Today, talent manager Cornerstone, the National Student Clearinghouse, SAP, Upwork and 11 other organizations announced the founding of the Velocity Network Foundation, a blockchain non-profit that will work on developing credentialing systems.
The consortium was initiated in collaboration with Velocity Career Labs, which is developing an open-source, blockchain-powered platform called the ‘Internet of Careers’. The network is targeting data privacy and security while putting control of data back in the hands of employees and job seekers. The blockchain will not store the private information and uses self-sovereign identity.
Velocity Network Foundation’s vision is to use the ‘Internet of Careers’ to establish a token-based career credentialing economy. This will enable individuals to own their career data and records, including education, degrees, certificates, projects, skills, and work history. Blockchain will prevent unauthorized sharing of data, and jobseekers can choose with whom to share their information as they switch between jobs.
“The democratic, non-profit nature of the governance and the open-source framework will make it a true public utility layer,” said Dror Gurevich, CEO of Velocity Career Labs. “This is why we are calling it the ‘Internet of Careers.’ It sets Velocity apart from others in this space and attracts many others to join, driving the supply and demand flywheel.”
Meanwhile, for hirers, the platform will work as a trusted source of information. Blockchain will speed up the employee verification process and prevent them from providing fake credentials. A Careerbuilder survey found that 75% of HR managers have found lies on resumes.
Additionally, the network will help organizations identify, develop, and deploy their talent for specific job roles. For example, an organization can use tokens to pay for additional resumes to fill up the required positions.
“Unlike closed networks that others are pursuing, together, we can create and govern a universal network built on extensive workforce insights that allows for ethical transactions and transparency,” said Mark Goldin, CTO of Cornerstone.
The full list of founders of the Velocity Network Foundation includes — Aon’s Assessment Solutions, Cisive, HireRight, Korn Ferry, National Student Clearinghouse, Randstad, SAP, SumTotal Systems, SHL, Ultimate Software, Unit4, Upwork, Velocity Career Labs and ZipRecruiter.
National Student Clearinghouse
In the U.S., the National Student Clearinghouse is also one of the members. The NGO has 3,600 participating colleges and universities, covering 99% of college students and provides a centralized database with education records.
In a statement, the Clearinghouse said: “Our reliable and authenticated verifications provide our clients with confidence that candidates possess the current degrees and certifications to perform their jobs. The security of blockchain technology will help us to further assure our clients that the data is valid and correct.”
At the same time, it was keen to emphasize that no Clearinghouse data would be used during the evaluation process.
Blockchain credentialing
Blockchain credentialing is a popular use case in the human resource management industry. HR software developer Workday has launched a beta of its credentialing platform. Recently, its CEO Aneel Bhusri reiterated the importance of blockchain for credential verification.
Meanwhile, PwC has launched a blockchain credentialing platform. Another application is for verification of foreign nurses who are applying for work in the U.S. It’s also being trialed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to create and verify the digital identities of importers and detect import frauds.
MD-Staff has integrated a blockchain solution to verify the details of health professionals, one of several health-oriented solutions.
