Getting a job

[Christina Anikari]

This is a rather personal question i've reached a point i need to ask those of you who have experienced applying for work while having a legal identity of the other gender from the one you present. Soon i will be faced with having to apply for work, but i have run into the problem that my legal identity is quite male and will be for years, but my appearance, voice or the name i actually use is very much female. So what i want to ask those of you who have been in a similar situation what you did when it came to applying for work, how do you present it to a potential employer in such a way that they didn't just reject you outright. And just using a female name is not a solution, my employer will need both my legal name and my personal identification number, both of which are male.

[Stellar]

I can't give much advice... The courts here in the US allow anyone to change their name with a valid reason, and being transsexual is more then valid as it's an integral part of living without too much greif in situations like yours.

If you know anything about the specific person(s) that will be directly reviewing your info for hire that could help; to like figure out how open minded they are or how they could possibly respond to the situation. If they aren't slave drivers, then it's likely that they would be willing to see how skilled you are in whatever you're applying for.

Hmm, if you don't really know what kind of person they are, then I doubt there's any sort of ideal way to present this. Will the employer meet you before being able to see your information? or do they see your info before you physically meet them?

[Christina Anikari]

They have to know my legal name in the application at the very least, for several reasons. One of them is that they will feel cheated if i presented a wrong name compared to what they will have to put on my paycheck. Another is that it is rather common here to reply by mail and the name the post office has is my legal name and as such they need to use that if they want to send a letter.

And i can change my name to anything i want...provided it is on the list of male names and unlike many countries there are no androgynous Danish names and being of Danish decent i am not allowed to pick a name that is androgynous in other languages. They are rather anal about names around here and i am not certain why. I cannot be allowed to legally take a female name until i am officially female and the law prevents me from that until after the operation. And this doesn't even take my personal id number into account which is gendered as well and the only two ways you can change that is by acquiring citizenship and get one as a citizen and not just as a resident or by being declared officially of the other gender and then being given a differently gendered one.

So in short i will have to tell them, but i don't know why. Nor do i really know anybody who can handle getting me a job.

[Stellar]

I have one more question. Have you seen a therapist yet? A tg friendly therapist should beable to help bypass some of the waiting times you've told me about before. Denmark has an extremely frustrating system to worm through in order to simply be yourself, and any professional shortcuts that a therapist could offer would make a big difference.

[Christina Anikari]

The only therapists who are allowed to be professional in any way when it comes to this is the sexological clinic at the National Hospital in Copenhagen and i need my doctor to state that i should see them, something he won't because i haven't lived female full-time for a year, yet.

[Stellar]

Wow...

Okay, uhm. Well I'd say just give it your best shot. It sucks, but the most they can do is say, "No i'm sorry we aren't hiring at the moment." Also (I doubt Denmark enforces this) but it helps to find employers that state on their application that they hire indescrimantly (not all employers follow that, but it helps to know that the company is aware of racial, gender, and creed issues)

I transitioned after getting employed and getting a secure position in the Taco Bell feild. It's been three months, and honestly half the team is still struggling to understand, but the people I work with on a regular basis understand and are taking my 'silly' little requests to heart and adapting.

The problem with your situation is that to do anything like what I did, you'd set back the time you've already spent full time as a girl...

[Christina Anikari]

People don't state that kind of thing here i'm afraid. After all this is Denmark, the most tolerant country in the world. It is of course for entirely objective reasons tha minority members are less able to work well than majority members...at least that is how discrimination is being treated by everybody who does it here. Also i am not really going for stable employment, just employment for around half a year before i return to studying fulltime. Mostly what i was thinking about was whether to explain myself in a short comment on my application, it seems like the best call but it might not be.

[Stellar]

Mostly what i was thinking about was whether to explain myself in a short comment on my application, it seems like the best call but it might not be.

That works.

[Christina Anikari]

I thought that would just be it. Thanks for the help, it is something i have been somewhat worried about.

[Sensei Kimiko]

I wish you luck.

I have no real idea what employment conditions in Europe are like. I would think a temp job would be a lot less concerned about 'odd quirks' as they might term it. Whatever happens, please let us know.

[Christina Anikari]

I don't really think you can talk about the employment conditions in Europe. Denmark for example has next to no unemployment and is importing eastern European slave labour, while the French are running around with their 11% unemployment. But the thing is low-level employment in Denmark is still more or less completely at the whim of employers. There are a lot of students who want jobs and the job market here is as flexible as the American one. And it is not so much that i think they will be hostile to quirks as that i am worried about how to present it in such a way that they don't think i am lying to them or goes beyond quirky and firmly into the realm of being crazy. People tend to be kinda conservative, especially unskilled laborers and the people who hire them and i don't have any skills to get a job based on.