Headline, December 12 2020/ STUDENTS : ''' '' COMPUTER : -JOBS- CONSTANT '' '''

STUDENTS : 

''' '' COMPUTER : 

-JOBS- CONSTANT '' '''

STIRRING FOR BODY AND MIND AND SOUL : The World Students Society for every subject in the world : wssciw.blogspot.com.

STUDENT Sofia Tobon, a college junior, has applied for 15 banking internships this year, and most required her to do a recorded interview, which was evaluated to determine if she would make it to the next round of interviews, with people.

''It feels weird,'' she said of the lack of feedback. With a person, Ms.Tobon said, she can receive cues on how things are going, like encouraging nods or request for details. Still, the more recording she did, the more comfortable she became.

SO MUCH OF THE WORK HAS MOVED ONLINE during the pandemic : group meetings, chats with the boss - even interviewing for a new job. The pandemic has also led companies to conduct ''interviews'' without an interviewer.

Job applicants are being asked to video record answers to set questions about their experience, skills and personal qualities, rather than speaking with a recruiter by phone or video chat.

So-called case questions that pose a business problem and would typically lead into a 30-minute conversation with a hiring manager may now require solely written responses. Online tests in the form of games aim to measure job seekers' cognitive and personal traits.

The new systems are used most often for high-turnover hourly jobs like fast-food workers, phone representative or warehouse employee, said Madeline Laurano, founder of Aptitude-Research, a firm based in Boston that studies business hiring practices.

But the systems are beginning to be used more often for professional jobs, too, especially in the financial, consulting, technology and health industries, she said.

Recruiters who use the systems no longer have to spend large parts of their days in the back and forth of scheduling - the software handle that. The company can evaluate more applicants by reviewing more videos, written responses and game results, less encumbered by interviewers schedule restrictions.

Hiring bias, too, can be reduced using the new technology, since each applicant is asked the same questions in the same way, making performances easier to compare objectively.

Nicky Hancock, a managing director for Alexander Mann Solutions, which helps financial institutions worldwide do their hiring, said that recording candidates answers to a set standard questions was fairer.

''The face-to-face interviews don't really work that well, because there is unconscious bias, and some people may not know how to do an interview well,'' she said.

Some of the new systems can contact references, answer questions about benefits using chatbots and send along training modules to newly hired employees. Some offer interview tips to candidates before they start the process, Ms. Laurano said.

Job seekers can complete the interview tasks when it is convenient, rather than work around the recruiter's schedule. That's a popular feature, said Kevin Parker, chief executive and chairman HireVue, a firm based in Utah that makes online interview tools.

SIXTY PERCENT of the nearly five million interviews conducted so far this year using his company's video-recording software were completed after work hours. Mr. Parker said, and 40 percent of those were recorded on Sundays.

Unlike the experience of an in-person meeting, in this process applicants can try again if they don't like the way they answered a question [by recording a video].

Ms. Hancock's team uses recorded interviews and assessments for hourly and early career professional candidates and is beginning to expand their use for higher level and specialty positions.

The specialty jobs may have their own online assessments, Ms. Hancock said. Codility and HackerRank are two tools, for example, that might be used to test the programming acumen of software engineers.

Hourly workers might be asked to write or record answers to situational questions like, ''If a customer came to you with a complaint you couldn't resolve, what would you do?''

There are challenges. A recruiter might not watch the whole video from a job seeker who starts off shakily but pulls together and finishes and strongly. Technical problems still happen. It can also be harder for applicants to know whom to contact to check their application status.

The Honor and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on Computers, The Future and Students, continues. The World Students Society thanks author Julie Weed.

With respectful dedications to the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

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