Good morning, and welcome to Respawn Games! I'm Lisa, and I do HR here. On my own, so I'm really glad you're here.
340 people applied for one job. On Friday I have to tell the team how we choose the right people, and I could really use your help.
Let's start: download your workbook, then read our team chat in Step 1. Everything you write goes into your workbook, in the part for Day 1.
Open your workbook for HR and go to Day 1. Keep this page open next to it.
Download your workbook for HRThis file is for your internship in HR, with one part for Day 1 and one part for Day 2. Download it once and use it on both days. The file lands in your Downloads folder.
What is on Lisa's desk?
Read the team chat on Lisa's phone in M1. Jan asks Lisa for a rule for Friday's meeting. Find out what she has to decide and why that is difficult.
Lisa's Monday
The team chat on Lisa's phone340 applications for the junior developer job. 340! Mika wants to start the job interviews next week.
I found a tool called HireSort. It reads every application and puts all applicants in a ranking. The top 20 are ready right away. It costs €49 a month.
Lisa, how many applications can you check in one hour?
About six, if I read them properly.
Then the tool is the obvious choice. Just saying.
Quick thought. I have no degree and no apprenticeship. I learned testing by building mods for games. Would a tool like that have put me in the top 20?
Good question. Lisa, HR decides how we hire. Please bring a rule to Friday's meeting.
- Write two sentences. Sentence 1: What does Lisa have to decide? Sentence 2: Why is this decision difficult? Use at least one message from M1.Help: “Lisa has to decide whether ... This is difficult, because Tom says ..., but Lena asks ...”
A strong answer: Lisa has to decide whether Respawn lets HireSort do the pre-selection of the 340 applications or whether people do it. This is difficult because two goals pull in different directions: Mika and Tom want to save time and money, and Lena asks whether a tool would see people like her, who learned without a degree.
Check your answer: Did you name the decision, and did you use at least one message from M1?
How HR chooses new staff
Before you look at any application, you need the rules of HR. Read M2 and the job advert in M3. Everything Lisa does this week depends on one difference: must-have or nice-to-have.
- job advert
- Stellenausschreibung: the text in which a company describes an open job
- application
- Bewerbung: the documents a person sends to get a job
- must-have criterion
- Muss-Kriterium: something every new person needs from the first day
- nice-to-have criterion
- Kann-Kriterium: something that helps, but can be learned on the job
- pre-selection
- Vorauswahl: HR chooses which applicants get a job interview
- job interview
- Vorstellungsgespräch: a talk between the company and an applicant
- screening tool
- Software, die Bewerbungen vorsortiert: it gives every application a score
- staff costs
- Personalkosten: salary plus all other costs a company pays for an employee
What HR does when a job is open
How a company chooses new staffWhen a company needs a new person, HR writes a job advert (Stellenausschreibung). It lists must-have criteria (Muss-Kriterien): things the new person needs from the first day. It also lists nice-to-have criteria (Kann-Kriterien): things that help but can be learned on the job. In the pre-selection (Vorauswahl), HR checks every application against the must-have criteria. Only the applicants who pass get a job interview (Vorstellungsgespräch).
The job advert
Published by Lisa last weekRespawn Games is hiring
Junior Developer (m/w/d)
You build new levels and features for Pixel Quest 2, together with our developers and testers.
Must have
- You can write code in C# or a similar programming language.
- You can show at least one finished project (a game, an app or a mod) with a link.
- You can work in English.
Nice to have
- An IT apprenticeship or a degree in computer science.
- Experience with Unity, the game engine we use.
- Experience in a team.
- a) Explain in your own words, in one sentence, what a must-have criterion is. Then write down one must-have criterion from the job advert in M3.
- b) Explain in your own words, in one sentence, what a nice-to-have criterion is. Then write down one nice-to-have criterion from the job advert in M3.
a) A must-have criterion is something the new person needs from the first day. Example from M3: writing code in C# or a similar language (also right: a finished project with a link, or working in English).
b) A nice-to-have criterion helps, but the person can learn it on the job. Example from M3: experience with Unity (also right: an IT apprenticeship or a degree, or experience in a team).
Check your answer: Is your example in the right list of the job advert?
Do Lisa's work
Now you do the pre-selection, just like Lisa. Read the four applications in M4. Check each one against the three must-have criteria in the job advert (M3). Then decide for each applicant: invite to a job interview or not.
Four of the 340 applications
Short versions, written by LisaPaul Krüger
- Training
- Degree in computer science (Bachelor)
- Code
- Java, C#
- Projects
- A study planner app, built with three other students. Link in the application.
- English
- Good
Aylin Demir
- Training
- No apprenticeship, no degree. She works in a phone shop.
- Code
- C#, a little Lua
- Projects
- Three mods for an open-world game, 40,000 downloads in total. Links in the application.
