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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Would you list WoW leadership on your real-life resume?
by Aiden James Kosciesza 
May 7th 2011 at 8:00AM
I've been to a few resumé workshops in my time, and as a professional writing tutor, I've sometimes been the one helping people with their resumés or CVs. Beyond the listings of education and job history, the section that seems most relevant to employers is that of job skills. Most of us have a number of special skills and talents gleaned from experiences outside of our day jobs, whether in church, volunteer work, coaching a local sports team -- or in my case, in Azeroth.
I run a guild in World of Warcraft, and like every leader in every type of community, be it virtual or actual, I've realized that it takes a lot of skill, attention, and balance to do it right. I have to coordinate events, scout and recruit new members, evaluate the performance of current members both individually and as a team, keep the lines of communication open, and treat everyone diplomatically and with respect. These skills, honed in the virtual world, are extremely relevant to many real-world jobs. The question is, how do I list them on my resume? Should I? Would potential employers be scared away by the knowledge that a job candidate plays World of Warcraft?
I decided to list my experience not on my resumé but in my cover letter, mentioning that I had experience managing a group of people, organizing events, and facilitating group communications. Sure enough, I was asked about that experience in an interview, and I had to come clean. I explained that I had taken on a leadership role among my peers and that I felt I'd learned a great deal about coordination and group management. The interviewer seemed to like my answer, and sure enough, I got the job. Go figure!
Would you list WoW leadership experience in your real-life resume or cover letter? How would you describe it or discuss it in an interview? Do you feel that you've leveraged your WoW experiences for real-world success?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 6)
andvili May 8th 2011 9:21AM
I would list the fact that I am a leader for a team of individuals spanning the world alongside my Cadet Corps experience. Both my experience as a GL and my experience as a Cadet First Sergeant have taught me how to lead people with various skillsets and personalities.
If you're doing it right as a guild leader, you're getting to know your guildies. They're -people- to you, not just a set of pixels. That is an absolutely necessary thing when you're a leader. You need to understand how your subordinates think, and how to motivate them.
Ish May 8th 2011 9:23AM
*mentioning that I had experience managing a group of people, organizing events, and facilitating group communications. *
Sure u can mention this but not that u do it on a video game, there are still some tabues around about video gaming and stuff, it is fun that it would be ok if u say that u do this on a baseball team or something like that, but when u talk about video games u know how things are.
Shadowcub May 8th 2011 9:56AM
I work in the auto industry with a company that acts very much like a dysfunctional family, but a family none the less. A few of us found out that we play WoW and transferred characters to all be on the same server. A couple months ago I was in a meeting with my three bosses and my best friend (with whom I'll be working with in our two-man marketing department). One of my bosses with whom I'm more close and open with brought up playing WoW as an analogy of working together , being a gamer himself he understands the real-world value of games, especially social games. Of course we immediately lost my other two bosses during the discussion. Haha. But with WoW approaching it's 10th year, more people understand what it can entail.
Jonisjalopy May 8th 2011 11:03AM
Being a raid leader was actually a bonus to getting promoted. My boss actually liked hearing that I lead and organize groups of people for fun and in my spare time. Getting paid to do the same thing is easy.
joseph schafer May 9th 2011 12:36PM
I have the fact that I am Guild Leader on my resume. I have used my experiences as a GM and a raid leader in multiple interviews for the same job and I presently have that job.
I have introduced myself and have been accepted as a gamer. Make no mistake -- the skills I have learned as a GM make me a better employee and a better person.
Further, and this is really important to me: I have no interest working at a company that does not accept me for who I am and the hobby I love. If they had laughed me out of my interview after I explained that I successfully lead people who show up for their own enjoyment and work hard for me, and not out of a financial interest but purely out of passion for a highly technical challenge, then why would I work for such people?
I'm proud of being a gamer, a GM, and of my accomplishments and the friendships I've fostered. I'm proud of the fact that I'm a kickass analyst with a kickass job because I explained how I can parse a combat log to identify the root cause of a cascading failure, and then fix that issue. And I can say honestly, I'm a rock star at my job because I'm a rock star at WoW.
Wreck May 9th 2011 12:51PM
One question you could ask is, "If you are an employer and a WoW player, would you knowingly hire someone who is "hardcore" to work for you?"
I'm a very casual player who has raided seriously in the past. For me, if I knew they were really a hardcore player (taking off work to play, spending hours not only raiding but researching their character and fights), I'd probably wouldn't knowingly hire them.
If they were a casual player, I might even think (PAST) guild leadership was a bonus because I know what's involved.
In general, you should probably never put it on your resume nor talk about it unless it comes up specifically for some reason. Your employer could generally care less about most hobbies. No need to tell them about your dog shows, F1 race watching, or softball league either really, unless you're applying to be a dog groomer, car mechanic, or baseball team equipment manager.
Malon May 16th 2011 4:18PM
And I don't believe that - it comes down to discrimination, and that's illegal. Like I said, it's never happened to me, and I've had my experience with MMOs on my CV for five years or more.
Malon May 16th 2011 4:14PM
Stupid comments system! Downrate the above.