People looking for jobs spending so much time tweaking and enhancing their resumes only to submit themselves and never hear back from the company in which they submitted their resumes. Who would have thought that robots are the reason humans are never hearing back from certain companies who have job opportunities available. Employers save so much money and time using these robots. There is also a potential that using these robots can eliminate bias which is very beneficial. Using these robots with relation to college students is a very trendy topic that has views on both sides.
In my opinion, artificial intelligence is only going to enhance more and more as time progresses. The fact that employers trust these robots with actual people’s resumes is somewhat astonishing. However, this is so due to large technological advancements which have made such things like this possible. I think that robots can be used for different purposes rather than resume reviewing because people need to be working in order to support themselves meaning that a robot, who might have a technical deficiency, never gives a certain person a chance with the employer due to a resume issue.
Reference: wsj.com/make-your-job-application-robot-proof-11576492201
I find the idea of using AI and robots to scan resumes for internships and jobs to be an intriguing topic. While these robots are not ultimately the ones choosing the FINAL candidates for the position, they definitely have a part in eliminating some unqualified prospects from the pool. However, this can also hurt the students and employers because the robots look for specific buzzwords that were put into the algorithm.
The CNBC article referenced down below, mentions how candidates will now have to change their resume more often in order to specify which programs or skills they utilized to DIRECTLY match the qualifications. For example, Ian Siegel, the CEO of ZipRecruiter, states, “Instead of ‘professional sound engineer with varied experience in wide variety of software,’ check the job description for specifics. Better to say you’re a sound engineer with four years’ experience using Avid Pro Tools. The algorithms are really good at deducing these are the key skills for a job.”
In my opinion, this technology still needs to be worked on. I have heard various stories from students where two students would apply to the same job with similar club/extracurricular experience, and only one student heard back because the exact buzzwords were included on their resume. I like that this technology forces candidates to personalize their resumes more, but I definitely believe that there are ways to improve the vocabulary or intelligence of these programs.
Reference: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/17/heres-how-to-please-the-resume-scanning-robots-before-they-reject-you.html
l also feel that it is unfair for employers to rely on algorithms and robots to sort through applications and pick employees based on what the software gives them. On one hand, I agree that it is a faster process and employers can find a good match quickly, but I also think that potential employees can also manipulate the system, especially if the algorithm used is simple. I have had older students tell me to use specific words when putting together a resume so that they come up higher on the search results. The bias that hiring websites and algorithms has may be different from human bias, but it still exists. In addition, hiring possible employees is a multi-step and complicated process, and using a hiring software can simplify this process too much and make it unfair.
Source:
https://hbr.org/2019/05/all-the-ways-hiring-algorithms-can-introduce-bias
It’s disappointing to see how many employers use AI to go through resumes. While it makes sense from the business standpoint, and probably allows them to quickly rule out many applicants that would not be worthy, it can be frustrating for people applying to jobs. During Global Entrepreneurship Week, one of the events I went to talked about one of the most important parts of creating a resume- empathy. This is something we have talked about frequently in class as it pertains to the design thinking process- and creating a resume is certainly, in a way, a process of designing something to market yourself. And to see potential employees put all that time into empathizing with the employers just to have it gone over by an artificial machine is frustrating. Depending on the level of capability in the AI, it may be hard for it to recognize empathy, which is a very human quality, and it might just rule out a high quality applicant just because their resume didn’t include the right keywords that the technology was programmed to look for.
I have a friend that has been a hiring manager for about four years now. His company is in a scientific industry that use tools (software) that do not surface qualified candidates more than half of the time. The algorithms and buzzwords they are programmed to find are selected by HR staff or an external company and the search terms are often incorrect or marginally relevant.
The rise of Algorithm-based applicant screening is due to the ease with which applicants can submit resumes and form cover letters electronically. Companies cannot afford to hire a large enough staff to have humans sort the thousands of applications that are submitted on-line each month.
In order to attract a diverse pool of applicants, you’d typically have to recruit at events such as conferences and career fairs. Job seekers to connect with us via LinkedIn. This is how things actually work in many industries these days.
I do not like the idea of robots going over job applications. I understand that artificial intelligence has proven to mainly be reliable, but I do not trust it with job applications. A robot would be programmed to look for things in the applications and never stray away for it’s script. This is the reason I don’t like it because a human could just have a gut feeling or notice something they see as a positive in an application that a robot is not programmed to pick up on.