Due to the fact that we were all locked inside for more than a year, many people decided to pick up hobbies they didn’t have time for before. It was a blessing in disguise, as many people discovered a new love for hobbies. For some, this means a gap in their resume. However, there are ways to include your hobbies on your resumes to highlight strengths you learned from it, and how employers can evaluate your skills from that hobby.
COVID-19 caused many job losses, creating gaps in people’s resumes that they didn’t think they would need to fill. With this shift in the workforce, there is an easy fix to this problem. Volunteer work and caregiving can have a place on a resume. During the pandemic it was common for older kids to watch their younger siblings, while most will leave jobs off their resumes like babysitting because they don’t think it matters—we’ve just come out of an unprecedented time and caregiving shows employers that you’re reliable and responsible. Did you help your elderly neighbor grocery shop? This is also a great option to include in your resume.
Many others turned their hobbies into side hustles out of pure necessity. During the pandemic, over 27% of people relied on their side hustle to make ends meet. What started as a fun hobby for most has turned into a small business run from their living room. With social media like Instagram and TikTok, business owners have been able to create free content for their products and acquire a large range of customers who happened to stumble upon their video or post. This helps give people a direct line of income and also lots of varied skills if they choose to look for another job. Employers who see a small business on a candidate’s resume should be impressed. It takes lots of discipline and organization to run a small business from home.
It’s also good to note that other hobbies shouldn’t be discredited. Lots of people took this lockdown as an opportunity to focus on self-care. Many began a fitness journey or took up meditation to ease some stress and fill in the time. Many employers might overlook this hobby when placed in a resume. However, these are still impressive. It takes resilience and dedication to stick to a routine when you could easily stay in bed. Seeing this on a resume means that they are disciplined enough to learn a new skill.
Including your hobbies on resumes might seem silly, but you should take pride in the amount of time and effort you put into them after such a hard year. It takes hard work and dedication to build up a hobby that’s worthy of being included on your resume. Employers should see this as a sign of independence and willingness to learn, which are great qualities to have in employees.
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