Counting Rupees: The Job System

Each week Jeff Engel and Geoff Brooks contribute Counting Rupees, a column on the business behind gaming:

It's not unreasonable for a gamer to look at their console and wonder how it might help them professionally. Being financially rewarded for doing something we love has been the holy grail of gaming (and indeed, most hobbies) since well before talk of gaming leagues and Wizard-style competitions. But despite our best intentions, it's rare to find a cubicle-dweller whose carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by a controller rather than Microsoft Office.

And this is why I was interested to read a recent post from Massively on the benefits of putting MMO experience on your resume. Job hunting is something that almost everyone needs to do at least once, and since government statistics suggest that new workers are now likely to switch jobs 7-10 times in their lives, doing it well is a key skill set. So, can games help you here? My answer is a qualified "maybe."

Let me start off with a disclaimer: I'm not in HR. That said, I have interviewed my fair share of job seekers over the past few years, and as silly as this proposition might seem, I think there actually is some merit to it. However, it will take prospective job seekers a lot more effort to put it into action than they might have thought.

The basic problem here is that few applicants have really thought through both what they can offer to a company, as well as what the company actually wants from them. First, there are a few different kinds of jobs – and what worked for an after-school job in high school is unlikely to function as well in an under- or post-graduate context. At the risk of oversimplifying, I think you can break most roles down into two components: skills and personality. A recruiter wants to know that you're 1) capable of doing the work you're being hired for, and 2) will be a good fit with the group once you do join. A gamer would be well advised to carefully consider how they can match their experiences to the job, but also what is appropriate for the audience in question.

So, what do companies look for in a prospective employee? Regardless of the level, there are some basic personality traits: analytical abilities, leadership skills, sociability, and a strong work ethic are all important to almost any role. After all, how often do you see "analytical, motivated self-starter" in a job posting? And these are indeed highly related to multiplayer games: coordinating raids in an MMO can indeed illustrate leadership skills and your passion for the game – and ability to articulate that passion in a relevant way – can show both dedication and an ability to get along well with others. But there are also often idiosyncratic requirements that are specific to the job in question, knowledge or skills that are required to get the job done in the first place. For example, if you're applying to work as an auditor, a company might be interested in your accounting knowledge, prior auditing experience, and familiarity with financial statements or reporting systems. And in fact, these job-related skills are the first check on your candidacy – if you can't convince them you can do the job in question, they're unlikely to be highly interested in your personality.

Once you've moved beyond the basics, the next consideration is audience: Who will be listening to you? Most likely, you're being interviewed by one of two people: either your future supervisor or a dedicated human resources staff member. In all likelihood, they will be older, and possibly substantially so. More to the point, they both have a strong interest in making sure that they find the best person for the role, and you are likely not the only candidate being interviewed. Because they're probably older, the likelihood that they're gamers is small – so don't start off by launching into your World of Warcraft exploits. If they're not familiar with games, there are a whole host of preconceptions they've probably got that you don't want to elicit carelessly. And if they are, they'll almost certainly tell you.

The point is not whether or not these stereotypes are true or even rational – it's whether a potential employer is likely to have them. And the challenge is to convince them that what they perceive to be potential weaknesses are, in fact, strengths.

Contrary to some other advice, I would suggest that you not put your guild membership on your resume. It's important to make yourself stand out, but most employers are far less forgiving of truly unconventional stunts than they would like you to think – even multipage resumes are verboten in many firms (even those that are, unlike many, spell-checked). And unfortunately, gaming counts as unconventional right now. Rather, you need to differentiate yourself in a professional way. Put your gaming interests in your resume, but in the personal interests section: feel free to bring it up if asked. In short, you need to inform the recruiter by making it appear that gaming is important in your life in a helpful, but not crippling, way.

If you do get the opportunity to elaborate on your personal interests at length, you can use this to your advantage. Do: Be clear and concise in enunciating what specific actions you took in a game, what traits those actions exhibited, and why those traits are going to be useful to the company. This might be anything from organizing a local Rock Band tournament to managing a WoW raid schedule. Don't: Focus too much on minutiae or explaining how the game works. You just don't have the time to do it well, the other person is likely to be confused by the explanation, and they probably don't care all that much to begin with. And make sure to list other interests as well on your resume.

To sum up, I just don't think the time is all that near when gaming will be widely recognized as a key signal of employability. Corporate America is just too conservative, and the penalties for hiring the wrong person too significant, to take what is likely perceived as an avoidable risk. Gamers shouldn't take this personally – it's just one of the rules of the game. At the same time, though, you can be introspective before an interview in thinking about what you've learned from gaming that can be applicable more generally; think of times when you've used that skill elsewhere in school or work, and how you can draw the connection. Done well, you can exhibit gaming as another facet of your personality, and set yourself apart in a useful way.

As co-editors of A Link To The Future, Geoff and Jeff like to discuss, among many other topics, the business aspects of gaming. Game companies often make decisions that on their face appear baffling, or even infuriating, to many gamers. Yet when you think hard about them from the company's perspective, many other decisions are eminently sensible, or at least appeared to be so based on the conditions at the time those choices were made. Our goal with this column is to start a conversation about just those topics. While neither Geoff nor Jeff are employed in the game industry, they do have professional backgrounds that are relevant to the discussion. More to the point, they don't claim to have all the answers -- but this is a conversation worth having. You can reach them at