Resume padding is a consistent problem that consumes talent acquisition efforts for most employers. The ability of recruits to state incorrect facts on their resumes was noted by Duffus (2016) as a plague in the record management practices in the Jamaican public sector. Other researchers have extended similar sentiments, quantifying the fact that human resource practitioners have to change how they recruit employees (Smith, 2016). Such changes must occur in the realm of document verification to ensure the information presented by potential employment candidates are accurate and reliable. The traditional recruitment software used in HRM processes are not adequate for the fulfilment of this role. In fact, the software contributed to the rampant increase in undetected errors in accuracy in resumes owing to the fact that the software has no means of confirming the validity of the information provided by a potential candidate.
Background of the Problem
The management of human resource information in the current job market is constantly under attack by the possibility of inauthentic information. As a result of the proliferation of technology, human resource information is prone to inaccuracy as a result of employees lying in their resumes. However, the current tools used by human resource practitioners are not sufficient to address this problem. Recruitment software lack the capability of ascertaining the validity of documents beyond reasonable doubt. Consequently, new technology needs to be leveraged for purposes of proving identity and achievements in human resource information.
Objectives
The objectives of the study include the demonstration of the efficacy and efficiency of blockchain technology in proving the reliability of human resource information across all industries. The paper will demonstrate that blockchain technology has all the characteristics to act as a trust checker in relation to the details employees include in their resumes. The second objective of the study will be to demonstrate that current measures in human resource information management are lacking. That is, through the findings of the paper, evidence will be presented to demonstrate that human resource management and the recruitment of talent is subject to the whims of employees owing to the fact that they have no reliable way of affirming the validity of resumes. As a consequence, organizations are unable to achieve their objectives to stakeholders due to the fact that they are inadequately staffed.
Hypothesis
Consequently, this paper proposes the use of blockchain technology in the assurance of resume accuracy. Blockchain technology allows for the recording of data on a distributed and encrypted digital leger, thereby eliminating the requirement for a middle man in a vast number of every day applications, such as finance. The ledger is immutable, meaning that once information is recorded, it cannot be changed. The above characteristic of the blockchain makes it a desirable avenue for addressing the challenges occasioned by resume padding. This paper aims to demonstrate the efficacy of blockchain technology in the assurance of resume credibility.
The use of blockchain technology in the management of human resource information is also hypothesized as a means through which organizations can staff their ranks with personnel who can help them achieve objectives. Thus, the use of the blockchain is expected to help organizations better meet their objectives.
Literature Review
In a study conducted by Chen & Zhu (2017), blockchain technology was noted for its ability to provide proof of identity, ownership, and achievements. The authors noted that the novel technology could therefore be used for the establishment of a decentralized, transparent, and immutable record of personal achievement. These findings are relevant to the current study as they are demonstrative of the fact that blockchain technology can be used to assure that information contained in resumes is both accurate and relevant. Recruits, for instance, could enter verifiable information into the blockchain together with their personal identification details. The information would be recorded on a blockchain such that HR practitioners would only need to look up transactions concerning the recruit to confirm the validity of his or her resume. Such deployment of blockchain technology would make it easier for employers to confirm the validity of information presented by a recruit, without having seek arbitration from a third party.
The fact that blockchains hold immutable records means that for a record to change, a person would have to make changes to the entire blockchain. Such a tasks is not feasible as the blockchain ledger is held by different independent computer systems as Chen & Zhu () elaborate. Owing to that capability, blockchains can provide the sufficient technological capability required for the assurance of resume credibility.
