Skills you never knew you had

Some colleagues and I got onto the subject of computerised games recently when one colleague remarked they couldn’t remember when the last played solitaire with a real pack of cards. As a communications consultant, you get used to thinking laterally and the conversation lead to pondering if playing Farmville could give you skills to include on your CV.

For those of you not familiar with the game, Farmville is Zynga’s social network farm simulation game on Facebook; you basically build and manage a virtual farm in pretty much the same way a real farm operates – but without getting your hands mucky. You buy seeds/trees, plant and harvest them within a certain time period (failure to do so results in withered crops) to earn Farmville money. Livestock are also for sale and you increase your income by regularly milking, shearing, or collecting eggs etc. As well as earning Farmville money you also gain experience points, which when a certain amount has been accrued, will move you to the next level.

As your level increases, so too does the range of crops you can plant and livestock you can buy. You can also expand your farm, and purchase more buildings, machinery and decorations. Farmville helpfully suggests you send out requests to invite Facebook friends to play Farmville, as the more Farmville neighbours you have, the more beneficial it is to you; you can work collectively with your friends, and also send gifts and buy goods from them.

Of course, there is a monetary side to this game. Should you not have enough money in your virtual farm bank account, you make purchases using real money.

The game is highly addictive (as demonstrated by the 62 million or so people playing it) and I confess to getting sucked in and playing it for a while. My god-daughter in UK sent me a request and begged me to play so she could start to expand her farm. I dutifully hit the ‘accept’ button and found myself inundated with gifts of pigs, horses, apple trees and the like, and found myself deciding on whether to plant rice or corn.

Fortunately my god-daughter lost interest, but not before I’d found myself calculating when I could next log on to play the game; this was important as it would determine which crops to plant as harvesting time varied from two hours to four days. Since I have stopped playing, somewhere in a virtual world there are cows with aching udders, sheep suffering from wool blindness and chickens perched high on towers of uncollected eggs. The fields are just patches of brown dirt and my tractor will need jump leads and a good dose of WD40 to get it going again.

So with my limited Farmville experience, here’re a few ‘tongue in cheek’ suggestions of how to transfer your Farmville skills to the real world.

• Communication skills: I frequently leave little notes in my neighbour’s farms telling them I’ve been there, as well as inviting people to join me with special tasks. Plus I let my friends know what I’m up to by publishing my Farmville achievements to my news flow.
• Ability to organise and prioritise, and meet deadlines: Running a farm, real or otherwise, requires you to perform tasks on a daily basis as cows need milking and if crops aren’t harvested within a set time frame they die. Plus it’s imperative you plant crops to coincide with your time to play Farmville.
• Ability to work as a team: I regularly ‘visit’ other friends’ farms to help out with tasks such as collecting eggs or fertilising crops. In addition, I am part of a ‘co-op’ and together we grow crops for mutual benefit. As a little extra for my team mates, I surprise them by sending unusual, but helpful gifts such as gates and hay bales. I’ve event sent the odd nutcracker from time to time too.
• Demonstrated project management skills: As my farm has expanded, I have managed several projects concurrently. For instance, I have successfully built within budget stables, a piggery, and a cow shed. I am also currently in the process of building several orchards and will shortly be erecting a villa.
• Ability to multi-task: I’ve often had to juggle harvesting times with other tasks such as shopping, socialising and my work commitments.
• Proven Business development skills: Besides growing crops and tending livestock, I have worked hard to diversify my farm. I now sell products from my wine business and also run a successful flower stall. In addition, I am successfully propagating a range of new seedlings in my greenhouses.
• Strategic planning skills: Strategies for expanding my Farmville farm include growing more trees; unlike crops which wither if you don’t harvest them, fruit trees never die, so you’re always guaranteed a return on them. Plus as more trees fit into one plot, you increase your per plot yield increases.
• Qualifications: I have received numerous ribbons from Farmville for my achievements. This includes ribbons for collecting decorations for my farm and adopting lost animals.

I could go on, but it is at this point I will put in a disclaimer: If you include any of the above on your CV, you are highly unlikely to get as far as the interview stage. However, you’ll probably lighten up the day for the HR department.