How blockchain is revolutionizing recruitment

There is no denying that blockchain technology has the potential to completely revolutionize most – if not all – industries across the business spectrum. The most notable example is the cryptocurrency trade: It has made it easy and convenient for investors to verify financial transactions. Also, the technology safeguards Bitcoin data against malicious tampering, be it in the form of forgery, theft, alterations, deletion, or fabrication.

Now that blockchain technology has proven itself as a reliable data verification tool, wouldn’t it be plausible for the business world to start using it to verify employee data before and during hiring processes? Indeed, it would.

According to Kevin Wheeler, founder, and president of Global Learning Resources, “Blockchain is a way to store personal information about candidates or employees in a secure, confidential manner and make it available to anyone with permission from those individuals.”

Drawing inspiration from this quote, this article explores three ways through which employers and recruitment agencies can benefit from the integration of blockchain technology in the hiring process.

1) Resume verification

Let’s face it: Many job candidates cheat their way to the job by including falsified information on their resume. Without a reliable way of verifying the accurateness of the claims a candidate makes in his/her application, the chances of recruitment agencies detecting these falsehoods are devastatingly slim.

Blockchain technology could be a lasting solution to this problem. Think of every claim – say, education or employment history – like a blockchain transaction; it is easy to use the technology to verify these claims. Once the relevant parties, in this case, educational institutions and former employers, confirm claims in a given candidate’s resume, the technology prevents job applicants from ever tampering with the verified information.

With the surety that everyone is who they say they are, employers will have an easy time choosing the right people for different roles. 

2)  The emergence of smart contracts

The world currently operates through the traditional pen-to-paper contracts. Employees sign contracts with employers and then each of the parties keeps hard copies of the agreement. This method isn’t foolproof; dishonest parties tamper with signed contracts all the time. Also, paper contracts are tedious because they require time-consuming filing and documentation processes.

Smart contracts are easy to create and update in real time as an employee rises through the ranks, changes occur in job descriptions, or as compensation processes change due to changing market trends

Blockchain technology is now rewriting this script by introducing smart contracts and phasing out paper contracts as we know them. Smart contracts are easy to create and update in real time as an employee rises through the ranks, changes occur in job descriptions, or as compensation processes change due to changing market trends. This will be possible thanks to blockchain services. Above all, the smart contracts will be hard to tamper with. 

According to experts from Globalization Pedia, “Recruitment agencies that haven’t given the idea of smart contracts a serious thought will struggle to cope with future trends.” As much as you could still use the traditional paper contracts today, you should start to familiarize with the revolutionary smart contracts as early as now.

3) Access to verified databases 

Every hiring manager wants to hire the perfect candidates – the most qualified, talented, and prolific employees, but there are too many imperfections in the existing hiring platforms to produce even near-perfect candidates. For starters, many employers try to avoid liability issues, so they withhold as much information about their former employees as possible. Most of them will be quoted as referees by their current and ex-employees but even when you call them wanting to discuss the merits and demerits of a candidate, they refuse to discuss the topic and instead only confirm if and when the applicant worked for them.

“Blockchain technology will attempt to make the hiring process perfect by making verified employees’ databases available for employers. You will be able to find the perfect employee to fill existing gaps in your organization using smaller budgets and less time. What’s more, you will not even need to call former employees for anything.” say experts at Tactica, a full digital marketing company in New Jersey.

As Stacey Harris, vice president of research and analytics at IT consulting firm Sierra-Cedar, correctly put it, “Blockchain has the potential of helping recruiters verify candidate credentials in a highly secure way and reducing chances of credentials being altered or faked.”

Bottom line

Every modern recruitment manager must come up with optimal strategies in order to leverage the power of blockchain technology. One key strategy would be to create a team of blockchain experts who are dedicated and talented enough to help you integrate technology into your normal operations.