Supporting 2SLGBTQI+ Clients: Fostering Inclusivity and Equity in Career Development

In the ever-evolving landscape of career development, inclusivity is not just a buzzword – it’s a fundamental necessity to protect the human rights of gender-diverse jobseekers and clients. As career development professionals, our role extends beyond résumé writing and interview coaching. We are change advocates who aim to champion the diversity and inclusivity of all our clients. We represent allies and supporters of our 2SLGBTQI+ (Two-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Intersex, and other sexual and gender diverse) clients. We have the power to create safe and affirming spaces where all individuals feel valued and supported. In this blog post, we will explore practical strategies to better serve our 2SLGBTQI+ clients.

Statistics Speak Volumes

According to a study by the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion, 2SLGBTQI+ individuals still encounter discrimination in the workplace. This discrimination affects their career advancement, mental health, and overall well-being. As career development professionals, we can be catalysts for change.

Creating Safe Environments

1. Safe Spaces: Imagine a jobseeker walking into our office. Are they met with warmth and acceptance? Creating safe spaces means actively listening, validating experiences, and ensuring confidentiality. Let’s foster environments where everyone feels comfortable expressing their identities and aspirations without fear of discrimination or assumptions.
2. Inclusive Language: When we use inclusive language, respecting chosen names and pronouns, we signal that we see and honour each person’s unique identity. Educate your clients on including personal pronouns (he/she/his/her/their) in their résumés, email signatures, and LinkedIn profiles.
3. Understanding Unique Challenges: As career pros, we need to recognize that our 2SLGBTQI+ clients may face stigma, social barriers, and additional challenges due to intersecting identities (race, ethnicity, disability, or socio-economic status). Employ an intersectional approach to career counselling that considers these multiple identities and their impact on career development. Let’s be informed, empathetic, and always practice with unconditional, purposeful kindness.

Tailored Support for 2SLGBTQI+ Clients

As career professionals, it is our responsibility to learn about the diversity of jobseekers and how to best communicate and work with them. We need to learn about their perspectives and experiences. Relatedly, we can supply tailored resources to support diverse clients. and offer community support to meet the specific needs of 2SLGBTQI+ clients.

1. Inclusive Employers: Highlight companies known for their 2SLGBTQI+ inclusivity. Share information with clients about policies, employee resource groups, and benefits. Encourage clients to target these employers and drive job development with diverse and inclusive employers. Identify diversity job fairs and alert clients so they can prepare, attend, and connect with supportive employers.
2. Networking & Mentorship Opportunities: Networking is not just about job leads––it’s about building a supportive community. Encourage your clients to network actively to develop confidence in meeting new people and showing up authentically. Guide clients toward 2SLGBTQI+ networking events, conferences, and online communities. Connect clients with mentors, role models, and professional networks within the 2SLGBTQI+ community that can offer guidance, support, and career advice based on shared experiences.

Navigating Discrimination and Bias

1. Education: Knowledge is empowerment. Equip clients with strategies to address discrimination or bias they may encounter. Support your clients in navigating decisions, such as when to disclose their gender-diversity through their job search documents and assets (e.g., including personal pronouns, self-identifying, and sharing gender-diverse career achievement stories in cover letters) to meet the diversity pool criteria.
2. Training: Provide training and resources to help clients develop and refine their marketable skills in self-advocacy, communications, emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence, resilience, assertiveness, conflict resolution, and navigating bias and discrimination in the workplace.
3. Change Advocacy: Be a change advocate and encourage self-advocacy. Support workplace policies and practices that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, such as non-discrimination policies, gender-affirming benefits, and LGBTQ+ employee resource groups.
   • Our clients should know their rights and how to assert them––to be treated with respect, without harassment and discrimination, and the right to good health and safety.
   • All our clients have the right to be hired equitably and employed in a job where they thrive in a respectable and welcoming environment.
   • Educate clients on the work of the national and provincial chapters of the Human Rights Commission offices, as well as the Federal Action Plan.
   • Teach clients about the 9 protected characteristics that include gender, gender reassignment, and sexual orientation.
   • Coach clients what questions are allowed and not allowed to be asked in a job interview, strategies for answering inappropriate questions, and how to file a complaint, if necessary.
4.  Wellness Focus: Support clients in prioritizing self-care and wellness, especially in challenging environments where they may face discrimination or harassment. Encourage them to practice self-kindness and self-compassion, become active in supportive communities, and set boundaries to protect their mental and emotional health.

