Monday, May 21, 2007

Last week, Sodexho decided to skip the phone-screening process for potential job candidates. Instead, the Gaithersburg food and facilities management company took to the computer-based virtual world, where job-seekers were invited to create avatars (animated graphic characters) of themselves to be interviewed online by avatars of Sodexho recruiters.

Applicants got to design any kind of avatars they wanted, choosing hair color, clothing and general appearance. They sent their characters to Sodexho's virtual office, where they shook hands with avatar recruiters and were taken to a private, digital conference room. Then they discussed -- via instant messages -- jobs such as chef or administrator.

Other companies were part of the same avatar job fair, including eBay, Verizon Communications and Microsoft.

"There were lots of positives," said Arie Ball, vice president of sourcing and talent acquisition at Sodexho. "It was not as much stress for the candidate in doing this. It was a lot more engaging than a phone interview would be." It was also cost effective: no need to lug booths and brochures on planes to job fairs around the country.

About 70 avatars applied this way, and several will be called for a face-to-face, non-avatar interview, said company spokesman Anthony Owens. He doesn't expect the live candidates to look like the avatars they created. ("I'm sure we all would want to take off 20 pounds or years," he said.)

Although the recruiters expected mostly college students or recent graduates to be interested in this tech-centric type of job interview, it turned out that an older crowd was willing to play. Most of the candidates said they had five to 15 years of experience in the industry.

Candidates got a little more leeway as avatars than they would have in person. For one, they didn't get demerits for poor spelling during the IM conversation, Ball said. And she won't hold anything against the casual avatar who showed up without a jacket. The poor guy told her he couldn't figure out how to put it on.

-- Amy Joyce