How AI affects finding a job

AI hiring is making finding a job difficult

When my children were looking for jobs I so wanted to tell them to print a bunch of resumes and go door to door. That was five plus years ago and the old ways of applying for jobs had already changed. October 2018 had the news that Amazon was abandoning its use of AI (artificial intelligence) recruiting software. 

Watching my kids search I realized how hard it was to get yourself in front of a real person in order to sell yourself. Being at the end of a long career and not having had to look for a job in a long time, I felt for them in this new world. A majority of companies have online applications. Which saves a lot of time and effort as applicants can sit at home and get their resume to as many businesses and recruiting companies as they can. The problem then and now is knowing how to write your resume and complete the applications. Not that’s its any great discovery, but I long suspected that companies used algorithms to filter the resumes. If your application doesn’t hit the right marks it may never make it to a hiring manager.

AI Recruiting

In November 2018, Amazon admitted to having a secret AI recruiting tool that showed bias towards women. Reuters reported that Amazon had been developing software since 2014 that would review applications. The hiring tool would assign candidates scores of 1-5. Developers realized that the program “learned” by reviewing resume patterns over the last ten years. During that period a high number of resumes came from men. The models developed skewed towards assigning men higher scores. The system taught itself to rank lower the word “women” and downgrading women colleges.

Amazon tried to program in gender-neutral terms but eventually abandoned the project in 2017. Amazon officials told Reuters the program was an experiment to find a way to aid in recruitment of the best candidates. The AI program was never used in actual hiring. Reuters reported, however, that Amazon did not deny that recruiters reviewed the recommendations made by the program. 

The Reuters article cited a 2017 CareerBuilder survey of U.S. human resources managers finding that 55% would be using AI over the next five years.

Application tracking

Until AI is further developed, hiring managers will continue to use Application Tracking Software (ATS). Very simply, ATS reviews applications by word according to parameters set by the company. Back to my rather obvious suspicion online applications are filtered. If your resume doesn’t hit the right notes, your application goes nowhere. It’s also the reason applicants rarely hear back from companies after submitting a resume. It never reached a person who could reply with a polite, “Thank you, but no”.

A JobScan blog posted in 2016, The History of Applicant Tracking Systems credits the first ATS to Canadian Martin Ouellett who created an early form in 1996. Since that time ATS has been refined and developed. As of 2016, over 300 ATS are being used by 90% of companies.

You can definitely feel for people looking for jobs today. The market is tight and getting your resume in front of a real person is difficult. Knowing the playing field and learning the rules of job hunting is a job within itself. If not an education.

Please feel free to share this and any post. See the blog archive for more posts about Hiring.

Frequently Asked Questions

During my time providing investigative services to businesses the same questions regarding pre employment screenings and background checks were repeatedly asked. To address those questions, we developed a list of frequently asked questions, which are shared below. I hope this will help answer questions you may have and guide you through the hiring process.

·      What are an employer’s legal obligations?

• Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). As of October 1, 1997 the FCRA requires that all employers who request background checks for pre employment screening purposes have a written consent from the applicant. 
• Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title VII. Employers cannot reject or fire qualified individuals who have criminal records when the criminal history has no bearing on the individual’s fitness or ability to perform the job.
•  Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC. The EEOC is clear in its position on employers’ use of criminal background checks for employee hiring and retention: “Using such records as an absolute measure to prevent an individual from being hired could limit the employment opportunities of some protected groups and thus cannot be used in this way.”
• National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) was enacted in 1935. The Act allows for the National labor Relations Board to enforce laws that give employees the right to act together for improved pay and working conditions, even if they are not part of a union. 

·      What is a “National” record check?

• We were always asked to conduct national criminal record checks. This request is difficult to explain because most people’s perception of the criminal justice system is marred by television. Simply put, there is no “national” database that houses criminal records. Records of arrests and adjudications are kept at the local courthouses and county jurisdictions. Conducting a non-law enforcement national background check would be better said as a “nationwide” check. To obtain a thorough picture of a person’s criminal past, all levels of government entities maintaining criminal records should be searched. Read our post "National" record checks, which further explains the subject.

If there is no national database, how do you get the most detailed information?

• Look for companies that search both public and commercial databases within the Federal, State, and County jurisdictions. Analyzing the information to ensure the utmost accuracy for your screenings.

·      What is “Ban the box”?

• Ban the box is national grassroots movement to remove the question, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime” from employment applications. Many State and local jurisdictions have passed laws removing the question from government employment applications.

·      What is Bright line hiring?

