Companies target gay undergrads at Johnson School recruiting event

By Linda Myers

"As an undergraduate at Columbia, I wasn't sure whether being gay would hurt my chances on Wall Street," said Mark Mitchell, now a second-year MBA student at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management. Mitchell, who worked at Lehman Brothers before enrolling at the Johnson School, said, "I wanted to help other gay undergraduates understand that coming out in banking and consulting will not kill your career."

MBA students Mark Mitchell and Justine Suh, outside Sage Hall, have organized the first Out for Undergraduate Business Conference as part of their Park Leadership Service project at Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management. Their goal: to attract more gays and lesbians to careers in investment banking and consulting. More than 75 undergrads from top-tier colleges will attend the Oct. 1-3 conference in Sage, which is sponsored by seven leading management firms. Nicola Kountoupes/University Photography

Now he and a classmate, Justine Suh, have put together a conference showing that corporate America not only welcomes but also recruits applicants with diverse sexual orientations. The Out for Undergraduate Business Conference will take place at the Johnson School from Friday through Sunday, Oct. 1-3. The event is geared to the best students at top-tier U.S. colleges and universities, with the aim of increasing the number of talented gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in business, Mitchell said. The firms involved are McKinsey and Co., Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Credit Suisse First Boston, Monitor Group and Vault.

One reason companies are becoming more sensitive to sexual orientation diversity issues is that they hope it will bring them a larger, better-qualified applicant pool. Some strategies they have adopted are supporting gay and lesbian employee affinity networks, offering domestic partnership benefits, including health benefits, and enacting anti-discrimination policies. Taking part in the Out for Undergraduate Business Conference is another way to get the word out that gays are welcome in their organizations.

While Suh is not gay, both she and Mitchell care deeply about making the corporate environment more inclusive of people with diverse sexual orientations. Both students are Roy H. Park Fellows at the Johnson School, and they developed the Out for Undergraduate Business Conference as a Park Leadership Service Project -- the first such project at the school aimed at aiding a gay constituency.

Park projects are major community service projects that take up to two years to complete and leave something of lasting value in the community. Students selected as Park Fellows (25 a year from each incoming class) receive free tuition and a stipend in return for their efforts.

"I give a lot of credit to Mark and Justine for the initiative they have shown in getting major corporations on board and getting this program going," said Clint Sidle, director of the Park program. "It's a good example of what a little persistence will do and a great example of what the Park Fellows program is all about."

So far, 75 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender undergraduates from about 20 colleges and universities, among them Harvard, Stanford and Dartmouth, have signed up to take part in the Out for Undergraduate Business Conference.

Those who come will get to network with "out" professionals from sponsoring companies, and build skills designed to help them succeed in interviews and on the job. In addition, they will learn about McKinsey and Monitor Group's pro bono consulting efforts with such gay-supportive nonprofits as Gays and Lesbians Allied Against Defamation (GLAAD) and Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network (GLSEN).

Also at the event, Wharton School Professor Louis Thomas will present his research findings that "out" gays are paid more than "closeted" gays, on average, but less than heterosexuals, which will be a point of discussion for a panel of successful "out" bankers and consultants. And there will be inspirational speakers, such as Kevin Jennings, executive director of GLSEN, and a showing of "Gay Pioneers," a documentary about leaders of the gay civil rights movement.

"I'm glad we will be providing the students with the networks and resources they need to ease their anxiety about coming out in the corporate world," said Mitchell. He hopes that the event will continue yearly on different college campuses as an independent not-for-profit organization.

He believes that the conference and other efforts spearheaded by classmates are enhancing the climate at the Johnson School for gay students, as well as the school's gay-friendliness standing in the national rankings. Recent changes at the Johnson School are: the revitalization of the student club Out for Business, which promotes issues of concern to gays and lesbians at the school; an expanding Office for Women and Minorities in Business that will ensure the needs of gays are part of its diversity and inclusion initiatives; and more faculty support for these issues.

For more information on the conference, see this Web site: http://www.outforbusiness.com.