Top 15 Interests on Resume to Make Your Application Stand Out

Interests are an interesting part of a job seeker's resume, as it allows hiring managers to take a closer look at what their future employees would do with their free time. Thus, properly identifying what to put in there can make or break your application, especially if the company you're applying for has a more rigorous talent screening process that looks for professional experience on top of good interests.

Continue reading this guide to learn more about interests on resumes that employers are more interested in, the main difference between interests and hobbies, as well as tips for putting interests on your resume's hobbies and interests' section to make it more appealing.

Why is it important to list your interests?

It's important to list your interests on resumes to make you more memorable and help your resume reflect positively for the hiring managers. Though it can be argued that most are looking for raw talent, being memorable for HR managers is another way to pad your resume especially if you're lacking in the experience department or in the overall job requirements.

Listing out your interests can also help you connect with the hiring manager on a more personal level, which can help you stand out compared to others applying for the same role. It can also provide valuable insights into your character as a whole.

Hobbies vs interests

Although both are relatively similar, there are differences between both interests, hobbies and activities that can help make your resume look more enticing for hiring managers.

Hobbies are things that you do in your free time. Some relevant hobbies examples are international travel, gaming, sewing, and other things that you might do when you're free. These are activities that you dedicate time and energy to. Some

Interests, on the other hand, lean more on activities that you're willing to learn and dedicate time to, which can be further differentiated into more personal and professional interests and can help provide technical skills. An example of personal interests includes learning a new language, whereas an example of professional interests is learning more things that would benefit an individual's professional development and give them specific skills like doctors taking an interest in neurology or SEO professionals going for more creative pursuits like creative writing.

15 good interests to put in your resume

Although interests may vary from one profession to another, there are some generalist interests on resumes that can still pique a hiring manager's interest while still carrying transferable skills on top of having a more analytical thinking process. Listed below are some examples of interests that you can put to make your resume look more appealing to HR managers.

• Learning new languages
• Music
• Community involvement
• Creating art
• Attending industry conferences
• Writing blogs
• Learning history
• Applying for online courses
• Travelling
• Painting
• Volunteering
• Community service
• Studying new topics regarding your niche
• Photography
• Woodworking

For this, it's important to consider that the interest on resume that you'll be putting should perfectly reflect your personality and what your values are like as an individual. It should be the skills and hobbies that you will do as yourself, not as someone whose main goal is to impress hiring managers.

Tips on listing interests on resume

Listed below are some tips that you can take when listing interests on a resume to make it look more appealing.

1. Do not be a cliche
   Although predictability is good, being a cliche is not. Most hiring managers would expect the general interests to already be included for specific roles - think, gaming for IT technicians or photography for multimedia roles. Thus, it's important to mix it up a little bit to make sure that you're not predictable.
2. Provide a wide range of interests
   Having just one type of interest (think, creating art, photography, graphic design) can make hiring managers think that you're only focused on one specific niche. It's important to diversify the soft skills and hobbies that you'll be putting on your resume's interests section to make sure that you can relate to plenty of people and ideally have plenty of common ground with their current employees.
3. Align your interests to the company you're applying for
   For the hiring managers to really notice your application, you should customize the interests on your resume to properly align with the company that you're applying for.
   
   This doesn't mean that you'll completely change everything on your resume and be someone that you're not - you just have to adjust your interests to the company culture of the organization you're applying to. This means you'll need to properly research the company culture and adjust the interests on your resume accordingly.
4. Adjust the interests to the job description
   Lastly, tweaking your interests a little to adapt to the job description can help you stand out compared to other applicants for the same role.
   
   For example, company A is looking for outgoing candidates with great communication skills. Thus, you can add interests that can add to your interpersonal skills like hiking, playing team sports, online games, being a part of a social club, and even community involvement to your resume to make you sound like a more outgoing and positive person.
   
   Think of interests on resume as a way to describe yourself, but with the relevant skills that you would do on your spare time which can help them create better healthy work life balance policies. They're soft and hard skills that can let your potential employers know who you are as a person on top of your professional qualifications.