Just dropping this Guardian article off here: ‘Dehumanising, impenetrable, frustrating’: the grim reality of job hunting in the age of AI

It features plenty of questions we should all be asking about AI in the job search. It also centers the discussion on the maddening experience of searching for work when AI is your evaluator and the gate keeper to getting hired. It’s ironic that organizations want more employees with soft skills yet the recruiting experience is transforming into a less human process. On top of that we’re outsourcing the ability to identify the relevant soft skills to technology that still isn’t very good at them.

This shift has already radically changed the way that many people interact with prospective employers. The standardised CV format allowed jobseekers to be evaluated by multiple firms with a single approach. Now jobseekers are forced to prepare for whatever format the company has chosen. The burden has been shifted from employer to jobseeker – a familiar feature of the gig economy era – and along with it the ability of jobseekers to get feedback or insight into the decision-making process. The role of human interaction in hiring has decreased, making an already difficult process deeply alienating.

Beyond the often bewildering and dehumanising experience lurk the concerns that attend automation and AI, which draws on data that’s often been shaped by inequality. If you suspect you’ve been discriminated against by an algorithm, what recourse do you have? How prone are those formulas to bias, and how do the multitude of third-party companies that develop and license this software deal with the personal data of applicants? And is it inevitable that non-traditional or poorer candidates, or those who struggle with new technology, will be excluded from the process?

Job seekers will be battling the robots on two sides: in the recruiting process and as they advance in their careers. It’s not going to get any easier.