How did our hobbies become an integral part of the sources of life? - Walla! Of money

Josh Salomon, senior software engineer at Red Hat (Photo: PR)

, finished

the "Half Iron Man" competition.

"I went through a kind of personal process and journey, which included both massive weight loss and training for the competition," he says.

As part of the short training sessions, and the long time he spends with himself training for the Ironman competition, Salomon began to think about how this story affects him professionally, "and what actually engaging in competitive sports means to a person. Just for the sake of the sport, I posted this question on my LinkedIn page and the answers were almost surprising Everyone thought that extreme sports or any such hobby that requires perseverance and discipline inevitably contributes to skills at work."

Salomon's random post turned into a kind of interesting survey that basically confirms what in the new era we know that HR managers look for in employees they recruit: added value.

If in the past, and many of the readers of this supplement can relate, our resumes were supposed to be free of any personal marker, today the story is different.

Salomon says that the responses to his post were with an unequivocal majority with a small caveat.

"Here and there I did come across the question of whether it's a bit problematic to give a lot of weight to hobbies that come at the expense of work. But I guess it's much more complex than that and definitely depends on the employer."

"True. But on the other hand, you can never know who will read your resume first, and this is not necessarily relevant at this stage, as in the interview stage. During the interview stage, this can be a great advantage for the interviewee, if you, as the interviewer, open the conversation with open questions that are outside the topic of the job itself, you can hear how a person talks about the field that he is passionate about, whether it is volunteering or hobbies. As an interviewer, I always try to bring up this topic because I want to learn more about the person, and sometimes it gives an opportunity to open a window in areas others who build a more rounded figure."

Bat Chen Kessler, Senior HR Manager at Aqua Security (Photo: Private)

reinforces the choice

Bat Chen Kessler, senior human resources manager at Aqua Security

, a unicorn company that deals with information security in cloud environments, has been recruiting people for positions almost her entire career.

"I really like the role of matching the right person to the right position, that's where I came from and I've done many interesting roles within this profession. Therefore, if you ask how important it is to mention your hobbies in your resume, for me the answer is unequivocally yes."

Kessler explains that once you put the hobby story, no matter which one, on the table there are two advantages.

"In this world of matching a candidate to a position in an organization, there is something called: predicting how perfect the person's match for the position will be in the end. With the conversation about the hobbies, you can learn a little more about the person, about his abilities, what turns him on, what he likes to do, is he adventurous, learning new things."

"Not necessarily, because in the end the basis is the professional experience. But it can confirm to me things that I learned about him or her through the professional experience. It certainly can and has happened more than once, to strengthen my understanding that I have reached good conclusions, and even more interesting - to find out about Man new things, which is another layer that makes the choice more accurate."

Kessler explains that this can help mainly young people (juniors) and those who feel they lack professional experience in a certain field and are interested in retraining.

"We employ many juniors in our company and sometimes also very young school graduates, we also have students who are between the end of 12th grade and their military service, and hobbies and volunteering is something that can give a broader picture of a person who does not have the necessary work experience, but Actually says a lot about him.

It sheds light and strengthens the feelings we have as professionals in the field."

Kessler adds that sometimes the hobby or volunteering is combined with the workplace, and this may also be a factor.

"If the office tends to do certain activities with an impact and it is obvious that the candidate is engaged in the same voluntary direction, for example. During the Corona period, we mainly interviewed from home, and while interviewing a candidate, one of the interviewers in our department saw that there were many works of art around him. She asked him about it, and it turned out that Engages in art on the side and professionally. This gave us the ability to see other sides of him, creativity, the ability to engage in things that are not in his field of work, and to this day he is truly someone with whom we can talk about various issues in a broad way and outside the box."

Another example is an interview that Kessler conducted on Zoom with someone who currently leads one of the company's departments and noticed that her entire house is full of flower pots.

"Sustainability is important to her, and when she joined the team she brought it into our offices, which are now very green, and we began to embrace the direction of sustainability even more.

