Second Life Interviews

An interview is usually the make or break point for an employee looking for a job. By the time an interview has been scheduled, it is most likely that the resume has already been exchanged and the employer wants to know more about the personality of the employee. This is what the interview is for. So what do interviews on second life accomplish? Well of course they are more convenient, but I do not think they can show the employer the same things about the employee.

For some jobs it could be effective. One example is the software engineers that were talked about in the article. For employers who are looking for skills on computers, it could be effective. They want to know how skilled their potential employees are with software and second life can show them just that. However, for your average job, the employee's personality matters. For any employer that wants to know about the true personality of their employees, second life is not an efficient way to interview them. It is true I am less nervous on second life speaking through my avatar, but that is not how I would actually act at work. An employer needs to see non-verbal communication that is left out in second life.

Overall, unless it is for a software writing job, I think second life is a terrible way to replace face to face interviews.