putting gaming on a CV/application form

[HarryScull]

I have recently been applying to college (or high school for the Americans among us) and due to the fact that until recently I played MW2 and Blops competitively (game battles level) and currently play Blops and RTW semi-competitively (by that I mean that I play mostly pubs and will play the occasional game battle/clan match but dont take it as seriously as I used to, things like no longer watching near as many youtube video's, live events, practising as much or practising on a schedule) and I was wondering whether any of you have done something similar, and how well it worked out.

for me it didn't really impact it, I was hoping to talk about it with someone, explain the ins and outs of it and I even had a video made of a RTW game to show them but ended up not using it. (I had the chance to email it to the school as part of a work portfolio but "bottled it") And as no one mentioned it despite questioning the other things I put down in the hobbies category (cadets and kick boxing) so I'm assuming they just ignored it

so i was wondering the following
1. have you/would you ever put gaming on your CV and if so what level/type of gaming would it be? (for example if you had a following on youtube, or played at MLG level)
2. if you have done how well did it work?
3. If any of you are employers (or work in HR) how would you react to some one putting gaming on their application form, and how much does that change depending on how good at it they are (for example how well their YT channel/game battle team is doing)
4. would including metrics help, for example if I put my k/d and/or win/loss from my competitive account would it help catch people's attention or would they just pigeon hole me as a nerd (or just ignore it)

off topic
5. Its off topic but why do you Americans refer to universities as colleges? its just awkward and it makes no sense, most of your universities even have the word university in their name yet you insist on calling them colleges

 

[thiosk]

1. No. Never. Ever. Are you mad? Don't do that.

2. See one.

3. I don't work in HR, but I will be hiring occasionally for research work. I would immediately dustbin anyone's CV that had gaming cred listed on it, since I'm not hiring for a gaming competition.

4. Are you applying to a gaming school? A school where you learn about gaming? Is gaming going to be an important part of whatever duties you will be expected to perform? If no, then, no.

5. "going to college" implies any post-high-school education. A university implies a somewhat more prestigious 4 year liberal arts degree, as opposed to a 2 year technical college like DeVry or something of that nature. That University of Pheonix is allowed to be called a university is an abomination,.

Since your CV that you are discussing here is for a highschool application (?) then you might get away with just about whatever you put down. But no. Not for CVs.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

When you say competitive, do you mean for money tournaments? Because if not, I wouldn't put it down. Not unless there's a section on the form that asks about hobbies and you can also put something like sports or music to balance it out, anyway.

 

[Berenzen]

Under hobbies, sure, I wouldn't see an issue. However, if you put it under 'previous jobs' you might get some odd looks and possibly they would just trash it. It would be similar to me putting competitive pool player under my CV- I made money off of it, but I never put it on my CV under 'previous jobs'.

I don't personally hire people, but my father does all the time as a professor/director of the Alberta Water Initiative/lab supervisor, so I've seen the ins and outs of how people are hired.

 

[HarryScull]

When you say competitive, do you mean for money tournaments? Because if not, I wouldn't put it down. Not unless there's a section on the form that asks about hobbies and you can also put something like sports or music to balance it out, anyway.

1. not for prize money but top teams get sponsored and it is a really high level of competition (only the top 5% of cod players play competitive, if I was in the top 5% for football it would look awesome on an application form yet for gaming its taboo)

2. That is what I did, I put in in the hobby section along with being a novice kick boxer and a corporal in cadets

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

When you say competitive, do you mean for money tournaments? Because if not, I wouldn't put it down. Not unless there's a section on the form that asks about hobbies and you can also put something like sports or music to balance it out, anyway.

1. not for prize money but top teams get sponsored and it is a really high level of contest (only the top 5% of cod players play competitive, if I was in the top 5% for football it would look awesome on an application form yet for gaming its taboo)

2. That is what I did, I put in in the hobby section along with being a novice kick boxer and a corporal in cadets

For the hobby section, I'd say when combined with kickboxing and cadets, it makes you look pretty well rounded. In fact, quite a bit better rounded than boxing and cadets on their own. At least in the US, kickboxing and ROTC (what I'm guessing is the equivalent of your cadets) kind of have a meathead jock stereotype attached, which gaming would help counterbalance. This is all just my opinion, though, and based on the US, not the UK, so take it with a grain of salt.

 

[HarryScull]

1. No. Never. Ever. Are you mad? Don't do that.
2. See one.
3. I don't work in HR, but I will be hiring occasionally for research work. I would immediately dustbin anyone's CV that had gaming cred listed on it, since I'm not hiring for a gaming competition.
4. Are you applying to a gaming school? A school where you learn about gaming? Is gaming going to be an important part of whatever duties you will be expected to perform? If no, then, no.

