'Interests' on CV - is this section *really* required?

[MrsBertMacklin]

I ask before I'm trying to cut my CV from 3 pages to 2, cutting the Interests section would get rid of about 5 lines.

I've not really paid attention to this section when recruiting, but do others?

When we're recruiting I only use it for the point and laugh factor

Nope. Lose it. Only worth putting if you are a school leaver with very little work experience/struggling to fill 2 sides.

point and laugh factor

Please share!

Thanks, it's been nuked.

Mostly just grown men still building their own model railways or similar - but then I work in IT so not altogether unusual...

I've done a lot of retail recruiting and I always read the interests section. Certainly for one particular company I worked for this was key to seeing something about the individual. Then again we were looking effectively for extroverts...

In the grown up world, I would say it probably depends on the job, but if its a case of keeping cv to 2 pages I would cut it out.

Just don't write something in there that is unusual like 'Mountaineering' otherwise you are bound to meet a proper 'Mountaineer' on the interview panel.

Desperately trying to think of some of the 'unusual' ones I've read... someone listed 'watching the world go by in local cafes' once, which still makes me laugh.

One of my schoolfriends put campanology on his UCCA form (shows age here...) and had the horror of being interviewed at his desperately-wanted top choice university by a genuine bell-ringing enthusiast.

I've never paid any attention to the Interests on CVs when they've been submitted to me.

"Interest in probiotic beverages" had us discussing the candidate in question, but it didn't sway us either way in terms of whether or not he got the job.

I had an applicant once profess an interest in pole dancing.

In my field we look at experience, not interests.

Only if you genuinely have an interest in something related to the job. Eg I have food- cooking, visiting farm shops etc on mine as 'real food' is an area that's relevant if not lose it

I have never put an 'interests' section on my CV. Even when the CV is several pages long (which is fine in my field), it's never occurred to me that they'll care what I do in my spare time.

I always include my interests because they are fairly unusual (sled dog racing and dog agility) and at least vaguely connected to the industry I want to work in - I've just secured a job as a veterinary receptionist.

I remember someone being interviewed for a training contract for a law firm (UK) when they'd put 'swimwear model' as an interest

Another got interviewed (different law firm in the US) when she'd put that she spoke 'Pular and Wolof' in her interests (Senegalese dialects apparently - she was a WASP as was the law firm so it made her otherwise stellar CV stand out from all the other stellar CVs the firm received).

My interests got me my last job. I was changing field completely, so whilst some of my skills for transferable, my actual work experience wasn't that relevant. My interests showed that I had been active in the new field in a voluntary capacity for sometime. At previous interviews the interview has used things I've said under interests as an icebreaker. I also think it can be useful if you've been out of the workplace for sometime - to show that you have actually applied yourself to something in that time.

I agree though that usually the section can be left off, especially if your CV is otherwise strong. I don't see what reading and socialising can possibly add.

Well, what about "mumsnetting"?