Hobbies and interests
Hobbies belong on a resume only when they evidence something the role needs and your work history cannot show. A fresher with little experience can use the space; an experienced candidate almost never should. Generic entries like "reading, music, travelling" consume a line and prove nothing, so cut them.
Updated August 2026 · Written for Indian hiring
What is the most common hobbies and interests mistake?
Listing three generic hobbies to fill white space. On a one-page resume that line competes directly with a quantified achievement, and a recruiter scanning for 6–8 seconds will always prefer the achievement.
What does a good one look like?
Every line below is a skeleton with bracketed placeholders — replace them with your own details. We do not print a made-up person’s resume and call it an example.
Competitive [sport] at [level] — evidences sustained practice and coachability for a role that names teamwork.
Maintainer of [open-source project], [N] contributors — evidences the exact engineering skill the posting screens for.
Reading, listening to music, travelling — true of most applicants, so it separates you from nobody.
Rules worth following
- Include a hobby only if you could defend its relevance in an interview answer.
- Name the level or the scale — "district-level", "[N] contributors" — or leave it out.
- Cut the section entirely once you have enough work history to fill the page.
- Never list anything political or religious; it invites bias and adds no signal.
- Skip the "Declaration" and signature block Indian templates often pair with this section — both are obsolete.
Also searched as
These phrasings all describe the same question, so this page answers each of them rather than splitting into near-duplicate pages that compete with one another.
| Search phrasing | Answered by |
|---|---|
| hobbies in resume | This page |
| interests in resume | This page |
| hobbies for resume examples | This page |
| hobbies and interests cv | This page |
| best hobbies to put on resume | This page |
Other sections
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know before you create your free profile.
Create My Free Profile What is a hobbies and interests?
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Hobbies belong on a resume only when they evidence something the role needs and your work history cannot show. A fresher with little experience can use the space; an experienced candidate almost never should. Generic entries like "reading, music, travelling" consume a line and prove nothing, so cut them.
What is the most common hobbies and interests mistake?
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Listing three generic hobbies to fill white space. On a one-page resume that line competes directly with a quantified achievement, and a recruiter scanning for 6–8 seconds will always prefer the achievement.
Do I need a hobbies and interests at all?
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Include a hobby only if you could defend its relevance in an interview answer. Cut the section entirely once you have enough work history to fill the page. If neither applies to your situation, the space is better spent on a quantified achievement, because that is what a recruiter is scanning for in the first place.
Does this affect whether an ATS can read my resume?
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Indirectly. Applicant tracking systems parse structure and keywords, so a section that uses the expected heading and mirrors the job description wording scores better than a decorative one. OnJob.io checks how cleanly your resume parses and gives you an ATS score out of 100 before you apply.