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.
