The future is here, so to speak, as it relates to Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence, and how they are slowly but surely integrating into our day-to-day lives. These technologies are exciting and sometimes mind-blowing with the potential they have.
Many items have been adopted quickly and are very user-friendly: Chatbots, Photo filters (like Snapchat or Instagram), voice-activated Siri, Alexa or Google Speak that use AI, as well as hiring platforms (like HireVue) that provide the software needed for companies to utilize AI in their screening of job applications. There are a lot of options for recruiting software and you can see many more here, and how they utilize Artificial Intelligence to increase efficiencies of recruiting new talent.
What is the difference between AR and VR? “Augmented reality (AR) adds digital elements to a live view often by using the camera on a smartphone. Examples of augmented reality experiences include Snapchat lenses and the game Pokemon Go. Virtual reality (VR) implies a complete immersion experience that shuts out the physical world.” MR (Mixed Reality) is able to combine the two.
Financial Times shares some solid examples of how virtual reality has been brought into recruiting, and it sounds like a new way of doing case interviews. A case-based interview is where the candidate is given a range of business-case problems, and asked to demonstrate and present how they would think through the problem and offer possible solutions. It is the type of interview that is meant to have some back and forth with discussion, but are more to see the thought process of candidates – versus getting the answer exactly right. In case interviews, companies are usually looking for the following:
- Numerical and verbal reasoning skills
- Communication and presentation skills
- Business skills and commercial awareness
With virtual reality, Accenture and PwC have been able to bring a feeling of being in person, even when candidates are remote, into the interview process. The interest has been even higher to be able to utilize these technologies during a global pandemic. Considering job seekers and employers are asked to practice socially distancing, and travel options may be more challenging and limiting, this can be a way to still feel like you are sitting amongst the team.
Within the virtual reality, Accenture can give recent graduates an environment to select different projects, and then call them after a specified time to give them the project brief. This creates opportunities to have a variety of interactions, and to really see how the candidate thinks and presents.
The benefits seem to be new candidate experiences, allows the company to showcase their technology capabilities, and can improve the interview experience because even if they don’t get the job, they learned something.
Erin Wike is a Career Coach & Lecturer at The University of Texas at Austin and owner of Cafe Con Resume. Erin is fueled by dark roast coffee with cream AND sugar, her loving husband, daughter, and two rescue dogs. She is the Co-Founder of Small Business Friends ATX to help fellow entrepreneurs + hosts events for people to live a Life of Yes with Mac & Cheese Productions.
