He's a gamer! He's got game! The game's afoot! You're in the game! Put on your game face! Let the games begin! The game is up! Life's a game! Do you see a theme here? This week we are talking about playing games.
Our society has hundreds of sayings that involve the word "game' or allude to playing a game but, what does this have to do with making a career transition? Let's think about it.
To win at any game you need several attributes including: endurance, stamina, patience, strategy, adaptability, constant learning knew skills and networking. Webster's New World College Dictionary Fourth Edition defines a gamer as "1-an athlete who is game, 2-one who is highly competitive, steadfast and reliable etc especially in difficult situations 3-a person who plays electronic games." Do these skills and abilities sound like traits that potential employers would like? If so, then perhaps you should consider learning to play online games.
Facebook offers many online games for free. You invite people from your Facebook family to play with you. As you progress, you announce to people your status and people will invite you to play with them. Online games can vary from traditional board games such as chess to new electronic games that mimic reality TV shows. In some games, you provide "gifts" to your fellow players, ask for favors, challenge them and leave messages. By participating in online games you can stay in touch with others and build relationships. This is great way to network without focusing on the issue of employment.
Playing online games is a fantastic way to relax. One word of caution, potential employers can check out your Facebook site so you may want to be selective of the games that you choose to play, what you say as well as with whom you choose to associate or make your neighbor in the game.
All games require you to have some basic computer skills including keyboarding, saving data, and bookmarking. Other games require you to create an avatar. Again, a word of caution should be used when creating the symbolic version of you. Avoid being overly seductive or violent.
Have you considered how playing online games could improve your communication skills? Did you realize that people "Blog" and Tweet about their online game experiences? By following Blogs and Tweets you can learn common abbreviations that are used when texting. Common terms are 'UR", "C" , "OMG", "LOL", LMAO" and IDK. This is how Gen Xs prefer to communicate. Being able to communicate with all the generations in the force is a definitely a good skill to possess.
Games are not restricted to computers but are also on smart phones, kindles, nooks, Ipads and Ipods. It is my observation that people enjoy discussing their progress and sharing hints in person as well as online. This means you could use knowledge of an online game as an icebreaker. You may even use this activity to answer the question "tell me about yourself" during a job interview if you are using an online games in order to help you with a volunteer activity such as being a Big Brother/Big Sister.
So, do you have game?
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