Sometimes, what we really need is to find a workplace that really celebrates diversity, rather than one that just gives lip service. How can you know in advance?
Well, of course, there’s no real guarantee, but there are some good resources online. The Social Talent website has a list of companies that rank high in diversity, and Forbes publishes a list annually. DiverseAbility magazine publishes a similar list, with a focus on employers who are disability-friedly. There’s even a job-search website called Diversity Workers, and another called Diversity Jobs.
Those resources are nice to have, but one of the difficulties is that you have to trust someone else’s rankings. You can do some research on your own, though, to feel better about the process. One of the things I recommend is to make sure a potential employer has affinity groups. Another is to look at their website and recruitment info, as well as their leadership team and board of directors. Those faces should be pretty representative of the country as a whole, at least in my book. If it’s a sea of old white guys, that tells me all I need to know. (It’s harder to know about things like sexual orientation, gender expression, ability status, and so forth, but you can still get a sense of them.)
But, of course, you’ll get your best information and insight from the people within the organization, so this is another reason to become a good networker. The great thing about a networking session is that you can straight-up ask questions, even the ones that make people uncomfortable. So if you really want to know if you’ll be the only Latinx lesbian in the organization, ask the person you’re talking to. If that person freaks out, well, at least you know.
