Gratitude, Community, and a Kickoff into AI Ethics

Every Friday, iCIMS system administrators gather for something special: a genuine space to exchange knowledge, troubleshoot challenges, and build a smarter HR tech community together. Alex kicked off this week’s Free Friday session with gratitude—from family hiking plans in Kentucky to a shoutout to AI-powered learning done right: in community, with intentionality.

From there, the group quickly dove into the heart of this week’s hot topic: the unfolding class action lawsuit against Workday—and what it means for vendors, employers, and HR technology as a whole.

The Workday Lawsuit: A Wake-Up Call for the Industry

In what could become a landmark case, a job seeker is suing Workday for alleged discrimination via its AI-powered applicant screening tools. The case suggests that applicants may have been filtered out based on age, race, or disability—raising urgent questions about the liability of vendors versus employers in hiring algorithms.

Alex summarized the situation, noting that anyone over 40 who was rejected without interview via a Workday system may be eligible to join the class. The real kicker? The case is aimed at the vendor—not the employer—challenging the common industry assumption that employers bear the brunt of responsibility.

“This is earth-shattering news for our industry,” Alex said. “This could become a major test case for AI bias and vendor liability.”

Alex then presented a comparative analysis created using ChatGPT Deep Research, evaluating how iCIMS, Workday, Greenhouse, Ashby, and SmartRecruiters differ in their approach to AI. The research has iCIMS distinguishing itself as a more cautious, transparent vendor.

iCIMS and AI: Conservative but Capable

Greg shared insights from a recent deep-dive his team did with iCIMS, noting appreciation for the vendor’s transparency. His team received certifications and Trust Services documentation, along with candid explanations of where the AI algorithm is fixed versus customizable.

“It’s still kind of a black box,” Greg said. “But I’m less nervous with iCIMS than I am with other platforms.”

Still, he called for greater user control—such as turning off specific features for internal policy reasons, not just compliance.

Vivian added a key perspective from conversations with peers using other platforms: a gap remains between user expectations and actual system configurability. Many administrators, she noted, want insight into the parameters driving AI decisions—and the ability to fine-tune them.

The Skill-Matching Struggle: Real-World AI Challenges

Terry chimed in to share experiences from his team’s rollout of iCIMS Talent Cloud AI (TCAI). While the tool shines in high-specificity fields like finance and IT, it struggles in more ambiguous roles—like hourly restaurant jobs.

“It doesn’t match the skills we’re looking for,” he explained. “We’re now having to rewrite job descriptions to be more detailed just so the AI can match them better.”

That insight spurred a discussion on job description optimization and the reality that AI requires structured, granular inputs to perform well—especially when evaluating soft skills or job titles that vary across industries.

Transparency Troubles: What’s Driving the Scores?

Amanda noted that tools like TCAI don’t provide transparency around “fit scores,” making it hard to trust or interpret AI suggestions. Dawn shared that while she’s tried iCIMS’ built-in job description tool, she’s gotten better results using ChatGPT or Gemini externally.

“It speaks to AI literacy,” Alex observed. “Each tool has its own flavor—and sometimes a general-purpose AI like ChatGPT gives better output.”

That sentiment resonated with many on the call. AI is only as useful as your ability to understand—and challenge—its outputs.

Documentation, AI Literacy, and Long-Term Adoption

A key theme across the conversation was the importance of documenting your AI learnings. Terry described his team’s SharePoint site, used to record time-saving functions and Copilot experiments. Greg emphasized the need to document policy concerns, questionable AI behavior, and training implications.

“Trust is paramount,” Alex said. “We can’t just let Gemini or Copilot ‘happen’ to our systems without scrutiny.”

Greg noted differences between tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, and encouraged more transparency from iCIMS about how sources are cited and surfaced. That’s what drives adoption: not just functionality, but trust.

Real iCIMS Admin Questions: From Job Boards to Offer Letters

The conversation transitioned to practical questions from members:

• Liam asked about integrating SEEK, a popular job board in Australia and New Zealand, into iCIMS. The group discussed the lack of native integration and shared workarounds involving third-party aggregators like Broadbean or flat file exchanges.

• Shuree raised Spokane’s new “Ban the Address” law, which prohibits asking for a candidate’s address before a job offer. Heather raised an interesting follow-up: what happens when resumes include addresses anyway?

“It’s admirable in spirit,” Shuree said. “But technically, it’s really hard to enforce.”

• Christine brought two critical questions: first, how to manage reissued offers after acceptance, and second, how to notify third-party recruiters when jobs they’re working on get filled.

Both spurred lively debate, with Greg providing deep insight on how event notifications can be customized—via iCIMS support—to notify agencies when job status changes. Christine’s final takeaway: there’s almost always a workaround, but it helps to bring it to the group.

The Interview Scheduler Conundrum

Natalie raised a curious quirk in iCIMS’ new standalone interview scheduling feature: users can’t select a video interview template when not syncing with Outlook. The only workaround? Use a phone template and include messaging that says “just kidding—it’ll be a video interview.” 🤣

The group plans to bring this and other feedback to iCIMS product managers in future sessions.

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