What VR is Used For?
Will tomorrow’s training be in VR?
After school, the logical next step is to look at training in virtual reality. We all know that training costs companies dearly and that it is sometimes difficult to re-create real situations outside the field. For example, a young surgeon may read all the scientific books and observe his colleagues in action; nothing will re-create the real sensation of an operating room. The theoretical courses are, of course, useful but necessarily insufficient.
Virtual reality then presents itself as an alternative to fill this lack of practice. It thus allows simulating delicate situations, rare and sometimes expensive to realize in real life: test trades in height, learn to operate, know electrical boxes. So many reproducible situations thanks to the VR.
Examples of Existing Projects
The VR formations are becoming more and more democratic. A Bordeaux start-up SimforHealth has imagined a medical training in VR. For hospital staff, it is designed to train them in surgical practice so that they learn the right gestures.
Jérôme Leleu, president of this project, explains: “We created this simulation with Harvard Medical International to teach the actions of interns who may be faced with this type of emergency situation.”
Another example is Thales, a world leader in aerospace, military, and industrial space equipment. The latter called on Artefacto to devise a dematerialized training system. The aim is to train personnel in the maintenance of an electrical cabinet installed in military frigates. In total immersion, The Apprentice realizes a scenario of 20 steps following the usual procedure.
Pôle Emploi has also seized the opportunities of virtual reality by setting up devices to test occupations. By immersing jobseekers in different workplaces, they discover new rules. They can quickly judge if they are suitable. Virtual reality saves time in the orientation of candidates.
The Current Situation
Today, we can see that virtual reality is increasingly being introduced into company training. Whatever the sector: industries, energy, insurance, banks, telecoms, tertiary services, etc., many training software programs are flourishing.
Are we witnessing a new mini-revolution in the professional world? Will VR eventually replace traditional training?
The leading VR training specialists believe that virtual reality will replace two-thirds of on-the-job training. Only 1/3 of the budget will be spent on actual training. But everyone also agrees that it is essential to keep this third of real training . Virtual reality is beneficial in 4 cases: when training is potentially dangerous, when it is expensive when it is geographically remote, or simply when it is impossible in the real world.
Virtual Reality: A Recruitment Tool
Recruitment is also an area where virtual reality can play a major role. It allows candidates to be tested during recruitment interviews and to be attracted to recruitment campaigns, but it is also a tool for training interviews.
Reaction Test in Recruitment Interviews
Recruitment is a major step for the company. Indeed, a candidate’s error can quickly have significant financial and organizational implications. To remedy this, recruiters usually test candidates during interviews. Virtual reality is now being used in addition to all the other tests.
First of all, when these are impossible to reproduce in the usual context. Let us take the example of recruitment for trade in height. Immersion in the virtual environment will allow you to quickly judge whether the candidate is not afraid of heights and is comfortable with working at heights.
Similarly, candidates may be asked to answer questions and solve problems or puzzles. Through VR, recruiters can then understand their ability to analyze a concrete situation, reason, and react to a stressful situation. Their reactions are then an interesting source of information for the hirers. In this way, they can judge whether or not the candidate is suitable for the position.
Support for Recruitment Campaigns
In a highly competitive world of work, companies are always looking to recruit the best talent available. To convince them to come and work for them, they redouble their imagination and now offer experiments in virtual reality to enhance it.
Among their communication tools are various types of immersive experiences. It will be possible to project the person in his daily future, discover the premises, meet the future employees, to make him understand the general atmosphere of the company. Or, as with the training mentioned above, the recruiter will be able to immerse the candidate in his future job by letting him know his missions.
This is particularly the case in the military sector. In the United States, the US Air Force, a military organization has developed the experiment “Air Force Special Ops : Nightfall”. The aim is to provide users with a unique experience by immersing them directly in high-risk military air missions: high altitude jumping, combat operations.
This prompts the user to learn more about the organization if he likes the experience and why not join the army. On the same principle, the US Navy saw its applications for enlistment increase by 126% as a result of a recruitment process in the VR.