Recruitment in the age of the algorithm
Written by Tamara Grant
We live in a world driven by data. This is nothing new. Libraries were invented 4000 years ago to store information. The abacus was a popular accountancy tool around the same time. Both the Romans and the Egyptians kept demographic data as they built their empire. In today’s world, the tools are a little sharper but the principles are the same. Billions of algorithms running every minute collect data about every human on the planet. By amassing data we can know more, and know better.
Algorithms not only collect the data we rely on so heavily. They also power our decisions. They can tell us what to buy, what to wear, what to eat. We use them to match us to potential life partners. We use them to match candidates to our jobs.
So why not outsource the recruitment of your next partner to an app? Surely it will provide objectivity and wipe-out subconscious bias?
Well, the benefits are clear. Data-driven systems save a lot of time. They will enable you to make decisions without knowing anything at all about a candidate’s gender, ethnicity or race. And they create a level playing field for all.
Or do they?
Let’s remember what being a senior player in a law firm is all about. Empathy. The ability to handle difficult conversations. Pulling together a team that doesn’t just work together, but becomes more than the sum of its parts.
It’s also crucial to be as inclusive as possible. To create an environment representing different personality types, backgrounds, experiences and views.
Algorithms are invaluable when choices are binary. Which route to take to beat the traffic? Which seat to choose at the right price inside the stadium? Which appointment time to book with a busy client?
Back in the 1950s, an American writer Isaac Asimov wrote ‘Question’, a book predicting a time when robots would become the future. And he was right. He was also right when he predicted that, while they might be able to mimic the tasks of humans, they would not achieve that elusive human characteristic: empathy.
A lifetime later, human connection and personality still can’t be expressed in binary. Subtle social cues remain the sole preserve of the human brain (and heart!). That’s why the most successful teams are managed by humans. And it’s why they should be built by humans too.
Because the minute your recruitment process becomes a numbers game, you lose the human touch. It also falls into some deep traps:
The echo chamber: Those who are targeted by the algorithms are targeted constantly. The same candidates are approached multiple times each day by voracious recruitment agents offering dream jobs. And the offers are wild. When you reduce the pool, and you target people who have no reason to jump ship, you have to up the ante. Employers end up paying through the nose for a candidate from a very shallow gene pool.
Reactive selection: Algorithms chase candidates who self-select by putting themselves up for a move. But the best hires are often those who were not actively looking. Only a trusting, personal relationships can explain why it’s worth their looking elsewhere for a job that provides the perfect fit, or why they are punching well below their worth.
Unconscious bias: In a perfect world, removing someone’s name and identity from a CV would eliminate subjective calls being made before they even walk into the room. In practise, it just leads us into a different type of bias. Because if a computer seeks out great qualifications, an outstanding degree and top-level work experience, it will prejudice all those who have taken a different route. Some of my best clients have gaps in their CVs when they were bringing up children. Some missed top class degrees because they had to work so hard to earn money while at university simply to survive. Others went to schools where it was an achievement simply to take an A level, let alone get a top grade.
I haven’t built my business around relationships because I’m a technophobe or a reactionary. It’s because I believe that recruitment isn’t a numbers game. It’s about people. Artificial Intelligence has come a long way, but it can’t compute life experience, cultural capital and human stories. It can only compute the known. But a great recruiter is able to suggest the unknown. To unearth hidden value, chemistry and potential.