Political Affiliations Forum

[non sequitur]

Is it inadvisable to include political affiliations on your resume? I am involved quite a bit in partisan politics, as this is one of the few genuine passions I have in life, so I don't do much of anything else extracurricular. It seems like this might sink me, but I am involved in the leadership of several political organizations, so perhaps it's good.

I am not talking about seeking a job in a heavily partisan area (other than my ideology/party), but more the law firms which seem to have a mix of ideological leanings. What is the general TLS consensus on this? Good ... bad?

[Borhas]

focus on the leadership aspect (and other actual work), not the affiliation

e.g. what problems you solved and how you solved them...

but I don't think you need to hide your passion... unless you're a birther.

[Indubitably]

While it is obviously firm-dependent, most places will have a mix of political leanings. It's not like you're going to be chastised for being a Democrat or Republican; don't worry about it.

I had political stuff listed on my resume. During one of my callback interviews, a partner point-blank told me that he was a Republican and asked what my views were. I told him I was a Democrat and we had a nice chat about politics for a few minutes. I ended up getting the offer.

So, don't worry about it. But, as the above poster said: focus on the work, not the affiliation.

[snowpeach06]

I have a couple of obviously political things on my resume (school democrats - president) and the senator I interned for (although I don't have his political affiliation listed, everyone seems to know). Most employers haven't talked about it, and the ones who have said it was a positive. But, this depends upon where you want to work - I'm primarily interested in things that are liberal in nature, so, of course being liberal is only positive.