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HOW GAMERS ARE DEVELOPING THE SOFT SKILLS EMPLOYERS NEEDManpowerGroup has over 70 years of experience translating in-demand skills across different sectors anddeveloping innovative approaches to connect talent to jobs they can thrive in. Today, that includes tapping intogaming communities—more active than ever and growing in size during the COVID-19 pandemic—to identifya vast talent pool with a unique combination of digital capabilities and the soft skills organizations need most.1 Game To Work
A GAME-CHANGING PERSPECTIVELooking for a creative collaborator with complexdeveloping many of the skills required forproblem-solving skills? You’d be well-advised to seektoday’s and the next generation of jobs.out an avid Fortnite player or League of Legendschamp. Long overlooked as a pastime for kids and“slackers,” the world’s 2.5 billion gamers1 are honinga wide variety of in-demand skills—everything fromteamwork and collaboration to critical thinking anddecision-making. Exactly the talent employers need tounlock a competitive advantage.Even in an unprecedented economic environment,employers continue to have a hard time findingthe talent they need. Case in point: Two monthsafter the World Health Organization declared apandemic, the U.S. had 5.3 million permanent jobopenings4. Competition for talent remains fierce, andorganizations need to get creative about where theyThe human capital market is changing rapidly in thesource the skills they need. For many, that meanswake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Employers areconsidering how transferable skills can help themreallocating resources, shifting to remote work andup their game.thinking about the best ways to usher in a “smartrestart.” And while many industries are struggling,ManpowerGroup has decades of experiencegaming is not one of them. With travel restrictions,addressing talent shortages by harnessing people’srising unemployment, repeat lockdowns and lengthytransferable skills across industries and careerquarantines in place around the world, video gamestages. Working with forward-thinking companies,sales in August 2020 were up 37 percent yearManpowerGroup is gamifying the recruitment, hiringover year and gaming itself up 75 percent3. And alland assessment processes, and tapping into the worldthis gaming need not be in vain. In fact, future jobof gaming by applying creative solutions to identifycandidates waiting out the pandemic have beenhard-to-find talent and source in-demand human skills.2“In today’s workforce environment, employers need to assess skillsdifferently and creatively to attract new sources of talent.”Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Chief Talent Scientist, ManpowerGroupA Billion New Players AreSet to Transform the GamingIndustry Wired, 2019.1Video Game Sales Up 37%Year Over Year in August TheMotley Fool, 2020.2Gaming Usage Up 75 PercentAmid Coronavirus OutbreakVerizon Reports, 2020.3United States Job OpeningsTrading Economic, 2020.42 Game To Work
WINNING THE HUMAN SKILLS OF THE FUTUREGaming cultivates not only technical skills but also the soft skills that are increasingly valuable as automation andmachines perform more routine tasks.5 Gamers bring improved critical thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence andcomplex problem-solving to the table.6 Games even teach players how to communicate feedback effectively.7 Thesesoft skills are hard to find and even harder to train—43 percent of employers say it is more difficult to teach the soft skillsthey’re looking for8. This pandemic crisis has accelerated demand too for soft skills like collaboration, communicationand the ability to learn9 and gaming can help fill these skills gaps.Gaming is even making its way into formal education. In the U.S., e-sports degreescan be earned at the University of Kentucky and The Ohio State University,10 andMarquette University launched the nation’s first e-sports team at the highest levelin college sports in 2019.11Gaming Skills Translatorthe amount of time they spend gaming.ManpowerGroup analyzed more thanThe tool then translates that into workplace11,000 games across 13 genres—fromskills they can add to resumes and discussaction adventure to role-playing to musicin interviews and ultimately help connectand indie—to identify the top soft skillsto potential job matches. Skills Translatordeveloped in each gaming category andprovides a new set of tools for recruitersthen mapped gaming skills to work skills.to identify promising talent faster andWe also identified the job families wherebetter represent what gamers can offerthose skills were most critical to matchan organization. And when candidatesjob recommendations. For example, ahave insight into how their favorite gamesgamer who plays games like Call of Duty ortranslate into work-ready skills, they canFortnite cultivates soft skills that a warehousebetter convey their skill sets in interviewspacker requires, such as critical thinking,and on resumes. And when employers andspatial awareness and problem-solving.recruiters have more assessment data onskills and potential, the match of individualManpowerGroup’s proprietary onlineto role is significantly better.12Gaming Skills Translator tool allowscandidates to input the specific games theyTo learn more about our candidate-facingplay, their experience and skill level, andinitiative, visit www.game2work.com.The Gamer Disposition Harvard Business Review, 2008.The Benefits of Playing Video Games American Psychologist, 2014.7The Education Benefits of Videogames Education & Health, 2002.8Humans Wanted: Robots Need You ManpowerGroup, 2019.9The Future for Workers, By Workers: Making the Next Normal Better for All ManpowerGroup, 2020.10Colleges Are Starting Degrees in Esports with 36,000 Programs CBS News, 2019.11Marquette to Add Varsity Esports in 2019 Forbes, 2019.12What If We Killed the Job Interview? Fast Company, 2018.563 Game To Work
