Are Virtual Worlds the recruitment platform of tomorrow? - Online Recruitment Conference - 3rd June

The use of Virtual Worlds as a recruitment tool has been much hyped of late ñ TMP hosted the UKís first ever ìvirtual worldî careers fair last year, Kelly Services launched its own island in SecondLife, and GCHQ, the Government Intelligence Organisation, has been advertising in online gaming to tempt web-savvy graduates to become spies.

But how is it possible and what does it mean to use Virtual Worlds as a recruitment tool? Is this wave of technology really going to dwarf social networking sites such as facebook linkedin and myspace? Is it merely an over-hyped media gimmick or the next evolution of the web?

To the less technologically savvy, the idea that Virtual Worlds could be used as a recruitment platform may seem a strange and surreal proposition restricted to the realm of the computer geek, but employers ñ including RBS, Yell, KPMG and IBMñ are discovering that it can be a highly effective medium to interact with candidates. Virtual Worlds like Second Life ñ which has almost 9 million registered users -are essentially an extension of chatrooms, but provide a content-rich environment, immersing the user in a three-dimensional interactive world and enabling recruiters to interact far more holistically with candidates.

James Bowmer, Country Manager of Kelly Services, says ëSecond Life provides us a platform to communicate globally with customers and job seekers using interactive relationships.í Matthew Whitbourne, Senior Inventor at IBM who have been using virtual worlds in recruitment for 18 months, agrees, claiming that Virtual Worlds ìallow IBM to engage with candidates and talk about careers in a unique and powerful way.î IBM use Virtual Worlds as an extension of their existing recruitment efforts, hosting pre-scheduled events on Second Life and inviting specified groups of graduates to meet hiring managers, experts and senior business figures in this space, and talk about their careers.

The idea is very much like a virtual version of the careers fair. But unlike careers fairs which are often staffed by the HR department because key managers can not afford to take time out of the office, the key benefit to going virtual is that employers can afford to encourage their managers to spend time networking with potential candidates. Whitbourne claims ìThis gives the candidates real role models, staff already working in their chosen field, who really know their stuff and are able to engage with them, on their levelî. Another advantage of Virtual is that it is possible to review at length, the ìconversationsî that candidates and managers have had. Furthermore, as Whitbourne suggests the anonymity and freedom of virtual environments can actually be a real positive, ìOur Virtual World recruitment events get people interacting ñand through virtual environments candidates are often more willing to be interactive and ask honest questions which results in far more effective matching between candidate and recruiterî says Whitbourne.

But is this innovative recruitment concept consigned to the technology sector? Whitbourne thinks not ìNaturally, the technology sector is the early adopter of this approach, but the generation coming through have grown up with this technology - multi-player gaming, social networking and chatrooms are a core part of their online activities so they are very comfortable in this environment and it is very intuitive to themî.

So how do employers begin to tap into this technology? IBM have hosted online ìeventsî, online interviews and have also trialed ìdrop-in clinicsî on Second Life. Whitbourne explains that Second Life is one of many virtual world platforms, but the key to success is running and promoting the session as you would a live event, to a targeted audience; ìJust as you wouldnít turn up in a town square and start targeting passer-bys to come and work for you, it is important that your ìeventî is in the right space and aimed at and promoted to your target audienceî he says.

For more tips on how to run your own recruitment events in Virtual Worlds, and to hear more about what this and other online technologies can do for your recruitment strategy, come to the Online Recruitment Conference, QEII Conference Centre London on 3rd June 2008. For more information or to register go to: