Describing your qualifications and relevant experiences for a new job is a pretty straightforward affair. However, adding charm and personality to a professional-looking resume can be difficult and demanding. Understanding how to use your personal hobbies and interests for CV can prove crucial in creating character and projecting a likable identity through your resume.
Most of us, however, struggle with finding the right hobbies and interests, especially ones that count as added qualities for a new job. Not all pastimes prove relevant for employment. But you may unconsciously develop valuable skills through a leisurely activity that you’ve done for many years.
So, how do you choose between which hobbies to mention in a CV? Are your personal interests even relevant to the job position? Even if they’re relevant, how do you best insert them into the CV?
Unravel the answers to these questions and many other doubts involved in adding hobbies to your CV, in this all-in-one guide.
What to Mention in a Standard CV or Resume
We will not get into too much detail about the structure and contents of a good resume. That’s not the purpose of this guide. However, it’s crucial to understand where personal hobbies belong on a CV.
For starters, it’s common knowledge that your CV should mention your professional profile, contact information, occupational history, work experience, and educational qualifications. These are essential elements for any CV.
However, there are other optional elements that you can include, which are not compulsory in every CV but may be relevant for particular jobs. These can include past projects, extra certificates, awards won, trainings completed, etc.
Among these optional elements, your personal hobbies and interests can be a major boost for your candidature if entered correctly.
How to Choose Hobbies and Interests for CV
Before you pen down your pastimes on your resume, picking the right habits and practices is a crucial first step. To make sure that you pick the right personal interests, consider these factors first.
Nature of the Work
For starters, investigate what niche or industry you’ll be working in. Understanding your industry and the hobbies that relate to it will allow you to narrow down on what personal interests to mention and what to avoid.
For instance, if the job is in the ecommerce industry, you may score extra points for possessing an interest in data analytics or business processes.
Even being proficient with a personal social media page or familiarity with different social media platforms and their features can count as a relevant hobby.
Designation or Position
Once you’re clear on what industry the job is in, study the position and the description of responsibilities. For people who have a wide range of hobbies and leisurely pursuits, this will be a good way of fine-tuning your choice of hobbies to mention.
If the designation is a managerial position, you can include hobbies that involve leadership qualities or management of resources.
For example, holding a supervisory responsibility at your local club can be seen as experience in leading members of a team. Alternatively, volunteering experience in organizations can also present you as a team player and a capable manager of limited resources.
Experience with Hobby
Your expertise and experience with the hobby are also worth considering at this point. Most people have one pastime or the other. But that doesn’t mean they’re good enough to transfer the same skills to their professional environment. You shouldn’t mention a freshly picked-up hobby as an additional skill just to look better for a job.
One of the primary dangers of presenting yourself as better than you really are is that time will betray your dishonesty. So, it’s important to remain transparent with your potential employers regarding these additional skills.
Do not pass yourself off creative genius if it’s not true. However, you can certainly mention that you’ve dabbled with graphic designing projects like designing flyers or banners for events if that’s something you’ve done.
The point here is to present your relevant hobbies in a manner that honestly acknowledges your skill level without coming off as haughty or arrogant.
Cultural Implications
Finally, a good way of deciding whether your hobby is relevant or not is to check if it’s in line with common sensibilities. Yes, this sounds vague and won’t be easy to get right every time. But your efforts will certainly refine your CV and possibly save you from including embarrassing or inappropriate information.
For example, you may have a recurring passion for hunting and you may be good at it. However, it may not be a sport that appeals equally to all employers. In this instance, you may stick to qualities that come with hunting but refrain from talking about guns and killing animals. So, calling it camping or outdoor survival skills may make it more presentable while still staying honest about your abilities in the woods.
How to Mention/Describe Personal Hobbies and Interests for CV
In this section, we’ll provide guided examples on how to insert these optional yet important skills and experiences in your CV.
Targeting Relevance
The primary objective for including your hobbies in a CV is that the associated qualities should add value to your professional role. This means the skills that come with your hobby should naturally migrate to your job performance as valuable attributes. So, you’ll have to draft and describe these qualities with the right approach on your CV too.
Let’s imagine a specific instance and go through the fine-tuning process of presenting your hobbies in the right light.
The job you’re applying for is for the enviable position of Line Editor at a well-known publishing house or with a writer. You’ve been a lifelong reader, a volunteer at the city library, and still serve as a member of your local club’s newsletters. At first glance, your hobbies and the job seem to fit perfectly.
However, there may be a dozen other applicants who’ve edited yearbooks, worked at bookshops, or even written books themselves. How do you stand out from the seemingly identical or competitive candidates?
Most jobs come with responsibilities that are specific to a particular business or company. In our example, the line editor may be expected to turn an ordinary copy or manuscript into a compelling story without changing the meaning and purpose of the script.
Here, it may help if you specify certain qualities you developed through your reading books and editing newsletters. For example, you can describe your work at the newsletter as ‘editing sentence structures, ensuring good pacing and overall flow of content, etc.’
