Ack, Got a 'Phone Interview...

[Sinnyo]

I seem to have posted a couple of topics here in quick succession.. hope nobody minds! here's just a whole lot of 'coming out' in my life tese days.

After months of applying for jobs, I've finally been offered a call back - a 'phone interview, which I confess is something I've never done before. It's for an internship, and a good leg-up when I've not managed to score even the most basic of QA jobs yet, on my road to being a junior games designer somewhere. I'm fairly confident I can do the job, but not about the fact I'm running around like a mad thing at the beginning of a transition.

The situation is this:

• I'm due to attend my first GIC appointment in late October, and I do want to be as far ahead as I can comfortably be before then, including being employed as a woman if I can;
• The job I've applied for is a 3-month internship, which will almost certainly fall over this appointment;
• My legal name remains a masculine one, and so it's that which appeared on my CV - no avoiding that since I'm currently 'employed' by the JobCentre anyway;
• It starts with a 'phone interview, meaning they're not even seeing me at this first hurdle.

Basically I feel kinda screwed, not knowing how to tackle this. Assuming the remote chance I'd even get the job, I will, at some point, have to ask them to take me on as a woman. This early on in transition, I'd resigned myself to being open about it anyway - I've no problem with that. But I hadn't really considered just when to bring the matter up. It's something I'll have to tackle a few times over if I see more interviews soon, so while it is hypothetical, I'll get a good mileage out of this problem!

Doubtless it would not be wise to bring this up on the 'phone, during my first impression.. but really, what's the polite/professional thing to do if I'm asked for a second interview? Warn them beforehand that I'm a transsexual and that they shouldn't be alarmed when a woman turns up? Turn up in 'guy mode' and see if I can introduce female-me later, after I have the job (again, hypothetical)? Or abandon transition altogether save outside of work?

I guess most of this is rhetorical, too. Clearly I'm not confident in my own transition here.. but I'd love some input all the same, just to help me work it out in my head.

[lilacwoman]

/quote]

It is regularly reported that a good percentage of games designers are actually TS -  no, I don't remember if both FtMs and MtFs are equally good or not so don't jump on me   
Post Merge: August 10, 2010, 02:59:12 PM
did you see the big court case and compensation paid to the MtF who applied in male and then turned up in female and lady boss sacked him?
Personally I'd probly see such behaviour as tantamount to deception but how to get round it from both points of view I don't know.
If you did the interview in male and then told them you were transitioning on the job they have to let you do so.
But if the job offer is just a tryout with a definite short term then it might be very easy for them to finish you at end of term if they did not like having a TS working for them.  There are an awful lot of bigots about.

[Sinnyo]

It is regularly reported that a good percentage of games designers are actually TS -  no, I don't remember if both FtMs and MtFs are equally good or not so don't jump on me

Oh yeah, I have heard that said too - I'm not at all worried about stigma within the industry, though the job I'm going for is web-related rather than for games. Multimedia jobs in general are fairly trans-friendly, though.

did you see the big court case and compensation paid to the MtF who applied in male and then turned up in female and lady boss sacked him? Personally I'd probly see such behaviour as tantamount to deception but how to get round it from both points of view I don't know.

Er, well. I think I see how you mean, though deception's a strong word for it. That's way I feel I should be open about it - co-workers are people to get along with, and I'd hardly turn up to a pub night with my friends in a scoop-neck top and girly trousers without having come out to them first. The same should apply to anyone who knows me as a guy - 's just manners.