- Growth of Gaming During Lockdown Pumps Soft Skills into UK Labour Market
- 48% of British Gamers Would Thrive in a Hands-On Workplace
- Employers Must Turn to Gamers to Tackle Skills Shortage in the UK
In February of 2020, the UK was experiencing the worst Talent Shortage in over ten years, with 23% of employers struggling to fill roles. In the latest ONS labour market report, we’ve seen vacancies start to creep back up towards pre-pandemic levels, which means more gaps in the talent market. Filling roles is no longer just about experience, hard skills or proximity to a workplace, it’s about soft skills and the ability to learn and develop into a role. This opens the door to gamers as the next big untapped and growing resource; like for like game sales increased 44% as a result of the pandemic the world over.
ManpowerGroup analysed more than 11,000 games across 13 genres—from action adventure, role-playing to music and indie— identifying the top soft skills developed in each gaming category and then mapped gaming skills to work skills. For example, a gamer who plays games like Call of Duty or Fortnite cultivates soft skills that a warehouse packer requires, such as critical thinking, spatial awareness and problem-solving.
Jason Greaves, Brand Leader, Manpower UK says: “It’s not just the labour market that’s been shocked in the last year, we’ve also had a sharp uptick in personal time, which has led to many swapping commuting for computer gaming. And this is across the entire population, regardless of age, gender or background. Gaming is on the rise. The good news is, all the time spent in the virtual world of Fortnite, Minecraft or Animal Crossing wasn’t in vain for the UK workforce. In fact, workers waiting out the pandemic have been developing many of the skills required for today’s jobs and the roles of the future.”
“Before the health crisis in the UK we were experiencing historic talent shortages, and as we prepare to return to offices those skill gaps remain; there might be more people looking for work but that doesn’t mean they have the skills that are in demand right now,” continued Greaves. “What we do know is that skills like teamwork, critical thinking and problem-solving are needed now more than ever; and these skills are developed through video games. What’s currently missing is workers awareness of the skills they’ve been developing through gaming. Similarly, employers need to be open-minded; it’s our duty to support people back into work, and remember that new skills can come from anywhere, it’s not just workplace experience that is important, in fact video and computer games could have been developing the skills of the future-ready employee.”
ManpowerGroup’s proprietary online Gaming Skills Translator tool allows candidates to input the specific games they play, their experience and skill level, and the amount of time they spend gaming. The tool then translates that into workplace skills they can add to CVs and discuss in interviews and ultimately help connect to potential job matches. In the UK, over 2,750 respondents took the online Gaming Skills Translator, and the strongest personality trait to emerge from British gamers was ‘Realistic,’ with almost half (48%) of respondents identifying with this trait. This indicates that these candidates would prefer to work in a more hands-on environment with real-world materials and machinery, over a traditional people orientated workplace.
The Skills Translator provides a new set of tools for recruiters to identify promising talent faster and better represent what gamers can offer an organisation. When candidates have insight into how their favourite games translate into work-ready skills, they can better convey their skill sets in interviews and on paper. And when employers and recruiters have more assessment data on skills and potential, the match of individual to role is significantly better.
- Improved Critical Thinking – Strategy games like Civilization and Command & Conquer require you to work out which approaches will progress you to the next level. What motivates and engages you helps you hone your ability to make inferences and think systemically about solving the game. This sharpens your judgment and your approach to problem-solving, decision making (weighing up pros and cons of different tactics) and strategic thinking.
- Increased Capacity for Collaboration – With the evolution of formats like massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), modern gaming is shifting from an individual to a social experience. COVID-19 has only accelerated this trend because, for many during the pandemic, gaming has been the only way to “meet” friends and develop proactive social skills. In multiplayer games, you must work together with other players to win, enhancing your ability to collaborate remotely. Plus, these types of games often inspire meetups and hangouts IRL as well as improved relations with peers, family members or your community. This can translate to better working relationships with colleagues.
- Strengthened Communication Skills – Your communication skills also get a workout in multiplayer games. In virtual environments, you can test and learn different communication styles. Players of EVE Online, for example, where users build parallel personas for an online world, have demonstrated an improved ability to adapt their conversational style depending on the situation.
- Enhanced Creativity – Sandbox games that let you roam free and do your own thing (such as Minecraft and Terraria) are linked to enhanced creativity. If you play these games, you may have better visual-spatial skills – the ability to envision movement of objects in space – important for careers in science and engineering.
