Religion on the curriculum vitae

To insert your religious beliefs on the curriculum or not? How important is it to make your religion public when applying for a job? Whether religion should be included on a CV is a little debated issue: most recruiters, employers and those involved in the selection of personnel treat this as one of the most important sensitive data and as such are always advises not to add it. Your religious belief must be treated with extreme delicacy and the choice of whether to insert it on the CV must be carefully considered.

Inserting religion on the CV: the pros

Religious beliefs are a personal fact, which, however, can be included in an autobiography to demonstrate complete openness and lack of problems in sharing more specific information about one’s life. Adding religion to the CV does not affect the outcome of the selection but there may be situations where showing a little of your private life could help. Let’s think of a job position as a manager of a voluntary association: in this case, inserting one’s religious affiliation could direct the recruiter towards the most appropriate choice.

Inserting the religion on the CV: the cons

When a job is opened, recruiters or the employer start receiving an incredible number of applications. To skim and find the best ones, the selection becomes almost mechanical and scientific so that the first to be rejected are almost always those who have submitted a CV that is too redundant or full of irrelevant information for the purpose of the job. A potential employer does not need to know if you are religious, atheist, agnostic, Buddhist, Catholic, Muslim: the only thing they need to know is information about your experiences and your professionalism to evaluate your application.

Religious discrimination at work is prohibited by law

To prohibit religious discrimination at work is first and foremost the European Convention on Human Rights, which was then implemented by various sentences and laws at national level . Discrimination is prohibited not only once a candidate has been hired but also during the selection stages: just as with regard to gender discrimination, even in the case of religious affiliation it is forbidden to publish advertisements specifying that it is not applications from individuals who follow a specific religion will be considered.

How to decide whether to include your religion on the CV?

In light of the above, the question to ask is always the following: is it relevant for an employer to know what religion I follow for my application? Could I be discriminated against for this choice, based on my personal situation? We remind you that the law does not allow for consideration of race, age, marital status, or even religion when evaluating a candidate for a specific position. However, it should be added that at present it is not possible to prevent episodes of religious discrimination in the selection phase. Indeed, if logically an employer should always and only hire on the basis of skills and experience, it may not necessarily be based on personal favoritism or entirely subjective choices.

Are there any cases in which it is necessary to include religion on the curriculum?

There are situations that may require you to specify whether you belong to a certain religion or not. If you follow particular religious dictates, which imply that you stop at certain times or do not do certain things at specific times of the year, it is good to point this out because these are fundamental elements that can have an important impact on the company. Omitting this information could be regarded as lying and as such could put the candidate in a bad light. However, it is advisable not to enter this information on the CV but to speak about it during the cognitive interview, to be able to directly explain all the implications of one’s choice and articulate them correctly.

Religion on the CV to be sent abroad

If you decide to send your CV abroad, the religion must be omitted as this is considered completely irrelevant for the purposes’ selection. What should be emphasized is the possession of the requisites required in terms of skills and experience, and nothing else.

What other elements can be omitted from the CV?

Along with religion, there are other elements that can be omitted in the CV because they are not essential to obtaining a job position.

Among these, one’s sexual orientation and marital status: no one is interested in these two data and these two data are not essential when it comes to hiring a candidate based on his experiences and skills . Another piece of information to omit is your home address, along with the required salary details. Date of birth and gender are optional and so is the photo.

Logically, omitting details about your life from your CV does not mean that an employer cannot automatically find them elsewhere: those who are present on social media must take into account that a potential employer can go and sift through the profiles of the candidates it considers best, looking for more personal information.

In conclusion

Entering your religion on your curriculum is not mandatory; Italian law prohibits discrimination based on religion in the workplace and during the hiring phase;

Entering your religious affiliation could have advantages in some cases; It is good to talk about one’s religious customs during the interview if these can compromise company activities;

If you send your CV abroad, the information on religion should be omitted entirely.