When Carrefour chairman and CEO Alexandre Bomparde took his first steps in the ‘metaverse’ in May 2022, he heralded the adoption of what could be the new paradigm in hiring people in the future. He was, of course, addressing job seekers on the first day of a virtual recruitment event by the French retail giant, looking to attract young data scientists.
To be sure, this was not a one-off event by Carrefour, the French group had bought ‘virtual land’ with an area equal to ‘30 supermarkets’ in the metaverse last February in partnership with blockchain game The Sandbox (SAND).
It is not the only one to do so. Warner Music Group, PwC and Samsung, among many others, are venturing into the metaverse—a digital space where people can interact like the real world.
Bomparde later tweeted a video of his address at the event:
What is the origin of Metaverse?
The concept of metaverse was first introduced three decades ago by American writer Neal Stephenson in his science-fiction novel Snow Crash. It encompasses a virtual environment where people can interact, work and play together using avatars. Like many things in life that are inspired by art, metaverse is now a reality as techies have managed to fuse virtual reality, augmented reality and artificial intelligence to bring the digital world to life.
While different companies are looking at various ways to leverage the potential of a metaverse, one area in the field of human capital that is poised for a shakeup in terms of processes is recruitment in the virtual world.
Also read: Metaverse and HR: Is it a Match? Industry Leaders Explain What to Expect
Opportunity in metaverse
In simple terms, it would involve the creation of a digital ecosystem to sync employers and candidates. This could straddle aspects like holding virtual career fairs a la Carrefour including virtual interviews and assessments to eventual onboarding.
Still, not everyone is convinced it has found real use case at present.
But many feel otherwise. “Early anecdotes show that the metaverse will influence the HR function immensely and will have strong implications across the employee life cycle, including recruitment and onboarding, employee engagement, and learning and development,” according to Rajat Kohli of management consulting firm Zinnov.
There are various aspects that one needs to keep in mind before giving a thumbs up to the idea.
As Isabelle Bastide, Executive Board Director and Regional Managing Director for France, Spain and Portugal at British recruitment firm PageGroup, feels, to recruit in this virtual universe, companies will have to create (or buy) a metaverse core and they will exhibit and sell their products and services there, just as they do today in the real world. “In building their brand universe, they will then have to add an HR dimension that will enable them to promote their employer brand and recruit in the metaverse,” according to her.
To be fair, artificial intelligence and virtual reality have been part of the tools used in some recruitment processes for several years now. This covers aspects such as assessment of the behavioural skills of candidates as also to enhance the employer brand through a virtual tour of the premises and so on in an augmented reality set-up.
Also read: Mondelez India Leverages Metaverse To Onboard New Hires
One way it can be useful is where the augmented experience twined with a virtual interview using an avatar will help remove cognitive biases.
As Isabelle Bastide, Executive Board Director and Regional Managing Director for France, Spain and Portugal at British recruitment firm PageGroup, feels, to recruit in this virtual universe, companies will have to create (or buy) a metaverse core and they will exhibit and sell their products and services there, just as they do today in the real world. “In building their brand universe, they will then have to add an HR dimension that will enable them to promote their employer brand and recruit in the metaverse,” according to her.
Brass tacks
But what exactly should we expect in terms of recruitment in the metaverse?
As Hays Technology’s head of recruitment for France and Luxembourg, Olivier Pacaud, shared recently that the increased adoption of the metaverse, where people can meet through avatars in private and public environments, is an exciting development in the way we communicate and has many useful applications. This goes from how we collaborate to recruitment and then training the workforce.
One can visualise how companies used to advertise job openings locally with flyers in store windows and posts on job boards. To expand their reach, they also shared roles through newspapers and telephone communication and held recruitment fairs to meet candidates.
In the digital age, these channels were upended by dedicated job sites and social media as a more effective way to find and screen employees, and for job seekers to share their profiles.
Pacaud of Hays stresses how there are plenty of opportunities to replicate this recruitment strategy in the metaverse. It could be that digital job boards become popular hubs for job seekers. Likewise, early examples of metaverse recruitment fairs show that there is potential, although there’s still work to be done.
Also read: How AR and VR Technologies Are Impacting HR and Recruiting
Candidates can upload their CVs to a blockchain. If there is no option to retrospectively edit these entries, an employer could discover an applicant’s credentials through verified references from previous employers or educational institutions, which brings more credible data points for recruiters of the candidate’s skills and experience.
Remote interviews became commonplace in the pandemic and the work-from-home environment and metaverse could bring interactivity elements such as tasks or presentations.
Candidates can upload their CVs to a blockchain. If there is no option to retrospectively edit these entries, an employer could discover an applicant’s credentials through verified references from previous employers or educational institutions, which brings more credible data points for recruiters of the candidate’s skills and experience.
Employers can also organise a virtual tour of the workplace, say hello to potential colleagues and showcase the projects they are working on, thereby enabling the candidates to get a feel of what it’s like to work with them.
The metaverse could also make the job application process a more immersive and convenient experience for applicants. Employers could create an application process customised for each candidate, giving them the freedom to share information and express ideas with fewer restrictions and more fun. It could also take out more traditional methods such as emails and forms as candidates could declare their interest in the job in a more personal approach.
In simple terms, the metaverse can make the overall job application process swifter for both employers and candidates.
The metaverse can also offer a solution that can leverage the advantages of both real and virtual worlds for assessments by making it more effective and fun through immersion and gamification.
What’s more, the metaverse can also have a positive impact on diversity and inclusion as recruiters’ unconscious biases and discrimination issues stand to get diminished. With candidates coming in their chosen avatar, employers can focus on a candidate’s skill sets and professional credentials instead of bringing in their perception of one’s gender, race, religion, status or background.
Also read: Can AI Transform Mental Health Support at Workplaces? We Find Out!
Endnote
Metaverse as a concept is not new but is only just now coming into the formal professional conversations as some large global brands take baby steps in creating a differential employer branding. There are many use cases where the blockchain can be tied to the metaverse to make it a more efficient virtual recruitment world and lead to better outcomes for both candidates and employers alike.
