Employers have little or no interest in job candidates' interests outside work and would like that information removed from CVs.

That's the message from recruitment consultancy Unity Personnel, which claims 67% of employers no longer wish to see such details.

The most common and least interesting activity listed on CVs is ‘socialising', the research found, followed by ‘watching television' and ‘going shopping'. More unusual hobbies included ‘body-popping', ‘body-piercing' and ‘lizard-breeding'.

"We've had candidates displaying a real sense of originality in the interests section of their CVs, but unfortunately this isn't the norm," said Alison Haw, recruitment director at Unity.

"This section is also often full of lies or mistruths, and so managers are frequently disregarding the interests of their future employees."