Avoiding Pitfalls
As you make your hobbies sound relevant, you should also simultaneously avoid arbitrary qualities and irrelevant information. For example, merely calling yourself an ‘avid reader’ could make it seem like you simply want to appear as well-read.
Alternatively, vague descriptions like ‘edited college newsletter’ or ‘member of the editorial board,’ etc., don’t really shed light on what role you played exactly. So, opt for specific tasks you performed that helped your book, newsletter, or magazine come out with better articles, editorials, or a more engaging story.
Hobbies and Interests with Relevant Industries
You may already have leisurely pursuits that fit a variety of professions yet are unaware of their suitability. To make the connections faster and easier, we’ve listed a wide variety of both common and rare hobbies and the relevant industry where they count as transferable skills.
Catering, Food, and Beverages
Most of us have one hobby or the other that can be associated with a catering business or the food industry. A hobby cook who dabbles with proven recipes while still being able to create original dishes is a good example. Such a person can mention his/her cooking hobby as a directly relevant interest while applying for the job of, say, a sous chef.
Other appropriate hobbies and personal interests for this category include:
- Baking
- Brewing
- Beer-tasting
- Grilling
- Barbequing
- Wine tasting
- Oven-baking
- Outdoor cooking.
Video/Computer Games
The gaming industry employs a wide range of professionals who aren’t just coders or programmers. You can be a graphic artist designing the game’s visuals or a layman who’s part of the beta testing team.
These are some suitable hobbies that can translate as skills in the gaming industry:
- Puzzles and riddles
- Any problem-solving exercises
- Traditional board games
- Conventional video games
- Mobile gaming
- PC gaming
- Console gaming (PS5, Xbox, etc.)
- Arcade gaming
- Graphic designing
Arts and Crafts Industry
- Calligraphy
- Candle making
- Card making
- Ceramics
- Crocheting
- Coloring
- Drawing
- Embroidery
- Flower keeping
- Gardening
- Home decorating
- Jewelry making
- Sculpting
- Painting
- Pottery making
- Sewing
Gadgets and Electronics
- Car repairs and restoration
- Model making (airplanes, ships, railroads, etc.)
- Robotics
- Computer repairs
- Software troubleshooting
- Remote Controlled Toys
- Stereos and audio systems
- Video games
- Collecting personal gadgets
- Personal interest in electronics
Pet Care Industry
- Breeding animals
- Pet training
- Beekeeping
- Dog walking
- Animal rescue
- Pet nutrition
- Pet grooming
- General love for animals
Performing Arts & Entertainment
- Improv clubs
- Choir singing
- Writing music
- Singing
- Being part of a band
- Playing an instrument
- Dancing classes
- Puppetry
- Magic tricks and illusions
- Juggling
- Opera
These are merely a handful of common examples in a few industries. The reality is that there is a much wider range of abilities, pastimes, and hobbies that can often prove valuable in a professional landscape.
FAQs
Is it mandatory to come up with hobbies and interests for CV?
No. Your CV should contain only the information that you think is relevant and appropriate for the job you’re applying for. Entering your personal interests and hobbies is an entirely voluntary exercise that you can choose if you feel the information is relevant to the job.
What kind of hobbies and interests can I enter in my CV?
Choose practical habits and interests that reflect positively on your candidature. The guide described above contains a wide variety of interests and hobbies that can add warmth and personality to boring resumes and wordy CVs.
What kind of hobbies and interests should I NOT enter in my CV?
Avoid mentioning hobbies or activities that incur strict moral values, invite social stigma, or may be considered culturally sensitive. For instance, you may enjoy gambling in as a pastime, but revealing it as a hobby to potential employers may show you as indulgent or financially irresponsible.
What percentage of my CV should consist of personal hobbies and interests?
Hobbies and interests for CV should make up only a small portion of your official resume. For instance, if your CV is 500 words, limit your personal hobbies to 50 words or less. The bulk of your content should contain character & personality descriptions, qualifications, experiences, etc., that present you as the right fit for the vacancy.
What Hobbies Can I Add to My CV?
Positive habits and personal interests that directly add value to your new job can be added to your CV. For a quick idea on what hobbies easily work, refer to the comprehensive list already mentioned in the previous section of this guide. Ensure that you steer clear of hobbies that involve controversial issues, easily misinterpreted activities, or practices that are illegal in other states/regions.
Will Adding Hobbies and Interests for CV Guarantee Me a Job?
No. Mentioning hobbies and personal interests in CVs only serve as additional information to your overall profile. However, if you already have an accomplished CV and create the right impression in your interview, these additional details will help in confirming your place in the recruiting company.
Can I Develop a New Hobby Just for a CV?
Technically, yes, you can. But you will not possess enough experience with the hobby to include it as a transferable skill for the new job. Much like you cannot possibly learn a new musical instrument in a few days, hobbies with transferable skills take months or years to hone and develop properly as a skill.
Closing Note
Adding irrelevant information to your CV can dash your hopes of landing that elusive job. Maximize your chances of clinching the ideal job with these leading tips and insights on how to create hobbies and interests for CV.
