A hobbies and interests line is worth including on a CV only when at least one entry in it tells a reader something specific and relevant that the rest of the document does not already cover, and it is worth leaving off entirely when the list would otherwise be generic filler like "reading" or "socialising" that could apply to almost any candidate. The test is not whether a hobby is interesting to you personally; it is whether naming it gives a specific, relevant reader something they could not already assume.
What a hobbies line is actually competing with
Space near the bottom of a CV is not free just because it is near the bottom; it is still competing with a reader's limited attention, and a generic hobbies line spends that attention without returning anything a reader can evaluate. A recruiter or hiring manager skimming a CV in seconds has already formed most of their impression by the time they reach the bottom, so whatever sits there needs to either reinforce that impression with something specific or stay out of the way entirely. A vague list does neither; it neither reinforces anything nor stays invisible, since a reader still has to read past it to reach whatever comes next.
When a hobby genuinely adds a signal
A hobby earns its place when it does one of a few specific things: it demonstrates a skill relevant to the target role that the experience section has not already shown, it signals sustained commitment or discipline over time, competing in a sport at a defined level, organising a recurring community event, or it gives a reader a genuine, specific talking point for an interview that a generic line never would. "Maintains an open source project used by a few thousand developers" says something a reader can evaluate and follow up on; "coding" as a standalone hobby entry says almost nothing a technical CV has not already established elsewhere.
When a hobbies section is better left out
Where a CV is already tight on space, and especially where every section above it is doing real, specific work, a thin hobbies section is rarely worth the tradeoff, since it pushes a stronger section further down the page for the sake of a line that adds little. A hobbies list padded out to look fuller than it really is, several generic entries next to one genuine one, dilutes the one entry that was actually worth including by burying it in filler. If nothing in a candidate's outside interests clears the bar described above, leaving the section out entirely reads better than including a weak version of it.
A CV applying for a role in a conservative or highly traditional field is also a case worth thinking about separately, since a hobbies line that reads as unusual or attention-seeking can work against the same plain, professional impression the rest of that kind of document is trying to build. That is not a reason to avoid the section altogether in those fields, only a reason to lean toward an entry that is specific but understated rather than one chosen for novelty.
Market and career-stage hedges worth knowing
How much a hobbies section is commonly expected varies by market and by career stage, and neither is a fixed rule worth treating as settled fact. Earlier in a career, with a thinner experience section to draw from, a short, specific hobbies line commonly does more work filling out a CV than it would for a candidate with many years of relevant experience to fill the same space instead. Some markets and industries lean toward including a personal-interests line more commonly than others, and a candidate targeting a specific employer is generally better served checking what similar CVs in that market or industry commonly include than assuming one global convention applies everywhere.
Illustrative example: one hobby that adds signal next to one that doesn't
Illustrative example. Weak: "Interests: reading, travel, spending time with friends." Adds signal: "Interests: competitive chess (club-rated), building small electronics projects with a local maker group." The second version names something specific enough to evaluate and, in the electronics example, connects loosely to a technical target role without stating it directly, while the first tells a reader nothing that would not already apply to most candidates reading the same job posting.
Keeping it short if you include it at all
Where a hobbies section earns its place, it earns a short one: one line, or a small handful of specific entries, near the very bottom of the CV, after every section that carries more direct evidence of the candidate's qualifications for the role. This is the same discipline covered for the rest of a CV in how to write a resume: the sections closer to the top carry the most weight, and a hobbies line, when it appears at all, is one of the last things a reader sees rather than something competing for attention earlier in the document. It is a close relative of the filter covered in deciding which soft skills actually belong on a CV, which asks the same underlying question, whether a line adds information a reader did not already have, applied to a different section of the same document.
Build yours
Run every entry currently sitting in a hobbies section through the same test: does it tell a reader something specific the rest of the CV has not already shown? Keep what passes, cut what doesn't, and edit the section directly in the builder.