Automatic failure: how software fails to identify good job prospects. From the article:

Employers today rely on increasing levels of automation to fill vacancies efficiently, deploying software to do everything from sourcing candidates and managing the application process to scheduling interviews and performing background checks. These systems do the job they are supposed to do. They also exclude more than 10 million workers from hiring discussions….

Job prospects get tripped up by everything from brief résumé gaps to ballooning job descriptions from employers that lessen the chance they will measure up. Lead Harvard researcher Joseph Fuller cited examples of hospitals scanning résumés of registered nurses for “computer programming” when what they need is someone who can enter patient data into a computer. Power companies, he said, scan for a customer-service background when hiring people to repair electric transmission lines….

Many company leaders—nearly nine out of 10 executives surveyed by Harvard—said they know the software they use to filter applicants prevents them from seeing good candidates. Firms such as Amazon.com Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. said they are studying these tools as well as other hiring methods to understand why they can’t find the workers they need. Some said the technology can be changed to serve them better, while others are turning to less-automated methods to find the right people….

The e-applicants were supposed to democratize the search process by giving more people a chance. But they also created a tsunami of applications that overwhelmed companies. The algorithms created to help with this process, known as applicant-tracking systems, filtered tons of prospects down to a select group….

That much automation made it difficult for some applicants to stand out…. The longer and more complicated the job description, the more people get weeded out by the automated systems. Each additional requirement eliminates candidates potentially equipped to fill a role, according to Harvard’s researchers….

A big résumé gap has long been a handicap for applicants, even before automated hiring became so widespread. What’s different now is that the practice persists at a time when companies are desperate for new hires, and those who were rejected by the automated systems don’t get to hear about these concerns from a hiring manager directly….

One technology giant, Microsoft Corp. , now has a new way to find candidates who are on the autism spectrum. Though these workers often bring exceptional attention to detail and problem-solving skills, the company found that elements of its screening and high-stress interview process were unfriendly to such candidates….

Smaller companies are taking new steps, as well, to get around the reliance on software. Ohio restaurant chain Hot Chicken Takeover, which employs 170 people, doesn’t use any automated screening processes. It relies instead on hiring managers to screen and sort candidates….

“For people like me or other women that have been out of the workforce,” said Ms. LeGrand, who has since been promoted by Fidelity, “we do not stack up against the algorithm.”

For other posts on algorithms, see here.