How Recruitment Software Eliminates “Human” Resources

This entry is basically a chance for me to complain publicly about McGraw-Hill’s terse HR Department in the hopes that someone of influence over there will read about it, but it might be of some interest to people who aren’t complete douchebags. To begin: some of you may know a few things about me that I don”t often write about! One thing you might know is that I didn’t go to a college or university, really, after high school (it’s marginally more complicated than that, but basically: no college). This makes me an “autodidact”, which is a word some people use to make sure everyone immediately knows they didn’t go to school and are very insecure about others thinking they’re still intelligent.

Something else a few of you might know is that I used to work for a big recruitment software company, possibly the biggest (I don’t keep up on these fascinating matters as much as I should). “Recruitment software” is slightly difficult for me to explain. It’s just sort of a means-little term I’m using here to encompass any computer program that helps companies figure out which people to hire in a way that seems more efficient. And seems to enable them to separate the wheat from the chaff more effectively. Enabling them to zero in on their perfect candidate with many fewer hours of reading applications, verifying resumes, contacting references, and conducting interviews. Software like this does save time… and how could it not? Anything that eliminates a big swath of candidates will make the remaining pool easier to examine. The question is really whether or not the candidates remaining really are the best, and the candidates eliminated really unsuitable.

This is where I take issue with the companies for whom this software has become the cornerstone of their recruitment efforts, and where I have–I feel–a really good anecdotal case against it.

First, and most damningly, my role supporting this software was a role that was only offered to folks who have bachelor’’s degrees. I was only able to get the job on the word of a friend of mine, who had done reliable work for the company (as a graduate of a well-regarded school). This job wasn’t difficult at all, and he knew that I wouldn’t have trouble fulfilling its duties. Strange, then, that I ended up providing technical support to help the functioning of software that would have prevented me from getting that very job. The irony stuck with me throughout my brief but colorful employment, which is neither here nor there.

Second, having been behind the wheel of this software, and knowing the details of how it functions and how recruiters and human resources personnel are trained to use it, has made me constantly suspicious about every job I apply for. My job search has been particularly arduous this time around, and as the months of no call-backs roll by, my paranoia about this faceless mechanism has blossomed unchecked. Was I being eliminated before I even got out of the gates due to my lack of a formal post-secondary education? I decided to do some investigating!

So, I identified the best candidate. I’ve been applying for web designer / graphic designer positions at McGraw-Hill for two months now without a single reply. They obviously need people for these jobs, because they are posting about them like crazy on the big job boards, and those aren’t a terrific employment resource for anyone at this point (it’s all about the niche sites, people). On top of their need, I have a friend who works for one of their brands, and she doesn’t have a degree, but is doing mid-level design work for a reasonably good salary. This sort of thing gives me [false] hope!

Armed with the [apparently, foolish] belief I”d be able to get a job there on my merits, and knowing how big of an organization McGraw-Hill is (combined with their lightly rebranded, pre-packaged application process) made their lack of response to my applications and inquiries set off the good old “recruitment software radar”. I decided to address the following email to their HR Department (whose email address is just “webmaster”. Is the webmaster really in charge of routing almost all department-specific email for this enormous company? Yikes):

From: A. Post
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 11:52 AM
To: Webmaster\r\nSubject: question for HR regarding application process

Hello,

I recently applied to a Web Designer position within McGraw-Hill. I’ve applied to a web design/development position and did not hear back. One of my more recent jobs involved working for [name redacted], which has online software enabling large companies to manage applicants easily in one interface. A feature of this software was to “knock out” applicants who didn”t meet the initial requirements for the position, thus filtering prospective candidates down automatically and saving recruiters/HR department members a lot of time.

The interesting thing about this was that although I had this position there, I myself did not even meet the requirements for the job I was hired to. I did not graduate from a university and thus did not meet the BA requirement, and would have been knocked out had I applied online and gone through their system. I was hired based on a recommendation from a friend, and my resume.

I’d like to know if McGraw-Hill employs similar knock-out technology, which would prevent me from ever being interviewed for a Web Designer position, as this would cause me to re-evaluate my efforts applying to positions at your organization.

Thank you very much for any answer you can provide in this matter, which is truly a curiosity of digital job-searching that can have unfortunate consequences for autodidacts like myself.

Best,
Alana Post

I anticipated several replies to this. The most likely was that I’d get an automated email thanking me for my inquiry, and no personal follow-up. Beyond this, it was possible that my email would be shuttled through the department among people who had no idea what I was talking about, and eventually my question would be left to rot in someone’s inbox with approximately twelve Fwd:’s prefacing my subject. The most unlikely, but hoped-for, reply would be one in which somebody who had actual hiring power read my email and think “hey, this person sounds all right! Maybe our reliance on software to screen candidates is a comforting fallacy that we’ve come to use as a crutch! I’m going to find her resume, rescue it from the knockout bin, and hire her immediately!”

Incredibly, I got a fourth sort of email, one which sort of goes to show what kind of human resources are left when you let a computer make 99% of your hiring choices.

From: Webmaster
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2006 9:54 AM
To: hrsc, Benefits
Subject: FW: question for HR regarding application process

Yes
Have a great day.

benefits_hrsc@mcgraw-hill.com

Awesome! Thank god they at least published ”The Many Faces of Suicide: Indirect Self-Destructive Behavior” by Norman L. Farberow, so that I have something good to read while I’m using the glass ceiling to cut myself.