Using an AI to Filter Job Applicants
As technology continues to advance it becomes more and more involved in our everyday lives. Artificial intelligence is something that that continues to rise. AIs are used to filter through job applicants according to a Harvard Business Article by Frida Polli. An example of this is LinkedIn when filtering through applications. I believe the use of an AI to filter applications will go up and will change how employers look for employees.
When applying to a new job there are two components before an interview if there is an interview which are a cover letter and a resume. When there are specific needs of the jobs AIs are used to filter through them. According to an article by Jon Shields “Rather than manually reading every single resume submitted, hiring managers shrink their pool of applicants by searching the database for specific skills and keywords.” This automatically filters through applicants who do not have the specific skills. Now this is a good and a bad thing at the same time.
The positives of automatically filtering applicants.
- Less work for the person in charge of hiring which means that the company has to pay the person in charge less if they are paid per the hour.
- Applicants have said they are qualified for the position due to their resumes and cover letters including those keywords.
- No time being wasted on looking at resumes that do not fit the requirements of the company.
- When looking at an application there are multiple places that can influenced by unconscious bias, but referring back to the article by Mr. Shields, the fields are “unconscious bias against women, minorities and older workers.”
The negatives of automatically filtering applicants.
- Not all employees are given a chance for an interview.
- Missing entry level applicants who have good work ethic
- Willing to learn just because their resumes and cover letters did not have the key words.
- Non updated resumes get automatically rejected
Overall, the positives outweigh the negatives because in reality it is having data reviewed automatically compared to manual inspection. Manually inspecting resumes and cover letters take a long time and if the applicants do not have the required skill of the job opening then it becomes a waste of everyones time. This instance of using an AI does not pose an ethical issue since it is used as a tool and is not replacing peoaple’s job but improving the efficiency, quality, and effectiveness of finding the right applicants for an interview. This is AI that should have no regulation from the government, but should be monitored by the management because of bias that can be created by the person in charge of using the tool. When using specific search words the person whose using the tool can put their own perimeters to create their own bias by using search words.
In conclusion, using an AI to filter applications is a great tool that should be used by any company that can afford to use and that have multiple applications per job opening to reduce the work load of the hiring team.
