A collection of hobbies, skills, sports, leisure, dance, and culinary examples to help you write your cover letter. Use these examples to help you write an effective cover letter that expresses your personality and interests.

Get to know people and yourself through exercise

I often exercise when I take a break. My job is a technical job, so I use my body more than office workers, but because I use limited muscles, my back and thighs are rather weak. However, if my body becomes weak, there may be no turning back, and I may have to finish my work, so I try to exercise in advance to strengthen my muscles and protect my body. Therefore, on my days off, I always swim. At first, I was just a dog swimmer, but after three years of learning, I am now as good as a professional swimmer, and my coach says that I can swim as well as a professional swimmer. Also, exercising has not only improved my body, but I have learned patience. I had to constantly work on myself to become a good swimmer, and I had to work on my impatient personality, so when the day came that I could swim freely, I think it was a great stress reliever and an experience that made me grow. Since then, I have been actively involved in sports, and nowadays I play soccer with my juniors.

Playing basketball helped me overcome a lonely time studying in the U.S.

When I was in middle school, I followed my parents to the U.S. I had to endure a difficult time adjusting to living in a foreign country, as my father was suddenly transferred overseas, and I was unprepared for the language. My parents thought it was better to adapt to the situation quickly, so they sent me straight to school without any language courses, and I was in a desperate state of needing to adapt somehow, even though it was difficult. In fact, at first I was a bit of a bully, sitting in the back of the class every day, struggling to understand what the teacher was saying, and going to school alone. But then I was asked to play basketball with my friends in gym class, and I excelled at it and started to be recognized by the kids. This helped me build a community with local friends through sports, and I adapted to both English and school much faster than I expected. To this day, I still head to the basketball court on the weekends. It’s a hobby and habit of mine that is a testament to the bonding between people that sports can provide, a way of thanking basketball for saving me from a lonely and difficult time in another country, and a reminder to myself that when things get tough, I’ll think back to it and get through it.

Building unity through soccer

I’m a member of an early soccer team and play soccer every weekend morning. I like to do things that keep my body moving, so I grew up playing table tennis, tennis, baseball, and other ball sports. When I wanted to play a more social sport, I joined a soccer team in college. Soccer is a sport that can’t be won by one person’s skill alone. Most people only look at the player who scores the goal, but it’s actually a team effort. I think that’s the beauty of a sport that you can do together, and the older I get, the more I find myself drawn to organized sports because they teach you the importance of working with people, and as a somewhat introverted person, it’s important for me to feel a sense of camaraderie with people and a sense of togetherness based on a strong sports spirit. I have a few former colleagues on my soccer team, and the first thing that surprised them when they joined the team was how active and masculine I was, which was completely different from my usual work environment. In fact, their reaction at first was a bit puzzling, and on the one hand, I felt unpleasant and uncomfortable because I thought, “What kind of image did I have…….”, but when I thought about it after a while, I realized that I didn’t leave any other channels open, and I think I unilaterally said, “This is the kind of person I am, so please understand this”, and I think I was able to get along with them more easily after that.

Jazz dancing energized me to work harder

After graduating from vocational technical high school, I got a job right after graduation. I was proud of myself for entering the workforce sooner than others, but while working at a tax accounting firm, I realized that I needed to acquire more professional knowledge. I started thinking about the future, not the present, and realized that I couldn’t stay in a supporting role forever. So, three years after graduating from high school, I tried my best to realize my dream of going back to college, and enrolled in the university’s computerized taxation department (at night).
I’ve been interested in jazz dancing since middle school and have been learning it as a hobby. There’s something so cool about dancing to music, and when I first started, I was so in love with it that I spent more than five days a week in the practice room dancing. Now I don’t have as much time, but I still make sure to get out to the studio at least once a week to practice. I think jazz dancing is one of the reasons why I’m able to stay flexible. I think having a hobby is a great way to keep yourself busy, and enjoying your hobbies gives you the energy to work harder.

