Pride Series: How To Show Your Diversity and Inclusion When Applying To Jobs
Coach Nadia here, Happy Pride folks! In my last Pride Series article, I wrote about Using LinkedIn To Find Inclusive Employers. In this article, I’m continuing that theme explaining how to show your diversity and inclusion when applying to jobs.
From resumes, to cover letters, to your email signature and LinkedIn profile, there are loads of ways to show your own diversity and inclusion or your advocacy and allyship for other identities.
Resumes and Cover Letters
When we think about application materials, resumes and cover letters are definitely the bread and butter of the job search. They are pivotal pieces of the hiring process- why?
What an applicant communicates in their resume and cover letter says a lot about what they value, what they think is important to share with an employer and how they’re uniquely qualified for the role.
These documents give job seekers the opportunity to show their charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent (IYKYK) in a professional format that is easy for employers to assess. Job seekers, take this space to be YOU. Yes, show your professional competencies but also show how and why diversity and inclusion is important to you.
For example, I serve as the Faculty chair of the LGBTQ+ Faculty and Staff Association at my university. I also serve as the faculty advisor to an LGBTQ+ student organization on campus as well. While these positions communicate my professional abilities, they also communicate how I am engaged in diversity and inclusion activities at my employer.
I not only listed these positions on my resume but I leveraged them in my cover letter to show how I contribute to an inclusive organizational culture and am leading initiatives across campus for all our constitutions, including faculty, staff and students.
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Walking The Walk On LinkedIn
LinkedIn is quickly becoming HR’s go to way of assessing candidates beyond their resume and cover letter. It is not enough to simply say you support diversity or are inclusive, you need to SHOW how you walk the walk.
Here is a quick LinkedIn checklist to showing inclusion:
Put pronouns in your name
An inclusive profile banner image- LinkedIn has these for free!
Talk about inclusion in your profile about section
Follow diversity organizations
Post inclusive content and support/engage in inclusive content in your feed
Employers (and anyone on LinkedIn for that matter) can see your recent activity if your profile is public. So as a hiring manager, I can go into your profile and actually see what you are posting about, who you are interfacing with, and how you are showing up in the professional space.
If you say diversity and inclusion is important to you, make sure you are walking the walk to back up that talk.
Email Signature
In my opinion, email signatures in some industries (cough, cough academia) are becoming nothing short of a full on novel inclusive of education/degrees, designations, inspirational quotes, personality types etc. It’s a lot and at a certain point loses all intent and purpose.
Here is my advocacy to you: be intentional with what you list in your email signature.
At my university job, we have a standard email signature that while inclusive (i.e. pronouns) is streamlined and highly functional internally and externally to present the university brand.
When creating a personal email signature, this is your chance to create your own brand so be intentional with it! Consider ways you can show your diversity and inclusion that feel authentic and genuine to you.
For Beyond Discovery Coaching, I use my pronouns and a small image of myself in my signature so people feel connected to me as a human being in a digital world. I am intentionally minimal in my email signature as that resonates with me. I am a minimalist in my life so it feels right in my email signature too.
Build your personal brand the way you want it and know it can always evolve as you evolve as a human and a professional.
Next Steps
Showing your diversity, inclusion, advocacy and allyship when applying to jobs can be very heavy handed depending how important these areas are to you and your industry or they might be small, little changes you begin to incorporate into your job search.
Either way, understanding what you and your industry value helps align your materials to match job descriptions you are most interested in and that is key in landing interviews!
Related:
Purchasing Products With Pride: All You Need To Know About Rainbow Capitalism
Pride Series: 5 Ways To Authentically Demonstrate Inclusivity During Job Interviews
Meet The Writer!
Hi! My name is Nadia Ibrahim-Taney and I help people design happy and fulfilling careers through authentic career coaching. My expertise includes career exploration guidance, resume writing, interview prep and LinkedIn profile optimization. My pronouns are She/ Her/ Hers and as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I focus on how diverse identities impact and influence folks holistically and professionally. Please connect with me on LinkedIn or at Nadia@beyonddiscoverycoaching.com
