I was born on the banks of the Colorado River in a little party town called Lake Havasu City, AZ. I spent 18 years there before my pale skin told me that I was much better suited for the Northwest. I attended college at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA, where I managed not to get arrested for trespassing after spending about 72 hours straight in my buddy’s dorm room playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (still one of my favorite games, ever).

Upon graduation, I moved to the Puget Sound region and began my recruiting career at the Muckleshoot Indian Casino. I took a slight detour at Washington Mutual and found myself at Microsoft in 2004. I am a rarity at Microsoft in that I have spent my entire tenure within the same group: namely Xbox. I focus on technical recruiting across the spectrum of Xbox LIVE  I am also a player in this large and growing world of social media. You can find me @jpankow on Twitter or @xboxjobs where I am the man behind the curtain.

The #1 question I am asked by young people looking to work in the games and entertainment industry: “How do I break in?” 

I’ll give you a hint…it’s not by promising to clean our toilets or bragging about how much time you spend pwning newbs on Halo.

Breaking in takes hard work and commitment. If you are a 17-year-old and reading this, I hope that you are submitting your college applications. Because, the best way to start on your path is to graduate with a 4-year degree. Yes, yes…I realize that there are stories of people who didn’t go to college but have had successful careers and made a bazillion dollars. That’s all fine and dandy and very true. But, I consider them the exceptions. Often, they are ridiculously brilliant OR they have put in a tremendous amount of effort to accomplish their goals. Effort that others put into college. So…if you have the means to go to college, do it! 

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I’m a games guy. I LOVE games. I speak gamer. I say “w00t” and talk about “pwning noobs”. I frequently use acronyms like FPS, RTS, and MMORPG. My gamerscore is pushing 30,000. Not too shabby for a married dad who works full time.  

This is only one of the reasons why I am SO excited about the official announcement of Kinect for Xbox 360. The other reason? This is a project several years in the making. I - and the amazing team I work with - have been recruiting like crazy, seeking out and hiring some truly remarkable studs to make Kinect a reality.

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