A former cabinet minister who lost his seat at the general election claims he has been automatically rejected for jobs by Artificial Intelligence (AI) software because he does not have a degree. David TC Davies, who was Welsh secretary in Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government, has called on employers to rethink the role of AI when recruiting. Many companies routinely use applicant tracking systems to sift and grade CVs, despite concerns they could be filtering out the best candidates. The government has produced guidelines on the use of AI in recruitment, which warns companies: “At all stages there is a risk of unfair bias or discrimination against applicants.” Davies left school at 16 and worked in his family’s haulage business before being elected to what was then the National Assembly for Wales in 1999 and later serving 19 years as MP for Monmouth. Finding himself out of work after the general election, he applied for several degree-level jobs only to be rejected instantly. He believes his failure was down to a lack of qualifications that would be acceptable to an automated CV reader. He told the BBC: “Clearly when you submit a CV nobody human looks at them at all – and if you have a slightly odd CV, which I have, then you have no chance.” Even when he did make progress, he faced an unusual challenge when one multinational organisation asked for details of his last boss. The government has produced guidelines on the use of AI in recruitment, which warns companies: “At all stages there is a risk of unfair bias or discrimination against applicants.”
Source link
