No doubt you’ve heard stories of people taking their hobbies and turning them into a career. For example, that friend who always tries out new fitness routines had a light bulb moment and became a personal trainer. So, if you can turn your hobby into a career, it stands to reason that you can you also use your hobby to display marketable skills and land a job in your chosen career field.

Take a look at what recruiters had to say when we interviewed them for our RapidFire series: PetDesk, Marketo, Cornerstone OnDemand, AppLovin.

Going from Hobby to Hired!

Having a hobby gives employers many insights into your personality, such as whether you’re an introvert or extrovert, how you might react to different situations, or handle tasks given to you. Hobbies also let employers know that you have a life outside of work, which can help your overall mental health and therefore make you a better employee. Below are four ways hobbies can help you land a job!

1 – Boosts your skills: If your hobby directly pertains to the job you’re applying for (e.g., coding is your hobby and you’re applying for a web developer position) then you’ll have the advantage over some of the other job applicants because you won’t need as much training. And less training saves companies time and money. In addition, it shows that you are current on industry trends and are keen to improve your skill set.

2 – Enhances performance at work: Employees who thoroughly follow their gut instincts and have hobbies of their own tend to perform better as compared to their peers. Why? Because they have practice at being self-motivated in what they want to accomplish.

3 – Faster adaptation: There will be days when all does not go according to plan. Employers need employees who understand this and can adapt quickly to change. If you’re someone who enjoys traveling, think about the times you’ve had to deviate from the schedule and find a new alternative that gets you where you wanted to be in the first place. It’s that out-of-the-box thinking that will help you in your career.

4 – Accomplishing nature: No matter what hobby you pursue, you’re working toward a goal and giving it your best effort along the way. This focus will be seen as an asset by employers.

Finding Your Next Hobby

Looking for a hobby?  Fast Company suggests these five and the benefits they offer:

Practicing Yoga – Helps improve overall work performance and stress management.

Playing a Musical Instrument – Besides offering a creative outlet, this hobby helps develop good listening skills, experimenting, overcoming repeated failure, self-discipline, and successful collaboration.

Volunteering – This hobby helps cultivate a broadened cultural and social perspective, along with a sense of community, which will affect how you approach and solve problems. It’s also a great opportunity to network and gain leadership opportunities.

Playing Team Sports – Athletes have a sense of resilience, are well practiced at managing their time, work well with others, develop strong communication skills, and work hard to achieve their goals.

Learning Improv Comedy – These classes teach you how to collaborate, think on your feet, develop ideas, and express your creativity without fear of ridicule.

Portfolium.com – Students

This post originally appeared on Portfolium.com on July 20, 2017. All dead links have been removed.