Former professional poker player - include on cv or not

kilclon

Hi,

After I finished my degree in 2006 I worked in my chosen area for 2.5 years before going traveling for 2 years. While traveling and for 6 months after I came back I was a professional poker player virtually full time. I then started a part time masters (2 years part time) which is just finished and built a house which I finished 6 months ago.

So, I am now looking to rejoin the workforce and am unsure how to fill out my CV. As in, do I say I was a pro poker player or do I leave it out. It has been my sole source of income since Jan 2009 so I'm not sure how to leave it out.

How would this be looked upon by a prospective employer?

Thanks

Shalashaska

It depends on the type of job you are going for and your qualifications. Depending on what you studied in college, you could be seen as a good candidate for the likes of the betting companies who offer online poker given your understading of the game. After all, you have been able to sustain a livelihood from it for a good few years .

kilclon

Cheers. I probably should have said, my degree is in civil eng and masters is in planning and development surveying.

Zascar

I'd put it in, it's an impressive feat and makes you more interesting than most other candidates. Hopefully the math/analytical skills you have will be of benefit in the jobs you are seeking. A guy I know is more or less the same and he flaunts about it all the time!

dtfo

I did the same for 2 years and I dont include it. I think most people, especially over a certain age, will never view it as a legitimate way to make an income and it will work against you. As said , however, if it is for a company that has some kind of knowledge of the skills and aptitude required then I would consider putting it in

Shalashaska

If you want to go for an engineering job, I don't really know if you should. That said, you would have to explain the 'gap' in professional experience i.e. the fact that you were a professional poker player which could be problematic at interview stage. As a civil engineer, I don't know if you did much programming but that could be something you could use to complement applying for the online poker jobs I suggested in my last post. If all else fails, you could work in a casino .

kupus

Of course you stick it in your cv, it shows you can be cool under pressure, money management skills, that you understand risks, etc. and a good ice breaker.

Kettleson

What is there to hide? If you get employed your work colleagues will find out eventually and then inevitably your employers.

Part of life's rich tapestry of experience. Sound interesting to me and you must have had to practice some sort of self discipline. You should have developed a good few business skills that would be valuable to an employer.

Stick it in. Go all in.

MagicMarker

No, I wouldn't, truth is gambling wouldn't be looked on in a favorable light by a lot of people, no matter how good you are at it.

Tails142

As a civil engineer myself I would say no, don't include it. Some of the banks and accountancy firms might go for it as they like to see people with sound reasoning that can perhaps think outside of the box and have used poker tournaments as a way to weed out candidates in the past for recruitment...

But for civil engineering, if I was hiring and saw that on someone's cv I wouldn't be able to take it seriously and would be wondering if they would be sitting on site/in the office playing poker on their phone instead of working.

I think it's more likely to work against you and not really related to your field in any way, just say that you were travelling, holes in people's cv are very common these days

kilclon

Cheers for the advice. I guess my worry is that a more conservative element may not understand it as a profession and I may not even get to interview stage.

I actually don't know exactly what area I want to work in. Construction sector is obviously still fairly slow. What other kind of areas would my skills be applicable to (other than what Shalashaska has mentioned)

Freemount09

I think I'd probably leave it out, if you got an interview, use your poker skills in reading people, to see weather you could mention it ?

It could make you more interesting, if you said that you travelled the world, funding it by playing poker, winning enough money for coke, hookers and the train ticket to the next town !! If I was interviewing you, I'd give you the job, just to go to lunch and listen to the stories you have !!

3DataModem

If you are applying to work with us, leave it in...

http://www.rfts.com/careers.php
https://careers.rationalgroup.com/irecruit/home.aspx

Good luck.

kilclon

Thanks for all of the replies.

The answer to my question seems to be the inevitable, 'it depends'. As in, if I were to go for some kind of finance position or a job within a gaming / gambling company, I should leave it in, whereas if I was trying to get a job relating closer to my degree and masters I should probably leave it out.

I really need to figure out what I want to do and what my skills would be ideally suited to.

3DATAMODEM, I find it hard to see how I could walk into any of the jobs you linked to without further training. Is it possible for someone with a background in civil eng/construction/planning to adapt on the job even given the fact that I would have a good knowledge of poker and gambling?

3DataModem

kilclon wrote: »

Thanks for all of the replies.

The answer to my question seems to be the inevitable, 'it depends'. As in, if I were to go for some kind of finance position or a job within a gaming / gambling company, I should leave it in, whereas if I was trying to get a job relating closer to my degree and masters I should probably leave it out.

I really need to figure out what I want to do and what my skills would be ideally suited to.

3DATAMODEM, I find it hard to see how I could walk into any of the jobs you linked to without further training. Is it possible for someone with a background in civil eng/construction/planning to adapt on the job even given the fact that I would have a good knowledge of poker and gambling?

We are always hiring, and most people adapted from other industries.

The specific jobs linked may require some specific skills, but a couple of years grinding, rounding (or even bonus whoring) definitely stands to you.

If you are job hunting, submit a CV. Big office in Dublin, but also plenty worldwide.

Mr. Loverman

I have an open mind but would not consider hiring someone who has put "professional poker player" on their CV.

The problem isn't you, it's the fact I have to explain to HR and my boss (the CEO) that I want to hire a gambler. It will make me look bad.

(I don't want to get into a debate about whether poker is or isn't gambling - the reality is the HR drone and the CEO probably consider it gambling).

P_1

I guess you could put down that you were self employed in risk management consulting on the CV. It is essentially what you were doing and it covers the gap up nicely.

kavanada

Don't do that! They'll end up asking, 'what did you do exactly and who were you working for?' . Then what?

OP, I think you know the gist of the answer at this stage. It depends on the company/job/position. Only you can work out which is applicable at the time.

Just say you went travelling for those 2 years or so, learned a little along the way and after you came back, got stuck into building your future home. Because you were focused on that, you only had time for a part-time masters. A number of people take career breaks, etc. You can easily account for those years.

Either way, best of luck with the new job.