Can I put these skills on my CV?

This was a question I was asked recently while working with young people who are currently outside of education, employment, or training.

One young person talked about an online course they and their friends recently completed, in which they worked together to solve puzzles under timed conditions. This involved demonstrating problem-solving, communication, coordination and active listening skills to complete the tasks successfully.
At this point, another young person chimed in and described a team-based training simulation where he had taken on a leadership role. He explained how they organised and coordinated the group, delegated responsibilities, taught team members their tasks, communicated instructions under pressure, and adapted the team's strategy when problems arose.

These sound just like the kind of examples of skills we would encourage young people to include on a CV. Yet these skills were not actually from a course or training programme.

They were from video games.

I have to admit, this made me reflect on my own bias. These same skills appeared more legitimate when they came from a course or training programme than from a video game.

Would you view the same skill differently if you found out it was demonstrated and developed through gaming rather than through a course?

Research would suggest I am not alone in this bias. Applicants who listed video games as an interest were rated lower on hirability and CV quality than those who listed team sports, even when the gaming example demonstrated high proficiency (Basch et al., 2026).

However, these young people I am working with are clearly demonstrating that gaming can often involve work-relevant skills. And I think that highlights something current employability support might potentially miss. Employability support should not only be about helping young people develop new skills.

Employability support should also help them recognise, translate, and communicate the employability skills they might not know they already have.

Why Work?

Not a question that can be answered through CV writing support, online job-search guidance, life skills training, or interview preparation alone.
But a question that may be central to building the intrinsic motivation and resilience young people need to engage in a job-search process that can often feel unclear, discouraging, and lacking in feedback. 

I've recently begun the amazing opportunity to work with and shadow Abergele Youth Den, learning more about the support they provide for young people in North Wales. Having the chance to observe their Moving Forward initiative, a project designed to support young people in accessing employment, education, and training opportunities. It was great to observe how the youth workers engaged young people through conversation, group activities and relationship-building, helping to create an atmosphere of trust and psychological safety. 

Given my own interest in supporting young adults towards meaningful, sustainable employment, I found it particularly striking how challenging it seemed for many in the group to identify their values or to imagine future work aspirations. For some, the challenge did not seem to be simply about a lack of knowledge and understanding of where and how to find jobs. It seemed to sit one step earlier, struggling to see what work could mean for them or why it might matter, highlighting the deeper question of ‘Why work?’, which they were struggling to answer at this time.

Looking ahead, I am really interested to see how this support programme continues to explore this question in the sessions and how it is explored further across employment support for young adults in the UK.  
 
A big thank you to Abergele Youth Den and Conwy Council for welcoming me and giving me the opportunity to learn while gaining a first-hand perspective of the current support available to young people in the UK.