Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way corporate organizations search for talent. With its remarkable processing capabilities and objectivity, AI can address some of the most entrenched challenges in modern hiring, primarily by eliminating human bias. In this article, we’ll explore how AI tools for recruiting can help you achieve unbiased AI candidate screening.
Introducing AI in a Staffing Context
In recent times, corporate organizations have harnessed the potential of artificial intelligence in their talent acquisition efforts. AI, with its unparalleled processing power and impartiality, can tackle some of the most persistent challenges in modern hiring. One of the key advantages of AI recruiting is its ability to remove human bias from the hiring process.
As highlighted by the Harvard Business Journal, AI holds enormous promise in reducing hiring bias for two primary reasons. It can eliminate unconscious human bias and assess the entire candidate pool, in contrast to traditional, time-constrained methods that often introduce bias from the outset.
Harnessing the Potential of AI in Recruiting
The true potential of AI in recruiting lies in the hands of humans. Machines need to be programmed to carry out tasks within specified parameters set by people. However, if our initial hiring processes are tainted by bias, even the most advanced machine learning algorithms can’t rectify the situation. So, how can we eliminate human bias in the recruiting process?
Impact of Biases on the Hiring Process
To find a solution, it’s essential to comprehend how AI functions throughout the hiring process and how human biases can distort results from the very beginning. Several biases can influence human decision-making, with two being particularly relevant in the context of hiring:
- Affinity Bias: People tend to gravitate toward individuals with whom they share similarities. While this tendency may be harmless in everyday social interactions, it impedes progress in diversity, inclusion, and equity in hiring. Affinity bias often causes companies to overlook highly qualified job candidates.
- Attribution Bias: Human beings tend to attribute their successes to intrinsic factors like diligence and intelligence. However, when evaluating others, they often attribute their success to luck and failures to personal errors. This bias can be exacerbated by affinity bias, leading hiring managers to doubt or underestimate the accomplishments of certain candidates.
Introduction of Human Biases into AI
So, how do these human biases infiltrate the seemingly objective realm of artificial intelligence? Consider this example:
When a company employs AI to screen candidates, the technology is directed to evaluate prospects based on the characteristics of the company’s previous successful hires. Even when the evaluation parameters are adjusted based on the company’s “best” employees, bias can still infiltrate the hiring process. AI machine learning relies on historical data points, which may already be tainted by human bias, to predict the candidate most desirable to the client.
This bias isn’t always rooted in social or cultural factors. The challenge lies in optimizing AI to take a nuanced view of candidates. AI’s role is to sift through a vast number of job applicants based on specific parameters set by humans. For instance, is a candidate with nine and a half years of experience significantly less qualified than one with ten? Is a magna cum laude graduate from a slightly less prestigious school any less attractive than an average graduate from an Ivy League university?
Leveraging AI for Bias-Free Hiring
When programmed correctly, AI can help eliminate human bias from the hiring process. Simultaneously, humans can account for some of the limitations of AI. However, without acknowledging the existence of bias, the status quo will persist. Organizational leaders must understand that addressing bias is not only a moral imperative but also a business-critical issue. By clinging to outdated hiring approaches, you risk missing out on your next exceptional hire.
If you’re interested in learning more about how technology can transform your hiring processes, learn how PeopleCaddie‘s AI helps you find better contract talent, faster.