How Roblox built a hiring test that feels like a video game
How Roblox built a hiring test that feels like a video game
How Roblox built a hiring test that feels like a video game
By Lizzy Lawrence
December 4, 2022
Summary
"It's got to be in that funny gray area between the test and the game," says Jack Buckley, Roblox's VP of people sciences.
Nor is Roblox's new testing regimen guaranteed to do everything it's supposed to do.
Imbellus built game-based assessments for clients such as McKinsey, and Baszucki wanted the company to develop a test that quantified the exact types of thinking necessary for success at Roblox.
"We needed something based on the way Roblox works that would test the intrinsic sorts of things that people bring to the table," says Roblox CTO Dan Sturman.
For systems thinking, applicants would need to complete a "Pathogen test" in which they would be asked to determine which animals out of a group were most likely to attract disease.
After the designers baked the skills into the assessment, the next step was testing.
The Imbellus vets then caucused with the designers to discern where the test may have been flawed, or if there's a new way of interacting with the test that better captured the skill.
Buckley says candidates need a minimum score on the cognitive test, but the team uses an algorithm to balance out the score with the coding assessment.
Roblox only requires the test for students applying to engineering and product management roles, and it administers it after a very basic resume screening that mostly checks for whether the student can work in the United States.
"It's much cheaper and easier to do in a conversation." Roblox believes that this test will reduce bias in hiring because it's based on the cognitive traits of successful employees, rather than identity or educational pedigree.
Reference
Lawrence, L. (2022, December 4). How Roblox built a hiring test that feels like a video game. Fast Company. Retrieved January 10, 2023, from https://www.fastcompany.com/90817774/how-roblox-built-a-hiring-test-that-feels-like-a-video-game