Augmented reality (AR) has emerged as a transformative tool in the constantly evolving talent acquisition (TA) world. Businesses are using AR to enhance a wide range of processes, including recruitment and candidate assessments.
Augmented reality offers an exciting avenue to create more engaging and effective assessment processes. Prospective employers can keep applicants engaged while also learning more about them, thereby facilitating informed hiring decisions.
Augmented reality refers to the technology that overlays digital information — such as images, sounds, and other stimuli — onto the real world. While virtual reality creates a completely immersive digital environment, AR enhances the user’s perception of their surroundings by adding digital elements they can manipulate and explore.
In recruitment, hiring professionals use augmented reality (AR) to enhance candidate assessments by creating simulations of job-related tasks, providing virtual tours of workplaces, and gamifying the recruitment process. AR allows recruitment marketing professionals to offer candidates a more engaging and realistic preview of the job role and company culture.
By strategically weaving advanced technologies like augmented reality into the hiring journey, recruitment professionals position the company as tech-forward, making the organization a more appealing landing spot for digitally savvy applicants. The technologies also allow businesses to evaluate applicants' skills and competencies.
Augmented reality has numerous advantages in candidate assessments, especially considering that 90% of businesses conduct virtual interviews. The majority of companies use virtual interviews and assessments in the initial stages of candidate vetting to minimize the burden on resources.
However, a purely remote screening process may not sufficiently immerse candidates in company culture or keep them engaged. That’s where augmented reality comes into play. Hiring professionals can use AR to create immersive and practical job scenario simulations. These simulations allow candidates to demonstrate their skills in real time while closely mimicking the challenges they would face in the role.
For example, a candidate for a customer service position might be placed in a virtual environment where they have to manage a difficult client interaction. This type of assessment provides a more accurate measure of the person’s abilities and allows hiring professionals to observe their problem-solving and decision-making capabilities.
The engaging nature of AR enables businesses to maintain a remote-first approach to hiring without disengaging applicants. Candidates are likely to appreciate the opportunity to engage in a more interactive and enjoyable assessment process, which can improve their overall experience and perception of the company. Applicants with a positive experience are 38% more likely to accept a job offer, should one be extended.
Another critical benefit of augmented reality is its ability to streamline the assessment process. Hiring professionals can facilitate more efficient evaluations by automating specific tasks and providing immediate feedback via AR tools.
AR applications can collect and analyze data from assessments in real time. These solutions offer valuable and detailed insights that help hiring professionals make more informed decisions. By utilizing data-driven assessments, organizations can reduce bias, improve the accuracy of their hiring decisions, and ultimately enhance the quality of their workforce.
TA professionals can integrate augmented reality into their assessment workflows in numerous ways. One prominent example involves using AR to test specific skills relevant to the job role. Say that an organization needs to hire someone to fill a technical position that involves troubleshooting machinery.
The hiring professionals could administer a troubleshooting assessment in an AR environment. The assessment results allow talent acquisition personnel to observe how candidates approach and solve problems, providing a more accurate representation of their capabilities than traditional testing methods.
Anyone can list skills on their resume or cover letter. If they’ve worked in the right roles to support their claims, employers will likely conclude that the individual can perform up to expectations. However, there can be a huge disparity between someone’s actual abilities and what’s listed on their resume.
TA professionals can make hiring decisions with confidence by using augmented reality. They will have quantifiable evidence that someone possesses the abilities listed on their resume.
Augmented reality also plays a crucial role in gamifying assessments, making them more engaging and reflective of real-world challenges. Gamification in recruitment involves incorporating game-like elements, such as points, levels, and rewards, into the assessment process.
If a business needs to vet a sales candidate, they can place them in a scenario where they have to pitch a product, earning points based on their performance. This approach makes the assessment process enjoyable while providing a more dynamic evaluation of their skills.
In addition to skills assessments, augmented reality can offer candidates virtual workplace tours. Hiring professionals can give applicants a glimpse into the company culture and environment. Organizations can use this tactic to attract remote or international talent who may have yet to see the facility in person.
While there are clear benefits associated with using augmented reality in recruitment, businesses will also encounter several challenges. They must address these hurdles to implement the technology effectively.
One of the primary barriers involves the high cost and technical expertise required to develop and maintain AR applications. Businesses must devote significant resources creating sophisticated and realistic augmented reality experiences. It is important to spend adequate time and capital must be spent on AR to make the experiences more appealing and impressive.
The high costs of augmented reality may make the technology out of reach for smaller organizations. Businesses that find AR to be cost-prohibitive should explore third-party solutions and outsourcing opportunities, which could provide them with access to augmented reality tools without the high upfront investment.
Many workers may be concerned about privacy, as using augmented reality often requires the user to grant the application access to their device’s camera and microphone. Candidates may also worry about how the business will collect their data and what they will do with it afterward.
Long-term augmented reality has the potential to reduce bias in hiring. In the interim, there remains a risk for the technology to exhibit biases. AR relies heavily on artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. If these underlying technologies were trained on biased or incomplete datasets, augmented reality scenarios may not adequately account for diverse user experiences and backgrounds.
Hiring professionals must combine AI-derived insights with human analysis to ensure they choose candidates based on job fit, merit, and skill level.
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As the combination of artificial intelligence and augmented reality becomes even more potent, hiring professionals will gain access to personalized and effective assessment tools. They can analyze a candidate’s performance in real time during an AR assessment, receive tailored feedback, and make the assessment process more transparent and fair.
Augmented reality also has the potential to break geographical barriers and promote diversity in hiring. With AR, organizations can support diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives while tapping into a more dynamic talent pool.
The sky is the limit for augmented reality technologies in candidate assessments and talent acquisition. Hiring professionals will only be limited by their creativity and willingness to embrace change.
Forward-thinking TA pros will find new and exciting ways to weave AR into their day-to-day processes. They can use augmented reality to promote employee training and development post-hire. They will also be able to provide immersive learning experiences that help employees build new skills and adapt to changing job requirements.
Augmented reality has already begun to revolutionize candidate assessments. Hiring professionals now have a new way to engage and evaluate prospective employees. Despite the challenges, the technology can substantially benefit job seekers and those tasked with vetting their organizational fit. Organizations that lean into AR-centric assessments will gain a definitive edge over those that don’t.
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The Recruitics team uses cutting-edge technologies and proven best practices to widen the talent funnel, improve candidate capture, and accelerate the journey from applicant to valued employee.
Organizations interested in integrating augmented reality into their talent acquisition pipeline can schedule a chat with Recruitics.
