BENGALURU : Pride Circle, an inclusion organisation with a mission to empower the LGBT+(lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community is hosting the third edition of RISE (Reimagining Inclusion for Social Equity) touted to be one of Asia’s biggest conferences and job fairs, scheduled to begin from May 4. With an aim to financially empower the community, the online job fair is set to open up job opportunities for nearly 1,000 candidates who have signed up. According to Srini Ramaswamy, founder of Pride Circle, many candidates are less than 30 years old, indicating that the younger generation among the LGBT community is struggling to crack the employment space.
“The pandemic has made things worse for job seekers and job givers. Companies are finding it hard to train and manage logistics. However the work from home option has opened up a lot of opportunities and has allowed people to work remotely. Moreover, the gender identity crisis will take a backseat due to remote working options which will encourage more people from the LGBT community to sign up for jobs,” says Ramaswamy.
The job fair will be held on May 8, which will connect a pool of talent from the LGBT community including students and experienced professionals with 44 national and international organisations such as HSBC, Credit Suisse, JP Morgan, Uber, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Netflix, Novartis, Tata Steel, Twitter etc. These organisations and others will virtually meet and interview over 1,000 pre-screened LGBT+ candidates. So far, 12 job offers have already been extended by some of these organisations.
Ramaswamy also believes that job opportunities for the community are gradually picking up pace with many new service and product-based companies making a foray into the job fair. “This time around we have got many new industries which earlier did not make it to the job giving platform. This includes premium OTT platforms, social media giants, automobile industries, the pharma sector, and a law firm,” says Ramaswamy. To register, visit the Pride Circle website.