Board gaming’s biggest job site is an almost 20,000-strong Facebook group – and is planning its first ever live event next year
A pair of board game professionals are in talks to take their hugely successful online industry jobs space on the road next year, after seeing the group surge to almost 20,000 members.
Jessica Fisher, a global Lorcana social media coordinator at Ravensburger, and Ross Thompson, director of marketing at Asmodee’s Atomic Mass Games, launched the Tabletop Game Jobs Facebook group seven years ago after being stunned that a dedicated jobs board did not already exist for the burgeoning board game industry.
The page’s rampant growth has since mirrored that of the wider tabletop space, attracting thousands of new members each year by tracking jobs ranging from demo staff at conventions to C-suite roles at major tabletop gaming publishers.
That growth is now set to expand outside of the digital space, after Thompson mused on Twitter towards the end of August that it would be “really cool to get a Tabletop Game Jobs Fair going”.
I don't have the time right now, but it would be really cool to get a Tabletop Game Jobs Fair going. Hosting that at a convention like GAMA Expo, Gen Con or PAX Unplugged would be interesting.
— Ross Thompson (@AlmostKirk) August 21, 2024
Something to put on the idea board.
Thompson noted in that tweet that he didn’t have much time to organise such an event – but just two weeks later he had posted again to say he’d since held a meeting about hosting an in-person tabletop jobs fair for 2025.
He told BoardGameWire that an as-yet-unnamed organisation had reached out with a “well thought out” proposal for a live event following the initial tweet, and said discussions are under way to make that a reality in 2025.
Thompson, who has also previously worked in marketing at Cephalofair Games, Steamforged, The Op, IDW Publishing and Cool Mini or Not, said, “I think the main way people used to get jobs was like, you just go to Gen Con and walk around and go, ‘Hey, I’m a game designer, I’m an artist, hire me’ – so being able to have this online service has been good.”
He added, “When we launched, there was nothing. It was just… you had to go find the people’s websites, right? And then know that was going on.
“There’s still some companies I have no idea where they post their job listings, Like Reaper, I have no idea where Reaper post their stuff! And I know they’re hiring, right? It’s mind blowing.”
Thompson told BoardGameWire that the industry’s spectacular growth in recent years had nevertheless been outpaced by demand from people eager to work in it.
And while that had previously created a system where who you knew, rather than what you knew, was more likely to swing someone a board game industry job, Thompson said things were changing.
He said, “There are not enough jobs for all the people that want to be in the space. And because of that, the industry hasn’t had to adapt.
“But we are at a cool turning point in the space, where there are so many new companies that are coming in, whether it’s because of Kickstarter, or whatever, and now they’re hiring too. But they don’t know where to post [their job openings so people can find them].
“Things are still Wild West, because anybody can run a Kickstarter and raise $14.5m, but the space is still evolving.
“There’s a new generation now that’s here, whether it’s game publishers or game creators, that have found it through D&D, have found it through Warhammer… and they want to work in the space.
“I’ve been doing mentorship stuff for a while, but revved up after Big Bad Con last year, and every other week I probably have a call or two for like, an hour… and a lot of these new companies are like, ‘Hey, how do I find an artist? How do I find a developer?’.”
Thompson said in recent months he had noticed job postings on Tabletop Game Jobs being “flooded” with inquiries from professionals within the video game industry, which has been hit with more than 23,000 layoffs since the start of 2023.
In addition to the potential live event next year, Fisher and Thompson have also expanded their operation into a second Facebook group, the more than 5,000 person-strong Tabletop Game Job Talents, which allows individuals looking for work in the industry to post their skills and network with peers.
Thompson said, “I’ve seen people get work from that group right away! Some guy was like, ‘Hey, I just got laid off – I do this, this and this, and some company was like, ‘Oh, cool. Hey, we’re hiring for that right now. Shoot me an e-mail’ – and then boom, right? So that’s pretty cool’.”
Anyone interested in submitting open positions to Tabletop Game Jobs, or posting about their skills on Tabletop Game Jobs Talents, can join the respective groups by clicking here and here.
