May 10, 2018 at 8:32 pm
Comments posted to this topic are about the item Interviewing Avatars
May 11, 2018 at 2:20 am
Last week my work colleague set up an automatic response on her email - it received an email and returned an I will get back to you email to someone who had subsequently set up an I will get back to you auto-response - both individuals had their email boxes filled with thousands of I will get back to you preventing them from receiving any other messages while on holiday.
I am receiving lots of emails from job web-sites that appear to be either scraped or collected automatically often I get repeat emails on the same job from the same and different job site websites. Some of the jobs actually indicate they do not accept approaches from agencies and yet because of poor automation agencies are still sending me emails suggesting I should apply through them. I have been contacted by agencies automatically who then on contact don't want to know or worse give absolutely zero response when contacted personally - this gives the impression that they are not very in control of their processes and or lack integrity.
There seems to be a big opportunity to improve on automation and I look forward to this to save all of our time.
In the meantime I suspect we will have some weird things happening where avataars endlessly talk to other avataars until a person steps in.
I would love some kind of AI overlord for hiring people that truly rules out prejudice and that can identify true value and the appropriate position for an individual based purely on meritocracy. I feel sure that some professionals would feel they need to introduce prejudice to favour for instance their own profession (and by consequence themselves somewhere down the line). I hope that someone will invent a pure mathematical algorithmic based hiring application I think it could be very very interesting as I think it is very difficult for individuals to truly escape their own prejudices.
May 11, 2018 at 2:28 am
I don't think this would fly if I was the one holding the interview. The avatar isn't going to write the code, the person is. Also. with the avatar being a digital entity, which means easily copiable, nothing prevents Jim, a SQL newbie, from using avatar from Frank, a SQL expert.
May 11, 2018 at 2:33 am
Jakub.Janda - Friday, May 11, 2018 2:28 AMI don't think this would fly if I was the one holding the interview. The avatar isn't going to write the code, the person is. Also. with the avatar being a digital entity, which means easily copiable, nothing prevents Jim, a SQL newbie, from using avatar from Frank, a SQL expert.
Have to agree with JJ I wouldn't use it for myself and wouldn't want to interview an avatar.
May 11, 2018 at 3:17 am
I suppose some sort of basic filtering process might be useful.
My guess is that this process is designed to try and get round our implicit biases? Essentially if you have a non gender , non race, non religious specific avatar then you avoid the implementation of our implicit biases.
May 11, 2018 at 4:44 am
I'm have to admit, if I called a prospective hire and was met with a robot my reaction would be to hang up and ring the next candidate on my list.
May 11, 2018 at 5:01 am
This is a poor place to deploy the technology.
It reminds me of the google demonstration regarding an automatic call to a restaurant to change a reservation.
Naturally, their well received system, GOOG411, was removed when google got the voice data that it had wanted from it.
May 11, 2018 at 5:15 am
Sorry to bust your bubbles but Hank the avatar is fictional, he doesn't exist, I think the article is in response to a different article about an application called Vera.
from the author of that article
"What if Avatar Hank were real? He’s not, of course — but only because job seekers can’t afford to spend the billions of dollars HR dumps every year into “recruiting automation.” Otherwise, HR technology companies would create him.
Unfortunately, there is no “job seeker’s revenge technology” to match the ATSes and goofy “algorithms” that HR sics on job seekers. I made it all up, but there is truth to Avatar Hank — a lot of truth.
"
May 11, 2018 at 5:43 am
So, as pointed out, this isn't *currently* a real piece of tech. But I suspect, give it another couple years and there will be automated avatar-type systems, potentially on both sides of screener interviews.
What I could see them being used for (from the job-seekers end) is a sort of "automated voice-response resume." Perhaps you get a software package (or more likely a subscription to a service,) that has a set of canned interviewer questions, you feed in your resume, answer the canned questions, then turn it loose for headhunters to contact. Now, "you" could deal with hundreds of recruiters a day. The reason for it to be a subscription would be the service would periodically update the interview questions.
Would people be able to lie with such a system? They already do with resumes and over-the-phone and in-person interviews, so, yes. Is it likely this would turn into a case of the headhunters automatic systems scraping your info from LinkedIn etc, calling the avatar, and making the initial decision? Yes, amusingly it likely would devolve into machines interviewing machines for people...
As for the other question, if I had hiring authority would I want to "interview" an avatar like "Hank?" No, I wouldn't. You're not going to get an idea of what *kind* of person the job seeker behind the avatar is, as there won't be any of the nuance we unconsciously (and sometimes consciously) pick up from tone, cadence, and inflection in someones' voice. I'd have to treat any sort of avatar interview as nothing more than a fancy-pants resume.
May 11, 2018 at 6:50 am
Dalkeith - Friday, May 11, 2018 2:20 AM....
I would love some kind of AI overlord for hiring people that truly rules out prejudice and that can identify true value and the appropriate position for an individual based purely on meritocracy. ....
