Employers screening WOW players? Comments by Oli Welsh

"As a hobby,videogames should not be mentioned in any more detail than "videogames", only in the hobby's section and as part of a list."

It's better left out altogether for most industries imo.

In fact, 'hobbies and pastime' always provokes people to list all sorts of cliched shit, you're better dropping the section and replacing it with a 'personal summary' of what they want. Avoid specifics. If you're a father mention how you're a devoted parent, if you're a mother instead mention how dedicated to your career you are. It's all bullshit.

i work with WOW players an i wouldn't feel good having any of them working for me

Should my CV show the time (counted in days) I put in WoW, to ensure them of my determination for something??

;-)

rofl

It's true though.

I wouldn't hire any alliance players.. for the horde!

"If you're a father mention how you're a devoted parent,"

Don't try getting a job with EA with that on your CV, or in the games industry generally. No-one wants to feel guilty when they're asking you to do overtime, so they wouldn't even interview you.

I've generally had very good responses to listing favourite films, music, and games on my CV, but then I do work in the games industry! Most interviewers have been surprised that other people *didn't* put always that kind of thing on an industry CV, especially the list of favourite games.

On topic: Isn't it odd, a person with a gym membership might go there once every few weeks and probably isn't actually very healthy overall and often has a negative self-image, but that's looked at as a positive thing on a CV. Gaming might be a social hobby (although SingStar is considered anti-social by my neighbours for some reason) that people do regularly but is considered a bad thing.

WoW is my CV...but only because I used to work for them.

Does this mean I now need to delete one of my only two full time professional jobs on there?

I had video games on my CV for years, more often it being a plus point than a negative point. But then, I work in a field where an above average knowledge of how to use computers is pretty handy, and thats the angle I used during interviews.
I was offered about 75% of the jobs I went for (Still, I also had charity work and marathon running down as well, which probably helped.)

Firstly, this is not the kind of discrimination to get upset about. Unlike race, gender or sexual preference, playing a game is a choice, and therefore if you want a job that demands that you don't play WoW, then you simply don't play it.

Secondly, just because one can think of many highly functional WoW players, it doesn't mean that WoW is not an overall negative influence on work performance when measured across larger population groups. There are many high functioning alcoholics, but I don't think many people would be too keen on hiring them in the full knowledge of their problem.

At this point everyone is relying on anecdotes to determine if playing WoW is good or bad for work performance, but that doesn't mean it's justified in repeating the error

My friend used leading 25 man raids as an example of leadership when he applied to be a team leader at his job.

It pains me to say that he got the job.

@kangarootoo

I'm self employed, but no, I would not put it on my CV :)

I'm currently recruiting Playstation Home users, if and when they can connect they have very little to do outside of work.....

The only thing employers seem to give a toss about having on a CV at the moment is previous work experience.

Ive not got a job when i came out of uni because the other guy had previous work experience.

At McDonald's.

@paralipsis "playing a game is a choice"

Religion is a choice too, but I'd hate to miss a job because they didn't want me to believe in God.
As long as it doesn't affect the quality of your work, it's discrimination in my book.

Anyone who agrees that this is correct is a total pratt. ( Looking at some of the early posts on this forum article I am being very polite here )
Having said that....
Anyone who plays wow to such an extreme where it affects their real life is a total pratt.

How on earth would anyone find out you play wow unless you tell them anyway?

It's just possible I contradicted myself a few times then......

The stupidity of humans never stops to amaze me...

Funny issue, but very OTT.

absurd

If someone is silly enough to put "regular WOW playing" on their CV, then the employer has every right to reject them.

It's like saying "I enjoy spending time at the casino", or "I like getting shitfaced and sleeping in the next morning". You probably don't do those things *all the time*, but even seeing them would send off alarm bells if I was an employer. Of course, WOW isn't nearly as bad as that, but it is addictive - this is quite well-known. Even if you don't play it all that much, the fact that you are putting it on your CV indicates that it is more than just a casual, passing interest.

Of course, other games can be just as addictive. WOW, though, has the added disadvantage of being high-profile.

Speaking as some one that has to sift through hundreds of CV's several times a year when doing recruiting, I can honestly say that during the first stage of the process where you are trying to whittle down hundreds into a more meaningful bunch of 10 or 20 that you can peruse in more detail before decide on the 5 or 6 that get interviewed, you can be extremely flippant about the reasons for discarding someones CV to the waste pile. It doesn't surprise me that some people use something like a statement indicating a WOW player as a reason to ditch the CV, initially you just have to use some fairly arbitary criteria to get the pile down to something manageable enough to actually pay much attention to.

I'd also warn people against putting anything too discriminating on social networking sites like Facebook and My Space, since if pages on those sites can be easily linked to the details in a CV, then it is becoming more common practice to use the information contained there as well as the information in the CV to build up an overall picture of the candidate.

@BlackKraken

But then you were applying for a job in Burger King at the time ;)

Only kidding, the joke was asking to be made, hope you find something soon.

Playing MMO's and leading guilds can improve your competence

of course it can. and i'm fully qualified to work as combat advisor for the army, cause i played cod 1-4.

Well, it's a little bit discriminating, but I can't say I don't understand them.
Because I have a friend who is sleep-deprived, distracted and even neglecting his girlfriend just to play WoW.

Bloody discrimination! Next you'll be telling me it's a bad thing to have 'compulsive masturbator' or 'fursuit enthusiast' on your job applications.