Is AI Being Blamed For A Problem Humans Created?

Not long ago we spoke about how job hunting has become a frustrating experience, especially for young people where applicants often send tonnes of applications without hearing back and so many other problems that have all pretty much blamed AI for.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham recently criticised all of that on Jimmy McLoughlin’s Jimmy’s Jobs of the Future podcast. Speaking about online interviews, he said, “I really don’t like this culture… that just doesn’t seem right to me. I know it’s convenient for the organisations that do it, but how does a young person shine in that situation?”

Burnham believes digital interviews can make it harder for people to show who they really are. He said, “How do you get over some of your personality, your passion? It seems to me to work against people who have that side to their character, and work for those who are just giving the more formulaic answer. So I do worry about that.”

He also said recruitment has, in his words, “changed post pandemic, not necessarily for the better” through the use of AI in job applications, adding, “It doesn’t feel to me that recruitment in the post pandemic era is becoming fairer.”

Is Recruitment Tech Having To Take The Blame Instead Of Something Else?

Euan Cameron, founder and chief executive of candidate screening platform Willo, thinks Burnham is aiming at the wrong problem. He agrees young people are finding it difficult to enter the workplace, but says recruitment software is not the reason.

Cameron said, “Andy Burnham is right about the challenges facing young people trying to enter the workforce, but I think he’s confusing two separate issues. There are record levels of youth unemployment in the UK at present, but that isn’t driven by recruitment processes, it’s due to a shortage of entry level opportunities in a low growth economy and a labour market lacking the relevant skills employers seek.”

His view is that employers cannot recruit people into jobs that do not exist. If entry level vacancies are limited and employers receive thousands of applications, software helps organise candidates before recruiters make the final hiring decision.

That is very different from saying AI chooses who gets the job. Cameron believes people are mixing up recruitment technology with problems that belong to the economy and the jobs market.
 

Has Recruitment Ever Been Completely Fair, Though?

Cameron made a fair point on how many people might just be remembering traditional interviews as a lot better than they actually were, saying, “There’s a tendency to look back at face to face interviews as though they were somehow the gold standard of fairness, but that overlooks the reality for many candidates. Not everyone can afford to travel to interviews, take time off work or for caring responsibilities, or thrive in a traditional face to face interview environment.

“A structured digital process that informs human decision making can remove many of those barriers while ensuring every candidate is asked the same questions and assessed against the same criteria. That often creates a more level playing field, not a less fair one.”

He also believes face to face interviews have always depended on human judgement. “Take two identical candidates. Interview one at 9am, when the hiring manager is fresh, focused and enthusiastic, and another at 5pm after a full day of meetings. Even with the best intentions, those aren’t the same interview. We shouldn’t confuse tradition with fairness. Recruitment has always had biases. We’re just much more aware of them now.

“Ultimately, employers are looking for solutions to problems and right now their biggest challenge is the sheer volume of applications they are receiving.

“The best employers use technology to help human recruiters make better, more informed, and consistent decisions, while creating opportunities for more candidates to demonstrate who they are beyond what’s written on a CV, most of which have been inflated or augmented using AI anyway.”

What Happens When Tech Becomes The Easy Answer?

Burnham’s concerns are not limited to recruitment. Speaking about artificial intelligence and work more generally, he said, “We have to take that issue really seriously…” before recalling that in 2017 “all I was hearing was coding… we need more coding courses”, adding that “almost a decade on that’s almost been made redundant by AI.

“It’s going to change the workplace for sure.”

Nobody disputes that AI is changing recruitment – candidates use it to write CVs and cover letters while employers use it to sort applications and organise interviews. Those tools have become a lot more visible than the job and skills shortages, as well as the economic conditions that Cameron believes are making it harder for young people to find work.

Burnham and Cameron’s differing views both speak to how AI has become the first thing many people look at when recruitment goes wrong, because one side believes tech is making hiring less fair, while the other believes tech is being blamed for problems that people and the economy created long before AI became a part of the recruitment process.