LEVEL UP: GAMING INTO WORKDifferent game genres help players develop sought after soft skills. Multiplayer team games allow peopleto cultivate collaboration, communication and leadership skills, while strategy games are more likely toemphasize problem-solving and lateral thinking. Take a look:Strategy, Puzzle and QuizKEY SKILLS DEVELOPED Critical thinkingStarCraft, Civilization, Pac-Man,Words with Friends or League of Legends CreativityGamers develop decision-making, planning, concentration and persistence. Social perceptivenessProblem-solving is at the heart of games that require players to work outapproaches to progress to the next level.13 These games help players honetheir ability to make inferences and think systemically about solving thegame, which develops their critical-thinking skills. Problem-solvingPOTENTIAL JOB MATCHES Production and machine operators Warehouse and construction workers Quality control techniciansKEY SKILLS DEVELOPEDAction-Adventure and Role-Playing CollaborationWorld of Warcraft, Assassin’s Creed,Monster Hunter or Pokémon Problem-solving Communication Judgment and decision-makingMultiuser virtual environments (MUVEs) and massively multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPGs) reflect how gaming has become more social.POTENTIAL JOB MATCHESAction-based gamers tend to be interested in mastering skills, collaborating Administrative assistantsand competing as a team. Financial analysts Customer service managersKEY SKILLS DEVELOPED CreativityOpen WorldMinecraft, Legend of Zelda or The Elder Scrolls Collaboration Social perceptiveness CoordinationOpen-world games let gamers roam free and they tend to have enhancedcreativity and better visual-spatial skills—the ability to envision movement ofPOTENTIAL JOB MATCHESobjects in space—important for careers in science and engineering.14 Electrical engineers Graphic designers Chefs or cooks1314The Role of Gamification and Game-Based Learning in Authentic Assessment Within Virtual Environments Wood et al., 2013.Spatial Skills May Be Improved Through Training, Including Video Games Temple University, 2012.4 Game To Work
“Fortnite is like a social network. People are playing with strangers and friendsand using Fortnite as a foundation to communicate.”15 Tim Sweeney, CEO, Epic GamesKEY SKILLS DEVELOPEDTeam-Playing, Sports and RacingCall of Duty, FIFA, Rocket League or Mario KartGames can teach players how to give feedback effectively.16 Players of Critical thinking Collaboration Judgment and decision-making System evaluationteam-playing games develop skills in planning and tactics, collaboration andcommunication, coping with adversity and spatial awareness.POTENTIAL JOB MATCHES Call center representative or lead Warehouse packer Healthcare providerKEY SKILLS DEVELOPEDIndie and MusicMario Party, Just Dance, Guitar Hero or Rock BandGamers never expect to conquer a challenge, song or dance from beginning to Creativity Collaboration Active learning Coordinationend on their first try. It is this learnability—the ability and desire to quickly growand adapt one’s skill set—that will be most valuable to employers.17 GamersPOTENTIAL JOB MATCHESknow that expecting perfection only sets them up for failure; rather, they’ve Digital manufacturing specialistlearned that persistence and practice pay off. Healthcare provider‘Fortnite’ Creator Sees Epic Games Becoming as Big as Facebook, Google Variety, 2019.The Education Benefits of Videogames Education & Health, 2002.17Humans Wanted: Robots Need You ManpowerGroup, 2019.15165 Game To Work Sales representative
CONTINUOUS LEARNING IN ACTIONGaming helps the brain create better cognitive models or templates, making it easier to predict and reactto new situations.18 A person’s Learnability Quotient (LQ) helps predict workplace success over time.And ManpowerGroup’s web-based assessment enables people to identify their learning style and receiverecommendations for how to keep developing their skills and employability.“Gaming fosters the skill of continuous learning—and this ability to adapt one’sskill set is increasingly critical as people adjust to the ever-changing landscapeof work.” Luca Giovannini, Vice President, Global Innovation and Analytics, ManpowerGroupREVAMPING THE RESUMEAdding gaming skills to CVs can overcomeexperience gaps and even help differentiatecandidates. In Norway, where more than halfof young people between 16 and 24 play videogames daily, employers are already tappinggaming talent.The effort to build gaming experience into the applicationprocess has paid off for Komplett, a global e-commercecompany whose customer service group has been bolsteredby the addition of employees who are able to multitask andwork across multiple channels. The company has foundthat some gamers take naturally to leadership roles in theworkplace, and several have transitioned to management.“Gamers develop knowledge and skills that transfer easily tothe e-commerce industry, for example IT skills and cognitiveskills such as focus, multitasking and cooperation,” DanielHauan, Customer Care Manager, Komplett.At Lyse Dialog, a utilities company, Linn Jordbakke leadsa team of 35 working on customer service, and she findsrecruiting candidates for their transferable soft skills hashelped her hiring efforts. Since inviting candidates toproactively share their gaming experience, the company hasseen 10 percent of registered candidates listing gaming ontheir CVs. More importantly, it has improved its image as anemployer of choice among a talent segment of the labor force.“Gaming builds many skills that are transferable to workinglife, such as cooperating with others, strategic thinking andawareness of choices and consequences,” Linn Jordbakke,Customer Service Team Leader, Lyse Dialog.186 Game To WorkAction Video Game Play Facilitates the Development ofBetter Perceptual Templates National Academy of Sciences, 2014.
