The JobSync Blog
Dismissing Hobbies and Interests on a Resume
January 25, 2012
For years, fewer job candidates have been bothering to list hobbies and interests on a resume. Given that space is a premium and many jobseekers are still aghast at the thought of submitting a two-page resume, the “hobbies and interests” portion of a resume has quickly stopped being a requirement for them. This is especially true for job hunters who either see this section as reeking of new college grad desperation, being too personal, or inviting ridicule by a recruiter or hiring manager. Plenty of recruiters and hiring managers care little for this section as well, especially as they have piles of resumes to go through and don’t consider hobbies and interests important.
Recruiter Zachary Sines would beg to differ – sometimes.
In a blog post on RecruitingBlogs.com, Sines points out that since hiring managers ultimately want someone who will fit into a company’s corporate culture, personality is crucial and can be decoded from a person’s interests and hobbies. On the other hand, he feels this kind of deciphering should be reserved for higher-level jobs where communication and teamwork are the key foundation of innovation, inspiration and overall design/project management. At entry-level positions, he maintains hiring managers are more concerned with employing someone who can perform basic skills on their own and stay out of the way of more senior workers.
At JobSync, we obviously feel personality is a critical component of determining whether someone is a good fit for a job or not. But while listing hobbies and interests can give a recruiter or hiring manager some idea of a candidate’s personality, it is also fraught with the potential for misjudgment. For instance, is an individual who enjoys playing the piano someone who is solitary and a bit of a loner? Not necessarily, especially if the person is playing the piano for her church choir every Sunday morning to rapturous applause. Which is why JobSync was designed to evaluate a candidate’s personality with respect to how they interact with others at work. While listing hobbies and interests can provide some color on a candidate’s personality, JobSync strives to provide the concrete.
Frankly, we don’t have an official position on whether one should include a hobbies and interests section on a resume. That being said, we certainly won’t fault you for listing JobSync as a hobby or interest.
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