Report: Employers More Likely to Skip Resumes Including ‘They/Them’ Pronouns 

Happy non-binary person using laptop at home
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Employers are more likely to skip over resumés that include the nonbinary “they/them” pronouns, according to business.com’s latest report. 

As part of its research into nonbinary individuals in the workforce, businesss.com sent nearly identical “phantom” resumés to 180 job postings, except one resumé included the nonbinary pronouns. 

“Both featured a gender-ambiguous name, ‘Taylor Williams.’ The only difference between the test and control resumes was the presence of gender pronouns on the test version,” business.com industry research director Ryan McGonagill said in the report. “The test resume included ‘they/them’ pronouns under the name in the header.”

Both “phantom” resumés were college graduates “with qualifications matching the entry-level jobs they applied for.”However, the report determined that the resumés with “they/them” pronouns “received eight percent less employer interest than the control resumes without pronouns.”

McGonagill said the report’s findings were “especially worrisome” because more than 64 percent of the companies were equal opportunity employers. 

Business.com also spoke to more than 400 nonbinary individuals about their experiences in the workforce and whether they believed they faced discrimination. Of those polled, 59 percent said their non-binary identity “would somewhat hurt” their job search, while five percent claimed it would “somewhat help.”

Additionally, 51 percent claimed their nonbinary identity “very or somewhat negatively” affected their work experiences, with just eight percent saying it “very or somewhat positively” affects work. 

Jordan Dixon-Hamilton is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jdixonhamilton@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter.

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