Some level of (presumed) bias can be eliminated by interviewing via chat box, rather than avatar. You can tell something about a person by how they respond... you can't see that with an avatar. Of course they could have someone else take the interview, but then we are back to good old fashioned face to face (really, we have millions of years of evolution of social judgement skills that we're throwing away in the interests of 'no bias'
[If you've been following trends recently, advocating pure meritocracy (as well as punctuality and command of language) is being denounced in academia as 'reinforcing bias'.]
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
May 11, 2018 at 9:03 am
When I first started to read this editorial, I was repulsed by the idea of having an Avatar do the talking in an initial interview. But then I thought about the last time I was out of work. I applied for over 300 jobs, before I stopped counting the jobs I applied for. Before I got to 300 applications I really got the feeling that the majority of the jobs I was applying for I was being eliminated before anyone in HR or management, even saw my application, me or anything. Believe me, you feel like dirt after awhile. And I resented not being treated like a human being. So yeah, I approve of this. Why not turn it on it's head? If companies want to treat me like a misspelled word in a document, that they can just backspace over, then let me return the same treatment to them.
OK, I've re-read that last sentence. It's harsh. I guess that even after 3 years of employment, I still sting from the indignity of the way the majority of companies treated me, during my time of transition. And ultimately, I am not interested in a tit for tat type of interchange with any company's HR department. From the unemployed person's point of view, that's a losing proposition. The reality is that companies HR departments can treat applicants poorly, at least initially. And there's nothing that applicants can do but take it and just keep applying. However, being more reasonable about this, I do see where having an avatar stand in for you at an initial Skype or phone interview, to handle say 5 initial questions and answers, could be useful to the applicant. As a person seeking employment, especially if you're unemployed, you've working 80 hour weeks researching, applying, etc. anything to help you get re-employed. So helping the applicant filter out positions that don't fit would be beneficial to both parties. Also, if the Avatar is smart enough, then when all questions have been answered satisfactorially, then I'd like that Avatar to notify me with a, "Hey, this company is for real. Drop what you're doing and pick up the Skype/phone now!"
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
May 11, 2018 at 9:22 am
Rod at work - Friday, May 11, 2018 9:03 AM. And there's nothing that applicants can do but take it and just keep applying. However, being more reasonable about this, I do see where having an avatar stand in for you at an initial Skype or phone interview, to handle say 5 initial questions and answers, could be useful to the applicant.
Exactly how would an avatar provide useful information? If it's simple fact/history questions, these are answered by a resume. The avatar is not you, it cannot predict what answers you would give to questions. It certainly cannot answer coding questions (in which case it would be giving its own answers, not yours).
As an interviewer what useful information would you learn from an avatar (other than what the person could provide in writing)?? Nothing
...
-- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers --
May 11, 2018 at 9:43 am
Dalkeith - Friday, May 11, 2018 2:20 AM...
In the meantime I suspect we will have some weird things happening where avataars endlessly talk to other avataars until a person steps in.I would love some kind of AI overlord for hiring people that truly rules out prejudice and that can identify true value and the appropriate position for an individual based purely on meritocracy. I feel sure that some professionals would feel they need to introduce prejudice to favour for instance their own profession (and by consequence themselves somewhere down the line). I hope that someone will invent a pure mathematical algorithmic based hiring application I think it could be very very interesting as I think it is very difficult for individuals to truly escape their own prejudices.
Possibly we will have extended AI conversations, which might be fun to watch.
I'd like to think some AI might end up with fewer prejudices, but I'm not sure. I think we tend to train ML/AI systems ourselves. There's still a human component and I could see very qualified candidates getting chosen, then people not liking them for prejudicial or interpersonal reasons and starting the train the AI to move back to where we are now.
May 11, 2018 at 9:44 am
Dalkeith - Friday, May 11, 2018 2:33 AMJakub.Janda - Friday, May 11, 2018 2:28 AMI don't think this would fly if I was the one holding the interview. The avatar isn't going to write the code, the person is. Also. with the avatar being a digital entity, which means easily copiable, nothing prevents Jim, a SQL newbie, from using avatar from Frank, a SQL expert.Have to agree with JJ I wouldn't use it for myself and wouldn't want to interview an avatar.
It's not for the interview, or all interviews, but more for screening. Initial calls.
May 11, 2018 at 9:46 am
Although I'll grant you that sometimes coding questions are asked during an initial interview, not all initial interviews have coding questions. Many initial interviews that I had were more of a getting to know ya, type of interview. Those are the types where I would think an Avatar would potentially be up to the task. For example, if I had an Avatar that would represent me to a getting to know you type of initial Skype/phone interview, I'd have it ask the interviewer a question about travel. Something like:
Rod's Avatar: How much travel time is required for this position?
Interview: 80% travel time is required for this position.
At this point I'd know that wasn't acceptable to me, so I'd have the Avatar thank the interviewer but point out that I (Rod) didn't believe pursuing the interview process would be beneficial for both parties.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
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