UAE jobs: How your next job application might look like a video game

In a region racing toward digital transformation, one of the most essential systems — hiring — remains largely unchanged. While sectors like finance, education, and logistics have been redefined by digital tools, the job application process still depends on résumés, cover letters, and AI filters that often miss what matters most: human potential.

At a time when a single job posting can attract over 1,000 applicants, both candidates and companies are feeling the strain. Companies struggle to spot real talent in a sea of similar-looking profiles, while job seekers — particularly recent graduates — find themselves stuck in a cycle of ghosted applications and unclear expectations.

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Now, a Dubai-based company called Dandelion Civilization is proposing a very different approach: what if your next job application looked like a video game?

Dandelion Civilization is developing an interactive, game-based system that allows employers to assess how people think, collaborate, and make decisions in simulated environments. Instead of static forms or psychometric tests, candidates are invited into structured gameplay — whether it’s navigating a team challenge or solving a problem in real time.

The platform is built with the input of educators and behavioral experts. It aims to offer companies a clearer picture of a person’s soft skills, leadership tendencies, and team dynamics, all of which are difficult to capture with current tools.

“Today, many hiring decisions rely on either automated filtering or surface-level interviews,” says Dmitry Zaytsev, the platform’s founder. “But we believe a game environment can reveal someone’s real strengths and personality in a much more scalable and consistent way.”

The platform’s focus is clear: help corporations improve their hiring outcomes by giving them better, richer, and more practical information about who a candidate is — not just what they’ve done.

While Dandelion Civilization is primarily built for corporate use, students are also part of the picture. In fact, the company has already piloted its platform with several universities in the UAE.

The challenge for many young people today isn’t ability — it’s visibility. Without years of experience, their soft skills, mindset, and potential often go unnoticed by hiring systems that prioritize credentials. Dandelion Civilization aims to change that.

“We’re working closely with universities to help students stand out for who they are,” Zaytsev explains. “GPA alone doesn’t capture creativity, emotional intelligence, or leadership. Our platform helps students showcase those qualities in a structured, measurable way.”

Students appreciated the pilot experience, noting that it gave them a better understanding of themselves.

The Middle East has one of the youngest populations in the world — over 60% of the region’s population is under the age of 30. This generation has grown up immersed in interactive environments, from social media to strategy games, and they bring those expectations into the job market.

They’re not just digital natives — they’re experience-first learners who expect feedback, interactivity, and meaning from every system they use. Hiring platforms that rely solely on CVs and AI scans feel outdated to them.

That’s why gamification — especially when designed for real-world assessment — resonates deeply. It creates space for self-expression, skill-building, and storytelling, which are increasingly essential to employer branding and candidate engagement.

The platform is still in development, but two cornerstone games are currently being finalized:

A psychological and competition-based assessment, which maps traits like risk tolerance, communication style, and decision-making

Hivecraft, a strategy game focused on managing an ecosystem — used to understand how a person balances planning, responsibility, and collaboration

These  are structured simulations designed to produce an analyzable behavioural dataset. The platform then translates this data into a detailed skills profile that companies can use for recruitment, internal promotions, or team building.

Importantly, Zaytsev points out, this kind of deep analysis — previously possible only through psychologists or expensive individual assessments — can now be done at scale.

“Normally, if a company wants to understand someone’s behavior in detail, it would take one-on-one sessions, custom tools, and a lot of time,” he says. “With our platform, we can assess tens of thousands of people using the same standards, and at a fraction of the cost.”

Though the company has yet to formally launch, several large corporations in the MENA region are already in talks to pilot the platform. Many are exploring how gamified tools can support not only hiring, but also career development, internal delegation, and long-term engagement.

The demand is particularly strong among sectors where growth is rapid, teams are young, and performance depends heavily on human factors. Zaytsev says companies want more than automation — they want alignment.

“What they’re telling us is: we know how to filter résumés. What we need is a better way to find potential, develop it, and track it over time,” he says.

Long-term, Dandelion Civilization is aiming to build a full-scale ecosystem for lifelong career development. That includes support for leadership growth, real-time performance tracking, and even AI-based coaching tailored to a user’s individual traits.

Zaytsev envisions a “skills graph” that evolves as people progress through school, university, and the workplace — capturing not just experience, but behavior. This data, he believes, will one day replace the résumé altogether.

“We want the application of the future to be dynamic,” he says. “Not a piece of paper, but a record of how you respond to challenges, how you lead, how you learn. That’s what companies actually care about — they just haven’t had the tools to see it.”