Part I:
Name some companies with whom you have done business. Then discuss how you view their employer brands. Would you want to work for them? How might these firms improve their employer brands?
Part II: 
Read Case Study 1. Job Candidate Assessment Tests Go Virtual on page 248 and discuss your answers to the questions.
Book Title: eTextbook: Managing Human Resources
Chapter 6. Employee Selection
Case Study 1. Job Candidate Assessment Tests Go Virtual
Case Study 1. Job Candidate Assessment Tests Go
Virtual
A growing number of preemployment tests simulate a job’s functions and are being conducted
via computer or on the Web. You can liken them to video games but within a work setting.
Toyota, Starbucks, the paint maker Sherwin Williams, and numerous financial firms such as
SunTrust Banks, KeyBank, and National City Bank have successfully used virtual job
simulations to assess applicants.
At Toyota, applicants participating in simulations read dials and gauges, spot safety problems,
and use their ability to solve problems as well as their general ability to learn as assessed. The
candidates can see and hear about the job they’re applying for from current Toyota
employees. National City Bank has used virtual assessments to test call-center candidates and
branch manager candidates. Call-center candidates are given customer-service problems to
solve, and branch manager candidates go through a simulation that assesses their ability to
foster relationships with clients and make personnel decisions.
These kinds of virtual assessment tools, which are produced by companies such as Shaker
Consulting Group, Profiles International, and others, do not come cheap. But although they
can cost tens of thousands of dollars, larger companies that can afford them are saying they
are worth it. The benefits? Better-qualified candidates, faster recruiting, and lower turnover
among employees hired. KeyBank says that by using virtual testing tools, it realized savings of
more than $1.75 million per year due to lower turnover.
Candidates also seem to like the assessments because they provide a more realistic job
preview and make them feel as if they are being chosen for jobs based on more than just their
personalities or how they performed during an interview. “It was a very insightful experience
that made you think about what exactly you like and dislike in the workplace and if you really
enjoy helping customers and have patience to do so,” says one candidate tested for a customer
service job.
And it is not just younger candidates who play a lot of video games who like the tests—older
candidates do as well. “We haven’t seen any adverse impact,” says Ken Troyan, chief staffing
officer for SunTrust Banks. “There’s some mythology—if you will—about older people not
248
being computer-savvy, and that’s just not so.” One study found that the simulations also tend
to result in less of a gap between people in underrepresented groups and White candidates
than when paper-and-pencil tests are used.
A handful of software companies have developed games that don’t mirror work tasks but are
actual video games you would play for fun. “Bomba Blitz” and “Meta Maze” are two mobile
games developed by the preemployment-testing company Knack. According to Knack, the
games utilize behavioral neuroscience and big data—in this case, the game scores and
decision-making traits of thousands of different types of workers—to match people with jobs.
HR experts warn that companies need to be sure they aren’t simply buying glitzy simulations
that don’t translate well to the jobs for which they are hiring. Games like those produced by
Knack are just now starting to be used, and firms generally aren’t solely relying on them to
make hiring decisions. Also, the tools could potentially eliminate candidates who have trouble
with simulations, games, or computers but might make good employees. You should still use
the U.S. Department of Labor’s “whole-person approach” to hiring, says one HR professional.
The whole-person approach factors in the results of a variety of accepted tests along with
prior actual performance and interview results to get the most complete picture of an
employee or candidate.
Questions
1. What do you think are the prime advantages and disadvantages of “virtual tryouts”?
2. Do you think there would be any EEOC concerns regarding this system?
3. Do you think virtual job tryouts might be better suited for some jobs than others? If
so, which ones?
Sources: Sarah Needleman, “Play This Game and Win a Job!” Wall Street Journal (March 14, 2016):
R2; Karen Vilardo, “KeyBank’s Success with the ‘Virtual Job Tryout,’” Journal of Corporate Recruiting
Leadership 5, no. 4 (2010): 24; Ira S. Wolfe, “Success Performance Solutions,” The Total View
Newsletter (May 12, 2010); Connie Winkle, “HR Technology: Job Tryouts Go Virtual,” HR Magazine
(September 1, 2006), http://www.shrm.org/; Gina Ruiz, “Job Candidate Assessment Tests Go
Virtual,” Workforce Management Online (January 2008), http://www.workforce.com; “Clients and
Case Studies,” Shaker Consulting Group (March 27, 2011), http://www.shakercg.com.