- English
- Good. She writes her mod pages in English.
Marco Weber
- Training
- IT apprenticeship (Fachinformatiker für Anwendungsentwicklung), finished this summer
- Code
- C#, SQL
- Projects
- A room booking app for his training company. The code belongs to the company, so there is no link.
- English
- Good
Sophie Lang
- Training
- Degree in media design
- Code
- None
- Projects
- 60 character drawings and two animated game trailers. Link to her portfolio.
- English
- Very good
- Check each application against the three must-have criteria in M3. Tick one box for each applicant.
- A · Paul KrügerTick one box: Invite to a job interview · Do not invite
- B · Aylin DemirTick one box: Invite to a job interview · Do not invite
- C · Marco WeberTick one box: Invite to a job interview · Do not invite
- D · Sophie LangTick one box: Invite to a job interview · Do not invite
- a) Marco is a difficult case, and both decisions are possible. Write down which must-have criterion in M3 makes his case difficult. Then explain your decision for Marco in two sentences.Help for a): “Criterion number ... says ... Marco has ..., but ... That is why I ...”
- b) Aylin has no apprenticeship and no degree. Explain in one or two sentences why she still passes the three must-have criteria in M3.
Paul: invite. He codes in C#, has a finished app with a link and good English.
Aylin: invite. She codes in C#, has three finished mods with links and good English.
Sophie: do not invite. She cannot write code, so must-have criterion 1 is missing. Her degree does not change that.
Marco: both decisions are right if you explain them.
a) Criterion 2 makes Marco's case difficult: his project exists, but he cannot show a link, because the code belongs to his training company. A strong answer: invite him or ask him for another work sample, because criterion 2 wants proof of a finished project, and a link is only one way to show it. Also right: do not invite him, because HR has to treat all applicants the same.
b) An apprenticeship or a degree is only on the nice-to-have list. Aylin meets all three must-have criteria: C#, mods with links, good English. Watch out: if you did not invite Aylin, you mixed up must-have and nice-to-have.
How does a screening tool decide?
Mika wants HireSort to do the pre-selection. Before Respawn decides, find out how tools like this work. Read M5 and the real case from Amazon in M6.
How a screening tool decides
Software in the pre-selectionMany companies use software for the pre-selection. A screening tool learns from the past. It reads the CVs (Lebensläufe) of the people a company hired before and looks for patterns (Muster): which schools, which words, which kind of experience. Then it gives every new application a score. The more an application looks like the earlier hires, the higher its score.
A real case: Amazon
What happened when a tool learned from the pastFrom 2014, an Amazon team built a tool that scored applicants for technical jobs. It learned from ten years of CVs, mostly from men. So it gave lower scores to CVs with the word “women's”, as in “women's chess club”. The team removed this rule but could not be sure the tool would stay fair, so Amazon stopped it. The story came out in 2018.
Source: Reuters, 10 October 2018
- a) Use M5. Explain in two sentences how a screening tool decides which application gets a high score. Use the word “pattern”.
- b) Use M6. Amazon's team wanted a fair tool, and the tool still gave women lower scores. Explain in two sentences where this result came from.
- Jonas writes in your class chat: “Easy fix: delete the word ‘women's’ from all CVs, and the tool is fair.”
- c) Use M5 and M6. Explain in two sentences why Jonas's fix may not be enough.Help for c): “The tool can still find other patterns, for example ... Amazon's team ...”
a) The tool reads the CVs of the people the company hired before and looks for patterns, for example schools, words or kinds of experience. The more a new application looks like these earlier hires, the higher its score.
b) The tool learned from ten years of CVs, mostly from men. So it learned that a good application looks like the applications of the past, and it gave lower scores to CVs that showed the applicant was a woman. The problem came from the old data, and the team did not want this result.
c) The tool can still find other patterns that go together with being a woman, for example hobbies, schools or club names. That is exactly why Amazon's team could not be sure the tool would stay fair, and why Amazon stopped it (M6).
What I learned today
Write three sentences, one for each important thing you learned today, in your own words. For example: what a must-have criterion is, and how a screening tool decides.
Check your workbook
- Save your workbook.
- Choose the file here.
- Does the page name a step? Then an answer is still missing or very short. Fill in that box, save the file and choose it here again.
- When all answers are there, Lisa answers you and the solutions appear under every step.
- Compare the solutions with your answers. Is a number or a fact in your answer wrong? Write “Correction:” and the right answer in the same box, under your answer.
- Is the answer your own opinion or your own rule? Then more than one answer can be good. Write “Also:” and one idea from the solution that you did not have.
- Save your workbook again.
Thank you, that was a big help! I'll put your pre-selection next to mine tonight.
Marco was a hard one for me too. See you next time at Respawn!