Hobbies/Interests section - REALLY? Forum

[kyle010723]

From personal experience working in Judge's chamber and screening resume for clerkship. The interest section is more important than what one may think. Everyone applies for a clerkship has outstanding grades and went to a good lawschool etc, so what will set you apart is what makes you different. I know my judge interviewed someone because they are a comedian or I think one was a synchronized swimmer. The point is assuming you have the credential for a position, having interesting interests can set you apart and get you an interview.

[lolwat]

Yeah, I've always been asked about my interests, too. It's not that a partner's going to say, "I'm sorry, you don't share my interest in tea cozies, we're not a good fit." It's more that after going through all the people at OCI, "that person I talked about the Cubs with" is more memorable and more appealing to work with than "that person with a 3.6." I would put down anything you've done in the past that you would like to take up again in the future and can talk about.

What's a tea cozy?! But same here, I've been asked about my interests in pretty much every single interview during LS. Since graduating I've taken my interests section off, and half of my interviews people have still asked questions to the effect of "so, what do you do outside of work."

OP: As far as stuff you used to do but gave up when you entered law school, still perfectly fine to put on the resume.

[fadedsunrise]

What is the TLS take on how much you have to know your hobby or interest for you to put it on there?

I want to put that I am interested in Dodgers baseball, because I have been regularly following the team for about a year and like watching the games(and because it might balance out my more feminine hobbies like cooking, which may not be as good conversation starters). Will someone think I'm lying through my teeth if I can't talk player stats, history of the team, trades, etc? Should I just leave this one off?

[BelugaWhale]

Almost every interview I had looking for a 1L summer job asked me about something from my interests section. As others have said, it's a great way to easily connect and show that you have a personality on top of your other qualifications. I had one callback interview where I spent almost the entire 30 minutes talking college football with my interviewer.

My OCS adviser specifically told me that if the interview goes over 15 min talking about interests, you should redirect and talk about your academic stuff....not sure how true that it though

[unlicensedpotato]

My OCS adviser specifically told me that if the interview goes over 15 min talking about interests, you should redirect and talk about your academic stuff....not sure how true that it though

Wow, that is horrible advice, even by OCS standards.

[anori]

It sounds dorky, but put something down. I've been asked about opera in interviews (I have that as one of my interests.)

[lolwat]

My OCS adviser specifically told me that if the interview goes over 15 min talking about interests, you should redirect and talk about your academic stuff....not sure how true that it though

Wow, that is horrible advice, even by OCS standards.

Yeah this is terrible advice, IMO. Your interviewer is most likely focusing on things that they're interested in about you. In other words, if your resume is ass and you're at the bottom of your class, they're likely going to be asking questions geared towards finding out whether you're going to be able to do the work there. If your resume is already awesome, they probably assume you can do the work and the question is whether you're a person they wouldn't want to kill if they had to work with you 16 hours a day if you get staffed on a case together.

[glitched]

My OCS adviser specifically told me that if the interview goes over 15 min talking about interests, you should redirect and talk about your academic stuff....not sure how true that it though

Wow, that is horrible advice, even by OCS standards.

This is pure conjecture, but really I think it depends. If an interviewer is going only about your interests, that most likely means the interviewer already made a decision about you based on your resume or your grades. Depending on who you are, this can be a good or bad thing. Of the interviews which I know I bombed early (said the wrong practice area), I noticed that we spent the entire time talking about my interests.

[BelugaWhale]

My OCS adviser specifically told me that if the interview goes over 15 min talking about interests, you should redirect and talk about your academic stuff....not sure how true that it though

Wow, that is horrible advice, even by OCS standards.

This is pure conjecture, but really I think it depends. If an interviewer is going only about your interests, that most likely means the interviewer already made a decision about you based on your resume or your grades. Depending on who you are, this can be a good or bad thing. Of the interviews which I know I bombed early (said the wrong practice area), I noticed that we spent the entire time talking about my interests.

I think this is what OCS was going for, a lot of my bidlist is reaches and so I guessed OCS just wanted me to tackle the academic issue head on instead of ducking it, talking about interests, and then failing to convince them I had the credentials to back it up.

[dkb17xzx]

Why don't you just put:

-Fencing
-Horseback riding
-Sports
-Politics
-Investing
-Volunteering
-Plays bass guitar in a band on weekends

There. You're not so boring after all.

Who really checks these things anyway? And if it ever came to the ridiculous situation in which you have to "prove" that each listed item is an actual hobby of yours, even if you can't back any of that up with actual "proof," you can claim that they are "interests" instead of "hobbies."

If you put investing down, expect to talk either about the market in general or one investment in particular.
Volunteering - be more specific (name the organization)
Politics I'd leave off, just to avoid the (small) possibility of getting into a debate

Edit: I really shouldn't be answering here, sorry

Fair point about politics.

What about something like "international relations / foreign affairs / foreign policy"? Or regional focus such as "SE Asia politics / policy / economics"?

[BelugaWhale]

What about something like "international relations / foreign affairs / foreign policy"? Or regional focus such as "SE Asia politics / policy / economics"?

I think you're fine, I had the same thing on mine.

[Anonymous User]

I have "politics and current events" (in addition to other, more interesting things).

Problem?

[unlicensedpotato]

I think this is what OCS was going for, a lot of my bidlist is reaches and so I guessed OCS just wanted me to tackle the academic issue head on instead of ducking it, talking about interests, and then failing to convince them I had the credentials to back it up.

