Not Disclosing Your Identity during the Job Search

When you are ready to begin your job search, there are many considerations you need to make. If you consider yourself part of a diverse population for the workplace or graduate program that you are considering, you may also have another choice: Whether to disclose or not disclose your identity during your job/program search. It is your choice, and you may have valid reasons for making either choice. On this page and the next we’ll look at some reasons candidates’ choose to disclose and not to disclose.

Here are some reasons people choose to NOT disclose their identity during a job search: 

 

  • Fear of harassment (either physical or emotional).
  • Fear of the effect of disclosure may have on hiring, personnel,
    and advancement (glass ceiling issues).
  • Fear of alienation, isolation, and rejection.
  • Fear of being perceived as different from the majority culture,
    or of being perceived as the same as every member of a
    minority culture.
  • Fear of the invasion of privacy.

 

 

Now let’s look at a list of reasons why people DO disclose their identity during a job search.