Is Virtual Reality the Next Big Thing in Recruitment?

 

Virtual Reality (VR) is rapidly evolving and becoming increasingly applicable to a wide range of industries, apart from traditional applications entertainment and gaming.

According to a PewResearch Center’s report, the application of virtual reality to businesses will result in fewer limitations in collaboration and problem-solving. Furthermore, it can break down the barriers of time and space, creating immersive environments for people to interact.

VR technology is now considered among the innovative recruitment solutions for businesses. Here are a few ways that VR technology is changing the game for recruitment.

 

5 Ways VR is Changing the Game for Recruitment

  1. Talent Acquisition

The first wave of Generation Z just graduated, and they’re looking for jobs. What better way to recruit these young, tech-savvy fresh grads than to show them how innovative your company is?

Virtual Reality can help you show them what it’s like to be a part of your company as it can simulate physical presence and evoke sensory experiences, it can help you inspire and convince top talent to consider your organization or company.

  1. Interviews

For some applicants, face-to-face interviews are nerve-racking. Often, this results in a poor interview. In addition, video interviews are usually one-way and limit a recruiter’s view of the candidate. As a result, recruiters and HR professionals are not able to properly assess a candidate’s full potential. Virtual Reality can address this problem.

With VR, you can conduct a live, person-to-person interview while being in separate rooms, or even separate countries. You’ll get a 360-degree view of the candidate and see their hand gestures and body language so recruiters can more effectively gauge the employee-employer fit.

  1. Office Tours

The best job applicants are hesitant to apply for a job without knowing seeing the office or workplace environment, and understandably so. With VR, you can show prospective recruits your dynamic work environment and culture by giving them a tour of your facilities.

Not only does a VR office tour increase engagement, but it also reduces costs. You don’t have to bring your recruits to your office location physically. You can send a small team to various job fairs to acquire top talent.

  1. Training

You can create training modules in VR where candidates can learn new skills in an interactive environment. VR software can recreate real-life situations where you can immerse new hires and give them a virtual experience of fieldwork, presentations, and the like.

According to wearable.com, the military is already using VR to train its recruits in combat. This being the case, just imagine how VR training can be applied in the fields of healthcare, engineering, aeronautics, culinary arts, and more.

  1. Assessments

Virtual assessments can also be developed so that you can determine their decision-making skills, and whether they have aptly adapted the knowledge and skills taught in training.

These VR assessments can also provide the HR and training teams with recorded data about their trainees’ performances or future reference.

 

3 Examples of Businesses Using VR for Recruitment

The British Army

In 2015, the British Army launched a recruitment campaign with the use of VR to attract reservists. They let them sit in a Challenger II tank while wearing a Samsung GearVR so that they could get a feel of what it feels like to drive a tank without the dangers involved with having unqualified individuals operating destructive machinery.

According to Major General Chris Tickell, the director-general of the Army recruiting and training division, “by using the virtual headsets, people will be able to step straight into an exciting real-world scenario of volunteering with the Army Reserve and the huge variety of challenging roles there are to choose from.”

Commonwealth Bank of Australia

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia created a game-like VR experience to change the perception of banks as stiff, uptight institutions to leading innovators.

CommBank went around campuses and events across Australia and engaged students and applicants by showing them various opportunities available in their institution. Surely, this VR application is giving them an edge over their competitors.

General Mills

With the use of an Oculus Rift VR headset, General Mills sets itself apart in a competitive job fair by providing a virtual tour of their head office in Minneapolis, MN.

In the video, you can get a 360-degree view of the headquarter’s facilities such as the gym, the coffee shop, cafeteria, and other locations. You can even see the company mascots in the video enjoying the facilities.

“The gear draws a crowd. We knew it would be an automatic magnet for attention. When you’re trying to stand out in a crowded career hall, nothing draws a crowd like a crowd.” – Leo Timmons, IT Director for App Development of General Mills

 

Things to Keep in Mind

The digital revolution is changing the way the world works, and virtual reality is just among the many innovations that help businesses and enterprises progress. Virtual Reality is indeed making waves in the recruitment industry, and it’s about time you jumped on board.  

If you haven’t tapped into this technology yet, then you could be missing out on a huge asset to your recruitment efforts. Impress top talents with an innovative approach to recruitment and hiring. Invest in VR and you can show the market how progressive and innovative your company is while making recruitment an easier task for HR.

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Is Virtual Reality The Next Big Thing In Recruitment?
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Virtual Reality (VR) applications have been catching the eyes of recruiters particular over the last few years. Find out why!
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ThisWay Global
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