Can AI-driven résumé screening reflect human competence complexity? A Corpus-Assisted Discourse Analysis of Curricula Vitae

Taking into account the defining elements of the objectivist approach to the concept of competence, this paper shows how the growing employment of AI applications to résumé screening and evaluation seems to support and strengthen Competency-based Human Resource Management, by framing human competence as a measurable, observable, and predictable attribute. By focusing on the narrative and discursive dimension of a Curriculum Vitae, this study introduces and adopts a Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies approach to the analysis of résumés, thus suggesting a perspective on the notion of competence that results from the interplay between information included - or not - in traditional quantitative indicators and textual fields relating to personal capabilities, motivations and aspirations. Hence, this research is based on a corpus of Curricula Vitae submitted by recent graduates from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, whose self-representation is claimed to emerge from the interaction between different approaches in competencies reporting.