Your 2016 graduate recruitment strategy may not be as robust as you believe. A recent report from High Fliers market research suggests that UK employers will be ‘fighting it out’ to recruit top graduate talent this year. For employers keen to hire the best candidates before their competitors, gamification could be the key.
Gamification is fairly well established in the graduate recruitment market, used by companies such as Deloitte, Uber, KPMG and Lloyds Banking Group and offers the following benefits to your hiring process:-
Reduces your time to hire : The High Fliers report found that sought after candidates often turn down jobs at the last minute – at the rate of 1,000 graduates in 2015. Gamification helps you to move more quickly through your hiring process and engage with talent in your pipeline.
Better engagement : Gamification facilitates more rapid engagement than forcing prospective applicants to read through pages of your careers website to find out why they should work for your company. It engages talent directly in a way they can relate to. Great gamification can become viral; encouraging users to share with their online network increases engagement and it can also be adapted for employee referral schemes.
Expands your talent pool : PwC’s Hungarian division’s online game, Multipoly significantly increased its volume of applications from college students. Initially introduced to improve employer branding, it is now used to improve candidate selection and overall hiring practice. At the same time, it also addresses the ‘need’ for social media in younger candidates.
An extra screening filter : Supported by sophisticated recruiting software, gamification forms part of your data analysis for measuring candidate capability. This is especially effective for companies focused on quality of hire and identifying specific skillsets, rather than candidate volume. Incorporating assessments ensures candidates who pass through to the next stage possess the basic skills your company is looking for.
Additional points to note
Understand your ‘why’ : Why are you using gamification? Building it into your graduate recruitment strategy because it seems a good idea at the time won’t improve candidate engagement. Understand your why before embarking on a strategy. If gamification is already part of your hiring process your historical data will provide insight into the areas that may need attention.
Be prepared to pay for talent : The Higher Fliers report found that graduates’ starting pay increased by 3.3% last year, with an average starting salary of £30,000 at the UK’s leading employers. This was notably higher in leading law, accounting firms and investment banks (with a starting salary of £47,000 predicted this year).
Beyond the hiring process : Gamification can be incorporated across the entire employee lifecycle, extending into engagement, career development and performance management. Latest statistics suggest that 57% (36.4m) of the UK population are involved in gaming, 57% male and 43% female. 26% of this figure is represented by 15-34 year old males.
Incorporate gamification into your metrics : Track your likes and shares to assess the effectiveness of gamification in your graduate recruitment strategy but agree upfront exactly what you want to measure. Is your goal to improve your brand awareness, expand your talent pool or attract more high calibre graduates to your recruitment funnel? Support your strategy with recruiting software that provides detailed analytics to enable you to monitor its success and adjust accordingly.
Support gamification in your graduate recruitment strategy with recruitment software used by some of the world’s leading organisations. Find out more. Contact us today.
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8 Ways To Fix Your Graduate Recruitment Process
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