Dive Brief:

• The majority of U.S. job seekers (72%) in a survey performed by The Knowledge Academy said they want companies to use more unorthodox recruiting assessment methods — from capture the flag to escape rooms to professional speed-dating sessions.
• Survey results emailed to HR Dive show that 70% of companies, for example, are open to assessing candidates in escape rooms. The Knowledge Academy indicated this method is useful for evaluating skills like time management, problem solving and communication.
• Among job seekers, 74% would be open to assessment via games of capture the flag, 66% would be open to use of escape rooms and 50% would be open to professional speed dating sessions. The survey queried 684 U.S. companies and 1,486 job seekers.

Dive Insight:

Recruiting is challenging, especially in a tight labor market, hobbled by a skills gap and low unemployment. Even in better market periods, the task of reviewing resumes, bringing them to managers and handling onboarding takes considerable effort and time. And making the wrong choice risks even greater costs, both in terms of time and money. It's no wonder employers are willing to experiment.

Then there's the pressure HR receives from finance; a Robert Half study of chief financial officers found that traditional hiring strategies no longer work for today's employers. Instead, respondents to Robert Half indicated a willingness to shift from old to new methods, such as identifying in-demand skills that workers can learn on the job and offering remote work options. As a result recruiters have moved hiring processes toward skills and training and away from credentials.

Recruiters at large companies have also taken steps to adopt new technologies when evaluating candidates, including advanced machine learning. That respondents to The Knowledge Academy indicated interest in game-like interviewing strategies, such as capture the flag, may also speak to the rise of gaming in recruiting strategy.