Amanda Rose: How to be strategic when listing hobbies on your CV

Listing hobbies on a CV can help build rapport with your hiring manager, but job seekers need to be strategic about when to mention them.

Do not include hobbies on your resume unless it is strategic to do so.

If your hobby is knitting and you put it on a job application to be CEO of a financial institution, the hiring manager may wonder if you are just trying to fill your CV space.

If your hobby is mountain climbing and adrenaline sports, however, that might be attractive to someone in the financial world as they see “this person has the energy we need”.

Often people in that industry are the same, so listing the hobby might help you connect to other people and that’s great.

Voluntary work is another positive example.

If you do not have enough in your experience component, put your voluntary experience there.

People don’t need to know you weren’t paid so don’t put it under a “voluntary” heading, put it under “Experience”.

Don’t list Netflix binges as a hobby, says Amanda Rose. Picture: Monique Harmer

If you work in construction and your hobby is landscape design, that might help you.

You might write “I helped renovate a house for a charity and as part of that I did the gardens because that’s my hobby”.

It will show you are more than just your trade or profession.

The key is to be careful what you choose.

Partying, Netflix binges, and boring stuff like “coffee with my friends” should not be included.

Who doesn’t like all of that?

It just looks like filler.

Mentioning hobbies can also help to build rapport with the hiring panel so look them up before your interview.

If they don’t tell you who the hiring panel is, ask.

Research them and connect with them on LinkedIn.

Extreme sports as a hobby could work in your favour, depending on the industry. Picture: iStock

I once went for a job and realised the boss had written a book a few years before so brought it up and that got me the job.

I know someone who got a job because they were the same horoscope as the boss.

Hobbies, in the same way, can connect you, but to make it art of your core pitch is dangerous – there has got to be more to you than that.

Rather than having a “Hobbies” section on your resume, have a “Skills and attributes” section and find a way to include them there.

Amanda Rose is a business consultant, workplace trainer, LinkedIn influencer and founder of six organisations – and now she is tackling your career questions for SMART Daily every week.

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Originally published as Amanda Rose: How to be strategic when listing hobbies on your CV