I’ve applied for many jobs and internships, often, immediately receiving responses that my lack of professional experience and personal qualifications do not fit with what the company is looking for. Or more heartbreaking – gotten no response at all. Even if I’ve poured all my heart and soul into writing up a motivation letter that should be able to sweep anyone off their feet or offer me at least the benefit of the doubt.
It took me a while to realize that my potential as a person is not determined only by the things written in my CV. Of course, these experiences have shaped us to who we are today, yet that does not determine who we can be in the future.
In this blogpost, I will give you all the necessary insights into why Gen Z are the most promising generation of the future workforce. I will also explain how using gamification is the best way to get rid of the hiring bias in order to actually get them on board.
Reasons why you should give a chance to Gen Z
Now you are left wondering – so why exactly should you give opportunities and hire Gen Z instead individuals that have been specialized in a certain field for x amount of years?
Let me tell you why. Gen Z are the future and coincidentally comprise 37% of the labor force. A generation that is often misjudged and deemed unqualified enough to fill out certain job positions, merely due to the lack of professional experience. Yet, at the same time a generation that is expected to be doing everything and anything necessary to be the “best and the most skilled self” in order to succeed within the professional, as well as personal life.
However, a study by Millennial Branding and Randstad outlines that Gen Z are in fact tech-savvy, career-minded, want to grow together with the company and are highly ambitious. Without a doubt, there are also a handful of stereotypes that go along with being Gen Z. Excessive smartphone use and game playing are only two of the negatively perceived characteristics of this generation. Are they both really that negative? It is precisely through game playing that Gen Z have learned to play differently and have faster reaction times, as well as have become more creative and open-minded then Gen Y, for example.
I assume you have an idea as to why I’m mentioning it – gamification of recruitment. An approach that is fundamentally based on techniques like rewards, points, badges, progression through a multitude of levels and frequent feedback. Does this sound familiar? It should because those are exactly the same principles applied in the game world – the world Generation Z know so well.
Reshaping hiring practices with Equalture through neuroscientific games
I remember reading about the gamification of recruitment and realizing that I had never encountered it when applying for a job or internship. I wondered why in a time that is almost entirely dominated by media and overall digitalization, am I still spending hours perfecting my CV? This CV, as useful as it may seem to be in some aspects, does not show the employer who I am as a person and what my potential is – it just shows the employer my formal qualifications.
Traditional assessments, like CVs and often also motivation letters, that applicants send to companies are rarely changed in terms of textual content (I think everyone can admit that they have done that at one point or another, I would be lying if I’d say I hadn’t). Plus, how can looking at a CV give you insight into someone’s personality traits crucial for the job vacancy, like problem-solving skills and risk assessment? Let’s not forget that actually reading these documents requires an excessive amount of time, and also does not capture the full potential of the applicant which results in decreased hiring accuracy.
This is where gamification comes to the rescue
Time to say bye-bye to old fashioned application forms, and time to say hello to a revolutionary job application experience, for both you and the candidates. When a gamified recruitment approach is used, one thing is clear – it will provide you with a more deep & unbiased insight into whether this particular applicant will fit in line with the company needs and culture. Our neuroscientific games measure cognitive skills and personality traits, indicating both someone’s behaviour in the workplace, as well as someone’s competencies.
The application process is not only more “fun” for the candidates, but also takes a maximum of 15 minutes (instead of the traditional assessment forms that can take up to 90 minutes to complete). That’s not all though – the results of each candidate are visible to you in the Equalture dashboard within seconds after the applicant has completed the assessments.
I hope I have convinced you to include a gamified approach within your hiring funnel, yet there is another thing I’d like to emphasize is necessary to truly ensure your hiring process is unbiased and you make the right decisions. When it comes to interviewing potential candidates, often two things come into play – impression management and personal bias. If you are curious about what can be done to avoid this – check out the blogpost about how interviews can actually help eliminate bias!
So, to sum up, Equalture can help you with:
- Making the hiring process “fun” and efficient for both the candidates and you, thus attracting more Gen Z talent
- Revealing the unconscious and conscious behavioral patterns of potential candidates through neuroscientific assessments
- Removing bias from the hiring process and making every hire be the best one
In conclusion
As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog, Gen Z are the future workforce and it is extremely important for companies to acknowledge it and invest in gamification of recruitment as means of attracting talent from Gen Z. This way giving a chance to people that have a fresh perspective to share in it, and also allowing to eliminate the unconscious bias from the hiring process.
All in all your team work makes the dream work!
Cheers, Anete
