Comments on: Raiding On Your Resume

By: Crispy

Crispy — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:12:07 +0000

I have to dispute Hunty’s claim that more than 2 lines about yourself on your CV is worthless. True, it’s worthless if your CV is with a rec agency (I, too, have worked in recruitment). But many assessors do want an idea of a person’s character, since often it is the one thing that differenciates them from the other 50 applicants. With recruitment agencies and big HR departments, keywords are more important. But when you go for more important, longer-term jobs, often employers will want the person they are to be working with closely to have a compatible character.

I think this is more something to talk about in the interview so you can educate and justify. Right now the general public have no freakin clue about playing videogames. I have a friend in HR who is the same but once I started explaining the skills involved in overcoming obstacles as a commander in Natural Selection (RTS commander rallying human FPS soldiers), she was astonished. I do think there are valuable skills being learnt here, but without a common ground any would-be employer is unlikely to be able to relate to game skills and believe your claims. Maybe in a few generations with the benefit of casual gaming bringing games into the mainstream.

By: zima

zima — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:07:26 +0000

I wonder if the thing that I generally do singleplayer (even in games with big multiplayer) means…I’ll be forevell freelance (read: unemployed)…something? ;P

Well, singlepayer + purelly cooperative multi (against AI; too bad there isn’t much of that kind of gameplay)

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:11:54 +0000

I’ve played a fair amount of WoW myself, but if I saw someone list it on their resume, I’d toss it in the garbage immediately. No, wait, actually I’d pass it around to all my coworkers so we could laugh at someone being such a moron, then toss it in the garbage.

By: Kadayi

Kadayi — Tue, 13 May 2008 18:31:46 +0000

Now you need to take that info and stick it to the idiots in your own comments section purporting to be International business Jetsetters. ;)

By: Cameron Sorden

Cameron Sorden — Tue, 13 May 2008 14:15:10 +0000

Hah. You’re right — and I think it’s a little amusing that the aspect of online videogames which is probably most directly related to actual work experience and can demonstrate real world value is the activity that’s fairly universally condemned by gamers.

By: kadayi

kadayi — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:44:20 +0000

@Cameron Sorden

I hear what you are saying. To a degree though if you say were generating real money through your hobby either through Gold Farming or some such (not that I advocate such things tbh) then that might be the sort of thing an employer might look upon favourably. It’s one thing to say ‘I run a clan’ it’s entirely another to say ‘Last year my clan made $xxxxx, by doing Y’ . One shows commitment, the other shows commitment and ingenuity. Plenty of people play WoW, very few of them make real money at it.

By: Jochen Scheisse

Jochen Scheisse — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:51:55 +0000

I did not question that putting anything about gaming into your CV is a rather bad idea. I just thought it’s funny how your last sentence almost perfectly described chess, and how I could much more imagine a chess grandmaster mention his hobby in a CV with more success.
And while the optic of the gamepiceces may differ, without an understanding of the game mechanics that’s a tad deeper you won’t push out a green branch in both games.

By: Paul Moloney

Paul Moloney — Tue, 13 May 2008 11:13:33 +0000

“You mean, like chess players miraculously manage to do.”

I don’t think iconic gamepieces count as “cartoons”, but anyway… chess has a long and established history. Even people who’ve never played it are familar with it and the fact the game requires a certain intellectual rigor. But _even then_, a mere mention in your CV (”My hobbies include chess…”) would suffice. Banging on about how you are great at it in an unrelated job interview and would be pointless.

I’ve never reviewed a CV to look for clues on whether the person is social or not, since the best way of deciding that is to meet them; I check their CV to see if they have the technical qualifications and experience to get the job done. Anything else is filler.

I play WoW casually, so would probably understand more about the game than 99% of interviewers, and I have to say that anyone who considered playing it to be a a job qualification would end up as an amusing anecdote at parties.

By: Jochen Scheisse

Jochen Scheisse — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:37:10 +0000

You mean, like chess players miraculously manage to do.

By: Paul Moloney

Paul Moloney — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:21:19 +0000

I’m not sure which is worse; to have a gaming hobby which is so tedious that it’s considered work, or to be so deluded as to think that non-gamer prospective employees are going to be impressed that you can arrange groups of little cartoon figures to beat other groups of little cartoon figures.

By: Andres13

Andres13 — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:06:07 +0000

Don’t get me wrong, I love gaming … but after working in HR for over a decade and seeing thousands of resumes cross my desk I can say with certainty that except in a few niche job markets, “gaming” on a resume is the kiss of death.

By: AbyssUK

AbyssUK — Tue, 13 May 2008 08:16:16 +0000

Hobbies : Sitting on ass, jumping around Ironforge aimlessly for hours on end, dancing naked in the Inn with friends, looking for groups