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Recruiting in Second Life sounds good in a press release, but what does it really mean? follow this blog post

posted by on March 11, 2007

IBM Recruiting on Second Life There has been a lot of talk lately about recruiting in Second Life, mostly sparked by this press release from TMP Worldwide. (Yup, we even ran a couple on ERE.net.)

The latest is an article in the March 8 issue of the Classified Intelligence Report that highlights the efforts of IBM, TMP Worldwide and Semper International to use the service to recruit.

For the uninitiated, Second Life is an Internet-based virtual world which allows its Residents to create avatars and interact with one another, exploring, building homes, and interacting socially with the avatars of others. It's been use by pundits as one of the primary examples of the "Next Net" - a possible indicator of how people will use the Internet to interact in the future.

We have a tendency in the recruiting profession to glamorize new technologies - mostly because the vendors in the space use new technologies to differentiate their services and prove that they "get it". Just because a service is popular, doesn't mean that it is a great recruitment tool.

Maybe Second Life will one day perform, but its just not there yet. This is true for several reasons:

Second Life is much smaller than advertised. While Second Life has over 4 million accounts, which sounds impressive, only between 17,000 and 35,000 are online at any given point in a given day. It's a huge difference - like thinking that you have access to a population that is double that of Houston, Texas, only to find one about the size of Rosenberg, Texas instead.

The Residents of Second Life are not there to be recruited. Second Life is an immersive social network, one that mimics real life. The Residents are going about their business, just as you would in real life. They are virtually building houses, buying things, having sex, playing games, and sunbathing. How many of those people are interested in going toTMP's Island to discuss employment opportunities?

How many Residents know that employment opportunities in Second Life exist? Aside from the TMP press release, what have these companies done to promote their presence on Second Life? And if that presence has to be promoted in order to be useful, then wouldn't that time and money be better spent promoting something that has a potential audience of more than 35,000?

In short, it looks great on a press release to say that you are recruiting in Second Life, but what does it really mean? Perhaps IBM, one of the strongest brands in the world, has had some results with their presence because their presence extends beyond recruiting and technology professionals seek them out, but who on Second Life is actually searching for TMP or Semper International?

So I'm in Matt's camp on this one. I'm a betting man, and I'll lay odds that if TMP or Semper International have had any real hires from their efforts, they are utterly insignificant relative to other sources of hire. I'm open to the idea that I'm wrong on this one, and that Second Life really is the second coming, but I'll have to see some real numbers from one of the companies actually using Second Life to recruit first.

Cool press release though.

Acknowledgments: Most of the numbers about Second Life in this post were taken from the Second Life entry on Wikipedia. The picture of IBM Recruiting sign on Second Life is courtesy of betsyweber, who also has a lot of other screen captures of Second Life on her Flickr account.

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9 comments

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  • 1 point 2 years ago

    What SL can do is shadow the future- a brief tour is all you need to see to understand the potential power of the principle. But SL today is like the wire and wood flying machines of the early 1900's- one look and you could see the potential, but the technology was still far away from widespread utility, reliability, etc.

    SL is very complex to learn (at least by consumer product standards) and is an insular, elite culture. It's descendants won't be- when the graphics are photo-real, the avatars self-generating, the actions voice and motion controlled, and the objects fully tied into meatworld, virtual life will be an everyday experience across the economy.

    TMP may be brave, but it remains to be seen when the best moment of entry will be- so firms don't bleed out in this early period of development. Along about the time of the Boeing 247 and DC-3, it starts to make real sense to invest.

  • 1 point 2 years ago

    Holy pixels, folks. Here we are on Electronic Recruiting Exchange scoffing at the experiments a few intrepids have launched at recruiting in a virtual world.

    I applaud them at trying something new. Who knows if it will work, but how many of us can honestly say we saw the coming recruitment revolution that the Internet was to bring.

    In 1995 I was wandering the halls of the San Jose Convention Center and at the end of a long corridor packed with smaller booths, far away from the main floor, was a purple booth adorned with a comic book creature. It was, of course, Monster, which transformed the recruitment industry.

    It happens that I wrote the article in Classified Intelligence Report David references in his blog. I've been on Second Life awhile and, because of what I do for a living in the real world, dip into the Help Wanteds there periodically.

    There are hundreds of jobs being advertised in Second Life classifieds and hundreds more on SLJobFinder.com, the job board of Second Life. Most are for jobs in the make believe world. Some pay several thousand Lindens, the currency of SL. These Lindens can be exchanged for very real American dollars via PayPal. Each day somewhat more than $1 million U.S. dollars changes hands in Second Life, giving the world a third of a billion dollar a year economy.

    Shally's right, of course, about the small community in SL. Fewer than 40,000 residents are online at any one time. It isn't a place Shally or a high volume recruiter can afford to spend much time. Right now. But it worth a look and a little experimentation.

    John Zappe Associate/Contributing Editor Classified Intelligence Report o| 562.252.0686 c| 562.537.4147 e| ClassIntel@Charter.net

  • 1 point 2 years ago

    Maybe it has to do with the lack of video games outside of Tetris I played as a kid - but I signed up for a second life account and just don't get it. I am sure someone out there can figure out how to recruit on it - but I couldn't even start to tell you how to buy someting!

    :)

    So much for a Gen Y advantage...

    Sarah White Owner, White Consulting Group

  • 1 point 2 years ago

    Hi everyone,

    Sorry for length and poor grammar, just bang this out between meetings

    First time seeing this, someone called and told me to check it out.

