Now that you’ve got a base resume (see Making a great CM resume), it’s time to start shopping it around to a few hiring managers!

Red flags to watch out for

But, before you start wading into the job market, I implore you to learn about some essential red flags. These are the red flags I’ve learned over the years that I keep my eyes and ears out for as I read through every job description (JD) and listen to each overview by hiring managers:

• Poorly defined role - The JD starts out great as it describes the company, but the role just vaguely describes it as “Manage <business name>’s community” without mentioning what platform(s) or describing the type of community itself.
• Incorrectly labelled as a CM gig - This most often happens when people conflate a strict Social Media Manager role with a community manager. Yes, there’s overlap between these two but if you’re not as interested in the content and digital marketing aspects of being a social media manager, then make sure to ask questions about the role before any video or face-to-face interviews. I’ve had my fair share of interviews where I go in expecting one thing, but the person on the other side of the table isn’t 100% sure what a CM is and expected the hiree to be something else.
• Asking too much of one role - This can present in two ways: 1) A role that says it requires 4-5 years experience when it’s clearly a junior role and 2) A role that piles on MUCH more than a community manager’s job. If it’s a case of 1), ignore the year requirement and focus on the rest of the JD. If it’s 2)… RUN. You don’t want to end up in a role where you’re juggling so much that you end up burnt out in a matter of months.
• Little to no support featured - Does the role work within a larger team where responsibilities for different moving parts are owned by people in their specialties? Does the company recognise the need to care for their employees’ health both physical and mental? Community managers work best within a multi-talented team. And, given the vitriol you’ll run into working with hundreds of stakeholders, you will need mental health support or at a minimum, a company that recognises both the employee and the business impacts of mental ill health and burnout.

Finding smarter, not harder

Okay, now that we’ve gotten these red flags out of the way, finding a job really comes down to looking in the right places, networking and to a certain extent, luck.

At the moment, LinkedIn is one of the best places to find roles because you can set up great job alerts but it’s not the only place. These are some of the other places to look through outside of LinkedIn:

• Online job marketplaces
• Industry-specific job marketplaces (e.g. AngelList (startups), PeopleFirstJobs (async companies))
• A specific company’s Jobs or Careers page (e.g. Going directly to Google’s Careers page)
• Recruitment/Talent agency websites (they often require you to register to apply as well as get alerts)
• Social media (use the search functionality to find job posted by businesses or ones shared by other employees)
• Your personal networks (there’s only 1 of you but if your networks are keeping an eye out too, you’ve then got many eyes looking for your next role. And, who knows, maybe someone you know is looking to hire)

The best piece of job hunting advice I’ve ever heard

One of the wisest pieces of advice I ever got about job hunting came from a co-worker who was fresh out of uni. They said that they’ve never stopped looking at new roles to move into because there could always be something better. Keep your job alerts on even once you’re in a new role. Even if you’re intending to stay a while, staying aware of the job market is a great way to gauge if your role is living up to your needs as well as keep up to date as to how CM roles are evolving.