Aibu? DS should talk about his party politics activities in interviews?

[Theworried]

DS is at uni and applying for internships etc. in the field of finance. A lot of these interviews ask typical skill or behaviour questions- e.g. tell me a time when you have shown teamwork etc.
DS is an active member of the young conservatives and has done a lot of activities in his uni and in our local young conservative group- e.g. take an active role in meetings, canvassing support amongst young people etc.
He thinks that he should be able to use these examples in job interviews as they highlight his skills and is a big part of his life, but DH thinks he should shy away from it as it is do with party politics and is quite a divisive topic in society.
I think that DH is worrying unnecessarily and interviews would not look down upon it as he is developing skills through this activity.

Since the conservatives won the election, you can rest assured that there are plenty of millions of people who voted for them, so it's not necessarily the kiss of death to name it on a CV.

There are millions who’d never do it again after the performance of the last 3.5 years. It’s the lack of judgement at issue here.

I'm with your DH.

Yes, absolutely agree. I think in a job interview you should never bring up either at that early stage unless you're applying for a job where it's directly relevant. So, if applying for a job at a Jewish charity (which I have done) I'd mention being Jewish. If applying for a job in a non religious environment I wouldn't and would describe my interfaith volunteering just as "youth work". I think you just don't know how it'll land, and the Tory party are a very divisive organization and you don't have to be actively discriminating to just look at two near identical candidates and think "maybe I'll go with the one who won't really upset XYZ or will be a less challenging fit in the team".

A 21 year old who has lived through the most incompetent, corrupt, self serving government in recent history has incredibly poor judgment if he thinks it deserves support. When its natural constituency is turning against it, that tells you all you need to know. And it’s not bigoted to recognise all that.

I agree.

Just to be clear - I would view it equally inappropriate and unprofessional if it were Labour or LibDem or any other party. Companies need to be politically neutral.

You might not agree with them, but people have the right to support whichever political party they choose.

It's incredibly unhealthy to surround yourself with people who just agree with you. I'd hate to work in an environment where everyone is expected to agree with collective torybad groupthink.

I don’t think you should bring any political conversation into the interview process, unless it’s a political job or specifically relevant.

I'd probably explain what I did either "for a local organisation" or "a political party" as preferred. If you start with the former he can switch to "oh it's a political party - I'm aware it's best to avoid politics in the workplace so I won't give you all the details - it's just I feel that the work I do with them gives some really good examples of the way I demonstrate the qualities you need, so I didn't want to exclude it entirely " or similar.

Agree with this. They're not, but they should be.

Politics and religion should be kept out of the workplace.

I think on the one hand, it's good when workplaces have a diverse range of views. Even though I personally despise a lot of what the Conservatives stand for, I don't think people (on principle) should be looked poorly on in a professional context for their political beliefs provided they're not neo-Nazis etc. When I've worked with people from all political sides it has often been really helpful in understanding the different perspectives and what makes the people around us tick - there are a lot of Tory voters/supporters out there, they're not monsters.

But on the other hand IMO even a lot of true blue Tories at the moment hate the government and aren't actively campaigning when they might have done in the past. They think this lot are doing a terrible job. So if they see that your son has been out (presumably) trying to win the Conservatives the next election they might well question his judgement.

So on balance I think the approach of a PP is the best one, he can say that he's active for one of the main UK political parties and then move swiftly on to how that's relevant to the skills they're asking about. He could also just say he does volunteering as that's what it is, really. I expect if they google him they'll quickly find out what he does anyway.

Me too. I despair.

But on the other hand IMO even a lot of true blue Tories at the moment hate the government and aren't actively campaigning when they might have done in the past. They think this lot are doing a terrible job. So if they see that your son has been out (presumably) trying to win the Conservatives the next election they might well question his judgement.

Precisely.

Could he direct his answers towards party-neutral activities he might have done? Eg campaigning on local issues, helping young people register to vote?

Otherwise, I agree with being vague on the society's nature. In some cases, they won't ask - it doesn't much matter what you're treasurer of, for example. If they do, I'd say "it was one of the three main political parties." And I think most people would realize that the candidate is trying to avoid bringing politics into the interview and move on.

Surely supporting the tories through what Liz Truss did to the economy is not going to be seen as a plus in the finance world.

gaspanic

It shouldn't be like this, but there are some pretty nasty people out their who don't believe other people are entitled to different beliefs and opinions than them.

absolutely, and a lot of them are here on this thread clearly admitting that they would not employ someone due to the political party they support.

It's illegal to discriminate on the grounds of political views.

This, 100%.

If he needs to use it as an example because he doesn’t spend his time doing anything more worthwhile then I suggest he doesn’t mention the party.

Makes sense. I don't and never would vote Tory but I have time for people who actually get involved.

Nonsense. My late PIL were serving councillors of a main party. Their children ran the whole gamut, because they are thinking people who decided for themselves. And they all, whichever party, were and are sterling public servants.

Yeah, I really wouldn't mention that, like ever.

I wouldn't mark him down officially in scoring, but mentally it'd be a red flag that he's a young conservative and I would be looking to prioritise other candidates.

Wow. Clearly equality legislation has passed you by Do you also red flag those with 'foreign' names?

Sadly OP he is likely to come across people like the above who will illegally judge him because of his beliefs, though less likely in Finance. Is he confident enough to talk about what he's done without naming the party, and if asked confident enough to politely say he'd rather not name the party (perhaps with the added assurance that it is a mainstream party)?

I'm a card-carrying lefty, who has held several senior leadership roles in the public sector.

I wouldn't discriminate against him on the basis of his (mainstream) politics because I'm not a fascist lunatic and don't much fancy getting myself sued. If the examples he gave demonstrated the behaviours, skills and knowledge needed for the role then I would score them accordingly.

In finance it should be even less of an issue.

I know.

I would mention the skills/activities but not what the organisation is for. I was active in a different political society when I was at university and that’s what I did - referred to it as a society or a political society in interviews and didn’t give the name
or give away what my personal politics were as that isn’t appropriate to bring up in a job interview.

Young Conservatives 🤢