Coming Out—Before, During, or After Getting a New Job?

By Joseph P. Campanale, Alice Accorsi, Abhijit Deb Roy

Fall is upon us. The air is a little colder, pumpkin spices perfume coffee shops, and holiday decorations are on store shelves. Fall also marks the academic job application cycle in the United States. Whether applying to graduate school, a postdoc, or trying to land a faculty position, Fall is the time that many of us find ourselves asking: How do I land my dream job?

The answer to this question is multi-faceted and complicated. Sage advice might be to highlight one’s exceptional bench training and grant writing skills, or the number and quality of publications. Or maybe the depth and breadth of one’s teaching experience. It can either be joy or agony finding the best words to communicate scientific and academic qualities in personal essays and research statements. Applying for a job is stressful, trying to put only the best foot forward and showcase the qualities and experience required to be considered the ideal candidate for the job. Or better, what we think are the qualities and experiences that the search committees are seeking.

For people from underrepresented communities, the task of preparing materials, and even more so, interviewing comes with additional burdens. Jobs in academia are a mix of personal passion and technical expertise. We write personal statements and detail our interests beyond what we can do at the bench. We talk about mentoring at an individual level. We share about our personal history that leads us to the passions in and out of the lab—assets to a new department and group of students. Balancing how much personal information to provide in an application with the list of achievements is a difficult task; the stress originates from having to figure out how much information to provide, and whether it is beneficial or harmful to the chances of landing a job. Age, family/marital, or underrepresented minority status, including sexual orientation, can exacerbate these struggles; it is not always evident whether the administration or faculty within the university is welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community.

We are three members of the LGBTQ+ Committee at ASCB and all three of us recently obtained Assistant Professor positions at major U.S. universities. We thought now is a relevant time to provide our perspectives on navigating our LGBTQ+ identities in application materials and interviews. We hope that this will benefit other queer scientists in their job-seeking journey. Our perspectives are just that, perspectives, and are no more than examples of what can be done. They are not hard and fast rules, but anecdotes to consider, whether as a queer scientist on the job market or on a search committee with a queer candidate.

Joe’s Perspective
My name is Joseph Campanale and I am an incoming Assistant Professor in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV). Like many LGBTQ+ individuals in science, I want to be known for my qualities as a scientist—a cell and developmental biologist, who happens to be gay. However, when approaching applications for assistant professor positions, I had to think deeply about how to unify these two facets of myself. I forced myself to answer key questions: How much of myself do I want to convey to the hiring committee? Did I want to come out or conceal that personal information?

I decided that I would bring my queer identity to the forefront—that it would be a thread of my cover letter and diversity statement. It was a facet of me that I wanted to be known and seen as an asset to a hiring committee and one that could only enhance the diversity of a department. The final statement of my cover letter attempted to leave no doubt in the search committee about what I bring to an academic community. “I am committed to advancing the careers and education of diverse peoples. Being queer, a first-generation college student, and from an NIH designated underrepresented population in STEM, I bring with me the tools to enhance the success of people from a variety of backgrounds, both in the lab and in the classroom. I am an enthusiastic mentor for the next generation of molecular, cellular, and developmental biologists and excited to bring my demonstrated abilities to UNLV”.

Doing this was a risk that I willingly took. I decided to be genuinely and unapologetically me—to not negotiate who I was or become lost in the idea that I had to be the candidate that I thought the hiring committees wanted. This might have been a mistake or put me at a disadvantage, but it allowed me two things: 1. To eliminate the idea that I was going to negotiate who I am when it came to a job, and 2. It allowed hiring committees to select for or against me from the beginning. I want to find a community of colleagues that I can flourish alongside. I have always run toward opportunities to be myself wholly. From my time as vice president of the LGBTQ+ club at my undergraduate alma mater, to my time as an openly out and married graduate student, I craved being immersed in a community of like-minded queer colleagues, mentors, and strong vocal allies. To feel supported as a scientist who also happened to be dealing with the complexities of being an underrepresented minority helped me thrive in my science. By coming out on the first page of every application I submitted, I felt that I laid bare all of myself and there was no doubt about who I was and what I offered. I had to be okay if this was too much or not enough for any particular hiring committee.

So my advice: be yourself. Put your genuine self on paper. If that is to be out, or celebrate parenthood, life-partnership, or economic circumstances, that is what it is for you. Some might feel that those aspects should not be in an application; that is perfectly reasonable as well. Just be genuinely yourself and that will shine through any application. For me and my experience, I had no regrets. It was me at my rawest self and that felt scary, exhilarating, and honest. For me, this decision was powerful in setting the expectations I saw for myself in my future and creating the space for honest conversations during interviews.

In fact, in my job interviews, many hiring committees made it a point to highlight the LGBTQ+ resources on campus and the overall “friendliness” of the institution and city. This, in the end, is what I am after—to be in a professional and personal setting where my family and I can thrive while I can promote meaningful changes and advocate for those around me.

