Our CV’s are the key to any new job and it gives us a chance to show off to our potential employers. With this in mind, we must include information that is snappy, concise and interesting to catch the eye of the employer.
On average recruiters will spend between 5-10 seconds reviewing a CV before making a decision so the importance of having a good one is a must.
One great way to stand out from the crowd is by including your noteworthy hobbies following your employment history on your CV as they may benefit your application. Here’s why.
Why include hobbies?
Hobbies are a great way to show off your personality to employers and can display traits that would make you an asset to their team. These hobbies are activities that you routinely attempt to improve in your day-to-day life. Having a passion for these things will be seen as attractive to the employer so should always be included on a CV.
Certain hobbies have transferable skills attached to them that the employer will appreciate. For example, if you play a sport like football then they may assume that you have great teamwork skills so will fit in their team nicely too.
It is always useful to mention hobbies that are somewhat relevant to the job and the responsibilities at hand. This could see your CV skyrocket above the rest as you stand out from the crowd with your hobby.
What hobbies to include on your resume
There are plenty of great hobbies that could enhance anyone’s CV but here are some of our favourites and why they may help.
Sports
As previously mentioned, sports can highlight your devotion to improving your skills to become the best which may reflect in your work life too. Sports also encourages teamwork which your future employer will value as they’ll want their new employees to build team spirit, not hinder it.
Include what sport you play and mention details about the successes you have had within your time playing the sport.
Programming/tech hobbies
The UK tech industry is an extremely lucrative field to work in with all of the UK tech companies being worth an estimated value of £540 billion which has made it a very competitive industry to get into.
However, if your hobbies include programming, then that might boost your chances of getting an interview. For example, if you love developing video games, creating websites or coding using open-source microcontrollers, add it to your resume. Showing that your career spans into your private life as a hobby, will highlight how much you care about the work you will be doing.
Other hobbies to include on your CV
Blogging for copywriting jobs, presidency of a club for management jobs, strategy games like chess for project managers, mentoring/coaching for teaching careers, DIY for engineering jobs or cooking/baking for catering jobs.
David Prior
David Prior is the editor of Today News, responsible for the overall editorial strategy. He is an NCTJ-qualified journalist with over 20 years’ experience, and is also editor of the award-winning hyperlocal news title Altrincham Today. His LinkedIn profile is here.
