I enjoy homebrewing with a couple friends of mine. I am trying to make my otherwise mediocre resume stand out and have something to possibly talk about in an interview. Will it make me look like a) a hipster douche b) trying too hard c) unprofessional?
Thanks
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I'd say it's fine. Better than fantasy football, science fiction, and breaking bad at least.
It's a nice hobby to have. They might ask for samples after the interview. I should start home brewing as well. I love craft beer!
put it down
CONTRARIAN ALERT
I would be really careful if it's obvious that you're under 21 and live in the US. Whether or not being a homebrewer would help your candidacy, it's not the smartest idea to advertise on a marketing document that you're breaking your state's drinking laws on a fairly systematic basis. Some people who might otherwise like it might decide that any 20-year-old from the 50 states who advertises this on his resume is an idiot.
If you're over 21, I am not going to say it is a bad idea, but my ultraconservative side is shaking its head a little on this one. I think it can be an interesting hobby, but I'm not sure how much you want to associate your resume with drinking. This may be a less helpful hobby if you also have social chair of Kappa Kappa Gamma on your resume, for instance. This may be a more helpful hobby if you volunteer with Catholic Charities.
I also think the older you are, the less dangerous this is. Everyone in industry has a friend somewhere who homebrews. But most of us (at least late-twentysomething engineers like me) don't remember friends in college homebrewing in their bathtubs. So this looks less weird for an experienced candidate who is holding down a full-time professional job and doesn't have any DUI convictions in the past few years.
I guess the question is, does homebrewing contribute to a perception of a normal, well-adjusted candidate or does it make you look like a slosh?
Hobbies are typically the icing on a cake on a solid resume, rather than something that helps a "mediocre resume". A CS MS from Stanford with a 3.7 Grad GPA and 3.9 Undergrad GPA. And he did three projects with ACM. AND he's on the fencing team. ("icing on the cake")
I would go back over your resume and make sure it really is mediocre. I'm really not sure that is the case, and while it's good to be brutally honest to yourself, you need to go into those interviews and into those meetings believing that you have a solid resume. If you don't think you're a solid candidate, who else will?
It's a great way to advertise your alcoholism on your resume.
huh. I always thought homebrewing was a fairly innocuous activity. Perhaps not for a college student.
Sure, college kids drink. Sure, bankers and traders get it (probably more than most professionals). It's still a boneheaded move for a 20-year-old to put on his resume "Hey I make beer at home and give it to my friends, who are probably also minors. Not sure how good it is, but hey, it beats Nasty Light or going sober!"
Edit: different story for someone from the EU or Canada. The US is weird about drinking under 21.
Hey, this is mostly for SA recruiting, but I'm of age and I turn 22 in a couple of months, so no problem on that end. Sorry, I should have specified that. I am just trying to brew up a finely crafted resume... develop a well-fermented CV, if you will.
Illini, I was being mostly self-deprecating, but with regard to kids from my ostensibly non-target school, we usually have the most success trying to be somewhat personable. A friend of mine played up the "I don't have any sweet internships but I grew up on a farm and know the value of hard work, y'alllllllll herp derp derp" angle and it worked out well for him. I figured I could put Investing like every other dweeb like me, but I doubt anyone cares about the ETFs in my meager Roth.
Thanks for all the input, though, much appreciated.
Since you're above the drinking limit, by all means put it down. More of an art form & shows you have some culture in you.
Ok. I think this could work, if it's something you're passionate about and would want to cover in an interview. And it does make you look more interesting than watching TV or coin collecting. But the OCD risk manager in me just wants to make sure we've covered a few other bases:
-Subtly signal you're over 21 somewhere. If you're a grad student and have that on your resume, that's good enough. -Have someone who doesn't drink too much (ideally out of college) review the finished resume and make sure it doesn't signal slosh or person who drinks too much. -If you have to signal your age, and you're not a master's student, be aware that it could hurt you to be the only 22 year old in a pile of 20-year-old SA applicants.
The last point is that if you're going for a junior/senior summer SA role, and you're a fifth or sixth year student, that could weaken your resume in some peoples' eyes. There are ways to downplay this on your resume, but most of those ways are going to make you look younger than 22.
So I've given you three more potential areas of concern to check the boxes on. If those are all good, and you get someone who doesn't drink too much to review your resume, I say go for it. This works for your specific situation, and it's something you enjoy doing, so why leave it off?
Yeah, definitely. I didn't realize my intended career direction until late last year, so I will likely go for a MsFin and try the SA route this summer. And I honestly don't drink that much (not sure why I'm saying this here to be honest). Thanks a lot for the opinion.
You think something related to drinking would make you stand out? In a good way?
From an upside/downside perspective, I would gladly take the other side of that trade.
lol...might as well show up to interviews wearing a beer hat.
Is alcohol scary? It's obviously quite different from suggesting that I'm a beer pong champion. It's just a bit of an interesting hobby I've picked up over the past year or so with some friends of mine, and I figure many normal guys might find the topic of moderate interest versus some BO internship. I'm not putting it under education, just on the bottom line. Not sure why you guys are big leaguing me over it since there is a pretty stark contrast to the analogies being made, and since I asked if it would appear try-hard/douchey in the OP.
You're not getting the opinions that differ from yours, so let me be blunt. I love to drink, but I would not interview or recommend someone who put homebrewing on their resume. I'm sure there is at least someone out there who thinks the exact opposite, because they do it too. Good luck finding the needle in the haystack.
There is a time to really be productive, there is a time to really have fun, and there is a time to do something genuinely interesting. Spending your free time swishing around your own homemade booze is none of those things.
However if you size up an interviewer and they are the fraternity/beer-chugging type and something related comes up, you could casually mention it in an interview. That would probably be okay.
Fair enough. Again, I appreciate the blunt honesty. I don't think you give it credit by comparing it to keg stands or whatever, but to each his own. I have good experience, but come from a pretty severe nontarget with an unimpressive GPA. It's just a matter of taking the risk on coming across as well-rounded or not (it's not the only hobby I list btw... I have a couple that are good conversation pieces and one that could feasibly lead to that...I dunno).
I see relatively limited damage from someone over 21 who does not otherwise come off as an alcoholic putting this on their résumé. There is some risk, yes. This is not a beer drinking championship; this is simply brewing beer.
But if that's part of who OP is, and it allows him to go in more confident, it averts more damage to his candidacy than it risks.
I definitely get GC's point, and that's something I am worrying about here- I do think the decision is very debatable. I think a more confident interview probably tips the balance of putting it on rather than keeping it off. OP is going to have to go for a high vol strategy coming in from a non-target, so the downside hurts him less than a 3.8 GPA Econ major from Harvard.
If weird hobbies can be quantified or substantiated (e.g., won a competitions, been interviewed about it in the media, started an organization for it, etc.), great use it. Otherwise, don't use it, because the interviewer will think one of the following - The applicant made up the hobby (why steer the conversation towards something and then have nothing interesting to say about it, and if there was something interesting to say, it would have been hinted at in the resume) - The applicant didn't make it up, and is weird, as evidenced by the lack of normal hobbies
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