The Community Roundtable

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

Meet TheCR: Jessica Reid, Community Management Fellow

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If you’re a member of TheCR Network you may have met Jessica Reid, our new community management fellow. Maybe met her earlier this month at a dinner in NYC and others may have met her on Roundtable calls, in the weekly Work Out Loud discussions or at virtual Happy Hour on Thursday afternoons.

jessica reid community management fellow
I thought it would be fun to get to know Jessica a bit more now that she’s been with us for a few months and finding her stride in TheCR Network. We were really impressed with her application when it rolled in and her drive for learning and doing was an obvious great fit.

I asked Jessica a few questions to help you get to know her more too!

Tell us about your background? What were you doing before community management? 

I received my undergraduate degree in Urban Studies from Mount Holyoke College. I’ve mostly worked in educational access non-profits helping high achieving students of color gain access to the nation’s top independent schools. I’m super passionate about policy research and leadership, I received my Master’s in Public Administration and Non-Profit Management from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner’s Graduate School of Public Service. My last position was Project Management Consulting for the Department of Education (DOE) in New York. After my time at the DOE  I decided to take some time off to pursue passion projects. I volunteered for some great organizations, planned a conference and took lots of training to keep up with my skills.

Why did the community management fellowship catch your eye? What are you hoping to learn? 

During my time off, I realized I was in a transition phase. I had begun to notice patterns in my career, I loved project management, relationship building and cultivating community. I also really needed flexibility. I discovered I work extremely well with the ability to set my own working environment. I thought finding a fellowship would be the fit for me in such a phase, so I focused on finding fellowships. When I saw the community management fellowship posting, it was like love at first sight. It was a match for the qualities I was looking for in my next position. It was an opportunity to learn tangible, quantifiable skills around community management. I didn’t realize such a sphere existed.

What’s been the most surprising or interesting thing you’ve learned in your first month here? 

I’m fascinated by the tools available to measure community ROI.

What’s a community you are a part of?     

I like to stay active in my alma mater networks. I’m on the board of the Mount Holyoke Club of New York City and stay active with NYU.

Favorite food?
Really anything that tastes good, but I love baked macaroni and cheese. I’ve given up dairy so I’m on the hunt for non-dairy mac and cheese recipe.

Where have you traveled to that you would definitely recommend people put on their travel bucket list?

I’ve traveled to quite a few places I’d highly recommend:

Sorrento, Italy
Capri, Italy
Rome, Italy
Warsaw, Poland
Prague Czech, Republic
Denmark
Berlin, Germany
Hawaii
Jamaica
Barcelona, Spain
Paris
Dominican Republic

Thanks,Jessica! We’re really glad you are here.

Are you our next community management fellow?

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I am thrilled to announce that we are hiring a new community management fellow for TheCR Network. “What?!” you’re saying, “But you just hired, not one, but two back in January!” Well, dear reader, you’re right, and spoiler alert: they were so awesome they have both moving onto full-time roles on TheCR team (yay!) While onboarding, training and mentoring our new fellows each year is a lot (A LOT!) of work, I am always delighted when they find their true spot on our team.

So, now we’re on the hunt for another aspiring community professional to join TheCR team and learn by doing, right alongside our community managers. Our fellows are always neck-deep in the Network from day-one, so it truly is an unparalleled learning experience. Our fellows do everything from planning and eventually running programming, drafting content, managing working groups, diving into metrics and analytics and yes, some of the ho-hum admin stuff that goes with any community management job.

You might think I’m overselling it, so let’s hear from two of our most recent fellows who are still on the team at TheCR (nb: did you know I was our first fellow, all the way back in 2011? It’s true!)

“The fellowship program is an incubator of knowledge – you are given space to test and explore, in a real time environment, with the support of experienced mentors who want to see you succeed.” – Rachael Silvano, TheCR Fellow 2017

 

“It was great to learn more about community and community practitioners while actually being one myself. You do valuable work and get a lot of experiences that internships and fellowships don’t usually offer.”

– Kelly Schott, TheCR Fellow 2017

 

Our application for TheCR Fellowship role is now open! Don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.

Looking for a Few Great Community Fellows

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By Shannon Abram, Relationship Manager at The Community Roundtable.

help wantedI’ve already mentioned that we’re excited for all the new content, programming and research that 2015 will bring. Now, I’m extra excited to announce that to support all the new community initiatives we are undertaking we are also expanding TheCR team.

In the past we’ve hired Community Fellows specifically for our research and community management teams, and this time we’re expanding both the scope and size of our search – we are currently seeking community fellows for our Research, Community Management and Sales/Marketing teams.

TheCR Fellowship program is designed to help the right candidate immerse themselves in the community management discipline and accumulate the expertise to qualify for community management roles after their time with us.

At a high level, each Fellowship will provide:

•    Formal community management training
•    Hands-on experience in community management, with a lens toward research, engagement or sales/marketing.
•    Access to leading community management practitioners
•    Direct access to potential employers
•    The opportunity to work with a variety of organizations and brands
•    Community management and business mentorship from TheCR team.
•    A monthly stipend

While you can visit each job description above for more details for each position, the Fellow’s roles would generally include:

•    Commitment of 35+ hours a week for at least 6 months and no more than 12 months
•    Day-to-day tasks related to their role
•    Special projects which, depending on the person’s skill set and interests, could be research, content, business development, marketing, or events projects

Why a fellowship and not a permanent hire?

As a small organization there are large risks for someone in deciding to work with us and there are risks for us in making a permanent hire. By providing training, access to market leaders, and a stipend to a fellow, we can ensure that she or he is very well positioned to find a great position with a larger organization at the end of the fellowship. To us, this creates a win-win-win for potential candidates, employers, and for us. It also serves our mission by enabling us to develop trained, experienced professionals for the market. We liked our last two fellows so much we hired them both into permanent roles, which is also a potential outcome of the fellowship.

Why a Fellowship at TheCR?

The Community Roundtable has been championing the discipline of community management for over five years. In that time we have built up frameworks, training and research that demonstrates the value of community and community management. We work with over 100+ leading brands and organizations and understand more about how communities are used and managed in business environments than any other organization. Because of our network and relationships, this is a great opportunity for the right person to meet and collaborate with our clients and members.

Learn More About Each Role

Do you have what it takes? Check out the open positions now:

While not a requirement for the right candidate, preference will be given to people within commuting distance from Boston.