I’ve noticed that when Nigerians are putting a list of hobbies or extra-curricular activities on their CVs, I usually see things like ‘reading’, ‘listening to music’, ‘watching sports’ and ‘watching movies’.

If I’m lucky, I might see ‘singing’, ‘dancing’ or ‘playing football’.

But rarely will I see ‘playing the keyboard’, ‘organising drama productions’, ‘messing around with machinery’ or ‘implementing a plan for World Domination’.

This makes it look like Nigerians are passive people, more inclined to watch than to participate.

Is this what you have observed that Nigerians do with their free time? Are we then too tired or too uninspired to do exceptional things? Or have I completely misread the situation?

You have misread the situation. Nigerians do not always say the entire truth when they write CV’s. Everyone puts “reading”, “travelling” among their hobbies because it is what an employer would like to see. It is meant to express ones exposure. I can’t be sending my CV to a law firm or a bank and list among my hobbies that I like “messing around with machinery” or “I love organising drama productions”.

Lol, @jaywriter, where have you been?

@Kaycee was taking therapy from some wonderful females.

I sing, I play the guitar, piano and I write. But you won’t find any of these in my CV. Not when am sending the CV to Shell or Oando.
The employer would only appreciate skills relevant to the job. The bank doesn’t care if you play the sax, when you are applying as a Teller. Nigerians mostly have non-passive hobbies.
I work in power and steel, It doesn’t matter to me if I get a CV where the applicant speaks six languages and is a very good dancer. But I would look again, if the CV reads that an applicant loves tinkering with machines and electricity.

Relevance is what matters, or what should matter. It is usually a case of square pegs in round holes in Nigeria. Someone that studied religion would be working in a bank or even in an engineering field. It shouldn’t be so.
Watching movies, reading and travelling, as hobbies, give the impression that one is exposed. And exposure is relevant to any Job.

Let’s say I am accepting CVs for a job of an editor in a magazine or publishing house. One applicant lists reading among his hobbies, and another applicant puts in dancing. Who do you think I would pick among the two, if they both have masters in English Literature?

@tola odejayi…. Of course, reading is relevant to most jobs as most employers want to know that their workers are open to new developments and are also improving their knowledge on the job which may be available in books and journals. As to movies, well…..perhaps documentaries would be better when mentioned in C.Vs than movies.

@kaycee…..I haven’t seen anyone include it either.

@queenzayta, if I were an employer, reading would not be enough to convince me that a candidate was a suitable fit, because reading is something that I would expect any candidate to do.

What would be of more interest to me is if they specified exactly which area their reading interests lay. Biographies? Science fiction? History? Romance? Technology?

Perhaps as an employer, you’d expect ‘any’ candidate to read. But then, there’s reading and there’s avid reading, and only a clear difference of the two can make you choose the best of them. Don’t forget that an avid reader in the course of reading notices those little details an ordinary reader might overlook which might help improve the job. I’d agree with you on the specifications though @Tola Odejayi…