Upcoming job fair aims to provide larger platform to queer community

BENGALURU: Bengalureans will soon be able to witness a job fair that will be like none other. A recruitment drive, organised by Pride Circle, will be held for members of the LGBTQ community at Lalit Ashok Hotel on July 12. “We want to provide jobs for the community and this is not just for the transgender community but for the whole spectrum,” said Srini Ramaswamy, a co-founder of the platform, which engages with working individuals – queer and allies – and companies across the country.

Saying that the event is the first such exercise being held in the country, Ramaswamy cited a report by World Bank that says India loses almost 1.7 per cent of GDP due to homophobia and trans-phobia. This fuelled the main purpose behind the initiative.

“We want to give them a chance to apply for jobs. Most people from the transgender community are either home-schooled or dropouts. So they don’t have access to education or livelihood, and we want to change that by providing a platform,” he added.

Ramaswamy and Ramkrishna Sinha, Pride Circle’s other co-founder, felt Bengaluru was the perfect city for this event, since it is more inclusive than other places. However, the event will not be limited to just this city. “We plan to take this to 10 other cities, including tier-2 and 3 cities as well,” said Sinha, adding that they aim at providing 1,000 jobs by the end of 2020 in both blue and white collar categories. From Bengaluru, the two co-founders are expecting 40-50 companies, ranging from start-ups, small,medium and large-scale companies and giant IT companies, to take part in the event.

As many as 60 job postings are already uploaded onto Pride Circle’s website and the resumes they received were sent to companies without personal details being shared. This was done to prevent any bias. Once the companies shortlist the profiles, Pride Circle would schedule interviews at the event, where companies can have one-on-one interviews with the shortlisted candidates. Ramaswamy stated that they are expecting about 400 pre-screened candidates from the community to show up.Besides the job fair, a conference with international speakers and the screening of a film will also be held at the event.