It’s no secret that AI and automation are sweeping through the HR world the way Wordlemania rocked your parents’ social circles.
- According to an April 2021 study of 400 HR and development officials from CompTIA, 81% believe AI will have “a moderate or significantly increased impact on HR in the year ahead,” and most companies reported “piloting or actively using AI in candidate screening, onboarding, competency assessment, and career planning.”
- Fortune Business Insights projects that the global HR technology market will grow from $24.04 billion in 2021 to $35.68 billion in 2028, with companies “more likely to prioritize investments in AI technology” post-Covid.
In December, Kim Rohrer, head of employee experience at global payroll and benefits platform Oyster, sang the praises of broadly incorporating AI, not just in hiring but throughout HR.
“The more automation you can put in place for HR to not have to be manually babysitting people—for lack of a better phrase—the better,” Rohrer told HR Brew.
Candidly, what about candidates? Frustrated job applicant Caron Mitchell recently walked Axios through her failed experience with a timed, four-question “asynchronous video interview” for a job at a tech-training startup. Mitchell said she found the whole process “unnerving and demoralizing.”
“You’re at a tremendous disadvantage as a candidate when it’s a one-way street,” Mitchell told Axios. “I’m used to reading people, and there was nothing there for me to read.”
Quick-to-read HR news & insights
From recruiting and retention to company culture and the latest in HR tech, HR Brew delivers up-to-date industry news and tips to help HR pros stay nimble in today’s fast-changing business environment.
Jade, a recent college graduate interviewed by Slate, shared Mitchell’s distaste for the format. She told Slate that she resented doing a “song and dance for AI, or a robot, or whatever it is before we even talk to an actual person—if that ever happens.”
Others worry about potential bias in the technology. Kabrina Chang, associate dean for diversity, equity, and inclusion at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, recalled one student’s perception of AI-powered hiring tools to BU Today.
“In my employment law class, our monitor was a Vietnamese student. When we started talking about AI, he said that ‘where I’m from, when we’re speaking with an authority figure, we are told [to] be still and have a flat affect. If I did that with AI, they would screen me out immediately,’ because it might show that you lack animation, energy, motivation,” Chang recalled.
Yes, you…you in the back: Interviews are often the first impression of a company. Is AI worth the cost and time savings if the candidate experience is, according to Chang’s students, “weird”? Join the discussion here on HR Brew’s LinkedIn page, or reply to this email with your thoughts (and your latest Wordle score).—SV