Which Hobbies Are the Best Ones for Your CV?

job search 400x280 - Which Hobbies Are the Best Ones for Your CV?

Before talking about the best hobbies you should list in your CV when applying for a job, it is important to decide whether you should list them at all. Putting a massive list of hobbies and completely overshadowing your skills and experience in the resume is the mistake many beginners make. It is especially common among students who are looking for their first job, as they are trying to impress the recruiters. 

The people who are looking for interns or juniors to fill certain positions are aware that you couldn’t have acquired much experience throughout your studies. There is absolutely no need for you to list over 20 hobbies just for the sake of filling the blank space. However, there are a few things you can put here and there, regardless of how experienced you are.

Find out Something More About the Company You Are Sending Your Resume To

Of course, you know the name of the company and a bit of its history, but have you researched their work culture or tried to contact someone who worked, or is still working, for the chosen company? Let’s take Google as an example. Their work culture is unique and futuristic. They already have thousands of highly trained experts at the majority of positions, so they need to filter out potential candidates in other ways. Google says that they love and hire people who are playful and open. That is such a generic claim, but it tells a lot about their work culture and business structure.

So, what should you do if you want to apply for a position at Google? Listing no hobbies at all or saying that you enjoy watching movies and playing sports is, of course, the wrong answer. You don’t want to say that you are ‘open and playful’ directly. Instead, you should list hobbies that may present you as such a person.

sports balls 300x138 - Which Hobbies Are the Best Ones for Your CV?

Examples of Hobbies You Might Want to Include in Your Resume

Choose between individual sports and team sports, or go with both. Individual sports, such as tennis, say a lot about you, as that means that you enjoy challenges and are probably fit. Team sports, such as basketball, show that you probably enjoy working in a team.

Listing extreme sports such as rock climbing or motocross tells the recruiters that you like taking risks, while hobbies related to the tech might be a sign of a tech-savvy person. Puzzles and games such as chess tell a lot about your intelligence and analytical thinking, while social hobbies such as mentoring mean that you enjoy talking to people and connecting with them.