Questions for hiring a new Moderator

[emersontejada]

Hey everyone!

After attending LINC 15' this past week, I was inspired to check in with the Lithium Community for the first time since I created an account. I'm excited to be a part of it all.

My questions is: Have any of you ever interviewed for a new Community Moderator positon in your respective Communities? If so, what type of out-of-the-box questions did you ask? Are there personality questions that I should be asking?Any general interview questions or advise on a hiring new mod would be much apperciated as well.

Thanks, everyone!

[BrianOblinger · Accepted solution]

Hi there,

You'll definitely want to ask a lot of questions about their character, ability to communicate, and experience under fire as a moderator in other communities. I highly recommend running them through scenarios to see how they react to adverse conditions. Give them access to a version of your moderation guidelines, play the role of a problem user, and gauge their ability to manage the situation within the boundaries of the guidelines and your expectations for successful moderation.

What is their tone when dealing with the user? Do they communicate in a professional manner? Do they defuse the situation or exacerbate it? Are they quick to steer the user or jump straight to lock/delete/ban?

If available, take a look at samples of posts they've made in other communities as well.

Hope that helps 🙂

[emersontejada]

Thanks, Brian! Good to see you virtually, and I'm glad I ran in to you at LINC, as well! I will be building around your response while I formulate the flow of my interview.

You're the man!

[BrianOblinger]

My pleasure. It was great seeing you again as well! Give me a shout anytime 🙂

[dserpa]

@BrianOblinger That definitely helps! Thanks for the speedy response.

[Fellsteruk · Accepted solution]

Hey,

Not much more to say,some good points raised but to touch on one of things @BrianOblinger said test them on real situations... We dont have "just moderators" at TalkTalk its a mix of mod/support however one of things i do will all applicants is a written test..

Some think its OTT for the role but I've found it very useful in identifying those who can and carnt work in this space, lets face it you have be thick skinned and calm under pressure and very few people have both.. 

Pull together a list 10/20 real customer posts from your community some good, some bad but most importantly some real bad... Get them to imagine they have been successful and reply to the following posts... I know its not the same environment and wont be 100% the same as a customer on the other end of a real time conversation calling you everything under the sun however it can be revealing..

This method has helped me identify people's tone of voice, written competency and ability to be creative as well as how online savvy they are. This is especially interesting when looking at responding to tweets, it takes a lot of skill to have a meaningful conversation in a 140 characters and again this help identify people who have a natural fit for this type of work. 

P.S. Sorry i went on a little there..... 🙂

[Toby · Accepted solution]

Good day and good question.

It is importent to dig into the person's personality and see if they are potentially combative.

1.  Have you ever worked in the service industry?

2.  Tell me about a difficult customer or confruntation and how you resolved it?

3.  What do you think a moderator does?

4.  Why do you like serving others?

5.  Take a post from your community and ask them how they would handle it.

My Moderator best practices

• Read twice, post once.
• Write in the first person.
• Stay on point; keep discussions relevant and germane.
• Some conversations need to be moved outside of Community.
• Remember that you represent "company name here" as well as yourself when you engage.
• Allow Community members to answer first, then confirm the solution.
• Offer value, avoid redundancy, and be sure to read the other comments first.
• Keep discussions professional; never resort to insults, slurs, or obscene language.
• Protect your credibility. Correct your mistakes, and don't alter previous posts without indicating that you have done so. Transparency is key, and expected.

Best,

Toby

[emersontejada]

Thanks, @Fellsteruk! I appreciate your lengthy, detailed response. I'll be sure to incorporate a a few real-life situations in there!