Using Virtual Reality as a Recruitment Tool

Recruitment was difficult before the Great Resignation. Now, even a subtle difference in technique, a slightly more accommodating experience, can be the difference between acquiring top talent and just filling a position.

Creating a fluid and friendly candidate experience is one of the best things can recruiter or hiring manager can do to improve the likelihood of signing on talent. Studies have shown that 49% of candidates have rejected a job offer due to a poor recruitment process. Failing to provide feedback alone doubles the chance that a candidate will not interact with your company at all in the future.

That’s why more and more companies are turning to creative solutions to identify and retain the right candidate. The most recent foray into recruiting solutions goes far behind video interviews and automation.

Virtual reality technology is increasingly becoming part of the recruitment process.

Why use virtual reality recruiting?

Virtual Reality (VR) recruitment provides a more realistic and immersive experience for potential candidates to interact with the brand. Today, recruiters are testing this technology with potential candidates at career fairs and final interviews.

While video calls, online surveys, and automated resume scanning are useful, they ultimately offer only a glimpse of how a potential recruit could work in the office. Virtual recruitment provides a chance for a potential candidate to shine or learn more about the company. Unlike a video call, the immersive experience is generally pre-set and automated, meaning that recruiters can spend less time on the process as well. Instead, the recruiter can focus on the potential candidate’s results and follow up with meaningful questions on their experience.

Hiring managers advocating for the use of virtual reality recruitment highlight many of its immediate benefits, including:

• An immersive interview environment
• Realistic assessments of job functions
• Company culture introduction

Virtual reality technology can also extend to training and onboarding purposes, making it a long-term investment. And onboarding is just as important as the recruitment process. While 1/4 of new employees leave within a year, a strong onboarding program can keep employees for 3 years or more.

Unlike a video call, the immersive experience is generally pre-set and automated, meaning that recruiters can spend less time on the process.

How can you use VR?

Once your job candidates download the app (you might want to invest in the VR headset for a better experience), there are a few different ways you can use VR in the recruitment process. Today, companies are using a virtual environment to:

Showcasing the brand through a virtual tour

The low-hanging fruit when it comes to virtual reality recruitment is creating a virtual office tour. This may include sidebars that stress certain company functions, values, or even company history. Giving potential talent an “inside” view of their department. Remote candidates can also benefit from a virtual tour. Simply getting the feel for office life can help those working from home understand the company culture.

Assessing a test scenario

Another incredibly useful aspect of the VR experience is the ability to create low-stress assessments. VR technology provides an opportunity for potential candidates to explore whether the position is the right fit for them and gives recruiters a realistic way to assess each individual’s skill. Knowing software on paper is one thing, but being able to solve problems in real time with that skill is another.

Highlighting the basic functionalities of a job

Many aspects of a position may be difficult to explain or understand unless directly experienced. So, instead of a fully-interactive assessment, it’s also possible to create real-life simulations of the day-to-day routine.

Onboarding applicants

VR technology makes it a cinch to shift from recruiting to onboarding in a virtual environment. Training through a VR experience on common scenarios can help new employees better understand their role without worrying about mistakes. At the same time, using virtual reality decreases the need to have another worker monitor the new employee, and the training software can be reused for each additional recruit.

Standing out from the crowd

Simply offering a VR experience at a career fair can increase your talent pool. Deutsche Bahn experimented with this in Germany and received up to 10x as many applications.

Simply offering a VR experience at a career fair can increase your talent pool. Deutsche Bahn experimented with this in Germany and received up to 10x as many applications. Major corporations such as General Mills, Marriott, and Jaguar have all designed innovative virtual environments at events or created immersive VR games to reach new talent and stand out.

More thoughts on recruiting

Virtual reality technology may look like just another tool in a recruiter’s belt, but in a competitive hiring season, it can provide a competitive edge. And as more companies funnel money into improving VR technology, it is likely to become more accessible in the near future.

That said, there’s much more to the recruitment process than hiring and onboarding new employees. Before you even get to the recruitment stage, you may want to revisit the vacant positions and figure out whether you actually need a new employee. Company roles and requirements change, so before you start searching for the right candidate, it can help calculate their ROI ahead of time. Reassess your team, turnover, and recruitment with our eBook on Evaluating New Employees.