3 Reasons Why You Should Use Virtual Reality in Your Recruitment Strategy

It’s job fair season. You’ve set up your booth at the fair and prepared promotional materials to hand out to the attending graduates. The job fair doors open and the college graduates start to trickle in. You’re excited to talk to them about the job opportunities at your company and collect their resumes.

However, an unfortunate thing happens. Rather than visit your booth, graduates flock to your competitors instead. In fact, there’s actually a queue to talk to them while your booth remains empty. So, what gives?

If your attempts to attract new graduates are falling short, then you may need to find a better way to engage them. Here are 3 reasons why you should use Virtual Reality in your recruitment strategy.

Reason 1 — It Conveys Your Company Culture In An Engaging Way

Your employer brand is the perception of what it’s like to work for your company. It’s influenced by your company culture: your values, mission, and work environment. By conveying your company culture to prospective employees, you can shape their perception of the employment experience at your company.

In effect, company culture is employer branding. The positive experiences of your present (and past) employees show that your company is a great place to work for. It helps you attract the type of talent that you want while deterring those that aren’t a good fit.

However, conveying something intangible like company culture can be a challenge. Using brochures and advertising can feel impersonal and unauthentic. So how can you do this in an engaging way? Well, IT talent integrator Exellys turned to VR.

They produced this VR experience to engage their target audience of young IT students. Using a compelling storyline inside a virtual pinball machine, students are exposed to Exellys’ culture of striving for excellence.

It’s an example of how VR displays your company culture in an engaging way to recruit new employees.

Reason 2 — It Helps Recruit Talent That Wants To Make An Impact In The World

Millenials want more than just money from their employment. First, they want flexibility and work-life balance. Next, they seek positions that will allow them to grow professionally and in their personal life. Lastly, they want to be in a job that gives them a purpose for both themselves and society.

To recruit Millennials you need to show that your company possesses these qualities. While there might be other ways to do this, none are as engaging and immersive as VR.

For example, interior specialist Unilin mostly known for producing Quick-step floors used a combination of VR and gamification to give applicants a glimpse into their work facility. The video shows the daily work life of machine operators and technicians and provides insight into the opportunities to grow and develop their technical skills. It visualizes how their efforts contribute to the company and how the products will help their customers.

This is an excellent case study of how VR can be used to engage talent who seek a greater purpose in their careers.

Reason 3 — It Attracts Future Talent Using The Technology Of Tomorrow

Technology constantly changes the way things are done. Millennials now stream shows on Netflix instead of watching TV and use Uber instead of calling for a taxi. Similar changes are happening in recruitment. Handing out brochures at job fairs might have been enough to attract attention in the past, but it’s no longer engaging as a standalone method.

This is where VR shines: its immersive capabilities is highly engaging to new recruits and will ensure you will continue to attract talent well into the future.

For example, Willemen Groep (Belgium’s largest family-owned construction group) implemented a 360° experience at a student job fair that let students experience a day in the life of a Willemen employee.

Using a VR headset, students were taken to work sites such as airport tarmacs to rooftops of building sites. The vivid exhibition stand led to a 500% increase in applications and a prestigious award for the recruitment campaign. It’s proof of VR’s ability to engage future talent using the technology of tomorrow.

As you can see, VR is an engaging way to show your company culture, attract recruits who want to make an impact in the world, and engage future talent today. Do you see how Virtual Reality could fit into your own recruitment strategy? Let us know in the comments below.