How technology may transform hiring practies

Global Business

Several years ago Silicon Valley companies began releasing data on the race and gender composition of their workforces to highlight the need to increase diversity. But today, most of those numbers at companies like Facebook and Google have hardly changed at all.

CCTV America’s Mark Niu reports that some believe change needs to start with the hiring process, and that technology can help make that possible.

In the tech industry, many workers say finding a job is much easier if you fit the profile.

“In our subconscious we keep making patterns about what people are capable of based on how they look. We are a technology that allows employers to host blind performance auditions so that the best applicants walk in that door of the employer, in a way that levels the playing field for everyone from all backgrounds,” Kedar Iyer, Co-Founder of CEO of GapJumpers, said.

Users of the GapJumpers website can apply for job listings in technology, design, and marketing by taking a customized test.

GapJumpers also takes feedback from hiring managers and uses Artificial Intelligence to continually improve their scoring. The automated process has produced plenty of data, which is being studied here at Stanford University.

Sociology PhD Student Sharon Jank found that of the GapJumpers job applicants selected for interview, 58 percent were women.

And so far, the blind auditions have resulted in twice the number of women being hired compared to men.

“There is no resume, no voice, there’s no LinkedIn profile information, there’s absolutely nothing that could identify any characteristics about who is doing that work submission. It isn’t until after the hiring manager makes the decision about if this person can make it through the screen or not that they get any info about the applicant,” Sharon Jank, Stanford Sociology PHD Student said.

The pay discrepancy between men and women is a separate matter, but one that GapJumpers also plans to try and solve through technology in the near future.