Algorithmic hiring tools are becoming a systemic problem

A thread on algorithmic monocultures in hiring drew comparisons to RealPage, the rent-fixing software case that led to antitrust scrutiny. The argument: when every major employer uses the same screening algorithms, the effect is indistinguishable from coordinated hiring discrimination, even if no individual company intended it. Commenters noted this likely runs afoul of disparate impact standards and called for it to be made illegal.

The mood in the thread was unusually dark. Multiple people said the broken hiring process was making them want to leave the job market entirely. The person who wrote "this is likely to be my last job" was not the only one expressing that sentiment. There's a real sense that the hiring market has been automated into something adversarial for candidates.

This connects to the redemption story thread at the top of HN today, about building a career after addiction and prison. The contrast is stark: someone getting hired on day one out of jail in a different era, versus a market where algorithmic filters can eliminate qualified people before a human ever sees their name.