    Brian Regan from Semper here. Lot of good view points here. I will preface this by saying, if you can earn income from it and you have a serious passion for it, do it. That said, Second Life is certainly an interesting subject. My World of Warcraft guild is very upset that I have found a new love. Guess that tips my hand that I am a pretty serious Online gamer, thus you discover the passion. But were is the profit you likely would rather know. Well that is more complicated and takes a bit more research on whether or not you want to make the situation work for you.

    The Online communities, especially ones like WoW and SL are some what tricky to deal with. I suspect if you are an Online gamer type, you understand the ins and outs better. To those that are not acclimated to the Online communities, I would suggest you seriously consider whetehr or not to enter this space.

    To the recruitment points made I am happy to share some data I have been tracking. In this example I will use Google, Indeed and Second life.

    Date range = 3/4/2007 - 3/12/2007

    I simply tallied up each group and then broke them down be source.

    Applicants % by source

    Google - 57% Indeed - 27% SL - 16%

    Cost by source

    Google - 82.8% Indeed - 9.7% SL - 7.5%

    Cost per applicant by source

    Google - $17.06 Indeed - $4.26 SL - $5.55

    Quality of applicants is still being tracked and not available at this point. However, we are seeing applicants from SL in our traditional niche as well as our newer niche's.

    I have seen some outstanding applicants come in through Second Life and also a fair number of non US residence. We are a small 10 office firm without an International presence so are not able to realize the value of the International applicants at this point. Oddly enough one of the SL candidates is under consideration for an internal position. We have also had a few client presentations at our location in SL.

    On a side note. The thing that truly excites me about Second Life or the prospect of a 3d world comes more on the staffing and development side of things. Serious games is something that just excites the heck out of me. Using these types of tools to identify talent, behavior, team cohesion etc are under appreciated. Certainly the recruitment aspect ties directly to profit and thus spurs all the commentary we see here, but I think it is just scratching the surface. I believe you can use tools like SL and others to understand natural talents and behaviors. I have always wished my parents had recognized my natural music talent early so they could have nurtured it. Wouldn't it be great if you could identify a natural stock picker if you where Fidelity investments when the person was say 12?

    Anyway, there is a lot here, but in regards to recruiting I will be happy to keep you posted if you would like.

    PS

    No idea what TMP is doing, I try and check out their 2 islands every time I login. It doesnt seem to be functioning yet, unless it is a private invite only situation.

  • 1 point 2 years ago

    Dave -

    Exploration is done quietly, as products and services are pieced together. Mistakes are made and learned from, and something substantial comes out of the experimentation.

    Its a month since the press release, and nothing real has surfaced yet from TMP on Second Life - is there a launch date?

    So far I have yet to see anything here that makes this more than a PR effort to jump on the latest hot thing.

  • 1 point 2 years ago

    TMP hasn't launched anything yet - so let's give them a chance to show what they've got before we all start piling on.

    SL has its challenges, to be sure. But it does present some very intriguing possibilities. I can't tell you that companies will make boatloads of hires there - no one will know unless a company like TMP and their customers (or someone else) tests the waters. But I can tell you that it's a virtual world that deserves to be explored.

  • 1 point 2 years ago

    Although not on Second Life, I had a great resume in my inbox this morning from a candidate I met while playing Gears of War online last night. Interactive media is SO HOT right now, recruiters need to be where their candidates are. Never before has that been so simple with the advent of social networking sites, online games, and ease of communication while maintaining anonymity.

    I read this article with optimism despite the skepticism surrounding the Second Life phenomenom. I have been actively recruiting off myspace for years and find that by having a "profile" up, I can instantly connect and build a measure of trust with people.

    Virtual footrpints are easy to follow and allow a great deal of preliminary research into the candidates we seek. Finding them on their common ground builds repoire and to many, is a pleasant surprise.

    It also doesn't hurt to show that you have common interests with the candidates you seek to recruit.

    Although I have yet to establish a Second Life avatar, I know that as a job seeker I would be much more likely to have "virtual coffee" with a recruiter rather than actually shlepping myself to an office, coffeehouse, lunch meeting, with someone I had never met.

    In the market of passive job seekers, potential candidates have become increasingly more wary of recruiters, publicly posting their resumes, or applying online to corporate web sites. For a recruiter, reaching out to the candidates in their leisure time is akin to chatting them up at happy hour, another of my favorite recruiting arenas.

    I'm excited to try out Second Life, and will hopefully have some great stats to share down the line!

  • 1 point 2 years ago

    First of all, thanks for joining my "camp," David. Second of all, I think you hit the nail on the head in terms of the realities of Second Life that should make anyone think twice before going there for a business reason other than PR. Third of all, I think it's worth pointing out that the companies you cite are all doing slightly different things in SL. IBM, as I understand it, is using SL for collaboration and virtual conferencing involving folks strewn across the globe. While even that can be problematic, it does make sense if we think of SL as a 3-D, graphics intensive, customizable chat room. TMP set up their island as a service to other recruiters who want to interview, etc., in SL. Even though it seems like the phone or even video-conferencing still offer better alternatives, that was my understanding from the press release Which brings us to Semper who say they are in SL in order to recruit video game designers, etc. SL does seem to appeal to the DIY gaming crowd and requires technical know-how if you are to make anything significant, so this move makes some sense, though I agree with Shally that there are probably larger and more developed communities of gamers where recruiting efforts and dollars might be better spent.

  • 1 point 2 years ago

    Besides the relatively small size of the population, there's also the fact that people are just as hard to reach out and connect with on SecondLife as they are on "first life." Proactive recruiting there is no easier than it is "out here" in the real world. This is just another advertising vehicle for recruitment marketing and not something proactive recruiters should be investing much time on. If you want a truly large population, try EverQuest or any dozen other MMOGs, or even console gaming communities.