Looking for work used to involve an exhaustive commute and a lot of awkward in-person interviews. At best it meant applying for jobs on LinkedIn while trying to stuff enough keywords into your resume in hopes of triggering the algorithm so that it might be seen by a real human being. Fast forward to today and we are at the dawn of a new era. Employment by design of your own digital identity and unlimited opportunities for remote work.
In 2019 just 4% of the people employed in the U.S worked exclusively from home. Now remote jobs are becoming the norm. According to Forbes and the data scientists over at Ladder, 25% of all professional jobs in North America will be remote by 2022, and remote opportunities will continue to increase through 2023.
The shift to remote work isn’t the only thing that’s evolving. The next stage of the Internet is here and it is going to change the way you learn, look for work and ultimately get hired. Honestly, it’s going to change a lot of things.
First off, what the heck is Web3? It combines the Internet of things, blockchain technology and token-based economics. With this technology, users will have more ownership over their content and their data. It will allow for things like proof of identity and proof of ownership, and that’s precisely what will shift the game for landing your dream job and proving you’ve got the skills to pay the bills.
In short, your digital identity will be tied to everything you do online and you’ll have direct ownership over all of it.
“You’ll be able to prove everything with an NFT. What events you’ve attended, what education you have, gone are the days when you can fabricate your resume,” said Sandy Carter, SVP of Unstoppable Domains.Everything you do will be tied to your digital identity.”
Now when someone takes a class and earns a certificate of completion it will be verified on the blockchain using a cryptographic hash code.The old “fake it til’ you make it” trick will have to be traded in for actually doing the work. NFT marketplaces like OpeanSea and Rarible already have NFT resumes up for sale.
Currently anyone can upload a copy of their resume to a marketplace and create an NFT with their no code systems. Basically, without all of the technicalities, it creates a smart contract for you. A smart contract is a set of rules or self-executing laws that are written in code.
In order to access your resume someone will have to purchase your NFT. You’re probably asking yourself, why would someone pay to see my work history?
Recruiters pay to find great candidates and use tools like LinkedIn premium. Both internal recruiters and headhunters pay these companies (Indeed, Zip Recruiter, Monster) thousands per month to be able to access your information and find you. Companies pay external headhunters 20-35% of the first-year salary to find great talent, internal recruiters are paid good wages (many of them six figures) to help great candidates get in the door, according to Benjamin Mena the Managing Partner of Select Source Solutions.
If recruiters are already paying large companies to source resumes and talent, why wouldn’t they pay to view your resume and portfolio? Web3 is all about ownership for the individual. If you own your resume on the blockchain you could earn tokens every time someone reads it, and if you’re out there hitting the digital pavement every week, why not get paid for it?
Your resume won’t be the only thing entering the future. The metaverse has become something of a buzzword over the past year but we can’t deny lots is happening over in the digital ether. Instead of sitting across from someone in-person as they watch you hyperventilate, you can now enjoy being professionally interrogated from the comfort of your own home in a virtual-reality office.
Web3 native communities have been hanging out in the metaverse for months now in worlds like Voxels and Frame. Even if you don’t yet have a headset you can still meet, communicate, and collaborate with your friends and team members in a virtual world.Theo Priestley, a self-proclaimed recovering futurist, touched on the speculation that GDP in the metaverse will soon outpace its real world counterpart.
“You can see that happening with the speed of transactions. There’s something like $150 billion spent on in-game assets alone,” said Theo Prisetley, the CEO of Metanomics about the new creator economy in Web3. “People buying skins in fortnight and extra weapons in counter strike, and things like that. That is the new creator economy and there’s a lot of money in it already.”
But the metaverse isn’t just for gaming. With more businesses and brands jumping into the space it won’t be long before you’re invited to something a little more personal than just a Zoom call. You’ll be able to meet your next hiring manager in the jungle, dressed as a custom avatar. The only limit in the metaverse is your imagination.
The easiest way to find a new gig is to know someone at the company, right? One of the main differences of Web3 is the emphasis on community over audience. It’s no longer just about having a bunch of people watch your content or follow you on social media, it’s about bringing a group of people together over a common goal. Companies and influencers both need to foster a sense of belonging.
When it comes to job searching the niche communities that have formed over the past few years in the NFT space offer valuable opportunities to get hired. Many of the earliest NFT projects found success because of the value they brought to their members through educational incentives, coaching, tokenization, and networking. Just by holding a certain NFT in your wallet you automatically became like family to a group of people who would be willing to help you with just about anything.
The new way to network is through community. Take BFF for example, they have a thriving Discord and a rock-solid community full of members willing to assist each other. They even have different channels for marketers, developers, and creatives to share knowledge, ask questions, and help each other through the ups and downs of web3. By joining a community that is geared towards your career or area of interest, you’ll be able to network and gather the right resources to land your dream job.
In the not-so-distant future we’ll see a wave of 3D websites and NFT portfolios. There will be less of a disconnect while video chatting, you know when you end up just staring at yourself the whole time instead of looking at the person? Yea, there will be less of that and more of an actual connection. Recruiters will look for verifiable on-chain proof that you have the credentials you say you do, and more public schools will begin to hand out diplomas through blockchain technology.
As humans adapt to working with evolving technologies our careers will inevitably grow and twist around them like vines taking shape around a tree. We don’t need to fear technological advancement so much as we need to learn the best way to use it to our advantage. Like the amazing tool that it is, web3 will change the way we get hired leaving some sour and some sweet about the ownership and control individuals obtain through the blockchain.
Carlee is a writer and community manager working in the web3 space. She enjoys writing about technology and human behavior.
