Majority of job-seeking university students put off by AI-powered candidate screening

As more companies turn to artificial intelligence to discover new talent, a recent survey has shown that a majority of job-seeking university students don't want their abilities judged by the technology. About 67.5 percent of 1,258 university and graduate students slated to graduate in March 2019 said they don't want AI to assess their job qualifications during interviews, according to the online survey published Wednesday by Tokyo-based recruitment consulting firm Disco Inc. The survey, conducted from March 1 to Tuesday, also showed that 50.1 percent of respondents don't want AI to read their resume and decide whether they qualify for the next round. The results reflect students' honest feelings that they don't feel comfortable having their job qualifications judged by algorithms without even meeting a human staffer, Disco spokesman Osamu Yoshida said Thursday. "For professionals, companies see applicants' skills and achievements in work -- which are relatively easy to assess. But for new university graduates they are more likely to value students' potential and willingness to work, which are difficult for AI to evaluate," Yoshida said.