LEVELING THE PLAYING FIELDEmployers want to find the best fit and to understand what motivates their workers. That’s whereassessment comes in. Scientifically validated assessments can provide rich, quantifiable informationthat helps to identify people who are potentially well-suited to an organization or role. At the sametime, younger candidates want assessments that will provide personalized information that guidesthem to understand their skills, interests and work preferences.SkillsInSight leverages artificial intelligence to decode a person’s employability, screening forcharacteristics predictive of workplace success. It includes a cognitive game that adapts to candidateperformance, increasing in complexity as items are answered correctly and becoming simpler ifmistakes are made. It provides insights into three key areas ManpowerGroup has identified aspredictors of an individual’s likelihood of success in the workplace:LIKEABILITYABILITYDRIVEfriendly, cooperative andrewarding to work withhigh capacity to solve problems, identifypatterns in data and think criticallybeing organized, motivatedand goal-orientedGame-based assessments, such as the one built into SkillsInSight, enable more diverse and inclusivehiring practices because they deal with data and are blind to race, gender, disability and socialbackground. The data harvested by GBAs provides insight into soft skills measured bySkillsInSight’s AI, such as emotional intelligence, empathy, collaboration, learning and workstyles. While face-to-face communication continues to be important, GBAs offer data-based rigorthat contributes to a more equitable, effective and engaging hiring process.CONCLUSION: PLAY HARD, WORK HARDWith every game played, the next generation of gamers is developing humanskills most sought by employers. Social, strategic, competitive and diverse—almost 50 percent of gamers in the U.S. are women and the average gameris 34 years old19. The industry is growing at light-speed. Employers and candidates who recognize the real-worldapplications of gaming have an opportunity to bring valuable skills to workplaces that need skilled talent Game on.19The Way Consumers Interact with Games Is Changing; Nearly Half of Gamers Are Female; Over Half Are 30 NewZoo, 2020.7 Game To Work
ABOUT THE RESEARCHManpowerGroup commissioned Deeper Signals to conduct a comprehensive review of scientific literatureto identify how expertise in games are transferable to the workplace. They scanned the most relevant gamegenres, covering over 11,000 games, and worked with experienced gamers to identify a list of skills requiredfor expertise in these genres. ManpowerGroup commissioned research to understand which soft skillsemployers need and how they define them. Infocorp carried out the qualitative research, surveying 24,419employers across six industry sectors in 44 countries and territories: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium,Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany,Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, NewZealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa,Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, UK and USA. Reputation Leaders analyzed the results to arrive ata taxonomy of the most in-demand soft skills from the employers’ perspective.ABOUT MANPOWERGROUPManpowerGroup (NYSE: MAN), the leading global workforce solutions company, helps organizationstransform in a fast-changing world of work by sourcing, assessing, developing and managing the talent thatenables them to win. We develop innovative solutions for hundreds of thousands of organizations every year,providing them with skilled talent while finding meaningful, sustainable employment for millions of people acrossa wide range of industries and skills. Our expert family of brands – Manpower, Experis and Talent Solutions –creates substantial value for candidates and clients across more than 75 countries and territories and has doneso for over 70 years. We are recognized consistently for our diversity – as a best place to work for Women,Inclusion, Equality and Disability and in 2020 ManpowerGroup was named one of the World’s Most EthicalCompanies for the eleventh year – all confirming our position as the brand of choice for in-demand talent.Follow us:8 Game To Work
soft skills are hard to find and even harder to train—43 percent of employers say it is more difficult to teach the soft skills they’re looking for8. This pandemic crisis has accelerated demand too for soft skills like collaboration, communication and the ability to learn9 and gaming can help fill these skills
