Cisco Holding European Career Fair for IT Candidates

Cisco Systems is holding the career meet-up tomorrow, Tuesday, November 6 at 9:00 - 11:00 a.m SLT (PST). 

The emphasis is on connecting Cisco's European channel partners with IT candidates in Second Life.  These include  Dimension Data, NetDesign, Alliant Technologies, Affinity, Voice Tech, Touchbase, Telindus, and BBNED.

Randy Sisk over at Cisco's Virtual World blog is looking forward to the unconventional nature of this career fair asking questions like:

With the richness of customized content available in virtual environments, what is considered proper dress or attire? How will employers respond to candidates who may express themselves with a non-human form avatar? Will the Sci-Fi looking android appeal to a possible employer’s desire to hire employees who think creatively and outside the box, or will there be an expectation from some employers that candidates should dress “traditional”? Or how about expressing group affiliation with something like a furry avatar? On the technical side, how well will chat and voice chat work, and how many of the attendees will be able to leverage SL voice?

These are not trival questions for either the recuiting organizations or for candidates, as our virtual and real worlds collide more and more.  Does this mean recruiting officers in organizations need special training?; does it mean candidates must conform to real life standards of "dress;"  and what about that profile?  It certainly may reveal some things we wouldn't necessarily include on our resume - or even think about being there.  Should candidates create a "professional" alt? But then does that undermine the "outside the box/creativity" the organization is actually looking for.

I know of some companies that are using these very questions - and avatar behaviors and dress - to bring awareness to recruiters about RL biases in the hiring process.  One thing recruiting in SL does is perhaps to make companies really think about what characteristics they are looking for and just maybe realizing they need to put away some long-held beliefs that may be counter-productive to hiring the right candidates.

If you'd like to learn more about opportunities with Cisco's channel partners, register for the event here.

The event is being held at:  Cisco Systems Island slurl: http://slurl.com/secondlife/cisco%20systems%203/120/154/22/.

November 5, 2006