Would you class guild leadership as experience for a job?

Strider_Roshin · April 2017

On a resume you want to sound as impressive as possible. It's why my letters of recommendation are from directors, and not from laymen.

If that's on his resume, he must not be that impressive. I'm the leader of a guild as well btw.

Duiwel · April 2017

Lol?

Morgul667 · April 2017

GM definitly require skills and commitment but leading people IG and IRL are different things.

One can be good at one and bad at the other one.

Using this as a reference will be probably perceived as a lack of IRL references. Candidate could be categorized as childish and disconnected from reality. Why gamble ?

Dont put it in.

Junipus · April 2017

Being a GM does require a lot of similar skills to management (not leadership) but I wouldn't use it during applications and would save it for interviews where it'd be interspersed with examples in real life so there'd be evidence of face-to-face experience.

David_Zarn · April 2017

Most standard jobs doesn't require "leadership" abilities and guild leading in game is all about your character, charisma and leadership skills. Those skills are required for company founder and/or director, but on such mostly self-employed jobs no one hiring someone who pointing in CV that he was leader in video game

anitajoneb17_ESO · April 2017

Excellent topic.

Being a manager myself and having been a guild leader too, I firmly believe that the skills and methods are exactly the same in both situations. After all, both are about leading a group of different people towards a common goal, using the available means, and combining each individual strengths and weaknesses for the best possible results. It's also about delegating power and responsibilities appropriately, communicating with the group and with individual to share information, spread enthusiasm, collect feedback and resolve conflicts.

Would I put all those skills in a resume ? Certainly.

Would I mention my gaming activity in a resume ? NEVER. Video games have a bad reputation, fantasy has a bad reputation, and even before MMO/RPG existed, classical pen and paper role-paying games such as AD&D had bad press too. While some of it is imho unjustified (disconnection from reality, lack of social skills, etc.), some aspects are legitimately questionable if someone mentions gaming experience (especially, in my view, the attitude towards competition and violence). I never ever mention ESO nor anything gaming-related for that matter in my professional environment. And if I receive a resume mentioning gaming as a hobby, I will probably send it to the shredder too. If someone really has the qualities of a manager and learned or practiced them as a guild leader, he/she certainly can find a way to mention them and emphasize them without mentioning gaming.

Surgee · April 2017

DeadlyRecluse wrote: »

It it relevant experience? Absolutely. Would I ever put it on a resume? Absolutely not. Never. Nope.

In China and South Korea, it could work.

MacCait · April 2017

NO... but having experience leading in the working world is certainly good experience for leading a guild

rotaugen454 · April 2017

I was pretty good at Mario Kart, so you know I won't spill the coffee, unless I am throwing it at someone in front of me...

This is a risky move. My gamer friends have talked about how some games have skill sets that apply to real world settings, but unless the person looking at the resume understands that, they might dismiss you as a non-serious applicant.

Malamar1229 · April 2017

i think its absolutely relevant but kind of taboo in the real world

Serjustin19 · April 2017

Maybe something like this? Different game. (Will have popup sadly. Be warned.)

https://www.wsj.com/articles/can-warcraft-game-skills-help-land-a-job-1407885660

WalksonGraves · April 2017

Rohamad_Ali wrote: »

I'd just be careful in mentioning which guild you lead . I saw one in Cyrodiil called I like BBW's that claimed one of the castles . That one could land you in HR room first day .

HR lady is always a BBW, you're hired!

Flaminir · April 2017

Put it on a CV? Not in a million years... you never know who will be reading it and sadly there may be negative images in some peoples head.

Would I use it in an example to answer certain questions in an interview? YES....

....but only if I was certain that the person interviewing me was going to understand & get the relevance to the position I was applying for.... and even then I'd probably only use it in the usual questions about what you do in your spare time... and emphasize that as a hobby it also helps hone skills relevant to the job.

Tasear · April 2017

I mean we live in a different world these days, we have books without paper, meetings asrcoss seas with a plan. Let's be honest someone had to make football Captain good example if leadership first instead of like movies bunch jokes butting heads with bear.

Honestly though to start and run guild takes some serious leadership, let alone maintain it. For convincing 10 people you are worthy to lead them, to giving guild a brand, goal, funds. Honestly more than leadership it's entrepreneurship.

I say if he or she is a good leader than you probably hired a better leader than the football Captain who works with his home town people instead of guy who can work in a sense internationally.

