Connie Bensen

Because it is your life, right?  I’ve always believed that life is about choices. It’s up to you to decide what you’re going to do with them. Invest in yourself & add the determination.

Not long ago Derrick Kwa from Singapore asked my opinion. Derrick was in the US not long ago working with Seth Godin on his Triibes project. Also, Derrick is an avid marketing junkie & started a social media breakfast in Singapore.

Derrick’s question to me was whether he should accept a job offer.

Here are things that I think everyone should consider as they search for jobs. And they are especially true if you’re going to work in social media.

• What is the product?
• Do you believe in it?
• Can you sell it?
• Do you trust the company? the management?
• What is the state of the brand?
• Is the public sentiment justified?
• Do you believe that you can contribute to the brand?
• Does your personal brand resonate with the position?
• Does it contribute to the company’s mission?
• Will the position affect your personal brand positively or negatively?

Even if the position pays well, is that enough? Only you can decide that. Derrick blogged about his decision. He said,

So why did I reject the offer? Because I don’t believe in the product. I’m not passionate about what they are selling. And that’s the most important thing for me.

Yes, I was tempted by the money, I’m not going to deny that. I was definitely very tempted. But after talking to Connie Bensen about it (thanks for the advice, Connie), she helped me realize that it wouldn’t be worth doing if I wasn’t passionate about it.

Do you agree that my questions have any relevance for job satisfaction in the social media world? I look forward to hearing your ideas.

This is part of a series focused on the hiring process for community managers. My goal is to provide information for both companies looking to hire & those interested in the role. Community management is going to be a key role & it’s easier to start with a good fit than have extract oneself from a bad situation. Bottom line: recruitment & training takes resources (time & money).

In the last post on the Interview Process I offered tips for both the Interviewer & the candidate. That started some interesting conversations. I predict that recruiting highly qualified community managers is going to be challenging.

In regard to that post, Richard Millington pointed out that the questions aren’t very helpful unless the Interviewer is really familiar with the role. He asked if a Community Manager really needs an interview?

Martin Reed added:

I think it is important to take their previous experience and achievements into account but you should still take the time to interview them or at least engage in a conversation to see if they are a right ‘fit’ – after all, would you still recruit the perfect community manager if you couldn’t stand speaking to them?

I do agree that there should be a formal interview process. That is important for both the employer & potential candidate. Both sides need to be open & explore the following:

• work habits
• company culture
• expectations for the position
• knowledge of social media tools & participation in social networks
• product knowledge & familiarity with customer segments
• communication skills
• ability to mediate & tactfully deal with people
• leadership skills – this can be a powerful position if utilized correctly
• creativity – brainstorming & execution
• open to experimentation & ability to learn from mistakes
• familiarity with analytics
• aspirations

Jeremiah Owyang has many posts on the role. Here are a couple that are helpful:

• Understanding the Role
• Should Startups have a Community Manager

If you would like assistance with any of the following, email me at mailto:conniebensen@gmail.com

• How a Community Manager can contribute to your business goals.
• Assistance with creating a job description that suits your organization’s needs.
• Reviewing & interviewing potential candidates
• Training based on organizational needs
• Exploring alternative options:
  • utilizing someone on staff
  • job sharing the position

What other factors should be considered in the recruitment process?

My most popular posts cover the basics of job description, job posting & salary for the community manager role. So I thought I would round out the job search information with some tips on the interview process. The challenges of the economy are starting to be felt & people are looking for resources. I hope that you find these helpful.

For almost a decade I reviewed applications, interviewed & recommended to hire candidates. Then I followed up with orientation & training of the successful candidate. Because my Director was 80 miles away I had a lot of independence but that also meant a lot of responsibility to make sure that the hiring decision was the best possible for my team.

Here are some tips that apply to any position:

• Make sure that your resume is well done. Have friends review it & give feedback. It’s the only thing that represents you & your achievements.
• The web offers lots of opportunities to be creative, but be careful about silly videos & things that are too unconventional.
• Use positive action verbs – the BEST book is What Color is My Parachute for resume tips & interview suggestions.
• Make sure that your cover letter & resume provide the requested information

For the interview:

• Dress appropriately & take it seriously
• Be careful about making generalizations & ask questions if you truly don’t know
• The interview should be in both directions (more coming on that)
• Believe in yourself & have confidence

Jim Durbin, Social Media Headhunter, had a post listing interview questions. I think that they’re great & so I’m reprinting them here. He also has some excellent questions about communities.

