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
