When AI Goes Off the Rails: Who Gets Harmed?
September 13, 2021
One of the worst things about modern job hunting is the application process. Hiring systems require potential applicants to upload their resume, then retype their resume into specified fields. It is a harrowing process that would annoy anyone. What is even worse is that most resume are rejected thanks to resume-scanning software. The Verge details how bad automation harms job seekers in the story, “Automated Hiring Software Is Mistakenly Rejecting Millions of Viable Job Candidates.”
Automated resume-scanning software rejects viable candidates. The software accidentally rejecting the candidates created a new pocket of qualified workers, who are locked out of the job market. Seventy-five percent of US employers use resume software and it is one of the biggest factors harming job applicants. There are many problems with resume software and they appear to stem from how they are programmed to “evaluate” candidates:
“For example, some systems automatically reject candidates with gaps of longer than six months in their employment history, without ever asking the cause of this absence. It might be due to a pregnancy, because they were caring for an ill family member, or simply because of difficulty finding a job in a recession. More specific examples cited by one of the study’s author, Joseph Fuller, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal include hospitals who only accepted candidates with experience in “computer programming” on their CV, when all they needed were workers to enter patient data into a computer. Or, a company that rejected applicants for a retail clerk position if they didn’t list “floor-buffing” as one of their skills, even when candidates’ resumes matched every other desired criteria.”
Employers use rigid criteria to filter job applicants. On one hand, resume software was supposed to make hiring easier, but employers are inundated with hundreds of resumes with an average of 250 applicants per job. Automation in job hiring is not slowing down and the industry is projected to be worth $3.1 billion by 2025.
How will off-the-rails AI apps be avoided or ameliorated? My hunch is that they cannot.
Whitney Grace, September 13, 2021
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