In the Technology section of HR Magazine’s September issue, you’ll find a feature story about Virtual Job Auditions®. The article highlights how Select International partnered with Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc. to provide a state-of-the-art assessment process. The author also points out how Virtual Job Auditions™ or virtual job tryouts are growing in popularity.
Excerpts from
“Job Tryouts Go Virtual
Online job simulations provide sophisticated candidate assessments”
By Connie Winkler
Published in HR Magazine, September 2006
“Anyone applying for a job building Tundra trucks at Toyota Motors’ new San Antonio plant has to start at a computer screen. They have to read dials and gauges, spot safety problems and complete an interactive job simulation that demonstrates their ability to assess and solve problems, as well as their general ability to learn. Via video, candidates can see and hear about the job they’re applying for from current Toyota employees.
If they perform well enough, they get to return for a hands-on tryout lifting 50-pound bumpers, spray painting and bolting nuts with an airgun.
Welcome to the new interview. In today’s workplace, it is computer-based, often online via the web, and increasingly resembles reality simulation video games, flight simulators or military simulation training. Called virtual job auditions, virtual job tryouts or realistic job previews, this new screening process goes beyond candidates watching videos or completing online application forms.
By putting a job candidate in an online environment that mirrors the work they will be performing if hired, these tools help employers make smarter hiring decisions in less time. They also give candidates a more accurate picture of the job they are seeking, in an effort to reduce employee turnover.
Toyota introduced computer-based assessment technology in 2002-2003 at its first Mexico plant and in 2004-2005 at its $800 million San Antonio plant when the company was interviewing tens of thousands of candidates for 2,000 local jobs.
In Tijuana, Mexico, 24 employees administered the assessments (in Spanish), which Select International had refreshed and upgraded from a simpler computer assessment. At a similar Tundra truck plant that opened in the late 1990s in Princeton, Ind., the company needed 68 assessors. Toyota estimates the new technology saved it $2.6 million at the San Antonio plant.
The computer assembler audition, which combined online and hands-on assessments, is now a best practice at Toyota, and the system is being considered for administration jobs. It is also being implemented at Toyota’s new Canadian plant and is planned for use in the United Kingdom, where it will be rolled out to European plants over the next year.
Some experts believe there is actually less likelihood of a candidate challenging virtual auditions because prospects view them as more job-related – and less likely to be biased – than attitude surveys or other forms of screening tools.”
If you are interested in learning more about Virtual Job Auditions™ or would like a reprint of the full article, please contact Kristen Hofstetter at 412-358-8595, x1521 or khofstetter@selectintl.com.
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