Coinbase made it a lot harder to get its $400k+ jobs but no one cares
Coinbase, the listed crypto exchange founded by the multibillionaire Brian Armstrong who is seemingly no longer committed to giving most of his money to charity, has long paid well and been difficult to get into.
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Last time we looked, Coinbase was paying its 3,400 employees an average of $424k each and receiving 30,000 applications for an internship program of indeterminate size.
With metrics like these, the company seems to have decided that it could afford to be choosy. In a blog post today, chief people officer LJ Brock says Coinbase introduced some "structured assessments" for its candidates to undertake soon after they apply.
Instead of dissuading applicants, this appears to have fuelled the fire.
Brock says Coinbase hired 500 people in the first half of 2024 and received 500,000 applications. That's an acceptance rate of 0.1%.
The assessments sound arduous to the extent that candidates are given two weeks to complete them, but this doesn't appear to have dissuaded anyone either: Brock says 63% of candidates complete them in three days and over 80% do so before the two weeks are up.
Candidates have been known to complain bitterly about the time-suck of pre-interview assessments, but Brock is unapologetic. If you're prepared to "invest the effort into these assessments" you're obviously interested in working for Coinbase and aligned to the firm, says Brock.
Whinging is not part of the Coinbase culture: in a current advert for an execution services trader, Coinbase says one of the required qualities is "positive energy": "You’re optimistic about the future and determined to get there." This includes a willingness to commit long hours to complex assessments before you even get anywhere near an interview.
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