Case Study: Finding Top Talent Among Gamers
Business Issue
The customer service function of Lyse Dialog, a utility company in Norway, has significant ongoing hiring needs. Companies in the energy sector face significant competition for talent worldwide and Norway is no different. Similarly, customer service roles are often characterized by a shortage of talent and high turnover.
Leaders at Lyse Dialog saw that challenges associated with attracting and recruiting the customer service professionals they would need to support future growth could be mitigated by developing strategies to identify untapped sources of talent. The client realized that the skills required to succeed at video games were transferable to their work environment. For example, skills such as cooperating with others, strategic thinking and awareness of choices and consequences are typical of their top performers. As a result, they aimed to source candidates with relevant gaming experience.
The company turned to Manpower, its existing staffing partner, to support them in the effort.
Solution
The Manpower team drew on its extensive experience with identifying and translating skills from one domain to another and set out to identify how it could identify candidates with skills built through the gaming experience.
In the fall of 2018, Manpower reconfigured its recruiting and application technology to focus on how young people’s gaming experience can be relevant for working life. Specifically, Manpower updated its CV forms with a field including “Gaming Experience,” allowing candidates to indicate rankings, accolades and other knowledge of specific games.
“We take a holistic view to recruiting. Gaming experience on its own will not be enough to get hired, but it can be an interesting and positive side of a candidate. If the person is ranked highly in a well-known game, where skills that are important in the game are relevant to us, it gives us an indication of whether they fit in.
It becomes easier for candidates to talk about gaming. There are still those who don’t want to be associated with video games, in fear that they will not be taken seriously. When Manpower enables candidates to list gaming experience on their CV, we are one step closer to showing that we take gaming seriously.”
- Linn Jordbakke, Team Leader, Lyse Dialog
According to Emilia Styka, a recruitment advisor for Manpower, “Video games are one of Norway’s most popular hobbies, and more than half of Norwegian youth aged between 16-24 years old play video games daily. An increasing amount of research shows that gaming generates many positive skills, including problem-solving, collaboration, and communication. We wanted to show that we take these skills seriously.”
Results
Since inviting candidates to proactively share gaming experience, Lyse Dialog has realized several key outcomes including the following:
- 10 percent of registered candidates have listed gaming experience on their CVs.
- The client has improved its image as an employer of choice among a talented segment of the labor force.
- Hundreds of candidates have transferred their gaming experience to work experience.