Gamification in Recruiting

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September 6, 2022 Business

Human resources are the lifeblood of any company. No matter how small or big your business is, your employees keep your operations running, and they’re responsible for making your business a success. That is why finding the right people for the right positions in your organization is key to a productive, expansive, and growing business.

But alas, this can be one of the hardest things your HR department will have to do. A recruitment team falls under the HR department, and though their job may seem simple, it’s more complex than most people think. Hire the right people and your business can grow and continue to enjoy success. But hiring the wrong people, or not filling a vacant position, can be a bigger problem.

This is why the field of recruitment must adapt and look for ways to attract the best candidates for the position they’re trying to fill. A company’s sourcing department can come up with gimmicks and create job fairs or join online platforms, but one recruitment technique has sprung up in recent years.

This new technique is called gamification in recruiting. It involves the use of games and simulation to help discover applicants who are the best candidates for a certain position. What is gamification and why should you use it for your recruitment process? Let’s dig deeper.

What is Gamification?

Let’s talk about what gamification is. Gamification has become more popular in recruitment in recent years because of new technologies and programs like professional video conferencing software that have made operations and processes easier. It is the use of games in the recruitment process, instead of old-school methods of doing one-on-one interviews or examinations.

Through these games, not only will you simplify the recruitment process, but you will also be attracting a younger generation of potential employees. Millennials and Gen Z job applicants are targeted in gamification because it’s a fun, entertaining, and casual way of going through the recruitment process.

People may think that companies find it easy to look for job applicants and this can be true. There may be a lot of applicants, but attracting the right ones is hard. Job seekers today don’t just apply anywhere – they seek companies that have contemporary work cultures, provide them with proper benefits, and give them opportunities to grow their careers.

To make your company more attractive to the right applicants, you need to step up your game and utilize trends in recruitment and the digital space.

Companies are often reaching out to professional search services that help them set up their company culture to attract the right candidates. What’s more, with gamification, you can make the entire recruitment process more engaging and exciting for both the applicant and the hiring team.

Companies such as Google and Siemens have involved gamification in their recruitment process but one of the most successful companies to use this method is Marriott Hotel.

The company created a game on Facebook called, “My Marriott Hotel,” to attract job seekers to fill in more than 50,000 vacant positions for their chain of hotels all over the world. In just one week, the game attracted more than 25,000 users, accessed by applicants from different parts of the globe.

Why Do You Need It? Advantages of Gamification

If you’ve never heard of gamification or you don’t know any company that has used it in their recruitment process, you may be wary about applying it in your business. After all, it requires the hiring of a game creator or you must utilize your in-house developers to create a game. This requires money, time, and a steep learning curve for your recruiters. However, once you have it in place, your hiring process will be much more efficient and streamlined.

Let’s take a look at the advantages of gamification in recruiting:

Diversifies Your Workforce

Branding is very important for the younger generations. Everything they do must have a sense of meaning, and that includes the company they choose to work for. When they apply for a job, they tend to get to know a company’s values first before they submit their resume. Gamification in your recruitment process gives them a sense of ease because playing games is something that most of them can relate to.

Having games in your recruitment process, especially if it’s on social media, such as what Marriott did, gives millennials and Gen Z job seekers a sense of your company culture. By attracting these generations, you get to have a younger and more diverse workforce.

Removes Biases

It can’t be denied that recruiters have biases when it comes to interviewing applicants. An applicant for a managerial position may be wearing old, worn-out shoes, but have the experience and credentials that make him qualified for the position. An interviewer may judge this applicant based on his looks, rather than his qualifications and dismiss him as someone that does not fit the position.

But if this applicant didn’t have to go through the old school interview process and scored the highest in leadership skills for your recruitment game, then he would’ve proceeded to the next round of interviews rather than having been dismissed during the initial interview merely due to interviewer bias.

Streamlines Skills and Behavioral Assessment

You can design a game that can measure a person’s ability to adapt to change, find solutions, or cooperate in a team environment. By designing a game that measures specific skills and traits, you can better gauge the applicant’s character and abilities to perform his or her job.

Some skills and characteristics of a person can never be gauged from what they put in their resume. Sure, you can tell that a person is diligent through his studies or his expertise through his experiences, but personality and character are just as important when hiring an applicant to join your company.

Conclusion

Gamification in recruiting is a new, efficient, and fun way of attracting and finding the best applicants for a vacant position in your company. As mentioned earlier, your people are your best asset, which means finding the best candidate for a certain position must be given top priority in your recruitment process.

Games can attract a more youthful workforce, help recruiters find the best person for the job, and make the hiring process much more interesting, more efficient, and best of all, adds to your overall company success.