When hiring managers or recruiters ask employees “What Are Your Hobbies and interests?” it is not only for a small chat.
The goal of this question is to provide them with information about your talents and abilities that conventional interview questions may not always reveal.
Inquiring about hobbies and interests may also help you determine your cultural fit for a company.
This implies that your late-night language classes or Saturdays spent helping with local charity might be useful indicators of whether your beliefs and talents align with those of the organization.
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Why Interviewers Ask – What Are Your Hobbies?
In general, the hiring manager will question you, “what are your hobbies?” or “what are your interests?” for a variety of reasons. One of the most important things is to determine whether you are a well-rounded individual.
Hobbies and hobbies indicate that you have a complete life that is not exclusively controlled by your work. Furthermore, there’s a high possibility you utilize them as a kind of stress management, which might mean you’re better prepared to deal with problems in all aspects of your life.
The recruiting manager is interested in your hobbies or interests since you have undoubtedly acquired some transferrable abilities along the way. These hobbies and pursuits of knowledge may help you develop both hard and soft talents, so the hiring manager is attempting to figure out whether you’ve chosen any potentially important capabilities or understandings.
Finally, understanding your interests and activities allows the recruiting manager to determine your cultural fit. For example, if a firm promotes health, they may respect your commitment to exercise since it makes you appear to be a better fit for the culture.
Finally, the hiring manager must consider more than your technical talents to determine whether you are qualified for the position. This is made a little easier by inquiring about your hobbies and interests.
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Best Tips To Answer – What Are Your Hobbies?
Please avoid the word “NO”
If you are asked, “What Are Your Hobbies?” during a job interview, the first and most essential piece of advice is to never answer, “I have no hobbies.” This demonstrates a lack of initiative and curiosity, as well as little enthusiasm, and reveals nothing about your personality or aptitude for cultural fit, which is precisely what hiring managers and recruiters are looking for.
When practicing for a job interview, develop an honest and true response to this question. Allow your response to represent your talents and interests, and to build a picture for potential employers of the skilled and passionate applicant you are.
Make it interesting.
Whatever activities you love doing in your spare time, frame your response to the question “What are your hobbies?” in a job interview in the context of the position and organization you’re applying to work for.
For example, if you’re looking for a job as a finance analyst, discuss the problem-solving aspects of your pastime. If you play competitive tennis, discuss your involvement in arranging all of your team’s home and away match arrangements, as well as assuring cost-effective transportation for everyone to a variety of sites during the season.
If you’re looking for a job as an IT project manager and a voracious reader, tell them about how you formed a book club and frequently highlight books regarding IT innovation and change. Inform potential employers about how you routinely conduct or facilitate intriguing talks on this subject.
While it is natural for your interests to be distinct and different from your profession, highlight the aspects of your hobbies that demonstrate the essential technical and soft qualities companies want.
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Be creative and show it.
Do you enjoy playing the guitar, writing short tales, or creating pottery? When answering the question, “What are your interests?” make sure to acknowledge and appreciate any creative activities you participate in. Explain how these activities develop your lateral thinking abilities, boost your capacity to approach issues in novel ways, and motivate you to make creative use of existing resources.
Every organization, no matter what position you’re looking for, values originality. While you may not be generating amazing artwork on Photoshop every day as an administrative assistant, creativity is a far wider and more relevant talent. It may be utilized to solve issues and discover new solutions in various workplaces and sectors.
Be Proud of the sports activity you love
Few activities demonstrate to future employers your resilience and ability to work in a team like frequently participating in sports.
If you are a long-distance runner, this may show that you are persistent when it comes to pushing through difficulty and irritation on professional assignments. Participating in a hockey or netball tournament may demonstrate knowledge of group dynamics, a healthy amount of competitiveness, and a willingness to work together to achieve a common objective.
In response to the inquiry, “What are your hobbies?” Explain how regular sport or physical exercise has helped you function successfully in groups. There are few jobs that do not need people to be exceptional at that.
Regular exercise also improves overall health and stress management capacity, lowering the likelihood of employee illness and long-term burnout and making you a more appealing candidate to potential employers.
Mistakes To Avoid When You Answer – What Are Your Hobbies?
When preparing a response to this interview question, it is important that you avoid certain blunders. Lying about your hobbies or interests, for example, is a major offense. Why? Because, sooner or later, the truth will be out. Dishonesty can not only be a major red flag, but it can also lose your career.
Second, discussing non-professional hobbies or interests is not a good idea. Similarly, anything connected to taboo, contentious, or illegal activities should not be included on your CV or during your interview.
Furthermore, omitting specifics is not optimal. You may come out as dishonest if you are excessively unclear. Ideally, you want to radiate passion for what you do, and including some specifics can help you achieve that.
Finally, it is essential to prevent activity or interest overload. While listing a few is OK, even if they are typically appropriate interests or hobbies to include on a resume, it is preferable to restrict oneself to no more than a few, preferably three or so.
Conclusion
In a job interview, asking, “What are your hobbies?” is a tried-and-true approach for employers to learn more about you and assess your cultural fit for their organization.
According to the Recruitbros study, one of the major reasons why employees quit an organization is a lack of cultural fit, making it equally as crucial as skills and experience when evaluating applicants.
Prepare for this question in every job interview, as well as when asked, “What are your hobbies?” Answer truthfully and always link it to the position you’re looking for.