At the turn of any new year, you can become a little reflective. I realised that with 2017 arriving, it signifies 40 years since Elvis died, 40 years since I watched the first Star Wars’ movie and 40 years since I went to my first World Series’ cricket match…and it’s 40 years since I joined the paid workforce. 40 years!

It’s a sobering thought, so realistically I am closer to my retirement, than I am to the beginning of my career. I have had the “when are you going to retire?” chat with a lot of my friends recently, we are all around the same age and have been working for about the same amount of time.

Some of these people are in a position where they could pretty much retire now, they have worked very long hours to get to the top of their respective professions and have financial security, as a result. What I wasn’t expecting was the answer; “well, I don’t know what I would do with my time if I retired.”

Maybe I am naïve, but I was really surprised. Due to their very long hours of family and work commitments, they had long said goodbye to their own hobbies and other interests. We then got into a long ensuing discussion about the benefits of applying their skills to not-for-profits and charities, but that’s another story for another blog. What is important, is pursuing your outside interests and including them on your resume. We get asked this question a lot, of whether they should be included at all. I think it rounds you out as an individual. After all, an employer is employing a person, not a resume. Your interests and hobbies may not even be brought up in an interview, or they could be useful as that vital ice breaker at the commencement of the interview.

Realistically, an interview is such a small snapshot of time, by providing this additional information, you may answer unasked questions. So go ahead and include them (shopping and going to the beach aren’t hobbies by the way), not only could you find some all-important common ground with your new manager and colleagues, you may also be setting yourself up for a very interesting and active retirement.