By T.J. Ripley
With this past weekend’s Millennium March on Washington and last week’s
approval of Vermont’s civil union bill, it seemed an appropriate time to
examine gay and lesbian recruitment opportunities. Especially those
opportunities to find people online. A survey recently released by Harris
Interactive/Witeck-Combs Communications found gays and lesbians are a
profound presence on the Internet - 25% of all gays and lesbians online
spend more than 21 hours on the Net per week, not including email time.
Chances are you’re not actively trying to recruit people who are gay or
lesbian. After all, you judge candidates based on their skills, experience
and knowledge. Of course, these are exactly the standards by which gay and
lesbian employees want to be judged. They, like all employees, want to feel
valued for their contributions, and free from harassment and discrimination.
For many this means finding a company with a positive work atmosphere - one
with a written non-discrimination policy covering sexual orientation and one
that offers domestic partnership benefits.
A multitude of companies across the country, including over half of the
firms in the Fortune 500, has implemented such non-discrimination policies.
In addition, over 2,800 private companies, colleges and universities and
state and local governments offer domestic partner health coverage to
employees.
If your firm offers such benefits or has non-discrimination policies in
place you may want to use these programs to your advantage. Let the people
who value these benefits the most know about their existence.
One way to do that is through
Gaywork.com which
provides a way for job seekers, employers and recruiters to connect.
Gaywork.com allows you to create a free profile about your firm and its
non-discrimination and benefits policies for inclusion in the Gaywork
database. There are also a number of fee-based ways to reach potential
candidates. For a nominal fee you can appear on the site’s
Employer web sites
page, which links your firm’s logo to
the job-listing page on your site. You can advertise your postings in the
job listings database or you can get additional visibility by posting on a
Hot Tips page. If you prefer, you can gain access to the resume database for
a small fee for three months - and get an additional 30 days access if you
don’t find any matches.
Another way to spread the word and reach local candidates is to advertise in
the local gay and lesbian press. These so-called "alternative papers" are
targeted publications that are widely read and distributed in local
communities. Ads in such papers are relatively inexpensive and serve the
dual role of reaching candidates and generating a positive corporate buzz.
Candidates who aren’t looking at ads in the employment section of their
local paper might run across your ad in an alternative paper that they do
read.
There are plenty of gay and lesbian newspapers throughout the country with a
presence on the Web. If you aren’t familiar with one in your area, such as
Bay Windows in Boston or
The Washington Blade
in D.C., check out
RainbowQuery’s newspaper
listing or a list
at
Yahoo!
RainbowQuery also maintains a set of links to gay and lesbian professional
groups that
might fit your search needs.
For more information on how to make your company a more equitable and
attractive workplace, take a look at these resources. The
WorkNet page
on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Web site is
a good source for tracking gay and lesbian workplace issues. Here you can
find monthly news stories, a report on the state of the workplace, a
database of companies providing benefits and a variety of tools and
resources.
Lavendercollar.com also has an
extensive list of employers that have non-discrimination policies and offer
domestic partner benefits.
-- T.J. Ripley is a journalist and Web explorer who contributes to AIRS
research and writing.
About AIRS
AIRS teaches recruiters and high-growth companies to find passive candidates
hidden inside directories, databases, archives and the public Web servers of
over 400,000 companies and organizations on the Net. For more information
about our cutting edge training seminars, publications, or web applications,
please go to
http://www.collegerecruiter.com/pages/airs.php
