Revolutionising recruitment

Should algorithms judge human proficiency?

Human instinct had the longest run, till it lasted. Not anymore, it seems. The good old days of hiring a candidate on a hunch of him/her being ‘a perfect add’ to the team doesn’t appear to be savvy anymore. Facial analysis software is superseding the human element as companies turn to technology to hire candidates best suited to the job.

Facial software such as the one developed by USbased HireVue, uses artificial intelligence (AI) to scan an interviewee’s language - active or passive phrases and tone of voice – and facial expressions such as brow furrowing, smiling and eye widening. Furthermore, HireVue assessments combine video, artificial intelligence, and game-based challenges to review a candidate’s work style and cognitive capacity. With HireVue technology, recruiters have improved hiring quality by 88 per cent, diversity by 55 per cent, and quickened recruitment by 90 per cent, according to the company website.

Unilever is using the HireVue software in the UK and abroad. “It is helping to save 100,000 hours of interviewing time and roughly $1m in recruitment costs each year for us globally,” a Unilever spokeswoman told The Guardian.

A welcome change, is it?

For one, the technology offers convenience at both ends; candidates can be interviewed at a place of their choosing, while it supports employers looking to hire plenty of candidates in a particular span of time. It would also assist companies in maintaining (and increasing) diversity within their workforce and scrapping employer bias, if any.

Furthermore, 96 per cent of senior HR professionals believe that AI has the potential to improve talent acquisition and retention, Alexander Mann Solutions’ - talent acquisition and management firm - research noted.

That said….

AI screening cannot evaluate a candidate’s ability to make good judgment calls. While lack of human interaction may turn people away, softer signals, such as personal interests, may also go unnoticed. But most disturbing, perhaps, is the despondency candidates may feel at the prospect of technology determining their professional adequacy.

The UK’s Royal Society for the encouragement of

Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) partnered with YouGov to carry out a survey on public attitudes to AI and ADS (automated decision systems). The survey, which polled over 2,000 UK adults, revealed that only 32 per cent of the participants were aware of AI being used for decision-making in general. On being made aware, 60 per cent opposed or strongly opposed the use of automated decision systems in the recruitment and criminal justice domains.

Skepticism regarding AI isn’t limited to the public itself. In 2018, a few US senators sent letters to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and other authorities, expressing concerns over the potential biases of AI being used for hiring, commerce and other purposes.

Artificial intelligence offers an ambitious blueprint of the future but maintaining a delicate balance between technology and human instinct will be anyone’s best bet.