Hobbies/Interests section - REALLY? Forum

[rinkrat19]

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.

Unless you've had like 10 jobs and/or have been extensively published, it WILL fit on one page, I promise. Add the interests.

[BVest]

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.

This is why I did the one-liner:

Personal Interests: Basket-weaving, Women's Volleyball, and Long Walks on the Beach

[ColtsFan88]

OK fair enough.

[rinkrat19]

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.

This is why I did the one-liner:

Personal Interests: Basket-weaving, Women's Volleyball, and Long Walks on the Beach

Yeah, mine is one line too.

Here's my current resume, genericized and redacted. Red is stuff that has been added since starting law school. The resume I applied to law school with was basically the same design before cramming the new stuff in, except with more relaxed spacing. There may have been a third bullet point under the older jobs before I had to fit the new stuff in.

[RodneyRuxin]

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.

This is why I did the one-liner:

Personal Interests: Basket-weaving, Women's Volleyball, and Long Walks on the Beach

Yeah, mine is one line too.

Here's my current resume, genericized and redacted. Red is stuff that has been added since starting law school. The resume I applied to law school with was basically the same design before cramming the new stuff in, except with more relaxed spacing. There may have been a third bullet point under the older jobs before I had to fit the new stuff in.

This screams public interest

[rinkrat19]

This screams public interest

I figure it's pretty even between PI and IP.

[RodneyRuxin]

I figure it's pretty even between PI and IP.

Agreed.

[09042014]

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.

You aren't working for ONLY the one fucking guy doing your screener interview.

And you it doesn't only hurt if they base your ding solely on it. All it has to do is create a little bias and ur fuct.

[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.

You aren't working for ONLY the one fucking guy doing your screener interview.

And you it doesn't only hurt if they base your ding solely on it. All it has to do is create a little bias and ur fuct.

No? I thought I was.

It's about environment. I have more WE than many of the attorneys on here and know who I can work with. Narrowminded fools with irrational prejudices are not included in that group. I was not being hyperbolic when I said I literally have no interest working for them, but I should have also included the alternate preposition of "with." As interests go, Wine Tasting and Homebrewing are not exactly the equivalents of "Protesting Abortion Clinics," "Organizing Atheist Society Conventions," or "Tea Party Rallies."

[Bikeflip]

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.

You aren't working for ONLY the one fucking guy doing your screener interview.

And you it doesn't only hurt if they base your ding solely on it. All it has to do is create a little bias and ur fuct.

No? I thought I was.

It's about environment. I have more WE than many of the attorneys on here and know who I can work with. Narrowminded fools with irrational prejudices are not included in that group. I was not being hyperbolic when I said I literally have no interest working for them, but I should have also included the alternate preposition of "with." As interests go, Wine Tasting and Homebrewing are not exactly the equivalents of "Protesting Abortion Clinics," "Organizing Atheist Society Conventions," or "Tea Party Rallies."

Dude, a screener is like 1 person out of a firm of 200+ attorneys. Just because you think one person sucks doesn't mean the others suck.

[rinkrat19]

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.

You aren't working for ONLY the one fucking guy doing your screener interview.

And you it doesn't only hurt if they base your ding solely on it. All it has to do is create a little bias and ur fuct.

No? I thought I was.

It's about environment. I have more WE than many of the attorneys on here and know who I can work with. Narrowminded fools with irrational prejudices are not included in that group. I was not being hyperbolic when I said I literally have no interest working for them, but I should have also included the alternate preposition of "with." As interests go, Wine Tasting and Homebrewing are not exactly the equivalents of "Protesting Abortion Clinics," "Organizing Atheist Society Conventions," or "Tea Party Rallies."

Dude, a screener is like 1 person out of a firm of 200+

And if they say no, you don't get in the door. As such, you don't risk pissing them off.

That said, homebrewing/wine tasting would be 100% fine in Portland.

[guano]

I have more WE than many of the attorneys on here

This is sure to end well...

[Bikeflip]

You aren't working for ONLY the one fucking guy doing your screener interview.

And you it doesn't only hurt if they base your ding solely on it. All it has to do is create a little bias and ur fuct.

No? I thought I was.

It's about environment. I have more WE than many of the attorneys on here and know who I can work with. Narrowminded fools with irrational prejudices are not included in that group. I was not being hyperbolic when I said I literally have no interest working for them, but I should have also included the alternate preposition of "with." As interests go, Wine Tasting and Homebrewing are not exactly the equivalents of "Protesting Abortion Clinics," "Organizing Atheist Society Conventions," or "Tea Party Rallies."

Dude, a screener is like 1 person out of a firm of 200+

And if they say no, you don't get in the door. As such, you don't risk pissing them off.

That said, homebrewing/wine tasting would be 100% fine in Portland.

Correct, but the whole attitude of "I don't want to work for a whole firm because of one d00d" is bad approach.

[rinkrat19]

And if they say no, you don't get in the door. As such, you don't risk pissing them off.

That said, homebrewing/wine tasting would be 100% fine in Portland.

Correct, but the whole attitude of "I don't want to work for a whole firm because of one d00d" is bad approach.

I was agreeing with you.

[09042014]

Good luck in law if you can't work near a crazy asshole, since about 2/3rds of all lawyers are.

[Bikeflip]

And if they say no, you don't get in the door. As such, you don't risk pissing them off.

That said, homebrewing/wine tasting would be 100% fine in Portland.

