Recruiting in Second Life

Academic Paper on Recruiting in SL

2011-07-02T23:08:00.002-04:00

A Google alert recently notified me of this academic paper defined as a project that analyzes the potential of job recruiting in Second Life by Cosmin Tudor with guidance from Professor Eleanor Loiacono. Kudos to Mr. Tudor for an excellent thesis on recruiting in SL.

Social Media & Government Recruiting

2011-04-28T07:26:00.005-04:00

The April 27, 2011 "Management Insight" article in Governing by Jerry Mechling discussing "Social Networking and Recruitment." In the article there is a reference to SL which notes "Missouri has produced interesting results recruiting through Second Life (20 million members." The article puts forth the current challenges to government discussing fiscal constraints, a possible lack of innovation as the nature of the work evolves, and the need to harness talent with the talent to make government succeed suggesting the answer may be in social media. There is a great deal more well worth reading that I will leave the reader to find. Note Mr. Mechling is an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and research vice president at Gartner, Inc.

Campus Tour Used for Recruiting

2011-03-20T22:07:00.003-04:00

HyperGrid Business posted an article on March 17, 2011 that is worth reading. It is an interview with Andrew Hughes, President of Designing Digitally, Inc. and an instructor at the University of Cincinnati. When asked about the most interesting 3D project he has worked on recently Andrew discusses "a large-scale one year development to create a browser-based virtual campus tour that is being used for admissions recruiting for the United States Air Force Academy."

Andrew notes as a result of the work on this project project his firm has "launched a web-based product called “3D Virtual Campus Tours” for college recruitment. This product allows admissions reps to schedule guided tours where they can show students around a high quality 3D replication of the campus that far surpasses anything you can get from a traditional “virtual campus tour,” Google Earth, Second Life, Opensim, as well as many other virtual world platforms out today."

Training at Canada Border Services

2011-01-22T14:58:00.002-05:00

The Public Sector Social Media 2011 Conference will focus on "Increasing Participation and Collaboration with Web 2.0." The conference will occure Tuesday March 29 - Wednesday March 30 2011 at the Hampton Inn Ottawa and Conference Centre, Ottawa, Ontario from what I gather from their website.

SL followers will be interested in a Case Study—Second Life Training at Canada Border Services featuring Richard Levick, Chief Executive Officer and President, of Levick Communications. "Using the example of training at Canada Border Services, Ken Hudson will discuss principles of virtual world design, and the success factors of this training pilot project."

U.S. Energy Department

2010-12-11T22:08:00.000-05:00

The U.S. Energy Department received two recent mentions for their recruiting in SL. A nextgov article on "Embracing E-Recruiting" briefly discussed the Energy Department stating; "The agency also has launched a virtual recruitment initiative that involves 3-D virtual world platforms, like Second Life, to better engage the public on information about the agency, its mission and job opportunities, the Partnership noted."

A recent post from Government Executive also citied the Department of Energy in SL noting; "Energy also has found creative ways to use technology to attract job candidates, according to the Partnership. For example, potential applicants can meet recruiters and managers in the virtual world of Second Life. The platform also allows job seekers to simulate mission functions, such as using a particle accelerator."

Linden Lab founder leaves CEO post

2010-11-01T07:47:00.000-04:00

Many have heard by now but if you did not VentureBeat reported on October 20 that Linden Lab founder Philip Rosedale, who had been serving as interim CEO since June, announced he was stepping down from the job immediately. The company said today that Linden’s current CFO and COO Bob Komin will act as CEO post until a replacement is retained. You can read Rosedale's own blog post own the change in leadership.

Ontario Public Service

2010-10-20T06:55:00.001-04:00

ITBusiness.CA published a post on the Ontario Public Service in SL on 10/19/2010, titled "Ontario's virtual world recruiting effort." The information doesn't provide any new information on what Ontario is accomplishing in the virtual world but accurately notes "Second Life is still alive and well amongst a certain niche." The video narrated by Glen Padassery is well worth watching. Ontario's effort is probably one of the best representations of what can be accomplished recruiting in SL. The Metaverse Journal has also weighed in on Ontario's efforts in SL.

1% Recruiting in SL?

2010-10-16T08:12:00.002-04:00

Human Resource Executive Online published a post on social media titled "Recruiters Lagging Behind". The article references an Emerging Workforce Study from the sfn group which appears to have been released on their site on October 4, 2010. The post by Human Resource Executive Online notes the study included "306 HR managers surveyed as well as 2,519 employees surveyed (95 percent full-time and 16 percent part-time — respondents could choose more than one category." It also states the social media recruiting breakdown from the study noting: "LinkedIn (23 percent); corporate blog (16 percent); company (14 percent); viral video (7 percent); corporate (6 percent); Second Life (1 percent); and other (16 percent) — but never tells the reader what these percentages indicate." The study sampling group was small but it is interesting to see any statistic on recruiting in SL.

Shaker Recruitment Advertising & Communications Uses INXPO

2010-10-02T07:30:00.003-04:00

Hypergrid Business recently reported Shaker Recruitment Advertising & Communications has partnered with INXPO "to provide companies with innovative opportunities to attract talent by hosting their own Virtual Career Fairs." It would be interesting to know what other virtual platforms were considered before arriving at the decision to leverage INXPO.

The article states; “We’re very proud to have partnered with InXpo,” says Tina Krater, Sales Director. “Shaker continually searches for innovative ways to leverage technology for recruitment and retention. By capitalizing on the strength of the InXpo product, we are able to provide an easy, convenient and cost-efficient means of interaction between recruiters and jobseekers.”

Recruiting in Other Virtual Worlds?

2010-10-01T09:44:00.001-04:00

If you have been following this blog it is more than apparent SL is experiencing challenges. Sourcing activity is not occurring as frequently as it did just 3 to 4 years ago.

The question to ask is whether recruiting is alive in other virtual worlds. If you want to work in activeworlds there is an ad but no jobs at this time. Are other firms recruiting in activeworlds? The virtual worlds imvu and vside appear to be social outlets targeting a younger audience rather than a corporate collaboration or sourcing platform. Twinity is a 3D mirror world based on real people and real cities. By its very nature there should be recruiting for talent as there is in the city it replicates but it does not appear this is so yet. Thus the search for talent acquisition activities in other virtual worlds as we start the 4th quarter of 2010 continues.

Microsoft Interested in Linden Labs?

2010-09-30T22:32:00.002-04:00

There is an interesting post at 1up.com reporting a rumor that Microsoft may have an interest in acquiring Linden Labs. Quoting from the article it states; "TechEye reports that a source close to Linden Labs tweeted the rumor. "A little birdie told me that Microsoft may have silently offered to buy Linden Lab this week," it read. Reportedly the leak came from inside the company, claiming Linden has been "entertaining offers and Microsoft has stepped up with a bid."

This would indeed be a very interesting development if this proves to be true.

CyberWatch to Train Faculty in Second Life

2010-08-17T07:00:00.001-04:00

The CyberWatch organization has announced the launch of their presence in Second Life. "The virtual island space will be used as an extension of services offered to its members (higher education institutions) and partners (businesses, government agencies, associations). Featured on the island are classrooms, meeting spaces, private and public auditoriums, and information about the organization."

SL Growth & Challenges for Entrepreneurs

2010-07-23T11:04:00.001-04:00

Matt Robinson from Bloomberg Business Week on MSNBC.com sums up many of the challenges facing SL well in his article Second Life: Reality Intrudes on Virtual Reality. He discusses how the real estate crash affected entrepreneurs in SL. The article looks back at four entrepreneurs featured in a 2006 BusinessWeek cover story. Each discusses how life has changed for their virtual business since 2006 and the changes they have adopted to respond to the economic crisis both within and outside of SL. Robinson also notes the challenge of growth, which has slowed in SL. The June 24, departure of Linden Lab Chief Executive Officer Mark Kingdon is mentioned. His replacement, Founder Philip Rosedale, is aware of the need to simplify SL to generate new growth. When the economy eventually recovers it will be interesting to see if the virtual economy of SL also recovers and experiences growth.

The Canadian Public Service Commission

2010-07-21T22:44:00.004-04:00

The Canadian government seems to fully grasp the full potential of reaching job candidates in SL. The Canadian Public Service Commission has been featured in articles this month for their presence in SL.

The Canadian Press reports "The Public Service Commission is going virtual to recruit new people to join Canada's rapidly aging ranks of civil servants. In September, they'll open an island on Second Life, an online universe that sees about 830,000 people wander hundreds of virtual communities each month. The PSC's island will have information booths, presentations on jobs and a chance to interact live with current federal bureaucrats and ask questions." Marvin Bedward, director of project planning and innovation with the Public Service Commission of Canada notes the goal of the 12-week pilot study isn't to hire anyone but to test SL as a channel to reach different supply chains of potential candidates. The Canadian Press article references a past career fair by the Ontario government in 2008 that had over 8,000 people visit their island in the first year, with 80% of the visitors under age 35.

US Department of Energy Recruiting a CIO

2010-06-05T09:55:00.003-04:00

ComputerWeekly.com released news that the DOE is recruiting a CIO through SL. On June 2, 2010, there was a "enterprise IT informational session" covering the latest DOE IT initiatives and a round-table discussion with Kevin Cooke, DOE"s Deputy CIO; Pete Tseronis, IT Modernization Lead; and Larry Towne, HR Director.

Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds Conference

2010-05-15T23:00:00.000-04:00

Federal News Radio has an article and MP3 that you can listen to and read on the Federal Consortium for Virtual Worlds Conference.

Douglas Maxwell, the Science and Technology Manager for Virtual World Strategic Applications with the U.S. Army Simulation and Training Center in Orlando, Florida states: "We use Second Life as an enabler and a collaboration technology, both on the public side and on the private networks. We can pump synthetic data into it for unclassified purposes, for prototyping, and we can put real data in whenever we do experimentation. When we meet in the MilLands initiative, for example, we cut across the services, and we collaborate on various experimentation initiatives. We're not meeting in Second Life for the novelty of being able to meet, we meet to discuss real business."

The organizer of the Virtual Worlds conference, Dr. Paulette Robinson who also works with the iCollege at the National Defense University notes that along with the military applications of virtual worlds, civilian federal agencies will soon have the ability to try out virtual work environments. Specifically she discusses:"We have the V-Gov project, which will be discussed Friday at the conference, which will set up a secure virtual world for the whole federal government. Not just one environment, but four. It's going to be a more robust environment, we have four partners, and we're going to see how much it's going to change the possibilities in the federal government. No longer do you have to worry about it being secure because it will be behind a firewall in a government agency. The Department of Agriculture is hosting that effort." Robinson predicts in the future virtual worlds will allow citizens to interact in a meaningful way with government agencies.

National Security Agency Virtual Fairs

2010-05-03T10:29:00.000-04:00

Government Executive writer Katherine McIntire Peters wrote a detailed article on the National Security Agency. The article discusses how recruiters from the National Security Agency have utilized virtual career fairs. Lori Weltmann, manager of the Recruitment Services Division at NSA, comments on how the virtual fairs energized her employees and after attendings several fairs they made the decision to move forward with their own. In February 2009, NSA hosted its first virtual job fair. The success of this fair led to a virtual intelligence career fair that included participation by 8 other intelligence agencies.

The statistics from the career fair are positive. The article notes "More than 8,000 people registered for the first virtual fair, and 5,000 actually attended -- a return rate of about 64 percent, higher than the industry average of 50 percent for such events," Weltmann stated. The number of resumes from the event was impressive. NSA received 2,200 resumes within 12 hours after the first fair and a more targeted virtual fair 10 days later generated another 300 resumes. The NSA spent a couple of weeks reviewing the resumes and chose about 200 candidates for a "career invitational" in April 2009. Of those, about 150 showed for interviews with hiring managers offering conditional job offers on the spot.

The NSA virtual model can be deemed effective as the article states, "When more than one hiring manager offered candidates jobs, that's when we knew we reached the skills they were looking for," Weltmann noted.

Training and Collaborating in Virtual Worlds

2010-04-30T07:20:00.001-04:00

Virtual Reality World posted a 5 minute YouTube video that discusses the book "Training and Collaboration with Virtual Worlds" by Alex Heiphetz, and Gary Woodill. The book details corporate use of virtual worlds at length. The book has contributors from IBM, Cisco, Intel, the Michelin group, Microsoft, EMC, World Bank, and KUMC. The video notes simply moving to a virtual world is not a guarantee for success in training, recruiting, or collaborating. The best reason to leverage a virtual world is to demonstrate simulations. Many people have criticized SL for having a deep learning curve yet the video notes Michelin found the learning curve in using SL was not as steep as initially thought dispelling this myth. The book is full a great information and I personally view it as a book you want to have on your bookshelf if you are planning to work in virtual worlds or are already immersed in the environment.

Twin Cities Business Article

2010-04-20T06:18:00.000-04:00

Kel Gratke of Twin Cities Business penned a brief article on Millenial generation recruiting. He describes how SL has been leveraged for collaborating and recruiting noting the IRS island. The article provides a link to the recent PBS Frontline Digital Nation episode that highlighted SL.

TÜV NORD Group

2010-04-17T20:53:00.001-04:00

I still get asked on a regular basis if legitimate organizations are really leveraging SL for business. In the event you are ever asked this question refer them to SL Success Stories as a starting point.

Once success case I find interesting is that of the TÜV NORD Group in Second Life.

Since 1869, the German organization whose expertise is in inspecting boilers, TÜV NORD Group’s mission has been to “make the world safer.” A global player, TÜV NORD Group has over 8,500 employees in more than 70 countries and a broad international client base which makes it the perfect organization for conducting business virtually. "The company’s 3D presence can be found in Second Life by the region name of “TUV Nord”. Since 2007, the region has been used for recruiting, meetings, game based education and other new ways to share knowledge. An ambitious long-distance training project produced a complete return on investment within a year. Now the company is ready to share the benefits of its extensive virtual development with clients."

IBM Onboarding

2010-03-16T06:48:00.001-04:00

Once a new employee has been recruited in an organization the challenge of onboarding the employee successfully is typically the next task. This can significantly impact the new employees view of the organization. IBM leverages SL to onboard their global workforce.

The new employees from various countries meet in a common HR site to learn about IBM's core values and how employees collaborate together on solutions. They teleport to a new area to learn about their benefits with an advisor. Finally they move to a social lounge where they can make team connections for future projects and discuss their interests. Before departing they receive their IBM shirts and their onboarding materials to review at a later time. It is an effective way of leveraging SL to build a global team.

Interview CEO of SL, Mark Kingdon

2010-02-28T08:45:00.002-05:00

Caleb Booker's blog posted an interview with Mark Kingdon, CEO of Linden Labs / Second Life. In the interview Mark discusses catching the attention of the business community and answers questions on the enterprise solution that operates behind corporate firewalls. Mark also notes 1,400 organizations are in SL collaborating virtually.

Amazon Web Services Will Return in 2010

2010-02-21T08:39:00.001-05:00

Jeff Barr, Senior Web Services Evangelist at Amazon Web Services was able to provide some feedback on their job fair in 2009. Overall they were pleased with their results and expect to return in 2010 with a few changes to their model. It will be interesting to see what changes and if attendance is higher given the global economy. I certainly plan to attend this job fair and thank Jeff Barr at Amazon Web Services for sharing this information with us.

Virtual Branding & Future Government Social Media Conference

2010-02-20T21:56:00.002-05:00

Ever wonder how organizations brand in a virtual world? You can discover a piece of the answer at JD's e-business blog. The author visited Coca Cola, Nokia, and Norwegian bank, DNB Nor. There was a board the author saw at DNB that stated: “DNB Nor will among other things use the virtual world to organize seminars for specific target groups, for recruiting and internal training purposes and e-learning”. It would be interesting to find out more about their recruiting efforts. I encourage you to read the whole blog if you have an interest in virtual worlds.

I recently discovered an agenda for the Advanced Learning Institute Social Media Recruiting in Government and Defense conference. The conference is set for April 12 - 15 in Washington D.C. The agenda for Day 2 includes information on the IRS presence in SL. It suggests the recruiting job fairs were too expensive to maintain and will provide some interesting lessons learned:

In June of 2008, the IRS project team began construction of an IRS Careers Center in the Second Life virtual world, operated by Linden Labs. Soon, the IRS found out that holding job fairs in Second Life was going to be way too expensive and presented multiple technological challenges. But, they also discovered how to use Second Life as a low-cost communications channel that reaches into this exciting community of over 15 million people worldwide.

This session will discuss the IRS' successes and lessons learned with the IRS Careers Island, and give insight into their: Communications model and how your organization can shape it's communications and recruitment strategy Resources and technology model, and how your agency can make the most out of low-cost communications channels 2010 goals and advice on how your agency can start using social networking to recruit top talent

Virtual Job Fairs: Monster & Envision

2010-01-26T20:42:00.001-05:00

Monster hosted a virtual job fair in October 2009. In the event that you missed it you can still view their YouTube video. I am not certain that it occurred in SL and would welcome a confirmation on this. This job fair generated more than 19,000 registrations, and had more than 138,000 unique visitors.

Envision a full service St. Louis IT consulting firm, provides a glimpse of how they leverage SL for talent acquisition on their home page and on this video.

Nokia

2010-01-21T06:56:00.001-05:00

Nokia has a comment on their Facebook page that references a virtual recruitment fair that occurred in Second Life last month. They have a video on YouTube that highlights this event.

U.S. Department of Energy Sim

2010-01-03T07:17:00.004-05:00

Liz Dorland, PARC Communications Director for Washington University authored an article titled "PARCians in Second Life" published on January 2, 2010 for HASTAC. PARC is an acronym for the the Photosynthetic Antenna Research Center, a DOE funded Energy Frontiers Research Center . Liz mentions in her article that the U.S. Department of Energy is about to open a Sim in Second Life, mainly for recruiting purposes.
Liz writes " I learned recently that US Department of Energy is about to open a Sim in Second Life, mainly for recruiting purposes. My source is long-term Second Life resident and GovLoop participant Eric Hackathorn (SL Hackshaven Hartford). Eric is the builder of this new DOE sim and is the creator of the fabulous NOAA area in Second Life." Liz also notes "Eric tells me that the new DOE sim now has the needed security clearance to open from the highest levels of the Department of Energy." This blog will follow recruiting from the Sim as information follows.

