Japanese Recruiting Firm Sold Job-Seeker’s “Scores” Without Consent

Japanese Recruiting Firm Sold Job-Seeker’s “Scores” Without Consent

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A recruiting company used a predictive program to assess the odds that a candidate would decline a job - and then sold the precious data without permission.

Job hunting in Japan can be difficult if you don’t have the right tools. Many job seekers, especially students, rely on career search websites to help them connect with companies seeking employees. All types of information is given on these types of sites.

Unfortunately, for users of popular website Rikunabi, their data was used without their consent.

Rikunabi DMP Follow (リクナビDMPフォロー), a job recruiting site owned and operated by Recruit Career Holdings, sold user data to 38 companies, including Honda and Toyota. Asahi reported that approximately 7,983 users were affected, although the number could be more. On August 5th, Recruit Career admitted that the data sales did indeed breach the country’s Personal Information Protection Law (個人情報保護法; Kojin jōhō hogo-hō) and it would suspend all Rikunabi activities until an internal review had been conducted.

就活生データを商品化、「リクナビ問題」の本質 | 就職四季報プラスワン

リクナビでの閲覧履歴や登録状況が、内定辞退予測に使われていた――。 リクルートホールディングス傘下で、就職情報サイト「リクナビ」などを運営するリクルートキャリアは8月1日、同社が提供するサービス「リクナビDMPフォロー」を休止したと発表。その後、8月5日にはプライバシーポリシーへの同意取得プロセスに不備があったことから、サービスを廃止すると発表した。 閲覧履歴などから内定辞退の確率を予測 …

(JP) Link: On Commercializing Job Seeker Data: The Essence of the “Rikunabi Problem”

What makes Rikunabi stand out from other career sites is its AI interface. The company touts their AI as the main component in streamlining services and communication between companies and job-hunting students. This AI sifts through various data, such as user browsing history, submitted applications, and past job offer refusals to determine how likely a user is to decline a job offer. The AI then uses a five-point system to “score” job seekers. It was this specific data that was sold to the 38 companies.

The company has been in hot water since July when the Personal Information Protection Committee began investigating their practices. Recruit Career Holdings made a statement on August 1st stating that users consented to third-party involvement when signing up for Rikunabi. However, it soon was announced that the third-party disclaimer wasn’t provided on all the privacy policy forms on their Web site.

Rikunabi users were understandably alarmed. Most of its users are college students starting the taxing task of job-hunting. Companies and universities affiliated with Rikunabi issued letters of apology to the users affected, but it’s fairly weak damage control given that the data is already in the companies’ hands.

Not only has this prompted concerns about user privacy, but about the implementation of AI and other technologies in determining job candidacy. In a 2018 survey conducted by Disco Corporation on the use of AI in analyzing job applications and other official documents, 50.1% said it wasn’t a good practice. 67.5% of respondents also said the same thing when asked about using AI to predict whether a job seeker passed an interview. With Rikunabi’s serious blunder, they’ve fostered a distrust towards AI in job hunting practices.

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Of the 38 companies, Honda and Toyota were the first to come forward. On Wednesday the companies NTT Comware and NTT Facilities under NTT Group, Aflac Insurance, and Risona Bank were also revealed to have purchased the data. It’ll be interesting to see what other companies bought the data, and what promises they’ll make to ensure their reputation isn’t tarnished. For Rikunabi, this could be the end.

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Alyssa Pearl Fusek

Alyssa Pearl Fusek is a freelance writer currently haunting the Pacific Northwest. She holds a B.A. in Japanese Studies from Willamette University. When she's not writing for Unseen Japan, she's either reading about Japan, writing poetry and fiction, or drinking copious amounts of jasmine green tea. Find her on Bluesky at @apearlwrites.

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