The constant changes that are occurring in the corporate world have paved the way for opportunities of creating innovative solutions in every area. These shifts have a major influence today and will become even more important in the coming years.  A clear foresight is essential for organizations to know what they should be working towards amidst the technological shifts that are reshaping the world of work. And blockchain is one of them! A new technology that works by validating transactions through a distributed network in order to create a transparent, permanent, verified and unalterable ledger of information. The key innovation in blockchain technology is that it allows its participants to transfer assets across the Internet without the need for a centralized third party.

Blockchain technology is generating significant interest across a wide range of industries and by virtue of its design and architecture; it offers some inherent benefits which the industry has been looking for, from quite some time now. It is seen that the recruitment landscape will also be positively affected by this technology as the distributed nature of Blockchain brings in a lot of transparency in processing. As a resultant factor it helps in reducing the need for manual verification and authorization in HR systems too.

It is predicted, and in some cases evident too, that Blockchain has the potential to bring changes in the recruitment landscape as a whole. Hence organizations must help prepare their leaders in Talent Acquisition teams to know more about the changes it promises to bring to the table. Let us take a note of some basic checkpoints that must be known to the HR function including recruiters when it comes to how blockchain technology is transforming the TA space.

Education verification during candidate screening

There are many loopholes in the current background check process, especially when it comes to non-factual information that is found majorly in CVs of candidates related to critical information like educational institutions, courses, marks, and much else. A verification system that is based on blockchain can help reduce the time spent on conducting background checks with increased credibility. Following this technology, MIT has developed a digital diploma pilot program, wherein students receive an encrypted certificate after their course completion which they can display via their certificates on a mobile wallet application and share the file directly with potential employers. In fact, colleges and universities should start to publish encrypted academic credentials to a blockchain platform which would enable candidates to view and share these with employers. Hence, Blockchain as a technology when used in the verification process reduces the scope of fraud and also builds a quick and trusted candidate screening process. While keeping the data anonymous and adhering to data privacy regulations, this technology gives accurate candidate data. In short, more accurate the data,  better is the ability of the TA leaders to make an informed decision and match the right candidate with the right job.

Privacy and security of critical HR data

Data privacy, its usage and responsible storage, especially of critical information, has never been taken so seriously before. The implementation of GDPR makes it more evident and relevant. Hence, in the recruitment area, a lot of sensitive candidate and employee data is constantly churned and it becomes critical for recruiters to store this data responsibly.

Companies generally upload and store hiring related data on a cloud server. These servers are never hack free and are subject to data tampering. Due to blockchain’s decentralized nature, the data is encrypted and cross-checked by the whole network. Every legitimate transaction needs multiple confirmations from different users on the network. Also, with blockchain’s immutability feature, hacking becomes difficult and cannot be tampered with easily. Blockchain is a linked list which contains data and a hash pointer which points to its previous block thereby creating the chain. Because of the properties of hash functions, a slight change in data will change the hash drastically and will completely change the chain, which is extremely difficult to tamper or hack.

Blockchain related new job roles in the future of hiring

With the advent of blockchain, many new job roles have come into existence and companies are increasingly seeking experts to focus on this new technology. Hence, recruiters and the TA team need to have a clear cut know-how about such changing job roles. Some of the new jobs that have been created and are in demand are:

Blockchain developers: They help to develop blockchain platforms and must be familiar with new coding languages like Ethereum’s Solidity, the Ripple protocol, crypto tech etc. along with programming languages like Java, Python, and C++.

Blockchain quality engineers: They help in guiding the testing strategy for blockchain development and maintain QA test standards.

Blockchain project managers: They are similar to a typical project manager having special know-how and expertise in managing blockchain technology.

Blockchain designer: This role is needed for designing user interface for blockchain solutions.

Apart from these tech-specific job roles that HR needs to know, there are also ‘non-tech’ job roles related to blockchain as this technology also needs support like any other businesses. Blockchain legal consultants or attorney is one of them. Companies look for legal expertise on what they need to consider while launching blockchain technologies for them.

Organizations are using blockchain to expedite hiring, verify candidate credentials and manage digital identities of candidates. Similar to academic credentials, blockchain can also help recruiters verify a candidate’s past roles across various organizations in detail. Once verified, the employment history cannot be altered, thus preventing candidates from manipulating their records. Companies like Walmart, FedEx, UPS, British Airways and others have begun testing this technology. And this is certainly a field worth watching in the near future for both job seekers and employers.