Again, recruiting in Second Life!
Recruiting is soooo important nowadays: if a company (or a government agency) is able to pick the right guy or girl, it’s a big advantage.
No surprise that there is another report about a recruiting initiative in Second Life by SLAgency:
“TheSLAgency launches an innovative job recruitment program for a government client in Second Life. Job hunters will interact with a unique career recruitment experience in Second Life as potential firefighters, medical technicians and others can virtually hone their skills before interviewing for Public Service jobs.”
Not sure if GOOD FIREFIGHTERS use Second Life, or not (hint: NOT!!!!), but it’s clearly a smart way to hire people in the tech industry (I’ve been hired by Amazon.com via a Virtual Job Fair, remember?).
What do you think? Would you hire starting from Second Life?
Or, would you accept a job that landed through Second Life?
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POSTED IN: second life
10 opinions for Again, recruiting in Second Life!
Miki
Apr 28, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Take my comments with several pounds of salt since I’m not a Second Lifer or great social media user.
More than 25 years ago, ne of the smartest HR executives I’ve known said that “recruiting is like playing golf. The trick isn’t to use the same club on every shot, but to know which is the best club for each shot.
So I think that Second Life, along with other social media sites, are becoming another club in companies recruiting arsenal.
sbrunozzi
Apr 29, 2008 at 4:39 am
Miki: I strongly agree: Second Life is a medium, not the complete solution; behind it, you still need a smart HR manager to take the right decisions.
It is right to say, however, that it’s easier to find smart people on Second Life, just because smart people usually are very innovative.
My two cents, of course :-)
Marjolijn Thiecke
Apr 29, 2008 at 11:05 am
Very true about innovation, it’s all about being different from other candidates. I live in Luxembourg where there are some 250 banks, etc. with many people dreaming of a good job. HR managers of some of the most prestigious companies over here have used SL already at the first virtual career fair of Luxembourg which was held at the end of November 2007 and through which I got a new job! Check this out http://www.working-worlds for the 2nd virtual job fair for the Benelux on May 29.
sbrunozzi
Apr 29, 2008 at 11:32 am
Marjolijn, I got a job too, from the same virtual job fair!
Miki
Apr 29, 2008 at 11:53 am
Sorry to disagree. Second Life is no guarantee of someone’s being smart. Using it doesn’t mean the person can communicate effectively (written or oral) and might mean that they aren’t good in face-to-face situations. As I said, it’s a tool to cast a wide candidate net. Relying on primarily one recruiting method is like applying a tourniquet to your candidate stream.
BTW, I’ve interviewed a number of candidates who were SL users, only one of whom was hired by my clients. Those with the right hard skills were poor communicators and lacked team/interpersonal skills.
All of which tells me that SL is comprised of the same types who make up the real world:)
sbrunozzi
Apr 29, 2008 at 11:56 am
Interesting point, Miki. My “feeling” is different, but your experience must count, for sure.
It would be a great field for exploration, don’t you think?
Any academic listening? :-)
Miki
Apr 29, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Simone, I think you have more Second Life experience and I have more real world. I think the key point here is that people are people, SL is still new so it’s was filled with early adopters, who may be smarter technically and more educated. I think that as SL becomes more mainstream and is used for more business purposes, especially recruiting, the mix of people will grow to look more and more like the real world.
Marjolijn Thiecke
Apr 29, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Hi Miki, thanks for the comments. I personally don’t use Second Life to wander around in my spare time, either thus I do consider myself also as a person of the real world! What I do find fascinating is the innovative /early adaptors aspect of it all and am just simply astonished that so many corporates are already using it. I guess time will tell whether SL becomes a true recruiting means, the job fair I referred to was a great success.
Miki
Apr 29, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Hi Marjolijn, I’m not saying that it’s not a good recruiting tool, just that it’s not the only one (there is no ‘best’ one:)
Marjolijn Thiecke
Apr 29, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Fair point. Guess I’m a bit tired :-) Do keep an eye on the upcoming fair as mentioned above and let me know afterwards what you think of it.
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