Personal Section On A Resume

Q: Should my resume include a section detailing my interests or hobbies? My law school’s career counselor advised that such information should be omitted, but I have seen other resources provide the opposite advice? What gives?

You haves stumbled across one of the enduring divisions among the ranks of career coaches and counselors. The reason you have come across conflicting advice is because different career coaches have reached different conclusions on this point. On the whole, I tend to void including strictly personal information on resumes, but I am not dogmatic about it.

The difference of opinion about this issue largely stems from the dual purpose of a resume: (1) to get to the next step of the hiring process, which is usually some kind of interview; and (2) to help set the agenda during that next step. Coaches and counselors that dislike personal statements on resumes tend to emphasize the first of these purposes. They argue that including personal information in your resume might detract from your ability to get an interview. This, they argue, is because decision makers can be quirky, and it is impossible to predict how someone might react to learning about some aspect of your background or personality. They therefore suggest omitting such information from your resume.

Those who advocate for the inclusion of personal information correctly point out that such information can be beneficial during the interview process. For example, as the interview process proceeds, the employer is likely to want to talk to you about things that are not strictly related to your job qualifications. They will often want to learn about your interests, so they can begin to assess how well you are likely to fit in with their organization. Including some personal information on your resume can be a good way of helping steer the employer to personal information that makes you look good and which you want to talk about it during an interview.

And that’s the key if you decide to include personal information on your resume. Make sure you mention items that are almost certain to make you look good, and that you would enjoy discussing. For example, in most all cases you would want to stay away from mentioning political or religious affiliations or other issues that are issues that are notoriously divisive. You also want to stay away from mentioning issues that potentially conflict with the image you want to portray regarding your ability to do the job. For example, I have seen people mention on their resumes that they are naturists or that they have a passion for home brewing beer. Those are probably not the images you want to conjure up in your potential employer’s mind.

To be sure, some employers may cringe at the notion that you have extensive personal interests. They want to know is about your work. My experience is that most employers don’t fall into this category, but it is very difficult to tell at the beginning of the process if the employer you are about to contact will recoil at the mention of even the tamest personal interest. That is why I generally advise against including purely personal information.

The key phrase in the prior sentence is “purely personal information.” If a personal interest is directly relevant to a particular job, mention it in the main body of the resume. For example, knowledge of a foreign language or familiarity with a foreign country or culture might be an important qualification for a particular job. The same is true of certain social or political affiliations. For example, if you are seeking a job with an environmental organization, it might make sense to mention other environmental organizations with which you are affiliated. Even the interest in home brewing beer could be directly relevant if you were applying for a job with a beer manufacturer or related trade association.

But if you are mentioning a hobby or interest simply to let a potential employer know more about you as a person, you are generally better off omitting such information from the resume, and introducing yourself at the interview.