JOB MATCHING: THE (PAST, PRESENT AND,) FUTURE OF WORK

Abstract

The proliferation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in our everyday lives has undoubtedly made our lives more convenient, secure and allows us to accomplish more with less time. From Google autocomplete to ride sharing apps and even the voice assistants on our phones, we are interfacing with AI throughout most of our daily lives - mostly as our trusty assistant to help us accomplish our tasks. Yet, what happens when we are subjected to its scrutiny and its attempts to determine our employability? In this paper, I examine the discourse of AI-enabled Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) on social media platforms to understand the perceptions of job seekers and how the concept of employability changes along with the introduction of ATSs to the recruitment process. This thesis starts by first examining how the imperative to innovate has led to the adoption of ATSs in recruitment processes - enabling HR practitioners to increase their efficiency in selection procedures. Next, I detail the diverging experiences of both job seekers and Human Resource (HR) practitioners, resulting in the unequal distribution of burdens and benefits for both parties. Subsequently, a careful examination of advice given by career coaches reveals the contradictory nature of modern-day recruitment. Initially implemented to create a recruitment system rid of unconscious human bias, ATSs have instead created an exclusive recruitment process where job seekers have to follow its protocols or risk unemployment. Lastly, a careful examination of strategies employed by job seekers to beat the ATSs evinces the changing notions of employability. Consequently, these findings highlight the imperative for us to consider the border implications of AI-us within HR processes and how we can better design and implement technologies into HR processes without losing the human touch.