When senior accounting student Connor Becker goes out to lunch with his older colleagues at a local regulatory agency, he sometimes struggles with what to talk about.
“When they ask me what I did this weekend, and I went to a drag show or something like that, how do I make connections with these people?” Becker said. “Being successful is all about making connections and working with your coworkers. We have to have things in common, so I need to learn how to make those connections with people who may not be similar to me.”
Thanks to the “LGBTQ in the Workplace” panel and networking event hosted by the Office of Alumni Relations on Tuesday, Becker might find the answers to his questions. Now in its third year, the annual event is aimed at helping students embrace their identities at work and forge connections with alumni who have been there, done that, said Belinda Peter, the graduate student intern tasked with planning outreach programs for LGBT students, people of color and women on campus.
“These questions you have, about what your workplace experience might be, should get answered by real life experiences,” Peter said. “The second part [of the event] is definitely a more layered approach to networking, at the event and with a new speed networking event.”
Students and alumni who were unable to attend the in-person event had the opportunity to participate in Brazen Connect, an online networking platform being piloted by the alumni office this year. Although student participation has been spotty for the online platform, Peter hopes to see students take advantage of new opportunities as they become aware of them.
“I want to make sure that ‘Being LGBTQ in the Workplace’ is a very recognizable name to students so that when they do the event next year, everyone should be like, ‘Oh yeah, we know that event,’” Peter said. “I want people who have not benefited from these events in the past to benefit from them now.”
Beyond partnerships with the Kogod “Business of Diversity” series, the Center for Diversity and Inclusion, the Career Center and SIS Career Services, Peter has formed a student planning committee that has worked to publicize the event to student groups on campus.
Becker, a member of the committee, said that this is the first event he has been to at AU that is teaching him how to bring his skills and his identity to the workplace. Over the past few years, Becker has seen a change in how Kogod approaches engagement with LGBT students and students of color.
“The school and the university are taking a little bit stronger position on trying to reach out and not just having events to say we’re having events,” Becker said, referring to Kogod’s diversity series. “This connection with women in the workplace and the multicultural networking event [held earlier this month] is a step forward.”
After graduation in May, Becker plans to join KPMG, an accounting and consulting firm in D.C. While his profession is known as more structured and formal, Becker has chosen an employer that has a LGBTQ community group and opportunities to discuss identity in the workplace.
“I think it’s important that I learn from this networking event that when I am in an interview, how do I ask them questions about being gay in the workplace in a professional way?” Becker said. “What programs do you have to support LGBTQ members in your workplace? That’s something I value, and that I want my employer to value.”
