Starting to panic once again. After a year of trying, I've still had absolutely no luck getting even an ounce of human response out of the industry. I feel like I have a great resume, blog, and portfolio. I'm doing everything I can on a daily basis to try to improve my portfolio further.

I refuse to give up.

For those who want the quick "about me" section, I'm currently a senior at Northwestern University graduating with a degree in Industrial Engineering. I have minors in both Computer Science and Marketing with just above a 3.0 GPA. Gaming wise, I maintain a personal gaming blog that's becoming pretty popular along with writing for worldofmatticus.com. I'm a guild leader of the #55 World of Warcraft guild in the United States, and we play together about 10 hours each week. Lastly, I have a portfolio consisting of an WoW add-on that's the "top" of its category along with two simple standalone games. I really want to bust into the industry through QA or design.

I've gone through the conventional channels and am about to resort to extremes:
- I've got a friend at the career services department at Stanford University who's letting me attend their career fair this October. Blizzard Entertainment and EA Games will both be there, and I'm hoping to make an initial contact and actually get some face time for once. This is "extreme" in the sense that I'm dropping $900 for a 1-day trip.



I'm considering cold calling. Does anyone have any specific tips for the game industry that might facilitate its success? Or is this just a terrible idea to begin with?




http://www.MatthewEnthoven.com <--- My portfolio/resume
http://www.Blacksen.com <--- My blog

Hi Matt, long time no see.

Quote: Original post by MAEnthoven
1. This is "extreme" in the sense that I'm dropping $900 for a 1-day trip.
2. I'm considering cold calling. Does anyone have any specific tips for the game industry that might facilitate its success?
3. Or is this just a terrible idea to begin with?

1. Wow! From where?
2. Local calls only, of course. But who are you going to call and what are you going to say?
3. Depends. Where are you calling from, and where are you calling to, who are you calling, and what will you say?

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper
Hi Matt, long time no see.

Hi Tom. Glad to see you're still around.

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper

Quote: Original post by MAEnthoven
1. This is "extreme" in the sense that I'm dropping $900 for a 1-day trip.
2. I'm considering cold calling. Does anyone have any specific tips for the game industry that might facilitate its success?
3. Or is this just a terrible idea to begin with?

1. Wow! From where?
2. Local calls only, of course. But who are you going to call and what are you going to say?
3. Depends. Where are you calling from, and where are you calling to, who are you calling, and what will you say?

1. Going off of the tickets I bought a week and a half ago from ORD to SFO for this weekend (including things like hotel and taxi's). It's probably cheaper if I buy now, but I can't buy until I verify I don't have a midterm or anything on that day. My classes don't start until September 21st. The benefit is that I have more time to decide.

2/3. I'm planning on directly calling individuals in the HR departments of a few companies. I'm probably going to end up getting voice mail, but that's okay. I'm still working on exactly what I'm going to say with the university's career services. It will probably be something like "Hey, this is Matthew Enthoven calling. I'm currently a senior at Northwestern University and was referred to you by <insert employee name>. I'm trying to get into the games industry after I graduate this June, and I was hoping to learn a bit more about life at <insert company name> and the career opportunities that you have available. If there's any time that anyone in your department has for an informational interview, please call me back at <insert phone # here>."

This is a rough, rough draft, but you get the idea.

In terms of how I got their phone number and the employee name, I've been a guild leader now for 3 years. I've talked to a lot of people in various games, and have recorded an out-of-game contact every time someone says that they work for a game company. I contacted all of them to get contacts in their respective HR departments - about 50% responded. I've got 11 HR phone numbers.

Quote: Original post by MAEnthoven
0. Starting to panic once again. After a year of trying... I'm currently a senior...
1. Going off of the tickets I bought a week and a half ago from ORD to SFO for this weekend (including things like hotel and taxi's). It's probably cheaper if I buy now, but I can't buy until I verify I don't have a midterm or anything on that day. My classes don't start until September 21st. The benefit is that I have more time to decide.
2/3. I'm planning on directly calling individuals in the HR departments of a few companies. I'm probably going to end up getting voice mail, but that's okay. I'm still working on exactly what I'm going to say with the university's career services. It will probably be something like "Hey, this is Matthew Enthoven calling. I'm currently a senior at Northwestern University and was referred to you by <insert employee name>. I'm trying to get into the games industry after I graduate this June, and I was hoping to learn a bit more about life at <insert company name> and the career opportunities that you have available. If there's any time that anyone in your department has for an informational interview, please call me back at <insert phone # here>."
4. I've got 11 HR phone numbers.

