Gamifying Recruitment Process: A Qualitative Study Aimed At Bridging the Skills Gap in UAE Jobs Market

Abstract

The overall purpose of HRM is to ensure that the organization is able to achieve success through people. And this is ensured by the two major practices and policies of HRM, recruitment and selection of job candidates. The aim of this research is to introduce gamification in recruitment strategies as a guider of high school students' educational and career selection that is driven by jobs market demands. The first part of this paper identifies thoroughly to the reader the definition and problem of skills gap in jobs market generally, and more specifically in UAE's context. Skills gap is the mismatch between what jobs market demands and what job seekers actually provide. Because such gap is widening instead of closing, although more graduates are entering jobs market and more
jobs are available, recruitment strategy is defined to highlight the importance of attracting the right job candidates. Following, as it is very important to the reader to have an overall viewpoint of the meaning of Gamification in recruitment, how it influences behaviors and attitudes, and how it affects high school students' decision making, we interviewed three students and analyzed their perceptions towards the game element, recognizing the recruitment games' effect on students' selection of majprs. Finally, some concluding recommendations have been addressed.