After years and years of going through the same recruitment processes it is not surprising that many no longer yield the results that companies are looking for. One of the basic problems with this stems from the fact that today's interview questions are well known, and have been asked over and over again. Often these questions fail to reveal a candidate's real potential. These generic questions result in answers that have been pre-planned. So the whole point of the exercise is totally mute. Many job interviews fail to find the correct candidate for the job. And for the candidate, the whole process is disheartening and boring.

So how do you assess a candidate before hiring them? What needs to change in the process of selection? Apart from the cost and disruption, there is nothing quite as disheartening as having to let someone go who is unsuited for the role after a few weeks of training. Yes, they passed the initial interview. And yet during the training it becomes obvious that the job and the applicant are opposite sides of a coin. Then of course, once they've gone, there’s the added expense and time of rehiring for the same role. 

Remote Hiring and Recruiting

Thankfully the recruitment process is now taking notice of more modern processes and finding innovative ways of screening candidates. One of these concepts, that has crossed over from entertainment to human resources, is the idea of gamification.

So What is Gamification?

Essentially, gamification involves the use of interactive gaming techniques in order to interest customers or individuals towards your company. It can be used to illuminate brand connections in a positive light. For the last decade it has become more popular in its use as various companies look to increase their customer engagement and also boost their brand recognition. And now this concept is gradually becoming more accepted within the HR and recruitment industries. Today you'll find many large companies making use of gamification as a tool to aid finding the right candidates, without having to rely on the old and dated traditional methods anymore.

Though there are many individual aspects of gamification, you will find that many hiring companies may use challenges, puzzles and quizzes for behavioural evaluations. This certainly spices up the whole interview process and adds some spark to the recruitment meeting. Using gamification can really help assess the recruits aptitude, creative thinking abilities, and problem-solving skills. We made a list of some of the companies that have used gamification along with the processes involved.

Google Code Jam

In order to recruit the best, Google organisers Code Jam every year. It's a coding competition and you'll find here engineers and dev's, who are actually are in competition to win a financial prize. Google set up the whole Code Jam platform as a means of finding potential recruits with the right skills. At the end of the competition, the winners are offered contracts with the company.

Domino’s Pizza Mogul

Pizza Mogul is an interactive game which Domino's constructed in order to improve customer engagement and also build a more positive brand image. The customer is directly involved in this game and there’s a financial reward simply by creating their dream pizza. Once made, they actually have the option to order it at any Domino's Pizza store. The game is also used as a recruitment tool during the job interview process. Part of the idea is to change people's way of thinking about pizza and working in a pizzeria. To this end, they have created a game which gives a favorable impression for those young people who are looking for work. The company benefits from an image upgrade, as the game has helped plant the mental seeds that Domino's is now an innovative, fun, and creative place to work.

Siemens Plantsville

The game Plantsville was designed so that a plant manager recruit would be able to play the role of operations manager at a virtual version of the company's manufacturing factory. But it's not just a game. By simulating problems and different conditions, the HR department can gauge how well different recruits react to different situations. On a more mundane level, it can show recruits exactly what happens in the factory, including their daily roles and also their responsibilities as the faculty manager. To that end, this gives the candidates a greater sense of what the job responsibilities are, and whether they are in fact suited to these

It must be stated though, that the game has proved to be massively successful for Siemens. They have found this to be the ideal for discovering the right recruit for the right job, irrespective of their paper qualifications and previous experience.

My Marriott Hotel

The Marriott Hotel chain runs this game on its careers page on Facebook. The game allows recruits to oversee the running of a hotel virtually. Once you’ve played the game, you'll be redirected towards a page which features a job application. The Marriott Hotel chain says this is a brilliant way to find the right candidate as well as engage with prospective recruits. What helps weed out the more suitable candidates is the fact that only the ones truly interested in a position will apply. In many ways, this creates quality leads for the Marriott and also increases its rate of quality hiring. In fact, they claim that there has been a substantial increase in the quality of applicants since the game was initiated.

Cryptic Puzzles by Whirlpool

If you head over to any of the social media pages connected with Whirlpool, you'll see that they have had an aggressive marketing campaign making use of gamification in order to find prospective candidates. Whirlpool also says that there's an added benefit having gamification across all social media platforms. It has allowed them to connect their brand with a larger public base. Part of their games features uploading cryptic puzzles to their social media. Whirlpool say that it’'s success of this game has proved to them that gamification in HR has certainly led to a more productive and a better overall quality of candidate.

Badgeville by Deloitte

The accounting firm has developed a renowned training academy called the Deloitte Leadership Academy. All in all, they have trained over 11,000 executives from around the world. Part of that training involves gamification with the game called Badgeville. The game certainly helps them improve knowledge sharing, communication and teamwork, as well as accelerating the company's brand development.

Jeu Facteur Academy by Formapost

For many years, Formapost, the French postal service, has struggled with being able to hang on to its employees. One of their major issues is that after the initial training period, over 25% of their employees actually leave the job altogether. First employing, then training, and then having so many quit after such a short period of time has affected the company severely, both in terms of finance and recruitment. In order to try to increase the employee retention rate, Formapost turned to gamification.

Jeu Facteur Academy is a game that allows potential employees to live as a newly hired postal worker. The game includes all the necessary situations a postman may encounter. These include learning about the basics such as getting up early, the postal work itself, and even work ethics. The gamification proved to be a huge success. The employee attrition rate went down from 26% to 9% in just a few weeks. A game like this really helps the interview and hiring process. It allowed potential recruits to be better prepared for what the job really entails. And also allows recruits the possibility of asking more relevant questions during the interview process. As a result the practical parts of the job were no longer a surprise. 

Conclusion

In many ways, gamification acts as a type of funnel. Many enter at the top and few exit at the bottom. But those that do, are much more aligned to the job requirements. Gamification also adds some extra spark into the whole recruitment process, including the interview and other selection methods. It allows the recruiter to see more of the true character and capabilities of prospective employees. Yet on the other hand, it also allows the new recruits to be able to gauge whether the job or career is in fact fitting for them. To that end, gamification is a win-win for both HR departments and new recruits.