What are the key differences between recruitment games and assessment games, and why is it important to understand those differences?
Purpose: Marketing vs. selection
Recruitment games are designed to attract a specific target group to your job market proposition. You want to raise awareness of your brand among your target audience and entice them to apply, or at least allow you to approach them. With recruitment games, you want to fill the funnel.
Assessment games have the primary goal of achieving a meaningful reduction of candidates who have indicated an interest in your labor market proposition. In doing so, you want to reject as few basically suitable applicants as possible, but already be able to reject as many unsuitable candidates as possible.
Whereas a recruitment game is actually a sourcing activity, an assessment game belongs more to the recruitment and selection phase.
Selective mechanism: self-selection vs informed desicion
The paradox of a recruitment game is that it is actually developed to reach as many potential employees as possible. That means good graphics, an exciting narrative, and easy accessibility. The paradox is that at the same time you want self-selection to take place, which implies that you show a realistic picture of your organization, the type of work, and the level of complexity, so that the player can decide for himself whether the organization and the job suit him. This paradox is not so bad if you have a high profile and A status among your target audience. However, if you don’t have a premium brand, then you have to weigh up. How attractive am I portraying myself versus how realistic will the target group experience this later in the process? Too good a picture leads to dropouts in the further selection process or, even worse, to an increased outflow in the first year.
In an assessment game, you want to be able to make an informed yes/no decision. If someone moves on to the next round, you will spend more resources (time & money). The purpose of an assessment game is to provide information upon which you, as an organization, can make a decision. An informed decision requires psychometric evidence. You want to make this type of decision evidence-based.
How to measure effectiveness: conversion vs validation
You measure the quality of a recruitment game by its conversion rates. What percentage of my target group do I manage to reach? To entice them to play the game and leave their personal data? And what percentage of that goes directly from pre-application to the application phase?
We measure the effectiveness of assessment games using validity data. How well can the probability of successful functioning be predicted with this game? The ultimate goal is to demonstrate the game’s predictive validity after one or more years. The first step on the way there is to determine concurrent validity. Does the game measure the same constructs with a high degree of reliability as a validated test or questionnaire administered concurrently? If the assessment game produces the same outcomes as the psychometric test or questionnaire to which it is compared, the goal has been achieved. Because an assessment game will be more accessible and fun, it can be used much earlier in the recruitment process.
Construction process: grand design vs iterations
The construction phase of a recruitment game is usually characterized by a grand design. Work is done from a total concept. This can be a waterfall, where the specifications, time schedule, and budget are fixed. Increasingly, however, this is being done in an agile manner, with intermediate results being delivered in sprints. The advantage is the flexibility in adjusting and gaining insight. The disadvantage is that it is not completely clear in advance what the final product will look like.
The development of assessment games can really only be tackled in an agile way. This is because every time a game concept has to be tested, whether it works. Often, that starts as early as the game concept’s offline simulation. From there, it is testing and adjusting. If parts don’t seem to work, that implies going back to the drawing board.
Breakdown of costs: graphics vs calibration
It already follows from the previous point where to place the emphasis in game development. In a recruitment game, there is a concept and a story, and the game mechanics are known from the start of construction. The focus and budget can then go to the storyline and graphics.
With an assessment game, the constructs to be measured are known, there is an idea of how to measure
Who builds it: serious gaming studio vs test Publisher
Recruitment games are built by serious game studios according to the work-for-hire principle. The job is taken on, and a product is delivered. The client organizes marketing around the game and then engages with the data left by the players. The game runs for a period of time, then remains passively accessible or is taken off the air by the client.
With assessment games, things are different now. These are often developed by test publishers or startups. They do so at their own risk and expense. They try to sell the game to companies to finance further development or expansion.
For whom: early majority vs. early innovators
There are quite a few good recruitment games already. A number of serious game studios spearhead their development and construction, and can show an impressive portfolio. Concepts and code chunks can be reused, making it clear what can be realized within a given budget. There is now quite a market for this type of serious game. It is difficult to estimate how mature this market is, but somewhere between the early adopter and early majority phases seems a reasonable estimate.
Assessment games are still in their infancy. This is a rapidly developing field characterized by innovation. Both the concepts being measured, the deployment range, as well as the method of development and construction, are still in their early stages.
Why is it important to make this distinction?
Developing an online serious game is generally not cheap. Before you invest, it is useful to know what you want to achieve with it. What is realistic? How will you spend your budget? Making your company attractive to a large target group in the labor market, achieving high conversion from pre-application to application, and then also being able to make validated predictions about who will be successful sounds almost too good to be true. So it is. The industry is not that far along. It is the holy grail, though, but do you want to be that Indiana Jones who is going to take that risk?
Can I combine it a recruitment game and an assessment game? The answer is twofold:
- Why should you? The added value of a recruitment game by itself can be enormous. You can then use psychometric testing to predict success. Therein lies the profit. Don’t make it too complex, gain experience, and develop further is the motto.
- If you want to start with assessment gaming, first determine what you want to measure, keep it simple, pick a few constructs, and try to validate them so you also know you are making sense.
Crossover effects?
You can also use an assessment game to drive more volume through the funnel. Especially if the game has high fun content or really relevant feedback to your target group. However, preferably see that as a bonus. If you start deliberately aiming for it, you’re playing your cards too thinly.
