Help Needed Cleaning And Tightening Up This Article...

[Lord_Plecostomus]

I am submitting an article to a "major professional linkage site" that shall remain nameless. I am not the best with teh grammarz and spellzors, was wondering if anyone is willing to take a couple passes before I submit.


Article begins:

Human Resources Management By Big-Data And Anylitics: Worst Idea In History.

"The current trending buzz revolves around Big Data. The mountain of information and data gathered on everyone, every moment of their lives, has reached a tipping point. Now, with the right algorithms any decision can be made based on Big Data, or any current decision justified, or overturned. Big Data has the potential to improve our lives in some ways, while making life an utter living hell in others. I speak of the new breed of Human Resources personnel, the ones being trained to read Big Data and make hiring decisions based on what the pre-packaged algorithms tell them.

Traditionally, a hiring decision is made by a team of managers and leaders on the business floor. A candidate is screened, brought in for interview, and ultimately hired. The screening consists of reading CVs and resumes, filtering for key words, interpreting the resume/CV, and bringing the live candidate forward for interview. What Big Data will do, is radically alter the screening process.

Lets look at a candidate for an engineering position. Skimming the Big Data available, we see this candidate has held a variety of short-term positions as a Temp Contractor, has worked full time at over a dozen companies that have ultimately gone out of business, is currently in a short term contract position. That's just off the top. Now demographics: Male, late 30s, Republican, Non-Smoker, Religious Preference Unstated. He lives in the North West part of Buffalo, which is a high crime area. He has a license, but does not have a car registered to his name. Has a bank account, low credit score. Said person is educated, has taken multiple classes and certifications, and holds four patents.

Notice how a quick scan of the data basically paints me as an unemployable good-for-nothing job-hopper. There is nothing in that heap that indicates why those companies went out of business. Nor does it indicate that I prefer short-term temp contracts over long-term. The data shows that I live in a high crime area and don't own a car... this is a huge red-flag to many employers as this is a hallmark of drug/alcohol abuse. That entire heap of data does nothing to highlight my patents, my background or role in the companies I worked for or does it give an indication of what my strengths are.

My background is that of a business troubleshooter, I go in help companies find their way forward and either ride them into the ground or move on as they adapt to the marketplace. I have a very high degree in my engineering field, and over the years I have built a professional network of references and contacts. That's one line out of hundreds of lines of data.

All said and done, it looks like by the new metrics I am totally unemployable and will not even be considered by the new Big Data method of HR Management. Never mind that I'm a highly skilled professional engineer with a passion for business coaching. Never mind that I'm a team player with a focus on quality and innovation -- the fact that I've invented FOUR things that help drive industry forward is irrelevant. That information is not part of Big Data.

But what of the other folks out there -- folks with a criminal notation in their file? What of other people who have been forced to take short-term positions? People who live in areas of the nation that are flagged as "high crime?" People who don't own cars but take public transit? And most importantly what stops a company from filtering for race? Religion? Politically affiliation? Or any of the other protected statuses? Yes it's illegal to do so, but how are we to know? There is no transparency here, just a resume shot off to a company, and discarded because of Big Data. There is no oversight, no regulation and worst of all this issue is NOT on the radar of any of the civil-liberties/civil-rights groups. What a brave new world we live in, one where it is entirely possible to be denied a job because a line of coding determines that you are a non-start for a position. A position you are more than qualified for. This is only the tip of the iceberg. As buying habits, web-habits and other personal data becomes integrated into the heap, companies will incorporate that into the hiring decision.

Going forward, I am calling all civil-liberties and civil-rights groups to look at this problem. We need to take a proactive stance on this now, rather than wait for the inevitable crush of unemployable people trapped in a cycle of poverty and welfare-services.

[Lupine]

I am submitting an article to a "major professional linkage site" that shall remain nameless. I am not the best with teh grammarz and spellzors, was wondering if anyone is willing to take a couple passes before I submit.


Article begins:

Human Resources Management By Big-Data And (Analytics): Worst Idea In History.

