Trends in Crypto recruitment heading into 2022:
We are living in an age of transformation. From NFT to Web3, the world we know is changing rapidly. Whether we like it or not, in the next 10 years we will see huge implications in terms of how we finance, interact with people and carry out day-to-day activities. In such evolving landscapes, hiring has been and will always be a challenge for many Crypto organisations. As our world transforms, the way we look at talent also needs a fresh pair of eyes.
Global Crypto staffing challenges in 2021:
Crypto is still a relatively small community of people, but a huge number of new crypto/blockchain/DeFi/ NFT/ Web3 companies surfaced in 2021. With a growing number of companies venturing into this industry, we have seen a significant shortage of talent across pretty much every role crypto firms typically hire for. We are exclusive partners for many of our clients globally and have first-hand experience of this. Marketing teams within Crypto companies are exploding – and talent is being spread increasingly thin. There is simply not enough Crypto-experienced candidates out there to meet global demand. From Software Development to Marketing and even at C-level, companies seeking Crypto-experienced candidates have been struggling to attract the right talent without a clear objective. Competition for talent is continuously increasing. Yet we often see companies struggle to maintain a consistent message throughout the labour market. Clearly defined objectives and a strong employer brand has become critical to winning the talent war. There are simply too many jobs available to candidates with Crypto experience right now. So designing a robust staff retention strategy has also been challenging. Many Crypto companies without a clear staff retention plan have experienced high staff turnover. And that hasn’t been helped by undefined and messy recruitment and selection processes that make hiring the right talent for the right role, difficult.
How Crypto companies can overcome talent shortages and retention:
As we are seeing more and more companies emerge in Crypto, how can companies overcome staff shortages, hire the right talent, and retain that talent? At WorkInCrypto.Global, we help candidates understand Crypto from a recruitment and career perspective, as well as give them the knowledge they need to understand Crypto. Over the past year, as specialist headhunters globally for Crypto firms, we have put countless candidates in marketing, sales, software development, legal and ops roles in crypto companies, by identifying and maturing talent. We also work with companies to understand how we can identify those without Crypto experience, but with skills and experience that lends themselves well to the industry. We work with founders, HR Directors, and C-level executives to design job specifications based on the requirements, stress test those requirements, and design recruitment and selection plans for hiring managers. We even help to hire managers to be the best at their jobs through a variety of training programs.
Retention of staff is perhaps the most important subject in HR and Recruitment right now. We help companies put the right retention plans in place and provide a continuous channel of communication appraisal for both the employee and the employer. This in turn helps with staff retention. We advise founders on employer branding and the latest trends in Crypto and recruitment via social media and other mediums. We also help C-level executives to stay current in the market; helping them to understand what candidates expect beyond good salaries.
You’ve got to look at talent in a whole new way:
Crypto is a fairly new industry and as a consequence, the talent is also new. Therefore, we advise companies to consider each applicant for their personality, talent, and other characteristics that could make a good employee. To win the war on talent, you need to give secondary importance to the “years of experience” one has but rather consider each individual for who they are.
Other things to consider in 2022: Finding candidates who “believe”
You’d be surprised how many candidates even today refuse to work in Crypto! Previously I talked about how WorkInCrypto.Global has helped countless candidates with no Crypto experience to find jobs in Crypto. We have a process built on years of experience to get to the point where we actually recommend such candidates to clients – and that provides huge value to Crypto firms. Let’s take a look at marketing as an example. An astonishing 75% of candidates we speak to within this field do not want to work in Crypto. That’s huge considering the amount of time we spend weeding out candidates like that. The other 25% are true believers in Crypto and can see how Crypto can advance their careers. Every company should allocate enough resources to identify the true believers – in addition to attracting candidates without Crypto experience and training them up.
Turning hobby to career: NFT
I am connected to some very big names in NFT and I see so many changes happening in the market right now. Whilst hiring needs in NFT are considerably low compared to DeFi, this is an area that requires very specialised Crypto talent. In the next couple of years, we will see thousands of NFT projects emerge – and far more advanced than what we’re currently seeing. NFT projects will continue to diversify, meaning these companies will be hiring at scale. So there is only going to be more competition for talent.
Everyone is hiring, so who takes the best talent and why?
Do the biggest names in Crypto takes the best talent because they have a bigger budget? In 2021, we saw that a large proportion of candidates had a preference to work for startups with real, bold objectives. Mostly on the tech side, candidates prefer to work for early-stage startups run by visionary leaders. For startups, that means it’s incredibly important to convey their overall mission and objectives when they interview candidates (I will address this more in another session, or PM me if you’d like advice sooner).
We also found the top three skills in demand for Crypto firms to be:
- Marketing: social, community, PR, content, and marketing managers
- Product Management
- Software Development
Hopefully, you have read how we’ve helped a number of startups and billion dollars hedge funds to build crypto teams. If you are someone who wants to join our exclusive club, then please email me at w@workincrypto.global or sign up for our newsletter
