On September 20, Ubisoft, one of the leading video game publishers in the world, launched a new recruiting-specific site for Canada: toomuchimagination. ca. The site, which will be online until the end of December, issues a series of challenges to video game designers through quizzes, questionnaires, and logic tests. Visitors will be able to measure their performance and the best will be eligible to win a number of prizes including a portable computer, development software, and iPods. $20,000 in prizes will be offered during the ten weeks of the contest. Of course, participants are invited to submit their CVs! The site is an appealing mix of games, contests, tests, video and recruiting.
Francis Baillet, the Vice-President of Human Resources for Ubisoft in Montreal, followed the development of the is innovative project. He talks to us about the behind-the-scenes moments of this event-specific site.
What are the objectives of the new site?
Ubisoft is in expansion mode in Canada. We are now 1,800 people in Quebec, 1,600 in Montreal, and we need to hire 150 people by the end of the year. The site therefore has two goals: one, to gather the CVs of highly qualified candidates, and two, build awareness regarding new video game industry jobs. It's a real industry with very good career opportunities that require leading-edge expertise.
The site is also the continuation of a recruiting communication activity conducted last year, through which we hired 350 people.
How will you promote this site?
We have already enjoyed great media coverage—an article in the Journal de Montréal, and another on Cyberpresse. The announcement of the launch of the site was even the second-most read news item of the day on Technaute.
We will then tour the schools to promote the site, and along with it, careers in the video game world. Over the next few weeks, we will visit 34 schools!
Finally, very targeted communications activities will be carried out in Toronto and Vancouver. Although the positions to be filled are for our Montreal and Quebec City offices, last year, 15% of our hiring was from outside the province.
The first results are very encouraging—the first day 1,000 visitors checked out the site and 100 CVs were submitted!
Is the site just for game design fanatics?
No, not exclusively. The logic questionnaires, for example, can be done by everybody, so everyone has a chance to win prizes! We hope to get interesting applications for programmers, creatives, etc.
Of course, the "AAA" zone is designed for the game designers. They will get to tackle very difficult challenges that have been designed by our internal teams, comprising very creative professionals who are passionate about what they do. It's up to participants to test their mettle and see whether they have what it takes to join our ranks!