AI for internal recruitment

[GoodBot99]

I was surprised to discover my organisation uses AI for internal recruitment. At the very least recorded interviews are assessed by AI and possibly the CV sift is done in a similar way.

How common is using AI for internal recruitment?

It makes me very uncomfortable with the potential of automating bias and creating a class of "excluded " people who may be perfectly competent but just never perform to the algorithms expectations.

I'm interested to hear experiences, insights and opinions on the matter.

Thanks!

Bump

AI in recruitment is getting quite advanced now a days.

However you do have the right to insist that a human deals with your application.

It's also useful to know what parts are automated.

I've used systems that range from searching for required qualifications or chartered status to chat bots for answering questions / conducting situational judgement tests.

It can be used for both internal and external recruitment.

My fear with that sort of thing is it might have been set to scan for so-called bias and mark down normal language around the sex of human beings such as man, woman, girl, boy etc and promote the awful so-called gender neutral alternatives.

For instance, I was proof reading our maternity policy and got told off for using the words mother, woman, she, her etc. was supposed to use 'employee', their baby instead of pregnant woman and her baby.

I think you could insist on an explanation

Why did the AI decide why it did and what you could change to get a different answer

Or what mechanism do they have in place to capture bias should it occur

Not sure if it's in regulation yet or not ( although uk and eu regulation may diverge )

I've been involved in the design of systems like this.

One thing that we've tried to do is make sure decisions making is done by a human if there are any grey areas.

Where the AI makes the decision it's on a very clear yes or no requirement.

So for example questions around right to work would be automated as would things around required qualifications (E.g medical degree for a doctor)

You don't tend to see systems that look for particular words in CVs anymore because of the bias and missing great candidates. It's one reason high volume roles prefer application forms to CVs as you can screen out easier.

These types of systems are fairly common now, for both external and internal recruitment. However, it would be quite rare for AI to be used exclusively in the decision making process without any human involvement. If it is used exclusively, this should be highlighted in your company's privacy notice and as a PP alluded to, you'd have the right under the UK GDPR to request a review of any fully automated decisions made, which have legal or similarly significant outcomes for you.

That's interesting @GiltEdges . What I have uncovered is an automated interview process which determines whether or not you proceed to the next round. Candidates are not told this is AI and the implication given to them is that HR will review the recordings, but it looks like this does not happen.

The process is also used for candidates at risk of redundancy, so "computer says no" has some potential high impact (currently unexplained) implications

Def confirm with HR that recordings are viewed.

Again I've seen first interviews conducted this way but it's basically obvious that it's a robot asking questions and the questions again are quite black and white. I've seen it used a lot for companies that recruits globally as it's gives flexibility around time zones. A HR person reviews the videos before confirming a pass or reject.

Again these interviews are similar to things you might see in written application forms.

But as a candidate you're allowed to ask questions of the process and to insist that a human does your interview.

I haven't done one of these (yet), but my understanding from my team is that they do not ask black and white questions. It's things like "what relevant skills and experience do you have", "why does this role interest you", "what are your areas of development relevant to this role ".

HR apparently routinely refuse to give any feedback on why they reject.

@Twizbe I am trying to confirm with HR. But apparently its the responsibility of an external RPO company, and its not entirely clear they know which one!

The interview company used is "modern hire" (distinct from the RPO). This seems a pretty established company with widespread use, which would make you assume it is legitimate. Does anyone have any knowledge of them?

Ah ok. They should know the RPO. Is this a company used for all recruitment or just a specific area / project / for redeployment?

Your HRBP or Recruitment Lead will know. It doesn't matter which company a huge amount, but it will be their staff that review the videos. This is normal for an RPO relationship. They also are likely to have an independent view as they won't know any of the candidates. This can be seen as a bonus in recruitment.

The video interviews sound quite standard for this type. If used for first interviews they tend to be quite bland questions like 'why do you want this job'.

A candidate can request to see any written interview notes but only they can ask about theirs and no one else's.

It sounds like your organisation is going through a reorg and you have some concerns about the redundancy selection process. If so a good chat to you HRBP would be in order.

@Twizbe thanks for your response. The rumour is that no human reviews the videos, I am trying to ascertain the truth to this, but there is no quick answer. Maybe this is just a rumour. I suspect the truth is that AI scores the videos and the recruiter rubber stamps this with a cursory view.

This is BAU internal recruitment in a large corporate, but there are various individuals about subject to redundancy. Redundancy is to an extent BAU!

I actually don't know of a system where the AI can score an interview as such.

In fact the only one I've seen that would be capable of doing it was scraped for recruitment and refocused on talent development. Basically issues with a computer making hiring decisions.

I suspect this is just a rumour. Though if candidates don't like the style of interview they need to feed that back to HR / RPO. A huge part of the recruitment process is persuading a candidate to take your job. This is especially the case in any hard to recruit areas. If candidates don't like a process the process won't work.

AI is used in assessing interviews to some extent. It states it in the terms of service/privacy policy. If this is not scoring, I am not sure what it is doing.

I have no doubt that AI can be used to locate good candidates, what I am less sure about is if all good candidates will be found be AI.

Anyway thanks for your insights, I will see if I get more information and either update or delete this thread for being too identifying!