Ask HN: Would you refer a remote engineer from Eastern Europe for $100?

I am trying to develop a new marketing channel based on trust and referral.

Here's the thing: Eastern Europe has been an increasingly attractive hub for Software Engineers in general, with hourly rates starting at $50 / hr for a senior developer.

However, most of the US companies are still hesitant to hire, despite giving a free one-month trial, and other risk-free ways of working together.

I think it all comes back to trust: no one does business with someone on a whole different continent.

If you're based in the United States, and you have a strong network of business owners, startup founders or scale-ups, my proposal for you would be:

1. If you introduce a Software Developer from Romania, I will pay you 100$ / interview scheduled.

2. In case that interview goes well and the person is hired, I wanna pay you a lump sum of $1000!

Obviously, you can talk with the engineer before giving the referral and to be fully transparent, I will act as a Contract Recruiting Agency from Eastern Europe.

Thoughts?

Same. My reputation has more value than a few hundred dollars.

As someone in the US: I would be very happy to refer someone from Eastern Europe if I've worked with them. But no amount of money would make me risk my reputation or career vouching for someone I have no experience working with. This is way too close to interview scamming, and it's the kind of thing that could all too easily backfire and cost me my own job & career.

Also, about:

> I think it all comes back to trust: no one does business with someone on a whole different continent.

It's not really that foreigners are less trustworthy or anything like that, but that it can be a huge hassle for US companies (especially small ones) to hire foreign workers. It dramatically complicates HR, labor laws, etc., unless they are all hired as contractors, and even then many smaller companies aren't really set up to handle the paperwork and taxes for that if all their other employees are local.

> I am trying to develop a new marketing channel based on trust and referral.

If you truly are doing that, I would be comfortable participating in something like LinkedIn where you can vouch for people after you've worked with them. Not before, and certainly not blindly.