It’s a tradition of British CV writing – the ‘Hobbies and Interests’ section, where despite only having had three jobs (two of which were behind counters and involved either cocktail umbrellas or spatulas), applicants struggle to convince would-be employers of the breadth of their skills and experience …
If we were to believe everything written on CVs, we might stop to wonder where the 17 year old applying for an office junior’s role has found the time to make an in-depth study of existentialism, or win black belts in karate, judo and taekwando. Not to mention his love of ikebana, the fine art of Japanese flower arranging.
But it looks like we may be calling time on ‘Hobbies and Interests’. Recruitment consultancy Unity Personnel has discovered that 67% of its clients no longer want to see applicants’ interests on their CVs – they’re either unoriginal or too original (made up, in other words). Employers are finding it increasingly difficult to find anything relevant within this section. A fair point – what does ‘socialising’ tell you about a candidate’s ability to do the job? Unity, having cited ‘lizard breeding’ as one of the more unusual hobbies, has perhaps forgotten that someone well known for his love of newts, not a million species away, has made rather a success of his career and is currently Mayor of London ….
