We are approaching the 40th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 mission in which the world witnessed the first human to walk on the moon. This event was an historic moment for mankind and one that will live on as one of the most triumphant moments for the human race.
I was recently reading an article in which many of the members of the mission control team were interviewed about the mission and the various roles and tasks they performed. One of the most interesting things was a discussion about the fact that almost all of the mission control team members were very young.
The mission required extensive use of computers and the ability to use computers to do things that had never been done before. Computer science was such a young field, and the moon mission so unique, that there were no persons with any experience doing what needed to be done. In order to accomplish the mission, NASA hired a group of people who had the ability required to work with computers and experience working with computers, no matter what the application. The article did not say what methods were used to determine how hiring decisions were made, but clearly a non-traditional approach was required. We all know the result of the decisions NASA made and we all know that the combination of workers, equipment, and planning resulted in a resounding success — the kind of win any corporation would be proud of!
Even though the Apollo 11 mission happened 40 years ago, it’s ripe with lessons for those of us in the hiring profession. This is especially true when it comes to creating strategies to use assessment in the future of the hiring and the workforce. My thoughts:
Technology is continuing to make the above points easier for those folks with out a background in testing and assessment. As with almost every other area in our lives, technology is radically changing the landscape. When is the last time you sent a fax? Could you be as efficient without email? We are entering an age of unprecedented accelerated technological advancement. The time horizon for quantum leaps in technology has been shortened to milliseconds when one considers the grand scheme of things. The computing power and things needed to put a man on the moon 40 years ago can probably be duplicated by several laptops now.
The things we are going to see in our lifetime are going to blow our minds. This statement will be true for those of us in the general business of hiring, and those of us who specifically concentrate on assessment. Virtual simulations of entire jobs, human interactions, and interactions between humans and machines are going to be the future of hiring. I have just started to see some of the first steps in this direction. What I have seen and learned so far is that it is going to require a diverse set of perspectives to create the hiring tools of the future. Folks in the testing and recruitment industries are going to need to team up with persons in other, seemingly unrelated industries in order to make it happen.
I am currently working on putting together a consortium that represents key stakeholders from the assessment and gaming industries as well as persons from other areas yet to be defined. I am just at the concepting stages at this point, so I encourage interested parties to post here if you want to talk about this idea.