5 ms·
Ask HN: Is there any point of asking about hobbies in interviews?
I am not sure how common it is in Silicon Valley, but in India following questions are very common and I really find it difficult to understand why interviewer is asking them and what exactly he expects to understand from me:
1. What are your hobbies? (this usually means non-tech hobbies if you have)
2. What are your strengths/weaknesses?
3. Where do you see yourself after 5 years? 10 years?
So...why? I want to understand interviewers point of view.
- PaulHoule 10y agoI think the last two are asked frequently in the US. (2) is poorly regarded as a question. Somebody who is good at the job might choke on the question, but somebody who is good at interviewing has a rehearsed answer. (3) falls to the same attack as (2) I have won jobs based on my answer to (3), but I think for most people things will turn out differently than they expect 5 to 10 years from now. (1) is the question I like the most of the bunch. I think the goal there is to make the interviewee more comfortable; getting people to talk about something they like also gets a very good show out of most people. If a person flubs (1) I think it is much more severe than (2) or (3)
- coreyp_1 10y agoThe problem is that (1) is, to me, invasive. What if their "hobby" is to work for a political interest? What if it is religious in nature? What if it is sexual/adult in nature? What if they have no hobbies because they take care of a dependent relative? In these situations, the interviewer has backed the interviewee into a corner. They must either lie, evade the question, or expose their private life to a complete stranger. In not a single situation is this a good thing.
- kohanz 10y ago> What if their "hobby" is to work for a political interest? What if it is religious in nature? Would those really be considered a "hobby"? Generally a hobby is an activity done for pleasure during leisure time. You can get pleasure from such activities, but that's rarely the only motivation. Regardless of the definition, I don't think it's very difficult to come up with a vanilla answer for this that doesn't necessitate lying. I do agree that's a dumb question that doesn't result in any useful information for the interviewer.
- coreyp_1 10y agoWhat one person thinks is "fun" and is their "hobby", is subjective and therefore personal. Many people define their "hobby" as the thing that they do when they are not getting paid. That may be just watching TV, but that may also be volunteer work in one of the aforementioned areas. From personal experience, I can say that my "hobby" is something deeply meaningful to myself, but may disclose a protected status if probed during an interview. In that vein, I would rather not face the question as a condition to my employment. Quite frankly, it's none of their business.
- partisan 10y agoAgreed. Asking this type of question exposes one to liability. What if you don't hire them? What if they feel it was because of something they mentioned in answering the question? Personally, I look for someone who can get the job done well. I optimize my interview process for that purpose. Some people are looking to hire someone who will also be fun to hang out with so they optimize for that.
- paulcole 10y agoAs far as the United States goes, very few hobbies are going to be protected classes. What are they going to say, "Oh, in my spare time I enjoy being old, blind, and Jewish."
- DanBC 10y agoAs GP says the answer might be "I don't have much time for hobbies because I'm looking after my old, blind, parent".
- coreyp_1 10y agoWhat if their answer is: "Oh, well I go out every afternoon doing door-to-door proselytizing for the Jehovah's Witnesses." "I go straight home because my wife is expecting our 5th child." "I spend most of my time studying for the Citizenship test." "I spend my time at the VFW." "I used to do X, but since I got hurt..." "I sing in the choir at my church." "I make YouTube videos to support LGBT causes." For the vast majority of people, things that are a "protected class" are so much a part of their identity that it is even incorporated into their hobbies. The crux of the matter is, though: It's none of their business! (quite literally)
- gadders 10y agoI could imagine hunting wouldn't go over well in some places.
- clusmore 10y ago>(1) is the question I like the most of the bunch. I think the goal there is to make the interviewee more comfortable; getting people to talk about something they like also gets a very good show out of most people. If the goal is to get people to talk about something they like, then you should just ask that directly. Tell me about something you're passionate about. I've started asking this in social settings now, when I meet somebody for the first time and I want to avoid the awkward chit-chat. I don't think it matters what the topic is, I enjoy listening to people talk passionately about something new to me.
