AI could stop you getting hired. Here’s how to beat the bots

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This week, WIRED Start speaks to journalist Hilke Schellmann who, in her new book The Algorithm, investigates software that automates résumé screening and promotion recommendations, raising concerns about discrimination.

AI May Not Steal Your Job, but It Could Stop You Getting Hired

If you’ve worried that candidate-screening algorithms could be standing between you and your dream job, reading Hilke Schellmann’s The Algorithm won’t ease your mind. The investigative reporter and NYU journalism professor’s new book demystifies how HR departments use automation software that not only propagate bias, but fail at the thing they claim to do: find the best candidate for the job.

Schellmann posed as a prospective job hunter to test some of this software, which ranges from résumé screeners and video-game-based tests to personality assessments that analyze facial expressions, vocal intonations, and social media behavior. One tool rated her as a high match for a job even though she spoke nonsense to it in German. A personality assessment algorithm gave her high marks for “steadiness” based on her Twitter use and a low rating based on her LinkedIn profile.

It’s enough to make you want to delete your LinkedIn account and embrace homesteading, but Schellmann has uplifting insights too. In an interview that has been edited for length and clarity, she suggested how society could rein in biased HR technology and offered practical tips for job seekers on how to beat the bots.

Read the full story here.

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