Interactive entertainment and gaming in general is poised for continued growth as game franchises expand and social platforms increase reach and potential market share. Underlying this expansion is the ongoing need to find the creative talent with the right experience and the right cultural fit.
How does a company do this? First, by assessing the ways it gets talent into the organization. These three questions will help you improve your current talent acquisition processes to increase your ability to find the right creative talent for your projects.
Are you using multiple platforms? Games are available across multiple platforms and reach a growing audience. Think about your talent acquisition strategies in the same way. How are you reaching potential employees? Are you only leveraging traditional recruiting tools or going beyond them to areas such as social networking and the use of outsourced recruiting models? The more platforms you use, the broader your reach.
How interactive is your process? It wouldn’t be interactive entertainment if you didn’t get your audience involved. Likewise, today’s job seekers are expecting to be engaged before, during, and after the hiring process. Social media tools work for promotion and customer interaction, and they can also be valuable networks for talent. However, it takes time and effort to effectively build and maintain these networks. Make sure you dedicate resources to making these channels a pathway into your organization.
Are you networked with other players? There are many partners and ways to optimize your talent acquisition processes instead of doing it all on your own. Interactive entertainment companies are just beginning to find out how temporary staffing, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), payrolling, and other workforce solutions can help find and manage a flexible workforce. Hiring talent doesn’t always mean hiring employees directly into your organization. Explore other options that help you reach and engage talent for your projects.
The future of gaming (or any other industry) is going to depend on talent. Today there are many competing technologies and platforms that will create a war for specific skills. Interactive entertainment companies will need to develop broader talent acquisition resources to fight this war.
It’s not a simulation and it’s not a game you can win. It’s a game that continues every day. But the payoff is the success of your business.