Since your CV that you are discussing here is for a highschool application (?) then you might get away with just about whatever you put down. But no. Not for CVs.

1/2/3. I just looked it up and only the top 5% of cod players actually play competitive, which really puts it in perspective for me, if I was in the top 5% for another activity (say kick boxing which I also put down) schools would love it but why is it that gaming gets such a bad reaction from people?

4. My opinion was that gaming gave me indirect skills such as being able to work under pressure and work as part of a team being just 2 of many, and that people would recognise said indirect skills making it a strong thing to put on my application form, as opposed to a weakness

I can see people might just flat out ignore it (despite how unfair/ignorant/stupid/annoying I think it is) but would it really count against you and if so why? (assuming you put in in the hobbies section)

 

[HarryScull]

-snip-

1. not for prize money but top teams get sponsored and it is a really high level of contest (only the top 5% of cod players play competitive, if I was in the top 5% for football it would look awesome on an application form yet for gaming its taboo)

2. That is what I did, I put in in the hobby section along with being a novice kick boxer and a corporal in cadets

For the hobby section, I'd say when combined with kickboxing and cadets, it makes you look pretty well rounded. In fact, quite a bit better rounded than boxing and cadets on their own. At least in the US, kickboxing and ROTC (what I'm guessing is the equivalent of your cadets) kind of have a meathead jock stereotype attached, which gaming would help counterbalance. This is all just my opinion, though, and based on the US, not the UK, so take it with a grain of salt.

cool, thanks for the input I will be sure to keep doing something else other than just kick boxing and cadets as I can see your point about them being sports associated with being a "meathead" and I'm thinking about going to America for university (if I can afford it, £9,000 a year starts to look really cheap compared to what some American university's charge)

 

[Baldr]

I have a degree in Game Development, I've talked on the phone with employers outside the game industry who've flat told me that they totally dismissed my resume because they didn't think I would be serious.

I can't imagine it being any better for competitive gamers. In all respect do not think this is a good idea.

 

[ThriKreen]

It might work as a community thing if you were a guild leader and organized events and match liaisons in a tournament and such.

But as like others before, unless you're applying for a position in say, tournament or event organizer, keep a small by-line in hobbies.

 

[CAPTCHA]

1. have you/would you ever put gaming on your CV and if so what level/type of gaming would it be? (for example if you had a following on youtube, or played at MLG level)
2. if you have done how well did it work?
3. If any of you are employers (or work in HR) how would you react to some one putting gaming on their application form, and how much does that change depending on how good at it they are (for example how well their YT channel/game battle team is doing)
4. would including metrics help, for example if I put my k/d and/or win/loss from my competitive account would it help catch people's attention or would they just pigeon hole me as a nerd (or just ignore it)

off topic
5. Its off topic but why do you Americans refer to universities as colleges? its just awkward and it makes no sense, most of your universities even have the word university in their name yet you insist on calling them colleges

1. Yes. I have made some mods and other content for games, so I say as much in the hobbies and intrests section of my CV. It shows that I have some skills beyond what my qualifications and work history would suggest as well as making a statment that I am pasionate about my proffesion (IT).

2. Well I don't have a job at the moment, but I doubt that is because of the hobbies I pursue.

3. Depends on the way thay are listed. If it's just a statement that they play games, I'll be like "oh, I suppose you like listening to music too, and breathing oxygen."

4. No. That's irrevevant information. Perhaps if you were a part of some clan and you won a major contest you could include it in your hobbies section, but be careful you don't sound like your bragging. Better that it is mentioned in such a way that it promotes your teamworking skills.

5. I'm British, but most of the time I refer to my uni as collage /shrugs

 

[Elamdri]

5. "going to college" implies any post-high-school education. A university implies a somewhat more prestigious 4 year liberal arts degree, as opposed to a 2 year technical college like DeVry or something of that nature. That University of Pheonix is allowed to be called a university is an abomination,.

A college is a school that offers degrees in a single academic area, like Liberal Arts, Science, or Business. A University is a collection of colleges under one organization. In America however we use the terms very interchangeably, but that is the actual meaning. All Universities contain colleges, but not all colleges are part of a university.

 

[minimacker]

I'm not sure it'll look good.

Graduated from Rockwell University 2008
Majors in Biology, Physics and Mathematics
World of Warcraft - Level 85 Paladin.