1.  What communities have you run in the past?  How much control did you have?
2.  What was the purpose of those communities, and did you succeed in the original purpose?
3.  What help did you have? 
4.  Where do you hang out online now? 
5.  What would a search of your name and community turn up on different search engines and/or forum search engines?
6.  Is there a single software that monitors blogs, social networks, forums, and the general web (that answer is no)
7. What is the difference between those types of sites, and how do you monitor each?
8. What tools did you use for online monitoring, and what was their cost?
9.  What was your reporting structure like? How did you communicate with management what was happening, and how did you create relevant metrics?
10.  Flame wars:  How do you/should you stop them?
11. How do you deal with security risks (youth sites)
12.  How do you deal with crazy people? 
13.  Write some responses (forum/e-mail/blogposts) to deal with hostile commenters/users.
14.  Who matters online?  How do you know when something needs attention beyond your department?
15.  What hours does a community manager work?

What tips do you have for resumes & interviews? Does the community manager position require unique preparation for the interview?

The online job search has changed so much. The advent of 2.0 practices has also affected job descriptions & how people are advertising. What I see as a huge advantage for the job seeker is that the job descriptions are getting more creative. Does this mean they are more descriptive of the position & the culture? I would guess so.

Awhile ago I saw this in a job description for a community manager at a well known traditional electronics company.

The Community manager will be responsible for building (company name)online community as a product creating ways to acquire and retain new community members.

ACK! Who would ever say that a community is a product? or even try to treat it as a product? Are they going to package it? resell it? Ok, you can maybe tell that it got me going? Wikipedia’s definition of a product in relation to business:

Product (business), an item that ideally satisfies a market’s want or need.

I think that a community is THE market looking for satisfaction of their wants or needs.

A COMMUNITY IS A FRAGILE ENTITY THAT WILL GROW WITH NURTURING. It is about people & relationships. It is NOT a product to be built in a conventional manner! (I applied to this posting just to see if I could pass on my message. I don’t think I’m a good fit though.)

Now, in contrast – this is the most wonderful, warm fuzzy job description ever!

Description:

crowdSPRING www.crowdspring.com is a private-equity funded startup that has just launched an online marketplace for creative services. Just entering our second month after launch, we’ve already been featured in the Chicago Sun-Times, TechCrunch, Mashable, Springwise and a host of others – so you know we’re on to something here!

We’re looking for a Community Manager to develop an army of stark raving fans of our site. We’re looking for someone who lives and breathes Facebook. We’re looking for someone who can’t get enough of MySpace. We’re looking for someone who loves to blog and comment on other people’s blogs and talk to people who knew a guy who had a blog once.

If this sounds like you, read on…

What you’ll do:

• Post ideas, stories, random thoughts, dirty jokes, videos, and recipes for the perfect banana daiquiris to our blog, forum and anywhere else you can think of
• Moderate our message boards and public comment areas
• Reach out to influential sites, blogs, creatives and small businesses and share the crowdSPRING love
• Dream up, execute and promote community events
• Be the voice of crowdSPRING throughout the internet (yes, the whole thing)
• Be vocal and fight for the needs of the community within the company
• Track the performance of, and report on, your efforts using metrics from web traffic, events, forum and blog activity, etc.
• Be a general, all-around grassroots/social media marketing goddess (ok, or god)
• Attack inbound customer service requests and respond with cat-like reflexes
• Assign, track and follow up on customer service issues assigned to others within the company (programming stuff, marketing stuff, etc.)
• What you’ll need to bring to the table:
• Undying, passionate, over-the-top love affair with all things web
• Absolutely, positively outstanding writing skills
• Interest, curiosity, advanced degree or mild obsession with any/all of the creative arts (graphic design, web design, writing, photography, video, music – anything creative will do)
• Experience with WordPress and vBulletin is nice
• Experience building online communities is a huge plus
• Experience with MySpace, Facebook and Twitter an absolute must

What we’ll bring to the table:

• Competitive compensation, including an incentive plan
• Full benefits
• 401(k) investment plan with matching contributions
• Unlimited ping pong
• Strict shorts and flip-flops dress code

So, do you have what it takes to be on Facebook and MySpace all day, every day? Can you handle the crushing responsibilities of having to be ‘fun’ and ‘interesting’? If so, you really ought to let us know. We’re holding your place in the ping pong tournament…

http://crowdspring.com

crowdSPRING is an equal opportunity employer.

To Apply:   169994-crowds@jobcoin.com

Kudos to you crowdSpring & your HR department! I still remember the day when my sister & I were referred to as ACDSee Goddesses. Customers truly love getting help.

So if you’re going to advertise for a Community Manager, I challenge you to write a job description that really represents the position & expresses your culture. It will make it easier for job seekers to apply for the ones that fit them.