Client-Centred Approach: Championing Diversity, Inclusivity, and Equity

1. Listening and Empathy: Our clients’ stories matter. Actively listen, validate their goals, needs, feelings, challenges, and experiences. Offer empathy. A compassionate ear makes all the difference. We need to be thoughtful, and wholeheartedly understand the needs, values, and rights of our 2SLGBTQI+ clients, both personally and professionally.
2. Customized Career Plans: One size doesn’t fit all. Tailor career development plans to individual needs. Consider deploying distinct strategies to address their unique circumstances, aspirations, and challenges with, for instance, handling discrimination, navigating disclosure, or prospecting inclusive employers. Provide personalized career guidance and resources that consider the specific challenges and opportunities faced by 2SLGBTQI+ individuals in the workplace.
3. Collaboration: Involve clients in decision-making. Let them co-create their career paths. Collaboration breeds success.
4. Staying Informed and Educated: Continuously educate yourself about issues related to 2SLGBTQI+ identities, experiences, and rights, and stay abreast of relevant laws, policies, and resources that may impact your clients’ career development. For example, resources include national LGBTQ+ organizations, local community centers and networks, professional associations, online platforms, and mentorship programs, research and publications, legal resources, and others.

Success Stories

Share inspiring narratives and success stories with your gender-diverse clients, employer partners, and the community at large. Highlight 2SLGBTQI+ individuals who have overcome obstacles and achieved their career goals. These stories ignite hope and resilience for all people struggling with adversity, fostering a sense of belonging, compassion, and connectedness.

Call to Action

By promoting inclusivity, we empower 2SLGBTQI+ clients to thrive in their careers. Let’s be allies, advocates, and champions of empowerment and equality. Together, we can create workplaces where everyone belongs and contributes meaningfully for a better future.

How do you support this community in your practice?

What challenges do your clients share with you?

Continue this conversation to make a difference – one inclusive step at a time. Check out CPC’s upcoming 90-minute Expert Series Workshop: Workplace Inclusion for Gender and Sexual Diversity, on March 27, 2024 from 1-2:30pm EST.

Enrol in courses in the fully-facilitated, instructor-led Career Development Practitioner (CDP) Program. Pursue certification to offer the best industry practices to your clients.

Lori Jazvac is a passionate, award-winning Master Certified Résumé Strategist and Certified Employment Strategist through Career Professionals of Canada. As a multi-certified Master Résumé Writer and Certified Career Transition Coach, she specializes in helping clients navigate challenging career transitions. In 2013, an empowering vision inspired Lori to launch Creative Horizons Communications, a holistic career services firm where she virtually supports jobseekers around the globe to embrace their next career milestone.

Ksenia Lazoukova is a dynamic adult educator and Learning Facilitator with the Immigrant Services Association of Nova Scotia. She designs, develops, and facilitates employment readiness curricula and workshops for skilled newcomers to Nova Scotia to help them obtain professional jobs in their industries. Ksenia is a Certified Career Development Practitioner (CCDP) through the Career Development Association of Nova Scotia. She also holds the Career Development Practitioner (CDP) designation from Career Professionals of Canada (CPC), having successfully earned all five of CPC’s certifications: Certified Résumé Strategist, Certified Career Strategist, Certified Employment Strategist, Certified Interview Strategist, and Certified Work-Life Strategist. Ksenia is a proud CPC member and active volunteer for the association.