In “They’re Watching You at Work”, Don Peck argues for the use of big data and people analytics in the hiring process. He provides solid examples, evidence and reasoning to justify his claims that these new hiring practices improve the hiring process. He points out the inefficiencies of the traditional hiring methods – biases, high rates of attrition etc. – and shows in each case how new hiring practices can improve upon the old ones. His argument for using big data and people analytics in the hiring process is convincing and well supported; however, he does not discuss with the same depth the counter arguments against his claims, such as the intrinsic benefits of the traditional hiring process and unintended side-effects on society. His failure …show more content…
More specifically, his argument revolves around two main claims: that old hiring practices are ineffective in identifying good candidates and are rife with conscious and unconscious biases, and that the use of people analytics greatly eliminates the shortcomings of the old methods as well as improves worker productivity. The article begins by providing some historical context to the discussion of the hiring process. Peck says that although companies have shifted towards a more subjective, “ad-hoc” style process, they can now return to the more objective methods prevalent in the 1950s as modern technology has improved upon its inefficiencies and ineffectiveness. He starts off with discussing Knack, “a start up based in Silicon Valley”. These games have “been designed by a team of neuroscientists, psychologists, and data scientists”. He shows the results of this method in use. “Without meeting or interviewing the people who’d propose them, without knowing the title … or academic pedigree, Knack’s algorithm had identified the people whose ideas panned out. The top ten percent of the ideas generators as predicted by Knack were in fact those who’d gone furthest in the process”. With this startling result, Peck impresses on the reader that people analytics can be a valid tool. Afterwards, Peck discredits and describes the shortcomings of the old hiring practices. He uses …show more content…
He raises some important questions such as “will we become slaves to our own status” and “will too much knowledge .. stifle our dreams”. But he puts in no effort into seriously answering those questions, simply writing “All I can offer in response is … my own gut sense, which leads me to feel cautiously optimistic”. Although he maybe right, this is a weak point in his argument. He trivializes these important questions by not providing a proper, well researched, well supported answer, suggesting they do not deserve one. Instead he goes to his “own gut sense”, which is in stark contrast to his case for the use of new hiring practices, in which he does provide well researched and well supported arguments. The overall argument can simply not be sound if the author raises potential side effects of using big data and people analytics, but does not actually discuss them. He brushes over important topics about how society would change as a result of using people analytics. On the other hand, Peter Singer, in his article “The Visible Man”, does a very good job analyzing the arguments of both sides. It is clear that he supports the use of big data and social media, but he acknowledges and discusses the counter arguments of the other side well. Here, it seems Peck is simply trying to convince the reader that these new hiring practices should be adopted –similar to how a
These sources include Sherry Turkle, a professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and analyst Andrew Frank from Gartner Research (171,173). While both of these sources are from respectable technology backgrounds, Wortham does not disclose why their work is relevant to her essay. She gives no research results from studies that her sources have completed that supports the idea that Facebook corrupts the emotions of the public. The scarcity of support from her sources fails to reinforce her main points in her
The author attempts to build a focus around the importance preserving our mind, he writes, “But it’s a different kind of reading, and behind it lies a different kind of thinking—perhaps a new sense of the self. ‘We are not what we read…. We are how we read’ (395). Provided that Carr focuses on the safeguarding of our minds his intentions are to appeal into an individual’s emotion and bring them to the conclusion that if we continue to let the internet distract us we will lose our self’s. He recognizes that when speaking of an individual’s self they are mindfully more open to accepting what you tell them and he uses this as another one of his writing strategies. Nicholas Carr writes, “As we are drained of our ‘inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance,’ Foreman concluded, we risk turning into ‘pancake people—spread wide and thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed by the mere touch of a button.”’ (399) by adding this statement within the essay, he is drastically appealing to a reader’s emotion. The conclusion drawn from this claim triggers the reader’s need to defend their identity consequently these emotions triggered by possibilities help the reader give into the authors argument. The author appeals to the audience’s emotion by encompassing their sense of true self and
He gives many examples to talk about how social media change our lives. When reading, I see many examples of the interviewers that are similar to my daily, so I think Thompson’s writing is very persuasive. Also, I can feel Thompson’s attitude that he agrees that social media make people easier, but is still concerned that social media will waste too many time and violate privacy. Thompson follows the logical argument style, giving examples and then talking effects. Through the logical argument style, Thompson can let readers picture their experience of social media, and lead them to think about the effects that social media bring them, therefore make his statement more convincing. In Is Google Making Us Stupid, Carr tells us his concern through scientific details and examples. I can feel his attitude that truly concern about our thinking ability that has been harmed by online reading. He also uses logical argument style, but he put more effort on the scientific analysis. This argument style can let readers get to know the subject in a scientific way and let the essay more
For example, Rosen states, “According to a recent survey by Microsoft, seventy percent of U.S. recruiters report that they have rejected candidates because of information found online,” (Rosen, Para. 3). Most of the time it is a necessity for companies to do online and background research on candidates because of wanting a safe environment to work in. Social media sites are the fastest way to see who a person truly is. But sometimes it can just be a character they posses because that’s what they’re followers want to see rather than their true self. Jokes can be made and other people do not see it that way which leads to your workplace seeing it and thinking that you’re a bad and trouble person. Rosen’s article informs his readers that you don’t want to be that person where one little thing you did on social media defines your whole life and you’re known for it. The new privacy on Facebook made certain parts of a user’s profile public which caused many criticism from users. Rosen also credits four democratic senators, Charles Schumer of New York, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Al Franken of Minnesota, and Mark Begich of Alaska. The four democratic senators were also concerned about the privacy changes Facebook made. They expressed their concern of “instant personalization” feature and new privacy settings to the chief executive of
whereas; gender, race, and the times are concerned. I found his article very interesting and appreciated the spark my imagination was given by reading Berger's concepts. I am beginning to look around me differently, with more curiosity, and a desire to know how I am affected socially. Although I believe Berger's article was a bit narrow-minded, I can see where it opened up doors to the mind regarding human perspective and reality.
