CIOs Look For Ways To Use Blockchain Resumes

Blockchain can make background claims easy to verify
Blockchain can make background claims easy to verify
Image Credit: Photo by Helloquence on Unsplash

The person with the CIO job realizes that their company has a significant problem when it comes to hiring people. They can’t always trust that the resume that the person has given them is truthful. The traditional way of trying to make sure that the company is getting the straight story is to run a background check on each candidate. However, this can be an expensive and time consuming task. The arrival of a new type of technology, the blockchain, holds out the promise of being able to provide a company with the assurance that they are looking for.

The Role Of Blockchains In Resume Verification

So just exactly what is a blockchain? Blockchain is a technology that is used by a number of the most popular cryptocurrencies. Blockchain acts as a sort of digital ledger. It provides a record of online transactions in a way that ensures that they cannot be changed. One of the first places that blockchains are being used outside of cryptocurrencies is in the world of education. A group of schools have started to issue digital diplomas. These diplomas can either be shared using social media or they can be delivered directly to employers.

So what would a resume that used blockchain technology look like? The thinking is that the first thing that would have to be done would be to verify the claims that the candidate is making about their work history. Once this had been done, a digital resume would be created which would contain all of the data that had been collected from multiple locations and institutions. Next the digital resume could then be shared with employers that the candidate is talking with. As the candidate’s career progressed, the document could be updated.

The need for a way to verify resumes is growing as companies expand and do more hiring. The hiring process requires that a company invest in a great deal of time and resources in order to check both the work and the educational backgrounds of each candidate. At the same time companies are on the hook to provide information to other firms who are asking for employment verification for past employees. When studies are done, it often turns out that 80% of the resumes that are reviewed contain what are called “discrepancies” and 12% contain false information about a candidate’s educational background.

Challenges With Using Blockchains To Verify Resumes

If resumes that were checked using blockchain technology existed, then companies could instantly check a candidate’s resume without having to resort to running expensive background checks. In the case of a digital diploma, a student could provide a copy of the digital diploma along with a digital signature which could then be uploaded to a verification page in order to get a confirmation that the student really did earn the degree. The benefit of all of this is that the university would not have to be involved in the process.

As people start to try to use blockchain to provide authentication for various documents such as resumes, there is a good chance that regulatory hurdles could slow the process down. As an example of this, in the U.S. regulations at the state level have yet to catch up with blockchain technology. Currently only a few states have passed laws that will allow the usage of blockchain technology.

As an example of some of the challenges that blockchain will face, digital signatures have been around much longer than blockchain. However, digital signatures have not yet been widely adopted. The reasons for this vary from skepticism to companies being unwilling to change how they do business.

What All Of This Means For You

The new technology called blockchain has arrived. Now the person in the CIO position is going to have to determine based on the importance of information technology what they want to do with it. One area that is attracting a great deal of attention is applying blockchain technology to resumes. Companies spend a lot of time trying to verify the information contained in a resume and if blockchain technology could be used it might speed this process up.

If blockchain technology was being used with diplomas, students could share them on social media or provide them to employers. A resume that used blockchain technology would first verify its data and then create a digital resume that could be shared with employers. Companies need to find a way to make verifying the data in a resume be faster and cheaper. Studies of resumes have shown that they have discrepancies and the educational background is sometimes made up. If digital diplomas existed, then they could be verified without having to involve the university. Regulatory hurdles may slow the adoption of blockchain down. Digital signatures have been around longer than blockchain; however, they have still not been widely adopted.

Blockchain is a powerful technology that can help to verify the authenticity of a document. Applying blockchain to a resume would help companies to make sure that what a candidate is telling them is accurate. Blockchain is new technology and so it may take a while for it to be fully adopted. CIOs need to be aware of this technology and be looking for ways to work it into their company’s hiring process.

– Dr. Jim Anderson
Blue Elephant Consulting –
Your Source For Real World IT Department Leadership Skills™

Question For You: If blockchain technology was applied to resumes do you think that people could be hired automatically without an interview?

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What We’ll Be Talking About Next Time

So let’s make sure that we all understand what we are talking about when we bring up pay transparency. Right off the bat, pay transparency sounds like a really good idea. In a company that has pay transparency, every employee knows what every other employee is making. There can be a lot of benefits to doing this: it can motivate employees, it can close gender gaps, and it can attract new talent that will understand the : importance of information technology by showing people how achievement at the company is rewarded. However, the person with the CIO job needs to understand that there is also a darker underside to pay transparency…