PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP is experimenting with using blockchain technology to validate a job candidate’s credentials, with the goal of speeding up the vetting process.

The pilot project is an example of how emerging technologies including blockchain and artificial intelligence have the potential to transform human resources.

“Global brands are struggling to identify, attract and retain talent. One of the real pain-points is around the ability to validate [a candidate’s] credentials,” said Seamus Cushley, director of a 25-person PwC team in the U.K. that helps global companies understand and apply blockchain.

Seamus Cushley Photo: PwC

If the technology becomes widely used, staffers won’t have to verify a candidate’s credentials by calling universities and previous employers, which can sometimes take weeks, Mr. Cushley said. The challenge, though, will be getting enough schools and companies on board to make blockchain truly valuable for validating credentials, he said.

Blockchain is the technology best known as the record-keeping system behind cryptocurrencies. While it is used in financial services and retail, blockchain is still low on the emerging-technology priority list for chief information officers. About 11% of CIOs said they plan to deploy or have already deployed blockchain in their organizations within the next year, according to a 2019 survey by technology research firm Gartner Inc. More than 3,100 CIOs from 89 countries and across major industries responded to the survey, representing $284 billion in IT spending.

Blockchain is a decentralized way to keep records that is shared among participants and that can’t be changed. A blockchain ledger allows participants to add blocks of information after each party runs algorithms to evaluate a proposed transaction.

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If the parties agree that the transaction looks valid—identifying information matches the blockchain’s history and follows the rules created by the participants—then it will be approved, time-stamped and added to the chain. The data, encrypted and unchangeable, is always up to date on all participants’ systems.

Mr. Cushley’s team developed a blockchain-based “Smart Credentials” project late last year that is in testing with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland, which has more than 21,000 chartered accountant members world-wide.

The institute can access the blockchain through a website or mobile app, adding to a block on the chain a digital certificate proving the person in question is a chartered accountant, Mr. Cushley said. An accountant applying for a job could grant the employer access to a specific credential on the blockchain. The accountant can also limit the employer’s access to a certain amount of time. The data on the blockchain can’t be updated, but an additional transaction could be added to amend or correct a previous entry, akin to double-entry book-keeping, Mr. Cushley said.

“Issuing a credential on a blockchain provides proof of when, where and by whom that credential was issued and can’t be changed, unlike a photo of someone’s certificate which could quite easily be digitally altered,” Mr. Cushley said.

The blockchain is private, meaning there are controls in place around who has access to it and all the data it holds.

Although the project is in the early stages, other executives are also thinking about how blockchain, combined with artificial intelligence, could be applied in human resources.

Blockchain could ensure that a candidate’s job history is vetted, and an AI system could find and offer jobs to the right candidates without needing them to apply first, said Amy Wright, managing partner of IBM Talent & Transformation, in a previous interview with CIO Journal.

Write to Sara Castellanos at sara.castellanos@wsj.com