It's all just bot talk
On job applications, automation, and figuring out what "human resources" are really supposed to be all about
In a real sign of the times, a media outlet tested the use of artificial intelligence to apply for jobs and found that modern job searching is conducive to that sort of automation.
■ One of the celebrated tools customizes cover letters to go along with the applications and resumes. It says something pretty dreadful if an applicant chooses to automate their cover letter, which is precisely the aspect of a job application that is supposed to put some personality and color into an otherwise highly routinized process. Automating the task of cover-letter writing achieves precisely the most perverse result.
■ Job applicants can be forgiven for trying to level the playing field against a job market that's already known to use AI technology to screen job applicants and even to conduct preliminary interviews.
■ But everyone involved must admit that there's something wrong with this picture. Human capital remains human above all, and although people are prone to many forms of lamentable bias, anything created by people -- whether intentionally programmed or "learned" artificially -- is likewise going to contain artifacts of that same bias. We're only kidding ourselves if we think we'll achieve better results for human beings by stripping all remaining elements of humanity from the process.
