Bring on the metaverse. Will this change the way we work and recruit?

Job searches for remote positions have reached 83% in 2022. And at the same time Zoom has well and truly taken over, with 75% of people struggling to tell who’s speaking during video calls, 66% feeling disengaged, and 63% missing out on crucial visual cues like facial expressions.

So, what does any of this have to do with metaverse?

I’ll admit to having been one of those people who was confused by what Metaverse even is. For anyone whose head is still spinning, Metaverse are immersive, digital worlds that use virtual reality technologies.

What does Metaverse mean in recruitment?

In simple terms, it is a virtual environment where people can interact, work, and play together using avatars. Today, the metaverse is no longer a science-fiction concept. Technologies like virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence have turned the concept of this digital world into a reality. As a result, the metaverse has entered our lives.

1. Attracting More and Better Talent

Talent is the most vital asset of every company. However, attracting the top candidates is no easy job. The unexpected changes the global pandemic brought to the labour market have made it more difficult. Job seekers have become more selective, and their expectations from potential employers have changed.

However, the metaverse can bridge these gaps. Given the wide array of opportunities this technology offers, companies can create a more personalised employer branding experience and provide access to richer sources of information. Virtual recruitment fairs and other events where candidates can learn more about employers will be commonplace. This will make the process more interactive, human, informative, and fun, allowing companies to lift candidate experiences beyond the ordinary. Using the metaverse, companies can create a fully immersive candidate journey in a virtual environment where their people, values, culture, mission, and products really come to life. Through this, they will be able to offer an authentic behind-the-scenes tour of their workplace, show them the projects they’re currently working on, and enable candidates to get a feel of what it’s like to work with them.

2. Improving the Job Application Process

The job application process has been digitized. However, it is still flawed, affecting the candidate experience. Applying for a job can be lengthy, cumbersome, and restrictive, with screen after screen of specific questions. The online process can also be less personal compared to face-to-face, video, or audio communication, preventing candidates from conveying how they can be a good fit for the company’s culture. While this can bring significant cost and time savings to employers and recruiters, they could end up missing out on great candidates. With the adoption of different software and platforms, almost everything is done online, and the metaverse could make the job application process a more immersive, convenient, and rich experience for applicants. Companies could be able to create an application process personalized for each candidate, giving them the freedom to share information and express ideas with less restrictions and more fun. Emails and forms may no longer be required because candidates could be able to declare their interest in the job in a more personal approach.

3. Driving a Comprehensive Onboarding

Onboarding is both important and challenging. When done well, it builds a foundation for long-term success for both the company and employees. However, the traditional onboarding process can be very costly and time-consuming, which may not be practical, especially for big corporations with thousands of new employees to onboard.

The metaverse can transform the onboarding process, allowing for interactive experiences that can deliver a more productive learning environment for each newly hired employee. Through this, companies can provide a realistic experience for new hires through a digital world where they can visualize their organisational structure, have a feel of their culture, walk around the workplace, participate in training, and meet their new co-workers no matter where they are in the world. This way, new hires could get a better understanding of their role and the business, getting ready to hit the ground running.

Interview with John Cottrell, Communications Manager at Hadean.

What is your opinion about metaverse?

The metaverse as a concept is still at its infancy but the ambition is that it will be the next iteration of the internet. A decentralised digital environment that interconnects virtual worlds in a single, massive, interoperable and secure 3D world. It will close the gap between the physical and virtual worlds giving us new means to experience brands, share knowledge, communicate, work and have fun.

Do you see this as the future of recruitment?

The workforce of the future, today’s toddlers, teenagers and young adults, are getting increasingly more familiar with the vast virtual worlds that are available to them currently. Naturally, as technology continues to progress these demographic groups will be spending more time online, inside what will become the metaverse, making the virtual world a great place to find, pursue and acquire new talent. In addition, the applications of the metaverse shall equip recruiters with more tools and a wider pool of candidates to rapidly recruit from.

Will metaverse improve “work from home status”?

Virtual offices and workplaces exist today and are helping remote workers connect with their colleagues and work in lockstep on projects. VR/AR technology also plays an important role in this, adding a layer of realism and enabling even closer collaboration. The metaverse and the range of applications and digital worlds it will deliver to the user will elevate virtual collaboration and provide new and exciting ways to present a deck of slides, review a document, illustrate a mock 3D graphic/animation and communicate with colleagues. But here it’s important to remember that the metaverse isn’t coming to change or step on face-to-face interaction and work, rather improve on the nature of work “togetherness”.

What is my conclusion?

While a few companies have already invested in this technology, the reality is that it is still a work in progress. But one thing’s for sure, the metaverse is here to stay and will undoubtedly change how we live, work, and recruit.

Written by Anca Avram.