MAKE BETTER HIRING DECISIONS

It's not hard to verify hard skills — but a lack of accurate soft skill evaluation has long plagued the hiring process.

Anyone can say they're a great communicator. Anyone can say they're an effective problem solver who works inclusively with their colleagues. But typically, employers only find out they've made a mistake after months, even years, of time, money, and resources spent on a bad hire.

WHY IS IT SO HARD TO EVALUATE SOFT SKILLS?

Employers know how important soft skills are and aim to hire people who will become valuable members of their team. But the usual methods of evaluation are anything but foolproof:
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• Interviews are used to understand all sorts of things about the candidate, including getting a sense of who they are — but an interviewee is putting their best self forward, not necessarily their day-to-day self
• An employer can ask for examples of good soft skills in action, but anecdotes are typically prepared and could be embellished
• Personality tests are used to build a profile, but the answers are self-reported and the tests are often not based in science
• Candidates may be put into social situations to evaluate how they navigate problems in a team context — but they're still adjusting their behavior based on being conscious they're being observed

​There's a lot riding on the outcome of the selection process for the candidate. They want you to choose them, so it's completely natural that a candidate would present themselves as they believe you'd like to see. That's why most means of evaluating soft skills fail: they don't address the power the candidate has over their own presentation.

ALIGNVR'S VIRTUAL REALITY APPROACH GIVES YOU THE POWER

Impression management describes the process whereby people naturally engage in conscious and unconscious behavior to present the version of themselves they want others to see. But when you hire somebody, you need to see who they really are.

AlignVR's approach is to tackle that core problem by suppressing the effects of impression management with cognitive load. We combine the total immersion of virtual reality with the immediacy of fast-paced win/fail tasks that require tight teamwork to accomplish. We engineer social problem-solving situations that organically produce authentic behaviors as all the participants can see and interact with are those in the virtual world with them.

In short? They forget about trying to get hired, and hiring managers have vital insight into who the participants really are like never before.

Just looking for something a little lighter? Our TeamBooster product allows your team to explore some of the VR challenges in a more relaxed, no-pressure social context.

Learn more

EXAMPLE Soft skills tasks

OBSERVATION AND CONTRIBUTION

Trapped in the past with a broken time machine, participants must pay close attention to their surroundings to escape. Do they work together and share information? Does someone naturally take the lead? Do all try to contribute? 

ADAPTATION AND FOCUS

How do participants respond when an unexpected outside force subtly sabotages their progress? Do they notice? Do they blame someone else? Or are they focused on solving the problem?

STRATEGY AND COMMUNICATION

Aboard a space station with time running out, can your team come up with an effective plan to finish the repair while under attack? Under pressure, how do they delegate roles and iterate toward success?

MANY MORE POSSIBILITIES

With full control over the virtual world and how each participant individually sees and interacts with it, we produce unexpected, unpredictable situations and scenarios not possible in traditional physical activities that put the ability to collaborate, work inclusively, and be attentive to the whole team on full display.

What Candidates think

Candidates who have undergone the AlignVR process have a strong positive response, reporting enjoying the activity and having a more positive opinion of the company.

• Participants rate the experience extremely positively
• People enjoy being able to sort out roles and have the team run smoothly
• Everyone has a chance to shine

Frequently asked questions

Will people who experience motion sickness get sick in these experiences?

​No! Carefully developed VR experiences do not cause motion sickness. Because of how we design the experience, even participants that have reported VR sickness with previous applications have completed AlignVR sessions with no problems.

What if my candidate has never done VR before?

Not a problem. AlignVR tasks are designed to be completely intuitive and accessible. No prior experience with virtual reality is necessary at all. Participants walk around freely in the virtual space and use two controllers with a single button to interact with the world.

Will my staff be participating in awkward role-plays?

​There will be no acting of any kind involved in your AlignVR experience. Our system of learning actually relies on creating a natural response to situations rather than contrived role play scenarios. The activities are specifically designed to be a completely natural experience that occurs without any awareness of a lesson or message. 

Can people with glasses do this?

Yes! Most glasses fit inside the headset — though if you have wider rims, they may not, and contacts may be a better idea.

What will we do in VR?

The virtual reality sessions are designed as problem-solving scenarios that require varying levels of activity but no prior knowledge. Candidates must work together to make discoveries, strategize and succeed. You do not need to be an expert at anything to participate!

Do we come to you or do you come to us?

If you're in Alberta, you are welcome to come to our Alberta Training Centre in Edmonton. We are also fully equipped to run an AlignVR session in a pop-up format throughout Alberta either in your office if you have a 20' x 20' empty space, or in a nearby facility we will arrange.

Outside of Alberta, we can either help you get set up as an ongoing program in your office, or we may be able to refer you to a local partner.

​Interested in becoming a partner? Let us know!

How to get an AlignVR TEAMQUALIFIER

Now you're all ready to book an AlignVR TeamQualifier session — let's do it.

We have a few questions to get us started on discovering which experiences will be right for your company. Fill in the form below and we'll be in touch very soon with more details.