Does Gamification Work in Recruiting You Bet!

Does Gamification Work in Recruiting You Bet! Gamification:  the art (and sometimes science) of attracting users and keeping  them. Gamification works by encouraging users to engage in game-like behaviours, in non-game contexts. Having heard a lot about it this year I predict gamification’s role  in the industry will act as a game changer (pun intended), so if you’re not already  thinking about how you can apply it to your recruitment strategy, then perhaps  it’s time to start! Now that the concept of social recruiting has established itself and is no longer  considered a passing phase, it’s now constantly offering us new and innovative ways  to crowdsource. The use of social networks is evidently a successful route and the  new ways in which recruiters are interacting with candidates is allowing for  more enjoyable brand experiences.  Brands that are choosing to use gamification are obtaining higher levels of  retention and building bigger online communities. It’s serving the common  purpose of engagement and generating better user experiences. Information technology research firm Gartner has already predicted that over 70% of Forbes Global 2000 organisations will  have at least one gamified application by 2014, with a belief that 25% of day-to-day business processes will be using aspects of gamification.  Brian Burke, research vice president at Gartner, explains: Gamification aims to inspire deeper, more engaged relationships and  to change behavior, but it needs to be implemented thoughtfully. Most  attempts at gamification currently miss the mark, but successful and  sustainable gamification can convert customers into fans, turn work into  fun, or make learning a joy. The potential is enormous. What role is gamification starting to play in recruitment? So what role is gamification starting to play in recruitment an industry that  is using social media now more than ever? One of the key advantages of using  gamification in recruitment relies on the fact that not only will candidates be  coming back regularly to interact with your brand, but they will be acting as advocates for your brand. A good gamification strategy has users encouraging  friends and family to engage too, so they are essentially acting as recruiters  themselves.  Surely this is the recruiters dream! Gamification provides users with a sense of belonging and encourages, what  Matthew Jeffery of Autodesk described as, “stickiness to sites” he also points out the potential for monetisation that comes with  using gamification in your business strategy. Marriott, Nike LinkedIn Marriott created an excellent recruitment campaign to attract potential  employees using an online game entitled My Marriott Hotel. It was created with the intent to encourage  young people to take an interest in hospitality as a career path. The virtual game  is much like Farmville or The Sims, requiring candidates to demonstrate their  skills in a fun, online environment. It was a social media success that drove traffic  to their Facebook career page (which currently has 113,000 likes). However, the benefits of gamification are not solely about attracting candidates  or consumers, it’s also being used to engage clients too. Take for example Global  Corporate Challenge a business that attracts some of the world’s biggest  corporations as their clients every year, purely on the merit of what is essentially  gamification which gets the world moving.  They are the world’s leading and largest corporate health initiative and users  devotedly engage in the game-like experience. They have highly refined  expertise in behavioural change and that is key to their success. Although gamification is a relatively new concept for the recruitment industry,  it has been implemented to great success in the advertising world for a few  years now. Gamification is being integrated into advertising campaigns, globally;  encouraging brand engagement and facilitating great results. Another example is Nike and their Nike+ campaign. A campaign which gamified  running, with a seamless integration of their brand into the consumers’ everyday  lives. They created a Nike+ tag running app, which links running directly with  social gaming. Essentially anyone using the app is in a game of virtual ‘tag’ and  must keep running to avoid being ‘it’. So if you run the shortest distance among  the group you are playing with, you are ‘it’.  It’s a smart use of gamification because it took something that people find hard  to get motivated for and offered a direct incentive. Whether this is social like in  this case or through a reward based system. Foursquare, Klout, Kred, and PeerIndex are all good examples of successful  reward and high score systems. They appeal to an individual’s sense of  achievement and create an appeal to return. Although LinkedIn’s Endorsements features have been received with mixed reviews, it’s a prime example of clever  gamification suited to their audience. The number of endorsements people have on their profile almost work as a badge system, and will be used to highlight  thought-leaders and also show up in searches. Place your bets Gamification doesn’t have to be expensive and, like with most things, simplicity  is the key! I would use it to increase brand awareness, build a community,  integrate it in as part of a mobile strategy, with the end result leading to more  applications. Have you tried gamification in your company? Let us know your  success  stories in the comments below!