Whether you’ve got a single mom-and-pop store or you manage a large retailer with multiple locations, chances are you’ve had to deal with the ins and outs of recruiting and hiring staff. Finding—and keeping—talented, hardworking employees is a time-consuming process that may not always yield long-term results, or make both parties happy.
Thankfully, with the rise of blockchain technology, the retail recruitment landscape is rapidly changing, as well. Read on to learn 5 ways in which blockchain can make retail recruitment easier, faster, and more secure than ever before.
To say that the retail industry is “huge” would be an understatement. In fact, according to the National Retail Federation, retail supports 1 in 4 American jobs, directly employing around 32 million citizens in the process. With millions of employees—and an average turnover rate of around 60%, as reported by the NRF—it’s only natural that retail recruitment has become an industry of its own, with a vast number of professionals working all across the country to place the right people in the right positions.
Given the vast amount of candidate data these recruiters and HR professionals must regularly parse through, wouldn’t it make their jobs easier if this information were pre-verified and readily available? That’s precisely where blockchain technology comes in. Retail recruitment on blockchain is an innovative take on traditional recruitment practices that comes with a heap of benefits for both recruiters and prospective employees.
Related: 10 Potential Benefits of Blockchain in Retail
How blockchain retail recruitment works
So far, one of the major uses of blockchain technology in retail recruitment is through the implementation of digital CVs. Similar to traditional résumés provided by candidates, these digital CVs include personal data such as identifying information (social security numbers, passport or ID numbers, residential and work permit status, criminal records), educational and employment history, professional accomplishments (such as test scores, training or certifications), and references.
In some cases, these digital CVs can include information such as past salary and compensation data, and even personality profiles of the prospective employees. What makes these digital CVs unique—and more advanced than the traditional document filled out by the candidate—is that the information contained in them can be verified by other sources such as schools, past employers, and even organizations that provide trade-related certifications.
Another way blockchain can be integrated into retail recruitment is via smart contracts, which make the onboarding process much faster for both the recruiters and the candidates. With these contracts, new employees can instantly receive information such as access codes, logins, or work ID data—a far cry from having to wait for different departments to provide this information, as can sometimes happen in traditional onboarding processes.
Related: 10 Retail Companies Using Blockchain Technology
5 benefits of using blockchain for retail recruitment
1. Saves recruiters time
Traditionally, recruiters spend a large portion of their time attempting to verify the information on prospective employees’ résumés, whether it’s their employment or educational history, background checks, or references and referrals.
Having the personal data of prospective employees already verified and available on the blockchain saves recruiters a great deal of time and effort. Plus, in the case of educational and employment history, information stored on the blockchain may include details such as grade point averages or performance review results, providing a more in-depth look at the candidate’s past accomplishments.
2. Saves prospective employees time
Anyone who’s ever applied for multiple jobs knows how mind-numbing it can be to fill out essentially the same few forms over and over. But with a digital CV stored on the blockchain, candidates no longer have to go through the same process of verification and onboarding at each employer.
As they progress in their careers, these employees will simply have to update their digital CVs with their employment details or other career-related achievements, much like editing a traditional CV—but with the added bonus that storing such data on the blockchain makes this updated information instantly available to all prospective employers.
Another advantage of blockchain recruitment is that it also saves time for people providing references and referrals for candidates, as they won’t have to field calls from multiple companies looking to get input on a prospective employee—they can simply provide a reference one time and be done with the process.
3. Prevents prospective employees from falsifying any of their employment history
In an ideal world, candidates would not lie on their résumés, but as most recruiters know, fraudulent CVs are unfortunately all too common. When a prospective employee’s entire employment history is on the ledger, this information is stored permanently and cannot be changed at a later date, which prevents the candidate from adding any unverified information to their digital CV.
What’s more, in cases where detailed information such as past performance reviews are also stored on the blockchain, recruiters and HR professionals no longer have to rely solely on the input from the references handpicked by the candidate.
4. Keeps personal data private
Given the personal nature of information on the blockchain, it’s no wonder that data privacy is a huge concern—in fact, certain employers may even ask candidates to fill out medical questionnaires as part of the recruitment process, which may have very serious legal ramifications if said information were to be leaked.
The decentralized nature of blockchain ensures that this very personal data cannot be hacked into, which actually makes this technology a much safer alternative to most popular job sites that store similar information.
5. Provides a more holistic view of candidates
Employers that choose to include personality tests and questionnaires such as Myers-Briggs in their blockchain recruitment process can get a more comprehensive view of prospective employees, which enables recruiters to decide how well these candidates could work with existing members of a team.
The availability of personal information that would not necessarily appear on a traditional résumé could even be another factor in narrowing down a long list of candidates, thus making recruiters’ job easier and preventing prospective employees from getting stuck in an environment where they would not thrive.