Consulting at IBM

2009-12-12T10:12:00.001-05:00

IBM is certainly one organization that has had the vision to incorporate SL into its business model. This video targets the next generation of IBM consultants by giving a position preview in SL. It effectively discusses a consultant's role in regard to telework, the ability to work with big clients, new technologies, as well as the benefits of working with a variety of industries, technologies, and teams.

Virtual Job Candy Job Board

2009-12-10T06:57:00.001-05:00

The "Association of Virtual Worlds" has a group for Recruiting in Virtual Worlds which can be found at Virtual Job Candy. Virtual Job Candy is a board that seeks to address those interested in using their skills to design virtual worlds as well as employers looking for candidates with those skills. The board notes: "As Virtual Worlds continue to grow, finding talented candidates with the right skills becomes a significant challenge." Thus, both employers and job seekers interested in working with virtual worlds can register to find talent and opportunities. Some of the services include:

Access to Virtual Interviews
Virtual Job Fairs
Virtual Interview Training and Education
Database of highly qualified candidates

Software QA Virtual Career Fair : November 18th

2009-11-14T08:05:00.009-05:00

The Discover The Virtual World blog has announced a Linden Lab Virtual Career Fair for Software QA Engineers. The virtual career fair will take place on November 18, 2009 between 10:00am to 12:00pm PDT. Candidates are asked to RSVP at Linden Lab . There is more information on this Career Fair on a Seattle Craigslist page:
DETAILS:
What: QA Virtual Career Fair
When: Wednesday, November 18th, 2009
Time:10:00am to 12:00pm PDT
Where: Linden Lab Recruiting Center
RSVP: http://lindenlab.hrmdirect.com/employment/view.php?req=44680

Or email resume to: 44680-CJB-0@lindenlab.hrmdirect.com

Thanks to metalog.in for passing this messaging on.

Emerging Workforce & Social Media

2009-11-07T09:38:00.000-05:00

I recently had the opportunity to review a Spherion 2009 Emerging Workforce Study that including some interesting social media statistics. It states 44% of all organizations are using social media. It provides an interesting breakdown showing:

Corporate Blog - 16%
Company Facebook Profile - 14%
Viral Video Marketing / Recruitment - 7%
Corporate MySpace Profile - 6%
Second Life Presence - 1%

The Study also states that for those organizations that leverage social media only 22% use it to recruit new talent. The Study holds a wealth of information and is certainly worth reviewing.

The Office When it's in Second Life

2009-11-06T19:27:00.003-05:00

This post will not focus on recruiting but nevertheless discusses the virtual realities of working in SL which some recruiters experience. CNN Executive Education posted an article today titled "Virtual businesses: Going to the office in Second Life" by Mark Tutton.

The article discusses the convenience of collaboration in SL during an economy where travel budgets are under stress. The ability to have communication options other than video conferencing and being able to prototype in a virtual world are a few of the advantages listed. The article looks at the nuances of virtual collaboration and discusses areas where a lack of human interaction hinders communication. The article is well worth reading. Kudos to CNN for giving SL some well deserved press in their Executive Education section.

SL Corporate Revival?

2009-10-25T16:19:00.003-04:00

Ann All, a blogger at ITBUSINESSEDGE, recently drafted an interesting post on SL's comeback I’m not certain SL is indeed in a revival but rather more individuals may be finding the value of a virtual world. Ann notes in her post of having knowledge of Amazon's last job fair but admits she considered SL to be fading in the shadows of Facebook and Twitter as quoted by MercuryNews's Chris O'Brien. Ann does however point out that SL has a business model that is generating revenue. This is an issue that Facebook and Twitter have struggled with.

Mr. O'Brien is also referenced noting "Second Life user hours grew 33 percent year over year to an all-time high of 126 million in 2009's second quarter." What I found most compelling in the post is that Linden Labs notes "250 companies, including IBM, Intel and Northrop Grumman" are using SL for collaboration, simulation and training. Ann discusses a behind the firewall version of SL as well as mobile version that will certainly make SL more accessible to future users.

Virtual College Recruiting

2009-10-10T08:41:00.002-04:00

Dennis Shiao, the blogger for "It's All Virtual, recently blogged on the potential for virtual college recruiting. This post should be mandatory for college admissions officers. Dennis references an article in the New York Times titled “M.I.T. Taking Student Blogs to Nth Degree“, desribing how M.I.T and other universities utilize student blogs for recruitment. Dennis notes, "Universities who created 3D replicas of their campus (in Second Life, for example) could leverage the existing island(s) as a recruiting tool." He discusses how virtual campus tour and student blogs as 3D virtual dorm rooms can facilitate recruitment. The rest of his post is just as rich in ideas and is well worth reading.

Human Capital Institute Conference

2009-09-25T06:44:00.000-04:00

On Monday, September 12, 2009, I delivered a presentation at a Human Capital Institute conference with a colleague on Social Networking in HR. Recruiting in Second Life was discussed and I specifically discussed the IRS Career Island, Amazon's Job Fair, and the Ontario Government's efforts in SL.

Linda Cureton, the CIO at NASA, mentioned SL during her presentation and showed a space station looking down at earth in SL. She described her journey in learning the nuances of SL and encouraged others to follow her lead in trying new technologies to improve their organizations.

Training & Recruiting at Queen’s University

2009-09-08T06:22:00.004-04:00

Exchange or exchangemagazine.com recently posted an article detailing how the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University is a leader in preparing teachers for the virtual learning.

SL recruiting is also being assessed. “We’re looking at using Second Life as a recruiting tool too,” says Stephanie Beauregard, Manager of e-learning Services. “Students from all over the world can attend designated orientation sessions on our virtual campus and ask questions in real time to our staff members without having to incur the cost of travel. Just think how that reduces carbon footprints.”

IRS Career Island in SL

2009-08-15T07:46:00.014-04:00

I recently ventured to the IRS Career Island during off hours in SL after reading about their recruiting efforts in SL in an article by Steve Rothberg, one of the owners of CollegeRecruiter.com.

Steve discusses the Internal Revenue Service as a client and as a leader in leveraging SL to recruit talent. When Steve learned about the IRS's efforts in SL he asked Frank Stipe,Virtual Worlds & Social Networking Project Manager, for the details suggesting it would be blogworthy. In Frank's words:

"In 2008, the IRS project team established a presence in the Second Life virtual world with the goal of exploring the potential use of this environment for recruitment and training purposes. The team has created the IRS Careers Island and constructed a sky platform with an IRS Careers Center and an IRS Education Center. A number of building design configurations have been tested. A number of education and entertainment features have also been built to attract residents to the simulation (sim). All basic construction has been completed and the sim has been opened to the general population in Second Life since February 2009.

Nearly identical to brand marketing in the physical world marketplace, brand marketing in the SL virtual world involves placing brand messaging in high traffic venues. Unlike the physical world, the IRS has actually built its own venue that provides excellent marketing opportunities.

In the physical world, we could spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions, on sponsoring a race car that displays our brand in a field of thirty or more other cars. In the SL virtual world, we have spent a few thousand dollars to build complete entertainment and communications venue that includes a race course. IRS branding throughout the venue not only displays our messaging, but it also instantly dispenses marketing collateral and links to our Careers web site.

We are now entering the relationship building phase where we are reaching out to universities that operate virtual campuses in Second Life to market directly to their students by sponsoring student projects in Second Life."

During my visit to the SL Career Island I received the text below in the form of a note card that a potential job candidate would receive. It gives a visitor more than adequate information on potential career opportunities with the IRS.

Note Card:

The IRS is hiring hundreds of Internal Revenue Agents – It’s a great time to join the agency!

The IRS has begun a major hiring effort to fill hundreds of critical jobs nationwide. Most of these jobs are for internal revenue agent positions (look for series number 0512). At least 30 hours of college-level accounting coursework is required for revenue agent jobs.

When you join the IRS family, you can enjoy federal health benefits, job-skills training and flexible work schedules. You also get the satisfaction of serving your country. Because the IRS is a large agency – with more than 100,000 across the nation -- there are many opportunities for career growth.

Revenue agent positions range from entry level (GS-5) to more senior positions (GS-13). GS-5 salaries cover a range from about $30,000 to $45,000 per year; GS-13 salaries range from about $85,000 to $115,000. Your salary depends on your location and how long you’ve served at that level.

Revenue agents are proactive decision makers, working with individual taxpayers, businesses, and the legal and financial communities. They conduct examinations in the field environment, requiring them to travel. They work regularly with taxpayers, their representatives, certified public accountants and tax attorneys. To apply for vacancies, visit USAJOBS, the government-wide job posting site. Find the IRS page by clicking http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov/a9trirs.asp. All applicants must undergo a background investigation. Find out even more at www.jobs.irs.gov/SL

Podcast - Ontario Government

2009-08-02T12:41:00.011-04:00

Tavia Grant, from the Canadian news source, The Globe And Mail, posted a podcast on Ontario's experience in recruiting in SL. This is a nice follow up to my prior post on the Ontario government's venture into SL to recruit public service employees.

