The Illusion of Objectivity : Is AI in hiring transformative or just trendy??

In theory AI promises a better future.

In hiring, it promises something even more: fairness, speed and precision.

We’re told it can remove bias, streamline decision making and elevate the recruitment experience for everyone : employer and job seeker alike. But as AI quietly takes a seat at the interview table, the question becomes louder: Are we becoming better at hiring or just faster at automating our old mistakes?

Why do we then turn to machines to make human decisions?

Hiring is messy. It's full of subjectivity, unconscious bias and a time consuming process. So it is definitely no surprise that AI feels like the answer when it comes along promising faster decisions, reduced bias, and round the clock assistance.

In many ways AI delivers:

• It screens resumes in seconds

• It matches candidates based on skills not keywords.

• It even chats with applicants at 2am something no human recruiter should be doing.

It feels like progress and in some ways it absolutely is.

THE PROBLEM : Bias disguised as Logic

AI doesn’t create logic out of thin air. It learns. From us. It learns from provided hiring data, job descriptions filled with subtle gendered language, and resumes shaped by privilege and access. If the past was biased, then the machine is simply scaling that bias with greater efficiency.

This isn’t just theoretical.

A well-known case involved Amazon’s AI recruiting tool, which was scrapped after it began downgrading resumes that included the word “women’s,” as in “women’s chess club captain” simply because past hires skewed male. (Reuters, 2018). So when AI tries to “prioritise top performers,” it often ends up replicating the same kinds of people who got hired before and not necessarily the ones who should be.

It becomes a digital mirror not a crystal ball.

Why Human Potential can’t be parsed by code

Hiring isnt just about who looks good on paper It’s about who could grow into something more and that often can’t be measured by an algorithm.

No machine can fully understand:

• Why someone stayed up all night teaching themselves a new skill

• How they pivoted when a project failed

• What makes them light up when they talk about their work

These aren't "inputs" an AI can weigh.

They're glimpses into human drive, resilience, and creativity, the very things that make a great hire. And that’s why recruitment still needs human eyes, intuition, and empathy.

So, Is AI in Hiring Just Hype?

Not quite. AI is incredibly useful when used intentionally.

• It can take care of the repetitive and the routine.

• it can offer insights, flag patterns, and highlight red flags we might miss.

But it cannot (and should not) replace the uniquely human skill of recognizing potential in the unexpected. Use AI as a compass, not a crutch. Let it make us more aware of bias, not more blind to it.