Whether you’re a fresh graduate looking to find your first job, someone looking to transition in esports or even someone in the industry who is looking for a job. Today I’ll go over writing a resume that’s specifically tailored for a job opportunity in esports. This will be generic tips on what an employer / recruiter / someone hiring for the position is specifically going to look for. I can do another post later on about a specific role + some interview questions. I just want to preface this by saying i’m not an HR recruiter and they can offer a lot of solid advice. If you know someone who is a recruiter, reach out to them as well. This is my personal experience from my own job hunting and looking at resumes for roles.
If you haven’t checked some of my other posts when it comes to careers in esports, please go ahead. If you’re looking at networking in esports, getting involved in esports, project management in esports or starting your education in esports check out those and more on my website.
OK, enough filler. Let’s start at some resume basics and what a person hiring would be looking for in the post.
- Find the job posting you’re looking for and read it over
- Some questions to ask yourself during the process would be:
- What is it that the hiring manager is looking for in this role? Usually there’s a snippet such as “XYZ company is an esports company since 2011 looking for an esports project manager that handle live events in the online & offline space” In this role you’ll do A (generally a hint of what you’ll do), B (another hint) and C.
- Do I have all the job requirements they list in “requirements”. Honestly, you don’t need all of them but you should have a good majority so try and tackle or make aware a few good points in your resume. For example, if one of the first points is 2 years experience in esports, make sure you list that and how you satisfy that requirement.
- Remember, there’s no perfect candidate. A lot of the job requirements list the ideal candidate and sometimes they exist. However, most of the time no one is a perfect fit for the role.
- Some questions to ask yourself during the process would be:
- Start updating your resume a bit to fit the role a bit more
- For example, make sure if you’re applying for a marketing position in esports highlight that with some important highlights. Make sure they’re concrete and measurable.
- A good marketing example could be this “Lead organic search growth from 10-50% in first year, reduced overall costs by 25% and increased traffic to XYZ website property by 50%. Achieved best in class marketing award in 2020”
- If you’re in sales you can have a statement like this “Achieved XYZ sales (figure in a $ amount) in Q2 which was 10% higher than peers which lead to employee award”
- For example, make sure if you’re applying for a marketing position in esports highlight that with some important highlights. Make sure they’re concrete and measurable.
- Try and add some colour or have a resume that stands out.
- After looking at 3 hours of resumes a lot of them look the same in all honesty. If you have one that pops it helps it get noticed!
- I’d strongly recommend a cover letter
- If you have a cover letter please don’t make it generic. At least tailor it to the role.
- If you say you’re the best sales person ever tell me how you are. Backup your claims
- Keep it to around .5 pages – 1 page tops. Please nothing longer
- It also goes back to my earlier point, in the cover letter, make sure you show how you satisfy the job in esports. I don’t need a bullet list for each point or a life story. Keep it short and succinct
- Try (if possible) to get the name of the hiring individual. It’s a nice touch. It’s hard sometimes so don’t sweat it if you can’t.
- If you have a cover letter please don’t make it generic. At least tailor it to the role.
- Try to keep your resume to 1-2 pages.
- Please don’t send everything you’ve done since you were 13
- Check for grammar and formatting
- If you’re applying for a position in esports and you have 3 different fonts and 2 different sized fonts in a sentence I’m going to think it was a mistake and you’re not paying attention to detail
- Take your time
- If a job posting comes out, don’t rush it but don’t take forever too.
- See if you know anyone at the company who can tell you about the role
- This is where networking in esports is important. Remember that old tournament admin you met 2 years ago? Guess what, they’re now the VP of a large esports company and are hiring for a role (happens quite a bit actually!). Make sure to see if you know anyone who can reach out or tell you a bit about the job.
- Don’t get discouraged
- Job huting sucks in general. Don’t get discouraged. Out of university it took me 6 months to find a role I wanted (hooray for the recession). Times are even worse now. Don’t beat yourself up over it.
- Ask a friend or family member to read over your application
- Always great to get a fresh pair of eyes on your work
- Try to get a LinkedIn profile
- It helps with job hunting / networking a bit. There’s a lot of “I’m the greatest ever in esports” on there so don’t pay too much attention to the posts. Sometimes you’ll get a genuine networking opportunity though.
- Be yourselfand good luck!
- Writing resumes and cover letters takes a long time. Take breaks, play games and just keep at it. Don’t give up, it’ll come!
The above are some general tips and are not exhaustive. Finding a job is tough in general and esports is no different. If you have any questions be sure to leave a comment or reach out to me via email.