Find a job in Portland

Before you start applying, get a resume you feel good about. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to exist and be current.

If you're building from scratch or your resume is out of date, work through the Updating your resume path first. That one covers skills-based formatting, AI screening, and how to handle transition-related gaps and name changes.

Want a hand building or fixing it? Each of these helps for free:

• Goodwill Free Job Services offers resume help, interview practice, and job leads to anyone, not just Goodwill employees. Call 503-238-6137.
• WorkSource Portland Metro / SE Works runs a free one-stop career center. Call 503-772-2300.
• Urban League of Portland does career coaching, with priority for the BIPOC community.
• PCC Panther Works serves PCC students and alumni.

💡 You don't need a "perfect" work history. Volunteer work, mutual aid, caregiving, and gig work all count, and a navigator can help you frame them.

You shouldn't have to spend money you don't have just to look the part. Several Portland orgs give out free, gender-affirming professional clothing.

• Q Center Career Closet has gender-affirming professional attire for interviews and work. 4115 N Mississippi Ave, 503-234-7837.
• Dress for Success Oregon provides suiting, mock interviews, and mentorship for women and gender-expansive people. It requires an agency referral, and WERQ can refer you.
• Beyond These Walls sends care packages with professional clothing for trans and justice-impacted folks.
• Radical Abundance offers affordable used clothing plus care grants for BIPOC and trans folks.
• Bombshell Transformations runs a free clothing closet with style consultations for the trans community, by appointment.
• Sincere Studios does discounted alterations so your clothes actually fit.

🏳️‍⚧️ Ask for what you need by name. These spaces exist so you can show up to an interview feeling like yourself.

You get to decide what to share and what to keep private. A few things tend to come up for trans job seekers.

The name you go by can sit at the top of your resume and application. If your legal name is different, there's usually a separate field for "legal name" that gets used only for background checks and payroll. You never have to tell an employer that you're trans, because that's your private medical and personal history.

Background checks and references can surface a former name, so it helps to get ahead of it. Tell a trusted reference what name you use now, and learn your rights before you apply (the last section of this path covers them).

Thinking about updating your legal name or gender marker? CLEAR Clinic offers free legal help at 971-722-5981, and the Change your name and gender marker in Oregon path walks through the whole process.

💡 There's no single right answer here. Some people are out at work and some aren't. Both are valid, and you can choose differently for different jobs.

Instead of cold-applying everywhere and hoping something sticks, start with employers WERQ TOGETHER has already vetted.

The WERQ TOGETHER Employer Directory (linked below) lists Portland-area employers that hire for entry-level roles. Every listing links straight to their current openings. It also tells you how affirming the workplace is, with the employer's HRC Corporate Equality Index score, whether they cover trans healthcare, whether they have an LGBTQ employee group, and notes from community members.

Here's a simple way to work it:

1. Open the directory using the button below.
2. Filter for entry-level roles in the kind of work you want.
3. Click through to each employer's open positions.
4. Prioritize the employers other community members recommend.

🏳️‍⚧️ These employers made the list because they're more likely to hire and support trans people. You're not starting from zero.

Beyond specific employers, the WERQ TOGETHER Employment Resources database (linked below) gathers the job boards worth your time in one place.

For general and local listings, try WorkSource Oregon, the state board with free coaching attached. Mac's List is a regional hub for Oregon and Washington, and PDX Pipeline covers creative, tech, trades, service, and office work. The big aggregators, Indeed and LinkedIn Jobs, round those out.

A few niche boards are worth a look too. Everywhere is Queer is an LGBTQ-focused board and community app. Sur(thrive)al Jobs is a free weekly newsletter of part-time Portland jobs paying $20+/hr. Poached lists restaurant and hospitality work, and Idealist focuses on nonprofit and social-impact jobs.

💡 Pick two or three boards and check them on one set day each week, rather than refreshing all of them constantly. Steady beats frantic.

