1. Always Follow Up

Once you’ve completed a game testing assignment from any company or publisher, you should always consider it just the beginning of your relationship with them. After your assignment has been sent in, make sure to contact the company and ask them if they received your material. Also, make sure to ask if there is anything you can do to improve your game assessments for them. If they have constructive criticism to offer, make sure to note it down and apply what you’ve learned with any future jobs.

On the other hand, if the company is pleased with the work you turned in, make sure they know you would be glad to test for them again. Following up on completed assignments and showing that you’re willing to do whatever it takes to be useful to the game publishers will help ensure they keep turning to you for more work.

2. Promote Yourself

There may be periods of times when there aren’t a lot of testing assignments available. That doesn’t mean you should stop testing and reviewing games. Instead, these slow periods are the perfect time to promote yourself on your own. Set up a website or blog and publish your own reviews and criticisms of new and upcoming game titles. Make sure to feature your name and the fact that you work as a paid game tester prominently on the site. Also include your contact information.

To promote your site, visit other gaming review sites and blogs and leave constructive and useful comments on the posts there. If available, be sure to leave a link back to your website. Also, include your website URL on your business card and along with all correspondence you have with game companies. Doing this well will help you come across as a very experienced and professional tester and increase your value and the demand for your services.

3. Attend Industry Functions

Although it is easier to stay in contact with game companies through snail mail and email, nothing will increase the demand for your game testing services like networking in person with others in the industry. Massive gatherings of video game company representatives and insiders such as the yearly E3 summit and Tokyo Game Show are the perfect places to introduce yourself to people who can provide you with more assignments. If these large shows are out of reach for you, there are usually smaller events held in major cities on a regular basis such as those put on by the Game Developers Conference.

Although the above tips are quick and easy to implement, most game testers won’t put the effort forward. If you are serious about this stream of freelance income, all you need to do is be one of the few to take action on the above tips to help ensure the assignments keep coming.

Bonus Tip: Keep your list of industry contacts up to date! If you want full access to current assignments available for video game testers, click here.

Research

Full-time game testing is harder than many tout it to be. Not only are you responsible for daily to weekly builds of a game, with very carefully detailed note taking and repetitive replays through broken levels, but you’re likely to spend long hours meeting your deadlines, and a lot of that time writing up reports rather than playing video games.

For any video game tester jobs you apply for you’ll want to do a lot of research before you go to your interview. Know exactly what kind of games the company you’re applying for makes, what their budgets and development schedules are, and how many people they employ.

When they ask you questions about your availability and dedication you’ll be able to give specific answers regarding the hours and duties you’ll be stuck with.

Rehearsing

Like any job, you should be ready for any and all anticipated questions. If you feel like your video game testing interview might involve questions of which games you play and why, have good answers ready. Don’t offer the typical response you’d give your five buddies on a road trip, such as “I dig fighting games”.

Talk about the details in game design, and mechanics that draw you to that genre. It helps if you tailor this answer to the kinds of games the company you’re interviewing with makes. Also, you’ll want to be completely prepared for the actual work involved in this job. Rehearse answers to questions about details orientation.

Have examples ready of when you were exceptional at keeping track of a lot of small things at once. Don’t relate every question they ask back to video gaming. You’re applying for a game tester job, but it is still a job, with multiple duties.

During the Interview

Like any other interview, you need to look good, be prepared, and try your hardest to relax. Keep in mind that most game testing jobs are not extremely high paying, but you are still combating dozens of other interested applicants. Carefully balance your responses like any job interview, not speaking negatively of old jobs, but not dwelling on the video game aspect of your potential job.

The Job

Full time video game testing, as I’ve mentioned, is a hard job. It’s a great job for those truly interested in video games, but you will be playing the same game, in broken modes for weeks if not months, uncovering bugs, taking meticulous notes and getting revised editions with almost the same details weekly. It’s a great job for those in love with the industry though, so when you interview, make sure to follow all of the standard interview rules while keeping in mind the complexity of a game testing job.

BONUS TIP: If you’re just starting out, you may want to get your feet wet with part time or freelance video game tester jobs. Click Here To Learn How