Anyone who’s ever interviewed others for a job knows how time consuming it can be. So when something crosses my path that seems like it could make such a task easier, I tend to take notice.

That’s what I did when I heard about Simulation on Demand (from etc-easy.com), which tests and predicts success levels for call center employees.  Since the hit & miss call center industry burns through new employees at an alarming rate—some call-center companies I know of are thrilled to get their turnover below 50 percent—this kind of web-based service should be a god send.

Employment Technologies Corp. has been around for more than a decade, so it isn’t like this technology is breaking news. . . . But apparently there are people like me who have never heard of such an animal, so from what I’ve learned, this is how it works:

Say you work at a call center. You have what seems like a perpetual help wanted ad running, and you’re tired of spending day after day in interviews and training—Only to do it all again next month. So you hook up with a company like ETC and you send your applicants their direction. Job seekers are put through a series of simulations and the algorithms do the rest. After 45 minutes of testing, the company can predict how successful each applicant will be in a call center environment.

Having used assessment tools for years in screening and hiring, I know the value of them. But nothing beats life-like simulation. It’s a pretty safe bet we’ll be seeing more of this kind of thing in the future.

Heck, maybe a lot of it is already upon us, and I’ve been focusing on other things. If you’re aware of other companies that provide online simulations, I’d love to hear about them.  Please comment and fill us in. I’m sure there’s a lot more people than me who’d like to be aware about these things.

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Filed in Technology, Work, Business, Training, Management, Internet, Workplace, Corporate Culture, Interviewing