Do mention your hobbies in your resume
I think it is rare to find a person without a hobby. Most people have a hobby and do something interesting in their free time. Some people have common hobbies while some have unusual hobbies; your hobby either stirs up curiosity and delight in some people while many may have aversion for it. And when some people draw a long face and say that they have no hobby, they appear boring and drag. Your hobby provides a glimpse into your personality. It speaks a lot about your character, it allows you to paint a picture of yourself. Progressive organizations all over world use hobby as key while hiring personnel as they look at the qualities required to perceive a hobby by a person.
For example, if you are a chess player, you might be good at making strategies. If you like fishing, you might be patient because fishing requires lot of patience. If you like playing Scrabble or doing crossword puzzles, you probably have a broad vocabulary and analytics – perhaps some untapped writing skills. If your love gardening, it shows your potential for creativity and endurance. The key is that each hobby shows some skillset a person has deep down in him/her. In a job interview, the moment interviewer asks about your hobby, the atmosphere eases and you feel little becomes hassle-free while it gives an opportunities for the employer to see your unwritten dispositions. If you believe that your personality is an asset, then you have to get creative. The employer also uses your hobby to get a broader perspective about you. Your life outside work may tell a lot about you. If you haven’t impressed the interviewer, here is a chance to impress him.
So, should you include your hobbies on your resume? Well, there are strong arguments in favor of it and against it. While some people feel that hobbies are very personal and they should not be included in CV, others see is as a way to present their creative side as the best fit for the post in an organization. Job seekers sometimes make the mistake of including hobbies that reveal too much about their dogmatic or religious beliefs that may cause the employer to have concerns about their regime or character. However, if you never lose sight of the fact that you are trying to make the employer want to hire you, then it shouldn’t be difficult to stay on track. There are some ways that your hobbies can make you stand out above your competitors. I think presentation matters.
Hobbies reveal your passions. It is often said that you can tell a lot about a person by what they do in their spare time. Employers may look to find out your or to get a sense of your values. Are you passionate about a particular cause? Are you aware of surroundings? Are you concerned about what is going on in world around you? Do you use your spare time to network, or instead you just like to relax? What are you, what kind of a person are your, your ethos, your interests and everything you are made of is of a great concern to the employer.
Your hobbies determine your skills. You acquire skills from everything you do. If you think back, you may find that you gained some of your most important skills through your hobbies. I know of this young lady who used go as an instructor in a summer camp without fail each summer, kids liked her and loved to be in her company, she was hired by a FMCG in their Human Resource Department where she rose to level of HR Director. Her hobby made her people’s leader. I think we need to review our target job and try to identify the key skills and personality traits which hobbies help us to build. If you have such hobbies which befit your job profile, then it is worth putting them on your resume.
Employers like to hire candidates who are involved in their community. Employees who are loners and not social tend to singularly focus on their jobs, this is not healthy and may not work for the employee in networking with others. If you demonstrate through your hobbies that you are a go-getter and a friendly person, you may find that it makes your resume even stronger. Never forget that people are at the heart of the hiring process. In addition to the required skills and experience, the employer is trying to find the right fit for a job profile. There is a lot more to you than your professional skills. If you allow the employer to get to know you, they will surely connect with you and decide that it’s you that they want on their team.
Yes, besides a job interview, if you have no hobby it is a sad thing. In fact it’s an alarming symptom. Probably, you just do not know how to organize your time and energy. Psychologists persistently recommend people to do some creative work besides work and house chores. Hobbies fill up our lives with new meaning and develop our creative abilities. A hobby should not distract you from your main profession or resolution of life. Don’t look at it as time killer. After all, a hobby helps you to grow in life, to broaden your mind and train your intellect.
