- Tell us how do you define a community?
This question is not as literal as it seems (hint: don’t study take the definition from the Merriam-Webster dictionary) interviewers are looking to understand your unique take on the concept of community.
- Do you know how many hours does a Community Manager work?
This will tell you whether your candidate truly understands the reality of managing online communities. Technically, unless you close your branded community at set hours, life goes on 24/7 online so candidates need to appreciate they may be on call when needed. If they say 9-5, say thank you and goodbye.
- Tell me how did you get that awesome job?
Through blogger relations. At my previous position, part of my job was building relationships with bloggers, and that’s how I met Gani. We became friends, and the rest is history. But I do have to thank Heidi Sullivan (SVP at Cision) for pushing me into social media and marketing in the first place!
- Please explain how do you define an online community?
Right off the bat, this question can stump many candidates. I’ve heard a lot of vague answers about social media platforms that veer off on an incoherent tangent until they fall off a cliff. Keep it straightforward by giving a simple definition that explains what an online community is: a group of people who share a common goal, cause, or interest and gather together to collaborate and discuss via the internet.
- Explain me what do you see as the point of social media for businesses today?
The ideal candidate will recognize that a business can have multiple objectives for their social media efforts, and hopefully name one or two that happen to be your business’s goals.
- Tell me what do you think makes a strong community?
There is no right answer to this question. It’s truly based on your own opinion and past experiences. Use this as an opportunity to once again show the interviewer your passion and knowledge of community development.
- Explain how are your presentation skills? How do you prepare for presentations?
Very good. I gather and research the topic on what the presentation is regarding before putting the presentation together.
- Explain me what do you know about our development? Our community?
Established in 1989, we are a premier condominium lakefront community in the heart of the Ozarks, located on beautiful Table Rock Lake. Our community consists of 172 two bedroom condominiums and two to four bedroom patio homes. Our property owners are full and part-time residents with full ownership (no weekly or overnight rentals).
- Tell me how do you deal with trolls?
It depends on the situation. In general, I try to respond quickly. If they keep on behaving like a troll, I ignore them, and, if necessary, I’ll block them. You can only do so much to appease people.
- Tell me what are your strengths as Community Manager?
While this question is an invitation to do some chest pounding, remember to illustrate strengths that will benefit the employer and are relative to the position. For example:
☛ being a problem solver
☛ being a motivator
☛ being a natural leader
☛ the ability to perform under pressure
☛ a positive attitude
☛ loyalty
- Tell me how do you deal with difficult people? Can you give us a specific example?
Customer support is one part of a community manager role. It’s important to share how you’d handle a situation with a difficult person in the community. You may have your own process, but experts say listening, showing empathy and not taking it personally is always a good approach.
- Tell me how does social media marketing fit into the overall digital marketing mix?
Their answer, hopefully, will demonstrate an understanding of the synergy between organic search marketing, paid search marketing, content marketing and social media marketing. Listen to find out if they have knowledge of other pillars of digital marketing.
- Explain me what are your weaknesses as Community Manager?
Another tricky one. The purpose of this question is to see how you view and evaluate yourself.
One the one hand, if you suggest you don’t have any weaknesses, your interviewer will almost certainly see you as a lair, egotistical, or both.
Don’t fall into the trap of trying to present a positive skill in disguise as a weakness, like “I work too hard” or “I am a perfectionist”. Any experienced interviewer will see through this in a heartbeat.
Additionally, revealing that “I’m not really a morning person and have been known to come in late” raises immediate and obvious red flags.
- Explain me how do you spend most of your time?
Every day in my job is different – which is what’s so exciting about it. Some days are spent talking to people, both internally and externally, to generate ideas and collaborate on new projects. Others, I’m analyzing performance of our community initiatives and making data-driven strategy decisions. I also manage a team of community producers, so I spend a lot of time making sure they have the tools they need to do the amazing work they do.
- Tell me are you an organized person?
Yes, I am an organized person. Filing, daily to do list, tasks, calendar appointments.
- Tell me what’s your top tip for growing your community?
Respond and be active. People come to Social Media Examiner because they know they will get their questions answered. We provide a lot of in-depth content every day but also do things to facilitate conversation.
- Tell us what bookkeeping experience do you have?
Certified QuickBooks, A/R, A/P, Collections.
- Tell me how do you decide which social platforms to invest the most time in?
Not all social platforms are created equally. A social media manager needs to figure out where their brand’s audience actually is and invest there. The ideal candidate’s answer should reflect that.
- Tell me how do you handle complaints from property owners or tenants?
Listen to their concern and if necessary forward to appropriate committee.
- Explain how would your strategy differ when managing our social media outposts and our branded community?
This is our first question referencing social media. This is a great one for probing for use of buzz words, generic statements about social media and kool-aid, fishbowl, echo chamber reactionism. We’re looking for an in-depth answer outlining the differences of each audience and why each platform should have its own focus and approach (engagement, attrition, monitoring etc), and what that would be. It’s also a good way to check whether the candidate has looked at your community eco-system before walking through your office door.
- Tell me a little bit about your computer skills?
I am proficient on Microsoft office and was proficient with Jenark.
- Tell me why did you choose to pursue a career as a community association manager?
Enjoy community environment and helping members who choose to be part of the community.
- Tell me what tools do you use for posting, tracking and measuring social media?
You’re trying to learn what their process is for publishing and what tools they are familiar with. You’ll want them to mention how they tie social media activity to business KPIs.
- Tell me what is your process for hiring maintenance work? What do you look for in a company, cheapest price or higher rated service?
Quality and Affordability.
- Tell me what are some common complaints you have received from property owners or tenants?
Water Intrusion and Mold Issue complaints.
