Point at Issue: Job Interviews Where AI asks the Questions
gremlin
If you have an entirely online interview, here are some tips: make sure you are clear in what you are saying and look at the camera because AI is watching, and those things matter to it. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now on deck to help Human Recourses expedite the process of finding candidates, but at the same time, they may be leaving qualified candidates behind.
This technology is a powerful tool that analyzes human intelligence using a specialized program and disseminates the information to make decisions that would have previously been made by humans. The issues concerning AI arise around the methods used to collect the data and its actual design. It has people asking themselves if a human being has a fighting chance against AI when applying for a job and scoring that interview.
At its best, AI allows for a larger number of candidate applications to be processed and interviewed. This advantage equates to shorter hiring times, which translates to less human capital needed in addition to overall costs.
"The pandemic produced a significant challenge for employers. They could no longer conduct face-to-face job interviews and found an increase in applicants' volume applying for available jobs. Some companies – small, medium, large, and Fortune 500 – started using new AI technology," wrote Robin Ryan in a recent article.
Not every company uses AI, with many disagreeing with what an algorithm deems as accurate. However, major firms such as Hilton, Target, Cisco, AT&T, CapitolOne, and Proctor and Gamble rely on it, which may become a growing trend amongst their competitors.
AI is quickly becoming the future of hiring and, "As organizations look to AI and machine learning to enhance their practices, there are two goals in mind," said Lauren Smith, vice president in Gartner's HR practice, in a recent interview. "The first is how do we drive more efficiency in the process? And second is just recognizing that we can get better outcomes -- the effectiveness of our process can be better in a couple of places."
AI lacks emotion and creates a sterile interview process. You do not have the ability to develop a rapport with your interviewer or have an actual conversation. Even with all of these enhancements, job seekers still struggle with the video versus in-person interview. This will only happen if your resume is search engine optimized and your keywords match.
Arguments against AI are that even though more applications are being processed, not everyone knows what information gets analyzed during the pre and post-interview. Many articles discuss what words you should use on your resume, the type of font and format that will meet the AI criteria for a specific position. The process is mostly without a lot of human interaction and, allegedly, will eventually have the ability to eliminate the human resource position. Bias can only happen with no human interaction whatsoever; however, AI is not at a point where no human input is needed, which means that the process still has a chance of being biased against applicants.
"The key factor employers are trying to overcome is inherent in the biases interviewers bring to the hiring process. AI works to remove the biases and allow for an improved and fair evaluation of candidates," said Mike Hudy, Ph.D. and Chief Science Officer at hiring technology provider Modern Hire in an interview. A point to note is that a human may be looking at some of these interviews, meaning bias can remain.
After the interview, if HR reviews the videos, bias has potentially found its way in. When programmers also decide who gets interviewed, applicants may not all be treated the same. AI tools are programed by humans, and they set the features that make the ideal candidate. In turn, it could pick up on characteristics that exist in a field that may not be reasonably populated.
For example, a technology company is hiring for a position that is typically filled by men; would the AI pick this up? What could result is that it selects candidates that are predominately male for the job over other candidates. The bias created is not the intention of the AI tools and could lead to unintentional discrimination.
While we do not know what a company is looking for during an AI-led interview, we know what it can analyze. The software explores personality and traits through eye movement, tone of voice, and other gestures. One answer or even verbal cue can be broken into thousands of data points that, when disseminated, point towards you either being a good fit or a pass. The facial analysis software for this owes its development to a U.S. company, HireVue. The company has 700 customers and process 1 million job candidates every 90 days in over 180 countries and 32 languages, noted a recent press release.
"Our Hiring intelligence platform transforms the way companies discover, hire, and develop talent. By combining video interviews with predictive, validated IO science and artificial intelligence (AI), HireVue augments human decision-making in the hiring process and delivers higher quality talent faster," cited the HireVue website. The video interview of the process has a lot of prospects anxious. Even though the candidate is prepared beforehand on what to expect, the process is still very daunting for some.
What AI lacks is the ability to truly analyze a person who does not fit into the algorithm norm. They could be a creative thinker that is not trained to behave in a certain way. A person could be a perfect fit for the analyzed data but may not possess sound judgment and not fit the company culture. A computer will not be able to investigate this and bring out these nuances in a person. It is impossible to practice for an interview that you have no information on, especially when you cannot ask questions during it.
As AI interviews are becoming the norm, workers wonder what the next things are that the software will replace. There are now 86% of companies conducting virtual interviews during the COV!D-19 pandemic, a Gartner survey cited. Employees worry that AI will replace jobs in the future. Right now, a lot of manual and repetitive labor jobs are going the way of AI. Robots are becoming smarter and more agile and are making their way into the medical field. For example, computers can use data collected to diagnose and even suggest treatment options, while robotic arms can assist with surgical operations. The advancement of AI can help the workplace, but at what cost?
"One study estimates that about 400,000 jobs were lost to automation in U.S. factories from 1990 to 2007,” stated in an article. With 42% of jobs lost forever during the pandemic, the addition of AI only will contribute to this number. Companies are using AI during the pandemic to help stop spreading the virus and to lower operating costs.
Humans being replace with machines may be the next logical step as companies struggle to figure out how to save costs with the ongoing pandemic. When a company was closed for almost a year, you cannot fault them for looking at ways to keep their business afloat.
The benefits of AI are mainly for the company, cutting costs and shortening the time needed to complete the tasks at hand. The technology is also working its way into other aspects of the workplace. Virtual assistants can help schedule appointments and gather data, and chatbots can help users with requests. An average worker can do about 10 hours of repetitive work a day; AI can go as long as you want it to. This frees up workers to focus on tasks that are more meaningful and interest them. Errors are less of an issue with AI, and it is also able to generate quicker decisions. The process will only get better over time as the programs advance more and more. The fine-tuning of the data collected can lead to the correction of job-related biases before they even happen.
The best way for this to improve is by using it. Even though it may seem impersonal, AI is likely to stay a part of the interview process. Even before AI was handling interviews, odds are it was part of the process of how you got your last job, probably reading your resume. At least AI can give value to everything you have done. Human recruiters go through resumes so fast that they can overlook essential facts and achievements that a computer can pick up in seconds.