CV/ Covering letter

Is it really that important to list hobbies and interests on CVs/ applications? I understand if the interests align with the position one is applying for..

They honestly want to know what you do outside of work for fun. It shows what kind of person you are and gives them an idea of what your personality may be like without meeting you.

I didn't think it made a lot of sense, but I put it all on there when my husband said I should. Reading, hiking, musical theatre, singing, and my jewellery making... etc.

I was going to write a similar reply to lyonaria, but I also looked at the Prospects website (graduate careers/degrees database) and this is what they say (http://www.prospects.ac.uk/how_to_write_a_cv.htm):

Should I include hobbies in my CV?

It's not compulsory to include hobbies in your CV, but you may want to mention any that are relevant to the job you're applying for. An example might be volunteering as a sports coach, or learning a language in your spare time.

Generic examples such as reading, going to the cinema, or listening to music are not worth including.

I think I've always including just a small blurb about what I like to do - things like travelling or swimming, that kind of stuff.

For my current job, even though I work in science (I'm a meteorologist), a lot of my role is customer service-based and also relies on teamwork, and working overseas in unfamiliar places, living and working in close quarters with other colleagues, so in my application and interview for the job, I talked about my experiences of both working in retail for a number of years and also things like working in a team to climb volcanoes in Central America, travelling around South America for 6 weeks during which time I was living in close quarters and trekking in the Andes with a group of people I'd just met... things like that.

For my current job, even though I work in science (I'm a meteorologist), a lot of my role is customer service-based and also relies on teamwork, and working overseas in unfamiliar places, living and working in close quarters with other colleagues, so in my application and interview for the job, I talked about my experiences of both working in retail for a number of years and also things like working in a team to climb volcanoes in Central America, travelling around South America for 6 weeks during which time I was living in close quarters and trekking in the Andes with a group of people I'd just met... things like that.
[/quote]

In your application? You mean covering letter? Or was there space to write all that in the company's application form/ site?

In your application? You mean covering letter? Or was there space to write all that in the company's application form/ site?

It was an online application so there was no covering letter, and if I remember correctly (it was several years ago), there were different sections which asked for specific information regarding how you met the job description and you needed to give examples of when in your life you had used all the skills they asked about - so I was able to integrate my travelling and things into those answers.

And then in the interview I could expand on them - so when I was asked about working in a team, I could use the example of working together with my friends to climb a 14,000 ft volcano in Guatemala... in the middle of the night... and helping each other when we struggled to keep going. In her application and interview, one of my colleagues used examples of being a scuba diving instructor in Australia one summer.

It was those kinds of examples that we believe got us the job over other people (apparently they had 400 applications for only about 20 vacancies), whereas another girl who was more qualified in meteorology than me didn't get the job and we think it was because she didn't have any interesting examples of using her skills - all of her examples were related to working on academic projects at university and she didn't really have anything non-academic that she could expand on.

So, when applying for a job as a meteorologist, in my case I had:
- undergrad degree in physics
- postgrad degree in seismology/geophysics
- no knowledge of meteorology (other than from high school)
- 10 years of customer service experience (retail)
- experiences of living on my own in the US for 18 months, travelling around the US with friends, spending a month in Guatemala climbing volcanoes, spending 6 weeks travelling in South America

So while I had no experience in the field of meteorology itself, I got the job over people with masters degrees in meteorology, and I believe that was because of my non-academic experiences (some of those people with masters degrees didn't even get an interview).