Catch me if you can
About a quarter of job applications are misleading, a blockchain innovator tells Anuja Nadkarni.
Digital curriculum vitaes that harness blockchain could make it easier for recruiters to sniff out whether you are lying about your qualifications.
CVproof.com founder Ray Chow-Toun said that, on average, about a quarter of applications submitted to recruiters contained credentials discrepancies.
‘‘It’s all too easy for candidates to defraud,’’ Chow-Toun said.
In 2002, Maori Television’s first chief executive, John Davy, was found to have faked his CV and was sentenced to eight months jail for fraud.
Then in 2014, the chief executive of intellectual property law firm Baldwins, Michael Vukcevic, stepped down from his role after it was revealed he falsely claimed to have a law degree from Victoria University.
But now employers can verify the credentials claimed by potential employees using blockchain, the same technology that secures the bitcoin cryptocurrency.
Blockchain can maintain and secure information on diplomas, references, publications, test scores, medical certificates, criminal record information and proof of training.
Chow-Toun said blockchain CVs took the onus off the candidate to produce documentation every time and off the recruiter to manually verify skills.
CVproof.com also offers an incentive to earn money through its own cryptocurrency, called INK, to encourage credential issuers and users to take part in updating, validating or confirming skills or qualifications.
Any activity in the CVproof system between two parties will be recorded as a transaction.
For instance, a university validating a student’s diploma on the platform will be rewarded for doing so in cryptocurrency.
The credentials owner will pay the qualification validator fees; job applicants will pay recruitment agencies or the employer an application fee; recruiters will pay candidates an interview fee; and users will pay a fee to access and read news posted by other users.
All transactions will be in the INK cryptocurrency.
The system aims to create a revenue-sharing environment by unlocking monetisation in the job market.
Users will have to buy the cryptocurrency first. One INK token is worth US12 cents (NZ17c).