Should Nintendo skills go on a résumé?

On Halloween, I spend the evening applying for jobs and playing a little 8-bit Nintendo.

I spend 4 hours filling out 5 job applications and 1.25 hours saving the princess. Guess which activity I felt better about when I went to bed?

Paul Lewis Siddoway

Nobody will argue that it's easy to find a job. Especially in this market. Fortunately, there are plenty of tools and plenty of advice on the subject.

One blog I found, "Thoughts on Teaching," comes from the stand point of a professor from the University of Florida.

Julie Dodd, a professor in UF's communications department saw an article in the New York Times about new graduates waiting for their careers to begin, and she suggested a few things to do.

Obviously, while I'm looking for a foot in the door to the big-boy job world I'll keep the job I have, but Dodd also suggested freelancing. One guy I work with got paid $50 for one hour of consultation. Brilliant.

There are other ways to make good use of that 40-hours a week I may not be using, too. And I'm not just talking about traversing the underworld and slaying monsters. I found Dodd's blog because I decided to start my own blog. It may not be about accounting or finance or marketing, but it is about music, because that's one of my passions. And maybe someone else who's into music will read it. And maybe, just maybe, they'll want to talk to me about something else, like a job. It's worth a shot, right? If nothing else, I'm developing another marketable job skill.

I've already talked about networking, but Dodd recommends always carrying business cards, just in case. Even if they aren't that professional, as long as they have a way to contact you, that's enough. Ideally, I'd like to give everyone I meet a copy of my resume, so they can give it to someone else they know and I will be handed a job on a silver platter.

And speaking of resumes, do you think beating a golden action-adventure game from the 80s is resume-worthy? What demonstrates your work ethic better than the infinite amount of hours you’ve spent on problem-solving a single, dedicated task with no form of reward other than the satisfaction of completion?

At least, that's how I justify it to my wife.

- Paul Lewis Siddoway