How to Manage a Job Search as a Transgender Candidate
Tips for the challenges transgender job seekers face when searching for work.

By Jada A. Graves April 3, 2014

http://money.usnews.com/money/careers/articles/2014/04/03/how-to-manage-a-job-search-as-a-transgender-candidate

Ryan Sallans, LGBTQ-inclusion educator, trainer and author of "Second Son: Transitioning Toward My Destiny, Love and Life," recalls receiving a job offer, only to have it revoked.

"The hiring manager Googled my name, and based on what was found, they changed the job description," he says. "I could have pursued legal action, but I chose not to. The issue is greater than not receiving the job. Filing for legal action would have made the matter public record. Some people don't want to be outed in that way. It's hard for anybody to find employment these days, but job seeking for anybody who is transgender seems to be particularly tricky."

In the most recent National Transgender Discrimination Survey, 6,450 transgender and gender nonconforming participants reported they experienced unemployment at twice the rate of the general population. The survey, conducted in 2011, also found transgender people were nearly four times more likely to live in poverty. That same year a Williams Institute study estimated that 0.3 percent of American adults, or 700,000 people, are transgender.

I know I'm radical, but I'd like to see it be illegal to google a job applicant without giving them a chance to explain what they found.

* It favors candidates with common names - hard to tell if the Ed White you found dirt on is the same one that applied. However if the candidate's name is Shaquisinta Black, much easier. Basically discriminates against people who have unusual names. These are usually the people who have foreign origin or  unusual religion or culture.
* There's a lot of fraud. There are a number of websites in my old name that were set up by angry students. Don't know if they're still there.
* The web can distort and obscure information. Candidates deserve an opportunity to set the record straight.

I've put forth this point of view many times in various company and have yet to find anyone who agrees with me.

Quote from: suzifrommd on April 06, 2014, 08:41:01 AM
I know I'm radical, but I'd like to see it be illegal to google a job applicant without giving them a chance to explain what they found.

I'd be in favor of that. Using Google as a background check is problematic for the reasons you listed, and then some.

OP: This article is very timely, I need to start job hunting again soon. Thanks for posting it.

Quote from: suzifrommd on April 06, 2014, 08:41:01 AM
I know I'm radical, but I'd like to see it be illegal to google a job applicant without giving them a chance to explain what they found.

As a supervisor and manager with the State Of California I was forbidden by law from doing that in regard to state job applicants.