Hobbies and interests on a resume: when they help and how to list them

Introduction

Ask five people whether hobbies and interests on a resume are a good idea and you'll get five answers. Your college career office says cut them, a British friend swears every CV has an "Interests" line, and the template you downloaded has a box for them whether you like it or not.

They can all be right, because the answer depends on where you're applying, how much experience you have and what the interests actually prove. This guide covers when the section earns its place, how US and UK conventions differ, what to list, how to word it and what to leave off.

Should you put hobbies and interests on a resume?

Only when they tell the reader something the rest of the page doesn't. The section is optional almost everywhere, so leaving it out is rarely held against you. Put each line through one test: would a hiring manager learn something about how you work, or find an easy question to ask you?

A few situations pass that test. You're a student or a recent graduate, and your activities carry evidence your work history can't yet, which is one of the main levers of a resume with no experience. You're changing fields and a long-standing interest is your bridge into the new one. The employer's product or culture overlaps with what you do in your spare time: an outdoor brand, a games studio, a charity. Or the job posting asks for it outright.

It fails the test when you have ten years of relevant experience and a full page. At that point, every line of interests pushes out a line of achievements.

How the convention differs in the US and the UK

The rule is the same on both sides of the Atlantic: relevant or gone. What changes is the default.

On a US resume, it is the first section to go

Early in a career, a US resume is expected to fit on one page. Penn's career services, for one, tells undergraduates and recent graduates to keep to a single page. Space is tight, and Berkeley's career centre describes interests as a non-essential section, among the first to be removed when you run out of room. So the American default is to cut, and to keep a line only when it clearly helps.

The exception is investment banking, where resume templates for the sector end with a "Skills, Activities & Interests" block and recruiting guides treat leaving it out as a mistake. If you're applying there, one specific line is part of the format.

On a UK CV, a short interests line is routine

A UK CV can run to two sides of A4, so there is room for it. Prospects, the UK graduate careers site, lists "Interests" among the standard CV sections, with a condition attached: if you have nothing relevant, leave it out. The National Careers Service suggests adding interests that show your skills when your work history is short, and gives captaining a sports team as proof of leadership and organisation.

One point of wording: TargetJobs advises graduates to avoid the word "hobbies" altogether, because it can sound childish, and to head the section "Interests" or "Activities" instead.

If length is your real problem, start by choosing between a one-page and a two-page resume.

Which hobbies and interests to list

Three rules of thumb: something you do beats something you like, a role beats a membership, and a specific beats a category.

That favours team sport where you hold a role (captain of a Sunday league side, organiser of an intramural league), endurance goals such as a marathon or a long-distance cycling event, volunteering with regular hours, a creative practice with an output (a band that gigs, a newsletter, community theatre), self-directed projects like hackathons or restoring a motorbike, and well-known programmes such as Eagle Scout in the US or a Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award in the UK. Two to four items are plenty.

Match the selection to the job. A marketing application gains from the food blog you've kept going for three years, a project management one from the amateur festival you help run. They don't both need to be on the same page.

Two things don't belong here. Skills, first: "teamwork" is not an interest, and the abilities you want to sell go in your skills section. Serious volunteering, second: a role with real responsibilities deserves its own entry under experience or a "Volunteering" heading, where you can describe what you achieved.

How to word your hobbies and interests so they earn the line

A bare noun is the weak spot. "Cooking" could mean the supper club you host every month or a talent for ordering takeaway, and the reader can't tell which.

Give each interest three things: the activity, your level of involvement and one concrete detail. "Running" becomes "Distance running: two half-marathons, training for a first marathon", which shows you set a goal and stick to a plan. "Reading" becomes "Co-run a monthly science fiction book club of 12 members", which shows you can organise people. "Gaming" becomes "Run a weekly tabletop role-playing campaign for six players, three years in", which shows commitment and a knack for keeping a group together.

