Latest / Community Marketing with Fexingo: Discord, Slack Groups, and Brand Communities / When Your Brand Community Becomes a Hiring Funnel
Transcript
- Lucas: There's a stat that's been bouncing around my head all week, and it's not about engagement or retention for once. A B2B SaaS company I've been following said that 30 percent of their engineering hires last year came straight out of their own user community. Luna: Thirty percent from the community? That's not a side channel, that's a real pipeline. Lucas: Exactly. And it's not a tiny startup either. We're talking about a company with a couple thousand members in their community and about forty engineers. So roughly twelve hires came from people who were already active in the forum, answering product questions, contributing to GitHub discussions, even beta testing. Luna: So what's the pitch to those members? Are they just users who happen to be developers, or are they actively job hunting? Lucas: Good question. Most weren't looking. They were engaged users who already knew the product inside and out. The company basically built a funnel that starts with someone joining the community, then contributing, then asking for help, and eventually someone on the team says, hey, have you ever thought about working here? Luna: And that's the key—it's not a job board, it's an organic talent pool. Lucas: Right. They have a specific role called a community talent scout, and their job is to track standout contributors. They look for people who answer questions thoroughly, write great bug reports, or contribute to docs. It's a little like how open source projects end up hiring maintainers. Luna: I love that. It's almost like the community becomes a live, continuous interview process. You get to see how someone communicates, how they handle criticism, how they collaborate. Lucas: That's the beauty of it. In a typical interview you get a few hours of crafted answers. In a community, you get months of real behavior. So this company, let's call them DataForge, they built a structured pathway: first, they identify contributors, then they invite them to a private chat with the engineering team, not a formal interview, just a conversation. If that goes well, they propose a paid trial project. Luna: A paid trial project. That's a smart filter. You're testing actual skills, not just talk. Lucas: Yeah, and it works both ways. The candidate gets a real feel for the team and the codebase, and the company gets to see how they work under deadlines. They told me that almost everyone who passes the trial gets a full-time offer, and their one-year retention rate for community hires is 85 percent, compared to 70 percent for traditional hires. Luna: That retention number is the real kicker. You're not just hiring faster, you're hiring people who stick around because they already believe in the mission. Lucas: Exactly. And think about the cost. They figured out that the average cost per community hire is about one-third of what they spend on recruiters and job boards. Because you're not paying for job ads, and you're using your own team's time instead of external agencies. Luna: So what's the catch? This sounds almost too good. There has to be a downside. Lucas: There are a few. The biggest risk is turning your community into a passive job board. If people feel like they're being constantly recruited, they might pull back. So DataForge is careful: they never post jobs in the community, they don't share hiring plans, and they only reach out privately to individuals who have shown a clear signal of interest. Luna: So it's not like, hey, we're hiring, who wants in? It's more subtle and respectful. Lucas: Exactly. They also have a strict privacy policy. If someone says no, they don't bring it up again, and they don't share that they were approached. That's crucial for trust. Luna: But what about the members who are active but not interested in a job? Do they get any benefit from this? Lucas: That's the interesting part. The company realized that even the ones who say no become more engaged after being approached. It's almost a recognition of their contribution. One member told them they were flattered, and it made them feel their time in the community was valued. Luna: So it's a win-win, as long as you're not pushy. Lucas: Right. But there's another risk, and it's about fairness. If you only hire from your community, you might end up with a very homogeneous team. DataForge is aware of that, so they make sure their community is diverse, and they also keep traditional channels open. They aim for community hires to be about 20 to 30 percent of total hires, not a hundred. Luna: So it's a supplement, not a replacement. That makes sense. You want to harness the passion, but you also need fresh perspectives. Lucas: Yeah. And there's a broader lesson here for any community manager. You're sitting on a goldmine of people who already love your product. The question is whether you've built the infrastructure to spot them and invite them in. Luna: So what would you say to a community manager who wants to start this? What's the first step? Lucas: I'd say start small. Don't formalize a whole program yet. Just start paying attention to your super contributors. Who's always there helping others? Who's writing thoughtful answers? Then, maybe once a month, have a casual conversation with one of them, not about a job, just to learn more about them. See if there's any mutual interest. Luna: And if they are interested, you can have them do a project, like DataForge does. Lucas: Exactly. And you don't need a budget. You just need a bit of time and a willingness to see your community members as more than just users. Luna: It's funny, we've talked so much about community as a way to get feedback, to build products, to sell. But this is a whole new angle: community as a way to build your team. Lucas: It's the natural evolution, right? If you're building a community around a product, the people who are most invested in that product are often the best people to help build it. And the best part is, they already know the customers, they know the pain points, they've been living them. Luna: And they've already proven they can communicate in a public setting. That's a skill that's hard to test in an interview. Lucas: Yeah. So if you're listening and you run a community, look around. The next great hire might be the person who just wrote a perfect answer to someone's question. You never know. Luna: Along those lines, if these conversations have sparked something you've actually used, whether it's a new way to think about your community or a tactic you've tried, that's the stuff that keeps this show going. A handful of listeners chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's literally what funds making this many of these episodes. Lucas: Yeah, it's a small group, but it keeps us ad-free and independent. We appreciate every single one of them. Luna: And honestly, it feels good to know that what we do matters to someone out there. So if you've ever thought about supporting, that's the place. Lucas: But back to talent. I think the next frontier is going to be using communities for other roles, not just engineers. Marketing, sales, customer success. The same logic applies: you've got people who believe in the product, so why not give them a shot at the job? Luna: Have you seen any examples of that? Lucas: A few. I've heard of a fintech company that hired a customer support lead from their community, and she was their most engaged member. She knew the product better than most employees, and she was already helping others. It just made sense. Luna: So the principle is the same, it's just about recognizing the potential. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the takeaway. Your community isn't just a place to engage customers, it's a place to find your next teammate. So the next time you're writing a job description, think about whether you've already met the right person in your own community. Luna: I'll be looking at my community with new eyes from now on.