How Does Virtual Reality Fit into the Future of Recruiting?

I recently heard the news that Google acquired Owlchemy Labs, a creative studio with a passion for polished and unique VR experiences and games. Their Job Simulator game really got me thinking more about the future of recruiting, and where VR can potentially make an impact.

Although there’s still a long road ahead, and many kinks to work out, I truly believe that like any technology – the early adopters will have the ability to get ahead in the recruiting game. Here are a few of the areas where I see VR enhancing the recruiting process in the future.

Candidate Attraction Some companies are already using VR for job previews, especially for those critical and hard-to-fill roles. Imagine attending a career fair, conference or event, and a company has a VR headset available for individuals to get a glimpse into different roles, departments, and office locations within your company.

Additionally, you could have company-specific games created that potential candidates could play to add a fun element to the recruiting process. Candidates who are looking to work for cutting-edge and innovative companies may be more attracted to you for utilizing out-of-the-box techniques and technology.

Unless a candidate owns a VR headset themselves, this option would be more limited to in-person events. However, it could be a pre-cursor to something bigger in the candidate attraction phase in the future.

Realistic Job Previews and Office Tours A lot of companies require candidates to preview the job in the final stages of the recruiting and interviewing process. If you have a candidate working full-time in another capacity, they then have to find a few hours they can skip out on their current responsibilities to come and preview your job.

What if you could work with a VR company to create a unique and personalized opportunity for potential candidates to preview a job without having to take off of work. Better yet, they can visualize the working environment, meet potential colleagues and leadership team members, and decide if it’s a place they see themselves fitting in.

This could really come in handy for a candidate looking to potentially relocate for an opportunity with your company. With all the tools and technology in place providing companies the ability to interview candidates without having to fly them to the office, VR could be an additional avenue to allowing candidates to see the environment and people.

Skills Testing and Assessments Interviewers place candidates in hypothetical situations all the time just to see how they will react and problem solve, especially under stressful circumstances. This leaves potential for companies to utilize VR to place candidates in a situation and see how they handle it, instead of going through this assessment verbally.

Plus, VR has been used for educational studies, skills training, and skills testing in the past. In that case, why can’t companies do the same for testing of critical skills for a particular position? This could help to determine a candidate’s level of understanding and execution of a certain skill, enabling better decision-making and hiring power.

What are some of the possible pitfalls? As with anything, there are several areas of real concern in the infancy stages of using VR in the recruiting process.

Unless someone owns a VR headset, you are limiting your potential talent pool.
This could be a costly venture for companies including buying VR headsets, paying to have custom experiences developed, and continuously updating those experiences as the company grows and develops.
Relying on VR for skills testing could open the door to potential candidates saying they weren’t tested fairly for a skill required for a position.
If used incorrectly, VR could just provide an unrealistic look into how a company wants to be perceived by candidates – creating a mismatch when the candidate actually walks through the front door.

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Do you think VR has a strong future in recruiting?

Kristina Finseth