AI in Recruiting: A Love-Hate Relationship Revealed

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In today’s edition:

  • Chart of The Week: The Countries With The Most Engineering Graduates
  • Podcast: Will TikTok Be the Death of Us?
  • Video: Regulate AI? Do it or die!
  • Article: AI in Recruiting: A Love-Hate Relationship Revealed
  • Comic: Recruiting as Interpretive Dance
  • Free Recruiting Stuff
  • ICYMI

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Chart of the Week: The Countries With The Most Engineering Graduates

Which countries produce the most engineering graduates every year? According to research carried out by the World Economic Forum (excluding China and India due to lack of data), Russia is in first position, churning out over 454,000 graduates in engineering, manufacturing and construction on average every year. The United States is in second position with nearly 238,000 while Iran rounds off the top three with 233,700. Developing economies are producing more graduates than ever with both Vietnam and Indonesia making the top 10 list.

VIDEO – Regulate AI? Do it or die!

The CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, testified to a Senate committee about the potential risks of AI, including ChatGPT, and the need for regulatory measures. In the meeting, concerns about the spreading of election misinformation, disruption of the job market, and copyright issues were discussed. Altman proposed the creation of a regulatory agency to issue licenses and safety benchmarks for companies developing large AI models, drawing a parallel to the pharmaceutical industry. Will it be enough to stop the slippery AI slope into Armageddon?! Will the politicians react quickly to what the public sees as an imminent threat to their livelihoods? Jim Stroud is skeptical anything will happen at all, at least, no time soon. Why? When it comes to regulating technology, the US government moves at the speed of sloth. Jim Stroud brings the receipts to prove his point. Tune in now.

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Podcast – Will TikTok Be the Death of Us?

The podcast episode “Will TikTok be the death of us?” discusses the dangers and concerns surrounding TikTok. It questions whether the reactions to TikTok challenges, which led to school closures, were justified. Examples of dangerous challenges like the “Skull Breaker Challenge,” “Benadryl Challenge,” and “Cha-Cha Slide Challenge” are presented. The podcast also highlights concerns about TikTok’s data collection and its connection to China. Quoting articles, it raises issues regarding privacy, national security, and the potential influence of the Chinese Communist Party. The host mentions the possibility of TikTok being used to target individuals for espionage or sway elections. Montana’s legislation to ban TikTok is briefly mentioned, but the host disagrees with a government ban. Instead, they suggest educating the public, restricting data access, and implementing warning labels on social media platforms. Overall, the podcast raises concerns about TikTok’s risks but advocates for user awareness and responsibility rather than government intervention.

You can also listen on  Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, and your favorite podcast platform.

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AI in Recruiting: A Love-Hate Relationship Revealed

Everybody is talking about AI, especially in the world of recruiting. Companies love AI powered tools because they make their hiring processes more efficient and their recruiters more productive. But how do the candidates feel about these tools? Are they feeling the love? Not so much.  

A recent Pew Research study about using artificial intelligence when hiring and evaluating workers reveals mixed opinions.  

The Pew Research study shows that most Americans surveyed (72%) are opposed to AI making final hiring decisions. Some are receptive to the idea of AI being involved in part of the hiring process, but not making the final decision — 41% say they oppose the idea of AI reviewing job applications, while 28% favor it and 30% are unsure.

American adults are more split on whether they favor or oppose the use of AI to track workers’ productivity and handle other day-to-day management tasks. Out of all respondents, 47% oppose the idea of using AI analysis of worker performance to make decisions about who to promote, while 22% favor it.

The numbers are similarly split on other ways in which AI used to track productivity might reduce privacy. Of the survey respondents, 51% oppose using AI to track exactly what workers are doing on their work computers, while 27% favor it and 22% are unsure. A large majority (70%) oppose using AI to analyze employees’ facial expressions, the least popular use case posed by the survey.

But out of all the data collected, a comment from a person surveyed really resonated with me.  When asked, “Would you want to apply for a job that uses AI to help make hiring decisions?” One person, a woman in her 40’s said no, and gave this reason why.

“It would lack/overlook the human factor. What if I don’t have the ‘right’ keywords on my application? Would I be dismissed outright? I would need to learn more about AI to feel more comfortable with it.”

In total, 66% said they would not want to apply to a workplace that uses artificial intelligence to help in hiring decisions; another 32% said they would still apply. The remaining percentage did not give an answer.

I find all of this fascinating because there are a lot of HR Tech tools being built on AI. At last count, I think it was – all of them. So, in light of these findings, how do companies reconcile their purchase decisions?

  • Transparency – Its going to be evident that some tools are going to be used in the process. Explain to candidates that these tools are tools and that people make the decision. After all, when you work for Company X, you report to a person, not a machine. So, make it clear that humans make hiring decisions and promotion decisions.
  • Make data accessible – When using tech to track worker activity, make the data accessible to the worker so they can explain anything that could be misperceived as something else. Do not set up a culture where a machine said you were not working and based on that alone, we are firing you. I can only imagine the stack of lawsuits that would inspire.
  • Complaint platform – Set up a 3rd party to arbitrate complaints. For employees, that is HR. For candidates and job applicants, that could be laws like the Automated Employment Decision Tools law in NYC which requires that the use of AI tech leveraged in employment decisions to be screened and audited on a yearly basis to ensure its use will not result in discrimination or disparate impact.

But hey, that’s just one guy’s opinion. What’s yours?

Recruiting as Interpretive Dance

Free Recruiting Stuff

ICYMI

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Until next time, see you in the funny papers.

Jim Stroud

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