How to Get Paid to Refer Tech Jobs in 2026 — Every Platform That Actually Works
A couple of years ago I started posting product manager jobs directly from hiring managers just to lift people's spirits.
The market was brutal. Everyone I knew was saying so. Constantly hearing "nobody is hiring, the market is dead, it is impossible out there" was genuinely bringing me down. I am a big believer in manifestation and that energy was not something I wanted to absorb. So I did the only thing I could think of. I started posting jobs.
One by one hiring teams started reaching out. People started telling me about new opportunities. And then something unexpected happened.
I found out you can get paid to refer people to jobs.
Not in a vague, theoretical, you-might-earn-something way. In a real, money-hits-your-account, here-is-the-receipt way. And the more I posted, the more platforms found me, and the more income streams appeared.
I am going to walk you through every single one of them right now.
First — why this moment is different from any other moment in the last five years
The job market is actually hot right now. I know that sounds insane to say. But here is what is true.
The biggest problem on the hiring side right now is not a lack of roles. It is a flood of garbage candidates. AI agents are applying to hundreds of jobs on behalf of people automatically. Hiring teams are drowning in applications where 90 percent are complete slop — wrong skills, wrong fit, barely coherent cover letters generated in three seconds by a bot.
This is creating a very specific problem for companies. They have the budget to hire. They have the role open. They cannot find a real human being worth interviewing.
And when companies cannot find real candidates through the front door, they start paying people to bring them in through the side door.
That side door is called a referral. And right now companies are throwing serious money at it.
Case in point — a CEO in Chicago just posted a $10,000 referral bonus for their next hire. One of the roles is a forward deployed engineer. Ten thousand dollars. For a referral. Because they are that desperate to find someone good.
That is the market we are operating in. The slop problem is your opportunity.
The platforms that I love the most.
Let me be real with you. None of these are going to make you a millionaire overnight. But they do cover rent and groceries in months where I am actively posting, and the compounding effect of building a presence on these platforms has opened more doors than I can count.
Here is every platform I have personally used and some of what I have actually earned.
Braintrust
This is where it started for me. I have racked up 50,000 plus tokens on Braintrust — the last time I actually checked the balance. The model is simple. I earn 2 percent of client billings for every person hired and 1 percent of talent earnings for every job landed. I share my referral link across my social media platforms, people sign up, and the AI does the matching. All I see is the fee notification afterwards.
I did a whole podcast with their CEO about this. I may still be the largest individual referrer on the platform but honestly who knows at this point.
My referral link if you want to try it: https://app.usebraintrust.com/r/richard835/
Paraform
This is the one that has the most upside for me right now and the one my team is going all in on.
Paraform has paid out $72 million in recruiter referral fees. Paraform has paid out $72 million in recruiter referral fees—an insane amount. Even if you’re not a fit for these roles, let me know if you know someone who is. If they end up getting placed, we’ll take care of you on the back end 😉
We are dropping our TechCareers.io Discord channel this week. Make sure to subscribe to my Substack to be notified.
They have already gathered all the clients, all the fee agreements are signed, and all my team needs to do is focus on finding and referring the right candidates.
We are genuinely gunning for the number one spot on this platform.
If you know someone who is a strong product manager, forward deployed engineer, or marketing engineer and they are looking — send them here: https://www.paraform.com/forms/cms9ccu9n00070bjur3ljopm2
Flockity
This one found me. Someone reached out on TikTok after I posted a video about a $258,000 events planner position at A16Z. That video did 75,000 views. Within 24 hours I was on a call with the Flockity CEO.
The deal they offered me is a dollar per click per post. I am now promoting their jobs too.
Passionfroot
Someone I met through all of this posting introduced me to Passionfroot — a platform where brands pay creators to post sponsored content.
My rate is now $1,000 per sponsored LinkedIn post. I am getting $500 on X because I only have 12 followers over there and I am just building that presence now.
But the LinkedIn rate is real and it compounds as your audience grows.
ElevenLabs affiliate
This one I am not actively pursuing as a serious income stream. But I want to show it to you because it proves the point. I have generated $55.81 in revenue with $12.28 in pending commissions just from sharing my affiliate link passively.
Not life-changing money. But real money for zero active effort. And it compounds.
My affiliate link: https://try.elevenlabs.io/lfg0gt6fhzz3
The lesson underneath all of this
Good things happen to those who post.
I did not set out to build a side income from job referrals. I started posting jobs because I wanted to lift people's spirits and change the energy in my own feed. Every single income stream I just described above found me because I was visible, consistent, and genuinely trying to be useful to people in my network.
The Braintrust tokens found me because I was posting jobs. Flockity found me because a video went viral. Paraform became a serious business line because I spent years building trust with technical professionals who knew I only referred real opportunities. Passionfroot found me because I had an audience worth paying to reach.
The platform is not the strategy. Showing up consistently is the strategy. The platforms are just what happens when you do.
The full lazy side hustle guide is coming to Substack
I am putting together a full breakdown of every platform I use, what I actually earn from each one, how much time each one requires, and which ones are worth starting from zero.
It will cover the ones I mentioned here and a few others I have not talked about publicly yet. I will be posting it exclusively on Substack.
If you want to be the first to get it, subscribe here:
https://substack.com/@richardchenhq
Full disclaimer because I want to be honest with you. This will not make you rich. But it does cover monthly food and entertainment expenses in a good month. It gets you invited to meetups where you meet people who tell you about more opportunities. And the whole experience has been genuinely fun in a way that grinding job applications never is.
One more thing before you go
We are launching the TechCareers.io Discord community this week. It is a free open community for product managers, forward deployed engineers, and marketing engineers. Job referrals, hiring manager access, daily accountability, LinkedIn engagement pods, and a direct line to our recruiting team on Paraform.
Subscribe to the Substack to get notified the moment it goes live.
https://substack.com/@richardchenhq
And if you are actively trying to transition into product management, forward deployed engineering, or marketing engineering yourself — the referral economy I just described works both ways. You can earn from it and you can benefit from it.
We are actively recruiting for all three roles on Paraform right now. If you want to understand how we help people make these transitions and whether our program makes sense for your specific background, book a strategy session below.
PM: https://consultation.techcareers.io/o-ai-pm/about?consultation_utm_source=tc
FDE: https://consultation.techcareers.io/o-discover-fde/about?consultation_utm_source=tc
Marketing Engineering: https://consultation.techcareers.io/marketing-engineer-o/survey/consultation_utm_source=tc
And if you are in New York — come to our in-person community meetup this Tuesday August 25 at 6:30 PM at Center Bar in Long Island City. Free. One dollar to RSVP. Real people. Real conversations. No panels.
See you there.