The UK's first virtual careers fair starts tomorrow

Companies including KPMG, The Royal Bank of Scotland and Yell have signed up for the UK’s first ‘virtual world’ careers fair starting tomorrow.

The three day event hosted by recruitment firm TMP will take place in the internet world Second Life to offer firms the opportunity to interview multiple job seekers online.

Recruiters and job seekers will both have avatars (computer-generated images of themselves) to represent them in online interviews.

Candidates will be requested to register for the companies they are interested in at the event website. Firms will then carry out initial screening of candidates before inviting them to an interview in Second Life.

It is hard to get an idea of a candidate’s personality through a CV, said Yell head of national resourcing Isabelle Hung.

“We feel this is a different way of engaging with candidates before they even send in their CV and attracting candidates which may not have even considered us,” she said.

Once candidates enter the 3-D online world, they will be greeted by virtual concierges and escorted to TMP’s office where they will be given basic training on how to interact inside Second Life.

They will then be teleported to the employer’s offices on the island where avatar recruiters will greet them and discussions can begin via live chat and instant messaging.

The introductory screening process could be taken out of the equation, said TMP regional head of digital David Coombs.

“The bigger issue is the alignment of the brand and the way it can really promote the brand much better than a website can,” said Coombs.

“Candidates have the chance to interact in real time not only with recruiters but other candidates so you get a bit more of a community feel,” he said.