"Personal interests" on resumes?

[Anonymous]

Do you include any personal/non-professional info on your resume?
I think it can work for or against you depending on the info (board member of local charity, great, cosplay, probably not).
Is something like "avid runner" so banal that it's best left off?

[Anonymous]

I would leave "avid runner" off myself. However, if you're the president of the Avid Running Club, I would add it.

[Anonymous]

Leave them off. I'm a principal of an elementary school and went through hundreds of resumes in the past several months. No one cares whether you jog, play tennis or enjoy hiking. We just want to know if you can do the job and are worth bringing in for an interview. Once you there for the interview, there may be an opportunity to share those interests.

[Anonymous]

I actually think they're useful, as long as they're not overly generic (e.g., reading vs. 20th century American fiction) or too personal (e.g., bereavement support group leader). Also, make sure they're genuine (e.g., Native American culture when the extent of it is visiting the Native American history museum a couple of times), since you can't be sure the person that's interviewing you may also share the interest. Often down playing the extent of the hobby (unless you're really so avid that it would seem silly) helps too (e.g., aspiring marathon runner).

I've found they can add a bit of personality to a resume, and they provide a good conversation topic in an interview.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually think they're useful, as long as they're not overly generic (e.g., reading vs. 20th century American fiction) or too personal (e.g., bereavement support group leader). Also, make sure they're genuine (e.g., Native American culture when the extent of it is visiting the Native American history museum a couple of times), since you can't be sure the person that's interviewing you may also share the interest. Often down playing the extent of the hobby (unless you're really so avid that it would seem silly) helps too (e.g., aspiring marathon runner).

I've found they can add a bit of personality to a resume, and they provide a good conversation topic in an interview.

Agree with this. I once interviewed someone who had "visiting my home state of Wyoming" on his resume. I found it interesting and it made him stand out in a good way. Also, if I'm hiring a teacher, i would like to see "hiking" because it tells me you have energy to handle young kids. But totally agree that generic statements like "travel, reading, history" are useless. Doesn't everyone like to travel and read? Only list it if it's unique, makes you seem interesting and is a true, genuine interest of yours. I would be nervous about hobbies that could be so time consuming they could interfere with your job performance, like running marathons.

[Anonymous]

HRBitch here: no personal interests unless you're showing you speak a foreign language that you're willing to speak on the job when useful.

[Anonymous]

I do a lot of hiring--keep them off unless they have some sort of relevance to the position. For example, I work in an association in the K-12 ed field--if you have done volunteering in a school, that would be good to know. Otherwise, a resume with a lot of extra nonsense goes in the bin. I've tossed many that had *too* many personal interests because it made me think that working was low on the list of priorities for that person (especially sports or theater that seemed particularly time-consuming), same with side businesses.

[Anonymous]

I do a lot of hiring and like them. As noted above not interested in avid runner! Cliche.

[Anonymous]

Also leave off the "Health: Excellent" line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leave them off. I'm a principal of an elementary school and went through hundreds of resumes in the past several months. No one cares whether you jog, play tennis or enjoy hiking. We just want to know if you can do the job and are worth bringing in for an interview. Once you there for the interview, there may be an opportunity to share those interests.

What are you looking for on a resume, besides experience?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also leave off the "Health: Excellent" line.

I've never seen that, but that resume would be binned immediately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also leave off the "Health: Excellent" line.

I've never seen that, but that resume would be binned immediately.

This used to be common back in the day. Now, I think good health is assumed and most savvy people realize making decisions about health could be illegal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Leave them off. I'm a principal of an elementary school and went through hundreds of resumes in the past several months. No one cares whether you jog, play tennis or enjoy hiking. We just want to know if you can do the job and are worth bringing in for an interview. Once you there for the interview, there may be an opportunity to share those interests.

What are you looking for on a resume, besides experience?

Education
Descriptors of their experience: I'd take a brand new teacher whose had a strong student teaching experience over an experienced teacher who's been teaching with an approach that doesn't gel with how we teach at our school, eg teacher touts using a basal reader or a prescriptive reading or math program.

[Anonymous]

There are times when it can be appropriate. We were hiring a scientist to do field work -- basically my health put me in a position where I can not collect the data.

In this case, seeing Iron Man competitor was good -- as we sometime have to carry 50 lbs of batteries 2-3 miles in the desert.

[Anonymous]

I saw one once that listed "cheese afficianado" as an interest. We laughed and laughed.