Most Common Question:What's Your Hobby?
One of the stumbling blocks for MBA
aspirants in Interviews is the question “tell me about your hobby”.
While on the face of it, what seems to be a pretty simple and straight
forward question actually becomes mostly monotonous and boring because
of lack of thought of the candidate on this account. In India, typically
(A/Q to a survey) 95% Males play/watch Cricket, 90% listen to Music and 85% like reading
books as their hobby. That bland response “I like to watch cricket,
listen to music and read books” either provokes the interviewer or
actually bores him to death that he chooses to give it a pass.
On Most occasions this question figures in the end of an interview or at a part of the interview where the candidate has struggled for a large part of the interview. The interviewer has struggled to kick off an interesting or engaging argument, and just to make the candidate comfortable asks the question about his hobbies.
When asked this question, the interviewer expects something refreshing, wants to feel the exuberance in the candidate since he has asked a question which is supposed to be the candidates "Forte". But most of the candidates let this golden moment die because of their thoughtlessness. This indicates he never explored indulgences in life, a lack of taste and to say the very least lack of respect for hobbies.
What is a hobby?
Hobby is NOT A SKILL. It is an indulgence which you like to do. So, some people should just stop giving themselves excuses that since they don’t know how to dance or play flute how they can have an interesting hobby. One of my friends told in the interview “ My hobby is to watch news channels, I typically watch news channels 8 hours a day” . His interview went about 15 minutes on the anchors in various channels, the company owning those channels, and about it. He simply knew what he liked, spent his time on , and took care to research on it . Hobby is anything you like to do. While Cooking can be a hobby, Eating GOOD FOOD can also be a hobby.
Why is a hobby relevant?
“My hobby is to eat Pizza. Which Ever city I land in , I always make it a point to find authentic Pizza Places,it needn't be always Dominoes and I make sure that I have a meal at at least one of them” --- At least when end of the day , when the Panel starts discussing the candidates they remember you as “ Abhilekh—The Pizza guy” . You made an interesting mark among the rest.
Hobby is a question asked by the panel to know you as a person, explore your personality beyond your CV. Is the candidate an extrovert, an introvert? It also gives a sense of your time management, your ability to explore horizons. If you are struggling in your interview with your academic/technical questions and you are asked this question. It’s a brilliant opportunity to wipe that cold sweat, neaten your shirt creases, sit back, relax, smile and get Talking. It’s your forte, it’s about you, Only you can be right about yourself, no one else.
Typical answers
The Most typical answers are Watching/ Playing Cricket, listening to Music, and Reading books. Most likely the panel , who is obviously more mature and experienced that you runs a much bigger arsenal of all of the same. He might ask you the venue of 21st Century of Sachin Tendulkar. Its not that he expects you to know that answer, but may be that was one opportunity where he went to Mohali Stadium to Watch a cricket match and Tendulkar scored his 21st ton. He will just impress on you He knows better, if at all he hasn’t been bored to his skull listening that. Typically Reading books are also not that well received and you can be critically questioned on Brown’s Da vinci code , something which the interviewers hold up his sleeve. Most likely you are a sitting duck, at the mercy of the interviewer whether he decides to take on you or not.
Explore
If you haven’t spared enough time to develop a skill, then please spare sometime now to sit and analyze your time spend. There must be something somewhere which you really love to do. Explore the same. Read about it, know about it . Few answers said differently can make a mark – instead of saying Watching movies, you can say “War as a subject has always intrigued me. My best Movies are all war movies which I enjoy watching over and over again. While in childhood, it was the Heroics that used to consume my passion, as I am growing up, the story, the strategy, the ploy, how a small battles fits a bigger objective gains my attention. “If you can now Read up about world War I , II, and some historical wars and site the same in context of few movies at least when you walk out of that door, at the end of the day after seeing some many candidates, one of the panel members would be able to put a FACE to your name.
