This article is a guest post written by TotalJobs.
A debate that often surfaces whenever people talk about recruitment is whether it is necessary for job seekers to include a hobbies section on their CV. Do employers really need to know about their hobbies?
Many candidates like to put their hobbies on their CV and can be very reluctant to take the section out. However, there is a good argument to suggest that the section is not really necessary and in most circumstances, can probably be eliminated.
The focus should be on skills
The main reason for taking out the hobbies section is very simple and obvious. At the end of the day, the candidate shouldn’t be judged on their hobbies. It’s their skills that matter.
Plus, it doesn’t take much imagination to think of a situation where a candidate’s hobbies could land them in the reject pile even though they’re perfectly able to do the job. For example, a recruiter who looks through the hobbies section and bins any CV where the candidate mentions that they’re a fan of a football team the recruiter happens to dislike. It’s an extreme example maybe, but it helps to illustrate the broader point.
Any sort of bias when looking through candidates isn’t good for anyone. It doesn’t reflect well on the business, it means a perfectly good candidate is rejected for no real reason, and any recruitment firm involved in the process will have had a lot of their hard work wasted. If a candidate is going to be rejected – and statistically most candidates will be when they apply for a job – it definitely shouldn’t be for what they like to do in their spare time.
Inappropriate CV entries
Another reason to banish the personal hobbies section from the CV is that it can lead to somewhat questionable entries that definitely shouldn’t be on there. For example, if a parent were to put that bringing up their children shows their management skills, it probably wouldn’t be the best choice. They should be focusing on professional situations and examples from their job role, not their personal life.
Candidates shouldn’t give employers any reason to reject their CV, and inappropriate examples of how they have demonstrated their skills are certainly not going to help them in the selection process.
The exception to the rule
Of course, there are exceptions to every rule and so there are some situations when including information of hobbies on a CV could be a good idea for a candidate. This is because some hobbies and interests can actually add value to a CV. A good example of this is the Duke of Edinburgh award.
Plenty of people also take part in casual voluntary work or mentoring, both of which might be worthy of a CV mention but don’t fit into the main work history section. This can be particularly useful for younger jobseekers who are looking to show their experience even though they might not have much ‘proper’ experience of work and so for them, an ‘other interests’ entry on their CV could be just what they need.
