Transferable Skills and Experience
Transferrable? Transferable? I’m not sure what the preferred spelling is lol.
HELLO EVERYONE! I am back, after a busy summer. TL;DR my doggo was very sick and is now recovering from surgery, I’ve been busy at work, and I’ve been trying to spend less time on screens.
I also wrapped by my IGDA Foundation Virtual Exchange Program - wahoo! Meeting all these talented people and learning to become leaders in the industry was a dream. Highly recommend that people apply for this program, whether you’re in the industry or trying to join. There’s a place for everyone, and IGDA-F believes in that.
This blog post is actually inspired by one of the talks we had in the program - transferable skills! A few members in the various cohorts were from other industries and trying to find their path to games. I’ve touched on this topic in another blog post, but wanted to dedicate an entire blog to it. Whether you’re looking to join the industry or pivot to a new role, read on to learn more!
The key is to understand your motivation, finding what’s relevant from your skills and experiences, and how you convey that to hiring teams.
Know Your Why
What is it about the games industry that has you so keen to join? Why join this industry over another? Why do you want to pivot to a different role than the one you have now? Not only are these things you might hear in a job interview, but it’s important to know for yourself. Use your “why” as your starting point for your job search to see if this industry is right for you. This will also come in handy in your applications!
It might not be the easiest answer to come up with, but I strongly encourage that you take the time to think about it! Some starting points to get you going:
what were your favorite games growing up? - games are about experiences, whether you’re looking back on them as fond memories or using it to relax after a tough day. there are real people behind them that make it all happen, and maybe you want to be part of that!
what technology do you want to work with? - people are constantly coming out with cutting edge technology and creativity. it’s an ever-evolving space which keeps the work exciting.
what challenges you? - games provide a unique challenge that helps spark your creativity to overcome them. it’s also a change of pace that you might not be used to, which can be exciting!
what motivates you? - there are tough days, but there are also good days. and when you finally ship a game and it’s in the hands of the player, it makes it all worth it.
what makes you happy? - your career doesn’t have to be about just paying the bills. people deserve to find fulfillment in their work, but what that fulfillment is and how you get it is up to you.
Know the Trade-Offs
It’s also important to lay out the trade-offs and if they’re worth it. How does the role you’re seeking rank in terms of stability? How does the salary compare to that of a similar role in your industry? When I first sought out to join games from the tech industry, I had no idea about the differences in salary. My first salary in games was $15,000 USD less than the one I currently had, it was a contract role with high risk of no full time, and the health benefits package wasn’t as comprehensive. BUT…I would be happier because I was doing what I wanted to do, and I would have fun doing it. After budgeting things out and talking it over with my partner, I deemed this a worthy trade-off. Let me be clear though - I recognize the privilege I had in this situation. To take such a huge risk required support that others might not have access to. Take a look at what studios have to offer and see if you have to make any sacrifices, and how you could manage them.
Job Security
The industry itself has been in a period of instability for years. Over 24,000 people were laid off between 2023 and now. This isn’t to say that not all industries face risk, but it has been ROUGH to say the least. It feels like there’s no end in sight, and there’s still a lack of accountability from leaders. Job security should be an important factor to keep in mind when deciding to make the jump. I’d rather not sugar coat this, but definitely do your research on what’s happened over the last year to know if it’s worth the risk.
Identify Skills and Experiences
After you’ve done research on the games industry as a whole, let’s narrow it down to the types of roles that would be a good fit for you. To do this, think about what you do day to day in your current role. What do you like about it? What skills have you mastered that you enjoy doing? Knowing these will help you look at some roles within the industry that you could transition to.
Research Jobs
I love Hitmarker’s list of gaming professions. This is actually one of the first images I looked at when I started researching games, and the list is always growing. There truly is a place for everyone!
As you can see, this list is massive. There’s different types of businesses in games as well, so not all of these roles will be found at every place. For example, you could work for a development studio, publisher, SaaS/platform, marketing/PR, hiring, eSports, and much more. Google some of these roles and read through example job descriptions to see if you could imagine yourself doing the work.
If you’re not sure where to start, research a game you like to play - find out their studio and read more about them! Take a look at their careers page to learn about the kinds of work they do and example job descriptions if they’re hiring.
