News

With just a few months to go before she earned her masters degree in business administration, Erica Chean was ready to start looking for work.

So when she heard about a virtual business-strategy game that would give winners a shot at working for French cosmetics giant L'Oréal SA, she immediately teamed up with two other women in her class and signed up for the competition.

Once a week for about four months, Ms. Chean and her teammates logged on to the Internet and became general managers of a fictitious cosmetics company in a fictitious country. They invested in research and development, debated about how much to spend on marketing, and looked for ways to cut production costs without compromising quality -- all done virtually, of course.

And for every move they made, the game -- programmed with data that simulates real-world market conditions -- responded by showing them how their decisions affected their virtual company's share price.

"This game is a one-way ticket to enter into L'Oréal," says Ms. Chean, an Ottawa software designer who decided, after being laid off two years ago by Ottawa-based Nortel Networks Corp., to enrol in the MBA program at Queens University in Kingston, Ont.

"To get into the cosmetics industry without professional experience and contacts is very difficult, so this game represents the key to L'Oréal," she says.

Who says job hunting is all work and no play? The L'Oréal game, which was launched globally six years ago, is just one example of how companies are using computer-based simulation technology to attract and assess potential employees.

Once restricted to the military and aviation industries, job simulations are increasingly finding their way onto corporate Web sites, where they're used to pick out the top talent from those who need not apply.

In a 2005 survey by Rocket-Hire LLC, a New Orleans-based human resource consulting firm that specializes in electronic hiring tools, 18 per cent of companies said they use job simulation to recruit employees, up from 10 per cent in a 2002 survey by the firm.

"Job-simulation technology is a very powerful, effective tool for assessing job candidates, and companies are finally starting to realize that," says Rocket-Hire president Charles Handler.

"In my opinion, in two to three years from now, the number of job simulations available is going to increase even more, and awareness of the technology among employers is also going to increase."

So which employers are using job simulation today?

Igor Kotylar, president of the Canadian division of AlignMark Inc., a Florida-based company that provides employee assessment and e-learning tools, points to call centres, health-care companies, banks and real estate companies.

A large portion of these early adopters are in the United States, he says, but Canadian companies are starting to catch up.

Examples of Canadian employers using job simulations for hiring include Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and real estate companies Re/Max and Royal LePage Ltd.

Using text, audio and video, job simulations recreate scenarios that employees would typically encounter at work.

At CIBC, for instance, applicants to the customer call centre must first sit down in front of a computer screen and watch a character who explains what the job is like, explains Mr. Kotylar, whose company supplied CIBC with the simulation program.

They're then required to take a phone call from a fictitious customer. While they're on the phone, they must also navigate through a computer interface similar to what actual call centre employees use.

CIBC spokesperson Rob McLeod says it's too early to tell how simulation technology is affecting hiring decisions at the bank.

Ray Yenkana, who heads recruiting and sales training at Re/Max Little Oak Realty Ltd. in Abbottsford, B.C., says that employers can tell a lot about job applicants from how they perform on a job simulation.

Re/Max uses a simulation from AlignMark that shows videos of actors posing as home buyers. The actors "talk" to the aspiring realtors, who must then choose from a given list what they consider to be the best response to the situation.

"The simulation not only tests sales ability, it also reveals a lot of personality traits," Mr. Yenkana says.

"We can teach you sales skills, but you have to have certain personality traits to succeed in this business and the test shows us whether you have those traits or not."

Rick Haase, general manager of New Orleans-based Prudential Gardner Realtors, which also uses AlignMark's real estate simulator, says he can predict how well a new recruit will perform on the job based on how they performed on the job simulation.

Analyses of Prudential agents' performance show that, in their first year, those who scored high in the simulation earned more than three times as much as those who scored low, Mr. Haase says.

As a result of these findings, managers who didn't put much weight on simulation results -- and therefore still hired people who didn't do well in the test - are now paying more attention to them, he says.

Simulation technology also attracts more job applicants, he adds. Instead of advertising a job, Prudential invites people to try the simulation to see if they're suitable for a career in real estate. These try-out invitations have a response rate that's 2½times higher than the traditional help wanted ads Prudential used to run, Mr. Haase says.

Since Prudential began using the simulation test in 2003, more than 7,000 people have taken it, Mr. Haase says. And from this pool, Prudential has hired more than 1,000 agents. Last year alone, it was able to recruit about 300 agents, nearly triple the number in 2002.

L'Oréal Canada human resources director Alain Thiffault says that his is the only cosmetics company that uses simulation technology for hiring, making it stand out from other employers in the industry.

And it makes L'Oréal particularly attractive to young, tech-savvy workers who see it as a sign of an innovative company, he says.

