Incorporating Hobbies and Interests on Your Resume

What are interests?

Interests are general topics you enjoy reading or learning about. They aren’t as involved as hobbies, but they still help position you as a good candidate in many circumstances, as they show you have a passion for a certain subject.

What are hobbies?

Hobbies are activities you do for leisure, self-improvement, or charitable causes. This means that skydiving is a hobby because it’s an action, but an interest in extreme sports may simply involve watching TV shows about skydiving.

What are the differences between interests and hobbies?

While you may learn about your interests sporadically, hobbies are something you regularly and intentionally make time for. Additionally, hobbies can be a source of achievement, personal growth, and skill development, while interests don’t typically have the same tangible benefits.

Should you put interests on a resume?

Interests can enhance your resume when they are:

• Aligned to your industry
• A great fit with the company’s culture and values
• Able to showcase your skills and development
• Something that highlights your cultural curiosity and awareness

You can omit your interests if they are generic, controversial, or push your resume over one page.

Should you put hobbies on a resume?

For example, you might write as a hobby or have an interest in Spanish culture, even though you don’t speak the language or live there.

Resume hobbies are great ways to show you have skills in a field or industry unrelated to your current career path, which makes them helpful for making a career switch.

Hobbies and interests also showcase soft skills, like communication, along with personality and culture fit.

Traditionally, hobbies have a large impact on an employer knowing whether or not you fit the company culture. For example, some companies would be thrilled to find another music enthusiast because most of the workers play instruments.

Examples of interests to include on your resume

There are many personal interests in the world, and you may not know how to choose what interests to put on resumes and cover letter templates. Here are a few categories of good interests to put on a resume and how you can use them to highlight specific skills.

Tweaking your resume and cover letter examples to add interests like these can help you stand out as a fitting candidate for the role.

Examples of hobbies to include on your resume

Are you still wondering what hobbies to put on resumes? Here are several resume examples of hobbies that can help you highlight your skills and qualifications.

These represent good hobbies to put on a resume and can help you land a role you truly love.

How to match hobbies and interests to the job you are applying for

Knowing what hobbies and interests to put on a resume is key to success. Here’s how to ensure yours are tailored to the role you want.

Read the job description carefully

The job description will tell you what skills the organization is looking for. Then, you can match those skills to the ones you have developed from your interests and hobbies.

Research company culture

Some companies expressly value traits like innovation, productivity, and resilience. Figure out which of your hobbies and interests highlight these skills and qualities, and make sure to put those on your resume.

Use industry-relevant hobbies

These hobbies are those that build and demonstrate valuable professional skills. For example, a marketer who loves creative writing can develop storytelling skills that will help them perform better in that role.

How to list interests and hobbies on your resume

We believe resume hobbies and interests are a valuable addition to your job application, but that doesn’t mean we think that salespeople should talk on and on about their stamp collection. Your hobbies and interests need to be relevant and say something meaningful about you.

This means you need to be strategic when building your hobbies section. Consider the soft skills needed for the role you’re applying for. Sales professionals need communication and negotiation skills, so it would be a great idea to include your interests in speaking and debate. It’s also smart to include interests that are relevant to research-heavy roles. For example, a writer applying for a medical writing role should list their interest in medicine and health.

Now we’re going to discuss the essential information to list for each hobby or interest.

First, highlight what you love about your hobbies and interests and avoid being generic. This shows you really are passionate and you aren’t just tacking something on.

This might even tie into our next tip: add relevant details that help you connect to the employer.

You might have seen on the company’s “About Us” page that they love Indian takeout, so go that extra mile and don’t just list “Cooking.” Try adding “Cooking and eating Indian cuisine, specifically chicken biryani and naan.”

We encourage you to add unique aspects, but don’t feel pressured to be too creative. If you don’t have too much to say, it might end up sounding forced.

Another great tip is to add how long it’s been an interest or hobby of yours. If this is a longstanding passion of yours, add it in!

For example, “I’ve been reading classical literature since I was fifteen.”

How to list interests on your resume

When figuring out what interests to put on a resume, make sure to:

• Frame interests as general topics
• State how you like to learn about them
• Name a specific discovery or subject you are currently learning more about

These details will keep the reader’s attention and clearly tie your interests to the target role and organization.

How to list hobbies on your resume

When listing your hobbies, you should:

• Use action verbs to describe what you do
• State how often you do the activity
• List any achievements or awards you have won

Though hobbies and interests are similar, you can differentiate them with the right language and framing.

How many interests and hobbies should you include?

We understand – people don’t simply have a handful of hobbies and interests. But restrain yourself from adding too many. Here’s how to find your perfect number:

• Try not to add any more than five
• Ensure all interests are highly relevant to the role
• Don’t add so many that it becomes a distraction from the rest of the document

This means you should consider which hobbies display relevant soft skills and culture fit qualities, and choose a couple for each category.

How to format interests and hobbies on a resume

When listing hobbies for resumes, it’s crucial to follow correct formatting to ensure your application looks professional. Here are our top tips:

• List them at the bottom of your resume: Hobbies and interests on resumes are valuable, but they still aren’t more important than skills and experience.
• Keep it short: Make sure each hobby or interest is only one sentence long.
• Don’t let it extend your resume: If the addition of hobbies pushes your resume onto a new page, they aren’t worth including

Let’s expand on that last point. Resumes should ideally be one page, or two if you have a lot of experience and education to list.

To see polished and professional examples that show you how to make your hobbies and interests shine, look at some resume templates.

Dos and don’ts of including interests in your resume

Should you put interests on a resume? Yes, but knowing how is key. Take a look at a few great strategies for deciding what interests to put on resumes.

Avoiding these pitfalls helps you come across as a well-rounded professional.

Dos and don’ts of including hobbies in your resume

Consider the following when asking the question, “Should you put hobbies on a resume?”

When it comes to selecting hobbies for resumes, examples of what not to do are key. Use these suggestions to help you create a strong hobbies and interests section.

3 tips to include your interests on your resume

If you want your interests to enhance your resume or cover letter, make sure you:

• Tailor your list to the job you want
• Only include interests you can discuss in depth
• Keep your sentences short and to the point

These tips can give you the best chance of standing out from the crowd of candidates.

3 tips to include your hobbies on your resume

Use these tips to help you make the most of your hobbies section:

• Include only your top 3-5 hobbies
• Tie your hobbies to key competencies and skills
• Use action words to maximize impact

Remember that your hobbies are more than just a list of things you like to do. They convey skills and qualifications not found elsewhere in your resume.

Final take: Balancing hobbies and professionalism on your resume

Putting hobbies and interests on resumes is a great tactic to show employers your soft skills, personality, and cultural fit. They help display skills you don’t have certification for and give you common ground with your future colleagues. When deciding what to put for hobbies and interests on a resume:

• Match your interests and hobbies to the job you’re applying for
• Don’t overcrowd your document with too many
• Add relevant details that help you connect to the employer
• Keep each of your resume interests or hobbies to a single sentence

CVwizard's resume generator creates clean, professional documents that clearly convey the value of your hobbies and interests. Start building your resume today and position yourself as the ideal candidate.