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You can almost hear how frustration comes from the HR department. Job seekers have discovered artificial intelligence and are not afraid to use it. Snow has been fallen by people who use new tools to unleash impersonal applications. Some applicants are bluffing their methods through online assessments using AI. FT reports that many large employers have a “zero tolerance attitude towards AI use.”
I believe it is news for job seekers who have had to withstand AI use by large employers over the years. Certainly, job seekers will be within the rights to say: But you have started it.
Like many warning stories, this starts with good intentions. In the 2010s, employers implemented new automated recruitment tools to reduce candidates prior to interviews. This is because we wanted the process to be more efficient and fair because of the low risk of human bias.
For example, “asynchronous video interviews” include job seekers who answer questions on their own in front of a webcam with no human on the other side. In many cases, AI systems evaluate the response. However, I have never met a job seeker they like.
In 2021, I wrote about my research. This warned young people felt confused, dehumanized and exhausted by new tools. I was full of answers. “I did one of these, and it was the most difficult and most humiliating experience I’ve ever encountered,” wrote one older man. “The interview itself is hard enough for someone in the job market for the first time in years, but then you throw this at them. I was traveling and didn’t bother to say it was from the hotel (not the ideal setup to balance an iPad with a suitcase) for the company I had dreamed of for 30 years. After that, he said he sat in his hotel room and cried.
Therefore, it is not surprising that job seekers have resorted to new generative AI tools such as chatGpt to speed up or “game” the already dehumanized process. A video has also appeared on Tiktok. This video shows how to use ChatGpt to provide answers to questions in an asynchronous video interview.
That said, the AI Arms Race after that has clearly not worked well for anyone. It was supposed to improve efficiency and fairness. It has become a threat to both.
In terms of efficiency, employers complain that they are overwhelmed by applications that only encourage more rejection. “I hesitate to say the system isn’t broken, because it’s not broken, but that means you’re coming with more applications,” Stephen Isherwood, co-Chief Executive Officer of the Student Employers Institute, told me. Additionally, some applicants use AI to improve their scores on skill testing, making it difficult for employers to find the best candidates.
Non-uniform access to the best paid AI models in recruitment assessments may also promote new types of inequities. Jamie Betts, founder of Assessment Company Neurosight, found last year in a survey of 1,500 job seekers that 31% of men use AI tools compared to 18% of women.
It is worth noting that Neurosight sells the tools it sells as ChatGpt-Proof. So Betts is interested in creating this point. Nevertheless, he said his company recently completed an analysis of the well-known important inference tests of global professional services companies. “Every year, what we see is a significant increase in (relative) misperformance between black individuals, women, and (with with).
What is the solution? Some online ratings are not currently vulnerable to AI use, such as those that involve playing short games. However, you won’t be surprised that a large number of face-to-face testing centres have returned due to technical skill assessments. Both Isherwood and Betts said employers are thinking of reintroducing human touches early in the process.
Even Hirevue, a big vendor of asynchronous video interviews, wrote in last year’s paper:
Are there any consistent trade-offs for bias? perhaps. But if there is a moral from this warning story, technology cannot alienate the magical trade-offs. Apparently simple solutions to difficult problems usually do not remain resolved for a long time.
sarah.oconnor@ft.com
