At my Undergrad Uni I got involved with the College LGBT Society and became an "Official" in the SU , so I had a position and responsibilities within my old Union. While this was voluntary and for a young gay guy who is struggling to come out it helped me a lot and I gained alot from the experience. As a result I put it on my CV and my LinkedIn, however I have been told by an advisor that may be a bad idea for some reason. My logic is that I am open about my sexuality (To be honest I am starting to love being gay, I have a boyfriend now its awesome) and if an employer sees it as an issue then I don't want to work for them simple as. I have no plans to return to the closet ever. Is this a bad attitude to it? Its worth mentioning in Ireland LGBT people are protected from homophobia and we can appeal a dismissal if its related to our orientation
I share your attitude about it personally. I choose to put down my volunteering for my campus' LGBT center and volunteering for EC on my resume because I've dedicated a lot of time to them and they've taught me a lot of transferable skills (if nothing beyond acting as a professional/representative for a larger organization). And like you said, I figure if a company has an issue with those "qualifications", then I probably wouldn't want to work for them anyways. I started listing them this year and I did land a job out of it, so it can't be that bad. I think my only issue would be the difference between a resume and a CV. I've never written a CV before, but from what I understand I thought it was more about acacdemics/accomplishments. Maybe it's the case that the basic structuring of a CV vs. a resume doesn't lend itself as well to volunteer work?
I've been told that it can help with employment prospects, because employers a)worry that you can sue them for homophobia and b)want you to be their token gay for equal ops. That is from the UK, but its probably not too different in Ireland.
I've brought this up with my career advisor before, because my volunteer work with EC features pretty prominently on my résumé. They way she told it to me was that it could cost me some opportunities, but if I valued being open about my sexuality more than an opportunity that I'd have to go back into the closet for (which I do), then it's the right thing to do. Although my sister, who's seven years older than me, once told me that she didn't know what my advisor was on, because in her experience, something like that would make companies want me more, because many are looking to diversify their work force (at least in our area).
I know that at my employer, that would land you an interview quicker than shit. If I saw LGBT stuff on a resume I was reviewing (I'm not out at work), I'd very quickly say "I want this guy" pretty much no matter what the rest of the resume said (unless it was like underwater basketweaving or something when I'm looking for a tech guy ) We value equality in everything that we do. Our CEO was one of the first to publicly support marriage equality, and everyone at the time externally was like "what is this guy doing?" One of my favorite quotes from him: "We are in a talent business. We have to attract and retain the best talent that we can....if other companies want to be hostile and repellent to talent, that's just a competitive advantage for us." Wiser words could not be spoken.
My partner was the faculty adviser to the LGBT group at the U of Arkansas when he was working there and has had it on his CV ever since (quite a lot of years by this point). He works in theater, TV, and film. None of these fields are going to have a problem with it Todd
