Going for Broke with Pokémon

Have you heard of Pokémon GO? If not it means you have been living under a rock for the past month or so.  We decided to take a break from hunting down the local Dodrio that’s been eluding us and take a look at what lessons Pokémon GO can teach us in the staffing industry.

1 – Just Because You Miss Out, Doesn’t Mean You Lost!

If you miss a Pokémon, or don’t have enough pokeballs to capture it,  it isn’t the end of the world.  There will be more down the road, different ones, with a different skill set and advantages.  Who knows maybe you gave up a Magikarp, whose only ability is to flop on dry land and say “SPLASH” and then found a Charmander, one of the most sought after of them all.

Sometimes you just have to keep moving and better and more valuable candidates will reveal themselves.

2 – Candidates Can Evolve

There are a myriad of different types of Pokémon.  But what’s interesting is that when you catch a Pokémon it doesn’t have to stay in its current form forever.  If trained and given the right attention and resources it can evolve in different stages to other more powerful versions.

Just like candidates that are given the right environment, education, resources, and support they can “evolve” or grow into a role and position and benefit everyone around them.  To us, that seems like the ideal hire!

3 – Go For A Walk

The brilliance of the game is that it is location based.  To capture new Pokémon you have to GET UP and MOVE.  It’s the first time in years that parents have been encouraging their children to play a video game.

I went to Washington Square Park in Philadelphia and it took less than 5 minutes to see multiple groups of people walking around with phones in their hands talking about Pokémon.

If presented with a difficult or challenging problem you need to take a break.  Get up, walk around outside for a few minutes and you’ll have a different perspective.

Also if we apply location based thinking to staffing you will quickly realize that to find the best talent you have to go to where they are!

4 – I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

More often than not you’ll see people playing Pokémon GO in groups.  Sure you can walk all over the city by yourself, but it’s way more fun to brag to your friends when you move up a level or catch a rare Pokémon.

Same goes for recruiting, finding the right candidate is a lot more enjoyable when you have people to talk to it about. It becomes a lot easier when we have people pointing us in the right direction, aka “referrals”.

Pokémon

5 – Gamification For The Win

In the end, it is still a game.  And you are competing with other people to “catch em all” first.

Competition isn’t a bad thing, in fact it often motivates us to get more done and quicker than we expected.  Set an employee to a task and they will complete it eventually, with no motivation or pride.  Make work a game, or set milestones to achieve “levels” and suddenly everyone is in on the fun and more productive than ever!

Did you know there have even been books written about gamification in the workplace?  One of the most popular is by Kevin Werbach and Dan Hunter called How Game Thinking Can Revolutionize Your Business.   Kevin is an Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at UPenn right here in Philadelphia.

6 – Follow the Crowd

If you were hoping to join the Pokémon GO craze it’s not too late. Yes, many have a head start, and after only 2 short weeks one Brooklyn based gamer has already caught ALL of the available Pokémon.  Well almost, he has caught 142 different Pokémon, with 9 of the rarest Pokémon still eluding him.  There are theories that they are location specific and not available anywhere on the continent of North America.  Now while he has at least 1 of each 142 Pokémon he caught has 4,629 Pokémon.

4,629 IN 2 WEEKS, while working a normal day job…. We don’t know what to say to that expect for “mic drop”.

What it shows is that while a massive number of people are playing the game only a few will rise to the top and “catch em all”.  The majority of people will stay somewhere in the middle.  If everyone you know is doing something chances are it is worth at least checking out.

7 – Get Creative

The entire basis of the game is catching fictional creatures to then battle them against other fictional characters of various abilities, names, and skills.  The entire thing is a brilliant cartoon that spawned a worldwide phenomenon that has lasted decades!  What amazing ideas are dormant in your brain just waiting to come out?

Get creative and have some fun!  In staffing there are no fictional hires but they may seem that way at times.  Be creative in finding them – they are there… somewhere…

Can we apply more than these 7 ways to improve staffing practice with Pokémon GO lessons?  Sure, but we have to get back to recruiting… If you haven’t downloaded the app, we encourage you to give it a try and see how our tips can apply to your recruiting.