Making Good Hiring Decisions in Your Virtual Business

Because of the number of people that are inside of virtual worlds it is very important to ensure that any business you attempt to operate inside of one as well as proper staffing. While this can be a bit difficult in the normal world, it can be just as complicated in the virtual world as well, except even harder because you are unable to actually talk to the person face to face and see how they look about the job. In order to help combat this, there are a few specific guidelines that will help you to find the best employees possible to represent your virtual business.

Because you only want the best people to represent your business, it is very important to take your time and carefully interview as many people as possible. Just as you would not allow just anyone to interact with your customers at your primary business locations, you should not allow it to happen at your virtual locations either.

Your first rule of thumb should be age. Age inside of a virtual world is a bit different; it depends on the rezz date, which is the date that the avatar was first created. Typically, this is the account creation date as well. The reason that rezz date or age is important is because you need to look to hire people who have enough experience inside of the virtual world that you will not be spending all of your time teaching them the basics of the world, but rather they will be doing the job that you hired them for. Additionally, if you are still new to virtual worlds you will not have the experience necessary to teach them yourself.

Typing skills are also very important. While speed is not as important for a virtual world employee as it would be for a secretary or office assistant, it is still very important to have good typing skills so that thoughts and concepts can be communicated effectively. Someone who is always typing with poor grammar and using continuous shorthand might not fit well into the impression that you want your business to give. Watch carefully to ensure that you are satisfied.

Avatar appearance is also important. A professional business wants to see their employees show up dressed appropriately for work, regardless of whether it is their main office, or their virtual office. Because of the ease in which changing clothes is possible, there is never an excuse to show up poorly dressed for an interview. You should expect all job applicants that you interview to be dressed the part. Additionally, since laundry does not have to be done, there is never an excuse that they did not have clean clothes that were suitable.

Just as you would rely heavily upon your first impressions and gut instincts to staff your physical locations you should also rely upon these thoughts and impressions when you are staffing your virtual locations as well. You could also consider having some of your physical location employees working your virtual location as well. Often this is best because the employees already have a great grasp of the product that your company is selling, and are able to help customers much better despite the learning curve that is associated with virtual worlds.