Hey Reader,

Welcome to issue #009 of The Next Chapter, a career planning newsletter for LGBTQ+ professionals.

This week, I'm covering:

• Making sense of Glassdoor reviews
• Starting an ERG from scratch
• Focusing your job search with job families
• A no-nonsense resume template

Let's dive in.

How to interpret Glassdoor reviews

When you're trying to figure out if a company is an inclusive place to work, Glassdoor might be able to give you some insight. The challenge is knowing what details to pay attention to.

You might be asking yourself questions like, “Are all those 5-star reviews from 2019 still relevant?” or “How much weight should I give to that unhinged rant about the CEO?”

Here's how to approach what you read on Glassdoor:

• Focus on recent activity. A company's long-standing reputation doesn't always reflect its current culture. Look at the last 1-2 years of reviews.
• Consider individual experiences as data points. One person's experience can be informative, but patterns over time tell a more complete story.
• Look for progress and momentum, not perfection. No company gets everything right. Those who acknowledge gaps—and take real steps to improve—tend to be more committed.
• Use demographic filters on reviews. If a company page has enough data, you can see average ratings by gender, sexual orientation, and more under the ‘Reviews’ tab.

For specific examples of positive and negative signals to look for, check out the Employer Research Guide for LGBGQ+ Professionals below.

Starting an ERG from scratch

If you've looked around your workplace and realized there's no internal community for fellow LGBTQ+ employees, you might be considering starting something yourself.

It can feel overwhelming to figure out where to begin, especially if you've never done anything like this before.

As a former employee resource group (ERG) program manager, here’s my take on how to start an ERG:

• Keep it informal at the beginning. Find 2-3 other people who share your identity and meet regularly. This proves there's interest and helps you build momentum. A monthly lunch or a Slack channel is a solid foundation.
• Focus on what people want. Make an effort to understand why each person is there and what they want to get out of the group. Avoid making assumptions—people often have different needs.
• Formalize when you're ready. Once you're clear about the purpose and role of the group, identify someone in the organization who can help you formalize things. This is usually the HR/People team if you don't have a dedicated DEI leader.
• Build external relationships. Connect with ERGs at other similar organizations to build community and trade notes. It's a great way to learn while also building your network.

Developing something meaningful takes time, so be patient with progress. Momentum matters more than perfection.

Focus your job search with job families

One of the challenges of being a generalist or having diverse work experiences is tailoring your job applications. The good news is you don't need to start from scratch every time.

Rather than creating a custom resume for every application, develop 2-3 versions tailored to different functional job families you're targeting. Job families are essentially just groups of similar or related jobs.

Here’s how to do it:

• Identify your job families. Look at the roles you're pursuing and group them by function. For example, you might create a version for Account Management roles and another for Customer Success. Or Growth Marketing and Communications. Prioritize job families that are the best fit for your background.
• Customize strategically. For each version, choose bullets that highlight the most relevant accomplishments and impact, and prioritize skills that matter most. Tweak the language to match the words and phrases you commonly see in postings for that job family.
• Keep it manageable. 2-3 versions should cover most situations without creating unnecessary file management headaches. If you're targeting more than that, your search might be too broad.

A no-nonsense resume template

If you dread the thought of designing and formatting your resume, I developed a resume template with a writing guide to help you make the most of it.

The template is designed with a mock candidate profile to show you how to make your experience shine.

The writing guide includes topics like:

• Common myths about applicant tracking systems (ATS)
• Making your experience compelling and impact-focused
• Tailoring strategies to avoid starting from scratch every time
• Practical AI prompts for when you're stuck on wording

Grab your copy below:

$10.00 Resume Template and Writing Guide Save yourself time (and stress) with this ready-to-use resume template and comprehensive writing guide. You'll get a... Read more Get it now!

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Tell me what’s on your mind

I want this newsletter to be community-driven. It’s meant for you, so it should be valuable to you.

Future issues will look different and cover different topics. I’ll be experimenting and collecting feedback along the way, so don’t be shy about hitting the ‘Reply’ button.

Tell me what you’d love to see—it might just end up in the next issue.

See you next week.