Top 200 Hobbies and Interests to List in Your 2025 Resume

Your resume is just another in a stack of hundreds of candidates with the same experience, education, and certifications. So, how can you stand out?

Consider describing your hobbies and interests.

Even though you may think of your non-work activities as pointless for your resume, trust us, they’re not. These items could act as icebreakers, giving employers a glimpse into your personality, work-life balance, and transferable skills that could benefit the role.

Including your personal activities could also make you a more well-rounded candidate and highlight that you’re a better cultural fit than other applicants.

But not every resume needs a hobbies or interests section. Use this guide to strategically position your outside-of-work activities to boost your chances of landing the job.

Aligning hobbies with job requirements

Let’s start with this–including hobbies and interests on your resume isn't a one-size-fits-all decision.

If you're early in your career or transitioning to a new industry, hobbies, and interests can be a valuable tool to showcase relevant skills. However, seasoned professionals with a wealth of experience should skip this section, as it can detract from more important qualifications.

As a rule of thumb, list hobbies and interests on your resume only if they:

• Are professionally relevant to the job you’re applying for.
• Translate into transferable skills (or talents that can be easily applied in different roles) that the employer is looking for.

When including hobbies and interests, it’s important to strike a balance between being personal and professional. Share enough to give potential employers insight into your personality, values, and strengths—but avoid oversharing or making your resume too personal.

How to add your hobbies and interests

If you decide to describe your hobbies and interests, here’s what you need to do:

• Research the company

Before listing your hobbies, check the job description, the company website, and the corporate social media accounts to understand if they have a particular work culture.

• Align with the job description

Focus on the hobbies and interests that reflect relevant skills or knowledge areas mentioned in the job posting to demonstrate qualities or skills the employer is seeking.

• Select hobbies and interests that fill a skill gap

Highlight a mix of personal interests to demonstrate different aspects of your personality and skills.

• List your hobbies and interests in a dedicated section

Create a separate resume element labeled "Activities," "Volunteer Experience," or "Interests" if you want to emphasize hobbies related to your career goals. Place it at the end of your resume to ensure it doesn’t overshadow more critical sections like work experience or education.

Below, we'll show you good versus bad practices for your resume hobbies. First, notice how vague this candidate’s hobbies and interests section is.

The resume hobbies section is just a list that lacks any connection to relevant skills and doesn't specify achievements or outcomes.

Here’s an improved version of the candidate’s hobbies and interests segment.

In the example above the hobbies and interests section is connected to relevant skills (leadership, event planning, teamwork), highlighting specific achievements and concrete examples of commitment and results.

Add hobbies and interests to other areas of your resume

If you don’t want to feature your hobbies and interests separately on your resume, incorporate your extracurriculars under your education or experience, labeling them as "Projects" or "Awards." This is a good option if you want to show how your interests complement your academic or professional background.

Below are two examples of how candidates have integrated their hobbies into the projects and awards sections.

Let’s start with this junior programmer’s resume, which showcases his outside-of-work activities under projects.

The projects section highlights hobbies and interests that reflect the junior programmer’s passion for coding, continuous learning, and engagement with the programming community.

Now, notice how this nurse integrated hobbies into the awards element.

The resume awards section:

• Connects personal interests (like swimming and volunteering) with relevant nursing skills such as health promotion and compassion.
• Demonstrates empathy and the ability to work well with others via hobbies like community outreach and volunteering.
• Showcases initiative, leadership, and dedication to health and well-being, aligning with overall industry values.

Eight benefits of including hobbies and interests on your resume

Hobbies and interests humanize and enhance your profile, helping potential employers see beyond your qualifications.

Here are other key benefits of including your personal activities in your resume:

• Showcase a multidimensional personality: Hobbies and interests highlight that you’re not just a professional but someone with a balanced, flexible life. It shows you possess creativity, problem-solving, and strong interpersonal skills.
• Focus on personal development: These sections demonstrate that you’re committed to self-growth outside of work, offering insights into how you continue to learn and develop your skills.
• Add depth to your resume: Listing hobbies and interests can show that you’re passionate and knowledgeable in areas that matter to you while highlighting your expertise beyond work experience.
• Demonstrate passion for the role: Relevant activities can show that you’re deeply interested in the field, enhancing your credibility while signaling to employers that you’re engaged and motivated beyond the confines of a job description.
• Stand out: Unique hobbies and interests can make you memorable to employers, focusing on your specific traits and strengths.
• Compensate for limited experience: Non-work activities can help fill your academic or expertise gaps. Listing them provides a fuller picture of your skills and passions, making your resume look more complete.
• Support cultural alignment: Personal resume sections that align with the company’s culture help demonstrate you’re a good fit, offering employers a glimpse into how well you might integrate into their team and work environment.
• Rapport building: Hobbies and interests can serve as conversation starters during interviews, thus creating an opportunity to connect with the interviewer on a personal level.

