BizFeaturE!

THE GAME CHANGERS

There are few among us who are not delighted when faced
with the prospect of getting a free sample of chocolates, shampoo, chips or perfume when we walk into a general
store. The freebies give us a test drive of the experience we will have before we decide to pay
for it. What if we could have such a test drive for the jobs we
intend to pursue? What if recruiters could know beforehand what kind of ‘drivers’ they are about to onboard? Would it not be easier
for them to match the skills of the driver (race car driver, Road
Rash hooligan, slow crawler etc.) to the cars (read, roles)
they drive? Concepts such as gamification are riding on the
wave of cutting edge analytics and social media boom to
answer some of these
questions and in the process,change the game of Talent
Acquisition.
Engaging aspirants
It is no secret that recruiters are increasingly using analytics to add value to their operations.
Predictive modelling uses the application of modelling techniques to predict candidate behaviour. To add to that,
instead of segmenting on basis of gut feeling, the use of
clustering or other techniques to organize prospects or
customers into meaningful groupings for hiring management are coming to the
fore. Also,strategic data analysis holds a lot of potential and
implications for recruiters as monitoring and analysis of trends observed in historical
data produce conclusions which could have significant
strategic impact on hiring operations.
Social networks are also finding braver innovations to engage
potential candidates. 48 per cent users of Facebook and
Twitter check or update their accounts before bedtime. To
leverage that, many Recruitment Heads reply to potential
candidates on Facebook using an informal tone. This promotes a student friendly image of the
organization and breaks the invisible bubbles between the
organization and the
candidates, engaging them where they would least expect
it.
Organizations have evolved from using these platforms
from branding avenues alone to
leveraging them for the entire recruitment value chain-attracting, engaging, screening
and converting prospective candidates. Maintaining and
harvesting these talent pools is the new Shangri-la for
recruiters. Organizations are
soon realizing that recruitment practices based on “One size
fits all” principle hold back the business from ensuring quality
of hire and satisfaction to the
customer. Traditionally, traits
such as innovation, decision making and problem solving are
taken on face value based on answers to questions asked.
But it is not necessary that such an evaluation will ensure the right decision and eventually,the right fit for the role and
organization.
Practical Application
This is where the exciting new concept of gamification comes
in. Gamification, like the name suggests, selectively uses the
mechanics which bring out people's natural desires for
competition, achievement, status, self-expression, altruism,and closure when faced with a
real life situation in form of agame. For example, a software
firm can host an engaging contest like a coding challenge
to check the candidates on their
coding skills. This can be followed up by another level which tests behavioural traits.
Another example could be LinkedIn’s profile completeness
concept. It challenges users by showing a progress bar on
“profile completeness”. This induces the user to go through
the site’s resources, spend more time on the site and finally, give him the sense of confidence for
his profile on the site based on his “accomplishment”.
Gartner predicts that by 2014,more than 70 per cent of global
organizations will have at least one “gamified” application,which can range from mastering a specific skill or
improving one’s health.
Gamification throws up a plethora of possibilities owing
to the advent of social media and increasing focus on analytics within organizations.
But Gartner also says that 80 per cent of the gamified
applications will fail if not designed correctly. Locating the
right talent pool and engaging specific segments by customized gamified modules promises to be a pragmatic
solution to recruitment woes
across industries. For example,The Hotel Marriott has launched
an App which makes candidates virtually perform hotel service
industry tasks. This gives insights to the candidates on
what the real work is going to be like and also, helps sieve out
the applicants who do not have the patience or aptitude for
such a job, basically separating the race car drivers from the
slow crawlers.
Gamification is also re-casting the way onboarding programs
are conducted in organizations.