Hobbies and interests are often seen as irrelevant on a CV.

The truth is that, CV is a professional document and there is no need to include hobbies and interests.

But, this is not always the case! Most employers love to know the details about their applicant’s hobbies and interests. Every prospective employer needs people with outstanding skills and competencies that can add value to their company. And there is no other better way for an applicant to achieve this except by including additional/relevant information such as Hobbies and interests.

In a nutshell, below are the importance of including hobbies and interests on your CV;

(i) It gives the employer a concrete or more complete picture about you. Take for instance, an IT company needs to employ a help desk consultant/Data entry Specialist and the recruitment manager came across a CV with “hobbies and interest” such as internet surfing, reading and writing. This might really boost the applicants’ chance of securing an invitation for interview.
(ii) Hobbies and interests may become a great point of discussion at the interview stage: If your hobbies and interests capture the attention of a prospective employer, he/she may be eager to know how you can use them to add value to their company. So, this will pave way for you to be invited for an interview.
(iii) Your interest for sports activities indicates that you are healthy and fit.
(iv) It gives a clear picture of your interpersonal skills especially in professions such as marketing, accountancy, law, consulting etc. An employer here needs candidates with a vast range of external interests.

Note, as important as this ‘’hobbies and interests” may sound, one thing is clear. Before using any in your CV, you shouldn’t include anything that is abstract to the job at hand.

You should tailor your hobbies to the job description. Different activities may be interpreted in different ways based on the job you are applying for. Eg, playing computer games may sometimes portray you as a self-absorbed individual living in their own small (cyber) world.

But such a hobby can add an outstanding value to your CV if you apply for a job like graphic designer or video game developer position etc. So, choose your hobbies and interests wisely.


Chuks

All these things are just mere thoughts ,what someone somewhere thinks it is and nothing more. No research was carried out to establish it as a fact ( justified truth).
Tomorrow again u will see another person telling u not to include ur hobbies based on what he thinks; that employers don't have time to take too serious such things.
I think topics like this should have its op quoting valuable data of researches earlier done in such line so as not to mislead job seekers with the information passed.
NB: Am not saying the op is wrong o

[quote author=ajasa4link post=36203057]

So, all u were expecting to see is flood of links to my research before you take a decision. Thats quite irrelevant here.

If you really understand what the article meant, you should note that am not saying it is compulsory to include ''hobbies and interests'' but trying to give a clue on their advantages if they are included appropriately.

Beside, the fact that employers have no time to see everything on a CV is true but frankly speaking, they don't have exact amount of time they spent on each. It all depends on how they value each CV.

The employers are not robots but human beings like you and I, if they see a well written and attractive CV, there is no doubt that they will spend more time going through the contents. Thats why every applicant must endeavour to have a call to action CV that will absolutely provide an appealing tone that no employer will turn down.

[quote author=living2013 post=36217385][/quote]
You seem not to understand my point at all. Am not saying your article is right, neither am I saying its wrong .And so also am not saying you should flood the whole thread with links , but what am saying is topics of this nature should be based on facts .
I mean something like " A research carried out across 100 employers in the manufacturing industry showed that 85% of employers prefer having prospective employees include hobbies in their CV and another 75% believe your hobbies is a determining factor for you to be considered for employment. "
The only reason I feel this way is because everyday on nairaland we see threads and counter threads. So maybe if facts can be adopted in creating important topics like this, we will stop having threads and counter threads that leaves some of us confused as to which one to follow or not