#18: Digital Assessments, AI, & Bias in Candidate Screening

The Changing State of Talent Acquisition

This week we’re guest-free and begin with a recent ERE article about AI and screening bias, before unpacking an article from Bas van de Haterd about the future of digital assessments.

Topics include: biases in screening and assessments, the ways in which AI can amplify (or minimize) the biases of the human recruiters who use them, the problem of training assessment tools on employee datasets that have inherent biases, how rising employment has increased the importance of effective screening at scale, the value of “pre-screening,” how the sorting problem is different for volume vs. professional roles, the connection between the shifting educational landscape and the declining value of resumes, the difference between using assessments for hard skills vs. culture and personality “fit”, how reducing reliance on resumes and traditional educational milestones can support diversity and inclusion initiatives, and how the preference for candidates with a good stage presence introduces a bias against otherwise qualified introverts.