printing, graphics and interactive media staffing firm Semper International announced today that it had launched a room in Lively, Google's recently launched virtual world, for recruiting and internal collaboration. The room will be featured on Lively as well as Semper's own website. Semper launched a human resources island in Second Life almost a year ago and says this latest move is a continuation of its trend of quickly adopting technology for job recruiting. President Brian Regan points out that Lively isn't ready to be used as a business class tool, but says it does present options for consolidation.
This move makes more sense to me than Game Crazy's launch in Lively earlier this month. While Game Crazy was using a room in the then week-old "popular, new virtual world developed by Google" to distribute information about a broader sale, Semper is giving the room a presence on its own site. Instead of trying to get users to go to Lively to find out new information, Semper is giving job seekers another venue that's as easy to find as its homepage.
To me, it actually makes more sense than using Second Life as a hiring tool. If the point is to find an avatar-based environment for interviews, something simple and Web-based seems, well, simpler than a richer environment that requires a download. The lack of integrated voice in Lively, though, could present problems.
But since it looks like Semper developed this room on its own--the author listed on the site is Brian Regan--it's a free experiment as an early entrant to Lively, which could easily integrate voice down the line.
“Virtual spaces like Second Life and Lively create interesting opportunities for social interaction. Lively and its chat-room style approach will enhance initial interviews and eventually help our recruiters work with interactive media job applicants as they register through our website,” Regan said in a statement. "The ease with which we can integrate the chat room to a web page makes its widespread use a no-brainer - especially when interacting with Digital Natives.”
Comments