CareerBuilder: Don't mention D&D at your next job interview
WJ Walton
)
CareerBuilder has recently released a list of "outrageous" mistakes
that interviewees have made during job interviews. (http://
www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/employers-reveal-the-outrageous-and-common-mistakes-candidates-made-in-job-interviews-according-to-new-careerbuilder-survey-85186982.html)
While most of these are undeniable - wearing flip-flops with a
business suit, filing fingernails or staring at the ceiling during the
interview, and mooching food from the breakroom after the interview is
over - there's one item on the "outrageous" list that I take issue
with:
Candidate used Dungeons and Dragons as an example of teamwork.
Roleplaying is a powerful tool for teaching people to work as a team
in a difficult situation, something that is common in sessions of
Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs.
Not only that, but roleplaying is no stranger to the business world -
many businesses use it in meetings, seminars, and other functions to
help their employees hone skills, solve problems, and learn to work as
a team.
There are even businesses who specialize in organizing role-playing
sessions for other businesses. Consider HRDQ (http://www.hrdq.com), a
company that once made "training and development resources" that were
essentially RPGs packaged with model kits:
"In Jungle Escape, for example, you play in a group of unfortunates
who have crash landed in a rainforest. Your goal is to build an
escape helicopter using spare parts, your wits, and whatever teamwork
you can scrape together. In Mars Surface Rover, you build and race a
vehicle across the surface of the red planet, using differing levels
of leadership and authority."
(Read more in the Escapist 1999 Archive (http://theescapist.com/
advocacy99.htm) - look for "Gaming in the Boardroom.")
It may seem silly on the surface, mentioning D&D as a potential
example of teamwork building - but it's not something that could be
considered outrageous, especially when compared to filing your nails
or wearing flip-flops with a business suit.
CareerBuilder may do well to consider the positive benefits of the
roleplaying hobby instead of dismissing it outright.
Lynette R. F. Cowper
> Candidate used Dungeons and Dragons as an example of teamwork.
I do find it interesting that CareerBuilder would select this as a top-ten
blunder. I can see an ignorant potential employers seeing it as one and
reporting it on the survey, but it says something when CareerBuilder then
selects it out of a large number of answers to be in the top ten.
The question now is, what do we do about it?
--
Lynette R. F. Cowper
"Within a few years a simple and inexpensive device, readily carried
about, will enable one to receive on land or sea the principal news, to
hear a speech, a lecture, a song or play of a musical instrument, conveyed
from any other region of the globe. The invention will also meet the
crying need for cheap transmission to great distances, more especially
over the oceans. The small working capacity of the cables and the
excessive cost of messages are now fatal impediments in the dissemination
of intelligence which can only be removed by transmission without wires."
Nikola Tesla, 1905
Lynette R. F. Cowper
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/news/usworld/news-article.aspx?storyid=152451&catid=6
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/288032
http://www.cioupdate.com/features/article.php/3866956/IT-Staffing--They-did-what.htm?comment=28622-0
http://newsblaze.com/story/2010022404010300008.pnw/topstory.html (via
email)
Lynette R. F. Cowper
> Okay, I posted comments to some of the places who've picked up this story:
And now at careerbuilder's own blog--
http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Blog/ViewBlog.aspx?blogLink=http%3a%2f%2fwww.theworkbuzz.com%2fcareer-advice%2finterview-mistakes-you-wish-you-could-take-back%2ffeed%2fatom%2f
Longspeak
item is:
"Candidate used Dungeons and Dragons as an example of teamwork."
You have a limited time and a limited opportunity to make a positive
impression at an interview. I wouldn't hesitate to mention role-
playing as a hobby, but I would never use valuable interview time to
try to convince the HR person why role-playing equates to relevant
experience in the workplace. You don't have the time and just by
saying it you've put the person in a mindset which is far more likely
than not to be negative.
Everyone at work knows I role play. I have packages sent here all the
time, and I get all giddy and excited because a new book has arrived.
For 12+ years. I don't hide it. When I interviewed for my position,
I DID mention it when asked what I do for fun. But I'm not going to
expend a large part of my limited time in an interview trying to
explain all the ways RPGs have made me more employable. It's too big
a leap to make with the tiny amount of running start you get.
John
On Feb 25, 6:23 am, WJ Walton <rpgadvoc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> (From The Escapist:http://www.theescapist.com/blog/tiki-view_blog_post.php?blogId=5&post...