Relieving stress by enjoying four-season reports

When I’m feeling stressed out, looking out at the cool nature helps me clear my head. I enjoy fishing, camping, climbing, wakeboarding, snowboarding, and so many other sports in the spring, summer, fall, and winter seasons, but when I think about it, I think I’m more enthusiastic about the place where I enjoy the activity than the activity itself, because it’s not a stuffy place, but a natural place. Since I enjoy many sports, I naturally joined communities for each sport I enjoy, and I met a lot of community acquaintances, just like various sports that look the same but have different personalities. It’s interesting that in the leisure sports community, people talk to each other, exchange information, and become friends quickly, without anyone saying anything first. I think if I met someone for work or something else, it would have been a little uncomfortable and awkward at first, but because we have a common purpose and topic, I think I was able to get to know anyone and feel free to share opinions with anyone. In fact, at one point, there was a situation where a customer fell over because he was so immersed in these leisure activities that his normal life was interfered with, but after I started thinking about balancing life and leisure, and made certain standards and rules for myself, I was able to reduce such concerns and really use leisure as my own stress relief.

I love sports, including taekwondo and martial arts

I do all kinds of sports, including taekwondo and martial arts. It’s a way to relieve stress, an effort to fulfill my curiosity about all kinds of martial arts, and a choice to stay in shape for my aptitude. There are all kinds of martial arts out there, and they all have their own rules, but there is always an aesthetic of dedication that goes all the way back to the roots of learning, and the mental aspect of it, that always excites me. It’s because the paths to the end are similar, even though the beginnings and processes are different.
It also stimulates my intellectual interest to see the similarities in the movements to use the body efficiently, even though the martial arts are derived from completely different countries. Aside from these personal interests, the joy of seeing my strength and seeing the difference in my body as a result of constant training is what keeps me going. Even as I get older and my movements become more limited, I want to make sure that I can overcome them with constant effort.

I’m active in soccer and baseball clubs

My friends and I have soccer and baseball clubs, and we play regularly. I’ve tried playing squash or light jogging on my own for the occasional impulse to exercise, but I’ve always felt lonely when I’m not with someone else, so I’ve given up. I also tried badminton and tennis, but I found the endless back-and-forth of passing the ball back and forth with a specific opponent to be somewhat draining, so I decided that team sports were a much better fit.
Not only is it a great way to exercise, but it’s also an important way for me to keep in touch with friends from my student days and stay connected after graduation. I’ve also come to realize that even if there are petty squabbles between friends, there is a natural conflict resolution that comes from working together against a common enemy. It’s a great pleasure to know that friendships grow stronger day by day, and that conversations with my friends are not just about reminiscing about the good old days, but about today’s game and the ground we’re going to play better on tomorrow. It’s also a great pleasure to know that what started out as just a casual game for our own enjoyment has grown into a passion, and that we’re now getting good enough to compete in amateur matches and achieve good results.

My hobby is marathons, no stranger to the long game

I started running marathons when I was in elementary school. Living in a rural area, I had to travel a long way to buy groceries. I didn’t have any special transportation, so the only thing I could count on were my two legs. It was like a long run from where I arrived to where I was going and then another long run back home. It wasn’t just about running fast, it was about managing my energy and not getting too tired.
After that, I was a long-distance runner in middle school and high school. When I was in college, I moved to Seoul and participated in various marathons to fulfill my desire to run. I love running and keep it as a hobby. Especially when I run a marathon, which is a long race, I feel fulfilled by testing my limits and surpassing them. I also feel “alive” when I see myself being able to keep running even when I’m out of breath and my throat hurts.
On the other hand, I also enjoy the marathon as a metaphor for life, not just a physical activity. When I run a long-term race, I think of it as my life path. I believe that life is a long race, not a short one, and that the winner is not the one who runs faster in the middle, but the one who keeps his pace to the end. So instead of trying to get ahead from the beginning, I try to apply a “winning strategy” by taking a drink of water or slowing down for a while along the way. This is a tendency that manifests itself in my daily life. When I’m working, I don’t try to get too far ahead of myself, I pace myself and stay calm to achieve my long-term goals.

I get pleasure from climbing high mountains

Mountain climbing is a longtime hobby of mine. I started climbing with my dad when I was a kid, climbing a nearby mountain with him. At first, I would get tired and out of breath even if I only made it to the watering hole, and he would tell me to go home first, but he would go all the way to the top and then come back down. I thought that was amazing, and as I got older, I realized that I wanted to go all the way to the top like him.
The first time I reached the summit, the feeling of reaching the top was very exhilarating – a mixture of exhilaration and accomplishment that I had finally done it, and I thought, “This is what climbing tastes like.” After that, it became a hobby to climb every week, even if no one asked me to go, and find different mountains that I had never been to before. I bought climbing gear, wore safety equipment, and climbed high mountains professionally. I hope to continue climbing with my father until he is no longer physically able to do so, and I believe that the pleasure I get from climbing can be a great way to revitalize my daily lifestyle.

