I have a Job interview this upcoming Monday for an engineering position with Northrop Grumman. They need me to bring either my passport or birth certificate. I'm opting for the birth certificate because I don't currently have a passport. However this puts me in a bit of a pickle because it has my male birth name on it (I've legally changed mine) and it obviously says MALE. Since we're in still in the interview stage I'm hoping this isn't a deal breaker but it is a source of concern for me. Has anyone had a similar situation?
Is this in the US and would this position require clearance? If clearance will be required, they will find out anyways so I would think honesty up front with the HR person is the best route.
The best you can be is honest. Bring it with and give it to them. Being dishonest about it will *certainly* be a deal breaker. You don't have to make a big deal about it, if they notice just be matter-of-fact (but not dramatic) about it.
It may not be that bad. From what I have heard, they are supportive of LGBT issues. At least they are in Virginia. On top of that, even though ENDA may not have been passed yet, our president did implement a version of it in regards to government work. I work for a different government contractor and they are upholding the nondiscrimination. We even had sensitivity training a couple of weeks ago because a coworker felt disturbed by my transition.
I'd go with the upfront and honest approach and concentrate on the skills you have to offer ;)
I don't see that you have much of a choice but to be honest. I would bring in your birth certificate with your name change docs and explain the situation. Just be polite and act like it's no big deal. You got the interview because you were a well-qualified candidate I would assume. You have a unique past but oh well.
One thing to point out is that the people doing the interviews will probably not be looking at these documents. In my past experience (and this counts for pre-transition too), these things are usually collected by admin people that handle the bureaucracy. I suppose it's possible the interviewers would be made aware, but I would think it's unlikely.
For future potential job gigs, I would mail that passport application as soon as possible to avoid this from happening.
Good luck!!!
As someone who is/has been a hiring manager in the software and computer hardware design industries, my experience has been that the HM would only be notified if there was a problem. So I guess what I'm saying is that in a normal, mid or large sized company, I would expect that you would walk in, give your paperwork to the HR person who might ask you a few questions, and then that would be the end of it. OF course if they start doing a reference check and all of your references know you as Matthew instead of Maddie (for example), then that could be a problem!
They do have a non-discrimination policy that includes gender identity, so if things so south when you present the documents, you may have a case to go over the recruiters head and bring it up to their HR heads. Most companies that score 100& on the HRC corporate equality index, as Northrop does, want to keep it, most of the 100% crowd work hard to maintain their rating.
Mmm pickles...
Um anyway, yes I have a somewhat similar situation. A job I recently applied for requires a background check, which means I have to use my official info on the application. I just couldn't think of a way to circumvent the awkwardness, especially since my name hasn't been officially changed. I wasn't going to interview as a male, and even if I could suck it up and try that, the transition on the job process is intense and disruptive and not something I want to experience. So I was going to submit an application that says *male name* and show up looking like I do for the interview... awkward! So I actually wrote their VP of HR explaining my sitch and eventually just decided to explain what was going on on the cover letter so nobody would be confused.
This is a company with a gender identity clause in their non-discrimination policy, so I felt like I probably wasn't hurting my chances too badly, and everybody was very nice. Somebody got back to me under the VP of HR and told me I could approach it however I wanted and it wouldn't affect my chances of being hired, and when the girl called to set up the interview she asked for "Jennifer."
So far so good I guess. Major pain though.
Best wishes to get the job Jen
You should be fine... How could anyone turn down such a cutie?
{{{HUGS}}}
Thanks Virginia! I'll give them big doe eyes and see if that works :).