•  “Bright line” is a clearly defined rule or standard, generally used in law, composed of objective factors, which leaves little or no room for varying interpretation. The purpose of a bright-line rule is to produce predictable and consistent results in its application. 
• A Bright line hiring example would be to not hire someone with a criminal record. Bright line hiring practices are dangerous for any business, as you may have violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 or EEOC guidelines.

·      Can expunged records be located?

• Sometimes. The legal term “expunged” has different definitions in different states. Some allow for the records to be sealed and treat the case as it never happened. Some change the conviction to “dismissed”, but the other details of the case are the same. In Maryland, it means to remove from public inspection. 
• Although records are expunged, they are filed somewhere.  Third party vendors purchase data from government entities before records are expunged. They then resell that data. Although records get expunged, they remain active through third party vendors.

·      Why should I do pre employment checks?

• Avoid the expense of making a bad hire. Bad hires can cost as much as three times the salary of the job in question
•  Reduce liability: Putting current employees at risk by placing a violent person in the workplace.
• Find those with a propensity for violence. Workplace violence has been found to make up 18% of all crime.
•  Reduce of workplace accidents
•  Reduce resume puffing. One-third of resumes have some degree of puffery
•  Aid the applicant. During the process other names associated with the applicants’ social security number are regularly discovered. This information may help the applicant thwart identity theft.

·      Why can’t I just do checks myself?

• You can and many do. The Internet is a very powerful tool. The questions are: Do you have time? Do you know where to look? Do you know how to decipher the information you do find? Are you sure you are looking at the correct person?

See our blog archive and topic categories for more on this topic.

How well do you know someone? March 2017

Social Media Checks July 2016

FCRwhat? March 2015

Just checking local Internet records not enough December 2014

Convicted? Never convicted. October 2014

Have you ever been convicted of a crime? February 2014

What is the price of not doing a background check July 2013

"National" record checks April 2013

Ban the box

What’s in your wallet?

The salary question

The movement to remove the criminal history question from employment applications has been steadily gaining popularity over the last several years. Ban the Box (referring to the checkbox asking if an applicant has ever been convicted of a crime) laws have been enacted by cities, counties, and states. Most affect only government applications but a few apply to the private sector. They are currently 26 states and 150 cities and counties. Maryland is one of those states and the laws applies to state government applications only. While it is not against federal employment laws (past bills in Congress have failed) the EEOC strongly encourages employers not to base hiring decisions based on the applicant’s criminal history.

Another interview question under scrutiny is the salary question-“What is your current and/or most recent salary?” Proponents feel that asking the question will help correct salary disparities by not basing offers on past pay. Arguing that pay should be offered for the position, based on market values, not the person. Employers feel that the new laws are more government intrusion that affects hiring and hurts their overall business.

The attention to this question comes from the equal pay for women campaign, which is gaining popularity on political platforms. Women earn roughly 80 cents per dollar compared to men based on information form the U.S. Census bureau. This pay disparity tends to follow a woman throughout her career when new salary offers are based on current or past history.

Pay equity laws

As with Ban the Box, once the wave starts rolling it does not take long for cities and states to follow suit. The National Conference of State Legislatures lists 43 states with equal pay laws that prohibit discriminating between the sexes. However, Massachusetts was the first to enact a law that specifically prohibits paying a woman less than a man.

In August 2016, the Governor of Massachusetts signed into law the Pay Equity Act, which will take effect July 1, 2018. Under this law it will be illegal for employers: to pay men and women differently for comparable work, screen applicants based on past salaries, contact the applicant’s former company reference salary, and restricting employees from discussing their salaries.

After Massachusetts big cities quickly passed laws. Philadelphia became the first to enact such a law, which was to take effect in January 2017, but is delaying implementation awaiting a federal ruling on a petition to block the law. In April 2017, New York City barred employers from inquiring about salary information.

This issue is gaining attention at the federal level as well. In September of 2016 the Pay Equity for All Act of 2016 was introduced to the United States House of Representatives and is still in committee. The original proposal would make it illegal to screen prospective employees based on their previous wages or salary histories; ask for previous wages or salary; or fire or retaliate against any current or prospective employee because the employee opposed disclosing salary information.

Maryland’s equal pay act took effect October 1, 2016 when The Equal Pay for Equal Work Act of 2016 was enacted. The law applies to employers of any size and extends protections to gender identity as well as sex and bars employers from prohibiting employees from discussing or disclosing wages or those of another employee. The full law can be found at Maryland Equal Pay for Equal Work 

  

See our blog archive for more Ban the box and hiring discrimination posts:

Ban the Box update August 2016

Health History Discrimination May 2016

Students say ban the Box April 2016

Gauging one’s appearance May 2014

Have you ever been convicted of a crime? February 2014

Maryland Bans the Box May 2013

Should the box be banned? February 2013