In Machines We Trust: Hired by an algorithm

If you’ve applied for a job lately, it’s all but guaranteed that your application was reviewed by software—in most cases, before a human ever laid eyes on it. In this episode, the first in a four-part investigation into automated hiring practices, we speak with the CEOs of ZipRecruiter and Career Builder, and one of the architects of LinkedIn’s algorithmic job-matching system, to explore how AI is increasingly playing matchmaker between job searchers and employers. But while software helps speed up the process of sifting through the job market, algorithms have a history of biasing the opportunities they present to people by gender, race...and in at least one case, whether you played lacrosse in high school.

We Meet: 

• Mark Girouard, Attorney, Nilan Johnson Lewis
• Ian Siegel, CEO, ZipRecruiter
• John Jersin, former Vice President of Product Management, LinkedIn
• Irina Novoselsky, CEO, CareerBuilder 

We Talked To: 

• Mark Girouard, Attorney, Nilan Johnson Lewis
• Ian Siegel, CEO, ZipRecruiter
• John Jersin, former Vice President of Product Management, LinkedIn
• Irina Novoselsky, CEO, CareerBuilder 
• Derek Kan, Vice President of Product Management, Monster
• Aleksandra Korolova, Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of Southern California 
• Brian Kropp, Vice President Research, Gartner
• Matthew Neale, Vice President of Assessment Products, Criteria Corp
• Josh Bersin, Research Analyst
• Jonathan Kestenbaum, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Talent Tech Labs
• Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Assistant Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Sounds From: 

• How to Keep a Job, Coronet Instructional Films: https://archive.org/details/HowtoKee1949 
• Curious Thing AI (Sound from their AI tool)

Credits:

This episode was reported by Hilke Schellmann, and produced by Jennifer Strong, Emma Cillekens and Anthony Green with special thanks to Karen Hao. We’re edited by Michael Reilly.

Additional reporting from us:

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/06/23/1026825/linkedin-ai-bias-ziprecruiter-monster-artificial-intelligence/

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/02/11/1017955/auditors-testing-ai-hiring-algorithms-bias-big-questions-remain/

https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/04/09/1022217/facebook-ad-algorithm-sex-discrimination/

https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/11/07/75194/hirevue-ai-automated-hiring-discrimination-ftc-epic-bias/

https://www.technologyreview.com/2020/02/14/844765/ai-emotion-recognition-affective-computing-hirevue-regulation-ethics/