Recruitment/Talent Hunt in Second Life – Initial Considerations for Organizations

Author: David D’Angelo

 

About Author:

David has worked in Human Resources for seven years primarily as an analyst.  He is a member of the International Association for Human Resources Information Management.  David’s Blog “Recruiting in Second Life” can be read on the ere.net blog network and was referenced by Governing online in their September 2008, article “The Reality of Virtual Reality” which appeared in “The Managing Technology Letter”.  His article “Try Second Life Beyond the IT Department” appeared in September 19, 2008, online issue of ere.net.

The technology has very much arrived for virtual worlds to impact real world business and they will only improve in time.  Many of the early adopters have reaped the benefits of these technologies and improved their brand globally. 

Many organizations are now recruiting in Second Life.  Universities recruit students, police departments recruit cyber savvy officers, IT organizations look for talent and evidence of it in Second Life, and the list goes on.  You may also have an interest in doing the same.  Where would you start?  This post will discuss some of the discussions and due diligence you will want to perform as you frame your case for recruiting in Second Life.

 

The first step to take to recruit in Second Life is to assess if you have the talent in house or would need to outsource the work.  One caveat to consider even if you have talent in your organization that could conceivably perform the work is that it may be well worth the additional cost to have a professional design firm set up your first virtual presence.  You want to be on a competitive level and project a professional image to recruit professional talent. There are many design firms with competitive prices that will tailor a package for your needs.  Interview several before making a decision. Once you have an established presence in Second Life, your onsite technical staff may be more than adequate for modifications and maintenance.  You may even want to have them shadow the design firm when your site is created so they can perform the routine maintenance. 

 

Your next step should be to define how your goal to recruit in Second Life would benefit your business both directly and indirectly.  You will need a project plan of what you would want to achieve in Second Life along with costs and benefits.  Also, note other stakeholders in your organization who could benefit from your presence.  The obvious benefactor is your marketing and branding team.  They can assist in announcing your presence in Second Life along with leveraging their branding focus.  It is also important to discuss your recruiting strategy with marketing.  They may be able to provide some demographics of your customer base that will give you some indication of how many people you may potentially have an opportunity to recruit. 

 

Be sure to reach out to other areas in your organization that engage in training or travel frequently.  There may be an opportunity to develop virtual training in Second Life and virtual meetings for those that travel or video conference often.

 

It is a good idea to have a discussion with your legal department on your specific plans for recruiting in Second Life.  They will be reassured if you stick to initial recruiting and keep the paperwork, secondary screening, and paperwork outside of Second Life.  You may even be surprised and find an interest in recruiting an intellectual property attorney in Second Life.  There is probably no other target so rich with intellectual property use and abuse as Second Life is.

 

The last step in your consideration is your budget.  In consideration of the difficult economic environment we are in this could be a deal breaker for some.  List the costs of development and having an island in SL along with anticipated benefits.  Some of these such as branding will be intangible.  I would suggest one of the best cases you can make for recruiting in Second Life is to participate in a job fair for minimal costs with avatars that display your logo. There are organizations that might do very well with representation at job fairs periodically.  Those committed to recruiting in Second Life will want to move forward with developing an Island to build on your success in the job fairs.

 

I am certain there are other considerations but I am hoping this will provide you with a starting point on how to frame your analysis if you plan to recruit in Second Life.  One final suggestion is to make your presentation to management in Second Life to give them an ideal how virtual business can work for your organization.