Can AI save you from hiring bias?

There is a lot of talk about diversity in the workplace. Myriads of studies support the lucrative benefits companies can have when fostering a diverse and inclusive culture.

Organisations that don’t hire employees accordingly are highly likely to lose out on crucial talent for generations to come. However, standing in the way of increased workplace diversity is often the unconscious biases of those doing the hiring.

What is unconscious bias?

It’s any prejudice we have without being aware that we have it. For example, we naturally form stronger bonds with people who look and act like us. These unconscious biases translate into behaviors that can have big impact on fairness and inclusiveness. In the case of hiring talent, this can end up in creating highly homogenous workplaces.

How can hiring managers improve diversity?

Professionals recommend making biases visible in order to address them and improve a group’s diversity. Artificial Intelligence can also assist by seeing around the biases and help to create an equitable and talented employee roster.

How can artificial intelligence help?

There has been a number of startups who have employed artificial intelligence in hiring decisions to increase diversity and get around one of the major obstacles in combating bias.

London-based startup JamieAi, created a hiring tool that matches data professionals to job opportunities using an unbiased algorithm. For the first time, candidates are not asked to fill any demographic information regarding gender, race, skin colour, religion etc. As their Head of BD commented, “We strive to make hiring fair again. Matching companies with talent should only be a transparent process based only candidates preferences, experiences and skills.”

San Francisco-based Mya Systems, created a chatbot to be used for the initial steps in the job interviewing process. The bot evaluates the educational and professional background, as well as, the candidate’s interest level. It can also elaborate on the job’s specifics and answer questions on company policies and culture.

There are also critics who warn that AI algorithms are only as unbiased as the people who programmed them. Inevitably, the prejudices of the creators seem to find their way into the data used by the AI as well as its decision-making process.

However, companies such as JamieAi fight those biases by either not asking certain questions or by having diverse coders overlooking the code. In any case, fighting biases during the hiring stage is definitely ethically and financially a worthwhile effort.

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JamieAi is Here to Help!

We pride ourselves on having the largest pool of data scientists in Europe.

With a matching success rate of over 85%, JamieAi has become the go-to service for in-house hiring managers when searching for the ideal hire in the data sphere.

Our unbiased machine-learning technology analyses your organisation’s needs, the position’s requirements, and makes sure you only get introduced with high quality candidates.

For more information visit our website or email us

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