Our hobbies and interests in our personal life inform our professional interests and career goals. So, why would you not put them on your résumé? It’s alright, in fact encouraged, to add your hobbies to your résumé. However, there is a proper way to do it that tells the story of who you are and what you can do for the company. How do you add your hobbies and interests to your résumé, without looking unprofessional?
Flaunt Your Hard Skills
Hobbies practiced in our free time can often build up our hard skills that can be used in our work. There’s no better way to learn something than just tinkering around with it “in the field,” so to speak. Creative skills, tech, construction, etc. are transferable skills practiced doing things you like to do at home during your free time and can be used in the workplace. Flaunt them in the skills sections of your résumé and phrase them in ways they would be used in that particular position you’re interested in.
Shout-Out Your Organizations
If you’re a part of an association or organization that you’re passionate about, put that on your résumé and relate it to the job. For marketers, that may be the American Marketing Association. For startups, it may be a regular local networking association for small businesses. Zipjob agrees it’s vital to include your affiliations on your résumé to grab the hiring manager’s attention. “[Include hobbies if applicant is] Part of an industry-relevant group or association (i.e., Member of the New York web development conference).” Give them a shout-out to encourage the hiring manager to ask you about them.
Add Courses, Workshops, or Seminars
During the pandemic year, you may have taken an online course or attended virtual workshops or seminars, merely out of interest. You can use those to build out your résumé! If related to the job you’re applying for, these can be listed as professional development workshops. Create a section on your résumé for “Professional Development” or “Additional Education” underneath your Education section. Examples include: Foreign language courses for international-represented companies, Small Business workshops, marketing seminars, networking seminars within the industry if contact was made.
Fluff Up Your Résumé
The benefit to adding hobbies is that they can be used to pad your résumé a bit more. You can, of course, add them as bullets in the appropriate sections (education, volunteer work, etc.). You could also add your interests in the summary section as a descriptor word (i.e., “innovate blogger” or “creative podcaster”). Indeed writes that you should include hobbies and interest on your résumé if, “The employer values uniqueness and personality among applicants.” Isn’t that every employer? The job market is competitive out there, so do what you can to stand out.
Ultimately, listing your hobbies on your résumé is supposed to tell the hiring manager who you are, what you enjoy doing, and what you care about. Think about how you want to be remembered by the hiring manager after s/he puts down your résumé. It’s a narrative; It’s supposed to tell your story. Leave a spectacular impression and grab their attention.
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