Since it launched its virtual business strategy game four years ago, L'Oreal has hired 186 top players from 28 countries. Mr. Thiffault says he doesn't have the actual figures for Canada, but believes up to two students a year have been offered positions as full-time employees or interns at L'Oréal Canada.

Job simulation is also beneficial for employees, Mr. Thiffault adds, because it allows them to test-drive a job to see if it's right for them.

The fact that most simulations are Web-based also makes it easier for employers and job hunters; the simulations can be done from practically anywhere, and allow both parties to get a preview of each other before setting up an interview.

Pokin Yeung, a L'Oréal Canada product manager who played her way into the company in 2002, says the simulation game got her so fired up about working for L'Oréal that she relocated from Vancouver to Montreal.

"You really do feel like an entrepreneur making all kinds of decisions," Ms. Yeung says of the game. "For example, I might choose to launch a product, but beyond that there were other decisions like how to position the company, or how much to invest."

But while job simulations have much to offer, they represent just one instrument in an employer's recruitment tool box, says Michael Gravelle, vice-president at McQuaig Institute of Executive Development Ltd., an employment-assessment firm in Toronto.

"Potentially the risk you run with simulation is one of overweighting," he says. "Especially if it's a new tool that's sexy, like computer simulation, a company might overweight it and ignore other components of the recruitment process."

To avoid this danger, employers must balance simulation results with a thorough interview, written assessment tests, and reference and background checks, Mr. Gravelle says.

Mr. Yenkana agrees. No matter how well Re/Max job applicants perform on the simulation, they must still pass muster at an interview, he says. The AlignMark real estate simulator also includes cognitive skills and personality tests, he notes.

At L'Oréal, the teams with the highest share price index -- a measurement taking into account a variety of factors such as market share, growth, profitability and corporate social responsibility --also get a chance to show off their presentation skills to a panel of judges.

In this presentation, they explain their business strategy and try to convince L'Oréal to invest in their fictitious company. Mr. Thiffault says the presentation helps L'Oréal assess competitors' personalities and communication skills.

Although Ms. Chean and her teammates didn't achieve the highest share price index among Canadian players, they did get top marks for their presentation.

Their prize? An iPod, a basket of L'Oréal products --and an assurance from Mr. Thiffault's department that their résumés will be reviewed shortly, ahead of the thousands the company receives each year.

Now that Ms. Chean has tried her hand at running a virtual cosmetics company and has visited L'Oréal's headquarters, she says she really, really wants a job with the company -- and can actually say she has relevant work experience.

"I aspire to be a brand manager and what we did [in the game] is exactly what a brand manager does, so now it gives us the credibility to back up our other non-related experience."

Rules for the game

Want to make the most of simulation technology? Here are tips from the experts:

Employers

Choose a relevant simulation. Job simulations should closely mirror actual work situations in a particular type of company or industry, says Igor Kotylar, president of the Canadian division of AlignMark Inc., a Florida-based company that provides employee assessment and e-learning tools. This allows both parties -- employers and employees -- to assess each other fairly during the simulation.

Make simulations only part of a hiring strategy. Recruiters shouldn't rely on simulations alone when making hiring decisions, says Michael Gravelle, vice-president of Toronto employee assessment firm McQuaig Institute of Executive Development Ltd.

"Employers need to take a holistic approach to hiring that includes multiple tools to assess candidates -- like an interview, personality and skills assessments, reference and background checks and some form of work sample."

Make the most of the results. Because job simulations are effective at pinpointing strengths and weaknesses, companies should use the results not only to help their hiring but also in mapping out employees' careers, says Rick Haase, general manager of New Orleans-based Prudential Gardner Realtors, which uses simulation tools to help in hiring agents. Did the simulation, for instance, reveal strong leadership traits in your new sales rep or a distinct creative streak in your customer service manager? "Use that information when you're creating a professional development plan," he says.

Employees

It's not about the right answers. Most simulations look for more than correct or incorrect answers; they're also assessing your listening skills, how well you pay attention to details or how you organize information, Mr. Kotylar says.

So don't just focus on the questions at the end of a simulated scenario, he advises. "It's important to watch and listen to the whole thing."

Be honest. Sure you could fudge the answers. You could even ask someone else to take the simulation for you, Mr. Kotylar says. But chances are an employer will discover at some point -- perhaps during the job interview or while checking your references -- that your real skills or personality traits don't match the simulation results.

Treat the simulation as a personal development opportunity. Consider what the results say about your strengths and weaknesses and use that information to advance your career, he suggests. "Think about how you can further develop your job-related competencies and personal attributes."

Marjo Johne