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.

I wouldn't want to hire someone so open about being conservative.

Hamfish

then let’s hope a bigot like you is never in a position to hire anyone when you admit to discrimination.

Answering in good faith though I'm not sure your question was asked in good faith and was meant to be a gotcha.

I think that support for that specific proposed policy (trans women being in female prisons) is directly harmful, absolutely.

I don't personally think that Labour and Lib Dem are anywhere near as harmful on a widespread, multi layered, multiple policy level as the Conservatives.

The party isn't fit for purpose as the harmful policies run deep and the key players in the party are either out of touch or lack empathy.

Someone who actively wants them to be voted in next time has hugely questionable judgment and support many, many people being directly negatively affected by the party's policies. Including society's most vulnerable people.

Yeah I definitely wouldn’t mention it except in a vague manner.

There’s also a big difference between voting/supporting a party and actually being a member of a young conservative group.

In my country the Young Tories travel in packs tearing down corflutes of other political parties. They park their cars across the drives of opposing candidates and volunteers the night before elections so they are delayed getting to polling stations.

It isn’t discrimination to know that you don’t want to work with absolute dickheads.

All the people on here openly saying they wouldn’t hire someone because of a different view of mainstream politics - the intolerance is absolutely shocking. Do you think you should be discriminated against for your political views? Do you realise that millions of people voted conservative- should they all be sacked?

Is there any political party that is morally acceptable considering some of the antics of some of the other mainstream parties?
None of them are particularly standing out as the natural moral high ground these days so I'm finding all the huffing quite odd.

THIS although I think in finance the party is not an issue. The trouble with being vague is that they may assume he is a communist or socialist worker party member lol.
It is the current party of government for goodness sake. Far too many posters still in a Left=Good, Right= Evil mindset when the Leader of the Labour Party won't even speak out about women's rights or child safeguarding from the extremes of Gender Identity Ideology.
Free speech is very much under threat from these attitudes, so that will decide my vote going forward but all the current political parties are fairly useless right now.

I would talk about the experience without mentioning the party. And I would give the same advice to my own 21 year old who is involved with a much more left wing association.

I’d find any reason I could not to employ a baby Tory. They grow up into big Tories 🫣

Well you would be discriminating....

This.

I’m in chartered surveying and would be about as receptive to a Young Conservative as I would if they told me they leafleted for Momentum and thought Jeremy Corbyn was the second coming. We need cultural fit and someone who goes on about their political leanings isn’t always a good team fit.

I don't necessarily agree with this poster but they illustrate perfectly why your son should avoid any mention of politics, especially the tories, in an interview!

He can talk generically about being in an organisation etc but have something up his sleeve if they probe further. Even 'a mainstream political party ' but if prompted on which one ' prefer not to disclose in interview '.

All the people on here openly saying they wouldn’t hire someone because of a different view of mainstream politics - the intolerance is absolutely shocking. Do you think you should be discriminated against for your political views? Do you realise that millions of people voted conservative- should they all be sacked?

But the problem is, the Tory party is no longer mainstream in its views. It has a largely shifted to the far right. Would you hire someone who volunteered for the EDL or Britain First? With anti-vaxxers and Covid conspiracists? That's what you're rubbing up against with the Tory Party these days.

I work in fintech and I think many PPs would be surprised by individual political leanings of the finance industry: there are a lot of left-leaning / liberal individuals (myself included), a good amount of political agnostics and very few of what you would think of as old school 'hard line' conservatives.

It's the 21st century, attitudes have changed, the demographic of the professional services' workforce has opened up.

As others have said, OP, politics should be kept out of the workplace (especially if your son is going for an internship with a Big 4 name or any other major consultancy or firm, who will be obligated to remain as neutral as possible). I have some colleagues and friends at work that I'll talk politics with socially, but I've been in a senior role with my firm for a long time. I certainly wouldn't raise it at interview stage.

It's fine to talk about skills and abilities gained while carrying out a role, but caveated / anonymised: the suggestion of 'a university society' was a good one.

There is a huge difference in using the fact that you are actively involved in politics as demonstration of maturity/ experience of working with others to just going to an interview and saying how good/bad you think Brexit is going.

People are, in fact, entitled to hold different political opinions and if, as you say, work is political neutral then a candidates political views shouldn't matter - because that would be discrimination which I was sort of under the impression is A Bad Thing regardless of your political standings.

If asked, then respond, but I would not advocate it being spoken about otherwise. It could give an impression that everything else is of secondary importance including the job if offered.

@Gymrabbit actually I hire people all the time. I just don’t hire twats

The views and actions of this Tory government ARE extremist and are NOT far from Erdogan - Suella Braverman may potentially be being kicked out of the barrister profession for using racist rhetoric, they have stopped any legal passage to claim asylum, banning encryption etc etc. Anyone who thinks this government isn’t extremely right wing is insane

Oh well 🥰 that’ll be something a Tory would be very used to, although they’re usually the ones dishing out the discrimination.

Hi @Theworried I regularly interview as part of my role in the NHS and your DS discussing politics in the context of the skills he used in his role is absolutely fine.

What would put me off is anyone discussing politics in an interview that isn’t in anyway relevant to their job history , experience or skills- ie people who try and get in much they love Labour or Lib Dem’s etc , which has happened occasionally !
I would never hire or not hire someone based on which political party they support.

!!!

SilverCatStripes

well said. I too would be deeply suspicious of anyone who thought it was appropriate to extoll the virtues of any political party in an interview but when discussing skills etc naming the organisation you worked for is a completely different thing, as you recognise.

@Gymrabbit I’m an utterly disgusting creature eh? Someone is showing their true blue colours here….

I suppose the learning here is also to have an activity that isn't overtly political on your CV.
I did advise my Labour-inclined DC not put any such details on his CV nor discuss politics in interviews.
So in general I agree with keeping the workplace politics-free but unfortunately other external pressure groups (Stonewall etc) have sought to politicise everything in employment with a lot of success.