Challenges of Job Searching in the Age of AI: The Disheartening Journey of Vancata Shastri

Vancata Shastri has been looking for a job since March,
filling out up to 10 applications a day.
Most often he doesn’t even get to speak to a human but an a I bot.
Actually, if you look at the hospital sector,
you would ask about what would you do in a certain situation
or what do you have a certain colour of trousers
or do you have certain colour of shoes or,
and that’s when you start realise that is a bit stupid.
Shasbury is looking for minimum wage jobs in retail or hospitality,
but he’s worried the bots discriminate against him
because of his ethnicity. My name C.
R. Shastri
might be a massive disadvantage when you apply for jobs
because that might be filtered out
compared to names
which might sound more familiar with the demographic of Otago,
New Zealand.
More New Zealand companies are using AI technology to recruit staff,
from combing through CVS and weeding out candidates
through written and video sessions with a bot.
Judith Collins, Minister of Science,
Innovation and technology
says a I is less likely to be biased than humans.
It can be taught not to be biased and humans are found not so,
not so easy to train them not to be biased.
But for Van Karter Shaftree,
his experiences with AI during his long search for a job
has made the hundreds of rejections even more disheartening.