Should you mention your religion on an application if it is linked to voluntary work

MrsManda

I wouldn't put my religion under 'interests' any more than I'd put that I like listening to death metal. But if it's relevant to my application for example saying that i undertake voluntary work at child centre run by my church. This has provided me with experience working with a range of people, good time management etc... then I would mention it.
A lot of my voluntary experience has a religious bent to it in some way or another and I've never been punished for it on a job application. I think with all these things it depends on how you present your experience.

Hermia

bristol_pilot wrote: »

I have known people not get interviewed for a job because they mentioned being a church member on their CV, so its not worth the risk IMO. In the UK, we tend to dislike people who are very religious and, sadly, stating a religious belief on a CV is more likely to do you harm than good. Can't you describe your volunteering activities without mentioning the word 'church' or your denomination?

The opposite happened where I last worked. The boss was a devout Christian and prejudiced against atheists and people from other religions. He wouldn't employ someone who mentioned belonging to a Buddhist group on their CV.

I don't see how the OP can not mention the church at all on their form because the interviewer may be curious about what voluntary work they do. I would possibly try to be vague about the denomination etc though.

Wyndham

I think balance is important. The example above about the CofE had that as the ONLY thing in that section. My CV has had religious based things on it in the past, but I've always tried to balance with other things. At one point I had 'Secretary of Wine Club' and 'Methodist Church Steward'. Given the traditional attitude of Methodists to drinking, then the two hopefully give a rounded view of me as a Methodist. And vice versa - it's unlikely that the wine drinking is very excessive!

The messages given are important. In your case I wouldn't not include it if it were relevant experience. But I'd also make sure I had other things in there which did not have a religious bent to them.

podperson

I don't think you need to mention your religion - just state that you have done voluntary work at x church which has given you these relevant skills. You don't have to be religious to volunteer at a church that could be doing work in the community. I have looked at applications in the past and I would see a wide different between someone putting that as opposed to stating their religion or saying how they attend church on a regular basis.

Strider590

heretolearn wrote: »

IF possible I would avoid mentioning church for the reasons stated; although religious discrimination is now illegal, it does happen. There must be a way to describe what you do for a 'charity' instead.

"I run a terrorist training centre" wouldn't go down too well I think

Savvy_Sue

bristol_pilot wrote: »

The circumstances were this. The manager passed the application forms around the office (the applicants' potential future co-workers) and people were asked for their views. One candidate had stated under 'interests' that she 'attends the Church of England'. Nothing more than that. Various comments were fed back to the manager that we don't want a god botherer round here etc (and other things that I will not repeat) and that candidate was not seen for interview.

That is SO wrong! We sometimes have a 'trial by lunch', and we might ask people what they thought of the applicants as they passed through the office, but NO-ONE gets to see the application forms who doesn't have a Need to Know!

judywoody

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

That is SO wrong! We sometimes have a 'trial by lunch', and we might ask people what they thought of the applicants as they passed through the office, but NO-ONE gets to see the application forms who doesn't have a Need to Know!

Yeah that's what I was thinking - I wouldn't even want to work for a company that breaches data protection and passes around my CV - How rude is that??

Thanks for the many responses! Yes, I am aware that some companies would react negatively. However, I think this is a good way to separate the wheat from the chaff on my end, too. A company who discriminates people because they are somehow connected to a religious institution (and as some rightly said, might not even be religious) I personally wouldn't want to work for. That in my eyes is anti-social behavior and who knows what else they don't like. As I said, I wouldn't particularly mention my denomination as in "Personal Interests" but if it has something to do with the voluntary work I do AND provides me with the skills I need for the job I think it should be ok to mention it - I will probably rephrase it a bit and just plainly say I did X at Y church or try to just mention the work I do itself..if that's possible without mentioning the church...But my pride tells me not to bend over backwards to reveal the church name..haha..for the reasons stated above :-)

Also, the jobs I apply for are mainly in the social sector - I think they are somewhat used to applicants who already do voluntary work in churches or other religious institutions.

If I applied for a sales job I might want to re-phrase it a bit but only to point out any RELEVANT skills to the position that I might have gained through my voluntary work.

Also: Just because someone attends a particular church that doesn't mean that he goes round preaching at work...Just as someone who is interested in sky diving would probably not go round persuading people to do the same thing....

Savvy_Sue

BTW, it does depend on the organisation you are applying to. As you say, many jobs in the 'social' sector are quite used to 'people of faith' applying to work for them. I work for a charity with a 'faith ethos', ie you don't have to be a practising member of that faith to work for us, but our person specs always say "sympathetic to the faith ethos of the organisation". This flags up to you that if you are a militant atheist you will have to button up at work!

It can also be worth looking at the organisation's history: there are quite a few Housing Associations and national charities which had a 'religious' foundation. If they have that, then I think I would be less concerned about saying that you gained experience of working with children by taking a Sunday School class, for example, than if it is, and always has been, an entirely secular organisation.

kingnoodle

Hi Judywoody,

I just decided to pop in this topic to give my own experience.

Being a recent graduate, I found it hard to put a lot of work experience on my CV, so I decided to put in my voluntary work at church as there are valuable transferable skills involved with volunteering.
I myself did contemplate on adding this, but any employer who is going to discriminate against you because of this, really isn't worth working for.

I applied for an internal vacancy at the place where I was working as a temp and managed to get an interview. I was offered the job pretty much straight after and after getting feedback from the interviewers it was my voluntary work that set me apart.

They even did admit they were discussing whether or not I would fit in the team because of my religious background, but soon realised that if someone is right for the job; then religious background/race/gender and age shouldn't ever come into the frame.

Of course like other people have said, sadly it does happen and there is no way that you can prove this and neither would a potential employer be foolish enough to give you such feedback.


All in all, I say that you should put you voluntary work on your CV; as this is what defines you as a person, it sets you apart and says a lot about your individuality.
Too many CVs have the bog standard work experience and qualifications, but displaying the fact that there are other things that interest you and that you do things not only through a motivation of getting paid will go far in setting you apart from the rest.



Sorry for the long post.... I hope it makes sense!!

Barnabylovesicecream

SueC wrote: »

Ah, I see, you were telling the tale from the recruiter's point of view. I was (incorrectly) assuming you knew the candidate.

Wrong as your scenario absolutely is, that sort of thing does unfortunately happen. Although to be frank, not only over religion. "Ye gads, he's put train spotting as a hobby, he won't fit in around here", "He's an avid Arsenal supporter, Gavin in Accounts will beat him to a pulp".... etc etc etc.

Sadly the world just isn't a fair place.

This really isn't funny but about 20 years ago my father was recruiting staff. Asked by a colleague why he didn't interview 1 guy he said it was because he listed his hobby as fantasy role play and he was worried the guy wouldn't fit in

I asked why this put him off thinking that a bit of dungeons and dragons
was not that off putting it transpired he thought it was a code for being a transvestite and was worried how this would go down in the office!