How to recruit forum staff
As your forum grows, you’ll need more people to help you maintain the site. You essentially have two options for recruiting forum staff.
1. Post a public application for members to apply
2. Privately invite members to join the staff
If you have a small community of dedicated members, then posting a public application will work fine. But if you have a large community or if you don’t know the members very well, I suggest privately inviting members to join your staff. Otherwise, you’ll waste time going through applications from unqualified members.
Then the question is, who do you invite? Watch for members who:
- actively post and contribute to discussions
- answer other members’ questions
- welcome new members to the site
- suggest ways to improve the community
Members who already show an interest in your site and care about the community will continue to do that as part of the forum staff. You can teach people how to moderate forums and how to deal with rule violations. But you cannot teach them to care about your community, so look for that quality first.
Other qualities to consider as you’re looking for candidates:
- Clear writing. The principle form of communication in online forums is text, so you want forum staff who can express themselves clearly in writing.
- Objectivity. Part of the fun of online forums is that you get to debate and discuss topics with people from all over the world. You want forum staff who can participate in conversations, but who can also remain objective and clear-headed when arguments heat up.
- Cooperation. Forum staff members have to work together to maintain the site and deal with problems that come up, either from members or technical issues.
- Integrity. Depending on the set up of your forums, you’ll be giving a lot of authority and power to your staff members. Make sure they are people who will use their position responsibly and honestly.
Watch members in your forum and make a list of potential staff members. Your list should have a few names beyond the number of staff members you need to add, so that if someone declines your invitation, you have alternatives.
After you have identified the candidates, send each one a personal message. Tell them that you’re looking for new staff members to help maintain the site and explain their responsibilities. Let them ask you any questions they have about joining the staff. After they’ve accepted, change their settings and assign their areas and duties.
Following these steps will help you build a dedicated forum staff whose first priority is the community on your site.