I have no interests

Computer games, fantasy sports, intramurals, bodybuilding, fashion, maintaining an online business (via ebay). Just some of mine. I guess it really is kinda hard to just develop a hobby. You have to have a genuine interest in it.

deutschemorgangoldsuisse:

A little realization I had a few weeks back, beyond i-banking, studying, and drinking, I have no interests. The interests section on my resume is: "Swimming, Reading, Music"

Is this typical for a college student?

Also, any ideas for an interesting hobby? I'm pretty much game to anything. Thinking about training for a triathlon.

Some people do, but I'm like you I don't. If your gonna make them up, be specific and it will be more believable (e.g. what genre of reading, or an obscure sport).

How do you not have any interest? What do you do in your free time? You can't just drink and study all day

It's not unheard of by any means.

If you like sports, get into fantasy sports. Almost every guy I know plays fantasy football. A bunch play fantasy basketball/baseball/hockey. Some even play fantasy soccer (love soccer, never could get into the fantasy thing for it though...).

You could get into food, start exploring different places and get to know a bit about it. Helps if you're near a city. Could also learn how to cook, too, it helps with girls.

Health/nutrition stuff can be interesting. I enjoyed learning the basics, never really got past that though.

Video games are kind of a toss-up. Fun/relaxing, but you have to hope you get someone looking at your res that plays.

Plethora of options, pick something and go with it.

deutschemorgangoldsuisse:

A little realization I had a few weeks back, beyond i-banking, studying, and drinking, I have no interests. The interests section on my resume is: "Swimming, Reading, Music"

Is this typical for a college student?

Also, any ideas for an interesting hobby? I'm pretty much game to anything. Thinking about training for a triathlon.

you're supposed to put "squash, the hunt, condoleezza rice"

that's funny, i felt the same way until i actually got my offer. i honestly made up some shit i could semi talk about that was interesting but not too interesting on my resume, and then after i got my offer i spent second semester of jr yr and all of sr yr developing my interests. feel like i have gained much more depth as a result. also makes me not want to do ib as much anymore since there are things i'd rather do now with my time

Choose something that is unique, but that you don't have to elaborate on. Say you like to build sand castles or some shit. I mean, no one will actually know what's involved in that enough to discredit you.

Also, you should probably find something to do on your spare time. If not for any other reason, it just makes you a more interesting person.

yea don't put video games. just put some generic shit like football, golf, etc. nobody really gives a shit unless it's weird which will just result in your resume being passed passed around for the sole purpose of entertainment -- not good.

In what way is playing computer games inferior to random stuff like football? This is a serious question since most of you seem to be going with the flow, as in following that stereotype where gamers are treated in a weird way.

Not taking it personal, but am simply curious. I have gone through several sports (basketball, karate-do, etc), and I don't feel like the time spent playing computer games on a competitive level has been worse in any way. In fact, I have used them as a way to help out myself/parents financially, so where's the shame in putting that on a CV and talking about it?

Try explaining any of those traits from gaming in an interview. 90% of interviewers will have trouble holding back their laughter.

Well, I wouldn't really take seriously someone that thick-minded anyway... I'd rather not have a job than work with people who laugh and mock things which they do not understand. However, there is a differential between the casual gamer and competitive gamer which any person who's born post-1980 should be familiar with.

I'm not going to elaborate on the matter by telling you how each of the qualities can be developed in games, but I would most definitely disregard anyone who has 'trouble holding back their laughter'. For an instance, how is teamwork in a basketball team any different from that in a, say, League of Legends team? Using it as an example as it is a pretty popular game these days and a good example of one depending heavily on teamwork.

Dealing with random people on a computer/console =/= dealing with people in person.

I really hope you are not that delusional that you think you gain the same quality skill set in competitive gaming as you do in sports.

And shit-shooting on the Internet is absolutely nothing like shit-shooting in the locker room, or the bullpen, or at the job.

kill hookers on the side

OP, you are an inspiration...investment banking automaton. If that is the image you're going for I think you nailed it.

Serious question. Do people really write that they enjoy reading and music on a résumé? Are interests like this really relevant to an employer? Seems like a waste of a line that could be used to describe job related skills or experience.

Doesn't seem much different than saying that you enjoy eating and sleeping.

Can't believe some people take playing video games so seriously. No matter how much brain power or team work, or skill it requires to win at some b.s. video game - there is absolutely no excuse for wasting 16 hours a day "practicing" at it. That's embarrassing.

Do you have fun playing games? Great, enjoy it. Don't make it out to be some sort of great achievement. I was joking about sand castles, but I would rather put that on my resume than playing league of whateverthefuck.

Also, doesn't have as much to do with video games - it's the type of game. Playing dungeons and dragons or saying you're really good at monopoly is just as much of a joke.

I have poker listed on my resume. But you have to have the social awareness of the fact that poker is not lame.

Sorry to be harsh nerds.

OP, you need to learn to, chill and drink beer, as Braverman would say. Once you learn this skill you'll find that making new friends comes easy. Maybe your new friends will teach you some new hobbies.

Video games can be a hobby ... it doesn't need to be 16 hours or none. Also, one doesn't have to spend 16 hours a day to master a game. There is some inherent degree of strategy and skill involved for many games. Chess is a perfect example. Some people are just better than others, and no one sits down and plays chess 16 hours a day. Personally, I enjoy playing video games. There is an online strategy game I play now in which I'm ranked top 10 globally (750,0000+ daily players), which I did while maintaining an extremely active social life in b-school AND outperforming the majority of my peers in all of my classes. No -- it isn't on my resume, but that's not the point.

OP, if you're not an expert at something, just add the amateur version: Flag-football, softball league, in-door soccer. You don't have to be D1 to play sports.

