一個(gè)算法如何決定你的職業(yè)？
想在一家成功的跨國(guó)公司謀取職位？你將面對(duì)激烈的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。兩年前，高盛集團(tuán)曾收到25萬(wàn)學(xué)生和畢業(yè)生的求職申請(qǐng)。這不僅使得求職者成功幾率變小，對(duì)于公司也是一個(gè)實(shí)際的問(wèn)題。假設(shè)高盛一個(gè)五人的人力資源團(tuán)隊(duì)，包括周末在內(nèi)每天工作12小時(shí)，每份申請(qǐng)花5分鐘，他們需要接近一年才能完成篩選這些簡(jiǎn)歷的工作。
難怪多數(shù)大公司使用計(jì)算機(jī)程序或算法來(lái)篩選初級(jí)職位候選人。這意味著，確切的知道算法關(guān)注的要點(diǎn)對(duì)于求職者十分有利。
Victoria McLean在創(chuàng)立City CV之前曾從事銀行業(yè)獵頭和招聘經(jīng)理，City CV就是幫助求職者準(zhǔn)備簡(jiǎn)歷的公司。她說(shuō)，在人審前經(jīng)候選人管理系統(tǒng)（ATS）拒絕的履歷或簡(jiǎn)歷最多可達(dá)75%。這樣的系統(tǒng)搜索滿足雇主標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的關(guān)鍵詞。一個(gè)技巧是研究招聘廣告使用的語(yǔ)言，如果其中項(xiàng)目經(jīng)理使用了縮寫(xiě)PM，那就確保PM出現(xiàn)在你的簡(jiǎn)歷里。
這意味著一般的簡(jiǎn)歷可能在第一關(guān)就無(wú)法通過(guò)。Victoria McLean的一個(gè)客戶(hù)曾是部隊(duì)的高級(jí)官員。他的經(jīng)驗(yàn)表明他在培訓(xùn)和教育、國(guó)防采購(gòu)或銷(xiāo)售等方面有潛在的工作機(jī)會(huì)。最佳策略是使用不同的關(guān)鍵詞組打造三個(gè)不同的履歷。求職者還需要確保其領(lǐng)英上的介紹和履歷互相印證。很多招聘人員都會(huì)上網(wǎng)驗(yàn)證候選人的資格，Victoria McLean說(shuō)。
通過(guò)候選人管理系統(tǒng)（ATS）可能并不是求職者需要面對(duì)的唯一技術(shù)關(guān)卡。包括沃達(dá)豐和因特爾在內(nèi)的很多公司使用名為HireVue的視頻面試服務(wù)。在候選人做問(wèn)答測(cè)試時(shí)，人工智能程序分析他們的面部表情（建議與攝像頭保持眼神接觸）和語(yǔ)言模式（技巧是聽(tīng)起來(lái)要有自信）。揮舞手臂或癱坐在椅子上的人更容易失敗。只有通過(guò)這項(xiàng)測(cè)試，求職者才能見(jiàn)到真人。
你可能會(huì)希望AI程序能夠避免一些傳統(tǒng)招聘方法存在的偏見(jiàn)，尤其是面試官對(duì)于與自己相似候選人的偏好。但歧視還是以難以預(yù)料的方式出現(xiàn)。兩位經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家Anja Lambrecht和Catherine Tucker將科學(xué)、技術(shù)、工程和數(shù)學(xué)類(lèi)的招聘廣告放到臉書(shū)上，發(fā)現(xiàn)這些廣告顯示給女性的幾率更小。
這并不是因?yàn)槟槙?shū)算法存在有意識(shí)的偏見(jiàn)。相反，臉書(shū)將年輕女性作為更應(yīng)關(guān)注的人口統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)群體（因?yàn)樗齻兺ǔ？刂屏撕芨弑壤募彝ブС觯?，推送給她們的廣告也更昂貴。算法只是自然的將投資回報(bào)最高的頁(yè)面作為目標(biāo)：這導(dǎo)致上述招聘廣告推送給男性而非女性。
多倫多羅特曼管理學(xué)院的Ajay Agrawal、Joshua Gans和Avi Goldfarb關(guān)于人工智能的書(shū)中認(rèn)為，公司不能簡(jiǎn)單的將這類(lèi)結(jié)果作為算法的“黑盒”特性所帶來(lái)的副作用。如果發(fā)現(xiàn)AI系統(tǒng)結(jié)果是歧視性的，公司需要找出原因，調(diào)整程序直到這種歧視消失。
從刑事司法到保險(xiǎn)的很多領(lǐng)域，人們開(kāi)始擔(dān)心AI系統(tǒng)存在潛在的偏見(jiàn)，招聘也是一樣。如果招聘方法被證明是不公平的，公司將面臨法律和名譽(yù)風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。同時(shí)公司也要考慮，除了簡(jiǎn)化流程，程序是不是做了更多？比如，符合條件的受聘者有長(zhǎng)期高效的職業(yè)生涯嗎？畢竟員工流失是公司的最大招聘成本之一。
當(dāng)候選人學(xué)會(huì)如何調(diào)整履歷來(lái)通過(guò)最初的AI篩選，算法也要適應(yīng)變化篩去更多的候選人。這時(shí)“軍備競(jìng)賽”就出現(xiàn)了。這又造成另一種潛在的偏見(jiàn)：家庭出身較好的候選人（以及來(lái)自特殊群體）可能更快反應(yīng)過(guò)來(lái)從而更新他們的履歷。相應(yīng)的，這也要求公司再次調(diào)整算法避免歧視?？磥?lái)，人工智能的代價(jià)就是要永遠(yuǎn)保持警惕。
原文拾粹：
Get with the program
How an algorithm may decide your career
WANT a job with a successful multinational? You will face lots of competition. Two years ago Goldman Sachs received a quarter of a million applications from students and graduates. Those are not just daunting odds for job hunters; they are a practical problem for companies. If a team of five Goldman human-resources staff, working 12 hours every day, including weekends, spent five minutes on each application, they would take nearly a year to complete the task of sifting through the pile.