"The current trending buzz revolves around Big Data. The mountain(s) of information and data gathered on everyone, every moment of their lives, has reached a tipping point. Now, with the right algorithms any decision can be made based on Big Data, or any current decision justified, or overturned. Big Data has the potential to improve our lives in some ways, while making life an utter living hell in others. I speak of the new breed of Human Resources personnel, the ones being trained to read Big Data and make hiring decisions based on what the pre-packaged algorithms tell them.

Traditionally, a hiring decision is made by a team of managers and leaders on the business floor. A candidate is screened, brought in for interview, and ultimately hired. The screening consists of reading CVs and resumes, filtering for key words, interpreting the resume/CV, and bringing the live candidate forward for interview. What Big Data will do (don't need a comma here) is radically alter the screening process.

Lets look at a candidate for an engineering position. Skimming the Big Data available don't need a comma here we see this candidate has held a variety of short-term positions as a Temp Contractor, has worked full time at over a dozen companies that have ultimately gone out of business, (and) is currently in a short term contract position. That's just off the top. Now demographics: Male, late 30s, Republican, Non-Smoker, Religious Preference Unstated. He lives in the North West part of Buffalo, which is a high crime area. He has a license, but does not have a car registered to his name. Has a bank account (but) a low credit score. Said person is educated, has taken multiple classes and certifications, and holds four patents.

Notice how a quick scan of the data basically paints me as an unemployable good-for-nothing job-hopper. There is nothing in that heap that indicates why those companies went out of business. Nor does it indicate that I prefer short-term temp contracts over long-term. The data shows that I live in a high crime area and don't own a car... this is a huge red-flag to many employers as this is a hallmark of drug/alcohol abuse. That entire heap of data does nothing to highlight my patents, my background or role in the companies I worked for(, nor) does it give an indication of what my strengths are.

My background is that of a business troubleshooter (period rather than comma) I go in help companies find their way forward and either ride them into the ground or move on as they adapt to the marketplace. I have a very high degree in my engineering field (don't need a comma) and over the years I have built a professional network of references and contacts. That's one line out of hundreds of lines of data.

All said and done (don't need a comma) it looks like by the new metrics I am totally unemployable and will not even be considered by the new Big Data method of HR Management. Never mind that I'm a highly skilled professional engineer with a passion for business coaching. Never mind that I'm a team player with a focus on quality and innovation -- the fact that I've invented FOUR things that help drive industry forward is irrelevant. That information is not part of Big Data.

But what of the other folks out there -- folks with a criminal notation in their file? What of other people who have been forced to take short-term positions? People who live in areas of the nation that are flagged as "high crime?" People who don't own cars but take public transit? And most importantly what stops a company from filtering for race? Religion? Politically affiliation? Or any of the other protected statuses? Yes it's illegal to do so, but how are we to know? There is no transparency here, just a resume shot off to a company, and discarded because of Big Data. There is no oversight, no regulation (,) and worst of all this issue is NOT on the radar of any of the civil-liberties/civil-rights groups. What a brave new world we live in (.) One where it is entirely possible to be denied a job because a line of coding determines that you are a non-start for a position. A position you are more than qualified for. This is only the tip of the iceberg. As buying habits, web-habits and other personal data becomes integrated into the heap, companies will incorporate that into the hiring decision.


Going forward, I am calling all civil-liberties and civil-rights groups to look at this problem. We need to take a proactive stance on this now, rather than wait for the inevitable crush of unemployable people trapped in a cycle of poverty and welfare-services.

[Lord_Plecostomus]

Not as bad as I thought.... Appears I, tend to misuse, commas, way too often. Not a big, deal though.

Thank you Lupine!

[RJDiogenes]

Commas are a pain in the neck; I prefer semi-colons.

[Madeliaette]

only just spotted this - sorry! bit late at night for me to have a shot - will try to remember thursday...

commas..arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my dad wrote most of his life story and guess what? he seems to think a full stop is only to be used at the end of a PARAGRAPH rather than SENTENCE - sentences are to be separated with those commas....so his paragraphs are often 1-setnence long with numerous commas...editors nightmare...lol.

[RJDiogenes]

Maybe it would be easier to do a search-and-replace and then just put back the commas that should be there.