Alice’s Perspective
I am Alice (pronounced as A-lee-chay) Accorsi. In March 2024, I started my new position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of California, Davis (UCD). Being on the job market prompted me to think deeply about my science and research program as well as the intersection of my identities and my values. How did I want to introduce myself to a new group of people and potential future colleagues? Which parts of me should I highlight and which ones should I leave in the background? During that period, I attended a workshop run by mentors I admire, who were speaking to a group of postdocs on the job market. Their advice: to avoid institutions where we would have to pretend to be someone we weren’t or to work on projects that do not align with our interests—because neither are sustainable long-term and do not bring happiness. They encouraged us to be true to ourselves and our science at every step of the process. These words immediately resonated with me and how I want to live my life. I decided to be fully out during my job search. It can be scary to come out in the application package, thinking that there could be biases against my work because of my identity, but for me, it would have been scarier to come out later, one by one, hoping for a supportive department. I consider this approach a way to take back power and evaluate departments based on how they would handle my application and interview.

It has been a few years since I added a rainbow flag to my X (previously known as Twitter) profile. I started my diversity statement by saying, “My strong commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in each aspect of my life is rooted in my experience as a woman, a first-generation graduate student, an international scholar, and an individual identifying as LGBTQAI+.”, I had a few items on my curriculum—such as belonging to the ASCB LGBTQ+ Committee—that hinted at my identities, and I made sure my cover letter stated, “As a woman, first-generation graduate student, international scholar, and individual identifying as LGBTQAI+, I am determined to actively recruit students from diverse and historically underrepresented backgrounds and take active steps to guarantee in my laboratory both equity and inclusion.”

During my interview, while I made the personal choice of not talking about who the components of my family are, I mentioned that I identify as queer if the conversation presented the opportunity. On the other side, during the lunches with trainees, I always found a way to share with them my identities because I strongly believe in representation and visibility towards younger generations. I openly talked about my partner while planning second visits. I paid attention to how well-received my partner was, and how people of the Department talked to me about the LGBTQ+ community and support at the institution, city, and state level. In my experience, sharing more about my identity gave me the opportunity to collect more information about the environment that I was considering joining and empowered me to make an informed decision. I joined an institution that respects and supports me as a human being and scientist, and that shares the same values I believe. A place where I feel heard. This is what I was looking for when I decided to get on the academic job market.

Now, I am very open about my background and my demographic with all the members of my lab, and with colleagues and trainees in the scientific community. A big part of my service and outreach will support Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Justice and Accessibility (DEIJA)-related programs. Having been inspired by Dr. Milgram at NIH, once I start teaching, I will share my pronouns with my students and I will not stop myself from coming out. Hopefully, this will inspire and encourage the next generation of scientists to find people with similar identities that they can use as a reference. I will continue to be out and proud, both in my personal life and at work, knowing that I was hired for who I am.

Abhi’s Perspective
I am Abhijit Deb Roy (or just Abhi, pronounced aa-bhee). I started as an Assistant Professor at the Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling at University of Connecticut School of Medicine (UConn Health) in March 2024. When preparing for the application process I debated for a brief period on how to balance my identities as an immigrant, a person of colour, and a member of the LGBTQ+ community, amongst others. I decided early on that I did not want to work at an institution where my colleagues would not welcome my identities. Making the decision was relatively easy. Having made that decision, I had to spend some time trying to figure out how to balance my desire to be ‘out’ in my applications without losing the focus on my scientific credentials.

So, while drafting my CV, I highlighted my participation in the ASCB LGBTQ+ committee. Most academic institutions also require teaching and DEI statements. I used these documents as opportunities to discuss my perspective on making science and academia more inclusive to members coming from under-represented minority groups, including the LGBTQ+ community. During virtual interviews, when given the opportunity to ask questions, I inquired about DEI efforts from the institution or the department and ensured that I explicitly mentioned LGBTQ+ as an example of groups under-represented in sciences. In every single case, the responses were very positive and the interviewer went out of their way to explain how the institution was supportive of LGBTQ+ employees. I did not actively bring up my sexuality during in-person interviews because the focus was mostly on science and resources available to faculty at these institutions. I did, however, discuss my work with the ASCB LGBTQ+ committee during lunch with students. Some of these decisions were deliberate, others spontaneous. But, it was important to me to focus the application and interview process on my capability as a scientist. I firmly believe that the majority of scientists in academia are very accepting of the LGBTQ+ community. My experience during the job search most certainly reinforced this belief.

So here’s my take: job searches, in academia or elsewhere, are difficult, exhausting, and scary. But the point is to get a job at an institution where we want to be comfortable for a fairly long period of time. So, find a place where you are comfortable being yourself.

Be yourself
We hope something about our experiences resonates with you. Please take what makes sense for your specific situation and maybe encourage someone else to read these brief examples. If you feel comfortable, share yours in the way that works better for you.

Independently from the position you are applying for, consider being you. Think what “being you” means to you. Decide what you want the committee to know about you and then lean into that genuinely. If you embrace who you are with and your interests with enthusiasm and without being apologetic for your identities, others will get excited about you as well. Take some time before writing your application, consider the pros and cons, and evaluate your level of comfort. Unfortunately, academia is not, yet, at the point of being completely bias-free and each of us knows how much risk they are comfortable taking and how much there is at stake.

Remember that during the interview process, the institutions are usually showing up at their best. If something does not feel right, it is your duty to yourself to notice and take that into consideration for your future decision. You are interviewing and screening them as much as they are interviewing you.

Trust your gut and good luck!