I’m probably heading back into the world of doing actual productive work.
Over the last 3 years, I’ve made a good living playing poker professionally. But I’ve decided I’d rather have a job, a consistent income, and have poker go back to being a relatively reliable side/additional income. That’d take away a lot of the stressful aspects that come with risking your rent money on a consistant basis.
Anyway - I need to update my resume. And I’m not sure whether I should list my time spent playing poker professionally, or if I should just leave a gap.
I, personally, don’t think it’s a negative to have poker playing on there - in fact, if you’re good enough to consistently earn an income over years, it tells me that you’re pretty smart, a problem solver, consistant, etc. But who knows what biases the person who looks over the resume will have? Perhaps they will associate poker with scuzziness and dishonesty. Or unreliability and compulsive gambling.
How, comparatively, is a 3 year gap in unemployment viewed?
Would it be better for me to be vague and list “self employed”?
For certain positions, maybe high-pressure sales, it wouldn’t be necessarily bad at all. For other, say working with troubled youth, it might not go over well.
If you filed income tax returns as a professional gambler, I’d say that (professional gambler) on my resume. If it’s recognized by the government and you claimed it as so, I wouldn’t sweat it. I think that would look better than 3 year unemployment gap.
My take is absolutely, put it down. Anything is better than a weird three-year gap that people will ask about anyway. Besides, it’s a plus, in my book. You can’t be successful on the poker tour without having both smarts and cojones. Plus, it’ll get your resume noticed, which is a good thing. Of course, if you’re applying to be a youth counselor with the Seventh Day Adventist Church, they may not like it, but you knew that anyway.
In the past, I’ve filed my taxes with professions of Pirate, Cat Juggler, and a few other made-up porofessions. So far, Mr. and Mrs. IRS have not looked into my employment choices.
No way. Regardless of the legality of being a professional gambler, there is a sin stigma attached to it. It’s also legal to be a prostitute in some places, but that doesn’t mean people will hire you if you tell them.
You could use some sort of euphemism or LIE and say you were self-employed as a carpenter/handyman.
I can tell you that in my profession of actuarial science, it wouldn’t be looked on negatively at all. We recently discussed the issue on an actuarial message board, and posters had examples of people who had made the move in both directions.
On the other hand, I used to work in finance for a large and rather buttoned-down corporation, and there it would have been a negative–not because it was gambling, but because it was unconventional, and my company always seemed to hire by the book. Of course, they wouldn’t have liked a 3-year gap, either!
I think you should list it and be positive about it–you’re going to be asked about it, because it’s interesting, and you want to put a good spin on it as you did in the OP. (Not so good a spin, though, that the interviewer thinks you might quit and try it again in six months!)
How about “Self-Employed, Gaming Industry?” During that time, did you do anything for this career other than play poker, such as write articles, teach classes, make personal appearances, research strategies? Can you quantify what you did – annual revenues $xx to $xx?
There are probably some jobs that you ruled yourself out of the day you quit the workaday world to play poker. Might as well accept that. My 2 cents as an HR person is that you should focus on stating what you did in a positive, professional way, and find the employer who will love you for it.
You have flexibility in what you say on your resume. It is a marketing tool. On an application, typically you are signing that you are providing correct & complete information. Employers can & do fire on the spot if they find out that wasn’t the case. So watch out for that.
I wasn’t really addressing what the IRS thought, just that “Professional Gambler” is recognized as a “real job” by the IRS. If the IRS recognizes it as a “real job” (I think it’s actually classified as a business), then I’d list it on my resume. If you just say “self employed” and they want to know what you were doing, you’ll either have to come clean with the gambling, or lie. I still think gambling would trum lie.
Did you ever use Pirate or Cat Juggler on resumes? Arrr, matey!
I think I may do this. This isn’t a “fax your resume to this number” sort of offer - I can write an e-mail to them with an explanation of why I feel I’m qualified for the job and attach the resume as an extra. I think that may be the best way to end up going.
Suggesting that someone lie on a resume is incredibly bad advice. Once you lie on a resume, you always have that hanging over your head. A lot of companies have zero tolerance -- even years later, they'll fling you out on your ear.
Leaving a three year gap is also out of the question. I think you pretty much have to lay it on the line and hope for the best.
Worst case? Jail or major life problems. Best case? You were bumming around Europe, losing whatever currency you might have had in your particular field.
Well, I think a large gap raises questions - if you get as far as an interview, you can be certain that they’ll ask you about it. Or they may see it on your resume and then not even bother with you, if it is a position for which they’ve received a ton of applications.
If I were you, I’d include it on the resume, list it as “self-employed” and then in the body of the explanation, say “professional poker player” and describe the skills you’ve acquired as a result - that you can read people, make logical decisions, take reasonable risks, etc.
Another question. Last time I updated this thing I was still in school on and off. I ended up not getting half a degree before deciding I was going the wrong way.
I suppose I should list this under an education category, otherwise I really don’t have an education category.
Should I have an explanation as to why it’s incomplete, or include data like GPA, credit hours, etc?
as far as education goes, just tell them what’s been done. if it’s “some college” say so. if you got a degree, say so. i assume you’re slightly older (read: 30s), so GPA becomes less than a number. if you had a high GPA, however, by all means, add it. honestly, i think i’d include “professional poker player” on my resume. i bet you that the person interviewing you probably plays and it’d end up in some fun conversation.
…and yeah, i said that “i bet you” part on purpose. i add this disclaimer only because someone’s going to see it and call me on it later.
Just wait’ll the Aye! Arrr! S catch up wi’ ye, me bucko - ye’ll be dancin’ the Tyburn jig at a rope’s end afore them swabs are done wi’ ye, sez I wi’ a curse. Arrr!