A first impression that starts stiff is bound to fall into the trap of preconceived bias.

Be it a job interview, employee on-boarding or networking, we need smarter ways to connect as humans first, before we get down to business. Otherwise, you’re more likely to prefer those who have similar backgrounds and worldviews as your own.

Partnering with Co-Create, an employer brand consultancy from Kristin Dudley, we at Technical.ly are launching a new product to do something about it. It’s called Candidate Chemistry. The card game is designed by our community to connect the workplace on a human level.

For $45 at launch, you get a deck of 50 cards with prompts that help make those first interactions more fun. They also come packaged as a handheld set of networking cards, with an eye toward larger networking and team events.

Look at the new Technical.ly Candidate Chemistry cards from Co-Create.

The concept is Dudley’s creation. Earlier this year, the former head of Recruitment Marketing at Comcast, gathered a dozen Technical.ly members one evening in a Fishtown studio for a fun-filled exercise.

Together, we created “Preposterous Predicaments,” simple physical challenges and sentence starters. For example, if you picked a card at random, you might be challenged with something like “You are a designer at a mobile app design startup, and your client is requesting Comic Sans font: how do you maintain your sanity?”

We’ve tested the game across the Mid-Atlantic — at our NET/WORK job fairs and beyond. Now we want you to play, too.

You can even create your own game. Dudley hosts these sorts of gatherings for companies and affinity groups that want their own approach to engagement. Contact her to arrange your own card-making workshop here.