Interview Success Zone

A large proportion of my clients ask me whether or not they should include hobbies and interests on their resume/CV or talk about them in interview.

Okay, the short answer to this is: YES! In fact I would go as far as saying that during your job application process, talking about your outside activities at one point or another is compulsory. I’ve talked about building rapport and connection briefly in some of my previous articles e.g. if-they-like-you-youll-get-the-job-its-true/ and how-to-gain-trust-and-rapport-with-your-customer.

People like people like themselves - The inalienable fact is that human beings like other human beings who share a common interest. Finding things in common with one another during an interview situation, can make a huge difference in getting a job offer and having your application completely rejected. In my experience, from the many jobhunters I have shared my interview tips to, the vast majority have admitted that in the past they have received job offers even though there may have been other strong (or even stronger) candidates for the position.

Back to the topic at hand. Why when interviewing, should you talk about your non-work activities? I had a client, who we shall call Alan, who came to see me for a one-off interview tips consultation. He brought his CV with him which had no details on his outside activities. I asked him why they were missing, and he told me that the recruitment agent removed them from the resume, and that he should not mention his hobbies, because they are not relevant. I was totally shocked, and expressed how important it is, when interviewing with a future employer (or indeed anyone), to talk about his hobbies.

I though it best that he tell the story himself, so that you can understand what happened as a result of our meeting. I hope you find the story inspiring:

“I can surely remember, meeting with Jason for the very first time, the emphasis he placed on building rapport during an interview. I may have appreciated the importance of a good, two-way conversation. I would question though, whether it would go any further during that short while of meeting your potential employer for the first time.

The consultant and I also talked a lot about personal interests. Sometimes you will have no direct control over what goes out to employers when your search goes through an executive search firm. In my specific case any mentioning of personal interest and hobbies were removed. Period.

I would not necessarily consider this as a negative but Jason convinced me to at least try it out in my upcoming conversation. Of course I would not know whether this was really a good idea. Aside from my career in risk management I also look after a large group of young members in a Christian church organization throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. It clearly has a close link to my exceptional abilities in organization and communication but I was worried whether the resulting conversation would become controversial. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Sitting in my interview with the European head of my business area, our conversation was friendly and much focused on some business issues and how I would be able to contribute in my role. The obligatory question for any leadership position includes how many people I had previously managed.

At that stage I decided to bring my experience from church activities. The reaction was somewhat unexpected: My soon-to-be manager would elaborate for the next 10-15 minutes on reasons why their company is an ideal place to work for as a Christian and told me many stories of how he himself is engaged in faith related activities. It is needless to say that the quality of our further conversation was even higher than before. We left on a high note and he suggested that I meet the CEO. This turned out to bring me a lot of visibility even before joining the company a few months later.

While I had a healthy skepticism over bringing in personal interests in an interview, I did certainly see later all the positive aspects coming with it.”

Clearly talking about his outside activities was critical to his interview success, and ultimately getting the job. So next time you are advised to take out the ‘hobbies and interests’ section of your resume/CV, just remember Alan and the difference it made to him.

Find out more about my interview success ebook at: www.InterviewSuccessZone.com