8 Dungeons & Dragons Skills to Flaunt on your Resume

Writing a resume that captures attention and elaborates on your talents and abilities is not impossible. And if you’ve played Dungeons & Dragons (DnD), even better!

With a little creativity and intelligence, you can formulate a resume that makes you stand out and helps you land the job of your dreams.

When writing your resume, there are certain things you can mention to make your resume look more attractive.

In addition to your education details, extracurricular activities, work experience, and hobbies/interests, you can also list down your skills creatively.

Is Dungeon Mastering a Useful Skill?

Who doesn’t know about Dungeons and Dragons? A single session of this revolutionary game can last from three hours to an entire day. The role-playing game is about storytelling in fantasy worlds.

Dungeon Masters acquire a ton of skills that come in handy outside the game. Most of us wonder whether we should put DnD on our resume.

Since employers want to assess our strengths, skills, and problem-solving abilities, adding Dungeon Master to our resume can provide an insight into our personality.

Not everyone knows what a dungeon master is and how it helps cultivate leadership, communication, and social skills. However, certain positions require these very skills.

Your resume is your first impression on potential employers. Putting Dungeons & Dragons on your resume can help you sum up a whole list of skills that make you fit for the role.

Related: How To Find And Keep A Remote Job: A Complete Guide

Here are some of the skills that you can mention in your resume and refer to the game.

Important Skills You Learn from Dungeons and Dragons (DnD)

1. Leadership Skills

All of your players communicate simultaneously, and it’s moments like these where a Dungeon Master steps into the leadership role and helps the party become organized.

Any employer would love to have a natural leader on board, especially when hiring for a managerial role. The leadership skills that you practice in the game can come in handy to coordinate small teams because you know how to assign and delegate.

Mentioning DnD on your resume means you are not afraid to take charge and love to climb the career ladder.

2. Social Skills

Regardless of the job you are applying for, the ability to interact with the people around you is critical. Recruiters and hiring officials seek out staff that engages well with customers and each other.

When you list the highly social aspect of Dungeons & Dragons on your resume, it shows your skills and strength as a communicator. Your employers will find your traits more desirable than other candidates, mainly if you apply for a sales job.

3. Team Building Skills

Like leadership skills, team building is crucial to a company’s success. Many times, parties start as a diverse bunch of misfits who do not have any joint goals to work as a team.

The DM must help them unite and become a team to create an experience that builds collaboration and trust.

When recruiters view this skill concerning the game, they assess that you can initiate and motivate a team to achieve company goals. That’s one skill that is sure to help you progress in your professional life.

4. Problem Solving Skills

No doubt playing Dungeons and Dragons cultivates your problem-solving skills. Throwing challenges at your players, be it tactical boss fights or intricate riddles, requires meticulous problem-solving abilities.

You start viewing problems from different angles to come up with the best solution. When you create problems for your players, you must not only solve them but break them too, which requires excellent problem-solving capabilities.

In today’s competitive workplaces, solving problems under pressure is an incredibly practical skill.

Many employers prefer choosing professionals who don’t succumb to pressure and exhibit excellent problem-solving skills in the most challenging situations.

5. Mediation Skills

Remember when the party’s rogue planned to steal the precious item, but the barbarian already entered rage? Many times, the best way to manage conflicting ideas is mediation.

As a Dungeon Master, you develop excellent methods of resolving problems and defusing conflicts. Communication and mediation skills help us deal with angry customers or tackle challenging situations.

Most employers are looking for professionals who aren’t just good communicators, but also exceptional mediators. That’s because good mediators de-escalate hostile situations and help both parties arrive at a mutual conclusion.

Related: How Often Should You Update Your Resume?

6. Math Skills

For some, the least entertaining part of Dungeons & Dragon is Math. Mathematical calculations are essential for killing those pesky skeletons or splitting food rations between characters.

But these skills can shine on your resume when you list them as your strength. If you are fond of crunching numbers and don’t shy from solving mathematical problems, highlight the mathematical benefits of playing Dungeons and Dragons on your resume.

7. Preparation and Planning Skills

A large part of your job as Dungeon Masters is preparing and planning sessions for your players. You also have to spend significant time creating back-up plans if your rogue friends derail the campaign once again.

This skill can make you stand out when you are applying for stock management or management positions. If you apply for a supermarket position, your planning skills can come in handy to land you a job at a reputed supermarket.

8. Experimentation and Visualization Skills

Dungeon Masters utilize visualization skills for conjuring up epic battles. However, visualization is also crucial for mapping out complicated procedures and experimenting with research and development.

Who would think DnD could provide such useful real-world applications? Experimentation is a great asset and skill when you are applying for a research and development job.

Final Thoughts

In today’s age and time, geeks are cooler than you think. Putting Dungeons and Dragons on your resume is not a bad idea at all because it gives an insight into your creative, analytical, and problem-solving skills.

So the next time you are applying for a role at a game development company, a superstore, or a management position, don’t hesitate to show off your love for the game and grab your employer’s attention.

Marissa Letendre, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

Marissa Letendre is a senior HR leader and resume expert with over 12 years of experience. She has worked for both startups and Fortune 50 corporations and has helped thousands land jobs at top companies. Marissa has written on a wide range of topics, including employee engagement, career development, resumes, job searching, recruiting, and organizational effectiveness and has been featured on sites such as Slack and The Undercover Recruiter.

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