<p>I was saying that those companiesand plenty more, I’m surenot only look for candidates with creative backgrounds outside their areas of technical expertise, but attribute their wild success to it.</p>
<p>
What I can’t imagine is anyone saying that you were not a serious student of computer programming because you took a course in pottery for credit. Total disconnect.</p>
<p>Sylvan,
This is not the focus. The focus is the claim that one’s hobbies could improve one’s programming skills - this is very inaccurate, sorry to dissapoint. By the same talking, anybody who likes to knit is NOT a better accountant…etc. This activities are extremely important to keep us mentally healthy and satisfied in various aspects of our lives, not just job related. However, do not expect to be getting job offers in professional fileds because you have been into horse riding your entire life.</p>
<p>The point is not that a hobby makes one better at one’s vocation. The point is that one’s hobby can be an indication of one’s creativity, which is a great asset in certain vocations, and which may not be evident simply from one’s having a degree in that subject. For example, if I’m hiring an engineer to design new products, and two candidates have the same academic qualifications, the one whose hobby is model trains will win over the one whose hobby is watching television.</p>
<p>I have never seen knitting as a college course. :D</p>
<p>MiamiDap-- Seriously, going down this road means you could argue that only Accounting courses should count for that major, only chemistry (ok, and math and bio) courses for a chem major, and so forth. Why does the accountant need English, Western Civ, or a foreign language?</p>
<p>Let’s forget a liberal education and go back to technical training. Fine, but it sounds like a recipe for boring workplace cafeterias!</p>
<p>mantori–exactly! Some hobbies (model trains) indicate creativity in a related field. Watching TV indicates zero creativity, interest, and skill…unless perhaps you are applying for a field in television producing!</p>
<p>I also think being two dimensional limits your job growth and more importantly enjoyment of life.</p>
<p>( Some of the engineers I know- who only know their field- OMG pitiful)</p>
<p>I also know a fairly successful singer, who is a manufacturers rep,I know * very* successful musicians who have strong interests ( & participation) in fields besides music as well as very different styles of music.
(For instance friday, I am taking H out to see a woman who has fronted a punk group, but just released a Cd of stylish love songs):)</p>
<p>Ive known someone who has been :a governors chief of staff,head of OSHA & is currently in charge of the largest state public pension fund and his degree is from a college that doesn’t even * have* majors!.:eek:</p>
<p>I know people whose knowledge of their subject is very, very deep, but the more intelligent they are ( IMO) * the more they are aware* how narrow their expertise is.( & they are very open to learning from others)</p>
<p>I actually think your hobby can make you better at your job, because even if it seems limited, it gives you a different perspective.</p>
<p>For example- knitting. Now I don’t knit, but my daughter does & just the act of doing something simultaneous with both sides of your body stimulates your brain.</p>
<p>Researching yarn patterns & fibers, gives you cultural context & history you might not know otherwise that can have applications in other contexts.</p>
<p>Working with yarn, is also very tactile, and tactile stimulation can be very soothing, making the crafter more relaxed and better able to apply their knowledge in other fields.</p>
<p>Besides if you don’t have a hobby, how are you going to spend your time when you retire?</p>
<p>“Why does the accountant need English, Western Civ, or a foreign language?”</p>
<p>-To improve communication skills, which are required in any professional job. Actually, communication skills is a major focus of interview anyway, so by my standards they do not need to be required, but I am for completing ALL requirements for major, whatever they are. I thought we are discussing courses / hobbies / EC’s outside of major.<br>
I am still very serious about irrelevance of these to a job / Grad. school acceptance. However, I am just as serious about fact that pursuing personal interests greatly enrich and improve one’s personal life and should be a goal. I do not see anything wrong with watching TV being a hobby. I actually envy people with this hobby, they do not need to look for other activities, they do not need to spend time outside of house and lots of money along with time, like I do, since I cannot watch TV, even if I am paid for doing so. Actually some of job interviews might spend certain time on discussing favorite shows, sports. In my case, the answer is simple, sorry, not interested in any. I can see it being negative in comparison to the next person with the same qualifications, if I follow other posts here.</p>
<p>Miami, I don’t care if you are interested in basketball or football or underwater basket weaving. As long as you are interested in SOMETHING and you can discuss that interest with enthusiasm and some humanity. My first hire over 25 years ago when I started in recruiting was a new college grad who had attended a small LAC I had never heard of at the time. When I asked why he chose it, he said he read a biography of Lincoln between the summer of his junior and senior year of HS and that professor taught at that LAC. So he applied there hoping to study American History with that professor and although he’d ended up majoring in math, he had a passion for history and had read all the first hand diaries, letters, etc. of the Civil War, had visited a few of the major battlefields, etc.</p>
<p>The director of the group this young man was hoping to join was something of a school snob- liked LAC grads, but preferred Williams and Amherst over the less well known (at least to him.) I waited for him to send me a curt note asking why I was insisting he interview this young man- and I told him that since I knew he was a big Civil War buff I thought he should spend 45 minutes interviewing the guy. There was nothing on the resume that indicated the kids hobby by the way… just a random question about “Why this LAC”.</p>
<p>Of course the two hit it off immediately… hired a week later, ended up doing really well in the company, etc. I bet the two of them bonded over Gettysburg or the second inaugural speech or whatever-- who can say why people like each other.</p>
<p>So hobbies are important for demonstrating another dimension to what is often a very one-sided view of a person.</p>
<p>Blossom,
Mutual interest got me hired at my first job. Actually, it was not interest, it was my background. Luck is a huge % of success in finding job. It also was some part of luck with my current position. However, we are not discussing luck here either. In addition, my current director mentioned to me later that my resume was definitely the best in long period of her search because of my BS and set of skills acquired thru experience. The “other” stuff was just an icing and had no effect on my hiring, although, I did use my “other” skills at my job several times, but this additional skill could have been easily replaced by usage of computer.</p>