Best hobbies and interests to include

Here comes the part you've been waiting for: our list of hobbies and interests to inspire you when writing your resume.

Apart from relevant outside-of-work activities, include anything that requires hard work, practice, and dedication to make an excellent first impression on recruiters.

Sociability and communication

Social hobbies demonstrate your ability to communicate effectively and work well with others, as well as adaptability, collaboration, leadership, and public-facing communication skills. They're ideal for roles requiring interpersonal interaction, teamwork, or leadership.

Leadership and teamwork

These types of hobbies showcase your ability to lead, organize, and work cohesively with others while being able to delegate, solve problems, and think strategically. They’re ideal for roles that require managing teams, mentoring others, or collaborating in group environments.

Fitness and athleticism

Physical activities reflect discipline, perseverance, and the ability to maintain focus over long periods. Athletic hobbies are especially beneficial for jobs that demand stamina, resilience, or the ability to work in dynamic environments.

Volunteering and social responsibility

Volunteering highlights your empathy, leadership, and dedication to community service and to making a positive impact while showing skills like organization, collaboration, and social responsibility. These are ideal for roles in HR, management, and socially responsible companies.

Analytical and problem-solving

Strategic hobbies demonstrate your ability to think critically and logically. These interests are ideal for data analysis, engineering, finance, IT, or roles where problem-solving and analytical thinking are key.

Creativity and design

Creative hobbies highlight your imagination, artistic abilities, and innovative thinking. These activities are especially beneficial for roles in design, marketing, content creation, or any industry where fresh, creative ideas are highly valued.

Personal and professional growth

Hobbies focused on personal and professional development show dedication to continuous learning, self-improvement, and adaptability. These hobbies reflect your drive to stay competitive and enhance your skill set, which is especially important for leadership, management, and HR roles.

Innovation and adaptability

Do you thrive in ever-changing environments? Are you able to come up with innovative solutions? Your hobbies that reflect innovation and adaptability demonstrate your ability to think creatively, solve complex problems, and embrace new challenges.

Discipline and patience

Show your ability to commit to long-term goals, work methodically, and approach challenges with perseverance via your discipline and patience hobbies. They signal to potential employers that you possess the focus necessary to excel in roles, requiring attention to detail.

Organizational skills

Engaging in these activities highlights your ability to stay organized and manage multiple responsibilities effectively. Organizational skills are highly valued in the workplace, where effective time management and resource allocation can significantly impact overall productivity.

Hobbies and interests to avoid

Be mindful of the hobbies and interests you list, as certain activities may negatively impact how you're perceived by potential employers, introducing bias or raising red flags.

Here are some hobbies and interests to keep out of your resume:

• Irrelevant hobbies and interests: The ones that don't relate to the job and might detract from your qualifications. For example, listing “stamp collecting” for a software engineering role could seem out of place.
• Hobbies revealing personal information: Avoid mentioning activities tied to political, religious, or activist affiliations that might introduce bias or stereotypes.
• Controversial or antisocial hobbies: Anything that may suggest violent or antisocial behavior, like hunting or gambling, could raise concerns.
• Extreme or dangerous activities: High-risk hobbies like skydiving may lead employers to worry about potential injuries affecting your ability to work.
• Time-consuming hobbies: They could suggest you're less available for work. For example, mentioning "night parkour" as a serious commitment might raise concerns about balancing job responsibilities.
• Joke hobbies: Including things like “professional meme creator” as a joke may be misinterpreted as a lack of professionalism.
• Common or vague interests: Generic hobbies like "reading" or "watching movies" add little value unless they can be tied to specific skills. Simply saying "I love traveling" without explaining the skills gained from it can fall flat.
• Non-interactive hobbies: Those that don’t involve interaction with others, like "scrolling through social media," might suggest you're not a team player or lack social engagement.

Conclusion

Carefully selecting hobbies and interests on your resume allows you to differentiate yourself by showcasing transferable skills, cultural fit, and personal qualities that extend beyond your qualifications.

Use this outside-of-work section strategically to emphasize activities that align with the job and highlight traits that make you stand out. Every detail you include should serve to elevate your candidacy and offer insight into your well-rounded personality.