How Augmented Reality (AR) is Changing the Recruitment World

Immersive technologies like Augmented reality and virtual reality have been used for quite some time in the media and entertainment field. Even the education sector hasn't remained untouched. 

The rising awareness of Augmented reality has created a revolution. A revolution that gives new ways of visualizing and navigating data to get a richer understanding.

Augmented reality is the technology that "extends" the physical world. This is achieved by adding digital virtual elements, sound, or other sensory stimuli on top of real details. AR helps create a platform that is more enjoyable and give realistic experience.

As per the "The Bible" of AR by Kipper and Rampoll below are the three main contributing characteristics required for something to count as Augmented reality. 

• Combination: It is the defining attribute of AR i.e. AR combines real and virtual information. 
• Interaction: AR is interactive in real-time.
• 3D: AR is used in a 3D environment. 

Public acceptance once was one of the biggest challenges for AR but is now its biggest strength. According to a survey report, published by The Fortune Business Insights, the last significant augmented reality market growth was 46.8% in 2020 as compared to the average growth during 2017-2019. The market is expected to expand from USD 6.12 billion in 2021 to USD 97.76 billion in 2028 at a CAGR of 48.6%. 

Covid-19 affected the growth of AR in many ways. Aviation, retail, realty are some of the worst-hit sectors whereas others like industrial training and recruitment have seen opportunities to revolutionize their old methods.

Augmented Reality in Recruitment Industry

Thanks to AR tools (with a special focus on practical learning) that have given an edge to the recruiters. Possible ways to leverage the power of Augmented audio-visual environments in Training and Recruitment processes are:

Exclusive Introduction 

WebAR, a recent development in the AR field, is doing wonders for businesses. WebAR can be used to give in-depth functional understanding to the applicants. This will help them understand the advanced features of the latest line and what they have in them to contribute to the company's performance. AR technology can help companies give an exclusive live introduction, company tour, and showcase their present and past employee's experiences. 

Above all, who doesn't want a workplace tour! Either traditional or virtual, a workplace walkthrough does have a strong impact on the candidates.

Job Evaluation via Virtual Events 

Social distancing protocols have eliminated in-person events in 2020. Creating a challenge for recruiters. WebAR can be used to create fun, engaging, and socially distant recruitment activities. It's an interactive way to safely share content across the globe.

Students can walk around exploring each employer's booth just like they could do in any physical career fair. Watch the company's introduction, demands, and job profile before applying.

Recently, after the cancellation of the careers fair POT Noodles turned to WebAR to help fresh young talent. They created a virtual replacement of the annual career fair booth with a live DJ, conference booths, and a social lounge. 

Overcome old and new workforce challenges 

A recent CIPD survey showed, approximately 2/3rds of companies believe that productivity has either remained the same or improved as a result of work-from-home due to covid-19. Then the new challenge "training" arose as the traditional classroom methods failed.

This called for the need for smarter ways to access information that resides solely in the expert's brain. Here, AR proved to be the best medium to train the next-generation workforce. Recently, many companies like Rockwell Automation, Volvo Groups have shifted to AR training and as a result, have gained a considerable boost in their working environment.

Seamless Guidance 

Complex tasks either need expertise or expert guidance and "training" is all about that. There are a few ways for providing guidance throughout via AR: 

Capturing expert's workflows and scaling this knowledge to workers for hands-on training and task guidance.

Using AR for remote assistance brings both trainee and trainer on the same platform for the live support to solve complex tasks.

Jon Newman, Vice President of product management at Librestream Technologies, said:

Augmented reality is an excellent way to record highly experienced workers’ knowledge ahead of their retirement.

Identifying Perfect Fit

Given how complex the job landscape has become especially after covid-19, AR can be seen as an enhanced futuristic decision-making process. It is a great way to replace the application forms. By engaging applicants in the AR recruitment process, their live working potentials can be recorded, analyzed, and meet the best fit. 

Realistic Field Training 

AR is of great help when it comes to estimating performance in critical areas like the army. Today, AR technology is used to test an applicant’s ability to withstand d putting them into that situation. Recently, The UK Ministry of Defense went to tender for its 'Defense Virtual Simulation 2' contract for giving advanced synthetic training. 

The cost was initially a prime barrier for widespread access to AR technology. Owing to an eye for the future, it is now in reach of micro-macro companies, making it accessible to more public. 

AR is an ever-changing technology and has a lot to contribute to the recruitment industry. It helps in addressing the skills gap, give candidates a clear picture of their future working environment, offers a richer understanding of values, ethics, and culture of the organization, and yes, 'record excellence' of experts.