Interests and Hobbies fields on a resume for applying for a job or applying for a new student are a great opportunity to show off your personality. Good writing hobbies and interests can even compensate for a lack of work experience or educational history. While you may think that all resumes are the same, always try to create a resume that's aimed specifically at the person who will read it, taking into account what that person wants from you as an applicant. This article looks at how to list hobbies and interests on a resume for two things: registering new students and applying for jobs.
Step
Method 1 of 2: To Apply for University
Step 1. Sort your resume in order of priority
You probably already know what a resume contains in general-education history, work experience, abilities, accomplishments, and hobbies. However, just writing down all the information is not enough. Also consider the order in which the information is presented on the resume.
- The admissions committee is much more interested in the value of learning outcomes, work experience, abilities, and achievements than hobbies and interests.
- Therefore, hobbies and interests should be listed at the end of the resume. End, not start, with hobbies and interests.
- Also sort activities by priority. Activities can be ordered chronologically, such as writing down “Work Experience”, or from the most impressive to the most mundane.
- Remember, a resume is a “top-down” document, which means it should start with the one you most want to tell readers about yourself.
Step 2. Use the right terms
While tennis or chess may be fun hobbies for you, the terms on your resume should indicate something more meaningful. Instead of writing the column headings “hobbies and interests” as “Hobbies”, use the terms “Organizational Experience” or “Extracurricular Activities”. By choosing a more formal word, it is subtly implied that you are dedicated to pursuing these activities professionally, rather than just having fun and recreation. That's what the new student admissions committee expects.
Step 3. Choose the right format for writing the list section of the resume
All sections of a resume that are detailed lists should be written in the same format. The “Extracurricular Activities” section of the resume should be written in the same format as the “Work Experience” section. No one particular format is correct. However, leave enough space for you to not only include the name of the activity, but also write a brief description.
- Don't just write down the names of all activities in a row with commas. The format indicates that you are just doing the activity without anything special about it. List and describe each activity in separate bullet points.
- Decide whether the description of the activity should be written in full sentences or in short phrases. A resume shouldn't be too long-ideally, just one page. If your resume is long, use phrases rather than full sentences.
- Example: “Tennis: national champion, 2013, 2014; school tennis team leader, 2012-14; member of the school tennis team, 2010-14.
- If your resume isn't long enough, write a full-sentence explanation: “Tennis: as a member of the school tennis team in 2010-2014, I helped the team win the 2013 and 2014 national championships. As team leader in 2012-2014, I carried out leadership duties on and off the field, holding regular training outside of the championship period, and maintaining harmony among team members.”
Step 4. Show a diversity of interests
The new student admissions committee does not expect final year high school students to know exactly what they want to be in the future. While it's best to make it clear in your essay that you have future plans and lofty goals, the committee knows that in reality, students' plans often change as they put their knowledge into practice and develop an interest in college.
- The “Extracurricular Activities” section of your resume is meant to indicate that you are not focused on just one thing, but rather have a variety of interests that can be developed over the course of 4 years of college.
- If you can, list activities that indicate an active and curious mind: athletics, volunteering, academic teams, social interests (speech teams) or the exact sciences (math athletes), etc.
- The more diverse interests you have, the more attractive you will be to the committee trying to predict what your development will be like over the next four years.
Step 5. Make yourself stand out from the crowd
This method may seem counterintuitive to the previous step. However, you don't want to display interests that are so diverse as to be no different from all the other prospective students. Consider which of your activities distinguishes you the most from other prospective students.
- Show a strong interest in at least one activity. If you have been a team leader, an elected student council member, or an active member of another group, make it as clear as possible.
- Describe any leadership qualities you may have developed as a result of participating in the activity. Example: “As chairman of the Key Club, I chair weekly meetings, assign various club assignments to appropriate committees, expand the club by recruiting fellow students as new volunteers, and conduct training of new volunteers before assigning them to work in the community.”
- Describe any additional qualities you helped develop through the activity. Example: “During my 4 years of being active in the Key Club, I developed a relentless dedication to helping the poor in the local community.”
