Listing ‘socialising’ as an interest on your CV won’t cut the mustard, warn recruitment experts, who are urging serious job hunters to de-clutter their curriculum vitae.

A whopping 67 per cent of recruitment outfit Unity Personnel’s clients are tired of job hunters’ attempts to make themselves sound interesting, and are asking for the CVs they receive to have the interests sections removed.

A lack of originality, says Unity, and often a lack of real interests mean that employers are finding it increasingly difficult to find any relevance in the information.

‘Socialising’ tops the list for the most common listed interest, closely followed by watching television and going shopping with body popping, lizard breeding and body piercing scooping poll position as the most attention-grabbing.

Alison Haw, recruitment director for Unity, said: “We’ve had candidates displaying a real sense of originality in the interests section of their CVs, but unfortunately this isn’t the norm! This section is also often full of lies or mistruths, and so managers are frequently disregarding the interests of their future employees.”

Unity suggests that candidates use their CV and covering letter to express their personality, and ensure it is memorable. Above all, they emphasise that applicants avoid white lies on their CVs, and ensure their applications paint a true picture of their abilities and experience.