Tavia details the Ontario government initially rented an island for a virtual job fair for 12 weeks. The island provided self guided tours for the various positions that were being recruited. Five staff members were dedicated to this effort. What is really amazing is that the island had 9,000 visitors. This led the Ontario government to eventually purchase the island.

Tavia details some of IBM's experience in SL as well as Xerox. Those who have followed this blog will enjoy the video of the Vancouver police department's SL recruiting initiative.

Pictures from the Amazon Job Fair

2009-07-15T06:55:00.004-04:00

Preview - Amazon Job Fair - July 14, 2009

2009-07-13T21:07:00.005-04:00

Preparing for Amazon SL Job Fair

2009-07-12T19:12:00.004-04:00

GeekMBA360 posted some great advice for the Amazon job fair in SL.

It's a good checklist for anyone new to SL or a virtual world. The blog also spotlights some interesting career survival tips so check it out.

Amazon Job Fair - July 14, 2009

2009-07-09T19:24:00.008-04:00

Seattle's TechFlash posted an article on Amazon recruiting in SL. On July 14th, 2009, there will be a job fair on Amazon Developers2 Island.

The Amazon Web Developers Blog details the event noting: "This free event is a unique opportunity for candidates to have direct access to hiring managers and recruiters from around the world. Amazon is looking for all levels of technical and non-technical candidates – from hands-on engineers to program managers and game-changing principal architects. Visit our career site to see the open positions and then make plans to join us in-world."

I left a comment on the Amazon Web Developers Blog asking if this was truly the first job fair in SL as I have blogged about a prior job fair. Jeff Barr was kind enough to write back and stated "The difference here is that we were simply participants in the earlier fair and that we actually designed, organized, and will run the current one on our own. Also, the first event was run by a Luxembourg company for the sole purpose of filling positions in that country. At our fair we will be hiring for a variety of positions located all over the world." I'm sure Amazon's experience in SL will make this job fair an interesting event for everyone. Here are a few tweets on the job fair.

2009-06-21T21:17:00.008-04:00

Bill Carlino, Editor-in-Chief of Accounting Today, wrote a very interesting article titled Don't Fight New Technologies - Leverage Them! The article on WEBCPA.com advocates for use of Web 2.0 including SL. This paragraph really captures Bill's message "As a flood of rising technologies such as social networking sites, instant messaging and Second Life begin to get a stronger foothold in the CPA profession, firms should begin deploying them in business-centric areas of the firms such as marketing and recruiting."

Hopefully the Accounting industry will get be receptive to Bill's message and the others like him who seek to leverage SL and Web 2.0 to advance their profession.

Recruiting Public Health Workers

2009-06-21T21:04:00.004-04:00

These days SL is used not only for employment recruiting but also for recruiting health workers for emergency preparedness training. CHI TOWN DAILY NEWS posted an article on June 15, 2009, that "The University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health is recruiting public health workers to participate in emergency preparedness training -- in Second Life." Using SL for this exercise will "cut the costs, time and difficulty associated with traditional emergency training exercises."

It seems the cost efficiencies employers have long known about SL is branching out into other sectors.

May 28 Job Fair - GAX Technologies

2009-05-25T13:59:00.008-04:00

The Association of Virtual Worlds has announced the premier recruiting job fair event in SL occuring on Working Worlds sponsored by GAX Technologies. The real life European job fair in SL occurs every six months at the Working Worlds Luxembourg sim. This will be the fourth job fair by GAX Technologies and it will be held on Thursday, May 28th from 6 AM slt to 11 AM slt.

FBI enters SL

2009-05-23T11:35:00.004-04:00

On May 20, 2009, GamePolitics had a brief article on the FBI's entrance into SL. The article originated from a recent article in Virtual Worlds News. The GamePolitics article specifically quotes Virtual World news stating "Virtual Worlds News reports that the FBI is establishing an SL presence for the purposes of recruiting, accepting crime complaints and publicizing wanted felons." This blog will follow any significant developments in recruiting and post additional information as if unfolds on the FBI's recruiting efforts in SL.

The Manhattan Group & Hospitality Jobs

2009-05-13T06:40:00.006-04:00

The Manhattan Group blog announced they have redesigned their office to actively recruit in SL.

The Manhattan Group based in Australia, is a recruitment company specialized in hospitality job. They have had a presence in and around SL for close to a year with a “passive” office to showcase their services. Their new design should provide a successful recruiting campaign in SL.

Airforce MyBase - More than Recruiting

2009-05-12T21:47:00.007-04:00

Colleen O’Hara, a freelance writer from Arlington mentioned recruiting in the U.S. Airforce's MyBase in a recent post for Leader in Virtual Studies.

The article notes "Interest in virtual learning is broad and not limited to the younger generation, said Maj. Gen. Erwin Lessel, director of plans, programs, requirements and assessments at the Air Education and Training Command. The command recently launched a virtual-world known as MyBase." The concept behind the virtual world "is to enhance Air Force recruiting, training, education and operations and meet the education and training needs of future members of the Air Force, Lessel said."

I enjoyed this article even though there was just a brief mention of recruiting in SL. Colleen's article illustrates the potential of SL in a larger context detailing virtual training in the National Guard and virtual research and development in the U.S. Navy.

FED MANAGER References SL

2009-05-06T06:51:00.004-04:00

FED MANAGER.com published an article titled "Hear It From YGL - 5 Ways Government is Using Social Media to Recruit the Next Generation of Public Service Employees". The article notes several efforts by government organizations with social media.

Missouri CIO, Dan Ross, is noted for his venture in SL. What I found most significant was the cost noted. "CIO Ross encourages other agencies to explore this low-cost recruitment tool. Missouri spent less than $100 on this first foray into Second Life and doubled the budget to $200 in this fiscal year due to their initial success."

Social Networks for Recruiting Includes SL

2009-04-12T22:32:00.004-04:00

Web Design, SEO and Internet Marketing by CPC Computer Consultants at www.cpccci.com and www.cpcwebsolutions.com mentioned SL in their March 12 blog post on Smart Recruiting Through Social Networks. It's a good post on using social networks for recruiting with a brief mention about SL noting "Some companies use Second Life, but Facebook and LinkedIn are more popular."

SL one of "12 ways to use it to get a job"

2009-04-11T09:24:00.010-04:00

Joanna Penn noted SL was one of the "12 ways to use it to get a job" in the April 8, 2009, issue of inside SAP. SL was listed as point 10.

Joanna clearly understands how SL is leveraged for recruiting and those searching for a position. She writes:

"Use Second Life. For the tech-minded, virtual job fairs are now held on Second Life. Big companies like Microsoft and Sodexho recruiting and avatars attending for discussions with recruiters. You can also drop into one of the virtual company headquarters and drop off your resume in Second Life. Virtual interviews are followed up on the phone or in person, so it might be an option for the tech-savvy person who can use their avatar professionally."

Agency.com & Second life

2009-03-17T20:55:00.007-04:00

The website for PSFK Conference New York noted Agency.com utilized SL for its Brussels office to find advanced online specialists.

The success of this virtual recruiting effort was discussed with the PSFK site stating:

"Struggling to find top candidates in real life, the agency went where the specialists really live: in Second Life. Setting up the first “real life” job interviews in a virtual world, Agency.com interviewed 50 candidates and received another 50 offline applications based on the massive press coverage. In one month, all eight positions were filled"

You can view the Agency.com youtube video that provides a brief glimpse into their SL venture.

Sapphire Technologies Revisted

2009-03-09T21:17:00.010-04:00

I decided to spend part of 2009 revisiting some islands that I have already blogged about. I recently found an article published on January 17, 2008 titled "A Second Life for Singapore IT Recruitment Specialists" by randstad Australia. Malcolm Dunford, Chief Operating Officer of Sapphire Technologies is quoted stating "With our new brand and creative online approach, Sapphire Technologies now has a more fortified front to cater to the specialised needs of (ICT) employees and employers in Singapore." says Mr Dunford.

I think the visit to Sapphire Technologies' Second Life HQ is worth the effort just to "access podcasts on IT employment topics, play pool in the Sapphire Technologies penthouse and connect with IT professionals to enhance their career and expand their network." I would be very interested in hearing how this venture has played out so far if anyone finds this post and cares to comment.

Ernst & Young Foundation & NC State University

2009-02-21T20:16:00.010-05:00

The Consultant News.com reports that Ernst & Young Foundation has announced that $1.95 million will be awarded to five universities this year as part of its University Fund grant program. The University Fund demonstrates Ernst & Young LLP's commitment to higher education by awarding substantial investments to universities where the firm actively recruits.

It should be apparent by now that this article would not be relevant to this blog without a SL connection. North Carolina State University will receive $400,000 for the development and implementation of the Department of Accounting at North Carolina State University's Second Life location. The University's website notes the amount of the award in the amount of $500,000. The award will enable the Accounting programs to collaborate and share learning and development experiences in SL.

SlideShare Presentation

2009-02-17T06:55:00.004-05:00

A still get asked quite frequently if anyone is really recruiting in SL. In the event that should also happen to you there is a Slide Share presentation by Stacy Surla they should view that pulls the concept together.

