobs/informed your employers?

[Ayden]

I can't give any real advice rather than say it depends on where you go for work. My old uni is one of the best for various engineering fields and I know plenty of girly girl, masculine guys and everything in between the gender norms (including androgyny and assuxuals) who are successful.

Depending on where you try and find work it will be different. In Alaska where I come from the attitude is don't ask. At work my bosses know I'm biologically female (take into account I work in a different country ATM) but they don't expect me to dress girly. My students think I'm male, the bosses and coworkers think I'm female and I dress like I always do, just sans packer because I work with babies and its hard enough to chase them at the park without worrying about my junk.

I'd say just be confident in your skills and abilities and don't take any crap. Finding a job can be hard enough, but it depends on how important being accepted for your identity is versus working in your chosen field. It's a pretty answer, but sometimes it's easier to take a few punches to get into what you want to do. At least that's my opinion.

And I will add that my bosses know something is up with me. I've just made myself valuable enough that they won't ask for fear of being required to let me go because they wanted to know why I have a deep voice and no apparent breasts, since I do bind at work. A lot of the office staff and parents, despite knowing I'm technically female still refer to me as 'kare' or 'him', and this is a very conservative country overall.

[Bimmer Guy]

You need to use your legal name on all your paperwork (resume, application, etc). 

I don't have any experience with this, but I would say that you should go with your gut on whether to tell at the time of interview or when you get hired (at the time of being offered the position tell them your preferred name and pronoun).  Personally, I would go with the second option if you are read as female and your name is obviously female.

I am sure there are others who have dealt with this who will chime in.

[AdamMLP]

I don't know about where you are, but here at least, engineering isn't such a conservative field. My grandparents are always pointing out that the country is "crying out for female engineers". One company who trains their apprentices on the same site as me have a ridiculous number of girls in comparison to us, and when I considered applying to them one my lecturers actually pointed out that I would be at an advantage due to my birth sex (he didn't know I was trans). It's pretty obvious they were deliberately recruiting females.

On my course there's 9 girls plus me, so they didn't go out of their way to get females, but at least 4 of them are people I would class as "girly". One of them is doing one of the most physically demanding jobs in the company. They are very interested in why we chose this field though, which grates me a lot, but I stay out of it and answer as I could if there was no question about my gender. There is an out trans woman here, and someone who's family has worked here for generations reckons that there are lots of trans people.

I'm not out here for several reasons, mostly because it was a rush as I was originally rejected/put on a reserve list. I didn't think I'd be able to come out to my family, and convince them that I was sane enough to move out into a completely new environment before I had to leave. It doesn't help that I don't know how they would have arranged living accommodation for me as we're put into shared rooms. I am planning to come out later though, once I get out of the gender segregated rooms.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful, as I only have experience for two companies and haven't come out here yet, but everyone in the UK seems to love female engineers. I have to admit I did use that to my advantage. It's just another little thing that makes you stand out. If you have protection against discrimination where you're from I'd apply as female, and once you're hired, come out.

[TrojanMan]

Hey dude. I'm going through the same thing, luckily I have a unisex birthname but u still don't like the association. Whenever I see "name, courtesy title" I put my male name. The fact is that we're gonna face discrimination, but there are laws (I think) that say if a paper asks for your gender you don't have to put anything. It's mostly because people used to not wanna hire women, but it applies here. Basically, if they see you as male thats what you'll be.  I love in a very narrow minded town but this works for me. Good luck man.

[TrojanMan]

Man, auto correct killed my last reply lol sorry

[Kris]

I was really thrown off by this at first too dude, but being real its a lot more accepting to people now then it use to be.

What I do, is I dress as a male. Nice button up shirt, tie, slacks, belt, male dress shoes. I shaved my head too and on my resume because I havent changed my name yet. I put in big letters. "Kristofer Tripp" and small letters right under it I put it like this (crystal tripp). And most of the time. They say "kris.....crystal....kris....and I get up shake their hand and say "Yeah I am Crystal but please call me kris thats what i prefer and they are so chill with it and on my ID it say kris tripp. Look me up on the companies directory it says Tripp, Crystal (kris).

So I think just being honest and confident within how you present yourself will go a long way. Now everybody at work calls me kris and refers to me a him. Good luck man