Recruitment is primarily a search for compatibility. Indicating your hobbies on your CV should be done in this context, with a search for coherence. Leave out passing hobbies, and focus on those that you have been practicing for a while. These will be the most representative of your personality, and will give you the opportunity to talk about them best.

That being said, it is important to understand the company and the position you are aiming for. Only after this phase, can you highlight your hobbies. They will suggest your personality traits to the recruiters.

Let’s take two examples: In the first, we will talk about a candidate for a UI/UX designer position, and a candidate indicating in one case, the practice of painting for 5 years, and in the other, shooting sports.

In the first case: It will be easy for the recruitment team to make the connection between your hobby and the position. Indeed, it suggests first of all a real regularity and strong involvement due to the duration, but also creative, precise, and attention to detail skills that are compatible with the position.

In the second case: the connection will appear less obvious at first glance. The recruitment team may not make direct links with the position and may be more likely to move this information to the background. However, you could have defended this hobby on the concentration or precision skills it requires.

However, some hobbies can be real “all-arounders”. Thus, associative/voluntary implications or playing an instrument are generally “well seen” by recruitment teams because these activities feed a positive imagination.