Résumés may soon become relics of HR’s past, with a specifically designed algorithm examination of applicants’ blog posts, tweets, and “cyber imprints” replacing them in the near future.
According to Dr. Vivienne Ming, whose research is focused on human perception and cognition models, data-driven algorithms are more predicative of workplace success than applicant-supplied résumés.
Besides, there has always been a perception that supervisors, managers, and recruiters are more apt to hire people much like themselves, even though they are unaware they are doing so and have no ulterior motive.
Ming says in a press release that employers need to look for latent qualities and “metacognitive skills” to find the best and the brightest candidates, and examination of résumés can miss these. She sees data-driven algorithms as the best way to find hidden talent and remove bias in the hiring system across all employment sectors, not just for tech.
For example, Ming says, “Looking at where [the applicant] went to school is a proxy; you assume because someone went to a good school, therefore they must have the qualities you desire even though that’s not actually really true.
“From an algorithmic point of view, you not only need to identify [good candidates] who have been missed, but you also have to say why because people’s instincts are always going to follow this positive discrimination bias.
“And if you have two people who are equally good, the one who is the same as the person hiring is much, much more likely to get the job. So really, with this algorithm, we have to say why this person should get the job and why they will be great,” says Ming,
If an algorithm can identify certain qualities in applicants, “if you give them a chance, if you give them the training and the right context to succeed, they will succeed,” concludes Ming, who is cofounder of educational technology and data mining company Socos and chief scientist at Gild, where she leads data mining, analytics design, and algorithm development for Gild Source, the company’s recruiting technology.
Find more about Dr. Ming and how big data can replace résumés here.
What are some of the qualities that an algorithm can identify?
For more information on how the algorithm works check here, http://www.tweeting4change.com/1/post/2014/04/will-algorithms-replace-resumes-why-neuroscientist-drvivienne-ming-says-using-big-data-to-find-hidden-talent-is-not-only-the-wave-of-the-future-its-the-only-way-to-bring-real-diversity-to-the-workplace.html