That was fun! The Online Anti-Discrimination Hackathon ran last weekend, a hakacthon co-organized by Ministerie van OCW, Inspectie SZW, Ministerie van BZK, and Hackathon Factory which revolved around “gender discrimination in data collection and labeling for automated assessment and selection of candidates.” Having ample experience in designing and developing AI-powered candidate selection systems, and the risks of algorithmic bias, I was happy to contribute to this hackathon with a few colleagues at Randstad Groep Nederland in several ways.
Talk on Algorithmic Bias Mitigation in Automated Recruitment
First, I gave a (virtual, pre-recorded) talk on algorithmic matching, algorithmic bias, and bias mitigation in the domain of automated recruitment. More specifically, I shared how and where we use AI and recommender systems to facilitate job and candidate matching at Randstad Groep Nederland, and more generally about the challenges of bias and the opportunities of bias mitigation. I showcased both examples of misuse of AI, which results in discriminatory systems, and examples of how AI can be used to actively reduce or mitigate bias in the recruitment process. See the recording of my talk below:
In addition, me and a colleague joined live interactive roundtable sessions during the hackathon, and we brought a panel of four subject-matter experts for one-on-one sessions with hackathon teams and participants.
Roundtables
Sophie-Anne Onland, my colleague who’s a business analyst in the SmartMatch team, joined a live interactive roundtable session on the challenges of bias in recruitment, together with Steven Vethman (TNO), Justin Hoegen Dijkhof (College voor de rechten van de mens), and Gerhard Dekker (CBS). I joined a subsequent roundtable on the opportunities of technology in bias mitigation in recruitment, alongside Marina Lacroix (Ministerie van SZW), Rina Joosten-Rabou (Seedlink Tech), and Joost van Genabeek (TNO).
Experts
Finally, Randstad Groep Nederland delivered four subject-matter experts who were available for one on one sessions with hackathon teams and participants throughout the event. This group consisted of Franziska Mattler (our IT Recruiter), Dor Lavi (Senior Data Scientist in the SmartMatch team), Sophie-Anne Onland, and myself!
I’m really happy we got to contribute to this hackathon in these various forms, and were able to share the challenges, our experiences, best practices, and ambitions around this important and timely topic. Bias in algorithmic systems is high on the agenda at the data science chapter of Randstad Groep Nederland, and I hope to be able to share more information on our efforts in this space, soon!
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