Interview | Twins Adrien and Pierre Gaubert speak on their new LGBT business community myGwork

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Entrepreneurial twins Adrien and Pierre Gaubert are re-inventing the way LGBT+ professionals find and secure jobs with myGwork, the LGBT+ business community.

Dubbed the “pink LinkedIn”, myGwork is connecting the LGBT+ community with inclusive and supportive organisations who are actively seeking to create diverse workplaces while, more broadly, connecting LGBT+ people with their own community.

They are launching a new version of the platform and Attitude sat down with the twins to discuss what the new changes mean and what they see for the future of this online community.

You started myGwork three years ago, what’s changed in that time?

It really started out as a network between friends and colleagues, now we have 180k users a month, as of March 2018.

Some huge organisations such as PwC, EY and Clifford Chance trusted the potential of myGwork from the beginning and really were the pioneers in LGBT+ inclusion.

Since we started, organisations of all sizes have followed and we got new partners from different industries every week.

You changed your logo, why is that?

The first one was very corporate, we wanted people to understand we were an LGBT+ professional website.

Now we would like to emphasis the business community aspect of mygwork, that is why the logo is a series of interconnected links, to represent strength through unity.

We’re also using the hashtag #workstrong which means that we would like the LGBT+ community to be empowered through experience, knowledge and the sharing of job opportunities. Our partner Isobar (Dentsu Aegis) worked on our new branding. 

What are the new features of the website?

The whole website looks trendier. There is a chat feature now available and a mentoring option to help facilitate connections between our members. Organisations now have the possibility to give special discounts to myGwork’s members.

How do you make sure your users data (APOS) are protected?

We do not stock nor use any data except the email addresses of our members.  Our aim is not to sell products to our users but to help them find job.

Why are you different from other LGBT+ job boards?

We are a community with actives users. Employers do not only post jobs, they can identify and interact with their LGBT+ employees and future workforce. They can be assured that their articles and events will be seen by our members.

What is the mission of mygwork?

We want to empower the LGBT+ community and this can only be done if we manage to federate our community and make it strong.

The future generation will not be afraid to come out at work, or anywhere, as long as together with inclusive-employers we create a new diverse and inclusive ground.

We also believe our community has everything to win when helping each other. To be heard, we need to be seen and present ourselves as one community, one big family.

It is not possible to sort people by gender on the site, why?

We are not a dating app and we wanted to have a gender-neutral feel for the site. We hope our users feel included regardless of their gender, ethnicity or age.

One of our main wishes is for our trans members to secure as much employment opportunities as all the other letters of the LGBT+ community and dividing ourselves by letters creates segregation within our own community.

Do you know how many people have found a job with myGwork?

We know at least a few hundred people have got an interview when applying to a job at one our partner organisations, they were asked to specify if they came from myGwork.

We provide the LGBT+ candidates to organisations that want a diverse workforce. It does not mean people will be hired because they are LGBT+. It means they will have a chance to interview for positions usually taken by straight white men.

How do you make sure your partner organisations are really LGBT+ friendly?

We believe any organisation that has the will to recruit LGBT+ talent and retain a diverse workforce should be on myGwork.

The size of an organization or their ranking on LGBT+ workplace indexes does not matter to us. We reward the intent and our members can be sure if there is any issue in those organisations because of their sexual orientation they will be listened to and supported.

There are no perfect organisations but the organisations that try to be supportive will succeed over the ones that are not doing anything to help create an inclusive workplace and a diverse world in general.

What are the benefits for your partner organisations?

Being part of myGwork allows organisations to post jobs and events as well as promoting their role models on the platform and on our social media channels. They can also connect with their employee and use mygwork as an LGBT intranet to communicate with them.

Is there an app coming soon?

Yes, indeed. Hopefully it will be ready for London Pride Festival this summer.

What advice would you to anyone looking at creating a startup?

Creating a startup is a rewarding but stressful experience. You must ensure you choose the right co-founder(s) when starting your business.

In our case, we are twins, we obviously have our disagreements but we decided from the beginning, Pierre will be the CEO and Adrien the Marketing director so if we do not agree on something, Pierre would have the last word.

You should put your ego aside and do the best for your company. Investors not only invest in a product, they also invest in people and they want to be sure their investment will not be endangered by tensions between the co-founders.

We have also been very lucky to have a very supportive team that believes in our project and has helped us build mygwork from the beginning. They are not here to get their salary and leave, they are truly part of the company. It really feels like a family.

Do you work with other LGBT+ organisations?

Mutual support is key for us. We work for free with any nonprofit LGBT+ organisation that needs support advertising their job offers, events or research.

Who are you partners, are they from all industries?

We partnered with more than 70 organisations from all industries, size and location.

The largest ones include Clifford Chance, Santander UK,  EY, Worldpay, PwC, GSK, Dentsu Aegis, JP Morgan, Roche, Salesforce, Travers Smith, Willis Towers Watson, JLL, Reed Smith, London City Airport, Zone, Feel Unique & Uber.

To join the new myGwork network, visit here.

Follow myGwork on social media on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

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