5 Ways to Optimize Your Recruitment Process in Web3

Finding great talent takes time, and Web3 has presented many organizations with hiring challenges due to the unprecedented pace of change in the space.  If you’re a Web3 employer, you have to get creative to attract and retain the best people for your organization.

Breezy produced a compelling article dissecting what the future of hiring looks like for Web3, stating, “While traditional hiring heavily relies on job boards, Web3 employers tend to take a more active approach as a default — reaching out to candidates through Discord, Twitter and hackathons.”

If you want to stay ahead of the curve, and ahead of your competition, you must review and optimize your recruitment process. The challenge that many organizations face is that candidates still hold the power when searching for new opportunities. This means you have to focus not on just your attraction methods but also your employer brand and how you present yourself to the market.

Blockchain Council calls this “Recruitment 3.0”:

“Recruitment 3.0 is a new perspective on talent acquisition that combines hiring methods with employer branding to help firms hire excellent employees while reducing their hiring costs and duration.

Using the power of Recruitment 3.0, organizations and employers can interact with passive talent, improve communication, and increase candidate engagement. It enables businesses to communicate directly with active and passive applicants. To put it another way, Recruitment 3.0 combines the best of both worlds: inbound recruiting and employer branding.”

We’ve put together 5 key things you can start doing today to optimize your recruitment process for Web3.

#1 think about where to find candidates

Although traditional candidate search methods such as job boards, internal databases, and referrals are still very effective in the space, there are other avenues to consider. 

discord

Discord is an instant messaging social media platform that is popular among those in the Blockchain space. Used widely by the Crypto community, it’s a convenient way to build community and share information real-time—and it’s globally used. There are over 300 million registered users, and Discord has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years. Since 2021, there has been a 40% increase in usage.

When searching for and security the best talent, networking in communities such as Discord is your “bread and butter”. In a market where Blockchain talent is in demand, focusing on platforms such as Discord enables you to embed yourself in global communities, promote your brand or organization, and connect with individuals who may be unreachable on other social media platforms. 

blockchain-specific job boards

Although considered a traditional sourcing method, the more niche your job boards are, the higher quality candidates you should be able to find. Posting on boards such as cryptocurrencyjobs.co, blockew, and blockace.io are some of the many niche job boards. These job boards are USA-specific, so ensure that you are searching for blockchain job boards that cater to your location—even if the job is remote, you still want it to be in a similar time zone for collaboration and team integration.

reddit

Reddit has been a popular platform for decades, used for discussing pop culture and aggregating content and resources on a specific topic. It is also a place where Blockchain talent can be found. 

Similar to Discord, Reddit allows for both public and private channels where discussions can occur. However, it can be a great place to advertise (rather than network) if you’re able to join bigger private communities where Blockchain talent will spend time. 

blockchain-specific events

Networking outside of traditional platforms such as LinkedIn and focusing on in-person events is a great way to build community and promote your brand or organization. For a list of blockchain-specific events, click here. 

Top tip: Don’t go overboard and join every platform out there. Traditional candidate sourcing methods are incredibly effective, and they shouldn’t be replaced. Instead, focus on one or two “out of the box” sourcing methods so you can embed yourself into the Blockchain ecosystem, and keep your finger on the pulse and build true community. 

#2 focus on a candidate’s passion as well as their technical skills

Assessing technical skills in a recruitment process is the easy part—the difficult part is finding someone who fits your culture, embodies your values, and wants to be with you for the long-term. 

As previously mentioned, candidates are spoiled for choice, often having multiple options and offers on the table. It’s important to find someone who has a passion for the field, as ultimately, they will bring a fresh approach and an abundance of creativity—two things that you will absolutely want as your organization evolves.

We wish there was a million-dollar question that you could answer to uncover this, but this style of questioning can look different for every organization.

Let’s say for example that your organization is focused on social impact—look at the values that you have built and the culture that you have, and focus on questions that will reflect that individual’s mindset, character, and their “why”.  You may also want to ask direct questions about projects that the candidate has been involved in that reflect their commitment to social impact. 

#3 streamline your interview process 

The marketplace is truly global, and a long-winded interview process leaves you vulnerable to candidates dropping out of the process or becoming disengaged. Focusing on a two to three-step process that assesses technical skill, culture fit, and how this individual can grow with your organization should sit front of mind. 

A lengthy interview process usually signifies a lack of clarity on what exactly you are looking for and how to assess for it. Understandably this throws up a red flag for qualified candidates and can result in them self-selecting out of the process. 

#4 look at who is conducting your interviews (and make the right changes)

Having the right individuals representing your organization during the hiring process is crucial, but additionally within Web3, having a diverse hiring panel will pay you dividends in the future. 

Web3 is already plagued with the same narratives as its predecessor around diversity, and the gap at this early stage is already quite stark. We have an opportunity to change this while Web3 is still in its infancy, but it will require us to be thoughtful about the interview process to ensure a level playing field in the hiring process. 

A diverse hiring panel will attract diverse talent, so be mindful of this when building your interview panel. A way of doing this is to look across all layers of your business and think of who will be able to assess well technically but also add value to the candidate experience. Creating a mix of individuals that cater to both sides should, in theory, enable you to create a diverse hiring panel and an authentic experience for the candidate.

#5 be realistic, and most importantly – open!

It’s important to get really clear about what skills you want and how to assess them. Some of the technologies in Web3 are still very new, so asking for 5 or even 10 years of experience will leave you with a much smaller talent pool or a talent pool that simply does not exist.

Finally, be open to the possibility of training or upskilling promising talent! We are in an incredibly exciting time in this space, and organizations that hire for potential over the “finished article” will ultimately have stronger teams in the future. 

Should you wish to discuss anything highlighted in this article, or how Blochaus can help you in creating a streamlined, engaging recruitment process, please reach out directly to one of our team.