Stacy's blog has 9 posts on SL focusing on Information Architecture.

"the geekweekly" Discusses SL

2009-01-23T18:59:00.008-05:00

An article in the "the geekweekly" by Jodi Mardesich discussed virtual world recruiting including SL. The article titled "Meet Me in Cyberspace" is worth reading in it's entirety mentions "Recruiting Employment agencies like Manpower and Kelly services are recruiting in Second Life, as are companies like FedEx and Accenture."

Jodi reiterates SL's dominance noting: "Though Second Life isn’t the only virtual world -- OpenSim, Activeworlds and others are open for business uses -- it is the biggest, with over 16 million people registered, supporting up to 75,000 concurrent users, according to Glenn Fisher, director of business programs for Linden Lab, the developer of Second Life."

I enjoyed reading "the geekweekly" as well as Jodi's article and recommend it to any IT geek!

Marketing & Communications Recruitment in Belgium

2009-01-19T11:09:00.005-05:00

PRWeb released an article on "The Sourcing Strategy of the Future for Marketing and Communications Recruitment in Belgium." Viamarcom Marketing Recruitment Firm in Belgium which "provides an integrated marketing recruitment strategy covering both print, digital services, CRM (Candidate Relationship Management) and Relationship marketing, becoming the first and only integrated marketing and communications recruitment website in Belgium" was the focus of this press release.

Vincent Mulleman, CEO of Viamarcom, notes: "In the past, the sourcing strategy were print, print, and print again through newspaper advertising, or job fairs/event recruiting, word of mouth. At present, the internet has revolutionized the way we recruit, leverage awareness and targeted messaging to reach active and passive job seekers, new solutions like content and visuals (blogs, videos, webcasts, etc.), networking and researching capabilities (Linked In, Facebook, etc.), online career fairs have been utilized increasingly."

Mr. Mulleman continues, "What are the future trends for sourcing strategy? Integrating engagement tools into your recruitment plan is the key for future success. Those engagement tools range from online search engine marketing (SEO/SEM), mobile marketing, gaming, Interactive Videos, blogs, virtual world, e.g. Second Life, podcasting or jobcasting, social Networking e.g. Facebook.com, LinkedIn.com."

If anyone at Viamarcom finds this post do let us know of your success with SL as a sourcing strategy.

Engage! Expo: March 10-11, 2009

2009-01-15T22:49:00.009-05:00

I recently the following details on the upcoming Engage! Expo (formerly the Virtual Worlds Conference). This is an event for "kid, youth and young adult brands, media and agencies to meet and learn how to combine their existing online efforts with the unparalleled engagement opportunities and new revenue streams of the 3D Web and Virtual Worlds. Subjects covered at Engage! include kids worlds, toys, social media, games, virtual goods (micro-transactions), tween and teen-oriented virtual worlds, 3D Web advertising and licensing strategies."

Twinity

2009-01-15T22:01:00.008-05:00

Twinity is a virtual world similar yet distinctly different from SL. It certainly appears to have the potential for recruiting employees which I will attempt to discern as it continues to evolve. I inquired in their community so maybe we'll receive an answer that I can share.

Twinity's own description details the unique qualities of this virtual world. It states: "In the 3D online world Twinity, a free virtual world, you can create your own avatar to party with friends and other avatars, go shopping and communicate via 3D chat. Get creative and design your virtual apartment in an authentic real virtual city. Explore Berlin in 3D with other avatars as the first of many virtual cities in Twinity and communicate via 3D chat. Join now and discover the possibilities Twinity offers you as your new virtual home. Twinity is not a traditional online game (MMO or MMOG) but a mirror world, which means a 3D online world or a virtual world that mirrors the real world"

You can stay up to date with events on Twinity by reading the Twinity blog.

TMP Job Fair Video - Showing The Reality of Virtual Recruiting

2009-01-15T21:06:00.009-05:00

The possibilities of what can become reality in a virtual job fair is well respresented in this YouTube video of a Second Life TMP Job Fair.

Some of the organizations that I have discussed such as EMC, Accenture, GE, Sodexho, as well as a preview of the virtual interview process is shown.

Recruiting in Second Life in 2009

2009-01-10T10:03:00.005-05:00

The recruiting intelligence community ere.net just had an article this past week that mentions recruiting in SL. The article was contributed by Kevin Wheeler. Kevin discussed What’s Going to Be Different in 2009.

In it he notes: "Many organizations will revisit the use of virtual worlds such as Second Life, and find that they do have a place in recruiting. Very few candidates will ever meet a recruiter face-to-face unless they already have a natural physical proximity." I appreciated the link to my article. I expect Kevin's prediction for 2009 to become a virtual reality and will continue to follow recruiting in SL in the New Year.

Recruiting in SL in Top 10 Metaverse Trends

2008-12-28T19:13:00.005-05:00

Caleb Booker's Business in Virtual Worlds Blog listed the Top 10 Metaverse Trends for 2008. I was elated to see that Virtual Recruiting earned spot # 7.

Caleb's blog post noted: "Job fairs in virtual spaces are pretty common now for a simple reason: they get results. Human Resources professionals often report high numbers of extremely well-qualified applicants that they would normally have to pay a head-hunter thousands to track down. It’s not just tech jobs either: more than one police department has successfully recruited through Second Life this past year, and the US Army has been making efforts in this area as well. Virtual worlds are now an essential to any recruiting drive."

Caleb's blog is a must read for anyone conducting business in virtual worlds. You will have to read his post to find out about the other 9 Metaverse Trends for 2008 as well as the very cool YouTube video of trend #9.

First Virtual Job Fair in Canada? - eFairJob

2008-12-19T22:01:00.009-05:00

I recently came across eFairJob which appears to be a virtual environment designed for job fairs. I missed the first one on November 17, 2008, and wonder how close it was to a job fair in SL. You can get an idea of recruiting in eFairJob on their YouTube video.

I have to ask if it is really the first virtual job fair in Canada as noted on the video? We are well aware of the virtual recruiting the Vancouver Police have done in SL as well as the Ontario Ministry of Government Services recruiting the next generation of public servants in SL. eFairJob does look like a great virtual recruiting tool and we'll have to see how well it does and if it challenges those recruiting in SL.

U.S. Airforce & Army Recruiting in SL

2008-12-03T22:09:00.021-05:00

Virtual World News provided some interesting developments last week on the U.S. Airforce recruiting in SL, as well as the U.S. Army's plans to recruit in SL.

The goals of the Airforce's virtual world, MyBase, is "to recruit and inform civilians, train cadets, and help active airmen prepare for specific missions and ongoing projects."

MyBase went live on December 2, 2008. It contains a set of regions that share the history of the Airforce with exhibits that are interactive and educational. Virtual World News notes "Visitors can fly a virtual P51C Mustang, try a challenge course and shooting range, listen to Air Force band music, and see what military life is like."

It is reported automated bots are present on the site rather than actual humans were present. That was my experience when I visited it for the pictures on this post. In terms of recruiting there is an option for visitors to access a website to talk to a recruiter about an Air Force career.

Virtual World News reports the potential for this venture. "One possible long-term use for this technology is to open a private site in a three-dimensional world, yet to be determined, where active-duty Airmen can attend virtual training and are tracked to receive 3 course credit," reports the official Air Force Link. "Offering virtual-based training could offset the cost of travel to training sites around the world which often includes lodging and other expenses.

"The U.S. Army not to be left out will open up two islands in Second Life in the next 30-45 days aimed at recruiting new soldiers" as reported by Virtual World News."Users will find a welcome center with information and links to contact a recruiter on one island and military-themed activities like rappelling, shooting, and parachuting on the other. Completing the activities will earn users points toward free Army-branded virtual goods." You will have to read the full article on Virtual World News to find out what Gen. William S. Wallace, the commander of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC), said said social networking technologies and SL.

Initial Considerations for Recruiting in SL

2008-11-23T08:58:00.004-05:00

There's an exciting new blog that I am writing for called Business Beyond Reality.

I recent drafted an article that focused on Initial Considerations for Recruiting in Second Life. It applies to all virtual worlds and covers some of the initial discussions that should take place as you plan your virtual recruiting strategy. I will continue following recruiting in SL here but will venture into writing about other aspects of virtual business at Business Beyond Reality.

Recruiting Students - SL College Fair

2008-11-15T10:27:00.009-05:00

Alliance Virtual Library's Info Island has announced a College Fair in SL.

College and university representatives will meet on Info Island, Sunday November 16, between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM SLT, to discuss attending college. This is a great opportunity to "explore colleges and universities you may not have a chance to visit by taking this opportunity to talk to a wide range of postsecondary institutions to discuss course offerings, admission and financial aid requirements, college life and other information that will aid in the college selection process." This should be a great fair for those contemplating college that you will not want to miss based on the list of participants.

Powermatch & Danish Virtual Job Fair

2008-11-03T21:17:00.007-05:00

I'm always interested in learning about organizations that assist others in creating a presence in SL. I recently discovered the virtual Danish organization, Powermatch. On October 30, 2007, they hosted the first Danish virtual job fair in SL. Technical support for the job fair was provided by Intoint. The goal of the job-fair was to match Danish companies with job candidates in SL. An ancillary objective was to determine if SL could be a relevant recruiting method for companies. As noted on their website: "The event turned out to be a success - the biggest Danish Second Life gathering until then - attracting nearly 200 visitors in the 3 hours the fair where open."