It just requires 2 concrete hours to explore yourself, explore your likings and then constructing a TASTE for yourself. You may find that actually whenever you have some free time, rather than sitting at home and sulking or watching TV , you always call up some friends and meet them. So, you can come across as a social person, who likes to meet up friends, exchange ideas, debate on topics. Its like when you met a girl ( or a girl met a boy) and you ask “ what you like to do ? “ . The purpose is to know more about a person and discover HOW MUCH FUN is HE/SHE? Same, give the interviewer an idea that you are a fun person to be with.
On Most occasions this question figures in the end of an interview or at a part of the interview where the candidate has struggled for a large part of the interview. The interviewer has struggled to kick off an interesting or engaging argument, and just to make the candidate comfortable asks the question about his hobbies.
When asked this question, the interviewer expects something refreshing, wants to feel the exuberance in the candidate since he has asked a question which is supposed to be the candidates "Forte". But most of the candidates let this golden moment die because of their thoughtlessness. This indicates he never explored indulgences in life, a lack of taste and to say the very least lack of respect for hobbies.
What is a hobby?
Hobby is NOT A SKILL. It is an indulgence which you like to do. So, some people should just stop giving themselves excuses that since they don’t know how to dance or play flute how they can have an interesting hobby. One of my friends told in the interview “ My hobby is to watch news channels, I typically watch news channels 8 hours a day” . His interview went about 15 minutes on the anchors in various channels, the company owning those channels, and about it. He simply knew what he liked, spent his time on , and took care to research on it . Hobby is anything you like to do. While Cooking can be a hobby, Eating GOOD FOOD can also be a hobby.
Why is a hobby relevant?
“My hobby is to eat Pizza. Which Ever city I land in , I always make it a point to find authentic Pizza Places,it needn't be always Dominoes and I make sure that I have a meal at at least one of them” --- At least when end of the day , when the Panel starts discussing the candidates they remember you as “ Abhilekh—The Pizza guy” . You made an interesting mark among the rest.
Hobby is a question asked by the panel to know you as a person, explore your personality beyond your CV. Is the candidate an extrovert, an introvert? It also gives a sense of your time management, your ability to explore horizons. If you are struggling in your interview with your academic/technical questions and you are asked this question. It’s a brilliant opportunity to wipe that cold sweat, neaten your shirt creases, sit back, relax, smile and get Talking. It’s your forte, it’s about you, Only you can be right about yourself, no one else.
Typical answers
The Most typical answers are Watching/ Playing Cricket, listening to Music, and Reading books. Most likely the panel , who is obviously more mature and experienced that you runs a much bigger arsenal of all of the same. He might ask you the venue of 21st Century of Sachin Tendulkar. Its not that he expects you to know that answer, but may be that was one opportunity where he went to Mohali Stadium to Watch a cricket match and Tendulkar scored his 21st ton. He will just impress on you He knows better, if at all he hasn’t been bored to his skull listening that. Typically Reading books are also not that well received and you can be critically questioned on Brown’s Da vinci code , something which the interviewers hold up his sleeve. Most likely you are a sitting duck, at the mercy of the interviewer whether he decides to take on you or not.
Explore
If you haven’t spared enough time to develop a skill, then please spare sometime now to sit and analyze your time spend. There must be something somewhere which you really love to do. Explore the same. Read about it, know about it . Few answers said differently can make a mark – instead of saying Watching movies, you can say “War as a subject has always intrigued me. My best Movies are all war movies which I enjoy watching over and over again. While in childhood, it was the Heroics that used to consume my passion, as I am growing up, the story, the strategy, the ploy, how a small battles fits a bigger objective gains my attention. “If you can now Read up about world War I , II, and some historical wars and site the same in context of few movies at least when you walk out of that door, at the end of the day after seeing some many candidates, one of the panel members would be able to put a FACE to your name.
It just requires 2 concrete hours to explore yourself, explore your likings and then constructing a TASTE for yourself. You may find that actually whenever you have some free time, rather than sitting at home and sulking or watching TV , you always call up some friends and meet them. So, you can come across as a social person, who likes to meet up friends, exchange ideas, debate on topics. Its like when you met a girl ( or a girl met a boy) and you ask “ what you like to do ? “ . The purpose is to know more about a person and discover HOW MUCH FUN is HE/SHE? Same, give the interviewer an idea that you are a fun person to be with.
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