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Nothing wrong with listing hobbies or "outside interests" if space, layout
and your career objectives allow for it--it often is a good talking point
for related experience and shows the candidate has a well-balanced life. As
a potential candidate, I often weigh the job description or screening
interview before including that information--it's a judgement call. As an
interviewer, it's just an additional way to get a more complete picture of
the candidate, but I don't "mark down" if a candidate doesn't include it,
and I don't "mark down" for references to activities that I may not
personally favor. Like some of the other posters mentioned, bringing up the
subject during the face-to-face interview is very dependent on the
candidate. I usually bring it up if it's mentioned on the resume, and bears
some tangential or direct relationship to experience needed for the
position.
Weight, marital status, race, gender, are all no-no's now (in the US
anyway), but it wasn't true 30 years ago. You also don't need the
"references available upon request" line anymore. Every recruiter, HR
person and headhunter I've ever worked with asks for them as a matter of
course, and most HR types assume they'll be made available when screening
for professional positions.
Just a bit more info for the thread.
Connie Giordano
-----Original Message-----
From: Charter, Tara M. [mailto:Charter -dot- Tara -at- mayo -dot- edu]
Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2000 5:37 PM
To: TECHWR-L
Subject: RE: TW Screening Questions
> I agree with Joanne. It would seem odd if an interviewer asked me about my
> hobbies. I've seen old resumes where people used to list their height,
> weight, hobbies, etc. I guess we all have to be careful now.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Joanne Meehl [SMTP:Jmeehl -at- datum -dot- com]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 14, 2000 3:51 PM
> To: TECHWR-L
> Subject: TW Screening Questions
>
> And HR people who know their US labor law will tell you that "how
> someone
> fits in" is not considered related to job performance. Yes, I agree
> that
> "fit" *is* critical; how many of us have found a highly-skilled
> co-worker
> who's made our work life miserable, because of personality issues?
> But skilled HR people will tell you (as they have told me) that
> these
> innocuous questions can be dangerous because an unsuccessful
> candidate can
> claim "the interview fell apart when I told them I volunteered for
> the
> NRA/Planned Parenthood/whatever, so obviously they are biased
> against me for...
>
