Bear market didn't stop crypto firms from hiring, says recruitment exec

Published at: Oct. 7, 2022

With crypto companies like Coinbase announcing layoffs earlier this year, it seemed like there were little to no opportunities within the blockchain space during the bear market. However, an executive in a crypto-focused recruitment firm believes that this is not the case.

At the recent Blockchain Economy Summit Dubai 2022, Clayton Pullum, co-founder and director of Satoshi Solutions, spoke to Cointelegraph and shared insights about the current state of hiring within the crypto space.

According to Pullum, the hiring situation today is very different from the recruitment conditions back in the bull market. The executive described the previous bull runs as a time when companies were “hiring like crazy” and were offering developers $500,000 to $700,000 in salaries. However, the recruitment firm director said that this isn’t the case anymore. He said that what they’ve seen in their own accounts is that hiring managers have put more emphasis on strategy. He said:

“Those who were more secure in their funding had a more strategic plan in place. That doesn't mean hiring stops. It's just become more sensible. [...] They've slowed it down a little bit. And to be honest, I think it's really positive going forward.”

Apart from this, the executive also witnessed more diversity when it comes to the roles that crypto firms have been looking for. “We've also seen over the last year two years that the diversity in the roles has dramatically increased,” said Pullum. He said that the roles went from just developers to including marketing specialists, analysts, compliance and legal staff.

Despite the progress in the careers landscape of crypto, the executive noted that there’s still room for improvement. Pullum mentioned that when it comes to internship offerings and entry-level positions, the crypto space still lags behind other spaces like traditional finance. He explained:

“If you look at traditional finance, banking, insurance, you're looking at an average rate of 44% of entrance grade positions available at any one time. So that's internships, that's entry-level positions. In crypto, you're looking at 4%.”

The executive believes that the space should lower the barrier to entry and that this can be done by offering more internships to welcome and nurture new talent within the crypto industry.

Pullum also shared his belief that moving forward, there will be more developments in the space and more talent will be required. Pullum explained that companies with strong products will be able to weather the crypto winter and come out on top. "We've seen all the companies that came out of the 2017–2018 crypto winter, and I'm sure that we're going to have the same going from 2022,” he said.