One man and his journey into the unknown... (epic cinema voice)
Beginning work with Rising Star Games was truly a new stage of my life, my first proper big boy pants job in the industry and it appears I have really struck gold with finding a great company to work with.
My story starts like all good stories with writing the dreaded CV and sending them to anyone on the planet with an email address and then of course ringing them just to confirm they currently are not recruiting. Of course you would always return from the phone call safe in the knowledge that they now have your details and it’s surely only a matter of time before they contact you with perfectly fitting roles coming up in the future! It is a path well trodden these days, slogged by those looking for employment all year round.
Rising Star Games stood out from the crowd offering for me to come in and talk to them speculatively about somewhere I may fit into their business. They had a role in mind and amazingly this role was starting to look like a dream job for me. A couple of months later and a series of excruciatingly friendly interviews I was ready to be initiated into the Rising Star Games family. Having been here for two weeks I find ‘family’ is the perfect word to describe the working environment and office atmosphere. As much as I’d like to refrain from stuffing my blog with endless praise it has to be said that Rising Star Games graciously welcomed me into the team and continue to support me as I settle in. Gold star for them!
So what have I been up to the first couple of weeks? As any job usually starts there has been a tremendous deal of getting to grips with systems, procedures and schedules. As most jobs do not usually start however, I’ve been meeting the people behind renown gaming organisations Gamespot and IGN, been welcomed to a variety of exceptional communities and I’ve been encouraged to play as many video games as possible donated from the wonderful RSG themselves. It’s definitely been something worth writing home about. My daily duties revolved around the online social media side of the business and have also been dipping into other areas of the company such as marketing and sales just to keep me out of mischief.
My most prominent challenge having started work with Rising Star Games has been the anxiety that comes with representing a company especially being new to both the industry and the role. The fear of doing or saying something that may jeopardize the company in the very slightest of ways looms behind me when I write the most insignificant of posts (even this blog). Its presence is far more exaggerated by my aspiration to succeed in my role and give back to Rising Star Games for the opportunity they have given me. This very apprehension encourages over sensitivity on what is acceptable to say which ironically produces a flat and corporate tone which no one wants to hear. I’m very aware that in this day and age people love to see the character in a business and want to know that behind the logos and official statements, contrary to belief, there is a squishy little human, just like you and me, plinking away on a keyboard. The machines have not taken over yet. It’s great to see gaming behemoths casually tweeting what they’re playing and their opinions on this, that and the other. This is something I imagine will come to me more naturally as I become more established in Rising Star Games and accustomed to finding the balance between company image and sociable banter.
Anyway, I’m rambling now! I will be trying to keep these shorter and more frequent so watch this space. Unfortunately we are experiencing technical difficulties (I’ve always wanted to say that) regarding the comments section below so please please please forward all your hellos, suggestions, and pictures of fiery unicorns to my twitter @RSG_Spoonparty. I look forward to meeting you!
Until next time,
-Samuel
Ps. While on the topic of representing a company I’ve sudenly found myself under inormous pressure to maintain impeccable spelling. When putting so much extra effort into making sure everthing is just perfect befour it goes live somehow you become infinety more prone to overlooking the simplist of errors. It’s madness. The idea of someone bringing a company to its knees over a spelling mistake still haunts me.