There are many indicators of race in hiring. For example, these characteristics could give a pretty good idea of the race of an applicant

1. Name
2. College or university
3. Clubs or fraternities
4. Location (address, not city)

While an ML program wouldn’t decide “don’t hire black men”, it may be reinforced by existing policies that are racist. Since these programs are trained on the existing success of employees at a company.

For example, a company may not have hired someone from an HBCU. Therefore, an applicant who attended an HBCU would be viewed negatively by the hiring program.