Keep the format plain. Put the section last, after skills, as one or two lines of text separated by commas or semicolons. On a one-page US resume, merge it into a "Skills & Interests" heading to save space. Skip unlabelled icons: they tell a human nothing, and the software that parses your resume reads text, not pictures.

What to leave off your resume

Four kinds of entry do more harm than good:

• Generic fillers you can't make specific, such as "socialising", "watching films" or "music".
• Anything that reveals your religion, your politics, your health or your family plans. You can't know who is reading, and unconscious bias is real.
• Interests you have dropped or exaggerated. If it's on the page, it's fair game in the interview.
• Jokes and in-jokes, which rarely survive being read by a stranger.

If a faith group or a political campaign gave you real experience, you can still use it. Describe the work, such as the budget you managed, the event you ran or the volunteers you coordinated, and let the reader focus on that.

Be ready to talk about it in the interview

Whatever you list becomes small talk material. TargetJobs warns graduates that they are likely to be asked about their interests at interview, often as a way to put them at ease, and the same goes for any interviewer looking for an icebreaker.

Have a short story ready for each line: how you got into it, what keeps you at it and, where it's true, what it says about the way you work. Half a minute is enough. And never list something you can't back up. The person across the table may well row, sing in a choir or have run the same race.

Handled well, those two minutes about your choir or your half-marathon are when the interview stops feeling like an interrogation.

Jolicv's little nudge

Captained a team, chaired a society or run a fundraiser? On Jolicv, that goes in as a full experience entry, with a title, the organisation, dates and a description, and you watch your resume take shape live as you type. Browse the resume templates to start for free, no card needed.

Conclusion

Hobbies and interests on a resume are optional, which is exactly why the ones you keep should be there for a reason. Cut them from a crowded one-page US resume, keep a short line on a UK CV or an early-career application, and make every item specific enough to start a conversation. Leave out anything generic, private or untrue. Two honest lines about what you do outside work can be the part of the page an interviewer remembers.

Frequently asked questions

Is it unprofessional to put hobbies and interests on a resume?

No, as long as they are relevant and specific. A short line that shows commitment, leadership or a link to the role reads as professional, and career services on both sides of the Atlantic treat the section as an accepted option. What looks unprofessional is filler: a list of generic pastimes, an in-joke or anything too personal.

How many hobbies and interests should I list on a resume?

Two or three, four at the very most. Each one needs a concrete detail, such as your role, how long you have done it or a result, so a longer list quickly turns into filler. If space is tight, keep the single interest most relevant to the job, or drop the section and give those lines to achievements.

Should I call the section "Hobbies" or "Interests"?

"Interests" is the safer heading, and "Activities" works when most items involve a role or a commitment. UK graduate careers advice warns that "hobbies" can sound childish. On a US resume, you can save a line by merging the section with your skills under a single "Skills & Interests" heading.

Do applicant tracking systems read the hobbies and interests section?

Yes, an ATS parses it as text like the rest of your resume, so it will not break anything. It is not where the keywords from the job posting belong, though. Put those in your experience and skills, write your interests in plain words and skip icon-only layouts that software cannot read.

Are reading and travel good interests to put on a resume?

Only if you can make them specific. "Reading" and "travel" turn up on so many resumes that they tell an employer nothing. A named genre and the book club you run, or a solo trip you planned and budgeted yourself, give the reader something to ask about. If you cannot add that kind of detail, leave them out.

Is the interests section different on a UK CV and a US resume?

The rule is the same, the default is not. A UK CV can run to two pages, so a short interests line at the end is common. A US resume is usually one page early in a career, and interests are among the first things to cut, except in investment banking, where the line is part of the format.

Should experienced professionals include interests on a resume?

Usually not. With ten or more years of relevant experience, achievements should fill the page, and interests are the first lines to give up. Keep one only if it adds evidence at your level, such as board service, mentoring or published writing, or if it genuinely connects you to the world the employer works in.