What are everyones thoughts on listing poker as an interest/hobby on a resume? I've never listed it because I think the cons outweigh the pros…

If a candidate submitted a résumé to me that had anything about video games or fantasy football on it, that resume would immediately go in the trash.

Books. They are the key to more or less everything. Video games, films, series etc are merely temporary distractions or things that are suitable for when you are too tired to do anything else. Books enrich your mind and stimulates you to think and reflect about life and phenomenons.

Having "Money, Cash, Hoes" in the interest section of your resume is usually a home run and a guaranteed offer.

Not to overly beat a dead horse, but an interesting anecdote on the subject. At one of the PE firms I used to work with, we implemented a "strategy game" portion to our interview process. The interview idea originated and was pushed by one of the partners. The idea was to time individuals in their ability to solve puzzles (kinda like timed-Sudoku) and compare scores across all of our candidates. Obviously we didn't hire based on the results, but they were used as a component of our broader analysis of candidates.

I have an Interests part instead of Hobbies because I know about a lot of cool shit, but I don't really do a lot of shit that would be interesting to others.

So I can talk to you about deep sea exploration or whatever instead of my uninteresting fitness goals.

I couldn't go through all the comments, but my fear that the discussion will become too deep and shooting in random directions has become reality. Basically, I'll do my best to put my point-of-view in a nutshell:

First of all, let's clarify what we were talking about - listing gaming as a hobby. Okay, I've posted my opinion on that one somewhere else before and it was pretty much something along the lines of 'add it to your CV if you have some sort of achievements and didn't just waste your time being bad at it'. Yes, that's the part where you can be absolutely terrible at basketball, yet be capable of talking about it because you watch NBA and absorb everything said, and have general interest/passion for it. That example being put out there, I concur that gaming cannot be listed in such fashion, because the odds that the person reading your resume watched the last Intel Extreme Masters (for instance) are not in your favor.

Secondly, wouldn't it be a good thing to include it among other stuff? Could be me interpreting it wrong, but I think that most people comment under the assumption that 'Hobbies' section of your CV will contain just 'Gaming'. Well, no, and if you have other interesting hobbies it might as well be a good thing, I'm pretty sure. It might even be the last one listed, however, it still has the tiny chance of contributing in your interview if you have genuine interest or a great story to tell. And whoever would throw your resume in the trash because it's listed among sports, other more common interests must be a complete douche.

Long story short: Be yourself, if everyone listed the same hobbies or changed themselves in order to have some sort of a template-alike CV, it would be pretty sad.

/I'm tapping out of this dispute, because both sides have valid arguments and in the end it is the details that matter and there is absolutely no way you can put it all in a general case.

Thanks for all the replies, had no idea this thread would get so big. I guess I actually do have more interests than I thought after reading the comments. I'm big into poker and fantasy football, was there a consensus on whether these are acceptable on a resume or not?

Also, my opinion on video games at bottom of resume: Sure, you can make a case that you develop teamwork and problem solving skills from these games, but will you be able to make that case to the person reading your resume?

I feel like you could make a decent case for fantasy football building your analytical skills. I mean, you go into the season with a limited amount of resources (draft picks), and you analyze a pool of hundreds of commodities (players) and compare the potential ROI of each. Basically the draft is like completing a comparable companies analysis. Then during the season, you trade players with other teams, and in doing this, you automatically think of other trades that have been completed during the season, thus going through a comparable transaction analysis. And then we have the leagues where you can choose to keep a player for next season, forfetting a draft pick. This is where you project value for the next season and discount it by the weighted average cost of the draft pick.

Basically, fantasy football is investment banking

bic's profile page says intern which explains everything. Fantasy football (and basketball sometimes) is huge at every office

I'm with @"bic" on this one...fantasy sports are lame. The fact that everyone takes interest obviously has zero bearing on their lameness, since large groups of people are capable of all being lame together. If you like sports go outside to a field and play some pick up games, if you like betting go to a casino.

Definitely second the sport/games argument. One of our VPs got a foosball table on our floor. We played it once and fell in love with the game. Then we got addicted. So much so, that when a floor wide tournament was launched, I won the singles and my manager and I won the doubles. I list it in my resume because it makes a great talking point during interviews. They need to know that I bring fun and energy to the table apart from work.

List things that you are passionate about. If you don't have any, try finding some things you're passionate about.

So what do people have on their resumes for interests? I have basketball, tennis, skiing, young alumni board for my undergrad I want to put music festivals on my resume what do you guys think?

People are putting too much thought into this. Unless you put something really fucking weird (i.e. Satanism, the occult) on your interests section, you'll probably be fine. Almost never a make-or-break type of thing.

I'll also add that I get a bit skeptical when people have really out there random shit in their interests section. Don't try too hard to look like a magical and unique snowflake.

I do BJJ and it almost always comes up during interviews. Most people heard of UFC, MMA or BJJ and were interested. Had a decent chat with a PM who is an MMA and boxing fan, guy who wrestled, partner mentioned daughter and boyfriend are big fans,

If you're going to include personal information on your résumé, put something that demonstrates leadership, discipline, or ambition. Do you think an employer gives a shit that you play fantasy football or like to travel? Great, who doesn't?

Now if you led a habitat for humanity build, climbed mt kilamanjaro, led a platoon in Iraq, run a non-profit charity business, or did something else unique that demonstrates employable qualities, then those are relevant things to talk about. I just don't see the point of telling a hiring manager your favorite color or that you play basketball. Do you honestly think that's helping you get the job?

Mine gives you a good feel for who I am, which is ESPECIALLY important in online applications when they don't know who you are.

Fencing, International Economics, Chess, Basketball Analytics, Volunteerism, TED talks.