7 replies to this topic

[Beowulfthehunter]

I am trying to update my resume. Sadly my work history is lacking (beyond teaching) and I am trying to "pad" it. As it stands I have done a great deal of volunteering for cons. I have run games, organized events at my local store (like D&D Encounters), and will be working registration for an upcomming con. Most of the time I do these to get in fo free or get swag, but have not recived any sort of actual payment.

Wondering, if putting something like this on a resume is a good idea. I mean putting miniature painting and the ability to find a specific type of Porn on the net in under an hour does not seen like approriate skills.

[ixminis]

Depends on the job. Know the job (and management) you are applying for before making the decision.

[Vil-hatarn]

For those sorts of things, I think they would best be presented as organization or leadership abilities. Being able to put together an event, or managing a group of other volunteers at a convention, that sort of thing. If it's presented in a way that highlights valuable skills, then it should be well received unless the reader is heavily biased against gaming for some reason.

[MiniCannuck]

It really does depend on the work environment you are applying to. As a business owner, I am very interested in the hobbies of my staff. The reason being is that there are many skills from these hobbies that can transfer over to the workplace. For example, a miniature painter may represent a person who pays attention to detail. Actors are often good at adapting to social situations while representing the company and a strategy gamer may exibit good problem solving skills.

Most importantly, I am a strong believer in "work to live" instead of "live to work". I want employees to be happy as I have found that happy employees have a much better chance of being productive in the workplace than unhappy ones.

As a side note, some of the hobbies I know about with my staff are 2 of them are model train collectors, 2 love to do community theatre, 1 repairs vintage motorcycles and 1 collects coins. I'm sure the other people have hobbies too but these are the ones who made a point of talking about their interests during the job interview.

If you would like, I'd gladly take a look at your resume to offer some suggestions. What you do with them is up to you ;)

[Luethar]

Being a person that works in HR I would recommend that if you decide to "pad" your experience with this work you do it in the following way. Do not label the job GenCon. Find out the home company that works with the volunteers and use that company name. Under position put in Volunteer. Then go into further detail about the type of tasks you completed: Customer Assistance, Forum moderator, event coordinator, etc. Briefly describe any accomplishments do not list specific tasks (i.e. took out trash or swept floor). This should assist you in quantifying the work experience. Sadly though, a con is a four or five day event. Most managers won't look at that as quantifiable experience.

Lue.

[Baphomet69]

Definitely file it under volunteer work. Then, as others said, emphasize organizational and similar skills that you used in that environment. However, I wouldn't make this the focal point of the resume, that might work against you if they take too much of an interest in that aspect of your experience.

[vejlin]

I don't live in the US so what I say may not apply where you live. I put my hobbies in my resume and got a job with the first application I sent out, so at the very least this sort of information doesn't necessarily mess up your chances. I must say I didn't go overboard with it, I didn't list it as something that might be useful, but rather just as a minor part of a tiny section entitled "about me" where I described myself, my professional interests and "other interests" in about 5 lines of text. In the end I suspect the inclusion of this information about me made absolutely no difference whatsoever.

As others have said it probably depends greatly on the job. Good luck!

[MiniCannuck]

As an employer, I definitely put more stock in the "about me" section when it doesn't have the generic "reading, watching movies/sports".