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Mahesh and Ramya are interviewing for the same job role. While Mahesh has only mentioned his work experience, educational background and personal information, Ramya went a step ahead.
Her resume is a clear summary of who she is—as a person and a potential candidate. She has a column dedicated to her skills, hobbies and areas of interests. Ramya mentioned her language ability, competitions and side projects that she’s participated in. The interviewer selected her over Mahesh.
Mentioning interests and hobbies for resume or CV are becoming increasingly popular. Today, the modern workplace is all about organizational culture and finding your right fit.
If you want to distinguish yourself then you have to go the extra mile. Let’s look at some of the best hobbies to write in your resume—and how to write them.
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Why You Need To Write Hobbies For Resume
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List Of Hobbies For Your Resume
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Learn How To Answer The Hobbies Question With Harappa
Why You Need To Write Hobbies For Resume
In the past, the norm was to mention your skills, education and work experience—just like Mahesh’s resume. But now, it’s common practice to see candidates with resumes dedicated to their hobbies. Hobbies are activities that you do for fun—things you do outside of work. The interviewer will likely ask you, “what do you like to do outside of work?”.
The hobbies question that lets you talk about the hobbies that you’ve mentioned in your resume. Your interests are a measure of your determination to pursue your dreams, take initiative and understand your values.
For instance, a candidate who likes to volunteer on the weekend is someone who’s compassionate and likes to give back to society.
Most people tend to list reading books, listening to music or watching movies or TV shows as their hobbies for resume. But these have become obsolete, rather organizations don’t want to see these on your resume at all. Why? It’s because everyone enjoys at least one or all of these activities. You have to focus on what sets you apart.
Some modern hobbies examples are traveling, podcasting, blogging, YouTube or writing. The purpose is to elaborate on hobbies that teach you important skills like teamwork, leadership and effective communication.
List Of Hobbies For Your Resume
When you decide which hobbies to highlight, think about what makes you shine. If you have unique areas of interest like knitting tapestries or woodblock painting, you can highlight them to emphasize your range of interests.
Write hobbies that act as conversation starters or openers. If your hobbies can pique the interviewer’s interests, even better!
Here’s a list of best hobbies for resume to give you an idea:
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Writing
When it comes to writing, there’s a wealth of hobbies examples that you can cite. From blogging to writing short stories or blurbs, you can mention ways that you channel your creativity. Some people enjoy mad libs i.e., marketing advertisement libs, which is basically great copywriting. If you’ve ever published anything you wrote, be sure to mention that as well!
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Traveling
Traveling isn’t only about hopping aboard a flight to travel to another country. If you enjoy visiting monuments and learning about their history, you can build the interviewer’s curiosity. If you want to work with a travel agency, you can even list activities like travel writing or travel photography as your hobbies for resume.
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Unique Sports or Activities
Sports are great hobbies for cv because team activities directly impact your team-building skills. But if you can spice it up by mentioning activities like roller skating or rock-climbing, it’s even more fun! You can talk about your journey from a beginner to a professional or semi-professional, which shows that you’re dedicated and determined.
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Learning New Languages
We live in a globalized world where millennials are basically global citizens. This means that knowing more than one or two languages is a great skill to have. If you’ve learned any languages like French, Japanese or even ancient Greek, you can mention your proficiency level on your resume. During the interview, you can talk about challenges you overcame while learning a language.
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Food Photography
Specific interests and hobbies are more impactful than generic categories like reading or music. If you want to mention photography as your hobby, try to customize it to what you like to capture. Food photography or taking portraits are fun hobbies examples to emphasize your interests.
You can add hobbies for cv that are in line with the job requirements. Maybe you’ve seen something on the organization’s social media that you’re also interested in. Understanding the organizational culture is one way to identify which hobbies to write in your resume. For instance, if it’s a marketing/advertising agency, you can highlight your social media presence.
Learn How To Answer The Hobbies Question With Harappa
Learning how to write hobbies in your resume is only the first step in the interview process. You also need to learn how to answer the “what are your hobbies?” question. Harappa’s Ace The Interview course will teach you how to prepare impactful answers to interview questions. With helpful tips, concepts and frameworks like the STAR (Situation-Task-Action-Result) method, you’ll learn how to develop meaningful answers. Get the job of your dreams and achieve your goals with Harappa’s high-impact online learning course.
Explore topics such as General HR Interview Questions, What are the Common Questions to Ask an Interviewer, How to Reply to “Why Should We Hire you for Freshers“, “Why Do You Want to Work Here” & “What are Your Hobbies“ from Harappa Diaries and crack your next interview.
