Hobbies & Interests: Should You Add Them To Your CV?

“Hiring managers are not even interested to know about your hobbies and interests.” Wrong!

“Your leisure activities have no place on your application.” Wrong too!

Ah – the scandalous CV and the troubles it comes with.

Well, if added properly, hobbies and interests on a resume can show a little bit of your personality to your recruiter, make you stand out from the competition, and even help you secure a job! What?!

Yes, and if you are committing to this mortal sin of not adding this section to your CV then let us tell you that you are missing out great time.

That being said, not every hobby belongs on a CV. Love to collect rocks? Cool but, no need to tell your recruiter about it. Love learning new languages? Put that on your CV right now!

Confusing, right? Well, count your lucky stars because we are here to tell you all about how you can add relevant hobbies to a CV to showcase your personality. 

Read on and don’t forget to make notes!

Debunking The Myth: Adding Hobbies And Interests In Your CV

As opposed to the popular myth about not adding hobbies and interests to your CV, we think you should highlight them in your application. This section will help you fill out the white space in your document. Moreover, it will also showcase your personality in front of your recruiter. But, you have to list them appropriately to catch your hiring manager’s eye.

What?

Yes, you read that correctly. If you are getting confused about all of this then hire any top CV writing services in UAE to write your application for you. But if you want to write it by yourself, then you must know a few things. I.e. there is a right way as well as a wrong way to add this section to your application.

What Is The Right Way To Add Hobbies in A CV?

Don’t know anything about it? Worry not, and read below to know all you need to know about how to add this portion correctly in your CV.

Decide Whether You Need Them:

First and foremost, you have to determine whether you would benefit from your hobbies and interests in your resume. As we have mentioned above, these elements boost your personality in front of your recruiter, however, there are a few exceptions.

For instance, if you are an expert, having many years of experience up your sleeve, then here is some good news for you. – Your CV can do very well on its own even if you don’t add your hobbies and interests.

However, on the contrary, if you are no expert and have zero to no skills or work experience, then adding this section might be your best bet. Moreover, if you are applying to a start-up company that values company culture, then you can get advantages by adding a short list of your interests and hobbies.

Research The Company:

After you decide you need them in your application, move on to the next step – Researching the company. This step is vital as it will highlight the hobbies you have to add to your CV. In short, you have decided to add hobbies to your resume. Great idea! But which ones to add? Hmm! That’s a nice question.

This step will answer this question. Investigate the company you want to apply to. By doing so, you will get to know about their work culture, what qualities they look for, work retreats, and much more. Here is a list of factors that you must consider while inspecting the company.

• The Job Advertisement: Read the job opening ad and the skills mentioned for the role.
• Their Social Media Accounts: Specifically look into their Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
• Employee Profile & Company Website: Look what you can find over there.

Choose The Right Skills:

Once you have researched the company properly, you must think about how any specific requirements or skills can transfer to an interest or hobby. And, then tailor your resume accordingly.

As highlighted earlier, you might have gazillions of exciting hobbies and interests such as home-brewing beer, collecting rocks, and climbing mountains, but your CV is not the right place to list them. Just to restate – you should only include relevant hobbies and interests in your application.

Let us suppose, you are an entry-level graphic designer, and applying for your 1^st job. Due to your lack of professional experience, there are high chance that you lack some technical skills needed for the position. 

So, in that case, choosing a hobby that proves that you have an eye for aesthetics and designs can make your application stand out. Add anything art-related, such as drawing, photography, painting, etc. By doing so, you will highlight your passion for this line of work.

Create A Separate Section:

By now, you will have a crystal clear idea of which hobbies to add to your CV. The rest of the process is relatively trouble-free. All you are required to do now is simply:

• Create a section titled “Hobbies & Interests”.
• Place this section at the end of your application. Et voila!

Adding it in the end is an ideal way to wrap your resume up. It can help you make a great impression that gives your hiring manager a little something extra to remember you by. Fabulous!

If you are finding it difficult to manage space for this section, then worry not. Combat this issue by either finding the right template or getting help from any online CV writers in Sharjah.

List Up To Four Interests Or Hobbies:

Lastly, one thing to bear in mind is that you have to list the right amount of hobbies and interests in your application. Even though, this document is all about you, don’t bore your recruiter to death. Only add the most relevant ones, and we suggest to not add more than 4 to 6 at most.

Anything more, and your hobbies section will look like you just wanted to fill in space. Anything less, and it will look too empty. So, strike the perfect balance by staying between a total of 4 to 6 hobbies.

Can I put hobbies in my CV?

Even though the hobbies and interests section is an optional part to put in your CV. And, a lot of peers tend to ignore this part altogether, due to their laziness, or to save valuable space in their application.

However, we cannot emphasize its significance enough. Including this part in your application will give your resume a human touch. Moreover, it will also demonstrate to your hiring managers that you are a skillful person who has a great life outside of work.

How to put hobbies on my resume?

Hobbies and interests must be mentioned in the final section of your resume. After every entry, make sure to write one or two lined short descriptions for them. However, to keep your resume to one page, you can leave the descriptions.

What hobbies to put on my resume?

You must put hobbies that are relevant to your field. Some most versatile hobbies include traveling, writing, playing chess, cooking, reading books, and so much more. Just make sure to never lie in your application.

Wrapping It All Up

Now you see, all these years that you have spent submitting your CV without a proper “Hobbies & Interests” section were such a bootless errand. But, the good part is that now you know the significance of this section and most importantly – how to add this section to your application. So, what are you waiting for? Update your resume right now and add this section.