Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
If i have volunteer work/experience do I need to put it in a seperate section? Can i create a section called "Experience" and list both volunteer and work experience under it? Thanks.
If i have volunteer work/experience do I need to put it in a seperate section? Can i create a section called "Experience" and list both volunteer and work experience under it? Thanks.
I'd list it separately since you getting paid to do work is pretty different from volunteer work.
I wouldn't put membership in College Republicans/Democrats on my resume, either. If the HR guy is looking at 20 similiar resumes and sees someone who openly states he is of a political party the HR guy doesn't like, he will then have 19 resumes to sort through.
As for religous affiliation, a lot wopuld depend on where you live. In San Francisco, probably not. In Mississippi, yes.
I haven't had a single interview where someone asked me what church I go to.
Unless I were a mormon living in Utah I would leave it off altogether.
You're likely to give the impression that you're a suck-up.
Generally I think it should be left off, since it can open up both you & the potential employer for legal messes. Let's say you put a Muslim affiliation on your resume, and the Christian supervisor passes you over despite excellent qualifications... they could claim religious discrimination, and there may (or may not) be any validity to that.
I'm Jewish, and don't put anything religious on my standard resume... however, I have applied for a few jobs at Jewish-based organizations (such as the JCCSF), and added "read/write Hebrew" and "member of Hillel (Jewish student's organization) in college." They specifically want/need people with knowledge of Jewish practices, so for those positions it definitely would give me an edge. But aside from that situation, no I don't think it's appropriate or necessary - and could ultimately hurt your chances of being hired.
As for religous affiliation, a lot wopuld depend on where you live. In San Francisco, probably not. In Mississippi, yes.
LOL... I know somebody who's a gay republican Christian (figure that one out), and he said it's easier to be gay than republican & Christian in San Francisco. But we do have plenty of religious folks in SF, particularly among our VERY large Asian population - as they're usually observant Christians or Buddhists. So even here it could go either way if you mention religion, but obviously it's more Christian-oriented in certain parts of the country.
If i have volunteer work/experience do I need to put it in a seperate section? Can i create a section called "Experience" and list both volunteer and work experience under it? Thanks.
You could, but I think it depends on how many paying jobs you've had. Back when I'd just finished grad school, I included my unpaid internship under "Experience," since I had no paid experience in the field yet... now that I've got a handful of real jobs under my belt, I don't even mention the internship unless asked. So I guess it's up to you, but I think it's fine to list under experience (as long as you indicate volunteer work in the description).
You might also list it at the bottom, under the heading "interests" or "extra-curricular activities." I have that section on my resume, which includes symphony orchestra involvement, and my volunteer work with the Special Olympics. I think it's good to have that type of stuff on a resume, since it gives you more dimension and personality... more than once it's come up (positively) during an interview, usually in regards to my Special Olympics coaching. So it doesn't hurt to mention volunteer work, especially if it's relevant to the position.
I find this to be a pretty interesting issue you bring up. If people are of the attitude that volunteer work if not relevant shouldn't be on a resume I can see that point and do agree with that.
I think people often put volunteer work even if not relevant to show your of a certain type of character, can be part of something bigger than yourself, are willing to share your time and skills, can be ateam player, etc.
Religion is a touchy issue which makes this topic intersting but if they had put that they volunteered with special needs kids I don't think you would be questioning them putting it but because it's religion it seems to complicate things.
Like others here, I don't think it's something you would bother to put on a resume unless you were applying for a job with a religious organization and it was asked. Why it would be asked is beyond me, too. Maybe in a volunteer position, it might serve the person well. Otherwise, I wouldn't put it on my resume since it shouldn't be information a potential employer has a right to know. JMO
Like others here, I don't think it's something you would bother to put on a resume unless you were applying for a job with a religious organization and it was asked. Why it would be asked is beyond me, too.
I might be misunderstanding you, but it does make sense to ask if the job is AT a religious organization. I know that when I applied for jobs with the JCC (Jewish Community Center), it didn't specifically ask "are you Jewish" - but did say you must have knowledge of Jewish traditions & practices. This requirement was due to the fact that you'd be leading Jewish-related events, such as a Sukkot fruit hanging... I bet most of the non-Jews are saying "what's that?", which is precisely why the majority of qualified applicants would be Jewish. But aside from those specific situations, I totally agree with what you said.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
But we do have plenty of religious folks in SF, particularly among our VERY large Asian population - as they're usually observant Christians or Buddhists. So even here it could go either way if you mention religion, but obviously it's more Christian-oriented in certain parts of the country.
