Recruitment and addictive gaming

The above video is supreme. It has nothing directly to do with recruitment, but it made me think hard about recruitment, especially what would happen if there was more revolutionary, transformational and original thinking within the recruitment industry. It also follows on from my previous post which touched on the entertainment industry, where I explored the proposition of what would happen if an A-list celebrity manager ran a recruitment function.

So, I again pose a question. What would happen if a successful game developer was put in charge of a recruitment function? They would undoubtedly bring in a game element, possibly introducing sticky fun - not necessarily using virtual characters - but maybe we would see some of that thinking mentioned in the video. Recruiters may start viewing jobseekers as having an inner character (like mentioned in the video) and tap into the emotional drivers of jobseekers better. Maybe we would start seeing adopt-a-jobseeker or adopt-an-employee programs, like with the Webkinz model.

BTW, FarmVille just reached 80 million active members. Maybe the Recruitment Gaming Manager would work out a way to tap into this community. The average demographic is a 43 year old woman.

Comment by Rob Humphrey on March 3, 2010 at 11:46am: That is indeed a kick ass presentation. As a former recruiter for game studios like Harmonix (Rock Band 2) , Bungie, etc the application of game theroy and immersive technology has a direct connection to successful recruitment marketing strategies. In fact, I have deployed casual games and in-game marketing many times in my career--the results were well seen. Great thinking btw

Comment by Brian Meeks on March 17, 2010 at 2:59pm: I made my living buildind spaces in the virtual world of Second Life for 3 years. I have a friend who made 80K over several years by selling virtual clothing in Second Life. The world is an interesting place and that video did a great job of bringing it all together.