Can technology identify China’s top graduates? — from bbc.com by John Sudworth, Shanghai
Excerpts (emphasis DSC):
Has the humble CV finally met its match?
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[L’Oreal] has chosen the world’s biggest jobs market – China – to utter two words that would be music to the ears of beleaguered recruitment executives everywhere: “Goodbye CV”. This year, the 33,000 applicants for the 70 places on the company’s Chinese graduate recruitment scheme have been asked to save themselves the paper, the printer ink and the pain. Instead, they were asked to answer three simple questions via their smartphones.
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“We have developed algorithms that can take the words that people use and derive context from them,” said Robin Young, the founder of Seedlink Tech.
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Here’s how it works: students use their mobile phones to access L’Oreal’s website which prompts them to answer three open-ended questions.
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The answers, which have to be at least 75 words long, are automatically fed into Seedlink’s database and the software gets to work. It analyses the language used and compares each candidate’s answers with the many thousands of others. Then, supposedly calibrated to mine for the specific personality traits that L’Oreal is looking for, it produces a ranking with, in theory, the person most suited for a career at L’Oreal at the top.
Excerpt from the March 1, 2015 edition of CIO Magazine (emphasis DSC):
The almighty algorithm is the fuel for today’s data-driven businesses. They stoke the data engines that recommend purchases, trade stocks, predict crime, spot medical conditions, monitor sleep apnea, find dating partners, calculate driving routes and so much more. “These math equations,” writes Managing Editor Kim S. Nash, “may someday run our lives.”
In the wrong application, they may someday ruin lives, as well.
The fascinating story that Nash unearthed will show you exactly why CIOs need to develop what one expert called “algorithmic accountability.”