[11] The Workplace in Web 3

Dear Readers,

Hope you had a great weekend! Where are the April Showers?

We had an interesting chat this week in the writer’s room on the idea of the “workplace”. It’s changed so much in the last few years with it being at home for many of us.

That got us thinking, with sectors like Web 3 that are more global and digital in nature … what does the “workplace” in Web 3 look like? We explore this in today’s essay.

Check out: Life in Color Twitter for summary threads of our our pieces there. 🧵🪡

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Thanks for the continued support!

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The traditional interview process ✌️✌️✌️

Covid lockdowns forced many of us to rethink what’s important.

With downtime and self-reflection, we realized we weren’t satisfied. We deserved better. So, many of us transitioned jobs (“The Great Resignation”).

But job hunting today is stressful. It looks something like this.

Once you’ve passed the initial screening hurdle, you’re then in multiple rounds of interviews, behavioral panels, personality tests, cases…

Waiting around for the call … Endless waiting …

And let’s not even talk about the inefficiencies of this process … all the recruiter ghosting, matching the right candidates with the right jobs … the list goes on and on.

This process sucks.

If you get the interview, it means you’ve “passed” the test on paper (i.e. “passed” their initial screen for outward signs of success like GPA, college stamp of approval, prior work experience match).

Arbitrary boxes this company is looking for = checked. ✅ ✅ ✅

Now the real fun begins. You get to bring your “A” game to convince these people that you don’t just “fit” on paper. You also fit IRL.

Interview Performance does not equal On-The-Job Performance ❎ / ✅

Let’s be real though: hiring is a crapshoot.

Employers don’t really know what you’ll be like until they’re working side-by-side with you. Until then, they’re really only judging you with some predefined yardstick.

And because they can’t really tell what someone will be like in the office, they look for ways to simplify and make assumptions.

For example, our society indexes heavily on grades and pedigree (like degrees … which are one of the OG NFTs… but more on that later); we care about the “brand” on someone’s resume. Much like stereotyping others, we look for shortcuts to measure someone’s ability.

Maybe there’s even a test or presentation to prove yourself. These do a slightly better job of simulating one’s habits at the office. But interviewers still can’t tell from this what you’d be like day-to-day, how you’ll work with your future coworkers, how you handle stress under pressure … still many unknowns.

Is this type interview process even relevant anymore?

Is there a better way? 

The evolving workplace 🎠 🎡 🎠

Jobs of the future will look very different. That means the interview process needs to evolve.

Let’s start by envisioning what jobs of the future look like, by looking at the trends already taking place:

• A remote work environment can indeed be productive; many employees like this flexible model

• The half life of knowledge is shortening; what you learn today may not be that relevant months from now; we need more agility

• Existing cultures are forming new cultures by mixing and colliding; we should explore

Burningglass Institute recently published an article on employers starting to favor skills-based hiring, rather than degree-based. 

For example, IBM announced last year that they’d dropped their Bachelor’s degree requirement for over 50% of U.S. job postings.

This is a huge shift in the way our economy works.

New jobs will become available to those who formerly couldn’t get a college education. 

We hope with this, we’ll also see more representation and diversity in the workforce, as today Black and LatinX communities are less likely to have Bachelor’s degrees than their non-Hispanic white and Asian peers.

And when it comes to skills, it won’t matter where they were acquired.

You either have them or you don’t. 

The work should speak for itself.

Ideally we measure based on quality of output (minus bias signals). 

And for most people, this is a good thing (unless you or your existing system cares about optics, of course).

There are a lot of sectors where this change is taking place.

But we think Web 3 exhibits these changes the strongest.

🕸 3️⃣

The Workplace in Web 3

What is the workplace in Web 3 like?

A key pillar of the Web 3 ethos is collaboration: across teams, projects, endeavors. 

This collaboration will require soft skills that a Bachelor’s degree can’t confer. The Web 3 economy is heavily skills-based. Demonstrating those skills, in order to obtain the job, is the name of the game. Less so where you went to school.

Because of the need to demonstrate certain skills, the traditional resume won’t matter (as much) anymore. Instead, employers will check out your Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, Discord, your portfolio to get a better indicator of who you are and your capabilities.

The hiring process will be shorter. Gone are the days of tedious interview rounds to test for certain (rehearsed) skills in a presentation.

Maintaining your digital footprint is … well … putting your best foot forward. You don’t bring your A game to five different interviews, you show potential employers on a daily basis what working with you is like through content creation and an active online presence: your output, your energy, your skills.

Showing up every day becomes a superpower.

All of this can (and should) make the interview process more democratic (if we don’t screw it up). Great work is rewarded for the sake of great work, which we can all hopefully acknowledge exists independent of pedigree.

Jobs will be more project-based. Employers need to be in an “always-on” hiring mode and hiring for a specific project. Remember, Web 3 runs on Lego Blocks so you can break things down to smaller units and hire with that in mind.

Employees will demand more flexibility. They’ll work across projects and across platforms.

Some / many of us in Web 3 will NOT dedicate all our time and focus to just one company.

Simply put … in Web 3: If you can deliver, you’ll get rewarded; if you cannot deliver, you will not get rewarded.

NOT saying there won’t be biases or (structural) problems. There definitely will. It’s still early.

But because most things in Web 3 today are an experiment ... how the workforce organizes and what “work” looks like will also evolve.

And it’ll always land somewhere in-between …

What is all of this implying about Web 3?

In Web 3, DO-ers (those who have a bias: for action, for building, for creating, for connecting) are highly prized and valued.

Anyone can be a DO-er today (regardless of your resume or pedigree).

Many of these DO-ers are probably overlooked in their current systems.

The Web 3 workplace is for them: those who do good work and just want to get their job done (and done well).

Those who see change as a normal thing.

If the Web 3 workplace is able and willing (see: Can vs will) to give the DO-ers what they want / need and reward them for their contribution …

What is wrong with that?

🫂 💛 🤗