Step 6. Use the right words to make the organizational experience look good
Most of the methods described so far assume that you have a wide range of impressive organizational experience that can easily be listed on a resume. Unfortunately, many prospective students do not have such organizational experience. While falsifying information on a resume is strictly prohibited, your little organizational experience can be made even more impressive by using the right words.
- Use active sentences in all documents that you submit in the admissions process. Passive sentences indicate that you acquire abilities or traits passively, that is, simply by living life for granted. On the other hand, the active voice describes your involvement: you are actively learning all of these abilities.
- Understand the difference between “becoming a member of a football team taught me the importance of teamwork” and “I strengthened team determination and success by emphasizing to each member the importance of team cohesion to achieve a common goal”. Acknowledge every contribution you have made, even if you are not a leader.
- Even if you think you don't get much benefit from participating in a particular activity, consider the abilities and traits you have developed through the activity. For example, you may not be a great cheerleader. However, you could still write, “I diligently practiced hard every day throughout the championship period and developed an effective time-sharing system, which I used to balance schoolwork with commitment as a cheerleader team while being fully dedicated to both responsibilities.”
- Even if you can't be a member of the varsity cheerleading team, you're still considered a good time manager, a skill you developed as a result of joining a high school cheerleading team.
Method 2 of 2: To Apply for a Job
Step 1. Determine if “Hobbies and Interests” are appropriate on your resume for applying for a particular job
Depending on the general terms of the job you're applying for, hobbies may not be appropriate on your resume. Potential employers may find the information useless and you definitely don't want that judgment attached to your application.
- Find out about the culture of the company you are applying for a job. Some companies encourage employees to incorporate their interests into a creative workplace. For example, Google explicitly creates an “open culture” workplace that welcomes a wide variety of hobbies. The hobby column is perfect for listing on a resume to apply for a job on Google.
- However, if you are applying for a job at an accounting firm, the culture may not be welcoming to hobbies. Don't include a hobby column on your resume.
Step 2. Write down your hobbies and interests as briefly as possible
The new student admissions committee aims to predict how you will develop in the future during college. On the other hand, potential employers want to know, as quickly as possible, whether or not you are a good fit for the company. Don't go into detail about how much you enjoy being out in nature on your bike every morning if you're applying for a job at a consulting firm. Just write that you regularly cycle and participate in races.
Step 3. Think carefully when writing down your interests
Don't list interests you're not really passionate about-if brought up in an interview, your lack of knowledge and lack of enthusiasm when talking about those interests can lead potential employers to think you're just trying to look good on your resume.
- Choose interests that not only mean a lot to you, but also indicate your personality.
- For example, “reading” is a fairly common activity and doesn't reveal much about your personality. On the other hand, “running a marathon” indicates that you are very dedicated and can overcome adversity.
- "Listening to a song" doesn't reveal your personality at all. On the other hand, "I've been practicing classical piano for 17 years" indicates a lot about you.
- "Volunteering" indicates something about your personality, but lacks detail. So make it clear by writing that you've been volunteering at the same soup kitchen every week for 3 years or that you're sharing the experience of being a member of the high school football team, which won the national championship, by volunteering at the local football league.
Step 4. Relate interests to work
At each opportunity, explain how the various abilities and traits you developed from your hobby made you a good candidate for the job position offered. For example, applying for a job in a consulting firm may not require an explanation of how mountain biking brings you closer to nature. However, potential employers in consulting firms may be interested to know about your experience participating in several large-scale competitions that require preparation in the form of training that requires dedication and persistence or that you have experienced a severe injury that threatened your ability to continue the hobby, but you are not daunted by these barriers and have now overcome them.
Tips
- Be careful listing hobbies and interests that indicate an aversion to danger and risk, as these traits may be disliked by certain employers.
- Don't sound too committed to your hobbies and interests, as employers may think you're more concerned with your personal interests than your work. For example, “I play chess every chance I get because I aspire to travel around the world as a full-time professional chess player” would be better replaced with “I love being a member of a chess club because the game trains problem solving skills and teaches new ways of thinking in the chess club. out of the ordinary."
