Referalah - Initiated User Engagement Event

Networking and referral platform

Referalah is an open-source platform for Hong Kong immigrants to build networks and secure job referrals from the worldwide. I have initiated a Amazon Career Seminar to boost user engagement.

As a product owner, I monitored the user retention and defined product strategy on Referalah. I worked closely with the co-founder to improve the user retention and active user base of the platform. As the active user base and user retention rate dropping continuously for 4 months, I have planned a member-only career seminar to boost the user engagement.

The project followed the 4 main stages including - Observation, planning, implementing and evaluation.

How might we increase user engagement that could build sense of community among users?
How might we increase user engagement that could build sense of community among users?

Role

Product Owner

Duty

Project Management

Virtual Event Planning

Tool

Google Analytics

Discord

Team

Product Owner (me)

Guest Speaker

Co-founder

How was it?

0
0

Active user increased

Active user increased

0
0

Post increased

Post increased

Start with discovery 👀

User Interview

My objectives in discovery stage is to find out users' priority of concerns, and their pain points and needs. I conducted interviews with current users and asked their feedback on their expectations and activities performed on Referalah.

My objectives in discovery stage is to find out users' priority of concerns, and their pain points and needs. I conducted interviews with current users and asked their feedback on their expectations and activities performed on Referalah.

“

I hope to have more engaging career events with companies or experts in the industries

Networking lover

“

I hope to have more engaging career events with companies or experts in the industries

Networking lover

“

I want to know more about job application tips in general

Fresh Graduate

“

I want to know more about job application tips in general

Fresh Graduate

“

My biggest interest is all about exclusive referral / job opportunities

An active job seeker on Referalah

“

My biggest interest is all about exclusive referral / job opportunities

An active job seeker on Referalah

“

Is there any other ways to interact with the referrers?

Networking lover

“

Is there any other ways to interact with the referrers?

Networking lover

“

Not only referral but I can also share my experience on how I get into my current company

A referrer on Referalah

“

Not only referral but I can also share my experience on how I get into my current company

A referrer on Referalah

“

The platform is good, however, networking sometimes is just 1 sided

Regular user on Referalah

“

The platform is good, however, networking sometimes is just 1 sided

Regular user on Referalah

“

More engaging career events with companies or experts in the industries

Networking lover

“

More engaging career events with companies or experts in the industries

Networking lover

“

More engaging career events with companies or experts in the industries

Networking lover

However, there are challenges:

Concluding the insights from user interviews and the current situation, the challenges of this project can be predicted as:

Concluding the insights from user interviews and the current situation, the challenges of this project can be predicted as:

  1. Linear way of networking
  1. The communication between talents and referrers is one-sided, and sometimes not consistent.
  1. Geographic limitation for offline networking events as members are across Asia and North America
  1. Implementation time is limited
Users are active on job posting page

I tracked the high traffic pages on the website by Google Analytics (GA) and observed that posting page is the 2nd most viewed page among the website (Homepage is the 1st), which shown the main activity on Referalah is job posting related.

Being a referral platform, it is essential to maintain a certain amount of job postings and referral opportunities.

I tracked the high traffic pages on the website by Google Analytics (GA) and observed that posting page is the 2nd most viewed page among the website (Homepage is the 1st), which shown the main activity on Referalah is job posting related.

Being a referral platform, it is essential to maintain a certain amount of job postings and referral opportunities.

How might we...

provide exclusive content and potentially increase the chance of referrer’s posting job ad / register ?

How might we...

provide exclusive content and potentially increase the chance of referrer’s posting job ad / register ?

Next step, ideation 📑

When we have more career-orientated activities from trustworthy sources on the platform, active user base will increase as it enhance the credibility and uniqueness of the platform.
Plan 1 - Career Seminar

I want to invite experts from various industries as a guest of Referalah’s career seminar where attendants can have exclusive interactive experience - e.g. Q&A session with the expert, interview skills in big tech, and best practices in job hunting.

The career seminar is estimated to be:

I want to invite experts from various industries as a guest of Referalah’s career seminar where attendants can have exclusive interactive experience - e.g. Q&A session with the expert, interview skills in big tech, and best practices in job hunting.

The career seminar is estimated to be:

  1. 🕒Low level of time cost: Days of preparation, 60 minutes seminar (Guest sharing + Q&A Session)
  1. 📣Low promotion effort needed: Social media feed on Instagram & LinkedIn Google Form for questionnaires and participants’ demographics
  1. 🛠️Low setup effort effort needed: We only need a virtual video call platform that allows ~200 people to join
  1. 👥High impact on user engagement: Reliable collaboration partners - experts from big tech Interactive, exclusive experience for user on Referalah
Plan 2 - ATS Resume Scanner

Alternatively, I have suggested to add ATS resume scanner function on the platform. ATS Resume scanner acts as an analysis tool to check resume for ATS compatibility and gives feedback on optimization.

The resume scanner is estimated to be:

Alternatively, I have suggested to add ATS resume scanner function on the platform. ATS Resume scanner acts as an analysis tool to check resume for ATS compatibility and gives feedback on optimization.

The resume scanner is estimated to be:

  1. 🕒High level of time cost: Estimated >3 sprints
  1. 📣Low promotion effort needed: Social media feed on Instagram & LinkedIn for feature release notes
  1. 🛠️High implementation effort effort needed: Design side to Justifying the feature's user engagement impact might need a comprehensive research, QA test etc. On engineering side there are very limited resource might result in long implementation period
  1. 👥Low impact on user engagement: As numerous referral / job hunting platforms already have the same feature, it's more like a new-to-have feature to Referalah

Seminar Planning💪

A series of seminar flow planning

I have contacted several individuals on LinkedIn to asking their willingness of joining a career seminar as a guest speake. Eventually, I got one guest - Kelvin Au, an experienced software engineer in Amazon.

The Google Form has been conducted to gather demographic information and collecting participant inquiries for the guest speaker. The result indicate there are 200+ participants interested in the seminar.

Additionally, I drafted the flow of seminar for me, co-founder and the guest speaker to have an overview of the event.

I have contacted several individuals on LinkedIn to asking their willingness of joining a career seminar as a guest speake. Eventually, I got one guest - Kelvin Au, an experienced software engineer in Amazon.

The Google Form has been conducted to gather demographic information and collecting participant inquiries for the guest speaker. The result indicate there are 200+ participants interested in the seminar.

Additionally, I drafted the flow of seminar for me, co-founder and the guest speaker to have an overview of the event.

  • ✉️Inviting guest

  • 🔢Guest number counting

  • 📋Online survey

  • 📝Seminar agenda planning

  • 🔊Virtual meeting tool comparison

  • 📆Estimation

  • 🗒Google Form

  • 📊Feedback analysis

Comparing several virtual meeting platform

As resources are limited, we tend to seek solution on free plans which capable on:

  • Capacity on 190+ participants

  • Allow 60 minutes meeting

  • Participant controls on muting and speaking

  • Community building

As resources are limited, we tend to seek solution on free plans which capable on:

  • Capacity on 190+ participants

  • Allow 60 minutes meeting

  • Participant controls on muting and speaking

  • Community building

With all these, we can expect…
Build reputation

By collaborating with experts in big tech, Referalah can build reputation as a trustworthy, high-quality referral platform.

Amplify exclusive experience

We can amplify member-only privilege as an incentive to attract new members

Amplify exclusive experience

We can amplify member-only privilege as an incentive to attract new members

Social Media Engagement

To get more exposures and reputation

Social Media Engagement

To get more exposures and reputation

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