NEW YORK • For Walmart employees, seeking a promotion within the company has typically meant undergoing a comprehensive vetting process that included a detailed paper-based assessment.

Combined with in-person interviews, the written component has traditionally helped managers judge how effectively someone might function in a new role with more responsibilities.

But for the past few months, Walmart - the nation's largest employer - has begun replacing paper-based assessments with an experimental tool: virtual reality (VR).

Using a US$250 (S$340) Oculus Go VR headset, employees have their wits and instincts tested inside a simulated environment, allowing managers to see how well they know the store's departments and how they react in everyday scenarios, which can range from motivating an underperforming employee to resolving a conflict with a difficult customer.

Inside the simulated environment, candidates might find themselves standing in a busy aisle facing multiple problems, such as spills, misplaced items and trash, and being given 30 seconds to figure out which to resolve first.

When combined with conventional interviews and replicated across thousands of employees, the virtual assessment helps eliminate bias from the internal hiring process, according to Ms Michelle Malashock, Walmart's director of media relations.

She said the VR assessment tool has already been used in considering about 10,000 employees for new jobs across the country.

"The assessment can reveal leadership, but it might also show that someone is actually a better fit in another job," Ms Malashock said.

WASHINGTON POST