What Your Hobbies and Interest Say to Employers

TAGS:

interview, interview questions, interviewing

John Borrowman, CPC
Borrowman Baker LLC
Gallatin, TN

When applying for your next business valuation role you could be forgiven for thinking that all you need to do is focus on the formalities, that is: resume, cover letter, a smart suit and bringing your interview ‘A Game’.

Formalities of course matter a lot, but recent research by the prestigious Kellogg School of Management suggests that candidates should also think about the informal aspects of their application. Intriguing, yes? The research showed that hiring managers from elite professional services firms were choosing people who they liked and who they would like to socialize with and potentially be friends with. And these social/cultural fit factors took precedence over qualifications and experience in the selection decision. What was most interesting was that hiring managers were using the candidate’s hobbies and interests to see if they were the right fit for their culture.

So, you as a business valuation candidate should think carefully about what your hobbies are saying about you – and if you want to ensure good culture fit, try and apply to professional service’s firms containing employees with similar interests and hobbies to you.

Take for the instance, the book, Crazy Good Interviewing: How Acting a Little Crazy Can Get You the Job, which gives an idea of pastimes and what personal qualities might be associated with them. For example, people who like to cook may be creative and able to improvise with limited ingredients. Fishermen may be patient or focused whereas chess players are good at developing business strategies and athletes may be great and aggressive in achieving targets.

On a more lighthearted note, an interesting study by French Wines in Style reported in the Huffington Post looks at what your wine choices say about you, (which could be on display in a more informal interview setting such as over lunch or dinner). They found that red wine drinkers were seen to be more ambitious, healthier and better educated, but white wine drinkers were more relaxed and practical.

This shows that it makes sense to know what your hobbies and interests and social preferences are saying about you and to try to apply to companies where you have a great culture fit. It could increase your chance of finding and landing the perfect job.