The Metaverse, forecast to become a trillion-dollar industry, is streamlining recruitment and reinvigorating talent engagement through virtual reality (VR) job interviews.
Similar to Zoom’s fast replacement of in-person interviews in 2020, businesses are now opting for Metaverse platforms to meet candidates as it makes remote collaboration more personal and immersive than 2D.
“While there will always be a place for job interviews in the physical world, the Metaverse is the next logical step to today’s video interviews,” Eliza Kirkby, regional director at recruitment specialist Hays, told AdNews.
With agencies looking to hire less permanent positions in 2023, many think Metaverse job interviews can ensure companies are more accurate with hiring the right candidate.
Research shows that Metaverse participants are 3.7 times more emotionally connected to content and four times faster at consuming content versus traditional methods.
Although Facebook founder Mark Zucherburg markets Meta as the entire Metaverse there are many Metaverse platforms and cashed-up companies are racing to experiment in hopes their recruitment platform will be the norm in the future.
Hyundai last year teamed up with South Korean platform Zepeto to create immersive employee inductions and Samsung used Gather to match job seekers with the company’s HR managers and staff.
Hyundai team inside the Zepeto Metaverse completing their employee training.
Chat-based hiring app Hirect in February last year hosted the world’s first metaverse jobs fair, allowing hundreds of job seekers to meet brands.
Hirect sent Oculus VR headsets to US attendees, they could walk freely around the space, watch live presentations in the auditorium, start conversations with other avatars and there were clickable links enabling visitors to email a recruiter or go to the company's website.
Oculus Quest 2 headset.
Hays was the first recruitment agency to develop an office space in the Metaverse and although they are not currently recruiting in it, they plan to further evolve its recruitment processes as the technology develops.
Kirkby said: “The metaverse offers a practical platform for hiring without borders, allowing organisations to open their job opportunities to a global workforce.
“Using avatars and interacting in virtual reality rooms could be used in situations where several managers from different locations need to come together to interview a candidate.
“There’s also the option for applicants to meet potential colleagues in the virtual world, gaining a greater sense of everyday life at the organisation.
“Given that the metaverse has been developed and promoted in the tech sphere, we expect interviews will commence initially within this industry.”
Global advertising agency dentsu is close to launching its recruitment platform.
Partnering with LinkedIn and Microsoft, The LinkedIn Lounge will support the entire lifecycle of a business’ employee right from from the moment they meet in a Metaverse interview right through to onboarding and finding ways to upskill in ways people actually want to engage.
Dentsu NXT Space.
Paul Veltman, group vice president growth and enablement at dentsu, told AdNews in the near future The LinkedIn Lounge will be able to locally and globally connect candidates with brands for interviews through their professional LinkedIn identities in these cool virtual spaces.
“On the Global Stage of Innovation at CES in Las Vegas we took hundreds of tours of the space, but we're still refining some parts of it and going through the details," Veltman said.
Chris Bower, CEO dentsu solutions, said the tie-in with LinkedIn is super important as it allows candidates to share their personal data and companies to share protected information in a safe and controlled environment, but still give that 3D immersive experience.
“And it almost makes submitting a traditional CV less relevant, making recruitment more streamlined," Bower said.
“We’re about 80% there and while we could have gone live with this a while ago we want to invest more time with our partners - Microsoft and LinkedIn - to ensure it delivers the most value.
“But we’re just about ready to pull the trigger.”
And when dentsu does pull the trigger, The Lounge will be just one part of the immersive world, with the sentsu Metaversity, an evolution of the agency’s University offering, and other interactions coming to the 3D.
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