[Forbes] Human Resources Giant Randstad Looks To Blockchain And Google Cloud For Talent Matching
Tags: HR, Google, Press Release, Blockchain, Enterprise

[Forbes] Human Resources Giant Randstad Looks To Blockchain And Google Cloud For Talent Matching Cypherium Follow Mar 12 · 3 min read

Dutch multinational human resource consulting company Randstad NV office is seen in Gdynia, … [+]NurPhoto via Getty Images

The world’s largest human resources firm, Randstad, has its eyes set on making the matching of talent with recruiters a little bit easier by using a combination of the Cypherium blockchain and Google Cloud for corporate needs.

Human resources are one area that has long been bogged down by bureaucratic processes and is in desperate need of freshening up. To this end, the Netherlands-based firm has said it believes the blockchain is one answer to streamlining and automating the bureaucratic tasks associated with workforce recruitment.

The hope is that the technology can be utilized to handle the “nuts and bolts” of day-to-day recruitment activities, making the entire process more efficient. Randstad has identified the privacy-preserving power of blockchain technology and sees this as a means to keep customers’ personal details secure and safe, but it also allows for the verification of academic and professional qualifications, as well as birth dates, addresses and IDs, of prospective talent.

By breaking down the bureaucratic walls, and ensuring qualification verification while maintaining privacy, the greater implications of this pilot will allow Randstad to match talent with companies that are seeking immediate role fulfilment, such as in a medical emergency, or disease outbreak.

Secure, verified data

This initiative by the human resources company is reminiscent of another role that has long been identified as a possible one for blockchain technology — digital identity. The issue with identity is maintaining privacy while allowing access wi needed pieces of information on a personal and private level.

Now, when it comes to job seekers, the same can be said as information is required by recruiters and corporations, but privacy is also needed for the job-seekers. Cypherium CEO Sky Guo told CoinDesk that clients did not have to store all the data centrally using the network and could employ a database extractor to preserve their privacy.

“If a job candidate wants to prove that he has the grades and diploma, what they need to do is provide the hash of the diploma and the employer can verify that hash with the hash of the university,” Guo said.

Additional support from Google cloud

While leveraging blockchain provides a lot of secure and verified data in a way that has not been possible before, the additional usage of Google Cloud allows the company to monitor and build its human resource platform without the need to maintain and manage its own cloud system.

Global collaboration manager at Randstad Frank van der Bijl said that a blend of Google Cloud’s services and the Cypherium blockchain provide the company with a faster and easier way to verify and match appropriate workforce talent.

“Google Cloud and G Suite already free us from some manual verification tasks, and we plan to use Cypherium’s blockchain to hand off even more,” Bijl said.