Your Interests section is more important than you realize!
Creating a unique and relatable Interests section will help you instantly build personal connections and positive associations with whoever is reading your resume.
5 Neutral Interests Section Topics
- Food/Drink
- Sports
- College
- Hobbies
- Geography (travel, where people are from, etc.)
These topics are present in plenty of interest sections, but we want to take them one step further.
What To Include In The Interests Section
Let's say you had the best night of your life at the Full Moon Party in Thailand. Which of the following two options would you be more excited to read:
- Traveling
- Ko Pha Ngan beaches (where the full moon party is held)
Or, let's say that you went to Duke (an ACC school) and still follow their basketball team. Which would you be more pumped about:
- College Sports
- ACC Basketball (Go Blue Devils!)
In both cases, the second answer would create a bigger emotional response because they are tied directly to your experience.
I recommend writing a specific favorite associated with each topic in parentheses next to your original list. For example, if you wrote travel, you can add (ask me about the time I was chased by an elephant in India) or (specifically meditation in a Tibetan monastery).
Here is the exact set of interests I used on my resume when I interviewed at Google, Microsoft, and Twitter:
Additional Resources
To learn more about how to create an Interest's section, check out our guide on how to write a resume.
