How Businesses Can Win the War for Crypto Talent

Creating a company in the United States crypto market is no easy task. To fulfill general licensing demands, you need to adhere to regulations like carrying out KYC, steadily monitoring your business’ transactions through a trading program, and registering a separate legal entity to ensure clean corporate compliance. Then there’s a prerequisite that isn’t entirely under your control: hiring competent staff. In today’s crypto industry, that’s easier said than done. TechCrunch cites research that shows the US’s share of blockchain developers has fallen 2% per year in the last five years, dwindling the crypto talent pool available to recruiters.

Although getting qualified tech professionals for your company can be difficult, it isn’t impossible. Here’s how businesses can still win the war for crypto talent.

Leverage job network sites

Sometimes, the true difficulty with hiring great crypto talent is that qualified candidates aren’t aware you have openings available. To avoid this, ensure you share job posts across several network sites. You’ll want to cover dedicated cryptocurrency job boards, like Crypto Jobs List and Crypto Careers. However, don’t be afraid to post on more general job platforms—that way, you can also reach the people with the competencies you need and might want to pivot their careers to crypto. Some platforms even have helpful features that can aid you in reaching your preferred candidates. LinkedIn’s recruitment tools, for example, allow you to post adverts to active jobseekers who match your requirements. You can even use them to proactively headhunt more passive but qualified candidates by sorting through their detailed profiles and messaging them directly. The platform also offers advanced search features that you can use to find individuals with specific crypto proficiencies. Overall, posting employment opportunities on multiple job network sites is a good practice.

Use a professional talent pipeline

Casting a wide net can grant you more candidates, but you must still wade through countless applicants to pick out the quality crypto talents you’re looking for. You can streamline the process by using a professional talent pipeline to screen a final shortlist of professionals that best match your available roles. This recruitment solution even comes in a form that’s specifically designed to attract tech and crypto talent, thereby minimizing your company’s time-to-hire and recruitment costs. Take LHH and General Assembly’s Recruit-Train-Deploy pipeline, which helps you attain a stronger and more diverse employee base while creating new pathways into resilient roles for aspiring tech workers. Using such services means you can hire competent crypto candidates on a 12-18 month contract basis, with the choice to hire them permanently afterward. That ultimately makes talent pipelines a great option if you want an optimized method for recruiting crypto experts.

Create an employee referral program

According to research cited by a 2022 Exponent article, 40% of new hires for tech companies come from recommendations. Keep that statistic in mind when finding recruits for your cryptocurrency positions. The crypto professionals you already employ likely know a few other people with similar qualifications. You can encourage them to onboard these individuals through a referral program with attractive rewards. Consider offering cash rewards, coupons, or discounts. An interesting example is the financial company Robinhood, which proffers company shares in exchange for referrals. You might want to do something similar with your cryptocurrency products.

Develop an apprenticeship initiative

You can give your crypto company an edge in recruiting upcoming talent by partnering with universities to let students explore careers in your industry. While those students investigate their crypto career prospects, you can expose them to the benefits of working for your company and grant gifted students the chance to be hired after graduation. The tech platform Helios Consulting exemplifies this, collaborating with Carleton College to provide training, mentorship, and support via an apprenticeship program. With a similar strategy, you can create valuable connections between your workforce and higher education that might translate to hires later on.

Hiring crypto talent can be difficult in today’s milieu. Apply the above strategies, however, and you’ll be able to set up an excellent team for your cryptocurrency company.