Correct, but the whole attitude of "I don't want to work for a whole firm because of one d00d" is bad approach.

I was agreeing with you.

And I was agreeing to... ah screw it. Got any homebrew tips?

[20160810]

Good luck in law if you can't work near a crazy asshole, since about 2/3rds of all lawyers are.

Yeah basically this. If you're so wildly passionate about cooking meth or whatever that you need to list it on your resume, by all means, but you're taking a needless risk. And it's dumb to assume that at a law firm with 1,000 attorneys the guy doing your OCI screener is a fair representative (good or bad) of how cool your coworkers are going to be.

Also, re sports, TCR is never list a sport if you can't have a good conversation about it. Saying you're into Dodger Baseball when you don't know, why, e.g., Andre Ethier is killing the team or Don Mattingly is a horrible manager is just bad form. It's a bit like saying you're fluent in Spanish when in actuality you just stumbled out a "Donde esta the biblioteca?" to a confused-looking drive-thru employee at a Taco Bell when you were drunk at 2 a.m.

[Bikeflip]

Good luck in law if you can't work near a crazy asshole, since about 2/3rds of all lawyers are.

Yeah basically this. If you're so wildly passionate about cooking meth or whatever that you need to list it on your resume, by all means, but you're taking a needless risk. And it's dumb to assume that at a law firm with 1,000 attorneys the guy doing your OCI screener is a fair representative (good or bad) of how cool your coworkers are going to be.

Also, re sports, TCR is never list a sport if you can't have a good conversation about it. Saying you're into Dodger Baseball when you don't know, why, e.g., Andre Ethier is killing the team or Don Mattingly is a horrible manager is just bad form. It's a bit like saying you're fluent in Spanish when in actuality you just stumbled out a "Donde esta the biblioteca?" to a confused-looking drive-thru employee at a Taco Bell when you were drunk at 2 a.m.

Pretty much. I'd expand your sports advice to almost anything, really. The trick is actually have an interest and to know enough about it to convey you actually have an interest in it (and didn't just start liking it 5 days ago). Where problems may arise is if you know one sub-topic and the other person knows another sub-topic. In that situation, you may be come across as awkward, because you leave a dead space in the conversation, a bullshit artist, because you say a bunch of nonsense, or a decent person, because you admit you didn't know much about that sub-topic about it and you want to know more about it (or do something else to keep the conversation going in a pleasant manner).

[Mista Bojangles]

Is poker legit to list under interests? I'm a strong player and have made a good amount of money playing both live and online, but feel there's still a stigma attached. Would a conservative employer see "poker" and just think "degenerate gambler"?

[lolwat]

Is poker legit to list under interests? I'm a strong player and have made a good amount of money playing both live and online, but feel there's still a stigma attached. Would a conservative employer see "poker" and just think "degenerate gambler"?

Subjectively, I think it's fine... less of a stigma now. Objectively though, no idea. I think there was a thread on something similar somewhere else but I can't remember the exact advice given there (I think they were asking about using poker as a connection a place like Atlantic City or something though, which is different).

Also, WTF are the font/margin sizes you people use for resumes? I tinkered with mine for a little while last night and couldn't get it down to 1 page for some reason. I do have a "bar admissions" section which adds to it though.

[dixiecupdrinking]

Is poker legit to list under interests? I'm a strong player and have made a good amount of money playing both live and online, but feel there's still a stigma attached. Would a conservative employer see "poker" and just think "degenerate gambler"?

Yeah I'd stay away from gambling.

Honestly IMO, lawyers are such addicts that anything about booze, gambling, etc. is too likely to raise a red flag to be worth bringing up.

Edit: But maybe this is just my lawyerish risk adverse personality talking. Thinking more about it, I think wine-tasting is bougie enough to get away with. Homebrewing is still too "niche," I think. Wouldn't be surprised if some boomer partner thought it meant you were running moonshine or involved in some Smokey and the Bandit shit.

[RodneyRuxin]

Some firms take their associates to Las Vegas to play poker with the partners. I think that if you know the firm, poker can be a good addition to an interests section.

[chem]

Is poker legit to list under interests? I'm a strong player and have made a good amount of money playing both live and online, but feel there's still a stigma attached. Would a conservative employer see "poker" and just think "degenerate gambler"?

Yeah I'd stay away from gambling.

Honestly IMO, lawyers are such addicts that anything about booze, gambling, etc. is too likely to raise a red flag to be worth bringing up.

Edit: But maybe this is just my lawyerish risk adverse personality talking. Thinking more about it, I think wine-tasting is bougie enough to get away with. Homebrewing is still too "niche," I think. Wouldn't be surprised if some boomer partner thought it meant you were running moonshine or involved in some Smokey and the Bandit shit.

On the contrary. I have it on my resume, and in every interview it was talked about. Every interviewer either homebrewed themselves at one point or had someone close to them that had. FWIW, every interview I got an offer I talked about homebrewing, and every interview I didn't talk about it I didn't get a callback

[basilseal]

friend of my friend literally got a job b/c in his interests he put "Squash" and the interviewing partner was an avid player. YNK. HTH.

This literally happened to me. Another +1 for the interests section.

[basilseal]

Is there any good way of phrasing handicapping horses to make it not look degenerate?

Don't know if you're still reading this thread; I'd think you were awesome (and would ask for tips) but would steer well clear of this on the resume.