The interests and hobbies section of a resume or college application gives you a good chance to show off your personality. If you write it well, you can compensate for any lack of experience or preparation. While you may think that all resumes are the same, you should always tailor your document to the people who will read it, considering what they are looking for in a candidate. In this article, we will describe what you should write about your hobbies and interests for the two primary recipients of a resume: a college admissions committee and a potential employer.
Steps
Method 1 of 2: Write to a University Admissions Committee
Step 1. Format your resume following the right priorities
You probably know the basic contents of a resume - education, work experience, skills, awards and hobbies. However, listing all this information is not enough: you will have to think carefully about the order in which you will present this information on your resume.
- College admissions boards are more interested in your grades, work experience, and awards than your hobbies and interests.
- For this, you should include the hobbies and interests section at the end of the resume.
- Give the right priority to individual activities as well. You can decide to list the activities in chronological order, as you probably did in the "Work Experience" section, or from most to least significant.
- Remember that on resumes you should always start with the information that interests the reader most.
Step 2. Use the appropriate terms
While you might think of tennis or chess as a fun hobby, the language used on the resume should express more seriousness. Instead of titling this section "Hobbies," call it "Activities" or "Extracurricular Activities". By using a more formal diction, you will give the impression that you have practiced these activities with dedication and professionalism, instead of considering them fun and carefree pastimes. Universities are looking for this.
Step 3. Choose a formatting style for the sections with lists
You should format all sections of your resume that include detailed lists the same way. The "Activities" and the "Work Experience" sections should therefore be formatted in the same way. There is no preferable method to the others, but make sure you have the space not to limit yourself to a simple list, but to describe each activity in more detail but concisely.
- Don't just list all your activities separated by commas. This suggests that you have nothing to add. Break down each activity into a bulleted list.
- Decide whether to write in full or short sentences. A resume shouldn't be too long - ideally, it should be one page long. If you find your resume is too long, use shortened sentences.
- For example: “Tennis: regional champion, 2013, 2014; co-captain of the club team, 2012-2014; member of the club team, 2010-2014 ".
- If your resume is not long enough, you can write the same information in full sentences: “Tennis: as a member of my tennis club team from 2010 to 2014, I contributed to winning the regional championship in 2013 and 2014. How captain from 2012 to 2014, I led the team on and off the pitch, organizing the team's training sessions and making sure my teammates behaved in an exemplary way”.
Step 4. Prove completeness
Those involved in admissions to universities do not expect those who have just finished high school to know what awaits them in the future. In your document, however, you should demonstrate that you have plans for the future and ambitious goals, even though universities know that students often change programs once they start their courses and develop other interests.
- The "Activities" section of your resume gives you the opportunity to demonstrate that you are not single-issue. You have many interests that you can develop in your college years.
- If possible, present a range of activities that show that you have a curious and lively mind: sports activities, volunteering, extra-curricular academic pursuits, interest in science and humanitarian subjects, etc.
- The more complete you look, the more attractive you will be to the errand trying to figure out how you will develop in the years to come.
Step 5. Find a way to stand out from the crowd
This may seem to contradict the previous step, but you shouldn't be so complete that you are exactly the same as all the other candidates. Consider which of the activities you have done makes you unique.
- Demonstrate a high level of interest in at least one of your businesses. If you have been the captain of a team, have been elected school representative or have been an important member of another group, you will need to highlight this on your resume.
- Describe the leadership qualities you developed through that activity: "As the book club president, I created committees to delegate specific responsibilities to, I increased membership by recruiting peers, and I directed new members."
- Explain what collateral qualities you have developed: "In my four years in the book club I have developed a passion for literature and journalism."
Step 6. Choose your language carefully to give more dignity to your activities
Many of the recommendations in this article assumed you had a wide range of noteworthy businesses that you could list on your resume. Unfortunately, this is not the case with many students. While you should never come up with activities for your resume, you can make the few activities you have undertaken more impressive by choosing your words carefully.
- Use active verbs for all admission documents. The passive forms suggest that you have passively received the skills or qualities from your life experiences, while the active forms demonstrate your involvement - you have earned those skills.
- Notice the difference between "Being part of a football team taught me the importance of team play" and "I strengthened the team's resolve and led it to success by making my teammates understand the importance of the group". Take credit whenever you can, even if you weren't the one who had the leadership.
- Even if you don't think you've gotten much out of an activity, think about the skills and qualities you may have developed. For example, you may have been a bad volleyball player, but you could still say: "I have dedicated myself to very hard training all season and I have developed an effective system of time management, to balance school activities and sport, dedicating myself to both with the maximum effort".
- Even if you won't make it to the college volleyball team, you've still proven that you can manage your time.
Method 2 of 2: Write to a Potential Employer
Step 1. Decide if the "Hobbies and Interests" section is appropriate for the type of job
According to the nomination conventions in the branch you want to enter, the hobbies section may be inappropriate. A potential employer might find it irrelevant and you should avoid annoying anyone who will read your resume.
- Research the corporate culture of the company you are applying for. Some companies encourage employees to bring their interests to the workplace. Google, for example, explicitly cultivates an "open to all cultures" workplace where hobbies are welcome. The hobbies section would be very appropriate in a Google application.
- However, if you are applying for a position in an accounting office, the corporate culture will not be as open to your hobbies. Avoid putting them on your resume.
Step 2. Be brief
While a university committee tries to figure out what development you might have over the course of your academic career, a potential employer wants to know, as concisely as possible, if you are a good candidate for the position offered. Don't dwell on how you feel in communion with nature when you ride your bike every morning if you have to apply for a job in an accounting office. Just say that you regularly cycle and participate in races.
Step 3. Choose carefully the interests to include
Don't list an interest you're not really passionate about - if you were to talk about it in an interview, your lack of passion and experience would expose you.
- Choose interests that not only mean a lot to you, but also show what kind of person you are.
- "Reading", for example, is a rather general activity that doesn't reveal much about you. Running the marathon, on the other hand, suggests that you have a high level of dedication and that you can overcome difficulties.
- "Listening to music" says nothing about you to an employer, but "I studied classical piano for 17 years" says a lot.
- "Volunteering" says something about you, but it is not a detailed explanation. Instead, write that you volunteered every week at the soup kitchen for three years, or that you put your experience on a football team to good use by offering to coach the children.
Step 4. Link interests to work
If possible, demonstrate how the skills and qualities you have developed from your hobbies have made you a better candidate for the position offered. A legal department, for example, might not care how riding a bike in the mountains makes you feel in tune with nature, but they might be interested in the many races you have participated in that require dedication and effort in training, or in the injury that you had to overcome and that demonstrates your tenacity in persevering.
Advice
- Pay attention to how you describe those interests that can make you think of an inordinate search for emotion and risk, because it can be counterproductive with certain employers.
- Avoid giving an excessive resonance to your interests, because it could generate the suspicion that you tend to put personal interests before your career. For example, a statement such as: "Every chance I get is a good one to play chess, because that way I travel the country as a full-time player", could be adapted into a resume with these words.: "I like playing chess because it stimulates my creativity when I have to solve a problem and opens my mind to new ways of thinking outside the box".
