Job.com, a job-seeking service that claims 60 million users, has announced the transition of its platform to be entirely blockchain-based with the mission of eliminating middlemen recruiters from the hiring process. The new platform is set to launch in the spring of 2018.

According to Job.com co-founder Paul Sloyan, the recruitment industry has been ripe for innovation for a number of years. He believes that blockchain technology has the potential to solve the current inefficiencies in the hiring process.

“The last time the recruitment industry saw innovation was at the advent of the Internet and it has been ripe for disruption for some time. With the current model, candidates and companies are spammed with fake listings, strung along by commission-driven recruiters, or inundated by irrelevant applications,” Sloyan said.

“Coupling blockchain with our existing job matching technology enables a much needed shift, allowing us to remove recruiters from the equation entirely and focus on the only two parties in the hiring process that actually matter – the hirer and the jobseeker.”

The platform will allow the typical 20% fees charged for the recruitment process to be reduced to only 6% paid by the hirer for employing a candidate, the company says. 80% of that fee will be redistributed to the successful hire as a signing bonus.

For companies, the platform will allow employers to create curated shortlists of relevant candidates, negotiate benefits through smart contracts and execute the hire.

For candidates, the platform promises increased privacy and control over their data such as contact information, experience, skills and qualifications, in addition to the guarantee that their resume will not be sold to third parties without their consent.

“When the recruitment industry first started decades ago, the purpose of the job recruiter was to match businesses and candidates in a manner that was a fit for both parties. Somewhere down the line, recruiters realized that there was more money to be made by taking the process hostage, charging commissions, and selling candidate’s data from the process,” said Arran Stewart, co-founder of Job.com.

“We are looking to displace these entrenched recruitment agencies because they have deviated from their intended purpose and are hurting the ability of hard working job seekers to find jobs, and for companies to find qualified talent cost-effectively. “Job.com will make the hiring process more secure and rewarding for candidates, and cheaper and easier for companies to find the best talent, period.”

During the application process, the candidate’s personal information will be kept entirely private until further details are required for hirer and candidate to make contact.

Following a successful interview, negotiations around the candidate’s hire will be conducted and recorded on the Job.com blockchain ledger through smart contracts, and once a candidate reaches the agreed probation period, they will receive a signing bonus from the company.