This example was actually the ability to take a hobby and a side business of hers, and bring it to the position and the work itself and give an impact."

As a human resources manager, Kessler recommends adding a professional hobby that you have as a link to your resume. "If you have a website or a page of some kind, it's definitely legitimate.

As recruiters, we ultimately want to come with as much information as possible about the candidate, to come with a good and aggressive recommendation that says there is a match or there is no match for the position, the organizational culture, etc.

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Onit Auslander, Vice President of Human Resources of Click Israel (Photo: Ran Bergman)

For volunteers Ltd

, also recommends adding lines of hobbies and volunteering in a resume and even recommends doing so in the opening paragraph

.

.

It helps in the interviewer's initial preparation for the candidate he is going to meet."

"Obviously, this will not come at the expense of the candidate's professional abilities.

It can show a lot of abilities and reflect who the person is.

In the end, in every company we work with people.

And it's significant interests.

When I'm looking for candidates for a certain position, the emphasis will be on professional ability, but yes, I'd like to know what kind of ambassador he's going to be for the company, even if he's not an iron man, but let's say he just does yoga.

"I also volunteered for several years at the Ruach Nashit association and I see great importance in it. In my opinion, it can testify significantly about a person's personality, what kind of employee he will be. How he will connect with customers, employees, in the end Apart from the fact that he has to be a professional and dedicated employee of the company, he is a service person and does a variety of roles in the company that are beyond. Giving and of course contributing to the community can testify to the person sitting in front of him."

"Definitely. Companies also understand that in everything to do with Generation Z moving from place to place, the world has changed. This requires giving greater weight to the personality aspect of the candidate. And we see this in candidates and also in our employees who are given added value. And the company also gives space to the personal place of the employees. The balance, the hybrid work, all of these allow the personal life to enter into this world. Seeing the people beyond the professional aspect is an important ability. And the employees are looking for that today. To realize themselves on a professional level and to develop, and also to give space to the personal place."

Keren Goldberg, Vice President of Human Resources, at the Ready Group (Photo: Rami Zaranger)

Keren Goldberg, VP of Human Resources, at the Ready Group

knows the story of the hobbies very well. Today she practices and sings outside of work hours, but in the past she was involved in extreme sports, skydiving and everything that the word "courage" exudes. She also sees a very close connection from experience Personal, between the courage and the very extreme hobby she was involved in in the past.

"I made a lot of changes in my career and I can totally see how it affected me.

It's a side of my personality that is very much reflected in both my hobby and my career." Goldberg arrived after working for 20 years in the health care system, moved to work in a private organization with several branches in Europe, jumped from branch to branch and now she is in high tech."

"I absolutely see the adequacy. But that doesn't mean anything, because for better or for worse I also believe in authenticity. We spend most of the hours of our day at work and we need to get to know the people who work with us, it's part of the personal connection and it's also a must for me."

"For example, a candidate who participates in competitive sports, it can be concluded that he is more accomplished, strives for excellence and wants to challenge himself. Other candidates can tell themselves that they adopt new technologies as a hobby. For example, various gadgets, drones, it can be concluded that they are more creative and technological. There are candidates In high tech, whose hobbies are different from everyday activities, suddenly you discover candidates who work in carpentry or do yoga. Here we can conclude that there is a right balance between home and work."

"There is added value here, and that is the higher levels of responsibility. It is important to note in the resume that volunteering is regular and not one-time. A person who volunteers regularly has higher levels of responsibility towards the environment. We believe that employees at all levels should behave as leaders. Not just managers.

We expect all levels to show responsibility. And volunteering is very much in line with the responsibility and leadership that we strongly advocate and lead. Therefore, it can be concluded that candidates who have a greater responsibility towards the environment will also have a greater responsibility towards the workplace, their personal leadership, this is something significant. It stands In line with the prevailing approach today of promoting the issue of corporate responsibility. And this is part of what we want to see."

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