After compiling a list of roles you’re interested in, compare it with the skills and experiences you have. Where are the commonalities? Focus in on what connects to help pitch your story. What are the areas you don’t have experience in but want to learn? Think of examples in your current role where you had to learn new skills or tools - these might not be direct experiences, but it shows that you don’t need to know everything but can still do the job!
Marketing Yourself
it may feel like a ton of work, but cover letters give you another opportunity to talk about your transferable skills!
After finding a few roles you would be interested in applying for, now it’s time to think of how to convince hiring teams that you would be a good fit, despite not having any industry experience. If an application has a spot for a cover letter, few sentences to talk about yourself or if there was anything you wanted to add — USE THIS!! This is your opportunity to highlight your value. Resumes are used to show your achievements and experiences, but cover letters and additional notes are a way to show off your personality and fill in gaps, like explaining your desire to switch to a different role or industry.
Keep It Relevant
What experiences or skills do you have that relate to the role you’re applying for? You want to pitch your resume and experience for the role you want, rather than the one you have. Remember your why? In your cover letters, LinkedIn, short sentence bios, whatever avenue you have - talk about why you want to pivot to this industry and how your previous experiences will help you be successful. This helps close the gaps and sets the stage for the hiring team when looking at your profile.
For example, I used to be a Recruiter. When applying to production roles, I leaned on my emotional intelligence, problem solving, and stakeholder management skills. I did not talk about my sourcing and various job sourcing tools as this wasn’t applicable. If my resume was structured just for recruiting with no mention of games or production, the hiring team would think that I made a mistake applying to this role. Keep relevant experience on your resume as well, to ensure that it’s direct enough that gets people curious to talk to you. In my last round of job searching, my recruiting experience wasn’t relevant anymore, so I took it off my resume.
Be Honest
Not having relevant industry experience isn’t something to shy away from. It can actually be a good thing - you’re like a blank slate. You might not have any biases or knowledge on industry processes and can bring a fresh, creative outlook to the studio. Be direct about your lack of experience, but be equally as direct about why you want to join the industry and how you can utilize the experiences and skills you already have to bring forth positive change to their studio. People want to know that you can do the job, so it’s important to read through their expectations of the role. Highlight your achievements and use these as examples in questionnaires or interviews.
As an example, I was asked about my relevant project tracking skills. I described the roles I was recruiting for as a project, where each one had their own lifecycle at various stages, and that I was utilizing tracking tools for documentation and scheduling. I would manage my candidates and hiring teams as stakeholders with effective communication and transparency skills, and use problem solving skills when having to negotiate for better offers.
Focus on the Soft Skills
If the job lists a bunch of tools or software you’re not familiar with, don’t let this scare you. Tools are teachable, so as long as you have the ability to learn them! There’s probably tools you didn’t know how to use in your current role, but can now do without issue. There’s always helpful videos or Reddit threads to teach people about a tool, not to mention free trials to walk through it. In your applications or interviews, it’s okay to tell them you haven’t had the opportunity to use the tool, but you would be willing to learn. You could also pull the Uno reverse card on them and ask how they support their employees in learning new tools and skills to see if this is an environment that you can succeed in!
What is harder to teach are the soft skills. Hiring teams want to know what you bring to the table, your ability to tackle the challenges you might face, and that you can work with others on the team. Soft skills are harder to practice and master, but you know yourself the best! It’s these skills that are the most transferable, because they are not specific to one role or industry. Focus on these when asked behavioral questions or in your cover letters.
To Recap
No one is going to meet every requirement for a role, but don’t let this deter you from applying. Women are more likely to talk themselves out of applying for roles because they don’t meet everything. I am here to tell you to APPLY ANYWAYS. Who cares!
understand why you want to join the games industry
use your “why'“ in your job applications and interviews
know what skills and experience to have, and research jobs that could be a good fit
market yourself for the role you want, and not for the roles you’ve had
focus on the soft skills, as tools and software can be taught
Community Questions!
Something I wanted to start with this blog to engage with you all more — I’ll end each blog with a question and will summarize the answers in my next blog! This month’s question: what skill do you value most?
Hope everyone’s having a good start to the new season!
Here’s a photo of me at the SWEAT tour. Truly thankful to have been part of this cultural reset.
