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Getting hired as a community manager ✨ Community Dev Newsletter #42
Published 2 days ago • 6 min read
Community Dev Newsletter
Hiiiiiiiii!
Wild that it's October already! Good thing nothing crazy has happened in the news for the past uh, year, right? Ha. Hahahaha.
This is a good promotional image that sells the book right?
Thanks to everyone who has already got it, sent nice words, and even left reviews!! I hope you can get a delicious bubble tea as a reward.
This month's newsletter dives into:
Diving into a recent community manager hire
New newsletter activity
Several cool links and marketing/community related job posts
Getting Hired
Originally I was just going to write about resumes - I did that on my blog where I shared my old one. But the last time I actually had to use my resume was in 2016 - it's not that useful anymore. So I thought: why not make this more relevant?
My most recent hire was in 2024, where I brought on Sofi on as a Community Manager at Innersloth. (She's KILLING it!!!) She was kind enough to agree to sharing her resume for the newsletter. So let's dig into why the resume and process landed her the job!
Note: I am not a hiring manager and we review all our resumes in person at Innersloth (not bots). This process is different for other studios, especially bigger ones!
Note 2: This was for a job listing looking for an experienced community manager. If you have questions about entry-level roles, I recommend reading my Becoming a Video Game Community Manager article instead.
The Resume
First, this was the resume she used to apply to us (redacted sensitive information):
Here's what I liked about it:
Concrete: She was clear about what she was in charge of, who she worked with, what she did, and the results of her work (e.g. create brand-approved influencer asset packages and copy.) This was especially important because the original job description asked for "proven experience creating and actioning on a community or marketing campaign to completion".
Results-oriented: I appreciated that I could pinpoint information about the actions she took and the problems solved (e.g. "resulting in signficant viewership" and "securing spots in ____").
Clarity: Especially for a communications-heavy position, how you're able to get your point across in a resume is so important. It was clear she had the technical skills I needed (or at least was able to learn them) and her resume formatting was consistent and free of typos.
Experience: Obviously everyone's experience is different and brings different strengths/weaknesses, but I appreciated that she had worked as a community manager at an indie studio (and thus was used to working independently with few resources) and as an influencer manager at a larger studio (and thus was able to work on larger campaigns.)
Of course there were other smaller things that interested me (I look for skills that I lack that someone could complement), but those things change depending on what the studio is looking for!
The Questions
The application for the position had a few written questions. This helped narrow down candidates, and I wanted to share a couple of Sofi's answers here too because they helped her get to the interview round. (There were more, but we're keeping this short!)
Why do you want to work here? Sofi's answer: Although Influencer Management has been my area of focus in the past few years, Community was my first love and I am very excited by the possibility of returning to this discipline - bringing a renewed passion and learnings I’ve gathered from the influencer space to your team so we can take things to the next level! [The rest of the answer has been cut for length.]
Why I liked this: I love it when someone proactively addresses a concern I may already have. (Especially when you're working with players, being able to think about what the other party may be thinking of due to a decision you've made is so important.) Here, Sofi reassures me that community management is actually something she is passionate about and how her current experience actually enhances her abilities in the field.
Pretend we are launching a new game called “Pizza Shoot ‘Em Up”, a Space Invaders clone but reskinned as pizza characters. What would be your dream community launch campaign for this, assuming we were launching in 6 months and you were given a big budget. (DO NOT make a whole indepth plan/essay for this, high level action items or bullet points are fine.) Sofi's answer: For the purpose of remaining high level and as succint as possible, I am going to focus on the Awareness and Consideration phases leading up to launch rather than diving into details around conversion and retention post-live. I will also omit the usual implied tactics such as teaser trailers, gameplay footage, patchnotes, influencer early access demos/keys, etc. to focus on novel, high-impact key tactics for a dream campaign. [The rest of the answer has been cut for length.]
Why I liked this: This was a well thought out answer. It was clear she understood the basics (from her mention of the marketing phases to her omitting usual tactics) and allowed her to create a more unique campaign plan. Thus, she showed me that she knew the core of the job while simultaneously revealing what made her different from other candidates' responses.
I will also say that many applicants at this stage clearly used ChatGPT to help answer these questions. Even when edited, it's obvious. So please don't do that, especially if you're applying for a communications heavy job. If you can't critically answer something for yourself, that's an automatic rejection for me.
The Interview
Of course, the interview phase is the last hurdle!
Yapping (but professional).
This stage is always the hardest one to give advice on, because the hiring manager/studio is also judging based on culture fit. Sometimes people just don't necessarily vibe, and that's normal. For Sofi, here's a summary of my notes during the interivew:
Fun, but thoughtful: I was impressed because she had the chaos energy I was looking for, but was also deeply insightful. I wanted someone who could brainrot with me, but who was still professional to know the job includes more than just memeing. She was able to back up their work with something that pointed to a deeper understanding of social media, marketing, or why it mattered.
Critical thinking: Her answers reinforced her knowledge and ability to take action. I had written things like: "chaotic (positive) and mature answers over accepting feedback and change", "interesting ideas from the written questions backed up by her ability to follow through and see where faults might lie" and "SHE MENTIONED THE FUNNEL".
Accountability: She was the first (and only) person we interviewed who mentioned transparency about performance and how she'd track her work, deliver campaigns on time, and how she'd analyze it after.
Independent and driven: Felt like she cared about people and valued personal growth. She wasn't afraid to bring new ideas to the table while also being able to reflect on best practices and working with the team.
Other notes from interviewers included things like "came preapred with questions and actually felt like she read and cared about what we were looking for from the listing".
Hope that helped! Big thanks to Sofi for being willing to share her resume. ❤ I'm hoping to write another newsletter about the process from the other side (i.e. how to hire a community manager) but no promises. I may have some big work deadlines coming up, hehe.
Community Activity 📝
Every month we do a skill testing exercise together! This one was submitted by a reader. Have an activity idea or want to ask a question?Submit one anonymously.
The question:
Any tips on how to market a genre that you usually don't like or play that much?
Feel free to email me back with your answer - I always respond. Mine will be in the next newsletter!
Community Chatter 💬
Here are the interesting and helpful things I've seen this past month.
Success through shenanigans with community management.
Hi, I'm Victoria! Join my Community Dev Newsletter for insight into games marketing, social, and community management. Get actionable tips, a skill testing question, and a roundup of resources straight to your inbox every month.