Working Worlds Job Fair - 11.27.2008

2008-11-02T08:31:00.006-05:00

Ian Bartfield, of inVdaily, posted details on his blog regarding the November 27, 2008, recruiting job fair event for GAX Technologies. Working Worlds will bring together some of the most prominent employers in Europe who will be interviewing candidates in their virtual offices. Read Ian's article for more details.

No credit crunch in 'Second Life'

2008-10-25T09:45:00.007-04:00

During these financially precarious times when the stock market is far more scarier to watch than the seasonal Halloween movies we receive positive news from Mark Kingdon, the CEO of Liden Labs.

Tim Ferguson posts an interview with Mr. Kingdon in the October 24, 2008, issue of Gaming and Culture . Overall Mr. Kingdon discusses the state of SL and notes "the hype has died down a bit, but I'd gladly trade short-term hype for the continued long-term success we're seeing."

When questioned what are people using SL for Mr. Kingdom notes the shift from displaying information to engaging in SL which includes recruiting: "But now businesses are looking to engage, not just display. So we see recruitment fairs taking place, product demonstrations, and companies using Second Life for in-world meetings, training sessions, and collaboration."

SL Survey Includes Recruiting Information

2008-10-11T23:03:00.004-04:00

Erika and Sam Driver of ThinkBalm reported some fascinating results from the Social Research Foundation, SRF, in their Second Life 2008 Annual Survey, a Web-based survey of 1,258 Second Life residents who are part of SRF's First Opinions Panel™. The First Opinions Panel is the largest consumer research panel in Second Life with 10,000 members from newbies to the most active and involved "residents" of Second Life. You can view their Second Life Business Brief. ThinkBalm noted 34 or (17%) of the respondents use SL for recruiting or interviewing. I highly recommend visiting both ThinkBalm and the SRF for more details of this enlightening survey.

Recruiting Public Servants in Ontario

2008-10-10T06:17:00.010-04:00

Brian Jackson of ITBusiness Canada reports the Ontario Public Service, OPS, is recruiting in SL.

I really enjoyed the video of Glen Padassery, acting director of the youth and new professionals' secretariat at Ontario's Ministry of Government Services, who cites the need to recruit the next generation of public servants in SL to deal with the changing demographics in the workforce. "As youth move more towards the online space, we wanted to make sure we had a presence that would be fulfilling and meaningful to them," Padassery says. In SL the OPS highlights a day in the life of five career paths: fire fighters,environmental, health care, traffic control, and finance. You can fight forest fires, work in a traffic center, test water, work in a hospital, and work with economic data in a business center. The OPS site is well worth visiting if you are thinking of recruiting in Second Life. CPSRenewal.ca also has a reference to this effort.

Open Positions @ Designing Digitally Inc.

2008-10-05T18:31:00.009-04:00

I typically do not favor or promote any design firm but I came across Designing Digitally Inc. and their work in my SL research and was impressed. I think they have a great work product and I let them know I would be linking them to this blog. They have a couple of open positions which would be great experience for those aspiring to virtual experience...

Designing Digitally Inc. is now accepting resumes and portfolios for review as they are seeking a freelance designer, and a LSL programmer to work along side the design team in developing full Sim builds, and custom interactions within Second Life. If interested in applying please send your resume and portfolio pictures to info@designingdigitally.com

For more information on Designing Digitally Inc. please visit their website at http://www.designingdigitally.com

SL Recruiting in India

2008-10-04T21:50:00.014-04:00

On Saturday, October 4, 2008, I had the opportunity to talk to Aditya Zutshi, Researcher R&D,Virtual Reality Research Group,Innovation Lab, Delhi, for Tata Consultancy Services. We had an engaging discussion on recruiting in SL. When I asked Aditya when he thought virtual recruiting might be common he mentioned Gartner Says 80 Percent of Active Internet Users Will Have A "Second Life" in the Virtual World by the End of 2011. We also discussed the marketing required to bring in virtual job candidates and WiPro's virtual campus. Eventually WiPro is planning on making virtual recruiting a vital part of their recruiting strategy. Our discussion also touched on the phases any organization will transition through in a virtual effort. They must: 1. Design their virtual presence, 2. Attract users through marketing, and 3. Eventually migrate to the virtual realm as one of their central recruiting strategies.

We discussed organizations in India that are likely to migrate to SL for recruitment which included, IBM, Cisco, Agilent Technologies, and WiPro Technologies. Aditya and I concluded our discussion knowing there was far more to address than we could fit in to our initial meeting. We will revisit SL recruiting in India again in the not too distant future sharing our perspectives of SL and web 3.0.

Western Australia Police Recruitment

2008-09-30T22:19:00.007-04:00

The Vancouver Police Department is not the only Police Unit recruiting in SL. The September 19, 2008, edition of The West Australian online (thewest.com.au), announces the Western Australia Police Department is recruiting in SL.

Acting Professional Development assistant commissioner, Gary Dreibergs, states the WA Police want to position themselves in emerging recruiting markets rather than traditional media.

Their virtual recruiting pavilion with videos, websites, and information about the WA police force was developed by Binary Culture will operate for three months.

Police marketing assistant director, Trudi Angwin, notes this initiative will demonstrate the WA Police are open to embracing new ways to engage young people. The article details the cost of this effort: "Ms Angwin said the cost of three months of Second life was the equivalent of up to two or three days of television ads." I think this illustrates how affordable SL is.

First SL Hire for Missouri

2008-09-27T08:52:00.007-04:00

Govtech reports the first hire for Missouri in SL. Missouri state CIO, Dan Ross, mentions the SL hire joined the Department of Natural Resources as a developer. This employee participated in a Second Life job fair. This blog first detailed Missouri's efforts in SL in our February 17, 2008 posting.

Ross' information on the cost of using SL is quite amazing. "My advice to others is to try it," said Ross. "It doesn't cost much. Last year I was reporting about $100 spent. This year we've doubled that to $214. So the ROI is pretty quick. And if it turns out not to have any value, you just disappear and that's the end of it."

ERE - SL for Outside of the IT Department

2008-09-21T20:49:00.004-04:00

Many thanks to ERE for running my article on recruiting outside of the IT department in SL.

Sodexho Job Fair in SL

2008-09-14T10:19:00.003-04:00

The food service firm, Sodexho, was covered by MSNBC in the September 10, 2007, article, “How your fantasy life can get you a real job”.

The article details how a job candidate rather new to SL prepared to participate in a Sodexho job fair at the suggestion of a Sodexho recruiter he sent his resume to. His efforts at learning the nuances of SL paid off and led to a job as a chef in the senior services division of Sodexho. This should enlighten those who view SL as merely a recruiting ground for technical talent that creative organizations can can find employees that are not in the IT department while enhancing their brand and expanding their geographic reach.

Reality of Virtual Reality - Governing

2008-09-12T06:56:00.006-04:00

A special thanks goes out to Mark Stencel, the editor of the Managing Technology Letter for Governing Magazine Online. Mark referenced this blog in their September 2008, issue on "The Reality of Virtual Reality."

Mark discusses the importance of attracting the next generation of workers virtually considering the "looming wave of retirements" facing state and local governments in the near future. Mark also gives a very nice primer on the basics of working in SL.

Mark also posted this story on his own blog with a focus on the future called Assignment Future.

Vancouver Police - Update

2008-09-07T21:52:00.013-04:00

The September, 5, 2008, Industry Standard discusses the Vancouver Police Department, (VPD),venture into SL. I discussed the VPD in my March 2, 2008, post.

Inspector Kevin McQuiggin of the VPD's Forensic Services Section details his department's involvement in SL in this article which is well worth reading.

I thought the the information on the low cost of the VPD's virtual recruiting seminar was just amazing. "Start-up funds, paid by McQuiggin himself, came to $120; grants for the two grad students on the project totalled $1500; props, consisting of a police dog, vehicles and a horse, came in at $10; and the production of an 'in-world' video of the seminar cost $500. The only additional cost was a moderate amount of staff time, amounting to about four person-weeks."

The article notes the importance of having strong digital team. "The VPD enlisted the aid of experts from the Masters of Digital Media program, run by director Gerry Sinclair. The program, offered at the Great Northern Way Campus, an emerging digital village in the heart of Vancouver, is a collaborative initiative involving Simon Fraser University, the University of B.C., Emily Carr School of Art, and the B.C. Institute of Technology.

"We have a virtual university campus in Second Life, and hosted the VPD seminar on it," noted Joanna Robinson, a research assistant with the Masters of Digital Media program and a major player on the project. "We helped them run the session, made things like custom uniforms for them, and got a video made of the event."

The September 10, 2008, issue of itbusiness.ca published another article well written by David Carey on the VPD recruiting Gen X and Gen Y in SL

Sapphire SL for Australia & New Zealand

2008-09-01T20:05:00.012-04:00

It has been operational since July 2007, but I think it still worth nothing that Sapphire Technologies is recruiting for IT positions in Australia and New Zealand in Second Life.