The thrill of climbing and reaching the top

I’ve loved mountain climbing since I was a kid living in Japan. My father’s hobby is mountain climbing, so even in Japan, I used to climb nearby mountains. I started climbing low mountains, and when I came to Korea, I challenged myself to climb high mountains. I can say that I have climbed almost every mountain in Korea, such as Jirisan, Gwanaksan, Daedunsan, etc. My father was always by my side. He became close to me while climbing, and he told me many good stories. He especially told me that his hobby of mountain climbing was not just for exercise, but a life-teaching activity. He told me that the process of climbing a rocky mountain through steep dirt trails and reaching the top was like a journey through life, and that the process of looking down at the time spent at the top and going back down to the bottom was like the second half of life, and that I should always remember the process of climbing in my life.
I took those words of my father to heart. I’m young, so I still have a lot of things to accomplish, a lot of things I want to do, and the process of accomplishing them one by one is like the process of climbing a mountain for me, and the pleasure I get when I get to the top is the pleasure of accomplishment, and the view from the top is the view of the time I’ve spent working toward my goal. To feel these emotions and a sense of accomplishment, I think I often climb mountains. I climbed mountains in Korea, but also in the United States. In the U.S., I organized a climbing club to hang out with friends who shared the same hobby, and we planned a trip to climb together. It was a different feeling because I was going with friends instead of with my dad, and I felt a different sense of pride as I climbed the local mountains with steeper cliffs.

Having fun with cooking my own meals

This was a time when I enjoyed having friends over and feeding them my home-cooked meals. Unlike my male peers, whose culinary repertoire was limited to fried eggs and ramen noodles, I was able to cook anything in the oven, and I think I always enjoyed the way they looked at me in wonder. Some of my friends have even told me that what I cooked for them tasted better than what their mothers cooked for them at home – they were old enough to chew stones, they were always hungry, and I needed someone to show them the flavors of the recipes and dishes I developed, so it was always a win-win situation.
I’ve also gotten a lot of interesting looks from them because of the “fun” aspect of my cooking – I make combinations of food that are unheard of at home or in restaurants, and they’re often surprised to find that it tastes good, even more so when they look at it with a blank stare, wondering if it’s going to be good. When people tell me that they’ve even tried my recipes at home, it makes me feel good to know that the ideas I’ve put together have had a positive impact. The joy that comes from spontaneous creative ideas is something I’ve realized through my friends since then.

Practicing baking and selling sweets at the cafe

My hobbies are confectionery and baking. I majored in the food field in high school and college, and I’ve been practicing it ever since, so it’s what I’m most confident in. Not only do I enjoy the process of making and eating, but I’ve also participated in competitions in this field and won awards in cooking competitions, and I’ve also submitted my work to competitions that recognize creative dessert recipes. Personally, I would like to further develop my skills in pastry and baking, which is my current hobby, and eventually open my own dessert cafe.
I think starting a cafe is a great way to express my personality because it can be done independently of my work at the company, so I have obtained practical certificates in pastry and baking and continue to study to become more professional. Although my work has been well-received in competitions, I will continue to develop and research so that my products can actually be sold. My ultimate goal is to eventually create a popular product that I have poured my research into, put my name on it, and present it to the public.

Becoming a certified chocolatier

I first became interested in drinks and desserts while running a cafe in college. Before that, I thought it was not appropriate for me to frequent cafes because I was a man, but I had a new perspective when I saw that most of the new cafes in front of my university were run by young men. In order to break out of the stereotype, I frequently visited cafes, studied like everyone else, and participated in drink promotions. I also analyzed the profitability and sales strategies of cafes. On the other hand, I became interested in dessert development and was attracted to the profession of chocolatier.
I knew I wanted to study chocolate design as an amateur chocolatier, but I was more interested in the act of creating a marketable product and selling it to the public than I was in eating it myself. So I joined a chocolatier certification class within a large café, which introduced me to the world of chocolate, and later, as I gained more knowledge in dessert research, I took up cooking as a hobby. Six months later, I quickly obtained my chocolatier certification and have been working as an amateur chocolatier ever since. I personally post my work on social media, but I think there will be more growth in the future.

