It is surprisingly important to include them, Melanie. Many people are looking for a good fit for their team, someone with common interests. It never fails to amaze me how often my interests in old British cars, motorsport (CAMS licence & such), BMW motorcycles and even TV comedy writing (for Live & Sweaty and for Backberner amongst others) have come up as positive talking points, raised by the interviewer. People often want to interview tangible people, with common hobbies or fascinating interests that sit outside the square. Often just sending a big list of candidate achievements can serve more to intimidate than to encourage a potential employer. I keep my resume (no accented e characters here because the freelists server cannot cope with them and inserts =85 and the like) brief because, by its very nature, a resume is supposed to be a brief summary, more like an extended personal profile. My CV, on the other hand, which is (as a CV is supposed to be) a comprehensive worklife history document, is available only by request. So I don't swamp those who don't need or want to know with everything unless they want to proceed to the next step. So you need two separate documents. A resume for most uses and a CV (for your own reference if for nothing else). BTW, many bosses (although not the better ones who see the value of having great people) can feel intimidated by interviewing potentials who are more senior and knowledgeable in certain areas than themselves, so too much info in the initial stage can cut you out of contention. Plus, when the poor buggers have to read 85 resumes in a morning, it all can get too much and a long winded letter or resume can simply end up in the WPB out of reviewer exhaustion. So once you get an interview, keep it real. Don't push too hard and remember that an interview is a two way process. Make it easier for the interviewer by researching their business before you arrive (company Web sites are so handy) and by having interesting questions to ask them. All the best, Michael Granat Write Ideas At 08:33 2/7/2003 +1000, you wrote: >Morning all, > >My company sent the employees it retrenched on a three day job seeking >course. > >The consultant running the course gave us a template with a layout and >headings of things that were expected to be included in a resume. > >One of the headings was 'Interests'. I stopped putting this heading in my >resume a few years ago. I've never felt any potential employer was >interested. > >What do other people think? > >Cheers, > >Melanie ************************************************** To post a message to austechwriter, send the message to austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx To subscribe to austechwriter, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" in the Subject field. To unsubscribe, send a message to austechwriter-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" in the Subject field. To search the austechwriter archives, go to www.freelist.org/archives/austechwriter To contact the list administrator, send a message to austechwriter-admins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx **************************************************