Someone says to remove RELIGIOUS activities off a resume???

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I had someone critique my resume the other month.

My Volunteer work is towards the top of the resume because employers like those who are charitable-minded, do they not? They are as follows:

I can understand the advice to edit, just on a quick read (and I'm a christian) I'd wonder if you'd be one of those workplace evangelists who end up being a problem because they feel they have to 'save' everybody at work. It does seem a lot, and there's no secular volunteer work in there as a 'balance'.

the building and repairs stuff was fine but this sort of stuff below

distribute free “Jesus” DVDs to FEMA trailer residents and other residents in Pass Christian....

.... distributed "Knowing God Personally" tracts/booklets, and walked from house-to-house to invite people to church.

I think that would lead employers to assume your going to badger co-workers about matters of faith. Also it might be better to put this at the end of your resume, although it depends what else you have in it. My experience is out of date but I used to put the volunteer work last. Some people have to emphasise it because they don't have a lot of paid work experience or study.

Sometimes it's better to adjust the resumé to fit the job you want without lying about information. I learnt this one the hard way

For a construction type job, these volunteer activities seem completely relevant and noteworthy, for the most part. At most, I'd tweak the language here and there, to give it a more 'neutral' tone. For example

it's probably a good idea. Same with political activities. Too bad, the only volunteering/community stuff I've done is either political, religious, or to do with drug/alcohol addiction groups so I can't put anything on there...

EgaoNoGenki, i think you're just giving too much information about your volunteer work.

It would probably be better to just mention the skills you gained such as leadership, organization, communication and construction skills (if relevant to the job) in the Skills section of your resume, and just state in your Interests that you enjoy volunteering in your spare time, with maybe one or two sentences describing it. After all, they will ask you about it in the interview if they want to know more.

Your resume is supposed to show employers what relevant skills you can offer them, not a detailed month by month description of your life.

> I believe religion is just as much a part of who we are as our race is.

Well, not really, because people frequenly change and choose religions, but as you point out only Michael Jackson has tried to permanently change his race, apparently.

You don't have to leave off all religious things, but there is too much information there, information that would only be of interest to someone hiring you for a religious job of some sort. Maybe even too much for them. As some have pointed out, the name of the pamphlet is irrelevant. The religious goals you were supporting are irrelevant.

Focus it on your skills and try to tone down the religion because religion is a flashpoint for conflict. It's like when someone's gay and always bringing that forward when we don't need to know. In a professional environment, we don't need to know all your personal issues.

I agree- remove anything overtly religious or political and you'll be fine.

As a side note- while some employers do appreciate volunteer work it is not given the same weight as having an actual job. I'd list your technical/professional experience first, then your extra-cirricular last. I reviewed resumes as a HR assistant and spent all of 30 seconds reading them. If it didn't catch my attention then it went in the garbage.

Contact information at the top, career goals below that, education below that, job experience below that, and then if you have space, charitable work at the bottom. I think the religious side is overstressed in your example. Proseletizing is not a job skill, but the construction stuff is worth a mention. You could leave it all for the interview.

I examine résumés focussed on technical expertise. If a résumé is "padded" with volunteer work to make it seem bigger, then I'm likely to ignore it in favor of one that follows the standard "previous ten years of employment" format.

And by "employment," I mean what a person does to earn a paycheck. And if a person does not want to earn a paycheck, then that says to me that he or she places little or no value upon his or her labors.

Now, as for the "religious" part, it does not matter, as long as the person is both willing and able to be where he is supposed to be, when he is supposed to be there, and doing what he is supposed to be doing as effectively and efficiently as possible, while getting along with co-workers, clients, and vendors!

So, if the fundamentalist moslems and the orthodox jews are constantly at each other's throats, the fundamentalist christians are trying to "save" everybody, and the fundamentalist wiccans are practicing their deosil dances, then who the *&^%$#@ is doing the work, and why the *&^%$#@ should I keep all those fundies employed?

If instead, I see résumés (employment histories) with no mention of a religious background, and the person does not volunteer such information, then all I have to focus on are skills, credit rating, criminal record, education, and career-related accomplishments - the important stuff.

If I ask "Have you done any volunteer work?" and the person mentions working with religious charities, then I'm still not going to enquire into their religious beliefs. It's kind of a "Don't Ask; Don't Tell; It's None of My Concern" policy, because it all comes down to whether or not the person is both able and willing to do the work, and part of the work involves getting along with people of a wide variety of religious persuasions.

Don't tell me what you believe, tell me what you know and what you do. That's what a résumé is all about.

When I put down activities/extracarriculars/volunteer work that I did for when I applied at a few jobs they asked that I don't put down anything that deals with signaling out a group, or doing something with religion, etc. I believe because they do want to keep that seperate, and some stuff just isn't needed to know. I dunno that is what i was told.

Omitting something from a resume is completely different from changing your name. For example, I have a fairly large volunteer role in a nonprofit group relating to sexuality, but I'll only mention that when I apply for more "liberal" jobs. When you submit a resume, you usually want to go the safe route and err on the side of caution. Employers only like to see volunteer work (or anything, for that matter) if it's relevant. You can emphasize your leadership experience, but as you have it now, the descriptions of your ministries are way too detailed. Just my $.02