Is It Time To Let Computers Assess Candidates?

Gamification has definitely arrived in the world of recruiting, but it is far from established and has not really found its place. The idea that we can use tactical video games to attract and assess talen t is a powerful one, even if implementation remains a little sketchy. It’s not surprising really, as gamification entrepreneurs are true pioneers; they are at the frontier. There are very few blueprints to follow and they are bringing a conceptually complicated product to a willing but skeptical market.

This is why gamification products have failed to gain much traction thus far. Of course, we all hear that hiring teams use them, but few would claim that they couldn’t do their job without HR gamification in the same way as they would without interviewing or attainment tests. To date, gamification has been viewed somewhat as a PACMAN style fun toy and employer branding exercise, hardly the main supporting wall or foundation of HR and recruiting.

But, there is growing evidence that HR gamification is reaching the next generation of implementation, which could be as significant as the move from the mobile phone to the smartphone. This has made me ask the question as to whether it’s time to let computer’s assess candidates, to a greater or lesser extent.

For example, take this hiring video game, Wasabi Waiter designed by Knack.it. In this game, players perform the role of sushi waiters and they are expected to assess the mood of clientele and deliver them appropriate dishes that match these emotions, as well as removing empty plates while keeping all the customer’s happy. It seems simple on the surface, but exciting things are happening under the bonnet, as the Wasabi Waiter system tracks each millisecond of the player’s behavior and measures consciousness, emotion recognition and other qualities, which research shows correlate with job performance. Players are scored according to their likelihood of becoming an outstanding employee and their performance can also be co-related with data relating to how top performers perform in the tests, for greater reliability. While this is exciting, a big question mark has to be whether the game engine can reliably assess human behavior and we’d, of course, like to see some more studies comparing this approach to more traditional approaches in terms of reliability, before going overboard with this.

But, this is just the beginning. Xerox has been using a candidate assessment gamification system designed by Evolv who have developed the model for the ideal call center. This means that they live near the job, have reliable transportation, use one or more social networks, are not inquisitive or empathetic but are creative. The hiring game includes psychometric questions and job scenarios. At the end of the tests high potentials get a “green” and are hired, (yes hired) and medium potentials get a “yellow” and are hired if considered trainable. In the first six months of using this system, Xerox cut attrition rates by a fifth and they’ve now devolved their hiring decisions to this gamification system. With this system now performing a key recruiter function at Xerox, gamification has been truly landed, at least at this company.

But, I am thinking there are many more landings to follow. It seems to me that a new generation of powerful hiring gamification tools is beginning to hit the market that can reliably assess and predict the future performance level of candidates based on the behaviors that they demonstrate in the game. Gamification may not have landed with a bang but it has definitely landed and it may now be approaching the time where employers start allowing computers to assess candidates to a greater or lesser extent.  What do you think?