Second Life becoming a viable recruiting venue.

With a boom of dotcom 2.0 on the horizon, many companies are looking to entrench themselves in the newest techs and media outlets for advertising their businesses.

One of these new venues is the "game" called Second Life. For those living under a rock, SL is a virtual world where anyone can make an online representation of themselves called an avatar and then meander across a fairly extensive plane of existence. Companies from all over the world have set up shops and people can go to virtual stores to buy goods ranging from cloths, cars, and even in-game merchandise for your avatar.

Well apparently companies are now conducting virtual interviews with possible employees right in SL, some of these positions being brick and mortar jobs and others being bound to the hallowed VR hallways of their online business in SL.

"We are a small community. Someone sent a resume and wanted to meet in SL to discuss job prospects," Jaffe says. "When we met, I realized that we had met before in Second Life when the senior editor of the Harvard Business Review gave a talk on marketing in Second Life." As more of real life pushes into Second Life, corporations and even individuals will tap long-time denizens and gamers for their skills, and Brandon Berger says more work is coming. "We will start to see the need for maintenance, including virtual shopkeepers who need to man the virtual store."

Berger, senior strategist at OgilvyInteractive's Digital Innovation unit, has spearheaded numerous hirings from within Second Life giving these individuals the job of completing tasks for some of Ogilvy's online clients.

You know, ever since I read Snow Crash 10 years ago I knew the internet would one day allow me to katana-duel a punk ass, and Second Life is one step closer to that goal. Once it takes a few steps closer to what Stephenson had envisioned maybe I'll try it out, until then I'll just stare in amazement over the $1 million USD spent within the last 24 hours in the game.

\\drew