- Referencing drops by two thirds in eight years - Zinc uses blockchain technology to bring back ease and credibility
- Rise of the gig economy calls for accelerated and streamlined hiring process
- Workers empowered to take control and ownership of their work data
Zinc for recruiters
With a technical role in the UK taking on average 12 weeks to fill, Zinc aims to simplify, accelerate and reduce the cost of hiring by open sourcing the entire interview process. The Zinc ecosystem verifies a candidate’s information on the blockchain and allows workers to securely store it in a distributed network. From there, recruiters can request access to a candidate’s full and verified work history, aptitude and attitude reports on day one of the hiring journeys, removing the need for tests and references to be retaken and collected time and time again.
Luke Shipley, CEO, Zinc, said: “With an estimated 2 million technology roles available at any time, and an increasing shift towards the gig economy, there is a dire need to speed things up. Referencing used to be the gold standard for recruiters but due to significant inefficiencies in the process, it has rapidly fallen out of favour. We see significant opportunity to bring credibility and ease back to this important work proof by using new technologies to remove existing pain points and create a seamless and more effective hiring process.”
Zinc for workers
A Zinc survey found that 79 percent of respondents believed they would secure more interviews if references were shared earlier in the recruitment process. With Zinc, for the first time, workers in the technology sector will have absolute ownership and control of their work reputation and identity, and how they choose to share that information with recruiters and companies. Using their blockchain verified ‘digital work passport’, workers can provide recruiters with access to their credentials and references, before an interview has even taken place.
Shipley continued: “References hold immense value and should belong to the worker, but over the years, have often been collected and then held by recruiters and companies. Zinc is changing the ownership model for work data, allowing workers to own information that is collected during the hiring process and use it throughout their career. It’s our mission to empower workers to take back control and ownership of their work reputation and identity.”
Kieran Dodd, Booking.com, said: “We have been testing Zinc and have found it to be a user-friendly piece of software. I look forward to seeing how the product develops over the coming months.”
Shipley concluded: “Blockchain-verified credentials and records open up possibilities for a whole new level of automation and trust in the hiring process. Zinc aspires to become the industry standard for transparent and authenticated proof of work reputation and identities.”