Even though, the arguments put forth by the author are relevant to the central theme, they lack clarity. He tends to go off on tangents and loses the flow of the article. It seems that the author has a slight bias against our generation’s obsession with technology, but that can be attributed to him being a quinquagenarian. I feel that the author has not covered the topic thoroughly enough. He has not quite explained the topic in depth or covered it from various perspectives.
Jeff Jarvis is a journalist, professor, and public speaker. In his book, “Public Parts”, Jarvis’s own opinions on “publicness” are stated plainly. He sees both social and personal benefits to living a totally public life on the internet. David Kirkpatrick is a technology journalist and author. He offers no opinion of his own on subject of total public disclosure. He has written two books on the social media giant Facebook. Kirkpatrick’s book “The Facebook Effect” was reviewed by David Pogue in The New York Times, Sunday Book Review. Pogue wrote, “You come away with a creepy new awareness of how a directory of college students is fast becoming a directory of all humanity — one that’s in the hands of a somewhat strange 26-year-old wearing a T-shirt and rubber Adidas sandals.” His book may leave readers more cautious than ever about what information they themselves are uploading to the
The issues that I have with the reading is that its seems like not only is there government legislation that organizations need to consider during the hiring process but the organizations themselves have made the whole hiring process unnatural. I cannot express how many times I have heard individual’s express and somewhat joke that the reason why they were hired by their organization was due to the fact that a quota needed to be met. I think people should feel like they were hired based on their skills and what they have to offer to that particular organization, instead of being a part of a quota being filled. I learned that human resources departments often hire individuals that only fit the organization’s culture. What this means to me is that race is not always the issue but the culture of the person is judge more and analyzed to
An important factor in hiring a new employee is their fit. The recognition of their similarities and differences with those of the organization will help to avoid high turnover and increase effectiveness through a stronger organizational culture. The idea candidate that would fill a position such as Andy’s would require conscientiousness, an extent of extraversion and emotional stability. Throughout the film, Andy
Psychometric tests are designed to measure the behaviour and capabilities of possible employees. (Johnstone, 1999). Employers use these tests to measure two categories of qualities – abilities and preferences (Mills et al., 2011). This provides an effective and efficient way to find the best person for the job as the tests give a true reflection of how an employee can accomplish assigned tasks which is completed online as part of the application process. Candidates are chosen for the next stage of the process through the comparison of test scores, resulting in grouping candidates into high and low percentile scoring categories. The higher scoring applicants are put through to the next stage of the process. This would normally be the interviewing stage. The lower scoring applicants would be declined. This is a form of filtering down the number of applicants, although the interviewing stage provides the means of selection, despite its subjectivity the tests provide a uniform set of standards to measure one candidate objectivity against another (Johnstone,1999). Psychometric
Today, many employers use social media to narrow their options in potential employees, weeding out those who negatively portray
Google's use of algorithms in recruitment First, you survey current employees on a variety of characteristics and traits, including teamwork, biographical information, past experiences and accomplishments (i.e., have they started a company, written a book, won a championship, set a record).
Milton Friedman’s economic theory is a model that can be used to test whether or not hiring on the basis of looks is ethical. This theory rests on the idea that the reason that a company exists is to sell its products, make money, and seek as much profit as it possibly can. He argues that a corporation can’t have social responsibility for various reasons. ...
The way future candidates view social media has evolved drastically over the past ten years as technology has evolved. From websites like LinkedIn to Twitter, each website provides a unique opportunity for employers to view a future candidate. According to Media Bistro/Infographic, “92%of companies” use social media as an initial step to recruit future candidates. Another statistic Media Bistro/Infographic provides is that 73% of employees hire using social media and 20% of employers say it takes less time to hire via social media. What do these small statistics mean? Majority of the time if recruiters use social media, it is like an extra step to background checks and screenings before the interviews. Social Media allows for employers to have additional information of their prospective candidate before hiring. These statistics show that employers look at a person’s profile based on the information that is public or accessible; yet the employer uses that decision to hire the future candidate. Based on what a person post, there are heavy consequenc...