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Is it worth writing about a hobby in a resume

Useful hobbies

Useful for the applicant are those hobbies that complement the professional portrait or demonstrate desirable character traits for the profession.

“For example, a person writes books, composes poetry. He has an active life in the corresponding social network for writers, lovers of poetry and more. And he himself works as a teacher at school, teaches English. Accordingly, the school administration understands that this person, with his hobby, can be used for out-of-school work - to create a theater studio or a circle of poetry. Accordingly, such hobbies strengthen his position as a professional, ”says Elena Yakhontova, professor at the Department of Corporate Governance of the Higher School of Corporate Governance (Higher School of Management) of the RANEPA.

However, as a rule, the employer is not interested in the hobby itself, but in the correspondence of the hobby indicated in the resume to the traditional stereotype of the profession.

“In the process of communicating with accountants and economists, managers quite favorably perceive such hobbies as embroidery and patchwork. These are quite traditional “women's” classes, reinforcing the image of a patient, assiduous, prone to measured employee, ”comments Natalya Storozheva, consultant at the Russian School of Personnel Management. - If we are talking about sales managers, then a hobby for boxing or taekwondo is very welcome. This passion confirms the qualities that are very important for the manager: activity, perseverance, determination, ability to cope with stress.
When they select senior and middle managers, they pay attention to the passion for team or individual sports. For example, a passion for football or hockey is a big plus for a team leader, and a penchant for personal superiority in sports such as cycling, shooting, swimming is preferable for a lone star focused on strategic tasks.
Also, when evaluating a resume, managers pay attention to the competitiveness or procession of hobbies. Some candidates prefer “process” hobbies: yoga, photography, reading, theater, while others prefer competitive ones: tennis, chess, fencing. And these inclinations can also be compared with the business objectives of each specific vacancy. ”

Hobbies harmful to resume

A hobby can be fun and loved, but the employer may not appreciate it. First of all, “extreme” hobbies are alarming: dangerous sports (fraught with sick leave), piercings and tattoos (may not correspond to the image of the company), away competitions (suggesting missed work), etc.
Harmless, but not related to work, hobbies will also not add points at the interview.
“The information that you like to breed snails, for example, will be completely useless unless, of course, you find a way to explain how snail farming helps you professionally,” warns Englishdom marketing director Margarita Koshuba. “Writing about your specific religious hobbies or about the fact that you love spending all your free time with a cup of alcohol is definitely not worth it.”

You can be alerted by expensive hobbies. “For example, a person indicates that he collects motorcycles,” explains Elena Yakhontova. - And good motorcycles cost about a million rubles. At the same time, he claims to be an ordinary position - a sales manager or the head of the marketing department in a medium-sized company there. This hobby immediately shows the company: “This guy is clearly not ours.”
Caution, social networks!

Even if you have not written about your hobby in a resume, this does not mean that the employer does not know about it. Moreover, if a recruiter sees a contradiction between what you post on social networks and what you wrote on your resume, this can harm you in the process of finding a job. There are companies that believe that considering personal profiles of applicants is a violation of their privacy, but this approach is more likely the exception.

“In recent years, employers at the interview stage have been checking the interests of candidates on social networks,” confirms Tatyana Dolyakova, director general of the ProPersonnel recruiting agency. - For example, we watched a candidate for one of our football clubs: one of the applicants in his social networks never mentioned sports, but only wrote how he likes to knit and do landscape design. They refused him: there was no immersion in the subject. ”

More and more often, employers study social networks in order to learn more about the applicant. Including that which can harm the company. “If a person publishes candid photos or writes obscene verses, this may alert future colleagues,” said Polina Rusakova, HR specialist at OneTwoTrip Travel Service. “Such cases are not uncommon in practice, especially if a person is considered in a company with strict discipline.”

Social networks are an excellent tool for building a personal brand, which, of course, can and should be used in the process of finding a job. Therefore, HRs recommend taking their profile on social networks seriously.

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