Computers Are Deciding Whether You Get the Job

On a sunny day a young man sits on a park bench. A bird flies past and a leaf falls from a tree. Then several things happen at once: one friend asks him to go somewhere on holiday, another offers him a job at a coffee shop, and then a number of people ask him for help fixing problems with their mobile phones.

What this young man does in this scenario will decide whether he gets a job or stays sitting on the park bench. The leaves will fall, but he will not feel the chill of autumn, because he is an 'avatar', a cartoon character created to assess the abilities of a prospective employee.

This online game was built by a company called Chemistry Group, which describes itself as a 'talent consultancy', so that the telecom company O2 can analyse the abilities of its prospective employees. It is not the only software showing the growing digital influence on how companies hire. A company named SHL has built an online 3D programme in which a glaring boss appears before the job seeker and asks how they would resolve a series of difficult dilemmas.

Meanwhile, another video-based interview product puts just three questions to job seekers through an online webcam. From this, the employer can decide whom to meet and whom not to.

Gordon White, a recruitment consultant with the BIA Group, says face-to-face interviews are very expensive and time-consuming for both sides. Such interviews will now be held only for the final round of hiring. But he does not believe the importance of an employer meeting a prospective employee will disappear altogether.

Companies are already using 'applicant tracking systems' that analyse job seekers' CVs. 'Nobody reads 500 CVs any more; it is all automatic now,' White says. If job seekers find out which tool a company is using to sift CVs, he explains, they can do a great deal to get their CV onto the shortlist.