Blog

Ry Schueller

Hello again, heroes and allies! By the time you read this, I’ll be on a plane to the unseasonably warm and faraway land of Las Vegas, Nevada for one of the biggest events we’ll run all year—the North American Continental Championship (NACC). There are a few new faces with me on this flight, and you’ll get to meet them in just a few days. On that note, Cryptozoic Entertainment has been doing some hiring recently and we’ve received a pile of resumes from interested applicants from all over the country (and sometimes, other countries).

We’ve had some openings on the Organized Play team, and we’ve been interviewing potential candidates over the last few weeks. A few of these candidates will even be at NACC this weekend, and it gives us another excellent opportunity to observe how these individuals interact with players, volunteers, and staff to see if they’re a good fit for our team.

Job experience is probably one of the most attractive things on a resume, but how does the average World of Warcraft TCG enthusiast get appropriate experience for the job? The gaming industry has way more qualified individuals interested than there are positions available. Even if you’re not involved in any official capacity, working closely with a hobby store in your local area to promote games in your region is one way to get your feet wet. We’ve also had quite a few of our Champions of the Black Flame throw their names into the hat, using their accomplishments in that program to their credit.

Problem solving skills are also a big plus for a position that involves traveling to events and resolving any expected issues that occur on site. Providing excellent customer service is of the upmost importance considering how often we speak directly to a hobby stores over the phone or with players about the topics they’re passionate about.

As mentioned in the previous blog, strictly speaking, there aren’t right and wrong answers to most of our questions. It is important to see if qualified candidates can reason through the tough questions and arrive at an answer that shows that they have what to takes to make our events better for you, the player!

Just to give you a taste of what our top contenders had to contemplate this week, here are a couple of my favorite questions from this last round of interviews.

“What do you do if you’re running a large tournament and the computer you’re pairing players on goes down in the middle of a round? If you don’t have a backup computer, how do you move forward with the event?”

“Let’s imagine you’re planning an event like the Spectral Safari. You’re placing an event in a city where only one store can host it, and there are two stores that are equally qualified for this event. The store that didn’t get this event is very upset. How do you handle this situation, and what do you tell the upset store owner?”

I won’t comment specifically on either of the above questions in this blog, just go ahead and play problem solver for a day. Post your answers in the comments section. How would you deal with either of the situations detailed in the questions above if you were a member of the Cryptozoic Entertainment Organized Play team?