Visit Sapphire Life to learn more about their organization and potential employment opportunities. Their site encourages visitors by stating "Check out ALL of the Sapphire Technologies podcasts and set up an RSS feed to subscribe to our latest podcast updates. Topics range from comprehensive state by state market updates to meeting our team, our Second Life news, and hints and tips for job seekers and clients. This area is going to grow rapidly! So we suggest that you subscribe!"

State of Missouri Internship

2008-08-24T18:57:00.007-04:00

Paul Wright has a posting in the Association of Virtual Worlds for a college/university student to help the State of Missouri renovate their Second Life site used for information technology recruiting.

What a great opportunity for a resume this is. They are certainly setting the standard for other state governments and had a great start based on my earlier post on their efforts.

Targeting "Facebook Audience" in SL

2008-08-15T21:27:00.019-04:00

Erica Driver, co-founder and principal at ThinkBalm, wrote a spectacular article on how Accenture is successfully targeting the "Facebook Audience" in SL.

Erica notes that Accenture is already a choice employer with college graduates evidenced by BusinessWeek which awarded them the #8 in “Best Places to Launch a Career in 2007.” Erica notes their strategy to effectively reach what they perceive as the “Facebook audience,” led them to launch their own island in SL in March of 2008.

Erica disscusses the details of the Accenture Career Island and details some of their history in SL. What really caught my eye was two of her points. First she mentions "The centralized investment in the Second Life island paid for itself after 5-6 events" and second, "A critical success factor: a multi-faceted support program for internal users." Erica continues detailing excellent Accenture processes that are probably in a best practice manual: "So Global Recruitment Marketing put a lot of effort into making it easy for recruiters to use Second Life. The team holds meetings, calls, and tours with recruiters and created a guide on how to sign up in Second Life, create an avatar, walk, sit, chat, etc. The team sends out regular emails featuring best practices and alerting recruiting staff to new programs or tools."

I encourage you to check out the full article at ThinkBalm.

LinkedIn Discussion on Recruiting in SL

2008-08-03T08:38:00.005-04:00

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to comment on a discussion on LinkedIn regarding recruiting in SL. Viewing some of the prior comments it is apparent that several of the participants have not yet grasped the efforts of others and the benefits to talent acquisition and branding from recruiting in SL.

I am certain that this will diminish in time especially with others now recruiting in Lively.

One of the best comments in the discussion came from Steve Hawk, Area Manager at Manpower Professional:

"Manpower has a very detailed and effective presence on SL. When you visit our location, you're actually visiting a virtual replication of our corporate HQ. The purpose of the Manpower site is to give potential candidates a way to learn more about the company and what we have to offer.

As a manager with Manpower Professional, my team is tasked with finding and placing skilled IT personnel. Having a presence in SL shows potential candidates that our company is tech savvy and able to "walk the walk" in the technology arena.

For the most part, Second Life provides a way for companies to gain brand recognition. IBM, Adidas, Reuters, Sony BMG, and Nissan probably don't expect to sell a lot of their products through their presences on SL, but they are there. The same holds true for Manpower (and perhaps other staffing companies). Recruiting via SL is a by product of our presence.

By the way, these opinions are mine alone. They may not necessarily reflect the official Manpower view."

Candidate's Experience in Second Life

2008-07-30T21:37:00.008-04:00

Polly Pearson, Vice President of Employment Brand and Strategy Engagement at EMC, has an excellent post on recruiting in Second Life from a candidate's point of view.

Polly details a recent experience EMC had with career fair in Second Life. EMC was rewarded with two terrific hires for their effort. One hire was a developer with an accomplished IT skill set and the other a financial controller who had experience with large, global, and dynamic organizations.

What I found very interesting is the brand publicity EMC received from their efforts. Polly describes it best. "The ripples are still spreading by people who participated, saw the coverage of it on TV , heard about it on National Public Radio, or spoke to anyone who might have participated -- whether hired or not. Everyone won in this adventure."

The post by Polly also details the recruiting experience in SL from one of the hires, Yevgeniy (Eugene) Gorelik. An excerpt from EMC’s Intranet, “ChannelEMC,” featuring Eugene’s and EMC’s Second Life recruiting adventure is provided in the post:

Eugene’s Second Life experience began when he clicked on the Monster ad, submitted his résumé, and quickly heard back from an EMC recruiter with an invitation to set up a virtual appointment at the fair. The recruiter also offered training—just in case Eugene felt a little unsteady on his virtual feet. “She told me how to teleport to the EMC facility, where I met Polly Pearson and a number of other people from EMC. Then I followed the recruiter to the interview area, where we talked for a half hour. It was a fun and exciting experience—not what you’d usually expect at a job interview,” Eugene recalls. The Second Life experience was followed by a meeting at the EMC bricks-and-mortar facility. Soon he was offered his current position. “I thought this was a very creative approach to hiring, which gave me a really good feeling about EMC,” he says. I highly recommend reading the full account on Polly's blog.

Manpower

2008-07-29T06:43:00.005-04:00

IT News Online featured an article on Manpower Inc. Worldwide celebrating their one-year anniversary in Second Life. I visited Manpower in Second Life and had an engaging conversation with Manpower staff member Damian Delacroix.

The quotes that follow from the article relate Manpower's innovation strategy and demographic objectives for operating within Second Life.

"The World of Virtual Work is morphing into something that will become very productive and an integral part of how companies get work done, and we are excited to be at the forefront, defining this new frontier," said Jeff Joerres, Manpower Inc. Chairman and CEO. "By treating virtual worlds like Second Life as a platform for R&D, we can focus on real issues related to the world of work, such as multiculturism, improved access and flexibility for geographically dispersed workforces."

"Our presence in virtual worlds is a key element in our innovation strategy, as we engage with the Net Generation and workforce of the future," said Tammy Johns, Manpower Inc. Senior Vice President of Global Workforce Strategy. "Our mission is to explore and understand what's next, and we continue to further define work practices, helping clients and candidates navigate the World of Virtual Work."

"Although resident avatars may arrive at our virtual office wearing halos, horns or smokestacks on their heads, these alter-egos who visit Manpower Island are artistic, collaborative, tech-savvy and represent some of the most in-demand job candidates around the world," said Johns. "We have learned that people in virtual worlds have skills that have been developed and grown from a social and personal perspective that can evolve into real life job skills. The flexibility that is created by virtual worlds allows people of certain demographics -- such as women, students and retirees -- to work on more flexible terms."

Getting Hired By Amazon

2008-07-28T21:48:00.006-04:00

Simone Brunozzi, Amazon.com Technology Evangelist in Europe, details an interesting acccount of landing a job with Amazon through Second Life. Simone also has his own blog on Second Life.

The narrative of Simone's experience at the Luxembourg Virtual Job Fair is well worth reading for anyone planning to interview at a virtual job fair.

Simone was surprised and elated to find Amazon in attendance at the Luxembourg Virtual Job Fair. His well-dressed and custom-skinned avatar bearing his real name was able to interview with Jennifer from the Human Resources department of Amazon in Seattle. She explained why Amazon was doing at the virtual fair, which positions were open, and also discussed the technology evangelist position for Amazon Web Services. A brief interview in Second Life followed. Simone then forwarded his resume and his LinkedIn profile. Simone was told Jeff Barr, senior AWS evangelist,would evaluate his profile and advise him how they would proceed.

Several phone interviews and discussions with Jeff subsequently followed. Simone created samples of his work in Second Life which highlighted his passion to create something extraordinary for Amazon if given the chance. His talents and enthusiasm impressed Jeff Barr and Simone soon became the new Technology Evangelist in Europe for Amazon Web Services. I highly recommend reading the full acccount of Simone's story.

Web 2.0 & CPA Island

2008-07-27T22:31:00.008-04:00

I recently came across a compelling article written by Tom Hood,executive director of the Maryland Association of CPAs. Tom lists 5 reasons to use web 2.0. The latest survey by Robert Half International is cited in the post and notes the technologies that will have the greatest impact on recruiting in the next three years:


Professional networking sites (LinkedIn etc.): 62%
Social networking sites (Facebook & MySpace): 35%
Video resumes (via YouTube): 20%
SecondLife : 7%

Tom's article references Accounting for Second Life by Richard A. Johnson and Joyce M. Middleton which mentions CPA Island. The description of life on CPA Island in the article states "The Second Life Association of CPAs (SLACPA) is a virtual association for CPAs, educators and students from around the world. The SLACPA has more than 100 members including CPAs from across the United States, and at least one member from France. The group includes accounting educators, CPA firm administrators, a CPA firm COO, the CFO of Linden Lab, and accounting students. It is a network exploring the potential of virtual worlds, like Second Life, for real world accounting applications and networking."

Is there is passive recruiting and networking in the various networking and educational events and seminars that are presented? Whether there is or not at this time CPA Island is the central location of the public accounting profession in Second Life and I suspect those recruiting CPAs will find it sooner than later.

Tweet on this Blog

2008-07-21T22:47:00.002-04:00

I just came across this Tweet on Recruiting in Second Life. Many thanks to Mal's SL Edu-Blog.

