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CareerBuilder has recently released a list of "outrageous" mistakes that interviewees have made during job interviews.

While most of these are undeniable - wearing flip-flops with a business suit, filing fingernails or staring at the ceiling during the interview, and mooching food from the breakroom after the interview is over - there's one item on the "outrageous" list that I take issue with:

Candidate used Dungeons and Dragons as an example of teamwork.

Roleplaying is a powerful tool for teaching people to work as a team in a difficult situation, something that is common in sessions of Dungeons & Dragons and other RPGs.

Not only that, but roleplaying is no stranger to the business world - many businesses use it in meetings, seminars, and other functions to help their employees hone skills, solve problems, and learn to work as a team.

There are even businesses who specialize in organizing role-playing sessions for other businesses. Consider HRDQ, a company that once made "training and development resources" that were essentially RPGs packaged with model kits:

In Jungle Escape, for example, you play in a group of unfortunates who have crash landed in a rainforest. Your goal is to build an escape helicopter using spare parts, your wits, and whatever teamwork you can scrape together. In Mars Surface Rover, you build and race a vehicle across the surface of the red planet, using differing levels of leadership and authority.

(Read more in the Escapist 1999 Archive - look for "Gaming in the Boardroom.")

It may seem silly on the surface, mentioning D&D as a potential example of teamwork building - but it's not something that could be considered outrageous, especially when compared to filing your nails or wearing flip-flops with a business suit.

CareerBuilder may do well to consider the positive benefits of the roleplaying hobby instead of dismissing it outright.

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