- pmoriarty 10y agoI don't go out of my way to ask about hobbies, but if they do somehow come up during the interview and you find you or one of your teammates have something in common with the candidate, that could be a positive sign. The more compatible the team is, the better.
- paulcole 10y agoI'd ask about hobbies because I want to: A) See that the person has a life outside of work. Where I work, we don't EVER do more than 40 hours a week. If someone wants to work constantly, they're probably not a great fit. B) See that they can communicate clearly about something they're excited about. C) That they choose a hobby that's appropriate to talk about in a job interview. There are definitely wrong answers to this question that would get an immediate NO from me.
- coreyp_1 10y agoA) Everybody has life outside of work. It's kind of the definition of "life", in that it doesn't stop until they die. B) They should be able to do this about the job itself. There is no need to pry into their personal life. C) What if they say, "none of my hobbies are appropriate to discuss in a job interview"? What would your response be? It doesn't mean that it's illegal or immoral, but it has that connotation. Arguably, it might be beneficial to ask if they have any hobbies that relate to the job for which they are being interviewed for (and that does not bother me), but to simply ask about any hobby that the applicant may choose to pursue is, in a word, nosy.
- paulcole 10y ago> What if they say, "none of my hobbies are appropriate to discuss in a job interview"? Perhaps the biggest red flag of all. Has this person not learned how to answer a question tactfully? Do they not understand the purpose of a job interview?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- tabeth 10y agoTLDR: Don't ask for irrelevant information. It helps you make a biased decision. Asking about hobbies needlessly introduces bias into your interview process. The hobby(ies) of candidates is completely irrelevant. One may respond saying "oh, but we just want to make small talk," but it's that small talk that is the precursor to bias to begin with. All things being equal, you would prefer someone more similar to you. > Our findings indicate that people are more willing to give to, share an office with, commute with, and work on a critical project critical to their advancement with individuals who are similar to them selves (Self) along a particular identity dimension than with individuals who are dis similar (Other) [1] [1] http://conf.som.yale.edu/obsummer07/PaperBen-NerKramer.pdf http://conf.som.yale.edu/obsummer07/PaperBen-NerKramer.pdf
- fratlas 10y agoI definitely work more efficiently with people I can connect with. I think the bias is good.
- bsvalley 10y agoSure, that's what seperates robots from human beings - hobbies, personal goals, etc.
- dominotw 10y ago>1. What are your hobbies? This a common indian ice breaker type of question since we don't talk about weather( Indian weather is predictable as hell) .
- laurentl 10y agoMy point of view, as a technical manager (i.e. I've both asked and been asked these questions). 1) is, for me, a way to know a bit more about the person and see how they talk about something they're interested in. This can actually be a good question if you're interviewing an introverted, technical person who doesn't give much emotion away when talking about his/her job experience. I honestly don't really care if they answer "reading", "tango classes", or "building a nuclear power plant in my garage" - I want to hear them talk as a person, not as a candidate, and get the conversation flowing ("which kinds of books ?", "how did you get into tango?", "where do you get the enriched uranium?"). And maybe you find that you have a common hobby ("I love Terry Pratchett too!"), and that does introduce bias - but as other said, I think it's a good bias. 2) and 3) are typical HR questions. They're meant to understand your personality and your motivations. I'm not a great fan of them (see next point) but I have an answer ready for them because I know they'll be asked - usually, I answer these questions by explaining what motivates me. Instead of asking 2) and/or 3), I usually ask "what motivates you? what do you like or don't like in a job?". If the candidate has trouble answering, I try to be more specific: "what did you like about your last project (position, whatever)? what made you glad to come in the morning, or what did you try to avoid?" Any answer is valid, from "I liked the challenge of the project", "I got on well with the team", "it was a 5 minute walk from my house" to "too much office politics" or "the open space was too noisy". I just want to understand what the candidate likes and dislikes so that I can see if they're a good fit with the job, the environment and the team.