I am preparing to become a wine sommelier

While traveling in Canada, visiting different parts of Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and other cities, I picked up a hobby that I never had before. I was introduced to wine sommeliers by a close friend of mine from my language school, who told me that he was a sommelier himself in France, so with his help, I started going to bars whenever I could and apprenticed myself to a sommelier. It wasn’t a formal training course, but I was learning from a professional and gained a lot of knowledge. My friend had a part-time job at a bar and he helped me get a good experience by explaining his knowledge of different wines to me, and I was able to take this knowledge and use it when I worked at the restaurant, so it was a win-win situation.
After returning to Korea, I didn’t have any hobbies, so I naturally decided to prepare for a wine sommelier certification. I decided to make this my hobby and studied professionally to acquire knowledge and become a sommelier. Whenever I was lacking or had any questions, I would email a friend I had met locally and we continued to stay close, and he was kind enough to share a lot of his knowledge with me. Recently, I’m proud to say that I’m almost ready for my qualification and I’m just one exam away from getting it. I’ve actually had a short-term part-time job in a bar, checking and maintaining the wine racks and making recommendations to customers as they walk in the door. I think this will be a hobby of mine for the foreseeable future, and I have aspirations of becoming a sommelier, albeit an amateur sommelier, in the second half of my life.

On the hunt for new desserts

I went to college in Seoul, Korea, near Insadong, and lived in the downtown area. As a visual design major, I enjoyed cultural activities such as exhibitions, plays, and art exhibitions, and I wanted to explore various examples of design through such activities. One of the most important things I enjoy is food. Especially near Insadong, Hyehwa Station, and Daehak-ro, there are many restaurants and cafes where you can enjoy food, so it became a hobby of mine to find and post about these restaurants. I enjoyed visiting restaurants with my friends and eating desserts at cafes, taking pictures of them, and sharing them with others on social media. At first, not many people were interested in my posts, but as time went on, others gradually started to read my posts and get information from them.
On the other hand, I was contacted by a company that specializes in restaurant posts. They wanted me to write a bunch of posts and give them reviews to make a side hustle. I was going to decline the offer because I personally only post about places that are really delicious, but they kept contacting me and I agreed to work on finding new desserts and discovering cafes. Since then, I have been running my own restaurant pages on social media and blogs, finding new types of desserts, taking pictures of them, posting my impressions and reviews, and recommending them to people. As I continued to do this, my hobby became finding new cafes and looking at their menus, and I would run to wherever there was a new dessert or cake type on the menu. So I have a lot of information in this area, and you can also become a person who recommends good cafes and menus by socializing with people.

Eating three meals a day

When I’m on the road a lot, I tend to skip breakfast, eat whatever comes to mind for lunch, and then eat a fatty, big meal for dinner, which often leads to weight gain and poor dietary management, so I try to make sure that I’m eating properly when I’m on the road. I try to eat three meals a day, and I try to plan my meals for the day in advance, rather than just making whatever I feel like eating. Sometimes I’ll tweak it the day before, but usually I’ve gotten into the habit of planning my meals for the week on Sunday. It’s a habit to have a plan for what I’m going to eat for the week, and then go to the grocery store and buy the ingredients to match.
Then, when the week starts, I’ll take it one day at a time, starting on Monday, and cook and eat according to my meal plan. Usually breakfast and dinner can be eaten at home, but for lunch, I’ll often go out to eat or make my own. When I do this, I’ll pack a lunch that fits my menu if I can, or if that’s not possible, I’ll go to a place that offers as much variety as possible so that I can socialize with others and still eat what I have planned. When choosing foods to eat outside, I try to avoid fatty, spicy, highly seasoned, and highly processed foods, and I try to stay on track with my plan by avoiding fried, overcooked, and highly spiced foods. That’s how I keep my diet, my health, and my plan in check, and that’s why I’m a big fan of eating three meals a day.

