在线游戏成招聘人员新宠

    Upstream Challenge于2011年年底上线以来，已经有大约700位求职者完成了这个时长60分钟的在线测试项目。Upstream Systems公司只联系得分超过特定水平的求职者，克里夫说，这样做是为了避免挑战参与者错误地以为只要参与就可获得一份工作。他补充说，公司已经通过电话联系了一些成绩优异者，最近几周招募了4个人，还有2个人正在接受聘任考核。

    塔吉特百货（Target）和谷歌（Google）等公司还使用游戏来实现其他目标，包括减少差旅费、提振员工工作效率和士气等。其他公司正在使用游戏扩大品牌知名度（倘若同时还能够招募到优秀的员工，那就再好不过了）。

    万豪国际（Marriott International）就是这样做的。这家国际酒店管理集团推出了一款网络游戏，名为《我的万豪酒店》（My Marriott Hotel）。参与者需要模拟完成一些与酒店相关的工作，比如管理一间餐厅厨房，包括购买原料、审查已制作完成的食品订单等等。这款游戏提升了万豪酒店在全球的知名度，但其初衷并不是为了筛选员工。

    一些网上招聘活动面向20岁出头的求职者，它们还增添了玩游戏的技术。位于旧金山的求职网站Identified.com 最近增加了类似于游戏的奖励措施，鼓励求职者提供更完整的个人信息。

    “为了确定合适的人选，公司的招聘官们各显神通，采用了包括笔迹分析在内的多种方式，”新职介绍机构Challenger, Gray & Christmas公司首席执行官约翰•查林哲说。“有时候，这也是彰显企业文化的一种方式。”

    游戏化公司（Gamification Co.）致力于把游戏思维和工具融入市场营销，并为商界提供相关的咨询服务。公司首席执行官加布• 兹彻曼表示，使用游戏机制依然是一种新兴的技术。“这并不意味着制作一款真正意义上的游戏，更多的时候只是汲取一些游戏元素，重新设定其意图。”

    当然，游戏化的吸引力并不只限于招募和筛选人才这一个用途，作为一种吸引和激励人的手段，它可以广泛应用于教育和医疗服务等领域。高德纳咨询公司（Gartner, Inc.）2011年12月份发布的一项研究报告预计，对游戏化方式的运用“将在未来几年中显著增加”。这份报告的作者布赖恩•伯克表示，大约70%的世界2,000强公司将把游戏技术作为一种行为激励工具，用以招募和培训员工，加强其工作表现，运用游戏技术还有助于其他目标的实现，包括鼓励新创意、改善员工健康状况、打造客户忠诚度等。

    Upstream Challenge于2011年年底上线以来，应试者已经涵盖了全职主妇、律师、作家、营销人员和出租车司机等各个行业。其中一位是来自加利福尼亚州奥克兰市的技术作家凯瑟琳•马丁内斯，她最终被该公司聘用。

    她说：“我在Twitter上发现了这个链接。我喜欢玩游戏，解谜题，特别喜欢《愤怒的小鸟》（Angry Birds）这款游戏。我当时觉得尝试一下这个测试肯定挺好玩的。”现年30岁的马丁内斯当时刚刚下岗，因此饶有兴趣地接受了这项挑战。

但是，她说，它“比我想象的要难很多，因为有严格的时间限制，需要参与者跳出固有的思维模式。”

    在完成挑战大约一周后，她接到了Upstream Systems公司打来的电话，接受电话筛选，随后又赶赴旧金山参加面试。今年年初，她搬到了伦敦，开始在Upstream Systems公司总部工作，目前正在接受培训。

    “我觉得单凭我的简历不可能引起他们的兴趣，”马丁内斯坦言。“但这款游戏发挥了我的强项，因为它是这份工作日常需要完成事项的一个缩影。”

    译者 任文科

     At Upstream, some 700 people completed the 60-minute online test since it went online in late 2011. Upstream only notified those who scored beyond a certain level of points in order to discourage challenge-takers from assuming that participation would result in a job, Krief says. Those who scored well were contacted by phone, and four have been hired in recent weeks. Another two are in the pipeline, he adds.

    Businesses such as Target and Google also have used games to achieve goals like reducing company travel expenses or improving employee efficiency and morale. Other companies are using games to amplify brand awareness, with recruiting as a side benefit.

    One of those is Marriott International, which has an online game, "My Marriott Hotel," where users can simulate hotel-related tasks like running a restaurant kitchen, including buying ingredients and checking completed food orders. The game boosts Marriott's brand globally, but it is not aimed at screening or selecting employees.

    Some online recruiters targeting 20-something job seekers are also adding game-play techniques. The San Francisco-based job search site Identified.com recently added game-like rewards to encourage job applicants to provide more complete online information.

    "Companies use a lot of ways, including handwriting analysis, to identify the right people," says John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the outplacement company. "Sometimes it's a way of saying something about their culture."

    Using game mechanics is still an emerging technique, says Gabe Zichermann, chief executive of Gamification Co., which advises companies on incorporating game play thinking and tools with marketing. "It is not about making a literal game. More often it's about taking elements of games and repurposing them."

    To be sure, gamification's appeal is broader than recruitment and screening, and it can apply in areas like education and health services as a way to engage and motivate people. The use of gamification is predicted to "increase significantly in the next few years," according to a December 2011 study by consulting company Gartner, Inc. Some 70% of the world's top 2,000 companies will use game techniques as a behavioral motivator to recruit, train, and enhance employee performance, as well as to encourage new ideas, improve employee health, or build customer loyalty, among other goals, according to Brian Burke, the report's author.

    Since Upstream's challenge went online in late 2011, test takers have included at-home mothers, lawyers, writers, marketers, and a taxi driver. One of them was Katherine Martinez, a technical writer from Oakland, Calif., who was hired by the firm.

    "I found the link on Twitter. I love games and puzzles. I'm an 'Angry Birds' fan. And I thought it would be fun to try it out," she says. Martinez, 30, had recently been laid off from her job, and took the challenge on a lark.

    But, she says, it "was a lot more difficult than I thought because there are strict time limits to finish, and it requires thinking outside the box."

    About a week after she completed the challenge, she was screened by phone, then traveled to San Francisco for an interview. She moved to London earlier this year to work in Upstream's office there and is in training.

    "I don't think my resume alone would have attracted their interest," Martinez admits. But the game played to my strengths because it is a microcosm of what you execute on this job every day