Crosby, Nachiappan, Pattanayak, Verma & Kalayanaraman (2016) provided discourse on the applicability of the blockchain in other transactions apart from financial transactions. The authors noted that while the blockchain was predominantly developed to provide a decentralized way for concluding financial and economic transactions, it has numerous applications outside the financial sphere. To this end, the authors noted that the public ledger found characteristic of the blockchain can be used to record numerous digital events (Crosby et al., 2016). As such, the authors devoted themselves towards the exploration of how the public ledger, and the consensus mechanism, also characteristic in the blockchain, can be used to verify identity. Their findings further support the hypothesis of the current paper. According to Crosby et al. (2016), the consensus mechanism used by blockchain technology to record data in the ledger is of imperative importance in the assurance of data integrity and accuracy. Consensus negates the possibility of the occurrence of double spending in a blockchain. Double spending here can be interpreted to refer to a situation where two pieces of information with different data are recorded in the ledger. That is, in relation to resumes, a candidate cannot have two copies of her or his resume each with different information, existing on the blockchain network. The end nodes in the network have to come to a consensus as to which piece of data to store, and which piece of data to disregard. This inherent capability of blockchain technology therefore servers as an independent verification mechanism that can be used to ascertain the information presented in a resume. Human resource practitioners can rely on the resume information presented by the blockchain as the identity and achievements of the potential candidate, without having to result to a third-party arbitrator.
The necessity of blockchain technology in human resource was expounded on by Wang, Feng. Zhang, Lyu, Wang, & You (2017). The authors noted that the authenticity of human resource information is progressively becoming a determinant of the cost of operations in organizations as well as the efficiency of human resources in these organizations (Wang et al., 2017). Due to the proliferation of technological gadgets, the asymmetry of information possessed by human resource departments and that possessed by employees is skewed. Due to the lack of reliable and efficient methods for confirming the veracity of resumes, for instance, human resource managers are continuously subjected to trial and error when engaging a potential recruit. To avoid the above situation and its accompanying challenges, Wang et al. (2017) proposed the use of blockchain technology for purposes of assuring the authenticity of human resource information that can facilitate effective organizational decision making.
Duffus (2017) elaborated on a similar challenge in the localized jurisdiction of Jamaica. The author found that human resource information in Jamaica’s public sector was subject to padding where either employees lied about their educational achievements, work experience, or capabilities. Owing the above situation, it is plausible that Jamaica’s public service sector routinely fails to deliver its mandate as the personnel employed are not qualified for their position. As such, it is clear that the human resource practices in the sector are unable to verify the authenticity of the claims published by recruits in their resumes. Consequently, an efficient way for verifying and validating resumes is required. The paper, in connection to the findings presented in the literature review proposes blockchain technology as the most efficient and reliable mechanism for verifying the authenticity of resumes.
Methodology
The paper will largely adopt a qualitative approach to investigate and validate the hypothesis. A qualitative approach is preferred as it qualitative methodologies have been demonstrated as efficient in allowing researchers to grasp a phenomenon. Therefore, the study proposes to carry out observations as well as interviews in several local companies. The human resource departments will form the nucleus of the study population as they are best placed to provide information on their experiences in resume authenticity.
The study population will be afforded questionnaires detailed with questions meant to provide insight as to their experiences with authenticating information provided by employees. Additionally, the author will anonymously interview employees in these organizations with the aim of uncovering if they presented false information in their resumes. These two sources of data will be sufficient to demonstrate the need for better validation mechanisms in human resource management.
Lastly, the author will seek out industry experts in the application of blockchain technology. The experts will serve to demonstrate the efficacy of blockchain technology as a means of validating resumes, and avoiding resume padding.
References
Chen, Z., & Zhu, Y. (2017, June). Personal Archive Service System using Blockchain Technology: Case Study, Promising and Challenging. In AI & Mobile Services (AIMS), 2017 IEEE International Conference on (pp. 93-99). IEEE.
Crosby, M., Pattanayak, P., Verma, S., & Kalyanaraman, V. (2016). Blockchain technology: Beyond bitcoin. Applied Innovation, 2, 6-10.
Duffus, K. (2017). Recruitment of records management practitioners in Jamaica’s public sector and its implications for professional practice. Records Management Journal, 27(2), 205-222.
Smith, M. (2016). Chapter Ten: A Pragmatic Approach To Project Manager Selection Matthew Smith in Project Management Research: Asia-Pacific Perspectives, 147.
Wang, X., Feng, L., Zhang, H., Lyu, C., Wang, L., & You, Y. (2017, April). Human resource information management model based on blockchain technology. In Service-Oriented System Engineering (SOSE), 2017 IEEE Symposium on (pp. 168-173). IEEE.
