Connie Bensen

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.

Recently I wrote about the importance of Investing in a Qualified Community Manager. Kathy asked me to address how to find a job in this area.

There are a number of factors that add to the usual challenges of a job search. It’s an emerging role and there is a broad spectrum of expectations for responsibilities & qualifications. As with the salaries I’m starting to see some trends. Most positions are for the type of position I talk about. Only a few are looking for programmers. And working remotely is another factor that is a personal choice for some of us.

So you’ve decided that you want to be a community manager, where should you look? As with anything you need to be proactive! So let’s do this -

• Let your personal network know that you’re actively seeking a job
  • 80% find jobs through people they know
• Jake McKee’s job board is great
  • for job seekers
• Jim Durbin (Social Media Headhunter) has one also
  • job seekers can post your info
• Simplyhired.com – set up ongoing search for ‘online community manager’
• Indeed.com – set up ongoing search for ‘online community’
• Jeremiah Owyang has a list most Sunday’s (some are listed above)
  • and he has a job board
• Social Media Job Seekers Board

Please share if you have others.

The Community Manager role is becoming more prevalent in organizations. Along with that comes the question of salary (or at least people are asking me about it & it’s one of the highest search terms hitting my blog).

Here are the trends – based on information from the Facebook Community Manager group (which I’d recommend participating in if you’re interested in this area). These are numbers for North America.

• Some are viewing it as a professional position & asking the candidate what salary they’d like then negotiating from there
• Some are placing the position under marketing & paying the going rate for that local area

From the Facebook group, seeing job postings & talking with my peers the salaries range from $60,000 to $110,000.

There are also other factors:

• the role is personalized to suit the organization’s needs so it’s difficult to compare numbers across the board. I think the organization needs to consider what percentage of the position is tactical versus strategic. These positions generally aren’t managerial.
• a factor that I think is very important is how much training does the new hire require? That will require an investment of resources on the employer’s part (even though they can start the person at a lower salary).
• working remotely – I consider the cost to bring me to the home office every 2 months as part of my salary because it allows me to live at a locale with a much lower cost of living.
• working as a contractor – in the US we need to add 15% to cover Medicare & the half of social security that the employer usually pays. That doesn’t really include health insurance costs.

In Germany – $95 k (avg provided by Tom Noeding, community manager extraordinaire)

In the UK I saw one advertised for $80 k

If you want to provide info let me know & I’ll update this post.

This topic is one of the most popular searches that hits my blog. And it’s a popular subject on the Facebook Community Manager group. I have more definitive numbers now.

As I see more postings the the annual salary is increasing. The average is around $70 k per year. You can see our discussion at the Facebook Group. And I also made a thread there listing places to look if you’re seeking a Community Manager position.

Here’s an example which is Forrester’s posting: $90 – 110

Location: Cambridge

Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent technology and market research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology. For more than 24 years, Forrester has been making leaders successful every day through its proprietary research, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. For more information, visit www.forrester.com.

DESCRIPTION

Forrester Online Community Manager
Cambridge, Mass. *(must be onsite M-F)
Salary Range: 90-110K, commensurate w/experience

***PLEASE APPLY DIRECTLY AT http://forrester.hodesiq.com/careers/job_detail.asp?JobID=1171534&user_id=

At Forrester Research, we believe a direct conversation between customers and employees is essential to helping our customers make the right decisions in their jobs. We are looking for someone who is passionate about helping customers on a daily basis and who can energize and breathe life into a gathering of minds.

The Forrester Online Community Manager’s mission is to develop a strategy and plan to launch, grow, and maintain customer communities at Forrester. As a passionate customer advocate, you are responsible for representing the best interests of the community. In this hybrid role, you are part support, coordinator, facilitator, yet always remaining customer-focused. You lead, guide, and moderate discussion topics between members and employees, as well as collect and represent the needs from the community. You will align the business and operational needs of the community programs and integrate it with various facets of the business.

Responsibilities:
* Develop strategy for the launch and growth of our customer communities
* Monitor internal and external Web sites and facilitate discussions
* Engage with the community through a series of online and offline events
* Provide real-time alerts and monthly reports to key internal stakeholders
* Coordinate, publish, and follow up on Forrester content as it serves the needs of our customers
* Identify and develop relationships with research analysts and key internal content developers
* Evangelize and train internal clients on the value of the online community, including research, client group marketing teams, and IT
* Prioritize incoming member requests and redirect to internal clients as needed

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS

Requirements:
* Bachelor’s degree and experience in managing similar online business communities; experience in marketing preferred
* Well-versed in online communications and social media tools including forums, blogs, podcasts, wikis and social networks
* Strong sense of urgency and ability to respond quickly and timely
* Savvy online communication skills — presenting a welcoming and professional voice yet, able to manage online detractors in a discreet and tactful way
* Ability to multitask in several communities
* Proficiency in basic systems administration such as permissions, content publishing, and other “back-end” tools
* Good social and interpersonal skills that translate well into an online persona

CLOSING

Forrester Research is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer; M/F/D/V are especially encouraged to apply.