In theory, gamification is the application of gaming concepts to contexts outside of them.
Gamification in recruitment is about gamifying the critical aspects of the hiring process, especially candidate pre-screening. The use of gamified assessments as candidate screening tool is becoming more and more popular across the globe.
This blog discusses the factors that make gamified assessments so interesting and how they can be used by an organization to transform their candidate screening process.
The recruitment process has drastically transformed since the past, and it is primarily because the fields that come into play in the recruitment process, such as Psychology, are in continual development. Now human psychology has become a much sought-after aspect of recruitment.
The entire purpose of using gamification as an online candidate screening tool is to filter out a pool of the best emerging talent for a particular job opening.
Research states that current recruitment trends do not allow millennials to find flexibility and opportunity to portray their skills to their fullest potential. Let’s take a look at why leading organizations are opting for gamified assessments.
Gamified Assessments as a Candidate Screening Tool
Use of gamified assessment as a candidate screening tool helps organizations to significantly improve their talent selection, analyze candidates through cognitive and behavioral assessments, and also enhance the value of the company as an employer brand.
- Time-saving:
It saves a lot of time, as then the recruiters won’t have to sift through never ending pools of resumes. - Engaging:
The process is much more playful. So, a recruiter as well as the candidate can have more fun in the whole candidate screening process because it eliminates monotony. - Objective results:
Screening and evaluating candidates becomes free of bias and thus the results are objective. - Candidates would not succumb to pressure:
Nerves will not play tricks and will not be influenced by the pressure of the environment. It is intended to obtain continuous feedback without the need to subject the candidate to stress. - Improving selection process:
In addition, it will improve the recruitment and selection processes and opens an opportunity to adapt to new technologies. This type of recruitment is known as 3.0 recruitment.
Organizations must know how to distinguish the role of the game. The game should serve to anticipate future behaviors. In addition, it helps to predict the hidden talents of the candidates. You don’t just have to keep ad-hoc games in mind; there are companies that are using games like the famous Clue as a candidate screening tool.
Candidates can experience a process that is innovative, interactive, attractive and educational, which favors in terms of business culture. Candidates are not prepared for such an assessment, and this way, their instincts and attitudes cannot be hidden.
How to use gamification in candidate screening processes?
Let’s now point out some gamification techniques that make up for a better candidate prescreening process:
Online networking:
One of the excellent strategies of gamification is the creation of virtual networking spaces. A solution that makes flexible the presence of candidates and talents from virtually anywhere in the world. An easy option to design and that does not require a substantial investment by companies, and that is also an instrumental and necessary technique today, due to globalization.
Show progress bars:
Another key to gamification strategies is the ability to show user progress. For this, the progress bars play an essential role. It helps candidates to focus on the objectives and raise the level of effort. Progress bars provide rapid visual feedback of the task performed and help to involve/motivate candidates to achieve their ultimate goal.
Leaderboards:
Given the new selection processes, include a classification table with predefined objectives and tasks and score sheets, making it much easier to identify the best candidates, which have higher scores. It is also a good “instrument” for tracking the progress.
Puzzles:
These games have become a reference within the gamification of the personnel selection. They are highly effective and help to understand the competencies of the candidates and how they dissolve the mental blocks in their minds.
Rewards:
Rewards are another critical factor in gamification. They are quite useful to encourage candidates to participate and be part of the candidate assessment process. Such rewards can be monetary, travel, flexible schedules, etc. Even these rewards can be adapted to each type of employee according to their tastes.
Format:
As gamification allows for greater customization of the candidate screening process for hiring, the game must be adapted to work needs. A space vision game may not work for an editor, but it does apply to an architect or engineer. It is possible to use various means of gamification, such as quizzes, treasure searches, video games, design challenges or coding challenges. Of course, the possibilities offered by this system are virtually endless.
Fun:
By 2025, 75% of workforce would be millennials. Having said that, use of gamified assessment as an online candidate screening tool becomes attractive, and candidates are tempted to participate. In this way, a greater feeling of belonging to the company is achieved, which is a very positive feature for both the employer and the employee.
Are there any famous examples?
Google – the tech giant has been offering the so-called Google Code Jam for more than a decade to find new talent for working in the company. By using this strategy, they provide monetary rewards, but in turn, they are recruiting the best talents.
Key objectives of gamification as a candidate screening tool
The goals of gamification are very diverse. In the first place, it is possible to obtain a greater diversity in the selection processes, so that more candidates are attracted.
The brand of the company is also promoted as innovative and creative, which will attract candidates with more attractive profiles. In addition, there is an increase in the creativity of the participants of the game.
In the game, you can enhance more excellent knowledge of the structure of the company. In this way, the chosen candidate does not take this by surprise on the first day of work, which is what happens more often than not.
Gamification in Recruitment: How to make the shift?
The entire company must be made aware of the importance of the selection process and the fundamental role that gamification will play. This is not a child’s play, but it is a grave matter and on which the economic viability of the company may depend.
A company that has an active and highly valued Human Resources Department is a company with a wide range of solvency possibilities in the future.
The game must fit the vacancy that is intended to be filled. The game and its objectives must be perfectly defined and, for this, the collaboration of all the members of all departments is necessary.
Gamification is a real revolution, but poorly implemented can be a catastrophe for the company’s objectives and the whole candidate screening process may become mundane.
While it is important to make the game engaging by making it competitive and thrilling – it is also very important to assess if the candidate is a team player in the gamified simulation. Otherwise we’d only be weighing candidates on few certain aspects while abandoning other important factors, which in turn would result in failure of the candidate-screening tool for recruitment and selection.
The online candidate screening game should pertain to the business industry that it is built for. If the game is built to screen candidates to manage a production plant, more focus should be there of teamwork and synergies. The candidate should be assessed on how smoothly he keeps the optimal development of the production process while creating a pleasant office environment.
This does not mean that circumstantial aspects of the work environment are not valued, such as the desire to excel and other elements, but that it has to be constricted to clear purposes and not to analyze subjective values.
Do not turn the game into something impersonal, but something with a warm and human side. Although one of the significant advantages of gamification is the objectification of the candidate’s talents and downplaying the subjective nuances.
Final Words
The use of gamified assessments as a candidate screening tool helps organizations attract a candidate from the future, with specialized capabilities, without an excess of competitiveness and to keep necessary social skills intact.
