Emma When we prepare our curriculum to apply for a job position, there are many doubts that assail us especially in relation to the type of information that we must necessarily enter and those that we can avoid, especially if it pertains to ours personal sphere. Citizenship on the curriculum is one of those data that can be entered or not, in relation to situations. In this guide, we give you useful information to choose the best.
Specifying your citizenship on the CV is not mandatory
Exactly as for most of the so-called data sensitive and personal, even citizenship is not considered as an element that must be compulsorily included on a CV. It is up to each candidate to decide whether to enter this and other information such as marital status and place of birth, while it is almost mandatory or in any case conventional and functional to always insert name, telephone number, city of residence and email address. So your citizenship should not be specified on the CV, and if you decide to do so it is only because you believe it is important for the selection.
Being discriminated against because of citizenship
Unfortunately, still today discriminated against because of their nationality is not a sporadic case in Italy. Many employers do not want to hire people of other nationalities and even if the discrimination is often not evident, there is, and it is almost impossible to do something. The prohibition of discrimination in Italy is established by the Constitution which in article 3 specifies that:
“All citizens have equal social dignity and are equal before to the law, without distinction of sex, race, language, religion, political opinion, personal and social conditions “.
However, according to the analysis, so far in Italy, 3.4% of Italian workers feel discriminated against in the workplace because of their nationality.
Discrimination for citizenship prohibited by law
Although discrimination is still strong in Italy, in the same way it is expressly prohibited by law. It is not only the Constitution that sanctions it but several decrees including the Legislative Decree 198/2006 which, in Article 27, paragraph 1, explicitly states how
“ Any discrimination with regard to access to employment, in subordinate, self-employed or in any other form, including selection criteria and hiring conditions, as well as promotion, regardless of the hiring method and whatever the sector or branch, is prohibited of activity, at all levels of the professional hierarchy “.
This means that in Italy it would be formally forbidden to insert the words “Only candidates of Italian nationality wanted” but at the same time, discrimination can occur later, at the first screening of the curricula, if the candidates have specified their citizenship.
It is forbidden to specify in a job advertisement that only citizenship candidates are sought Italian.
Why not include your citizenship in your resume?
In light of the above, it would therefore seem inappropriate to indicate your nationality on the CV to avoid discrimination when accessing work.
And in indeed, those who argue that it is better not to do so, also argue that it is a useless element for the purposes of selection, which must be based only on the candidate’s experiences and on his professional preparation.
Entering your nationality on the CV could lead to being discarded regardless, even in the face of professional experience relevant to the open position. Therefore, if you follow this line, it is better not to indicate this data on the CV and possibly keep the door open to a discussion on the subject at a later time.
Why indicate your citizenship on your CV?
However, there are cases in which indicating your nationality can be a competitive advantage in looking for a job.
- Explicit request from the employer
At the moment the Italian law provides that to access the competitions public, you must have Italian citizenship. Specifically, according to the law, Italian citizenship is required “in the case of functions that involve the elaboration, decision, execution of authorization and coercive measures, or control functions”.
If you are applying for a position abroad, specifying your nationality may give you an advantage over other candidates, as long as the other requirements are met. These are all those cases in which it is not only necessary to have skills and know the language, but in which it is good to have specific cultural knowledge.
For example:
If you are applying abroad to work at a travel agency looking for Travel Destination Experts to sell holidays in Italy, indicating that your nationality is Italian is certainly an advantage because not only do you have a mother tongue knowledge of Italian, but you also have knowledge that goes beyond and implies the culture and traditions of the place, so you can be the ideal candidate for the position in question.
The same thing if you are a foreigner in Italy: if you are applying for a position in a company that requires specific knowledge of a specific language / culture, you can enter your nationality on the CV definitely give you an advantage.
Many candidates choose to enter as much information as possible about their CV in order to provide employers with all the tools necessary for an initial evaluation. You can therefore decide to enter your nationality on the curriculum to be transparent and allow those who evaluate you to choose you for various reasons.
Nationality vs Citizenship: how to obtain Italian citizenship
Remember that even if nationality is equivalent to citizenship, the two do not necessarily go hand in hand and coincide. Let’s think for example of the inhabitants of San Marino: Italian nationality but citizenship of San Marino.
Apart from the specific case, article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 states that every individual, in every part of the world, has the right to have a juridical link with a State : “everyone has the right to a citizenship. No individual may be arbitrarily deprived of his citizenship, nor of the right to change citizenship”.
Italian citizenship is obtained in two ways:
1. Automatically:
- By birth: by direct descent from at least one parent in possession of Italian citizenship. A child is Italian if at least one of the parents is Italian;
- By birth on Italian territory: a child born in Italy to foreign parents can apply for citizenship after turning 18 and residing in Italy “legally and without interruption”;
- For adoption: in the case of a minor adopted by an Italian citizen.
2. On request
- By marriage: According to Article 5 of Law 91/92;
- By residence: according to your case and the law.
Let’s recap
- Citizenship is not a fundamental data to be included in the CV
- Citizenship in Italy still generates discrimination in the workplace
- There are cases in which expressly indicating one’s origin is useful or mandatory.