Recruiting in Second Life
A very special thank-you goes to guest blogger David R. D’Angelo!
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Recruiting in Second Life
By: David R. D’Angelo
I jumped at the chance to write a guest post for Jim Stroud’s “The Recruiting Lounge” on Recruiting in Second Life. I am far from being an expert but I am always amazed at what organizations clearly see the value of Second Life. My blog, Recruiting in Second Life, attempts to follow the latest developments in those recruiting in this virtual realm.
When I discuss the possibilities of recruiting in Second Life with others in the recruiting world I inevitably get mixed opinions. Many have yet to see the value yet or grasp the competition for global technical talent with the baby boomers leaving the workplace. Opinions may be divided between generations as to the value of recruiting in Second Life but this is not always the case. I think there is growing consensus that it is a savvy environment for establishing a virtual presence and putting your message in front of young IT talent or a niche within IT such as SAP.
It comes as no surprise that IBM is at the forefront of finding talent in Second Life but what about the state of Missouri? Dan Ross, the Chief Information Officer for the state of Missouri has received recognition for using Second Life to recruit IT talent for his department.
“You’ve got to go where they live, and they live online,” says Paul Wright, a recruiter and IT director for the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The January/February 2008 issue of STATETECH magazine reports that Wright greets visitors to the ITSD Second Life site through his avatar Jedadiah Juran. “We saw Fortune 100 organizations doing this and thought it could work for us. In the past three weeks, we’ve had 35 to 40 visitors and some definite interest. Some folks are IT professionals already with a few years of experience, so we’re hopeful.”
IT talent is hardly the only niche to recruit in Second Life for. Educators in Kansas participated in a virtual recruitment event for educators in March. Kelly Services, the founder of the temporary staffing industry in 1946 is also in Second Life. Kelly’s virtual headquarters functions within Second Life for job placement and career development, serving the community with public seminars, conferences, job fairs, interviews, and training.
Law firms are also recruiting in Second Life. Why would one of the most conservative professions with technology delve into a virtual world? Second Life not only offers the potential for finding future associates but the potential misuse of intellectual property in a virtual world may actually turn into billable business! Lawyers are not the only ones seeing this potential. The Vancouver Police Department has recruited in Second Life. Kevin McQuiggin, head of the department’s tech crimes division:
“If people are on Second Life, they’re likely to be web-savvy, a quality the police department is looking for in new recruits. Internet and technology-related crimes, from fraud to harassment, are common, McQuiggin says. In fact, he says, almost every major crime involves technology in some way, shape or form.”
Dr. Charles Handler wrote a fascinating article on ‘Employee Selection in the Second Life’ for the January 16, 2007 ere site. His glimpse of the future and the potential for Second Life seems to edge closer to reality with each passing day. Some of the predictions from 2007 have already come into fruition. Dr. Handler predicted:
- Individuals will be able to find employment opportunities via their existence in virtual worlds.
- These will be publicized by organizations who have a virtual presence and who use this presence to promote their brands, employment brands included.
- Individuals will be able to express interest in these opportunities and exchange information that can be used to examine basic qualifications for the job.
- Individuals will be able to participate in virtual job tryouts in which they are asked to complete specific tasks required of them while on the job.
- Individuals will be evaluated based on their task-based and interpersonal-based interactions within virtual worlds.
- Individuals will be able to create and maintain virtual resumes that they can use to help them when looking for jobs within a virtual world.
Dr. Handler also suggests using avatars and virtual workplaces to allow job candidates to try out actual employment tasks on which they can be evaluated against other candidates or to some set of standards.
What is quite apparent is that there are endless possibilities for recruiting in Second Life. All industries are acutely touched by technology and web 2.0. Second Life is an ideal platform for reaching those job candidates rich in these skills across various functions. Will the current oil crisis and rising travel costs expedite the adoption of recruiting or screening for candidates in Second Life? Time will tell but my guess is the competition for talent and external costs make this a strong possibility. In the meantime I would prepare your avatar for to plan on recruiting in Second Life soon!
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Comments
Great blog item - I am a fan of Second Life for recruiting and there are several companies that have had hiring success over the past year or so. One of my favorites to watch as it recruits in there is KEEB (Kansas Teachers!) How cool is that? You’re not just going to find programmers in there.
In fact, months ago, there was an article in my local paper about Sodexo hiring a Chef via Second Life, so the brilliant thing about the site is that it spans so many types of candidates…..and works with recruiting with some perseverance.
IBM has dabbled there for a bit too. Again, several months back they had a joint venture in Second Life with NSBE (hey let’s go source for engineers!)….
Thanks so much for writing about the site - it’s definitely not an end all be all solution to recruiting, but a nice tool to have in your sourcing toolbox.
Best,
Kelly
Great article. Our group in Second Life (SL) is comprised of scripting, building, SL organized professionals. Companys may contact us to help you business live in SL. Visit our 4 sims for a tour, its a sci fi world, but you will be amazed of what we have created. A active busy city, with a functional hospital, on going lectures at the academy, the libaray has had real life authors lecture in game and lots more. Contact me or log into SL and tp (teleport, to Galaxy, or Aeon sim.
I enjoyed reading David’s post and see that he’s done a good job researching activities in Second Life. I attended a session a KMWorld 2007 session entitled Second Life: Revolutionizing Online Engagement featuring Dr. Cindy Gordon and John Jainschigg. Things that stuck with me about their session include the following:
-Second Life is a powerful media platform and essentially free
-It provides a high cognitive learning environment as all senses are touched
-Generates a culture and a community of like-minded individuals
-Second Life, There, area are main players and an announcement was made on 10/10/07 on virtual world interoperability alliances (www.metaverseroadmap.org)
-At the time, there were close to 300 business in Second Life (many large techs and retailers, and Ohio University). Asian markets are leading the way.
-Business value is increasing for things the recruitment, B2B, events sales, social commerce — the engagement potential is massive
-Recruiting fairs (Semper International, TMP Worldwide Network in World) are increasingly popular with Second Life
-An example was given about a quarterly event on metaverse development and business building. Showed that people were willing to share personal info when it was with established businesses. Further, a metrics system was created that showed booths visited, hours attended, sessions attended. Had over 1000 attendees in Spring and Fall with high quality participation. “Dwell time” such as 26 hours for top 25 booths was huge(which is about 10 times normal).
-Revenue can be, and is being generated.
-And my favorite: it can provide a 100% green event with no logistics (paper) or travel required.
Personally, I am signed up for Second Life but have not made big inroads. Professionally, I do oversee the development of simulation-based training to help accelerate learning and provide for a safe learning environment for high-profile on-the-job experiences. I will continue to watch how initiatives such as these evolve to become more mainstream, as I believe it is only a matter of time. More realistically, at least for now, my personal experience mirrors that of a panel of students discussing ways they use Web 2.0 capabilities and Second Life was not one of them (Facebook, Twitter, etc. were more prominent). That said, I am a believer and will continue to watch how initiatives such as these evolve to become more mainstream, as I believe it is only a matter of time.