How to Write a CV – Part 6: Skills, Hobbies & Interests

The Purpose of this Section:

To give an employer an insight into how you spend your personal time and the type of person you are

You might historically have viewed this section as a tick-box exercise that you only include because you “should”.

But this section can actually be really useful in convincing someone you’ve got relevant skills for the role. This can be particularly helpful if you can demonstrate a skill listed on the job advert that you’ve not been able to demonstrate within another section of your CV

Best practice for this section is to:

• Include two or three examples of how you spend your free time
• For each one, think about the transferable skills you’ve acquired or developed as a result E.g. playing 5-a-side football shows team-working and possibly leadership skills. If you’re the one that organises the teams and the pitch booking, you could highlight organisational skills. Or if your hobby is baking, you might highlight attention to detail and organisational skills.
• Then frame each hobby with its relevant transferable skills on the document
• Also consider any achievements related to each one. Again, seeing you as successful in other pursuits is a great way to help an employer picture you as successful within their team

While most people jump straight to thinking about hobbies, you might also consider:

• Volunteering roles
• Committees or organised groups
• Other skills (such as computer skills, specialist driving licenses or languages)

As with every other section of your CV:

• Make sure that every line you’re including here is helping show the employer that you’re the type of candidate they’re looking for
• Tailor your points to match the language of the advert wherever you can

Other “Parts” in this Series:

• Part 1: The clues hidden in every job advert
• Part 2: Personal details
• Part 3: Personal profile
• Part 4: Education & other courses
• Part 5: Employment history
• Part 7: References
• Part 8: Formatting