The 'interests' section on a CV is underrated, but it's absolutely crucial to write it effectively. If you just list your hobbies, then it may as well not be there. But if you demonstrate them and highlight the skills that they evidence, you can use it as a hook to reel your recruiter in. Humans love to meet other people who have common interests, and as this article points out, the V in CV means Vitae, which translates from Latin as life, so it is intended to be a document about your life as a whole. 

Interests show soft skills, which are key in many of the client facing industries that graduates apply to, such as law and professional services. By giving examples of how your interests show your skills and strengths, it also helps to bring your CV to life and make your character jump out of the page. The person that hires you has fundamentally got to be able to work with you, so if they can identify a common interest, this can almost be like a foot in the back door. Consider the last new person you met that you instantly felt like you got on with and wanted to keep talking to, and ask yourself if you had an interest in common. 

Cultural fit in an organisation is even more important than ever before, it helps the employer to understand whether you'll fit into the team and the organisation as a whole, and it can even indicate your commitment to an organisation. Your interests can often help to indicate whether you'll fit into the culture, before the employer has even met you face to face or over the phone. 

Ideally your interests and hobbies will demonstrate a skill or a passion for something that involves you learning and developing. If you think outside the box, most hobbies show a skill. Into skiing? This involves quite a degree of risk taking. I know plenty of people too afraid to try. Love travelling to different countries? Then you'll probably be open to working with different cultures and know how to conduct yourself in scenarios where you don't all speak the same language. Love cooking? There is a huge amount of creativity involved in cooking and following instructions, appreciation of other cultures, as well as dealing with unexpected scenarios and being flexible such as if you forgot to buy a key ingredient. Love the cinema? Perhaps you enjoy watching and finding out more about foreign films. Do you love eating out? Write a blog about new restaurants you visit. Love playing chess? Your attention to detail and problem solving skills are most likely second to none. Have you learnt a musical instrument and been part of a choir or orchestra? Then you most likely understand the importance of prioritising practice hours when you'd rather be out with your friends, how practice really does lead to improvement, why showing up to a rehearsal or lesson prepared and with all the equipment you need is vital, and fundamentally, how to work as team, potentially amongst many different cultures and languages. All to work towards perfection and peak performance.

Every single one of all of these skills and strengths, a recruiter will see as potentially transferable into the workplace.

Finally, it goes without saying that you should find a place on your LinkedIn profile to showcase your interests, and join the relevant groups, you never know who you might meet. Once you're out of school, you aren't restricted to only meeting people your own age. You never know, you might join a volleyball club, and find yourself playing alongside the CEO of a great new startup that you're interested in working with, or selling your product to.