Hiring Is Hard, Anon. Say Hello to Community Referrals

Boosting the Web3 revolution with community recruitment

Hiring the right talent has always been a complex task, regardless of the industry.

Assembling competent teams can make or break your organization, making hiring one of the most nerve-wracking aspects of any venture.

The Web3 landscape adds unique challenges to hiring the right team, including:

Restricted pool of crypto-proficient talent

Even before the advent of crypto, roles such as developers and data scientists were considered a rare find. As Web3 is still maturing, the demand for blockchain developers is escalating.

Web3 recruiters, unfortunately, confront a restricted talent pool: individuals possessing diverse skills yet having a basic understanding of Web3.

Whether they're designers, content creators, community managers, or marketers, proficiency in their respective skills isn't enough—they must also be crypto-savvy.

Contributors are a selective bunch

Web3 embodies the spirit of personal sovereignty and worker empowerment. This means that contributors are likely to scrutinize the organization's culture, values, and mission they're contributing to, over and above the remuneration package.

Maintaining a single job in Web3 is increasingly seen as outdated, which can make it difficult for contributors to devote their full potential to your venture.

LinkedIn is not home to Web3-native talent

LinkedIn is an effective tool for filtering profiles by expertise and making contact.

However, it’s passive. YOU have to put in the effort to identify suitable candidates, then reach out to each one individually, potentially tailoring your message to pitch your organization.

LinkedIn does well as a CV repository, but it fails to truly tap into the hidden networks and connections within the Web3 community. That's because native Web3 talent isn't there anymore. It's now on platforms like Discord, Twitter, hackathons, and events.

The consequence? Lost chances to pair the right job with the right talent.

We’ll say it again. Hiring is hard. Hiring in Web3 is even harder.

We stress this so that you understand (if you haven’t already) that you’ll need to reassess your mental framework for Web3 hiring strategies. As the landscape evolves, we anticipate the emergence of novel tools and strategies for talent acquisition.

Stats point to referrals as the solution

What is the current knowledge on successful recruitment strategies?

Hiring data reveal that 82% of companies favor referrals for their recruitment strategy, attributing it to the best ROI. The advantages are evident and outdo traditional methods:

Superior quality candidates — Candidates obtained through referrals are 4x more likely to be hired compared to traditional methods

Increased cost savings — Every employee hired through referrals leads to an average savings of $7,500 in productivity and sourcing costs

Higher retention rates — 45% of employees sourced from referrals stay for more than 4 years, while only 25% of employees sourced through job boards stay for over 2 years

Quicker placement — Without referrals, it takes an average of 60 days to fill a position. However, with referrals, this can be reduced to between 20 to 40 days.

As a peer-to-peer, decentralized, bottom-up ecosystem, it's logical to assume that in Web3, the impact of personal referrals would be even higher.

The ideal places to start seeking referrals would be your staff. If they enjoy being part of your organization, they'll likely invite others to join as well!

But remember that personal connections and network effects are the two main strengths and catalysts in Web3. To harness this, Web3 hiring needs Web3 native recruitment tools in addition to Web3 talent.

Web3 communities house untapped talent

Employers aim to hire the best candidates, while contributors seek the best opportunities. Both parties are driven by self-interest, as their financial gains are clear if they succeed.

However, when it comes to community referral recruitment, this incentive is often absent or much less formalized.

There's no systematic structure in place to streamline and align rewards for those who generate "word-of-mouth" and publicize open opportunities through their networks or can refer qualified candidates due to their connections in the space.

Trust in Web3 communities is earned through active engagement and regular contribution on platforms like Twitter, Discord, and Telegram, creating an invisible gate that outsiders can't pay to access. Consequently, employers struggle to reach top talent or the right candidates in Web3 communities.

Community Recruitment at intropia

intropia is dedicated to aligning contributors with the most thrilling Web3 opportunities by syncing incentives and making it collectively owned and operated by contributors from the get-go.

