AI fails its job interview
And more of the week's best financial insight
Here are three of the week's top pieces of financial insight, gathered from around the web:
AI fails its job interview
Robot interviewers are producing robotic job candidates, said Zahira Jaser in Harvard Business Review. A growing number of employers are using automated video interviews, in which job candidates "record themselves on an interview platform, answering questions under time pressure." The video then gets assessed based on visual, verbal, and/or vocal cues. Our research suggests job seekers' experience with these AI-based interviews was poor. Most candidates didn't understand the technology and "felt that they had to behave like robots" in order to pass the interview. The AI experience was especially difficult for young job seekers from less-privileged backgrounds, but for all kinds of applicants, trying to appeal to a computerized interviewing system was exhausting "both emotionally and cognitively."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Getting rid of unfair fees
The federal government is aiming to put an end to "junk fees," said Stacy Cowley in The New York Times. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau initiated a request for public comment last week on the use of "tacked-on expenses that collectively add billions to what Americans pay for goods and services." Those fees include late-payment charges, hotel resort fees, and service fees levied by concert-ticket providers. Banks have come under fire since "the agency issued a report in December on the $15 billion a year they collect in overdraft and insufficient-funds fees." Several banks, including Bank of America and Capital One, have since announced they are reducing or eliminating overdraft fees.
Suing workers who try to quit
A judge rejected a Wisconsin health-care provider's effort to block former employees from joining a competitor, said Karla Miller in The Washington Post. Nonprofit health-care organization ThedaCare had sued rival Ascension "for poaching seven workers" and sought an injunction, arguing that the employees' departure "would hamper its ability to offer critical round-the-clock" care. U.S. law generally gives a lot of freedom to businesses to fire employees; now, with a very tight labor market, businesses are seeing the other side of the coin of "at-will employment." ThedaCare's workers "were at-will employees with no contractual restrictions on changing jobs," and Wisconsin Judge Mark McGinnis ruled that the hospital system would have to fill its staffing gaps some way other than trying to sue their employees into staying at their jobs.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.
-
'Being more nuanced will not be easy for public health agencies'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Where did Democratic voters go?
Voter turnout dropped sharply for Democrats in 2024
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
4 tips to save as health care costs rise
The Explainer Co-pays, prescription medications and unexpected medical bills can really add up
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published