A foodie’s cooking skills are exceptional

I’m a self-proclaimed foodie. I studied culinary arts in college and earned a certificate in Western-style cooking, which exposed me to a wide variety of foreign food ingredients and cooking methods, and I also read cooking magazines to expand my knowledge of cooking. I learned how to use seasonings, which cooking tools are helpful in cooking, and which food ingredients go well with each other. So I started to seek out and enjoy the taste of foreign foods myself, and as I got better at cooking, I realized the joy of gastronomy. After that, I couldn’t just go to any restaurant, I couldn’t just use any food ingredients, and I became a person who cooked and enjoyed the characteristics and flavors of the ingredients.
Cooking rice with butter and white wine, toast with basil pesto, and pasta salad with fusilli noodles, black olives, and vegetable broth has given me the opportunity to enjoy meals that are far beyond what I could easily prepare before. I’ve learned that using professional cooking tools and ingredients adds an extra dimension to my meals, and I’ve been able to use this knowledge to serve my friends and family and gain recognition as the go-to chef. There are many advantages to having good cooking skills, such as making it easier to prepare for parties with people around me and enjoying my own meals, and since I only eat at home where the cooks are good, I have developed the habit of visiting only those restaurants, so I have acquired information about the restaurants around me, and I can also provide information about food to my acquaintances and colleagues, so I think it is a good habit and hobby to be interested in cooking and enjoying the flavors while cooking.

Enjoying the tea ceremony with a calm mind

I used to have a rash personality, getting excited easily, making decisions quickly and regretting them a lot. Seeing these shortcomings, my mother recommended me a new hobby: the tea ceremony. I had never studied it before, and it was an activity I was not familiar with, but I followed her lead and joined a tea ceremony. She invited me to attend a tea ceremony class organized by the Women’s Association, and I thought it would be rather noisy, as it was a gathering of mothers. However, to my prejudice, the tea ceremony was very quiet, with people sitting in their seats, drinking tea, and eating a naturalistic meal. There was quiet, soothing music playing, and we were all dressed in comfortable clothes, which made me feel very relaxed.
Since that day, I’ve participated in other tea ceremony gatherings that aren’t organized by mothers, and I’ve even organized a tea ceremony gathering among my students. Our group of high school students had a gathering activity to calm the mind, and although it was a bit difficult at first, I gradually got used to it. Through this activity, I learned about different types of tea leaves, and I realized that there are procedures and etiquette in how to enjoy the tea ceremony. On the surface, it seems like it’s just a matter of pouring the tea and drinking it, but there’s a certain order to the process that I’ve learned to follow because it makes the tea taste better. Relaxing my mind and body with a hot cup of tea has become an addiction, and I still make time for it no matter how busy I am.

Brewing my own beer and creating a variety of beers

I love beer. I was first introduced to alcohol in college, and I had a lot of experiences with beer and shochu, and I realized that beer was my favorite. So I thought, why not make my own beer instead of buying it, and I bought the equipment and ingredients to make it at home. At first, the family I lived with resisted my challenge to make beer. They criticized me for making alcohol at home and told me to open a beer shop if I wanted to do so. However, I decided that a hobby is a hobby if you enjoy it, and I started fermenting malt and brewing draft beer.
To my surprise, the beer I brewed started to taste good, and my family started to be on my side instead of my enemy: they wanted to eat it, they wanted to taste it, and they wanted to try it. So my beer was selling like hotcakes to my family, and friends, acquaintances, and neighbors who heard about it and came to visit started to like it, too. I enjoyed it so much that I started making not only draft beer, but also cream beer, grapefruit beer, lemon beer, and when I had time, rice wine. This way, I became known among my friends as a good brewer and many of them came over to my house to taste my beer. In the future, I hope to continue my unique hobby and become an expert in craft beer and increase my knowledge.

Running a food blog because I’m a good cook

I’m a good cook, and it wasn’t until I was over 20 years old that I started to take an interest in Korean and Western cooking during my school days that I decided to pursue a certification. After I got my certification, I started documenting and photographing my cooking process in order to run a professional cooking blog in college. I particularly enjoyed introducing people to the dishes I made and guiding them through the recipes, so I started posting my own cooking process for Korean and Western dishes, which has now evolved into a power cooking blog. Throughout my college years, I continued to grow my blog and research how to use it as my own business medium.
I’m enjoying blogging because I have a blog neighborhood of like-minded people, and many people have visited my blog and commented on my cooking and said that they found it helpful. Especially, I don’t have to purchase food ingredients for my cooking, but I receive sponsorship from external companies, which helps me to create and try dishes freely. On the other hand, I also earn a small amount of money from advertising through my blog. In this way, blogging has become a useful habit that allows me to share my hobbies with others, as well as providing me with other benefits. I plan to continue to be an informative provider of useful information to people through my side dish making, snack making, and night snack making sections. I think it’s also a good way to practice my planning skills, especially since the process of posting requires planning.