In this episode of the Business Review, Information Systems professor Stacie Petter explains how skills honed through playing online games can translate into the corporate world.
(New installments of the Business Review are on hold due to Covid-19. This is a repeat of a previously aired segment.)
Hiring managers don’t often see gaming skills listed on a resume, but perhaps it’s time gamers started being more open about their extra- curricular capabilities. Studies indicate the skills learned through online gaming are right in line with the competencies many companies are looking for in new Employees.
Information systems professor Stacie Petter says conquering challenges in the online realm
can directly translate to proficiency in the corporate world — and may be just the kind of talent businesses need.
“We need people that are good at collaborating with others, not only face-to-face but in a virtual sense, and in an online game, you’re almost exclusively collaborating virtually, so you’re gaining this wealth of experience of how to work with people you’ve never met, in a variety of challenging contexts, in order to solve a problem or to get to that next stage of a solution of how to progress.
Another competency that is, I think, particularly relevant in this particular case, is just learning how to work with others that are different from you, having that reflective capability to kind of see what worked, what didn’t work, how to adapt your style - that’s adaptability and flexibility that’s required in today’s workforce that’s constantly changing.”
Other core competencies that transition well include accountability, decisiveness, innovation and risk-taking. Instead of dismissing gaming as frivolous or irrelevant, hiring managers should be looking for ways to attract gamers and the wealth of experience they can bring to a team.
The Business Review is a production of KWBU, Livingston & McKay and the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University.