Lively

2008-07-21T22:05:00.004-04:00

The Recruiters Lounge was the first blog I have read to raise the issue of how Google's Lively will impact Second Life. Jim Stroud gives a nice introduction to Lively in this article and implicitly raises the question of how well Lively can perform virtual recruiting. A quick search of recruiting turned up four choices: Recruiting, Talentup, Semper International, and Human Resource. I'm certain we will be hearing much more on recruiting in Lively soon.

Staffing Industry

2008-07-14T06:52:00.007-04:00

The Staffing Industry Analysts, INC. website, featured an article from Contingent Workforce Strategies Magazine for the June 2008 Issue, Posted On: June 11, 2008.

A post titled "Trends to Act On: Working with Avatars, Contingent Workforce Strategies, June 2008 Staffing companies offer virtual, 3-D Web" is well worth reviewing if are active in the Staffing industry and are considering Second Life and want to know what steps others have taken in this virtual realm.

Brian Regan, who is president of Semper International, a staffing firm that focuses on traditional printing and graphics and interactive media discusses the challenges he faced in hosting a Second Life tour for PIA/GATF's executive management team. The tour was impressive enough to convince PIA/GATF to try Second Life.

The article also discusses how Semper and PIA/GATF collaborated on every step of the organization's virtual building in Second Life, which was designed and built by Semper to look just like the organization's real Pittsburgh headquarters.

Employer Branding Strategy

2008-07-04T16:45:00.003-04:00

Steve Roesler's blog, All Things Workplace has a great post on getting employees engaged. In the post there is a discussion on what employers are leading the way with employer branding. It should come as no surprise that Second Life is part of the strategy.

The article states "Some companies, such as Microsoft, have had breakthroughs in the employer branding regime, with viewmyworld.com. Other companies have stepped foot onto the Second Life platform. They have met candidates through virtual job fairs online and actually hired them in real life. Other companies have leveraged Twitter to push out job postings to candidates interested in the company. What better to communicate the opening of a job or introduce a candidate into a new role than a blog. Polly Pearson (www.pollypearson.com) is one of the first HR Executives from an enterprise to blog about corporate culture and actually interview employees for her blog posts. The goal with employer branding is to close the gap between hearing about a job and actually holding a position in the company. Those who will succeed in this area will use social media in order to attract, recruit and retain new talent."

ISTE Island

2008-06-23T07:20:00.006-04:00

The EDUCATION IN THE NEWS blog featured an article by Andrew Trotter of Education Week. His article titled 'Educators Get a Second Life' discusses the success of technology in education. The International Society for Technology in Education, or ISTE, has had a presence in Second Life for a little over a year, mainly for membership-recruiting and communication tool, according to the society’s chief executive officer, Don Knezek. Andrew further details that the Washington-based group has invested money into its own “island,” where it hosts meetings, activities, and events, notably a weekly speaker series and educator coffeehouse.

ISTE’s massive annual National Educational Computing Conference, which this year will be held June 29-July 2 in San Antonio, will highlight many sessions in Second Life.

ISTE has three staff members working in Second Life as part of their regular job dutues, said Mr. Knezek, who said the group got involved as “a scouting operation.”

“Basically, what we were after is figuring out how to reach more of our members and engage them with the organization in a more meaningful way,” he said.

Since January 2007, the number of ISTE members, who total about 85,000 worldwide, that also have Second Life memberships has increased from none to approximately 2,500.

Construction News Plus & Second Life

2008-06-22T23:08:00.005-04:00

I was quite surprised to find the United Kingdom construction magazine CNPlus to be a source discussing the value of Recruiting in Second Life.

The author, Lucy Handley, references Second Life in her article 'Recruiting the Web Generation', June 17, 2008.

Ms. Handley describes the fine art of 'Virtual Promotion' in her article. She notes: "Networking and virtual world sites can also be used to get a brand message across to those who are not yet actively thinking about a career."

Mat Small, director of media strategy at Millionsofus, which describes itself as 'an agency specialising in virtual worlds', notes in the article employers can't afford to ignore these sites.

The article discusses how you can have a presence rather than using online job boards. It's about getting a message to potential candidates about the organization's values in a subtle way. You can have a visual presence and use it for information but it should be branded carefully.

Second Life Recruiting Video

2008-06-10T22:29:00.005-04:00

Kudos to Jim Stroud at the The Recruiters Lounge for posting a video on what it is like to recruit in Second Life.

I highly recommend anyone with an interest in recruiting to visit The Recruiters Lounge as it is a repository of must see recruiting links, videos, and podcasts. Jim notes on his blog "In March 2008, the HR blog “JimStroud.com” (aka JimStroud 2.0) rebranded itself as The Recruiters Lounge." Jim writes the blog with friends and does a very effective job of exploring "the wacky world of employment with articles, podcasts, videos, comics and more."

Kelly Services

2008-05-28T22:08:00.006-04:00

Kelly Services maintains a Second Life presence.

Kelly's Second Life headquarters provides for job placement and career development, public seminars, conferences, job fairs, interviews, training, and other events.

Want to know like to work for Kelly? Avatars showcase some of Kelly's real-life career opportunities.

I took their Insta-poll on when I use "Voice Chat " in Second Life and the polling results below displayed:

	
Yes - with everyone I can	        15%
Yes - but only with friends		28%
No - but I plan to try it		17%
No - and I never plan to		18%
I didn't even know you could		23%

Second Annual Virtual Worlds Expo

2008-05-20T22:09:00.002-04:00

The Second Annual Virtual Worlds Expo is to Take Place September 3-4, 2008, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The Virtual Worlds Expo is the industry event for organizations seeking to maximize opportunities using virtual worlds. Virtual world recruiting is referenced in the Businesswire article summed up best by Joey Seiler. "Virtual worlds hit their stride with entertainment applications, proving that they can provide an immersive, communal environment while generating significant revenue streams. Now corporations are realizing they can take the same principles and apply them to cost-cutting and time-saving solutions," said Joey Seiler, Editor of VirtualWorldsNews.com. "From training and collaboration to simply making work more enjoyable, virtual worlds have already been acknowledged by analysts around the world as key to recruiting and optimizing the next-generation workforce."

Online registration is open. Attendees can save $400 by with the early-bird registration - only $595 - until July 25, 2008. After that time online registration is $795. Onsite registration at the event is $995.

Cleveland Campus Collaboration

2008-05-11T11:33:00.004-04:00

Local bloggers, Bob Aber and Jason J. Therrien, spotlighted the Collaboration and Engaging the Campus Conference on the Recruiting to Cleveland Blog. The entire conference was available in Second Life which I regret missing! It was also streamed live on the net. There were discussion of having a physical presence in Second Life to facilitate communications on our projects with those outside of the region. Bob captured the essence of the conference in writing: "Web 2.0 tools are extremely valuable when recruiting young talent and are necessary if you are going to stay on the minds of individuals who view the Internet as an extension of themselves."

IBM Hosts Second Life on It's Servers

2008-04-30T21:38:00.007-04:00

An article by eWeek writer, Clint Boulton, demonstrates a new level of commitment to Second Life by IBM. IBM and "Second Life" creator Linden Lab are working on a joint effort to let IBM host Second Life behind its firewall. This is the first time Linden Lab has allowed "Second Life" to be hosted on servers other than its own. This collaboration could pave the way toward convincing other organizations that it's safe to use virtual networks behind the firewall.

I have written in the past about IBM and recruiting but thanks to the AeA Los Angeles Council Blog.

Blogger, Lee Fox, notes IBM uses their space on Second Life for new employee orientation, ongoing training, and staff meetings. Her posting also notes IBM employees that are part of a global project team utilize the Metaverse to collaborate and produce work, without the constraints of physical geography.

IBM employees create avatars of themselves and interact via instant messaging and other communication tools in a 3-D environment called the Metaverse. IBM finds this virtual environment far superior to teleconferencing or even web-conferencing.

Testing Personalities in Second Life & Facebook

2008-04-23T06:34:00.006-04:00

CPA Daily featured an article on firms like Ernst & Young inceasingly using social networks to find talent.

The article proposes using Second Life to test applicants’ personalities. Organizations could create ethical dilemmas and applicants would use their avatarsto interact with each other—to act out their repspsonses.

What I found even more interesting was the information on how Facebook is being used to attract talent. Accounting firm Ernst & Young for has a team dedicated to recruiting on Facebook, where it fields questions from potential applicants.

“With top talent being in such demand, we have to be on top of our game as well,” says E&Y recruiter Melissa Taylor. “It’s all about highly personal media.”

E&Y has 13,000 people signed up for its Facebook page, she says. It has started a video contest, where potential applicants can explain why they want to work in financial services. The firm has also launched a new Web site with a more interactive feel so that applicants are getting answers from their peers rather than just from the firm.

UK Onrec Online Recruitment Conference

2008-04-16T21:45:00.006-04:00

Talent acquisition professionals working within in the UK with an interest in Second Life will not want to miss the Online Recruitment Industry. At the Onrec.com Conference (Tuesday 3rd June 2008 - Westminster, London.

The seminar will have a session on "How to utilize new Virtual World sites, such as Second Life, as part of your recruitment strategy."