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Online gambling skills now being used as assessment tool

Recruiters now testing applicants for their video gaming and online poker skills

Monday 11th October 2004



Recruiters from some of the world’s largest financial organisations have revealed that when it comes to searching for new trading staff these days, there is a whole new set of criteria employers are looking for. It seems that a new approach is seeing applicants being put to the test on video gaming and online poker skills, with recruiters believing that the skill set required to be successful in these activities correlate well with the skills required to be a successful financial trader.

As well as now being used as a test for prospective employees, the video gaming and online poker skills are also being incorporated into training programmes for traders for the same reasons. It is now becoming an increasingly popular belief that training in these games will help to develop the attributes of the most successful traders in new employees.

One institution already utilising this new recruitment and training programme is Geneva Trading. President of the company, Mary McDonnell explained the new direction and policy. She commented that : 'It is unlikely that we would hire someone who didn't show good proficiency at a GameBoy or online poker or similar video-type game where hand-to-eye coordination is important. It's the discipline of not getting too emotional about your transactions, and also the mathematical ability to keep track of numbers, as in card counting. Online poker practice helps traders to read the markets correctly. It helps to determine if people are bluffing, trying to make the market move one way or another.

This kind of thinking has also emerged from a University in the UK where academics have created a link between success at either online or land based poker games and success in the work place. Gambling expert at Nottingham Trent University, Mark Griffiths explained: 'Poker-playing managers will be used to asking, 'did I play that right?', and equally are likely to be more objective in reviewing the decisions they make. They may be more pragmatic than others, as playing with the cards you have is a winning strategy in poker. And top poker players are insatiable in their desire to win. Being this focused is an important leadership skill in the workplace. Then there's the art of deception, not normally seen as a desirable skill, but in poker it's all part of the game. After all, in many workplace situations the ability to get away with white lies, to save face or be diplomatic, or to smooth over or disguise mistakes and errors, is a big advantage.'




Source: OnlineCasinoNews