I find that this backfires sometimes because many people don’t seem to have any hobbies.
In the context of an interviewer, I sometimes ask “can you teach me something cool about one of your interests in 5 min?” It’s not the same context obviously but you learn a lot about a person quickly that way. Bonus point is, I learn cool stuff about new things I’m probably not familiar with haha
I have friends that claim they “don’t have hobbies” but the truth is that they spend all their time with their kids and working.
So if they say, “well I don’t do much in the way of hobbies because I’m too busy working and taking care of my kids.” You can then follow up with “well what do you do for work?” Or “what’s the last vacation or outing you did with your kids?” Or “what are your kids interested in? How old are they? Tell me about their personalities.”
The fact that they “don’t have hobbies” isn’t necessarily it backfiring, you then just need to pivot based on their answers. This is just a way to break the ice with someone.
Everyone spends their days doing things, you are really just asking them “how do you spend your time?” Everyone has an answer to that…unless they are in a coma.
I find that this backfires sometimes because many people don’t seem to have any hobbies.
In the context of an interviewer, I sometimes ask “can you teach me something cool about one of your interests in 5 min?” It’s not the same context obviously but you learn a lot about a person quickly that way. Bonus point is, I learn cool stuff about new things I’m probably not familiar with haha
I have friends that claim they “don’t have hobbies” but the truth is that they spend all their time with their kids and working.
So if they say, “well I don’t do much in the way of hobbies because I’m too busy working and taking care of my kids.” You can then follow up with “well what do you do for work?” Or “what’s the last vacation or outing you did with your kids?” Or “what are your kids interested in? How old are they? Tell me about their personalities.”
The fact that they “don’t have hobbies” isn’t necessarily it backfiring, you then just need to pivot based on their answers. This is just a way to break the ice with someone.
Everyone spends their days doing things, you are really just asking them “how do you spend your time?” Everyone has an answer to that…unless they are in a coma.