Hire for future not yesterday

clocksstoppe · April 2017

No, don't embarrass yourself OP.

mb10 · April 2017

Well everyone saying no they wont do it probably find it harder to get a job.

Everyone saying no = you put it in your CV

The whole point is to be different from the crowd and if you can write it correctly, its definitely a good skill to have. Youre leading people without any physical presence and it shows that you definitely do have social, organisation and leadership skills.

If the recruiter cannot understand this then dont worry and be patient because youre due to go a lot further in life than them, trust me.

*Btw it should be a small part of your hobbies and interests part of your CV not your main information lol

zuto40 · April 2017

Trading guild gm in a spot like mournhold: Directly oversaw 500 workers with a yearly budget of more then $1,500,000 and gaining $2,000,000 in profit (not sure about total weekly sales for a top guild)

Tasear · April 2017

Danikat wrote: »

brimstone74 wrote: »

It's not worth the risk. I would say this is getting better as Baby Boomers (no offense guys) and some of their biases are organically kinda retiring themselves out of the workforce. Gen X forward you'll see a lot less bias, but it's still there.

I once had a boomer see an mmo referenced in a private email on my personal cell to me from a friend...he called me out...he was in the process of pulling me to his team and promoting me....that email killed the whole thing.

To a lot of folks...gamer = lazy loser.

We know better as far as Guild Leaders and Competitive gaming...but the masses at large do not really buy into this.

The sad thing is if that email was regarding a baseball meet up after work...I likely would have gotten a high five.

Isn't that technically discrimination? Sure 'gamer' isn't a typical issue for discrimination but I know one woman who was formally warned about referring to applicants under 30 as "kids", "young lads", "wee boys" and other things that implied they were children because it could be considered discrimination and if someone found out and then didn't get the job they could complain on the basis that she was making assumptions about their experience based on their age.

(Although it might also depend on what country you're in. I know UK employment law is very different to the US - for example the whole 'at will' employment thing is totally illegal here.)

But I think you're right about older co-workers. Funny enough one of my co-workers made some snarky comment about applicants with tattoos earlier today and how it makes them look like "god awful punk rockers". She seemed to forget that she was speaking to me and my manager and we both have tattoos which are visible depending on how long our sleeves are (today we both had them on show), but I gently reminded her that I'd just been chatting to the head of department about which Guns N' Roses shows we were each going to this summer. She quickly back-tracked and claimed that it's different if you can "pass for normal".

Okay when I on my death bed going to say lived through first black president, computer revolution, womans rights, and now gamer rights.

What interesting times we live in.

Danikat · April 2017

clocksstoppe wrote: »

No, don't embarrass yourself OP.

You didn't read anything except the title did you?

RavenSworn · April 2017

I would actually write that up in my resume. Honestly, it's all about the wording. Don't put up straight that you have ran a gaming guild before.

Tasear · April 2017

This such an assuming topic, there such variety and interesting thoughts.

Fun fact photography used to not be considered art. It's now now widely accepted. Last year in tamerial only Templars could heal dungeons without discrimination. It's just the times changes, ask yourself does this experience have what I am looking for. How well did they right off such an negative contation.

P.S If I could I would like to hire some guild leaders from major trade guilds for a political career or to balance my books. These people are monsters.

They convince people of value of x trader, raise funds, keep track of engagement level , conflict resolution, without ever getting paid nor recognized. Read previous phrase again

You can hire them for less and get more

Horrible I know....I will speak to my concious later about it's PR scandel.

Jemcrystal · April 2017

I am afraid no one takes gaming seriously. It's a tragedy really. But unless you are a dev or design artist, and they had to shove madly to get their respect, no one will care. Laughable is the word that comes to mind if you present gaming as a skill asset. Not that I agree but I'm no boss on the hire. Anyway, getting a job isn't about how good your are but about whose arze you smooch. If you actually have talent that's a plus. My advice. Whatever job your are getting - be good at what the boss enjoys. If he likes golfing guess what you get to learn how to do. And remember to always keep people talking about themselves. They think more of themselves than they think of you anyway. Just pretend you think more of them than yourself.

niawrathb16_ESO · April 2017

I actually have put being a guild leader on my CV I think the trick is highlighting what skills the experience has given you and have examples ready when you get an interview, I would put it under hobbies and interests or your personal statement not work experience but it has worked in my favor in a recent hiring.