Through the intropia Quest Board, contributors can now delve into organization profiles and apply to over 150 enticing opportunities from 75+ leading organizations in Web3.

These include grants, bounties, hackathons, and full-time positions from a diverse range of organizations such as Alchemy, Algorand, Balancer, Binance, Chainlink, ConsenSys, Ethereum Foundation, Filecoin, GitCoin, Lens, Maker, NEAR, SSV Network, Starkware, The Graph, Zerion, zkSync, and others.

Importantly, the Quest Board operates on community-driven referral recruitment, with share-&-earn and refer-&-earn features integrated directly onto the platform!

This means that anyone can earn rewards by sharing the opportunities listed on the Quest Board or by recommending suitable candidates.

By posting Web3 opportunities on the Quest Board, organizations can incentivize Web3 communities (including their own), influencers, and participants to spread the word through their networks.

They can also establish a reward for recommending potentially suitable candidates and only pay when the new hires meet specific success-defining terms and conditions.

By encouraging Web3 communities to publicize your open opportunities and refer candidates, you'll be able to engage a larger pool of crypto-proficient talent and motivate more individuals to scout for the best candidates for referral.

The mechanisms work similarly to professional recruitment agencies, but with one key difference: decentralization.

Rather than relying on one or two hired headhunters, you're opening the referral process to entire Web3 communities and their tens of thousands of members/followers.

In essence, you're deploying a legion of recruiters to spread the word about your organization's employment opportunities and compete to refer the candidates with the highest potential, optimizing both speed and quality in your hiring strategy.

A Positive Sum Game

Community recruitment is a boon for the entire Web3 ecosystem. It not only aids the hiring organization but also provides tangible benefits to all stakeholders.

The hiring organization gains faster and superior talent sourcing. This means the organization can construct robust teams more efficiently, thereby saving resources to concentrate on building their product and expanding their user base. If successful, this will draw more participants into Web3 and broaden the industry, generating more demand for talent and forming a positive feedback loop.

With the community recruitment model, communities can also provide added value to their members and followers. They can be the first to share new talent opportunities as they arise and earn extra income from sharing opportunities or referring candidates.

Web3 builders and contributors also stand to benefit. Not only are community members sharing opportunities and trying to match opportunities with the best candidates, but contributors can also rest assured that the opportunities on intropia have been properly vetted and align with their values.

Get Engaged!

We are proud of intropia's achievements and the vision we are fostering. There are several ways for Web3 builders to participate and benefit from intropia.

Here are some of the most popular ways to become a part of the future of Web3 recruitment:

List Your Organization

If you're a Web3 founder or represent a Web3 organization, one of the simplest ways to get involved is to list your organization and the opportunities you offer on the intropia Quest Board.

The organizations on our Quest Board range from fast-growing startups to DeFi blue chips to L1/L2 ecosystems, so you're in excellent company!

The Quest Board is tailored to accommodate the diverse nature of Web3 opportunities, so you can customize your opportunities as full-time jobs, gigs, grants, bounties, talent fairs, hackathons, and events.

Getting involved is easy. Simply fill out this form or join us on our Discord and we'll contact you to help you list your organization profile, your opportunities, and attract the top Web3 talent.

Partner With Us

We're continually seeking ways to bring value to Web3 communities, whether it's to aid your members or followers in securing outstanding opportunities or onboard newcomers into Web3.

If you're a community leader or influencer and you have an idea for collaborating with us, join our Discord and send us a message there!

Discover Web3 opportunities

Whether your superpower lies in development, design, marketing, or community management, it's likely you'll find something that matches your skills from the 150+ full-time jobs, gigs, grants, bounties, talent fairs, hackathons, and events listed on the intropia Quest Board.

Introduce & earn

Earn rewards for helping your friends and followers secure an opportunity in Web3!

The Job Board allows anyone to earn rewards by sharing the opportunities listed there or by recommending suitable candidates.