Hobbies on a Resume: Usually Cut Them

Interests are the first thing to cut when a resume runs long, which tells you how much they are usually worth. There are four situations where a line earns its place.

The four cases

One: genuinely relevant to the role. Competitive cycling on an application to a bike retailer. Amateur radio for an RF engineering role. Homebrewing for a brewery. The relevance has to be real rather than a stretch.

Two: evidence of sustained commitment. Ten years in the same choir, a decade of a martial art, running a club. What this demonstrates is not the hobby but that you stick with things, which is a genuine signal for early-career candidates especially.

Three: genuinely unusual and conversation-starting. Not “hiking”. Something a reader will remember and ask about. This is the weakest of the four and it does occasionally work, particularly in fields where interviewers look for personality.

Four: you are early career and have space. A student resume with room left is better served by one interests line than by white space. It comes off as soon as you have work history to put there.

Outside these, cut it. Harvard’s career service materials describe a document that highlights your strongest assets, and a pastime is rarely among them.

What to leave off

Bare generic interests. Reading, travelling, music, cinema, cooking, socialising, spending time with family, keeping fit. Each describes most of the population, so none differentiates.

Anything political or religious. Not because there is anything wrong with holding views, but because they are irrelevant to the role and touch on characteristics the EEOC identifies as prohibited bases for employment decisions. Volunteering them puts a reader in an awkward position and can only narrow your chances.

Anything revealing a protected characteristic that you have deliberately kept off the rest of the document.

Risk-heavy activities, in some contexts. Not a rule, and worth a thought if you are applying somewhere with a strong safety culture.

Anything you cannot discuss. If it goes on the page, expect to be asked about it, and a hobby you exaggerated is an awkward two minutes.

How to write one that works

Add the detail that turns a pastime into evidence.

Weak: Interests: running, reading, travel

Better:

Interests: Long-distance running (three marathons, most recently Chicago 2025) · Conversational Portuguese · Volunteer coach, youth football, since 2021

Each entry has something concrete: a count, a level, a duration. That is what makes the line worth its space rather than filler.

One line. If it wraps to two, cut an item.

Where it goes

The very bottom of the page, after skills, certifications and everything else.

Label it “Interests” rather than “Hobbies”, which reads slightly more adult, or fold it into an “Additional” line with languages and volunteering.

Never near the top. An interests section above your experience is a serious misordering. See the resume sections guide.

The exceptions where it matters more

Two fields where interviewers genuinely look at this.

Investment banking and consulting recruiting, where an “Additional” or “Leadership” line is conventional and interviewers use it as the human question in an otherwise technical interview. Sport at a competitive level, a society you ran, or a business you started all do work here. See the investment banking resume guide.

Early-career applications generally, where there is less else to go on and evidence of commitment carries more weight.

Even in these, one line, with specifics.

Volunteering is not a hobby

Worth separating, because people put it here and it is worth more elsewhere.

Substantial volunteer work belongs in your experience section, written as a role with achievements, particularly if it fills a gap or demonstrates relevant skills. Reducing it to an interests line undersells it considerably.

Volunteer Coordinator · Cascadia Food Bank · Denver, CO · 2023 to present

• Coordinate a rota of 25 volunteers across three weekly sessions

See volunteer experience on a resume.

The same applies to a sport where you hold a coaching qualification or run a club: that is a role, not a pastime.

The test

Read your interests line and ask what a reader learns that helps them decide.

If the answer is nothing, delete it and use the line for an achievement. If the answer is something specific about commitment, skill or relevance, keep it and make sure the specifics are there.

Related

For the adjacent sections, see extracurricular activities on a resume, volunteer experience and language skills on a resume. For what to cut when space is tight, see the one-page resume template guide.

Or build the document at Kazifi.