The Community Roundtable

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

Wanted: Our Next Community Management Fellow

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online community manager conference
Just a few of our fabulous former fellows!

Do you know someone who is interested in community management but doesn’t know how to break into the industry? Are YOU someone who wants to pursue a career in community, but don’t know where to start?

Maybe you are our next Community Management Fellow!

Each year we bring on one (sometimes two) new team members in a fellowship capacity. You don’t need a background in community management, but you do need enthusiasm for learning and the belief that using community management tactics is a powerful way to engage your audience.

“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 Fellows work fully remotely (even pre-COVID-19) and are immersed in online community management from day one. We truly believe in the tenants of community – and operate as such. We are a lean, highly-productive team of self-starters. We are encouraged (and encourage each other) to work independently, and look to each other as both challenging and supportive teammates.

Fellows work closely with our Networks team and, while there are set job responsibilities, there is also a lot of room to bring in new ideas, streamline and improve current programs, and leave your mark on the Network.

Our Fellowship program empowers individuals to learn about what they are drawn to in the community world and provides an incredible foundation for impactful work in and out of the online community management industry. Our alumni fellows hold roles including Community Manager, Online Community Tactician, Director of Community, and more. Oh, and maybe I buried the lede here, but I am also a former Fellow!

If you are passionate about community and are looking for a role where you can expand your skills, learn and work with a dynamic team, and make an impact from day one I encourage you to explore our Fellowship program.

You can also read more from former Fellows here and here.

Graduation, or Three Things I Learned as a TheCR Fellow

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Note from Hillary: I’m thrilled to share this guest blog post from one of our current community management fellows who is wrapping up her training time as a TheCR Fellow and looking for a new community management role. 

thecr fellow

Rachael Silvano, TheCR Fellow 2017

On my first day as a TheCR Fellow, the team asked me to take a quiz to determine my Holy Grail character (King Arthur for those interested). This quickly led to nine months of learning, training, and exploring every nook of community management, with some fantastic thought leaders at the helm. For those of you unfamiliar with TheCR Fellowship program, it’s a one-year contract designed to intertwine real-world experience with a training environment. For me, that meant working on dashboards, reading the last four years of The State of Community Management Research, and making connections in TheCR Network where I helped manage the day-to-day workings of the community.

With my year coming to a close, I’m walking away with a profound sense of gratitude for the opportunities I’ve had at TheCR, as well as excitement over what my next role could be. I’d love to continue honing the skills I’ve established in building dashboards, collecting and analyzing community metrics, and training (if you have a position that fits those descriptions, feel free to drop me a line!).

Below are just a handful of some of the most important takeaways I’ve learned from all the teachers I’ve had at The Community Roundtable:

1.) Community (and Community Management) Is Not Linear

Working in community means being agile, flexible, and comfortable with the unknown. Maybe you start building out an engagement program and end up reviewing your governance in the process. Or perhaps you begin exploring a metric and you wind up waist-deep in your analytics dashboard finding new reports you didn’t know existed. By approaching your work with a loose grip, you can be ready to take on rewarding (if unexpected) challenges.

2.) More Data Does Not Equal Better Data

Much of my work with TheCR was focused on wrangling TheCR Network data. As such, “more =/= better” quickly became my golden rule. Putting your community maturity narrative first, and then telling that story with data is a valuable lesson for community newbies and veteran pros alike. Saying that your “likes” have gone up 120% doesn’t speak to the dynamic complexity of your community’s journey – detailing who is liking, why, and in what context gives a better (and more important) picture.

thecr fellow

3.) Always Be You

There is something to be said about the virtues of being cookie cutter, but the biggest I took away from my time at TheCR is that the things that make you unique are not only important but vital.  I’ve learned to not only be authentic but to craft my authenticity with intention. Chances are if you read an email from me, it had something about video games, robots, or my cat, Walter- which is all thanks to TheCR letting me be me.

I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn from amazing community practitioners and I’m excited to move onto my next career adventure. You can connect with me on Linkedin.

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.

Now Seeking: Future of Business Research Fellow

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At The Community Roundtable we’re expanding our research on how organizations use social technologies and are looking for a Research Fellow with fundamental research skills who needs experience and mentorship to take the next step in their career. This opportunity will help the right candidate leap past the average entry-level analyst position and develop expertise in the emerging and critical social business space.

