New research shows that computer algorithms are better at picking the best job candidates than humans.<\/p>\n
Employees, picked by ‘job tests’ stay longer and perform better, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, which studied 15 companies and in excess of 300,000 employees in low-skill service-sector jobs.<\/p>\n
Who should make hiring decisions? Resumes, interviews, and other screening tools are often limited in their ability to reveal whether a worker has the the right skills or will be a good fit.<\/p>\n
The report <\/a>argued that managers who are employed to interpret the information have poor judgement or preferences that are imperfectly aligned with the company’s objectives.<\/p>\n It said that the increasing adoption of workforce analytics and job testing has provided companies with new hiring tools.<\/p>\n The research found that job testing substantially improves the match quality of hired workers: those hired with job testing have about 15% longer tenure.<\/p>\n It also found that managers who overrule test recommendations more often hire workers with much lower match quality, as measured by job tenure.<\/p>\n “The second result suggests that managers exercise discretion because they are biased or have poor judgment, not because they are better informed,” the research paper said.<\/p>\n “We propose an empirical test for assessing whether firms should rely on hard metrics such as job test scores or grant managers discretion in making hiring decisions,” the research paper said.<\/p>\n “Our results suggest that firms can improve worker quality by limiting managerial discretion. This is because, when faced with similar applicant pools, managers who exercise more discretion – as measured by their likelihood of overruling job test recommendations – systematically end up with worse hires,” the report said.<\/p>\n Prepare for civil unrest in South Africa because of robots<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Another jobs killer on the way to South Africa<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n High number of SA businesses struggling to grow turnover<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on employment<\/h3>\n