Real Time Worlds

The recruitment of international graduates is helping Real Time Worlds sustain its status as Scotland’s largest independent video games developer.

The Dundee-based company now has 12 nationalities represented in its workforce which has grown from 20 to 120 in just four years.

The Scottish Government's Fresh Talent Scheme has enabled the company to employ recent graduates whose skills match up to its high standards. Recruits of late have come from Australia, Canada and South Korea.

Studio Manager Colin Macdonald said: "Fresh Talent has made it much easier for us to recruit from abroad by removing potential problems over work permits.

Team players

"It's very much to our advantage that we can widen the pool of applicants from which we can recruit. Finding the right people with both the technical skills and right personal qualities is vital to our business because of the great care we take in selecting our teams.

"Whether they’re part of larger teams for console games or smaller groups for prototyping projects, they still need to establish excellent working relationships with the rest of their team."

Cultural compromise

Dundee's reputation as a centre of excellence in the games world has also helped Real Time Worlds attract a high quality of applicants. All the Fresh Talent employees have been based in the city.

Colin said some concessions have to be made in terms of how the work of some foreign graduates is structured. "Problems for them to solve may have to be formulated in a way which suits their particular aptitudes," he explained.

"What ultimately matters is achieving the best result, whatever the means it takes. Fluency in English barely gives us a problem; where required, we will allow time off for the person to attend a local college."

Full retention

While the Fresh Talent scheme has run for much less than a year, the record to date is excellent with all the recruits still working for Real Time Worlds.

"They have all fitted in very well," said Colin. "Our track record as a cosmopolitan company has also been a factor. Foreigners now outnumber our UK staff in some of our teams.

"I can't say enough that is positive about Fresh Talent. We’ve been able to acquire talented people who would previously have been unavailable to us."

Case study:Apr 2006

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