Article: Augmenting experiential recruiting through gamification

Technology

Augmenting experiential recruiting through gamification

A lot of organisations are making use of gamified programs to attract talent and enhance the employee experience. Read on to know more.
Augmenting experiential recruiting through gamification

In this era, organizations are differentiating with each others basis innovation they can bring in their business processes. One of the emerging areas of differentiation is user experience. Be it customer, candidate or audience. In this context, recruitment is designed around an experience which starts with exposing prospective candidates to reality of the work environment i.e. experiential recruiting. Organizations have started using coding marathons, hacking events, complex problem-solving exercises, solving cryptic puzzles as part of their recruitment process.

Gamification changing HR

Organizations are now sighting the implications of using 'The Talent Game' to attract, retain and develop talent. Gamification is changing the entire gamut of HR functioning. Gamification in HR is the application of game thinking and mechanics in corporate environment and processes, mainly in recruitment, training & development and employee engagement. It uses the elements of games like fun, play, design, competition and addiction which carries a desire for achievement, status, rewards, and self-expression.

Attracting talent

It has become crucial for the employers to excite the candidates during selection process so as to attract potential candidates. The paramount of attraction strategies in recruitment is all about engaging potential candidates, getting them to understand your brand better and wanting them to work for you. When assessments are gamified, it becomes easy to take hiring decisions while gaining an insight on relevant data and delivering a great experience to every candidate. Gamification is mostly appreciated by millennial candidates as they are dynamic and this generation has practically been brought up on virtual reality games.

Game mechanics

Gamification can be integrated into recruitment process by inculcating game mechanics for screening or selecting the candidates. Game mechanics incorporates visual cues, response objects, badges, levels, leaderboards, challenges and progress bars. Candidates can compete with each other and review their application stage in comparison to others helping in creating signature candidate experience. It will improve the readiness of the candidates to perform in the live job at the workplace hence saving cost and time associated with selecting appropriate candidates.

Helps study human behavior

Gaming will not just lift up participation but it can help us in studying human behavior. Rather than asking questions, their psychology can be easily observed by their behavior in the game. Gamification can be used as a quite refined assessment tool as data from gamification can be used for analyzing non-linear relationships and predicting outcomes, which can be further applied for modeling real life complex issues.

Dependent on design

Results achieved from gamification completely depends on its design. It should be customized as per the specific need and objectives. Organizations are using it for campus hiring, filtering the profiles, employee referrals, sourcing, onboarding or employer branding as per their requirement. Like, if employee referral program is gamified by maintaining a scorecard and rewarding points for each referral, participation of employees in talent acquisition will be increased.

For employee engagement

Gamification has a good potential when we use it for employee engagement. HR department can gamify clear, mission-based career paths so that employees can understand the steps they need to take to go up the ladder. For performance management, transparent leaderboards with badges can be attached to each level so that employees can find out how they are performing in their role. Many organizations have an internal social media platform, where employees can update posts and chat with each other internally.

A successful gamified program

A gamified program can be successful only if it is personalized, engaging and fosters innovation. It utilizes the ambitious streak within us to engage employees and create productive teams among Millennials. Gamification, therefore, leads to better quality hires, and ultimately, retention.

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Topics: Technology, Talent Acquisition, Employee Engagement, Strategic HR

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