0. You've been trying to get a job while still a student? (I confess that although I recognize your name, I remember nothing of your current situation.) More below.
1. So, in other words: "Chicago." (You wrote 66 more words than you needed to.)
2. So, in other words: "H.R., and I'm going to vaguely ask for a callback, because I don't expect to actually get to speak to a human." This is a problem; more below.
3. So, in other words: "From Chicago, to Anywhere on the Planet Earth, and see #2 above." This, too, is a problem; more below.
4. Are there 11 companies in Chicago?

0. Your "year of trying" is looking very silly since you are still a student. Trying to get a job while still a student is rarely going to work. I submit that the time to panic is after a year of portfolio-building after graduation (graduation plus one year at least). Student projects rarely make a good portfolio.

2. Not only are you asking for a callback, you're expecting them to read you their entire jobs list. That's an unrealistic expectation on both counts. Re-write -- have both a voicemail AND a live person spiel ready.

3. "Location, location, location." Calling from Chicago, you should only be calling in Chicago. ...If you're going to cold-call.

Did you go to GDC yet? If you haven't, I'd save the job-fair money for GDC money (if you can only afford one). They'll have all the career people for EVERYONE, but what they'll have that the stanford thing won't have is people in the industry you can make friends with.

Now instead of having a 2 minute discussion for their hr department to base your skills off of, you might have a person who already works for that company who not only is confident in your skills (at least enough to get you an interview), but they'll probably also recommend you because you were a cool person to be around, which can be just as important as your professional ability.

This is, of course, coming from my recently graduated and still unemployed personage, so take it how you will. I will say that I've sent out hundreds of resumes, and gotten a handful of nibbles, but I've emailed friends I met at GDC or through other channels and gotten replies almost every time. Not always the reply you're hoping for, but a friend telling you that they aren't hiring is a lot better than an HR department telling you nothing :-p.

Quote: Original post by MAEnthoven
I feel like I have a great resume, blog, and portfolio.

The total lack of response you are getting would indicate that you are wrong. While it is very nicely presented visually, from a content point of view, it falls short.

Quote: Objective
Game design or development position that utilizes my programming knowledge and management abilities while advancing my career in the computer gaming industry.

1. The above sentence is vague and unfocused. It says you don't know what you want to do; your résumé just hit the trash.

The literal translation is:
I want a non-entry level position or an unspecified development position.

Any HR person receiving this résumé would have to choose between spending time/effort to find out what exactly it is you want to do, or saving themselves the effort and going with applicants who clearly stated what job they are applying for. Given the over abundance of entry level applicants they will almost certainly take the second option.

2. "Game Design" is generally not an entry level position. Too many experienced people want that position. Level design can be an entry level position but to get that you need to state that that is what you are applying for and have a portfolio packed with a load of levels that you have designed and built. We are talking Quake 4, Half-Life, Call of Duty 9, Star Craft etc levels which are fun to play.

3. "Development Position" is about as non-specific as you can be. Is this testing, art, programming, (level) design or project management? Actually it is none of them. I don't know if it is that you haven't done enough research into actual jobs in the industry or you are hoping a scatter gun "give me any job" approach will work. Neither is good. You need to identify what entry level positions are available and apply for ONE and only one of them. Otherwise the HR people will just put you in the undecided pile (aka the trash can).

Note: I would also think long and hard about including the phrase "management ability". You can't claim to have programming ability unless you have programmed. You can't claim to have management ability unless you have managed a team of people through an entire project. Being "responsible for" is not management. See my comment on this below.

4. Moving on, you are guilty of the first error listed in this piece résumé tips. You aren't providing any meaningful information. Your work experience says what your job title was and that you managed something or programmed something but you don't actually say what you DID.

