Recruitment and a doorway to the metaverse

This month’s launch of the 5G services by Prime Minister Narendra Modi opens the doors for more innovations in the field of technology, one of them being the metaverse. India is perfectly primed to create the conditions for firms to succeed in the metaverse, according to a March 2022 article in Quartz India. And, in a PwC report on attitudes to the metaverse, US business leaders expect metaverse plans to be part of their business activities within three years, whilst 66% said their companies were already actively engaged with it. 

As 5G comes on line, the metaverse will provide a huge opportunity for many segments of business and recruitment is a good example of a sector that’s well placed to take advantage of the metaverse trend. I also believe that it can also play a pivotal role in helping to integrate the metaverse into the world of work. 

New technologies in recruitment are already driving improvements in terms of speed, accuracy, efficiency, visibility, and accountability across the recruitment life-cycle. These digital building blocks will be foundational in helping to transition recruitment into the metaverse space. 

As an example, while some traditional executive search firms still grapple with legacy issues rooted in old methodologies, digitally savvy forerunners are already using AI and machine learning technology allied with databases of hundreds of thousands of searches to reduce the time it takes to draw up a candidate long-list from days or weeks to just minutes. 

Metaverse precursors such as augmented online interviews using tools that provide information onscreen in real time are also making video interviews more effective than in-person interviews. This facilitates more focused, insightful questions and can result in a more objective analysis of a candidate's qualities and fit. 

Instead of solely relying on instinct and subjective personal experience, executive search consultants and hiring managers are now using detailed data to inform objective decision-making. Executives from a hiring firm can even 'sit' together in a digital room and use ratings across skills and competencies to perform what-if analysis and rate and rank candidates in real time. Technology is also being used to provide clients with access to ongoing searches, and give them access to candidate profiles so that they can assess the organisational fit or get detailed feedback on the status of an assignment at any time. 

In a metaverse world, it will be commonplace for interviewers and candidates who are physically located in different places around the world to meet in a virtual interview room. In this virtual space, interviewers will watch while the candidate is invited to scope out their vision for the business on a whiteboard or can follow a candidate around a virtual lab.

It's not difficult to see how a seamless blend of human insight and digital technology, combined with avatars and virtual and augmented workspaces has the potential to revolutionise the recruitment process at all levels. 

The article has been written by Sanjay R Shastry, senior partner - Kingsley Gate Partners