1、multinational：作為名詞意為跨國(guó)公司
2、daunting odds：成功幾率非常低的
3、sifting?through the pile:從成堆的文件里篩選。sift，篩選，過(guò)濾
Little wonder that most large firms use a computer program, or algorithm, when it comes to screening candidates seeking?junior jobs. And that means applicants would benefit from knowing exactly what the algorithms are looking for.
4、screen：篩選。上文用了sift，語(yǔ)言富有變化
Victoria McLean is a former banking headhunter and recruitment manager who set up a business called City CV, which helps job candidates with applications. She says the applicant-tracking systems(ATS) reject up to 75% of CVs, or résumés, before a human sees them. Such systems are hunting for keywords that meet the employer’s criteria. One tip is to study the language used in the job advertisement; if the initials PM are used for project management, then make sure PM appears in your CV.
5、?CVs?vs résumés：兩者通常都被翻為簡(jiǎn)歷，論其區(qū)別，résumé盡量簡(jiǎn)潔，一兩頁(yè)內(nèi)容，常用于商業(yè)領(lǐng)域、政府以及其他非學(xué)術(shù)性的個(gè)人簡(jiǎn)歷。CV很少有長(zhǎng)短限制，應(yīng)把重點(diǎn)放在學(xué)習(xí)成就上，更像是教育經(jīng)歷的客觀陳述，常用于學(xué)術(shù)申請(qǐng)
This means that a generic CV may fall at the first hurdle. Ms McLean had a client who had been a senior member of the armed forces. His experience pointed to potential jobs in training and education, procurement or defence sales. The best?strategy was to create three different CVs using different sets of keywords. And jobhunters also need to make sure that their?LinkedIn profile and their CV reinforce each other; the vast majority of recruiters will use the website to check the qualifications of candidates, she says.
6、the vast majority of：絕大部分
Passing the ATS stage may not be the jobhunter’s only technological barrier. Many companies, including Vodafone and Intel, use a video-interview service called HireVue. Candidates are quizzed while an artificial-intelligence (AI) program analyses their facial expressions (maintaining eye contact with the camera is advisable) and language patterns (sounding confident is the trick). People who wave their arms about or slouch in their seat are likely to fail. Only if they pass that test will the applicants meet some humans.
7、...?is advisable, ...is the trick：...是建議的做法，...是訣竅。一是句型，這樣的用法地道又簡(jiǎn)潔。二是前后緊挨的表述，互相聯(lián)系又富于變化
You might expect AI programs to be able to avoid some of the biases of conventional recruitment methods—particularly?the tendency for interviewers to favour candidates who resemble the interviewer. Yet discrimination can show up in unexpected ways. Anja Lambrecht and Catherine Tucker, two economists, placed adverts promoting jobs in science, technology, engineering and maths on Facebook. They found that the ads were less likely to be shown to women than to men.
This was not due to a conscious bias on the part of the Facebook algorithm. Rather, young women are a more valuable demographic group on Facebook(because they control a high share of household spending) and thus ads targeting them are more expensive. The algorithms naturally targeted pages where the return on investment is highest: for men, not women.
8、demographic：人口統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué)的
In their book on artificial intelligence, Ajay Agrawal, Joshua Gans and Avi Goldfarb of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management say that companies cannot simply dismiss such results as an unfortunate side-effect of the “black box” nature of algorithms. If they discover that the output of an AI system is discriminatory, they need to work out why, and then adjust the algorithm until the effect disappears.
9、side-effect：副作用?
10、the “black box” nature of algorithms：算法的“黑盒”屬性
Worries about potential bias in AI systems have emerged in a wide range of areas, from criminal justice to insurance. In recruitment, too, companies will face a legal and reputational risk if their hiring methods turn out to be unfair. But they?also need to consider whether the programs do more than just simplify the process. For instance, do successful candidates?have long and productive careers? Staff churn, after all, is one of the biggest recruitment costs that firms face.
11、Staff churn：人員流失
There may also be an arms race as candidates learn how to adjust their CVs to pass the initial AI test, and algorithms adapt to screen out more candidates. This creates scope for another potential bias: candidates from better-off households (and from particular groups) may be quicker to update their CVs. In turn, this may require companies to adjust their algorithms again to avoid discrimination. The price of artificial intelligence seems likely to be eternal vigilance.
12、vigilance：名詞，警戒，警惕
譯者注：本文選自《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》（2018年6月23日）