Are you a person who:

  • Loves observing people and trends and figuring out what it all means?
  • Can easily abstract what you see and hear to draw larger conclusions?
  • Is curious about how new technologies are affecting people, relationships and organizations?
  • Likes to parse, re-combine and analyze data?
  • Enjoys using data to tell a story that is meaningful in order to inspire action or to make people think?
  • Is detail oriented, likes to keep things on track and has a fine eye for anomalies?
  • Has the confidence to act independently, but the judgment to know what decisions need to be collectively discussed?
  • Understands that work comes with a lot of trivial responsibilities and it is up to you to take care of your fair share?
  • Likes to solve problems and is not afraid to try new things or ask questions?
  • Is friendly, enthusiastic and wants to work as part of a team, doing something that matters?

In this role, you will:

  • Interact with and get exposure to business leaders and executives from organizations like SAP, Aetna, CSC, Google, Fidelity, Autodesk, Walgreens, H&R Block and many others
  • Develop and execute industry leading research on the use of social technologies
  • Work with industry experts across the market in a variety of capacities

The Research Fellowship is a paid position intended to last 12-18 months and provide the Fellow with the experience and network to find a permanent position.

The fellowship program includes:

  • Strong mentorship in research, writing, analysis and presentation development
  • The opportunity to build leading expertise in the emerging field of community analytics
  • Access to social media, social business and community management leaders and executives
  • Direct access to potential employers
  • The opportunity to work with a variety of organizations and brands
  • A work environment rooted in shared success, respect, flexibility and personal responsibility
  • A monthly stipend

Skills and attributes needed in this role:

  • Communication skills, in particular strong long-form writing and presentation development skills
  • Project management and strong organizational abilities
  • Knowledge of and experience with social technologies
  • A general understanding of business principals and organizations
  • Research and data analysis experience
  • Excel and database experience
  • A sense of humor and the ability to not take yourself too seriously
  • Desire to make a difference

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 analyst or research gig 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. But we liked our last fellow so much we hired her into a permanent role, which is also a potential outcome of the fellowship.

Do you have what it takes? Are you excited by what we could do together? Please tell us more about you! While not a requirement for the right candidate, preference will be given to people within commuting distance from Boston.

Fill out my online form.

Looking for our first Community Management Fellow

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Community management is increasing in importance as organizations realize that a new management discipline is required to effectively participate in and get value out of online social environments. As interest in the field has expanded, The Community Roundtable has grown – more members, more products, and more partnerships.  It’s an exciting time for us and filled with opportunities to help shape the market.

At the same time, it is challenging for our clients to find people with the right background to fill critical community management roles and challenging for people with interest but without direct experience to find community management positions.

We see the opportunity to fill the needs of the market and our needs in a unique way: TheCR Community Management Fellowship. This fellowship is intended to last 6-12 months and give individuals a strong background and network with which to find a permanent community management position.

The Community Management Fellowship will provide:
•    Formal community management training
•    Hands-on community management experience
•    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
•    A stipend of $2,500/month

The Community Management Fellow’s responsibilities would be the following:
•    Commitment of 30 hours a week for at least 6 months and no more than 12 months
•    Day-to-day community management tasks
•    Content development
•    Program planning
•    Analysis and reporting
•    Special projects which, depending on the person’s skill set and interests, could be research, content, business development, marketing, or events projects.

Skills and attributes we are looking for:

  • Communication skills, in particular strong writing and conversational expertise
  • Program management and strong organizational abilities
  • Knowledge of and experience with social tools including blogs, Facebook, and Twitter
  • Understanding of general business principals and organizations
  • An engaging personality
  • A sense of humor

Why the fellowship and not a permanent hire? As a small organization there are 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 community management gig with a larger organization at the end of the fellowship. To us, this creates a win-win-win for potential community managers, employers, and for us. It also serves our mission by enabling us to develop trained, experienced professionals for the market.

While right now, we are only looking for one fellow over time we are hoping to expand this program if there is interest – potentially to community managers with full-time positions for whom regular outside experience, training, and mentoring would allow them to ramp up more quickly or to take on additional responsibilities.

Are you a recent graduate looking to get into community management or a mid-career professional looking to transition to the field? This fellowship is ideal for you.

If you are interested in applying, please tell us more about yourself:

Oops! We could not locate your form.

Thank you for your interest!

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The Community Roundtable  is committed to advancing the business of community. We offer a monthly subscription report, a membership based peer network, a community management training program and advisory services for corporations and individuals.