How an Anonymous Platform Might Actually Provide Greater Access to Talent

Blind has over 2 million registered, verified, anonymous users in the US - most of them software engineers in some of the most valuable companies, roles, and teams in tech.  We’ve seen a rise in usage with over 70% growth in 2021 - so what’s driving that adoption?

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We believe that:

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1. Employees are “consumers” - as they consider, evaluate and “buy” company employment.

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2. Consumers tend to follow a predictable consumer journey  - not unlike the employee lifecycle. 

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3. Technology, social-media, and peer-to-peer feedback platforms revolutionized consumer decision making for goods and services.

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4. These consumer trends are now being adopted by job-seekers as employees / employers work to increase transparency

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HR teams often function as B2B service providers - partnering across internal policies, departments, and problems to effectively and efficiently allow a company to function. However, our employees operate in a more B2C model - their behaviors are governed by seeking value, soliciting deals, demanding truth in advertising, and often distrustful of corporate messaging when they feel “sold” to. 

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Below is McKinsey’s Consumer Decision Journey, serving as one of the primary methodologies of consumer behavior in the US.  Here, we can map the stages of a “consumer” journey directly against “employee” terminology.  You can see we have a lot in common - only -this journey was published in the mid-2000s. Advancements in technology, adoption of social-media, and peer-to-peer consumer behavior revolutionized corporate consumerism.  But as corporate employers - we were largely unaffected.  Until now.

Consider-> (CareerNeeds) Evaluate  -> (Interview)

Buy -> (Join / Hire)

Experience -> (Onboard)

Advocate-> (Grow /Retain)

Bond  -> (Internal Mobility)

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The rapid changes we saw affect consumer purchases in Hospitality (TripAdvisor), Food / Beverage (Yelp), Consumer Packaged Good (Reddit), Media (Twitter), Product Reviews (YouTube) and a host of other platforms sharing and comparing pre / post purchase experiences were helping “us” to make better decisions.   It was a departure from downloading a brochure, visiting a web-page, or reading packaged labels and ads.   It was a disruptive force that allowed more authenticity, honesty, and transparency between brands and people. 

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We believe that Blind provides employers and HR teams an edge to see inside of our own “consumer” decision journey.  Mapping the key points and decisions employees make during that process.  Ex. What benefits are out there?  Am I being paid fairly?  What’s the culture like at a competitor?  Are others experiencing RTO (return to office) bumps like I am?  Where do I turn to advance internally? What are the best ways to balance work / life?

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Ex. “Evaluation” stage

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The anonymity of our platform provides freedom from retaliation, protection from peers, and a reprieve of pressure from leadership above and employees below.  It also creates trust - manifesting in authentic dialog,  weighing options, and soliciting peers.   The verification process of creating a blind account (and patented one-way hashing) preserves community anonymity, yet associates them to a company of record - defining a confirmed “purchase” experience.

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Inside of HR, and across key business functions - we see employers, managers, and leaders using Blind’s anonymous, verified platform to help supplement and inform how they react to (and with) employees in real-time.  We’ll focus this post on Talent & Recruiting, but have partnered with Troop to provide more hands-on training in the coming months. (Download the app and create an account on Blind to get started for free.)

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Here are 5 tips that can support your Talent & Recruiting needs:

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1. Recruiters work hard to understand the talent pipeline - however, communication can often be a challenge.  Blind can help arm recruiters (daily / weekly) with up to date information on what is trending across the tech industry, how it’s being perceived,  if it is affecting your industry or company, and “translating” with engineering talent.

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“Blind helps me prepare for talent screenings…often the questions I get are directly from what they saw being discussed on Blind” ~Recruiting Lead

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2. Strength of offer is a key battleground for top tech talent.  Searching on Blind for “Offer Comparison” will provide hundreds of real-life examples.   Sort through top offer-based conversation and commentary or for competitive insight, search “Offer + CompanyX” - providing you with details, polls, and commentary on how the Blind community is making decisions.

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“I use Blind to benchmark internally with our comp / benefits team to present our best offer to candidates. When I reference the same information that they (candidate) have - it creates trust and eases negotiations” ~Sr. Technical Recruiter

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3. As the US economy slows, many companies are experiencing layoffs. Some of the larger (FAANG+) companies who usually gobble up candidates , are actually letting go of top-tech talent.  Check Blinds “Layoff” channel, or search on Blind for “layoff” conversations that may identify leads for hard to fill positions.

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“Honestly, most of my LinkedIn posts are NEVER replied to, if they (candidate) have a profile at all.  I’ve used Blind to DM hard to find talent - often impressed that I’m out here looking for them” ~Technical Sourcer

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4. The tech industry is constantly changing.  Monitoring shifts in employee perceptions can help inform / adjust your Talent Acquisition strategy, and Employer Brand.  Recently we’ve seen a shift between startups (seen as high reward) losing ground to some more established companies (seen as boring) as the economy absorbs more risk.  

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“Verbatims from Blind literally made the difference in closing a candidate as we shifted our focus from crypto-first, to showcasing a breadth of more stable financial vehicles inside our product roadmap” ~Eng Manager

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5. Perceptions about your company, product, or potential can differ wildly depending on what access people have to real information.  On Blind, we often see current employees defending or explaining a position, seeking to inform or disarm an “external” perception that might be over-played.  Understanding those differences allow you to talk to outsiders (and close them) with an insider perspective. 

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“We were convinced that an internal org-shift was driving negative perception, but no one really cared.  They wanted to know if our teams were still committed to our mission (and why)." ~TA Lead

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For more on key employment trends / content we see on Blind - Troop Members can attend our upcoming :30 session on 11/3/2022 and for more HR functional pro-tips on Blind - join our :60 session on 1/25/2022 for a live demonstration on how best to use the platform.

👋 For additional help with technical recruiting - Blind is offering TroopHR Member companies 10% placement fees (compared to the industry standard 20-25%) for the rest of the year in 2022 to help companies ride out the recession. To learn more, contact Talent By Blind.

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