O.K. that's fair. If it's an interview where you have to sell yourself to have a shot, that definitely makes sense. If it's an interview that you're in good shape for gradewise though, I recommend letting the interviewer talk about whatever they want. People love hearing themselves talk and will leave with a positive impression. Just build a rapport.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Almost every interview I had looking for a 1L summer job asked me about something from my interests section. As others have said, it's a great way to easily connect and show that you have a personality on top of your other qualifications. I had one callback interview where I spent almost the entire 30 minutes talking college football with my interviewer.

My OCS adviser specifically told me that if the interview goes over 15 min talking about interests, you should redirect and talk about your academic stuff....not sure how true that it though

There was an interviewer for OCI at my school who didn't ask anyone about academic/legal stuff - only about unrelated interests. She asked me all about teaching/history (which was my prior career, so not un-work related, but nothing to do with law/law school/how I was doing in law school). She spent the whole time talking to a friend of mine about running (my friend is a serious runner). My school only does pre-selects, so I don't think it was so much a "we're not going to hire you so let's just BS" thing (we both had appropriate stats for the firm) as much as a particular approach to interviewing (the person was employed by the firm entirely to hire other lawyers/deal with internal employment stuff, she no longer practiced). So extensive discussion of non-academics might be something like that.

(Of course, neither of us got hired by the firm, so who knows, maybe we were supposed to change the conversation and didn't realize it.... But honestly, it seemed very purposeful on the interviewer's part.)

[20160810]

If you do this section right, it will help you get a job. Period. The trick is to list nothing that could possibly offend anyone (e.g. not even homebrewing or wine tasting), and nothing so general it can't be a conversation starter (reading, cooking). I listed specific hobbies that are only shared by a small number of people (fantasy baseball, Crock Potting, etc), and had fantastic experiences in interviews when those came up.

[ragelion]

What is the TLS take on how much you have to know your hobby or interest for you to put it on there?

I want to put that I am interested in Dodgers baseball, because I have been regularly following the team for about a year and like watching the games(and because it might balance out my more feminine hobbies like cooking, which may not be as good conversation starters). Will someone think I'm lying through my teeth if I can't talk player stats, history of the team, trades, etc? Should I just leave this one off?

I wouldn't put down a sports team unless you really know what you're talking about.

[fadedsunrise]

What is the TLS take on how much you have to know your hobby or interest for you to put it on there?

I want to put that I am interested in Dodgers baseball, because I have been regularly following the team for about a year and like watching the games(and because it might balance out my more feminine hobbies like cooking, which may not be as good conversation starters). Will someone think I'm lying through my teeth if I can't talk player stats, history of the team, trades, etc? Should I just leave this one off?

I wouldn't put down a sports team unless you really know what you're talking about.

Ugh, OTL this and the last post means I have nothing of interest for the interviewers too.

[Anonymous User]

Some of you say, "C'mon, it's not like they're going to test me on these hobbies, why do I need to know them well?"

It's not that you're going to be tested; it's that they'll have a conversation about it and you want to speak like you really know what you're talking about to hold a real conversation. If you talked with someone at a party and he told you he was a big Hemingway fan, and then you ask him, out of curiosity, what is favorite book is, and he says, "Hmm, ummm...well, there are so many; he's just a really good writer, ya know?" You'd think he was an idiot and either can't form his thoughts or didn't really read the book.

So put down things you can actually talk about with some real evidence that you are passionate about it. I love ultimate frisbee and I can talk the lingo and tell you about which discs I like the most and why I like certain disc golf courses. Be able to do the same for whatever you put, whether it's sewing, reading a certain author, writing short stories, etc.

[RodneyRuxin]

I'm fairly shocked that there's a consensus that interest sections are key.

I feel like I have a good resume with various talking points/interests, but I never imagined I'd be at a disadvantage without an interest section...

[Jsa725]

.

[rinkrat19]

I'm fairly shocked that there's a consensus that interest sections are key.

I feel like I have a good resume with various talking points/interests, but I never imagined I'd be at a disadvantage without an interest section...

Entry-level legal hiring is an odd duck. There's basically no way to test your actual qualifications in an interview. None of your prior work experience is particularly relevant, except for 1L summer. They have your grades, your school, and a writing sample. Beyond that it's whether or not they think they want to be around you 60 hours per week.

Just accept it, add an interests section, and move on.

[BVest]

What's a tea cozy?!

What the devil is a tea cozy? And why aren't you prancing?

[BVest]

If you do this section right, it will help you get a job. Period. The trick is to list nothing that could possibly offend anyone (e.g. not even homebrewing or wine tasting), and nothing so general it can't be a conversation starter (reading, cooking). I listed specific hobbies that are only shared by a small number of people (fantasy baseball, Crock Potting, etc), and had fantastic experiences in interviews when those came up.

If they are offended by homebrewing and wine tasting, I literally have no interest working for them. I don't mean they have to share those interests (and I don't have those down on my resume as interests, because I like to enjoy the product of the former without the work, and while I like the latter, who doesn't?), I just mean that sane, intelligent people aren't offended by people who do like these pursuits.

[ColtsFan88]

I have never put an interest section in my resume. Is this bad? I mean, I could add one but then it would be moving into the 2 page territory.

[soj]

I have never put an interest section in my resume. Is this bad? I mean, I could add one but then it would be moving into the 2 page territory.

you can (and should) have an interest section without adding a new page, trust me.