Are hobbies really needed in a Curriculum vitae

The "About Me" section in the resume is, of course, just an addition to the main information about your professional experience and skills. But a resume is a document where there should be nothing unintended. Everything that you indicate in it sometimes gives food for such conclusions about you that you yourself would not have thought.

Recruiters do not have a single, standard attitude to having hobbies in the CV. Some consider it useless and superfluous - at least in the resume. At an interview about a hobby, as a rule, they still ask.

Other recruiters appreciate hobby information in a CV appreciated. In some cases, it can serve as an additional plus. Or a minus - here it is important to be careful and correctly assess the situation.

Usually, recruiters say that they look at information about a hobby in any case only “in the appendage” to purely working information and never make hasty conclusions about a candidate based on hobby data. But the stories when the resume was included in the final “shortlist” or, on the contrary, was rejected without a call just because of a hobby, also occasionally occur.

What your hobby tells the future employer about you

A hobby is what you prefer to do at your leisure, because this activity in itself gives you pleasure, regardless of whether it brings income or any practical benefit.

Sometimes it’s not a matter of pleasure, but of the fact that you consider some business to be very important. For example, many people go in for sports without much pleasure, for health reasons. And volunteers also don’t go to charity projects for pleasure - this work can be difficult both physically and psychologically, but because of the need to help others. Therefore, your classes outside work say a lot about you as a person.

1. Character indicator

Some recruiters rely on information about a hobby, trying to build a psychological portrait of the applicant. This, of course, is a superficial assessment, perhaps even naive, because, in order to build a full-fledged psychological portrait, deep research is required. But you do not know what level and experience your resume will get to a professional. You just need to keep in mind that perhaps your hobbies will try to judge your character as a whole. And that means whether the functionality that the vacancy suggests is suitable for you.

For example, if your hobby requires solitude and concentration (for example, you enthusiastically draw or master something), and the work involves intensive communication with people, then the recruiter might think: “Okay, he is probably an introvert, but we need a bright extrovert. " If you mention your solitary hobby for the first time already at the interview, after the recruiter personally confirms your openness and sociability, this is unlikely to spoil his personal impression of you. But at the stage when only your resume speaks for you, such information can cause unnecessary doubts.

Recruiters love when job seekers have such hobbies that emphasize stereotypical ideas about the nature inherent in a particular profession. For example, both accountants and programmers are perfectly "fit" for hobbies that require perseverance and concentration: knitting, embroidery, fishing, picking puzzles.

2. The indicator of interest in the work or its absence

The ideal option from the point of view of the employer is if your favourite leisure activity is somehow connected with work and strengthens you as a professional. For example, you are a designer, and in your free time you also draw “for the soul”, or your work is closely connected with communication with people, and your hobby is the study of psychology. Or are you an expert in a certain field (doctor, lawyer, financier, accountant, and so on) and in your free time you conduct an educational blog on a professional topic. A recruiter may consider such a hobby as a sign of deep passion for the profession.

But if your hobby has nothing to do with work, but obviously requires a lot of time and effort from you, it will make the recruiter think about it. First, are you not keen on this business to the detriment of work? And secondly, what is more important to you? Suddenly you can’t stand your profession, you are forced to do it, and your real life is just a hobby? Maybe you are now at the stage of transition to a new professional direction and are looking for a new place only as a temporary shelter for a short time? You yourself can be sure that your rich hobby does not interfere with your equally beloved work. But do not give hints for unnecessary doubts to recruiters.

3. The ability to switch

No wonder they say that someone who knows how to relax properly works well. If a profession and a vacancy require high loads and deep involvement, then the presence of a person's hobby is especially useful. This helps him switch from the "work" to the "rest" mode. And such a skill is one of the ways to avoid emotional burnout at work. Professional recruiters are well aware of this.

So, the more stress in your work, the more valuable for you and your employer your ability to recover through a hobby. And this is just the rare case when even a hobby that is completely unrelated to work seems useful. From this point of view, it does not matter whether you have a hobby or a passive one. Even if you are a passionate lover of TV shows, this is not bad. At least, definitely better than if you are a fan of drowning stress in a bottle.

4. The indicator of the coincidence of personal values ​​with the values ​​of the company or management

Companies with a developed corporate culture seek to replenish the ranks of those who share their culture. For example, there are companies that actively support a healthy lifestyle and sports, regularly hold sports events or participate in such events at the regional or national level. There, recruiters are especially pleased with the candidate athletes. There are companies that take part in charity and volunteer projects - there socially active people feel at home. Of course, the “right” hobbies will not replace your professionalism, they will simply serve as an additional plus, ceteris paribus.

simply automatically fulfills the wishes of the customer, then in life you won’t realize that your resume was ignored due to the fact that you wrote a “wrong” hobby.

What hobbies do not belong to resumes

So how do you know if it's worth writing about your hobby in a resume or not?

Ask yourself questions:

Can my hobbies be connected with my profession?

Can my hobby at least somehow emphasize a character trait or skill that is important in my work?

Does my hobby meet the values ​​of the company to which I am submitting my resume?

If the answer to at least one of these questions is “yes”, then it’s worth mentioning a hobby in a resume. If the answer is no for all three questions, it is better to keep silent about the hobbies in the resume. A recruiter who considers the information about the favourite leisure time of the applicants important, and so will ask you about it at the interview.

There is a hobby that almost all recruiters and direct employers do not like. These are extreme sports when it comes to employees in key positions. The reason is obvious: increased risk of injury and sudden loss of work processes. As with any rule, there are also exceptions. If your potential leader, like you, is a diver, this is a reason for sympathy, he may highlight your resume among the rest only for this reason. But, on the other hand, it is not a fact that your resume will reach it at all: it may be that the HR manager will drop it off at the initial selection, indicating to higher management that one diver in the company is more than enough. So it’s better not to risk it.

What if you have no hobby at all?

It's okay not to have hobbies on your resume. Most surveys you get to see online show that. Most of my hobbies are not related to my day job. I write articles such as this one. I take amateur photos on some weekends and every other thing I do outside work has nothing to do with it. It's okay to not have hobbies showing. I believe most people don't have hobbies that they can show on a resume. For example, I hang out and drink on weekends with my friends or I play video games when I am not busy. There is another one. I binge watch Netflix during my free time.

To embellish your portrait, ascribing to yourself non-existent active hobbies, is not worth it. What if your recruiter or potential immediate supervisor is keen on exactly the occupation that you have attributed to yourself? A couple of questions at the interview - and you will “fall asleep”, ruining the whole impression of yourself.