At a point in all our lives, we must seek employment in some venue. Unless we are one of a very select population, we are not provided with everything we need to not only survive but thrive.  Finding a job for most people can take years.  More often than not, this in itself can prove a daunting task. Prospective employers have become more discerning in their approach to hiring employees.  Background checks, drug testing, prudent application submissions, a properly writte resume and an impressive interview all can still yield empty results.

Personal favoritism towards friends or relatives within the organization, political or spiritual views that coincide or any of the many other forms of unethical hiring practices that abound can influence your chances of landing the position regardless of your qualifications.  Many people, seeking some solace in the fact that they have a job, go to work every day without any other appreciation, satisfaction or joy in it.

Imagine the transgender job hunter.  You are faced with one of the arguably most formidable challenges you will encounter in your life.  You are not just locating employment opportunities, employment resources, facing harassment and discrimination in its many forms and even retaining employment, but you are doing all of it labeled as transgender.

To give you an idea of how drastic of an influence this can be, let’s take a look at some numbers:

• 44% – The percentage of transgender people who have been unfairly denied employment.¹

• One in six (16%) respondents who have ever been employed, or 13% of all respondents in the sample, reported losing a job because of their gender identity or expression in their lifetime.²

• In the past year, 27% of those who held or applied for a job during that year, 19% of all respondents—reported being fired, denied a promotion, or not being hired for a job they applied for because of their gender identity or expression.³

• Fifteen percent (15%) of respondents who had a job in the past year were verbally harassed, physically attacked, and/or sexually assaulted at work because of their gender identity or expression.⁴

• Nearly one-quarter (23%) of those who had a job in the past year reported other forms of mistreatment based on their gender identity or expression during that year, such as being forced to use a restroom that did not match their gender identity, being told to present in the wrong gender in order to keep their job, or having a boss or coworker share private information about their transgender status without their permission.⁵

• Overall, 30% of respondents who had a job in the past year reported being fired, denied a promotion, or experiencing some other form of mistreatment related to their gender identity or expression.⁶

• More than three-quarters (77%) of respondents who had a job in the past year took steps to avoid mistreatment in the workplace, such as hiding or delaying their gender transition or quitting their job.⁷

All of these statistics represent the view we, as the transgender community face. We are showering in these discouraging, depressing and disheartening thoughts every day before we conduct a job search or attend an interview.

Why is this?  What kind of fear is causing this type of attitude and aversion towards the transgender population?

In my efforts to analyze this I have compiled a list of some of the most beautiful and powerful characteristics that the transgender individual possesses.

They include:

• The courage to face the true self.  You know, the one that you refuse to? Yes, that one.
• The most empathic people on the face of the earth because we have lived at least part of our lives from both sides of the gender spectrum.
• Resiliency in that we are able to recover from some of the darkest corners of the mind and soul.
• We are creative minds and experts in responsivity and compassion.
• Versatility, due to the fact that we live in a constant state of flux from changes in environmental influences.
• We are the model of objectivity and expressiveness and have a tenacity and vigilance that knows no bounds.
• Employability. You get an employee that is thankful for a job, and will come to work.

All of these attributes are positive characteristics and are employable on several levels and in a multitude of professions. The hesitation to hire or dismissal of the valuable assets being discarded because of the unknown, that is, “not knowing” a transgender person…is completely fixable, simple to do, and beneficial to both employer and employee.

Get to know us.

Up Next: Paperwork for the Trans Job seeker

¹ Grant, J. et al., National Transgender Discrimination Survey.

² James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. (2016). The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. Washington, DC: National Center for Transgender Equality

^{3 Ibid}

^{4 Ibid}

^{5 Ibid}

^{6 Ibid}

^{7 Ibid}