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The job market is becoming increasingly competitive, which is one reason why the HR sector and recruitment processes have had to evolve. Today, companies are looking for innovative new resources to attract and recruit the best talents. While gamification is already widely used for training, it is still in its early stages in the world of recruitment.
What is gamified recruitment and how can it be implemented?
This article aims to present gamification in recruitment in its different forms and the possibilities of implementation that are available to you.
1 - What is gamification ?
One of the trends that has emerged in recent years is the use of games as a recruitment tool. Yet they are still largely perceived as a leisure activity.
This is where gamification comes in. This method involves incorporating playful game mechanics into sectors where they are not intended, such as recruitment.
A new way of recruiting
2 - Why participate in gamification in your recruitment?
This new generation of methods has a wide range of benefits. Let's discuss them now:
On the recruiter side
By mentioning the fact that a gamified step is included in your recruitment process, you will attract candidates' attention.
If curiosity is a bad thing for some, arousing it is an excellent way to attract candidates. You will then get a larger volume of applications from which to find the talent.
In this regard, one of the advantages of game mechanics used for gamification is the strong ability to simulate situations. This is fundamental for evaluating skills (such as soft skills) and candidates' abilities (like an Assessment Center).
Another obvious advantage of gamification is the candidate experience. This is essential as the war for talent rages on. Using games for this purpose greatly enhances it, offering a unique and memorable experience.
A candidate who has had a positive experience is more likely to accept your job offer and also to talk about it with others, which could lead to potential recommendations.
This advantage hides another since by improving this step of your recruitment process, you improve your image and therefore your employer brand by distinguishing yourself from your competitors.
A virtuous cycle diagram of the advantages of gamification
Finally, recruitment is primarily a complex process; hiring the wrong profile can cost the company and influence its turnover.
A long-term vision is therefore essential since, despite the additional cost and implementation time, gamification will allow you to reduce your casting errors and save time and money by replacing long interviews and assessments with more attractive and more effective games.
The implementation can also be greatly simplified nowadays, with digital, SaaS, and cloud Assessment tools like Yuzu, where no downloads are required for recruiters or candidates
On the candidate side
While gamification represents a real interest in making your hires more dynamic, it is also advantageous for candidates.
Stress, for example, will inhibit a large portion of candidates and reduce the expression of their potential. Using games allows you to step outside the professional framework and put the candidate in a better position to reveal all their abilities.
The phenomenon of "letting go" is indeed very interesting for assessment, and that is what game immersion allows.
This atypical recruitment is often associated with modernity. It conveys a fun and efficient image thanks to the use of sophisticated tools.
As mentioned earlier, the candidate has a much better experience, and this feeling will greatly favor their engagement and facilitate their integration into the company.
The 3 reasons to switch to gamification: reduce stress, a fun experience, facilitate integration
As opposed to online questionnaires, gamification will also allow you to convince a certain number of your candidates to be evaluated, which is increasingly difficult with new generations and scarce profiles.
3 - How to recruit through gamification?
It is clear that recruiting through gamification has many advantages. To benefit from it to the maximum, it is important to follow certain best practices, including defining your objectives.
Why do you want to make your recruitment process more playful? What do you want to know about the candidate? The chosen game must correspond to your target audience, the job requirements, and your company culture.
Without questioning, it is impossible to determine your need
Don't worry, there are many types of games available:
- Escape games: they can be experienced alone or in a group, and candidates are immersed in an environment where they are (fictionally) trapped. They must then solve more or less simple puzzles to escape. This format is mainly adapted to face-to-face interactions, although online initiatives are multiplying.
- Hackathons: focused on digital technologies, it usually involves programming marathons in which developers compete based on a specific problem over a certain period.
- Another notable trend is the use of gamification in new generation Assessment Centers.
4 - Discover the Yuzu model
After several years of R&D with researchers in work psychology and neuroscience, we have created Yuzu: a new generation gamified Assessment Center.
We immerse talents in situations developed with the latest video game technologies. Each adventure evaluates a soft skill in 10 to 20 minutes.
Candidates are evaluated on their behavior and choices during the modules.
The simplified commands allow all profiles to be evaluated fairly.
The benefits of the solution:
- An exceptional candidate experience to strengthen your employer brand
- A solution accessible to everyone and from any computer (Cloud)
- A decision-making tool to reduce cognitive biases
We transform soft skill assessments into a strong and fun moment of your recruitment and internal mobility processes.
Discover the future of Assessment with Yuzu
Once your tool is selected, do not hesitate to get as much feedback as possible from your candidates. This will help to adapt what needs to be adapted, to ensure that you have found an accessible, entertaining, and interactive solution. Being attentive to their feedback could lead you to change the game or keep the current one.
Finally, for this to be as effective as possible, it is essential not to neglect communication. Offering recruitment through games can give a positive image of your HR management, and you should take advantage of it by communicating widely on the subject.
5 - Example of gamification recruitment in a company:
These methods have already proven themselves, which is why some companies have already used them, such as:
- Decathlon: The French sports equipment distribution company organizes group interview sessions called "Viens en short" (Come in shorts). During these sessions, candidates may be asked to play various sports with each other. As a result, recruiters have a better understanding of the personalities of the candidates, such as their teamwork or individuality.
- L'Oréal: In 2010, the group launched its own serious game called "Reveal," in which players discovered several professions, which helped them define their professional project. Based on these results, the brand could offer interviews to those who fit their needs. It also repeated another similar experience in 2016.
The limits of gamification:
Despite all the advantages mentioned, gamification has its limits.
One of the main advantages of gamification is the improvement of the candidate experience. If this may seem logical to you, it is nevertheless crucial to maintain a social connection with the applicants.
Indeed, gamified tools should never have a role in substituting interviews and exchanges.
Gamification is not intended to replace human interaction
The gamification should not be a decision-making tool. If these tools can help with decision-making, it is still up to recruiters to ultimately choose their candidates.
Finally, if, as previously mentioned, recruiting through games promotes engagement and strengthens company culture, it is important not to neglect the onboarding of this new employee within your teams once they are hired.
Conclusion
Games have become a new trend in recruitment strategies, offering companies a fun and attractive way to identify talent among candidates.
With this method, companies can evaluate candidates' skills in a much more playful way.
Although the use of games for recruitment has certain limitations, its advantages are not negligible: increased engagement, more objective evaluation, better candidate experience...
We have focused our article on recruitment, but it is perfectly possible to use gamification internally to conduct a skills assessment of your employees.
You can then promote internal mobility and target quite precisely the training plans to be put in place or the recruitment needs to improve your team's performance.