You may wonder what blockchain does with recruitment if you work in human resources. After all, people usually hear about blockchain technology within the context of Bitcoin; these days, blockchain is becoming increasingly prevalent in many diverse industries. Meaning that, when it comes to recruitment, blockchain has huge potential to change the hiring process.

However, this article will discuss blockchain in recruitment: How blockchain technology is transforming the recruitment process — and why it’s a change that can significantly enhance how your company finds its new recruits.

What is Blockchain Technology?

While blockchain is a topic worthy of its own blog post, it’s a distributed ledger technology (DLT) that logs and protects the integrity of the data submitted.

However, once the data is logged via blockchain, it’s nearly impossible to alter it. As such, it is used to store information like transitions made with cryptocurrencies to make sure it’s protected without needing a central authority like a bank.

Because this information is shared on a distributed ledger – its information is consensually shared across various institutions and sites to ensure a consensus is maintained and no data is added or altered without verification.

While it’s easy to see why blockchain technology is useful in financial contexts, namely for its democratic properties and protection, it’s becoming adapted to various contexts outside currency.

How Can Blockchain be Used Within Recruitment?

Blockchain technology is revolutionizing hiring agencies’ and employers’ views and considering potential candidates.

With the level of security blockchain technology provides its users, it can be relied upon to maintain data integrity, such as academic credentials or employment background.

This means employers and hiring agencies can rely on the shared data, and job candidates can share this information without panic or fear of it being tampered with once verified.

So why is this essential to you as a talent hunter? According to a study by CareerBuilder, over 73% of recruiters noticed lies in the resumes or CVs they receive.

While this number is already high unnervingly, these are only the fraudulent CVs or resumes that recruiters and human resources managers have noticed, meaning there can be countless more that go undetected.

Unfortunately, with the rising popularity of diploma mills and other online resources that make official documents and references very easy to fake, applications can no longer be taken simply at face value.

The solution:

Verified credentials.

With blockchain offers both the employer or recruiter and candidate secure access to authenticated records; however, applications can be viewed in real-time with access that depends on the applicant’s consent.

These validated credentials contain some of the most vital details you need to know about your potential hire – including their (but not limited to):

• Records of employment
• Professional designations (licenses and certifications)
• Academic history
• Driver’s abstract/ motor vehicle records
• Criminal background check

Along with knowing that the applicant is truly qualified for the position at hand, and has not embellished their certifications or skills, also talent hunters can request access to view these secure records in real-time for a smoother, faster-hiring process.

These authenticated records can also provide Human Resouces professionals with valuable information about a candidate’s previous academic references or employers, including names and contact details, so referencing is efficient and reliable.

Some believe that blockchain will make personal information less secure. However, blockchain technology can assist you in maintaining more stringent security regarding your candidates’ information.

Instead of collecting traditional CVs or resumes as files on your computer or as hard copies – you can access the information about each candidate in real-time online.

With the hiring process becoming so reliable and easy, the traditional CV, as you know it, may eventually disappear entirely.

Blockchain Decentralization

Blockchain is an interesting technology since its completely decentralized. The data isn’t put in a central point, thus removing the supreme central authority and giving authority to the individual to control data. Blockchain technology is decentralized. Thus it lacks central control. Therefore, the absence of central control makes this system more secure and fairer.

This technology enables data to be recorded onto the blockchain programs in a secure process that value the concept of decentralization. Blockchain technology observes the consensus protocol across the network nodes to assess the transaction and record data incorruptibly. The fact that blockchain isn’t based on a central point makes the cost incurred to complete this process completely low. Since the system isn’t concentrated in a central point, the money usually collected from these processes is no longer of concern. The only costs incurred by the parties involved are the nominal fee used to reward the node’s miner.

Decentralization is a key theme in shifting traditional pipes to modern platforms. Business pipes rely on a centralized model of value creation and exchange. Although blockchain decentralization is a new invention, this program has proven advantageous. Additionally, the program has ensured that the rate of fraudulent activity has been minimized. Since blockchain technology uses open source ledge and all the transactions involved are recorded – it makes it easy and simple to identify any fraud that occurs. Thus, mitigation steps are taken to ensure the data in these sites remain safe. Blockchain decentralization promotes integrity since the miner’s transaction on this site is monitored and validated daily. Another advantage of blockchain decentralization ensures that the data is safe from interference from external hackers. It is tough for hackers to access every personal account to interfere with the data. Different from how it could be in the case of data stored in a central point. Cryptocurrency is more secure since it’s not regulated by the central body, which faces risks of being mismanaged and corrupted; the transfer of what is in the blockchain is entirely in the trusted environment. Verification is generally conducted by the consensus instead of a single company.

However, blockchain decentralization is not effective in some ways. Since they lack central control, these sites have become preferred sites for criminals. The criminals can keep their data safe on these sites since no one can access the accounts of the individuals. Thus, these sites keep off the investigation agencies from accessing harmful information stored in these sites. Blockchain decentralization raises storage issues; storing information on these sites can be a problem for people who aren’t tech Savvy. Finally, this program becomes somewhat complicated or very difficult when it requires one to purchase cloud storage.