The Community Roundtable

Empowering global community leaders with research-backed resources, training, and tools.

Community Role Profile: Community Specialist Role

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OVERVIEW OF ROLE

​ Community specialists are the experts and emerging experts on a community team. Unlike community manager roles, where generalists are prized, community specialists often have a focus in one of three disciplines: engagement, content, or technical initiatives.

​ RESPONSIBILITIES
Community Specialists focus on tactical initiatives and projects to support the community team in their area of expertise. On the job, Community Specialists tend to be “in the weeds” doing anything from providing training and support to members, curating and editing community content, or working with analytics, design, content management systems or other technical assets. For those interested in a community career who lack the general skill set required, joining a team as a Community Specialist is a great way to start with a specific focus, letting you expand your roles and responsibilities from there if interested.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE COMMUNITY

​Community Specialists drive the projects and initiatives that support community operations – maintain the systems and programs needed for the community to thrive. This results is a close relationship with the community and team members and provides a unique perspective on the challenges of members. Community Specialists can act as a bridge between members and the greater community team.

To learn more about the Community Specialist Role, and view Community Specialist Job Descriptions download our Community Careers and Compensation report – now available for free download.

Critical Hiring Characteristics for Online Community Roles

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Looking at community job descriptions (download our CCC 2020 report for 30+ online community management job descriptions), it’s clear there are some characteristics that are prized by hiring managers. While empathy, communication skills, and collaboration have always been a component of a community professional’s responsibilities, the growing recognition of the need for negotiation and strategic skills is newer.

Empathy

​ Many community management job descriptions share a key requirement: empathy. The ability to understand and share the feelings of another is quickly becoming a critical part of effective community management. Emotional intelligence is a key attribute.

​ Strong communication and negotiating skills

​ Community professionals interact with a wide range of people and have to gracefully navigate differences of opinion and perspective. That requires sophisticated communication and negotiation skills – no wonder these skills are becoming more common on job descriptions.

​ Ability to collaborate across the business

​ Community professionals are being asked to partner with teams across organizations. This requires leading discussions and training on community topics, as well as implementing projects that generate shared value. The ability to listen, translate concepts across different groups, and collaborate is essential.

​ Strategic planning

​ In an environment where you rarely can tell people what to do, staying aligned around a strategic vision is key to a successful community program. This strategic vision informs planning, governance, and tactical programming in ways all community professionals need to understand.

Learn more and browse 30+ community management job descriptions in our Community Careers and Compensation report – now available for free download.