> )
>
> CareerBuilder has recently released a list of "outrageous" mistakes
> that interviewees have made during job interviews. (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/employers-reveal-the-outrageous-and-...)
Paul Cardwell
From: Longspeak <longspea...@gmail.com>
To: CAR-PGa <car...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thu, February 25, 2010 7:32:36 PM
Subject: [car-pga] Re: CareerBuilder: Don't mention D&D at your next job interview
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CAR-PGa" group.
To post to this group, send email to car...@googlegroups.com.
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to car-pga+unsub...@googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/car-pga?hl=en.
WJ Walton
> You have a limited time and a limited opportunity to make a positive
> impression at an interview. I wouldn't hesitate to mention role-
> playing as a hobby, but I would never use valuable interview time to
> try to convince the HR person why role-playing equates to relevant
> experience in the workplace. You don't have the time and just by
> saying it you've put the person in a mindset which is far more likely
> than not to be negative.
I don't disagree with the point you make at all. I disagree with the
article in the sense that mentioning D&D is as "outrageous" as
clipping your nails or stealing food from the breakroom. It's not.
It's not even "outrageous" at all - it might not help, it may confuse
things or give your interviewer a chance to disregard you due to their
own personal biases - but it's not "outrageous."
If it was put in a list of things that you should avoid saying because
they may confuse things or be a waste of time, then I wouldn't have as
much of a problem with it - but I would still point out the irony of
how heavily businesses rely on roleplaying in their training and
teamwork building.
- Bill
www.theescapist.com
Longspeak
>
> Yeah, but in the present day, stay in the game closet.
>
work-relevant. However, I won't hide my hobby either.
Nearly every interview I've been in, I have been asked about hobbies
or what I do for fun. It seems a pretty standard question. I always
mention role-playing.
Actually, my last two job changes, my hobby has been a line item on my
résumé. I've worked with Dragonflight for 14 years, and I list the
experience I've gained in planning and organizing events, recruiting &
scheduling to fill the tables, budget planning, finances, etc. So,
really not in the closet.
On Feb 26, 6:33 am, WJ Walton <rpgadvoc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Feb 25, 8:32 pm, Longspeak <longspeak.tel...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I don't disagree with the point you make at all. I disagree with the
> article in the sense that mentioning D&D is as "outrageous" as
> clipping your nails or stealing food from the breakroom. It's not.
> It's not even "outrageous" at all - it might not help, it may confuse
> things or give your interviewer a chance to disregard you due to their
> own personal biases - but it's not "outrageous."
>
I feel like we're reading more into the line in the article than is
there. I think trying to tell a potential employer D&D helped build
your team skills would be a terrible mistake, but not because it's
D&D. Take the phrase from the article and substitute D&D with Poker.
Battleship. Magic: The Gathering.
Sports enjoys a special place in the mind of many, so if I said "My
experience with my soccer team really helped expand my team skills,"
most HR would approve. But other non-sport games will at best make
the interviewer think you're silly, whether D&D or more traditional
games.
The 'outrageous' is not playing D&D, it's trying to use D&D to get a
job.
Longspeak
me. :p
John
On Feb 26, 11:21 am, Longspeak <longspeak.tel...@gmail.com> wrote:
<snip>
Paul Cardwell
Subject: [car-pga] Re: CareerBuilder: Don't mention D&D at your next job interview
Longspeak
> I don't agree with the RPG = poker, battleship, Magic the Gathering analogy. There is far more teamwork involved in RPG's the band against the situation than in zero-sum games in which the goal is as much in making the other players/team lose as in triumphing over the situation.
>
Sorry if my point wasn't clear. I'm not debating whether D&D promotes
teamwork (It does, but I don't think that's the point, here).
My point was The Other Guy thinks this way. Leaving aside the people
who will think the Worst Possible Thing, you're likely to be
interviewing with a person who's never played, and who thinks it's
just a silly game. You're dealing with his perceptions, and
perception equals reality. His subjective reality is that you just
tried to use a silly game as proof that you have good teamwork skills,
which is why it seems like a big mistake to me.
There is definite room for education here, but *not during your job
interview.*
Thanks,
John
Paul Cardwell
Subject: [car-pga] Re: CareerBuilder: Don't mention D&D at your next job interview