Quote: Product Manager and Developer
Main programmer and designer on new product operating on the Force.com platform

Main programmer - what does this mean? Were you the Lead Programmer, the only programmer or just the programmer who wrote the most code. Whichever it was, what does it tell a prospective employer? Nothing.
What was the actual product, what did it do, what actual work did you do on it and how long did this take.

A far better way to phrase it is:
"Programmed a monkey wrangling utility in [language] in [X] months"

Other titbits....

"Main resource for..." Again what exactly does this mean?

"Managed all project code implementations..." Again lacking in detail. Were you managing 500 people who were doing project code implementations, 10 people or was it actually just you doing it? Being "responsible for" is not managing. If you are actually managing then you need to be detailing the number of people you managed, the scale and budget of the project, the time line and, most importantly, the revenue it generated for the company (or the money it saved them).

"Solely created..." - When a company states that their soup contains "no artificial preservatives" what they are actually doing is inferring that everyone else's soup does. When you use the word "solely" just in this instance I therefore assume that you didn't actually do all the other stuff listed on your résumé yourself (solely) and that others helped you. It is just one word but in this context it is damaging/negative. Anything on your résumé should be solely your own work and therefore you don't need to state that it is. If you only worked on part of a project then you state clearly which part of the project you worked on.

5. You are also guilty of the second error - padding.

Quote: Programming Skills: Experience with Lua, Maya, Java, C++, OpenGL, &#106avascript, XML, XSLT, PHP, HTML, Visual Basic, Microsoft Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Scheme, MySQL, C#, and Cocoa/Objective C.

Since when are Word, Excel and Powerpoint "programming". Listing those is like stating that you have experience with a pen, pencil and eraser. Also, if you list a language on your résumé you better make sure you are proficient in it. If you "had a go at" or "messed around with" that doesn't count. If it is on your résumé chances are someone will ask questions about it and you may get a test.

Your second post...

Quote: I'm still working on exactly what I'm going to say with the university's career services. It will probably be something like "Hey, this is Matthew Enthoven calling. I'm currently a senior at Northwestern University and was referred to you by <insert employee name>. I'm trying to get into the games industry after I graduate this June, and I was hoping to learn a bit more about life at <insert company name> and the career opportunities that you have available. If there's any time that anyone in your department has for an informational interview, please call me back at <insert phone # here>."

I predict that this message will have pretty much the same result as your current résumé for exactly the same reason. Having gone to the effort of getting through to someone in HR (or their answer machine) you have given them absolutely no reason to call you back. - you didn't say what it is you want to do.

HR people are busy (or like to think they are). Their job is to find and recruit capable and qualified new employees to fit current vacancies. Unless you are solving that problem for them then you are just taking up time. They don't have time for a nice chat on the phone that may eventually lead to you getting to the point. If you get through to their answer-phone you better damn well tell them what job you want.
"I am interested in applying for an entry level programming position and have a couple of short questions about the application process. I would be grateful if blah blah..."

Remember, by asking them to call you are asking them for a favour. You need to do something in return (potentially fill one of those vacancies they have) and by using the word "short" you are promising not to take up too much of their time.

[Edited by - Obscure on September 9, 2010 11:44:28 AM]

I'm going to follow Obscure's reading of your resume.

It will be brutal, but please, follow it through.


First glance, I do the normal visual sweep. Top, left, diagonal, to bottom. I see a name, then I see a date:

Expected Graduation June, 2011.

That is an automatic no hire. We don't need interns, and we are nearly fully staffed. We have a stack of applications already.




Let's assume it said 2010 and you are a recent graduate. Moving on.

Next date in the scanning, June 2010 - Present. You've had a programming job for TWO MONTHS and are looking for something new. That looks REALLY bad from an employer standpoint. Why are you job-hopping? Are you a flight risk before we've even hired you? Another reason to discard it.

So my initial scan is done.

Look at the objective. Programmer? Designer? It kinda says programmer, but it also says other jobs too. I'd prefer someone who knows what they want.

