Want To Work In Social Media? Personality Matters

Getting a job working with social media in a business or corporate environment often requires a certain pedigree of a communications background mixed with a bit of geekiness. Businesses hiring for social media marketers and online community managers either know exactly what they're looking for, or are hiring someone who they feel like can come into a role and make it their own. A few months ago I wrote a post dissecting the content of an online community manager job posting. One thing you will notice right away is how general the requirements are. They don't ask for competency in specific tools, or need all applicants to have X or Y professional certifications. Postings for positions like community manager or social media manager tend to be more holistic in nature. A big part of whether someone is considered for a position like that is their personality. I came across two different posts that discuss the preferred personality types / traits of a successful candidate for a community manager job and a Chief Content Officer position. In this post at MarketingProfs, they discuss the social skills required of a Chief Content Officer. All of their points are great, but this one stuck out to me: Community leadership. Your CCO needs to have the skills to contract with "outside" contributors—be they in other departments within your firm or completely outside of it. And in a separate post at Econsultancy, they report on recent data from a polling of employers about the traits that they are looking for in a community manager: Multitasking capabilities. Good writing skills. Patience. People skills. Technical prowess. Flexibility. A good sense of humour. Dedication. As the author notes, these are "soft skills". They're silver-linings on your resume. But when you're trying to set yourself apart in what is becoming a very crowded industry of people deeming themselves gurus and social media gods, its these skills and traits that will help you stand out in the interview process.

Fishbowl

Want To Work In Social Media? Personality Matters

Ben LaMothe

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Ben LaMothe