I helped out in my former company’s headhunting efforts and reading resumes had always been a treat for me. While I really don’t find them on one’s resume nowadays, I’m still interested in knowing what a person does on the side. Don’t get me wrong, I think that those information will stick out like a sore thumb in a resume filled with work-related information. But knowing more about a person’s hobbies and other activities give you a bit more information about the person. Why? Here are my reasons

• Flexibility

  If you explore the skill sets involved in a person’s hobbies, you can analyze how these skills can apply to your own workplace or in the position the person’s applying for. Depending on the hobby, you can even review the skills needed in engaging such activities. Even something like fishing reflects patience. Long-time hobbyists often exhibit the sense of dedication to the work or project that he’s in. However, you also have to be careful if the hobby is bound to come in conflict with the person’s interests.

• Creativity

  Hobbies are an avenue for the other parts of the brain to flex and exercise. There’s a reason why workplaces that bank on people’s creativity offer amenities for rest and relaxation for employees. Lounges can have a pool table or a pinball machine. Some even have game consoles for employee use. It’s because letting the mind wander and engage other aid in the creative side of the brain to work.

• Life

  All work and no play make Jack a robot. Companies should hire people, not robots. If a person doesn’t give himself the opportunity to devote some of his time to himself and other efforts, you know that he has the tendency to be a robot. Hobbies give people the time to recharge and channel energies to a productive effort not related to the rigors of work. Well, this is my opinion. I know that many companies still abide by the unhealthy practice of advertising job vacancies for people but demand robots. Robots are only bound to break down.

Some may argue that probing too much on the personal side of a professional is quite intrusive to his or her privacy, I think it’s just logical to check whether a worker is also of sound mind and sound body. A lot can be said of what a person does in his or her spare time. So next time, in an interview, you might also want to check these out. There’s much more to a person than what’s written in the resume.