Proud Employers and Starting Out provide new tools for gay job hunters

Stonewall last night launched two new resources to help gay job seekers find the career of their dreams.

Starting Out, supported by Credit Suisse, features profiles of 464 gay-friendly employers from sectors including banking, defence, retail and local government and is targeted at the 150,000 lesbian, gay and bisexual students in Britain, as well as jobseekers and graduates.

The new Proud Employers website is now fully mobile and allows job hunters to find the best vacancies on-the-go. Those visiting the site can find hundreds of roles with gay-friendly employers who are looking to attract the best candidates from all walks of life. Registration is free and applicants can even use their LinkedIn account to sign up to the site.

All employers featured in Starting Out and Proud Employers are members of Stonewall’s Diversity Champions programme, the world’s largest best practice employer’s forum on sexual orientation in the workplace, and are committed to making their workplaces gay-friendly.

The launch event – supported by Square Peg Media – was attended by students from across Britain along with representatives from employers featured in Starting Out. 10,000 copies of the guide are being distributed to students’ unions, university career services, employment agencies, university lesbian and gay societies and sixth forms across Britain.

Simon Feeke, Stonewall’s Head of Workplace said: ‘Every employer featured in Starting Out and Proud Employers is committed to recruiting the very best talent regardless of their sexual orientation. We know that people perform better when they can be themselves and we hope that these resources will allow lesbian, gay and bisexual people to find an employer where they can really reach their full potential.’

Starting Out is available online at: www.startingoutguide.org.uk Proud Employers can be found at: www.proudemployers.org.uk