Why we’re betting on the future of blockchain-powered recruiting

If information is power, disinformation is destruction.

We’ve grown accustomed as a culture to false claims and outright forgery on the internet — whether that’s fake restaurant reviews or coerced workplace reviews, catfishing strangers, or fabricated fantasies posing as news.

But the web doesn’t have to be untrustworthy. Science Blockchain’s first investment partner, SpringRole, uses blockchain technology to add greater trust to the hiring process — an ecosystem where 53 percent of all job applications contain inaccurate information.

Here’s why I’m/we’re thrilled to be a part of their success.

Changing the incentives of a self-promotional, exaggerative professional network culture.

Honesty is a conflict of interest in today’s professional networks.

Users are incentivized to exaggerate, rather than carefully construct an accurate work history. Any claim that makes applicants stand out in an Olympic-sized talent pool may be rewarded with extra attention. This not only encourages such exaggeration, it also obscures appropriately experienced candidates by placing their experience on equal footing.

SpringRole changes this dynamic.

The system curtails this behavior by using blockchain technology to remove the ability to deceive. Employment data is independently moderated and verified by a decentralized collection of computers. Since the information is independently collected and arranged, it’s tamper-proof, and equally visible to job seekers and employers.

Rewarding those who endorse candidates, instead of those who find them.

Today’s recruiters cast a wide net in candidate searches — as a result, they often present under-qualified candidates. After all, digital recruiting is fiercely competitive, and imperfect candidates are more lucrative than no candidate at all.

This dynamic places more mistrust into the hiring process by adding a third party whose incentives align neither with employers nor candidates.

SpringRole reverses this perverse incentive by rewarding to endorsers, not recruiters. Approximately 34 percent of jobs originate from referrals — so why not reward endorsers for putting their reputation on the line?

And SpringRole’s infrastructure ads further weight to recommendations. Since endorsers are required to pay a nominal fee to recommend candidates, and because the underlying blockchain infrastructure instills greater trust, recommendations mean more.

Our dependency on recruiters is further reduced by an artificial intelligence-based skill matching/candidate matching system. Its blockchain backing further guarantees better candidate matching, as skills/experiences listed are verified to be accurate to begin with.

Dramatically reducing the cost and time investment of recruiting and employee onboarding.

Hiring is an arduous and expensive process.

While professional networks and instant communication have made some components of recruiting easier, the process is still lengthy and pricey. It takes an average of a candidate’s information — depending on the type of background check selected — and onboarding bad hires are estimated to cost companies $240,000.

The verified, auditable ledger of employment data is verified before an employee is presented, virtually eliminating this costly work, and the need for that work to be performed again by the next employer.

Encouraging further creative exploration of blockchain technology.

Last, but far from least, we’re proud to support a truly innovative application of the vastly underutilized, and often misunderstood, blockchain technology.

The same tech that famously manages cryptocurrency is set to ensure a more secure society — further ensuring the safety of food products, and the security of electronic voting.

When applied to hiring, it lends enormously positive outcomes — improving accuracy, decreasing labor, and setting a standard of honesty that others are sure to follow.