How Do Web3 Hiring Managers Compare Growth Candidates When DAOs Track Success With Completely Different Metrics?

I’ve been hiring for growth and analytics roles across a few DeFi and DAO ecosystems, and every project seems to define “success” in its own way. One candidate talks about MAUs after governance proposals, another emphasizes TVL spikes, while someone else focuses on wallet retention or Discord engagement. With no standardized benchmarks, it’s tough to compare them fairly.
For those who manage or hire for Web3 growth roles, do you normalize on-chain metrics like retention or reactivation, or do you rely more on off-chain signals like community depth and funnel conversions? And when evaluating real impact, how much weight do you put on post-airdrop retention versus organic user activity that isn’t driven by incentives?