Your Careers Page Is Not the Proof: What LGBTQ+ Candidates Check Instead

There is a gap between what employers publish about inclusion and what candidates read to decide whether they believe it. Closing that gap is most of employer branding, and almost none of it happens on your careers page.

Here is what LGBTQ+ candidates actually check, roughly in the order they check it — and what each signal is standing in for.

They check whether the benefit names them

Not "inclusive benefits". The clause. Does parental leave cover non-birth parents at the same length? Does partner cover include adoption and surrogacy? Does the health plan carry transgender exclusions?

This is the first thing checked because it is the hardest thing to fake. A policy either says it or it does not. Employers who publish the specifics — 20 weeks for every parent regardless of gender, or gender identity support that lists counselling, specialist consultations, surgery and therapy — are read as credible in a way that "we offer inclusive benefits" never is.

The lesson for your own copy: publish the number and the clause, not the adjective.

They check whether the network has resources

Every organisation of size now has an LGBTQ+ network. The question candidates are really asking is whether it has an executive sponsor, a budget, and a remit that includes reviewing company policy — or whether it is a volunteer group that organises a summer social.

Two details make the difference visible. Naming the sponsor by role tells a candidate the group has a route to decision-makers. Publishing chapter coverage tells them whether the network exists where they would actually work, or only at head office.

They check the third party, not you

Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index scores, Stonewall placements, Equidad MX certification in Mexico, regional indices in Hong Kong and Australia. These carry weight precisely because you did not write them.

Two things worth knowing. Candidates increasingly check the year — a score from 2021 quoted in the present tense reads as a company that stopped participating, which is worse than never having entered. And they notice where you are benchmarked: a US-only credential tells someone applying in São Paulo very little.

They check whether it survived

This is newer, and it is now one of the most decisive signals. After two years of corporate DEI retrenchment, candidates look for evidence of what happened at your organisation specifically.

They notice when an inclusion page moves to a hidden URL. They notice when the awards page stops listing LGBTQ+ benchmarks and starts listing general workplace ones. They notice a partnership kept through a boycott campaign. None of this is in your control retroactively — but it is worth knowing that the archaeology is being done.

They check what your own people say

Named employees talking specifically about being LGBTQ+ at your organisation outperform any corporate statement, and the specificity is the point. "I was out from the start and it's been such a welcoming environment" from a named person in a named role does work that a values page cannot.

If nobody at your organisation has said anything publicly, that absence is itself read — usually as a company that is comfortable with the policy and not yet comfortable with the people.

The uncomfortable summary

Almost everything on this list is evidence you either have or do not. Employer branding cannot manufacture it; it can only make what exists findable. Which means the sequence runs: fix the policy, then publish the specifics, then get them in front of the audience — in that order.

Our guide to LGBTQ+ inclusive employers by industry and country shows how 42 organisations answer these questions, and is a fair benchmark for how yours would read alongside them. If you want to discuss reaching this audience, myGwork works with 450+ inclusive employers on job posting, employer branding and ERG support.

myGwork is the Inclusive Talent Platform, connecting LGBTQ+ professionals and graduates with employers who have done the work.