Applicant Tracking Systems — Helpful or Harmful?
In the Fall of 2019, I spent every moment of my free time applying to internships. Overall, I applied to around 40 internships, receiving about 10 interviews and 1 offer. Most companies never got back to me or sent automated replies rejecting my application. What confused me was that I was automatically rejected from some internships which I thought I was qualified for, but received interviews at other companies with very similar roles and requirements. It wasn’t until I heard about applicant tracking systems (ATS), that I started having better luck. ATS use software and AI to screen potential hires’ resumes and applications — putting the ‘best’ applicants on the top of a pile, and sending automatic rejection emails to others. I learned that this software searches resumes and applications for keywords used in the job’s description, and uses these numbers to rank applicants and determine their eligibility for the job. I eventually learned to put my resume through an ATS scanning website, and tweak my resume for each job I applied for.
These algorithms and software are what Cathy O’Neil calls Weapons of Math Destruction (WMDs). While they are efficient and can save humans a lot of time, they often cause more harm than good. They may reject job applicants who are qualified and could be the best fit for the job, only on the basis of how often certain keywords appear on their resume. “And employers never learn how many good employees they’ve missed out on,” (O’Neil). It is very difficult to learn how to appeal to a WMD. Every company probably has their own resume scanning software or criteria they use to rank applicants, so one can’t really “game the system”.
Even though I altered my resume to work with ATS at the beginning of my application process, it was impossible for me to know which companies wanted what keywords, so it was really about luck. I received about 10 interviews, and ironically enough, the 1 offer I received was from a company whose first round interview had an AI robot interview me, analyze my eye contact, keyword usage, body language, and decide if I was qualified (Crazy!!). It’s hard to give people interview tips when I’m not even sure how the AI determined that I stood out in comparison to other candidates. WMDs seemed to work in my favor (I think?) this time, but who knows where I could’ve worked if my resume was reviewed by a human rather than a robot? What jobs will I not get in the future because of this? Will humans ever realize the implications of WMDs and stray away from them?
