Recent years have witnessed huge advancement in Information Technology and with this rise is the corresponding increase in the demand for IT experts. In a bid to get more talents for hire, companies now use gaming to attract, develop and motivate candidates, increase their own prominence and create workplace reward and recognition.
The use of gamification in recruiting is the application of typical elements of game playing to contribute to workforce development, by introducing fun, creativity, competition, and rewards into areas where they didn’t earlier exist. Understanding its diversity and effectiveness, a number of companies now use gamification to recruit experts in the field of Information Technology. Contained in this article are some of these companies that have taken advantage of the assistance gamification renders in recruiting IT talent.
Google, a very innovative and creative InfoTech based company is definitely one to be on this list. For over a decade now, the company has been organizing a Google Code Jam software-writing competition to attract fresh and new talent. Monetary prizes up to $50,000 can be won as a big motivation to potential employees. However, the main aim of Google is to attract potential hires who have the appropriate skills that meet up with the company’s requirement.
- Umbel
This big-data startup created a gaming challenge called Umbelmania. Via this platform, amateur and professional coders code their movements to earn points in the first-person fighter-style game. Competing head-to-head, gamers accumulate points to progress in the interviewing process with the company. Through this, coders are able to measure their coding abilities in relation to that of other contestants, improve on them, and know how suited they are for the job at the Startup.
- AXA Group
Through a tool called Knack, this global insurance brand has implemented gamification in its hiring process. This tool builds various types of assessment games to identify the abilities, struggles and personality traits of candidates that might not be obvious in an interview or on a resume. Among the games that serve this intended purpose are, Wasabi Waiter and Balloon Brigade. These games collect several megabytes of data on potential hires to measure against successful employees already within the company.
- Domino’s Pizza
Through an interactive software called Domino’s Pizza Mogul, this company is able to build a brand awareness with a particular appeal to young people in search of exciting jobs in a fun and innovative work environment. This game allows users to personally create and name Pizza ideas and Toppings and then market it. The users also earn monetary rewards for every Pizza sold.
- Formapost
This French postal service was constantly faced with the challenge of retaining new hires. They were losing a quarter of their new recruits and this was costing a lot in their recruiting and hiring budgets. In a bit to resolve this challenge, they wielded the tool of gamification.
Having launched a gaming platform called Jeu Facteur Academy, they are now able to walk candidates through a routine day as a postal carrier and get them familiar with the job. By using this platform to prepare potential employees for the job, they were able to cut down the dropout rates from 25% to 8%.
Considering these companies, it is obvious that gamification is a reliable tool that you can use to achieve your company’s recruitment goals, attract people with the right skills set and increase your chances of keeping them for a long time.