In a rapidly digitizing world, machine learning algorithms are increasingly employed in scenarios that directly impact humans. This also is seen in job candidate screening. Data-driven candidate assessment is gaining interest, due to high scalability and more systematic assessment mechanisms. However, it will only be truly accepted and trusted if explainability and transparency can be guaranteed. The current chapter emerged from ongoing discussions between psychologists and computer scientists with machine learning interests, and discusses the job candidate screening problem from an interdisciplinary viewpoint. After introducing the general problem, we present a tutorial on common important methodological focus points in psychological and machine learning research. Following this, we both contrast and combine psychological and machine learning approaches, and present a use case example of a data-driven job candidate assessment system, intended to be explainable towards non-technical hiring specialists. In connection to this, we also give an overview of more traditional job candidate assessment approaches, and discuss considerations for optimizing the acceptability of technology-supported hiring solutions by relevant stakeholders. Finally, we present several recommendations on how interdisciplinary collaboration on the topic may be fostered.

No abstract

Abstract. Applicant fairness perceptions of asynchronous job interviews were assessed among panelists (Study 1, N = 160) and highly educated actual applicants (Study 2, N = 103). Furthermore, we also examined whether personality explained applicants’ perceptions. Participants, particularly actual applicants, had negative perceptions of the fairness and procedural justice of asynchronous job interviews. Extraverted applicants perceived more opportunity to perform with the asynchronous job interview than introverts. A trait interaction between Neuroticism and Extraversion was tested, but no significant results were found. Although the first selection stage is increasingly digitized, this study shows that applicant perceptions of asynchronous job interviews are relatively negative. The influence of personality on these perceptions appears to be limited.

This study investigated ethnic majority and minority applicants' fairness perceptions (N = 445) of video resumes, compared with paper resumes. Additionally, the moderating effect of minorities' ethnic identity and language proficiency on fairness perceptions of video/paper resumes was studied. Despite discriminatory concerns, ethnic minority applicants perceived the fairness of video resumes equally or more positively when compared with ethnic majority applicants, and when compared with paper resumes. Minorities' ethnic identity was positively related to fairness perceptions of resumes. Furthermore, language proficiency was a significant moderator: Higher proficiency was related to higher fairness perceptions of paper resumes. The implication is suggested that ethnic minority applicants may prefer a more personalized way of applying (video resume), instead of less personalized ways.

Highly educated ethnic minority entrants in Western countries need more time to find a job compared to their Western ethnic majority counterparts. The present study examined whether this differential job access is partly explained by the way ethnic minorities present themselves in their résumés. To this end, a comparison between 100 non‐Western ethnic minority graduate résumés and 100 native Western ethnic majority graduate résumés was made. Non‐Western ethnic minorities score significantly lower on reported organisational internships, leadership experiences, and extracurricular activities. Although most effects were small, these differences in résumé content resulted in lower job suitability ratings for non‐Western ethnic minorities compared to Western ethnic majorities, as judged by professional recruiters/HR experts. Résumé presentation (e.g. layout and grammar) also was a significant predictor of job suitability ratings, but no ethnicity effects were found in these résumé characteristics. Because rater effects which may be related to hiring discrimination were controlled for, it can be concluded that the reported human capital in résumés can explain differential job access of ethnic minority compared to ethnic majority graduates. Theoretical and practical implications for assessing ethnic minorities upon organisational entry are discussed.