Staffing agencies place you into temp, temp-to-hire, and direct-hire roles, and they're free for job seekers. They can be one of the fastest routes to a paycheck, and plenty of those roles convert to permanent.

If you have a record, start with the background-friendly agencies. All Star Labor & Staffing was founded specifically to help formerly incarcerated job seekers (503-619-0811). Hire Source Staffing advertises background-friendly and THC-friendly positions (360-342-9543). Express Employment Professionals and NW Staffing will consider some convictions case by case.

Want something more specialized? VOZ Workers' Rights Education Project runs worker-led day-labor matching with a $22/hr minimum and no barriers (503-234-2043). For creative and corporate roles, look at Boly:Welch, Mathys + Potestio, and Aquent. Robert Half handles admin and finance, while TEKsystems focuses on IT and tech.

💡 Be upfront with your recruiter about what you need. A good agency works for you, including finding placements that are actually affirming.

You don't have to job search alone. Each of these programs gives you a real person who will sit down with you, at no cost.

• WorkSource Portland Metro / SE Works is a full one-stop career center: coaching, resume help, job leads, and training scholarships (503-772-2300).
• Goodwill Free Job Services covers resume building, interview practice, and job leads, and it's open to anyone. Ask for Paul Langdon (503-238-6137).
• Urban League of Portland runs workforce development and job fairs, with priority for the BIPOC community.
• IRCO WorkSource serves immigrant and refugee communities in 15+ languages and is verified LGBTQ-affirming by the Q Center.
• Outside In offers career training, paid internships, and coaching for youth ages 18 to 24, with drop-in hours Monday and Thursday from 10am to 1pm (503-432-3986).

🏳️‍⚧️ If calling feels high-stakes because of misgendering, ask for an in-person navigator. You're legally protected from discrimination in the hiring process.

If you want more than an entry-level wage, free training can put you on a path to $30 to $50+/hr without taking on debt.

Constructing Hope runs a free 10-week construction pre-apprenticeship that leads into union apprenticeships, and its Building Equity Program also helps with record expungement and getting your driver's license back. PCC offers short-term workforce certificates, career services, and a clothing closet. Worksystems, the regional workforce board, funds training scholarships through WorkSource.

💡 Many of these come with support services like transportation, child care, tools, and a stipend, so you can actually finish. Ask what's available when you enroll.

If something specific is making the search harder, there's probably a program built for exactly that.

Have a criminal record? Look at Flip the Script, Central City Concern's culturally specific reentry program for Black Portlanders (503-412-9295), and SE Works' NewStart program for people released in the last two years. The background-friendly staffing agencies above apply here too, and Oregon's Ban the Box law is on your side (see the next section).

Are you an immigrant or refugee? IRCO and VOZ offer job matching, ESL classes, and rights education. If you're a young person between 18 and 24, Outside In has training, paid internships, and wraparound support. And if you're low income and hit a legal snag with an employer, Oregon Law Center provides free civil legal services.

🏳️‍⚧️ Being trans and facing one of these barriers at the same time is common, and these orgs are used to it. You can name both.

Oregon has some of the strongest worker protections in the country, and they apply to you.

You're protected from discrimination based on gender identity. The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries has ruled that persistent, intentional misgendering can be illegal discrimination. If an employer harasses you, refuses to hire you, or fires you because you're trans, you can file a complaint with the BOLI Civil Rights Division at 971-673-0761.

There's also Ban the Box. Across Oregon, employers can't ask about criminal history before an interview. In Portland, they can't ask until after a conditional job offer, and they can't consider expunged or sealed records or arrests without conviction. If an employer breaks that rule, file with BOLI.

For ongoing support, Basic Rights Oregon runs statewide LGBTQ advocacy, discrimination support, and a Trans Justice Fellowship. If anything feels discriminatory, keep notes with dates, what was said, and who was there, because that makes a complaint much stronger.

🏳️‍⚧️ Knowing your rights isn't about expecting the worst. It's so that if something does happen, you already know your next move.