Recruitainment: The latest gamified trend to source talent receives high marks

A selection process to fill a vacancy in a company usually lasts on average 23.8 days, according to a Glassdoor study, and can last up to more than a month in some industries. 

Companies face a real challenge in finding best-fit candidates, especially for less qualified positions which have a higher turnover rate. Each company seeks and proposes its own techniques to respond to this problem, but a great trend associated with the high penetration of new technologies is settling in Spain: recruitainment.

According to the Gamification at Work 2019 report by Talent LMS, “recruitainment” - a portmanteau of "recruitment" and "entertainment" - consists of gamifying personnel selection processes with a double objective: that they be more interesting for potential employees and more efficient for companies. 

The key, according to experts, is that companies can find the best talent faster and that employees find jobs that fit their personal skills, where they can perform better. According to this same study, 78% of employees admit that if a company used gamification in their selection process, they would perceive it as more modern and increase their desire to work with it. However, only 45% admitted seeing gamification elements in the last selection processes in which they had participated.

Recruitainment in Spain

In Spain, this phenomenon already has its own brand: this is Currofinder, the Spanish startup that transforms the selection of personnel through its mobile job search platform. Through a series of games, Currofinder analyzes the soft skills of users and connects them with job offers that fit their strengths, based on a competency model. The app uses powerful artificial intelligence (AI) and a Machine Learning engine to measure skills, optimizing compatibility between users and available offers. This dispenses with traditional curricula, streamlines the selection process, and proposes areas for improvement for candidates and companies alike.

“A selection process is extremely long and complex. Not only because it is difficult to measure the strengths of a candidate with a simple interview, but also because the process until arriving at that interview is planted with inconveniences, from finding the candidates until they appear at a first meeting. Our tool simplifies this process, making it more efficient for companies and more fun for potential employees. In the end, finding a job where you fit and feel fulfilled is a triumph and, when the employees are happy, the company too. That's why in Currofinder we believe that it is not only a matter of hiring, it is also how to hire.”

Nacho Hortal, CEO, Currofinder

Hortal adds that Currofinder is also an objective measurement tool. 

“The objective of the interviews is to evaluate whether a candidate will fit in the position and in the company, which is an eyeball-measurement of soft skills. Our tool does that same analysis, but in a reliable, fast and convenient way.”

In a labor market such as Spain's where 52% of the contracts are signed by young people under 34, gamification of the selection process is an effective way to reach an audience familiar with gaming and accustomed to using their smartphones very regularly. According to TechSci data, the global gamification market was valued at $6.8 billion in 2018 and is expected to reach 40 billion by 2024.