Education is nice but useless. I don't care that you took "Introduction to computer graphics", I want to know that you wrote a rendering engine with D3D. I don't care that you took "consumer insights", since programmers aren't marketers. And I especially don't care that you took "Data Structures and Data Management (Programming in C++)"; it is akin to saying you took English 101.

Instead show me what you did. Describe the senior project where you worked with n other people writing something cool using a bunch of technologies. Tell me about something that shows your skills.


Work experience is the same thing. 40 hrs/week is implied, cut. You were the "main programmer and designer" on "new product". Main out of how many? Two? Fifty? What kind of product? Be as specific as you can, calling out any transferable skills or things I may find interesting. Hopefully something small because you are done in two months. Java, Apex, &#106avascript, HTML. Those are not video game languages, unless you are applying for Pogo.com or similar Java jobs.

Because you are leaving after just two months, you need to tell me why you are leaving so quickly. Did you finish the project? Do you have evidence of it?


"Professional Services Intern". Where? What is "Enterasys Phase 3 project"? For all I know it could be anything from advanced rocketry launching phases to building construction of the third building on a lot. "Solely created configurators" so you wrote scripts? "for Enterasys A, B, C, D, I, G, and S series" means absolutely nothing to me. I neither know nor care what they are. I want to know what you actually did in terms that any generic programmer can understand.

"languages used were &#106avascript, PHP, XSL, HTML, XML, and the company’s internal hybrid-language." Again, not video game languages. Sorry, the experience counts for little.<br><br>"Programming Skills" section is useless. Read the other threads in the forum for details, but basically I don't know if those "skills" are that you read a crappy book &#111;ne time or if you are &#111;n the standards committee for the language. These skills belong in the details for the previous items. Cut.<br><br>"Game/Add-on Development". What? For a GAME job, this should be near the TOP. I would have thrown your resume out a long time ago, and now you finally mention something I care about.<br><br>Those should be called out specifically. Describe what they are, what you did to make them, how you advertised them, and add your buzz words. Don't force me to visit the web site to know more. <br><br>Apply your marketing skills to it. The Game/Add-on Development is probably the best bit you've got going, and you've completely buried it.<br><br><br>ACM club is kind of fun, but there is no meat in it. Expand or kill it.<br><br>Pilot. Pilot?! You'll be paid to write software, not pilot an aircraft. CUT.<br><br><br><br><br><!--QUOTE--><BLOCKQUOTE><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><table border=0 cellpadding=4 cellspacing=0 width="95%"><tr><td class=quote><!--/QUOTE--><!--STARTQUOTE-->I feel like I have a great resume<!--QUOTE--></td></tr></table></BLOCKQUOTE><!--/QUOTE--><!--ENDQUOTE-->You may feel that way, but I disagree. In fact, I'd put it in the bottom quartile of those I have ever seen. Not among the worst, but very far below average.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I love harsh feedback, so if you have any more for my portfolio, I'd love to hear it!

@Obscure - Part of the reason that I'm vague on my current job description is that the product I'm working under still falls under proprietary information. The "higher-ups" at my company basically told me that that was all I could say. I don't know how else to describe what I'm doing for them. I'm designing a new product programming on the Force.com platform. I can't describe the new product and I can't describe what in the Force.com platform we're using.

If you have any recommendations on how to reword this, I would appreciate it. If not, thanks for the feedback thus far!



@frob - I'm not so sure about the "Expected Graduation" line. I'm now 9 months out from graduation. Blizzard Entertainment and EA games are both out gathering resumes applications for post-graduate hiring. If you have any recommendations on how to reword this, let me know.

I'm NOT looking for an intern position. I am looking for an immediate post-graduate position.

Also, the "June 2010 - Present" line is there for my summer internship. I've had an internship with the same company for the past 3 years. I got a promotion this past summer.






Then again, if all of this requires explanation, it's probably getting thrown to the bottom of the pile anyway. I'll continue to work on it.

Quote: Original post by MAEnthoven
I'm now 9 months out from graduation... I'll continue to work on it.

Sure. Take your time. You have lots of it -- 8 months to be exact.

Quote: Original post by Tom Sloper
Sure. Take your time. You have lots of it -- 8 months to be exact.

8 months only seems like a long time when you've got 8 months until something :-p