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Message: <blockquote data-quote="The Grassy Gnoll" data-source="post: 6606203" data-attributes="member: 6788652">I wouldn't shout about playing RPGs on my cv or at interview. The sad fact is that people do have preconceptions and you never know which side of the fence they will fall on. It may affect their decision to employ you. Now, once employed, you might be able to bring up the subject and 'convert' from within.From an employers perspective, any very involving hobby is a concern when interviewing. RPGs may represent in the interviewer's mind (let's call him Mr Jones), the feeling that this candidate is socially awkward, or weird, or even in extreme cases about five minutes from the nearest ducking stool if they had their way. Whatever. Another interviewer, let's call her Mrs Smith, on the other hand, may be a gamer herself, or recognise the various mental/social skills roleplaying can bring. Again, whatever.What both Mr Jones and Mrs Smith will agree on, though, is that here's a candidate with a hobby they're passionate about. A time consuming hobby. Potentially a hobby that may incline this candidate to daydream or split his focus. What Smith and Jones are looking for is, usually, sensible, level headed staff that have the ability to work overtime when needed and to be focused on the job in hand.I act, and that hobby is massively time consuming and gets a lot of eye rolling for it's perceived high score on the dweeb-o-meter as it is. But people more or less understand it - they've seen plays, or at least are dimly aware of large buildings called theatres where culture happens. I know I've been drilled on the topic in interviews because (a) they want to suss out how much time off or leaving at the stroke of 5:30 I'd expect and (b) as with ANY hobby, they want to see if I care more about my free time than my work time - a carefully modulated amount of enthusiasm is required. So, I wouldn't lob in another hobby to the mix, especially not one which, alas, does have the potential for negative assumptions.But then, like one's sexual isms, what you do in your own time should have no bearing on your work performance. They're unlikely to ask you to state your sexuality or preferred perversion at interview. That's stuff that happens 'off camera'. Where they may raise red flags is at the thought of employing someone whose 'off camera' time will eat into or distract from their 'on air' time.That said, one of my players is an online gamer new to tabletop and he's been evangelising since playing 5e, his first proper ttrpg. All the guys apparently that he's spoken to have said it sounds cool, and admittedly all the girls have rolled their eyes. But he runs a cool bar, he's a ladies man, and he's a massive geek. All at the same time. No one has slagged him off. I on the other hand bid farewell to my youth some years ago and am not in the category of 'cool' to those who care about such things, so I keep quiet about it. Even so at work I've discovered colleagues who used to play RPGs or who are massively into board games such as Munchkin or Talisman, and they've all made enquiries about playing. So it's not all doom and gloom.In a nutshell, don't wave a flag, especially at interview, and be prepared for folk to be d*cks. But equally, don't assume they will be. And as for Dr Hey-Nursies-Look-at-Me, cordiality is all you can give him. And maybe a surprise laxative.</blockquote>

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