Applicants can get a better sense of the job while the company gets a sampling of how the candidate will perform
Keith Church, the owner of Prudential Grand Valley Reality, a real-estate firm in Kitchener, Ont., is constantly on the lookout for new agents and competition for talent can be intense. Given his ambitious growth goals, recruitment and selection of new staff who would be top performers was one of his toughest challenges.
He started using job simulation as a recruitment tool to help separate the wheat from the chaff. It’s an online, video-based assessment that simulates the job of a real estate agent and gives candidates a realistic preview of what day-to-day life as a sales agent will be. It also evaluates the key skills required to succeed as an agent and compiles that information for to review to help make a better hiring decision.
“Since we’ve implemented this tool, we are getting way more recruiting leads and are seeing a higher quality of applicants,” said Church. “It’s no secret that attracting people into the real estate industry is tough, because they have no real way of knowing if they have what it takes to be successful. The simulation helps them make a more informed decision.”
In the simulation, the recruit plays the role of an agent and gets to interact with virtual clients who are interested in buying or selling property. The recruit is taken through the entire sales cycle from building rapport all the way to closing and must demonstrate the ability to handle objections, negotiate price, understand client needs, deal with personality clashes and handle periodic rejection.
Simulations have been used for years by law enforcement and the military as a way to measure skill and predict future performance. They have spent millions developing the technology in order to cut down on poor hiring decisions. But the way simulations are being used is changing.
Recruitment and selection used to be a one-way process. Applicants were shown a job posting and were expected to provide a lot of information about themselves. Only when they were hired were individuals socialized into the organization. Not knowing enough about the job at the beginning, people often apply for jobs without having a lot of information as to what the jobs will actually entail. Worse yet, other individuals missed applying for jobs they would have been perfectly suited for.
By incorporating online simulations into the recruitment process, companies are providing applicants with a realistic view of the job before they are hired. This usually improves the fit between the applicant and the job and improves the candidate’s perception of the organization.
Technology has evolved to the point where simulations can be run over the Internet on a regular personal computer. The price for development of these types of tools has dropped from millions of dollars to hundreds of thousands and a variety of off-the-shelf simulations are available.
Church’s success with job simulation in the recruiting cycle is not an isolated case. A few months ago, Royal LePage — a national real estate firm with roots in Toronto — placed a banner on the career section of its Web site that read: “Try our real estate simulator to see if a career in real estate is for you.”
Wendy Forsythe, director of recruiting at Royal LePage, said the company’s recruitment leads have dramatically improved — up 300 per cent since it started using the simulator.
Simulation technology is more prevalent in the United States, but Canadian companies seem to jumping on the bandwagon. The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is building a simulation for its call center.
CIBC’s call center simulation will operate over the Internet and will provide applicants with a realistic job preview of what it would be like to work in a call center. Individuals interested in a position at a call center will be able to experience it online in less than an hour and decide for themselves whether or not it’s worth pursuing. At the same time, CIBC’s recruiting team will get a snapshot of the applicant’s key skills and abilities.
Igor Kotlyar and Ravit Abelman are with Upward Motion, a firm that provides simulation technologies for assessment and training. For more information visit www.upwardmotion.com or contact [email protected].
He started using job simulation as a recruitment tool to help separate the wheat from the chaff. It’s an online, video-based assessment that simulates the job of a real estate agent and gives candidates a realistic preview of what day-to-day life as a sales agent will be. It also evaluates the key skills required to succeed as an agent and compiles that information for to review to help make a better hiring decision.
“Since we’ve implemented this tool, we are getting way more recruiting leads and are seeing a higher quality of applicants,” said Church. “It’s no secret that attracting people into the real estate industry is tough, because they have no real way of knowing if they have what it takes to be successful. The simulation helps them make a more informed decision.”
In the simulation, the recruit plays the role of an agent and gets to interact with virtual clients who are interested in buying or selling property. The recruit is taken through the entire sales cycle from building rapport all the way to closing and must demonstrate the ability to handle objections, negotiate price, understand client needs, deal with personality clashes and handle periodic rejection.
Simulations have been used for years by law enforcement and the military as a way to measure skill and predict future performance. They have spent millions developing the technology in order to cut down on poor hiring decisions. But the way simulations are being used is changing.
Recruitment and selection used to be a one-way process. Applicants were shown a job posting and were expected to provide a lot of information about themselves. Only when they were hired were individuals socialized into the organization. Not knowing enough about the job at the beginning, people often apply for jobs without having a lot of information as to what the jobs will actually entail. Worse yet, other individuals missed applying for jobs they would have been perfectly suited for.
By incorporating online simulations into the recruitment process, companies are providing applicants with a realistic view of the job before they are hired. This usually improves the fit between the applicant and the job and improves the candidate’s perception of the organization.
Technology has evolved to the point where simulations can be run over the Internet on a regular personal computer. The price for development of these types of tools has dropped from millions of dollars to hundreds of thousands and a variety of off-the-shelf simulations are available.
Church’s success with job simulation in the recruiting cycle is not an isolated case. A few months ago, Royal LePage — a national real estate firm with roots in Toronto — placed a banner on the career section of its Web site that read: “Try our real estate simulator to see if a career in real estate is for you.”
Wendy Forsythe, director of recruiting at Royal LePage, said the company’s recruitment leads have dramatically improved — up 300 per cent since it started using the simulator.
Simulation technology is more prevalent in the United States, but Canadian companies seem to jumping on the bandwagon. The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is building a simulation for its call center.
CIBC’s call center simulation will operate over the Internet and will provide applicants with a realistic job preview of what it would be like to work in a call center. Individuals interested in a position at a call center will be able to experience it online in less than an hour and decide for themselves whether or not it’s worth pursuing. At the same time, CIBC’s recruiting team will get a snapshot of the applicant’s key skills and abilities.
Igor Kotlyar and Ravit Abelman are with Upward Motion, a firm that provides simulation technologies for assessment and training. For more information visit www.upwardmotion.com or contact [email protected].
