From the Space of Silence: Kinner Jobs
Co-Founder at Kinner Jobs
Writers: nikita sharma & Esha Mehta
One’s life can turn into a blissful boon given the blessings that they get — Mayank Bharadwaj, the founder of Kinner Jobs, believes that the transgender community of India is still forsaken from such a blissful boon. His efforts towards uplifting the transgender community have taken quite some years, but he is determined to run this long marathon along with its members!
Mayank Bharadwaj established Kinner Jobs in 2018, where he wanted to bring about inclusion for the transgender community. Kinner recognizes the third gender in India, which includes individuals who are categorized either by themselves or by society; neither as a man nor as a woman. Unfortunately, society views them with a lot of prejudice, due to which their survival in terms of emotional well-being or even leading a normal harmless life is still in an erratic state. Kinner Jobs is an online portal that includes skill development, a platform to apply for jobs via a registration process. The onboarding of the platform also allows them to generate a CV if they do not have one.
Being from a software development background, creating a portal might have seemed an easy journey, but everything comes with its own set of challenges. For him, the biggest hurdle was dealing with the mindset of the people; since the ecosystem also requires the involvement of people from various companies. Initially, when Mayank did not receive the response he expected, he went out there conducting door-to-door surveys. He realized that it was not easy to get people acquainted with a web portal since it requires basic knowledge of the internet.
Creating awareness was a significant part of Kinner Jobs. He has raised concerns about corporate companies not even considering hiring from the transgender community. There is another scenario in which individuals belonging to the trans community do not have proper access to education and means for building skillsets for that matter. This leaves them with begging bowls, pushing them further into the clutches of poverty and hunger. Even basic survival is at stake for them. According to Mayank, schemes can be laid out to employ the transgender community after proper training. Taking into consideration the fact that it is very difficult for them to pursue higher education, the minimum qualification can be reduced to the 12th standard.
Mayank is optimistic that inclusive workspaces have begun to take shape in India, where transgenders need not hide their identity and would be proud of who they are. Corporate companies are successfully working towards bridging the gap, although few issues like sexual harassment and security concerns come to pass and need to be addressed.
“In one day, we cannot win the world,” says Mayank, “We should talk with each other; not in whispers but in a frank manner. Slowly we can change the mindset.”
Social media channels like Facebook and LinkedIn have worked for Mayank. He can put up his job requirement and make people aware.
The crux of Kinner Jobs lies in supporting better self-esteem and respect to the transgender community. They need to be proud of their identity and be given the opportunity to succeed. Sharing his learnings, Mayank says that you should always be polite. Some people may purposely aggravate you and create a poor temperament but maintaining your calm is a must. Trying to understand the mindset of the person sitting in front of you and having a conversation around it hoping for a change is the way to go about making these subtle differences.
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