Is AI turning recruitment into the new online dating?
As businesses and job seekers alike outsource applications to AI, are we seeing the ‘Tinderfication’ of our careers? Asks Eliza Filby
You crack jokes, you make small talk, and as much as it even crosses your mind you assume you are being interviewed by an actual person. But then it dawns on you, your interviewer on the other end of a phone is an AI bot, running through a script with a series of prompts and responses. The realisation changes the nature of this process, and possibly even the answers you give.
On the other hand, imagine you’re an employer, impressed by an articulate cover letter and stand-out application, but when you finally meet the candidate you are surprised to find they can barely string a sentence together. Welcome to the complexities of recruitment in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).
What started with automated sifting and screening is maturing into chatbots and assessment by algorithm. Many companies outsource first round interviews to an AI system, which provides transcripts and analysis. And not just on a candidate’s answers, but their facial expressions, body language and tone of voice. With evermore sophisticated AI systems involved in writing job specifications, interview questions and sifting applications, it may be that a human is only involved at the very end of the process.
It is perhaps unsurprising that candidates themselves are increasingly using AI to aid their applications. Research conducted by Bright Network found that 38 per cent of applicants are now using AI to enhance their application – from writing cover letters to formulating interview answers in real time, even taking written tests.
Given this, how long before we reach the tipping point where AI-driven HR systems are simply conversing with AI-driven applicants?
It is hard to overstate how much the job application process has changed in the last decade, and how AI has helped reduce the administrative burden. Forget those handwritten cover letters; job applications are now a cut ‘n’ paste job or ‘quick apply’ on LinkedIn. What is known as the ‘apply anyway’ culture is proving a challenge for companies. It is now so easy to apply for a job that the number of applicants (especially those under-qualified) poses a major challenge. This has led to the rise of ill-suited applicants which need sifting out, so in comes AI.
Likewise, the ‘Tinderification’ of job search means the perception of endless choice has meant that many candidates keep looking for a job after they have formally accepted one. In come AI bots to keep the candidate feeling engaged until their start date.
Many employers turn to AI to help mitigate against their own bias. We tend to hire people that look like us, but (crucially) depending on how it has been trained, AI has the potential to increase the diversity of candidates making it through to the final round. Or that’s the claim, anyway, and many companies trust AI to deliver them a diverse pool of prospective employees.
But companies are demonstrating less faith when it comes to candidates’ use of AI. Some are introducing assessment tests with online webcams and locked browsers. Others are setting tasks reacting to something from the last couple of weeks to guarantee that ChatGPT hasn’t caught up. But then as these systems infiltrate the workplace, doesn’t it make sense to hire people who are able to master them?
All of this speaks to a lack of trust between potential employer and employee, which doesn’t bode well for hiring the best talent. Recruitment may be reaching the point that online dating is currently at – beset with problems of trust, fakery and a dehumanised transactional culture that unsurprisingly is putting people off.
I remember one CEO of a large multi-national company telling me that he had insisted his HR systems dispensed with AI as much as possible, convinced it was putting off the best candidates from applying. His view was that only a human being could determine another’s values, character and competence. As with so much of the emerging AI landscape, a balance will have to be found that allows humans and machines to each do what they do best, without undermining each other.
Dr Eliza Filby is a generations expert