- Tell me what are some common HOA laws? Have you read through our HOA laws, if so, what did you think of them?
Assessment dues, property decoration restrictions. Yes, and they are there for a reason and must be followed by all.
- Explain about a time when you were able to overcome an obstacle in a creative manner?
There was a sewer back up on a condo property, yet the condo property didn’t have the money for the repair. I called the county sewer department and asked them to please come to the property to see if it was a county problem. Once there they seen how bad the situation was and repaired the back up immediately.
- Please explain about a time that you had to advocate on behalf of someone else?
A major part of the community manager role is advocating on behalf of users, so this question should be a no brainer for anyone you intend to hire. This is also a good question to ask folks who might be transitioning in from another field, as there should be many transferable situations at top of mind ranging from defending younger siblings from bullies to helping a teammate get a promotion. Pay particularly close attention to how they describe the way that they went about pursuing a good outcome – this can be very telling, particularly in its absence.
- Explain me what made you choose Community Management as a career? And why are you interested in working for us?
The first part of this question will answer what makes them tick, and what matters to them when building and managing an online community. The second part allows you to ascertain whether they are knowledgeable about your product, passionate about being your digital mouthpiece and evangelizing about your company. You could also ask them how they would identify whether an issue needs to be shared with another one of your departments, which also provides a good opportunity to move into describing your company structure and progress the interview to answering their questions.
- Tell us which online communities have you managed in the past and what were your responsibilities?
An obvious question, but one that throws up almost everything you need to know about their skill set. An ex-Community Manager may turn out to be more competent than a Head of Community, depending on the scope of their role and their position in the organization. As job titles are still very fluid, use this question to flesh out just how experienced they are and whether they were running teams or influencing any other departments.
- Tell me who is a typical member of our community, and what do you think is important to them?
Here’s your chance to show off that you’ve done your research on the company and its community. You will be interacting with members on a daily basis, so show the hiring manager that you can get inside the mind of a member and understand why they are part of the community. Even better, back this up with theories from psychology and case studies.
- I like what I am hearing but I have got a ton of great candidates. Why should we hire you?
An easy question to answer well with one caveat – don’t slam your fellow interviewee’s. On the one hand, you have an opportunity to really stand out from the pack. Alternatively, You shouldn’t assume the skills of other applicants. Focus on your own strengths, and if the interviewer hasn’t given you an opportunity to mention that one “slam dunk” quality about yourself, now would be the time.
Is there a wrong way to answer this question? Consider the responses below:
“I really need a job right now”
“I need the money”
“Your office is really close to my house”
“I’ve always been interested in what you guys do”
Notice any commonality here? All of these answers demonstrate a benefit to you. While every employer assumes that these sorts of things play in on some level, these are not the reasons they are going to hire you.
- Tell us how do you deal with difficult people, arguments in your community, or legal/security risks?
Back to the nitty-gritty of routine community management; how will your candidate take to implementing a solid policy and set of escalation procedures, or write them up from scratch? Asking them for examples of situations they have experienced is useful too. I used to ask candidates in passing how taking the Tube made them feel; you’d be surprised at how many were quick to anger at the mere thought, which didn’t bode well.
- Let’s say you notice a spike – or drop – in social activity on network. What are your next steps?
You want to see how they would apply critical thinking to discover what led to the traffic anomaly. Data without wisdom, after all, is useless.
- Tell us what are the first 3 things you do to start your morning as a social media manager?
You’re looking to see if they have habits in place for checking notifications of brand mentions, content shares, comments and other engagements, across the business’s active social platforms.
- Explain me how often and how quickly do you respond to comments? How do you deal with negative comments?
Does the candidate’s philosophy align with your company’s when it comes to these interactions? Do they inquire about whether there is a process in place for addressing negative feedback?
- Explain me what did you set out to achieve when managing these communities, and did you succeed?
A truthful answer will generally be “Not always.”. A reassuring answer would be “I made some mistakes, but here’s what I learnt:”. An enlightened answer is “Some things worked, some things didn’t, but overall I grew the community whilst increasing engagement because:”. A blank stare is worrying.
- Explain me how would you announce a new feature, initiative or respond to problematic users of the website?
Getting the candidate to draft up some email responses, forum posts or a blog post gives you some insight into their writing and communication skills, and how they approach solving problems by email. You can also find out whether they are finding it easy to pick up on the voice of your company, or have any thoughts about how to modify it when communicating with online customers.
- Explain me have you ever represented a brand in forums, social media, or a blog rather than your own voice? Tell me about that experience?
Have you managed social media accounts before? What was your approach? This is a chance to highlight your experience in social media and blogging from previous jobs. Share how it contributed to building a successful community.
- Tell me what’s the biggest lesson you learned from your previous job? (or tell us about a time you’ve failed)?
If your previous role wasn’t a community manager position, try and think of lesson that relates to building relationships. The Muse offers good advice for answering this question such as to be prepared with your own definition of failure. First, explain what failure means to you and follow with your lesson. Then explain the situation with an honest account of the story.
- Tell us what experience do you have when it comes to discussing our recently posted COMMUNITY MANAGER position?
Ever since my first paper route at age 10 I’ve been doing something to keep myself busy and earn money. Back then, it was obviously about earning some spending money. What I didn’t realize was that I was actually starting the journey of establishing what I liked to do and how I fit in to the grand scheme of things. I then worked as a junior computer tech in my last 2 summers of high school. It was here that I discovered what I was passionate about and what I wanted to do. I enrolled in college to get my degree in computer sciences, and I have been working around technology ever since.
- Explain what challenges do you have staying connected with other departments or with your clients?
Since Orbit is a web design and development company most of the other team members (Designers, Project Managers, and Developers) are working on projects almost non-stop. They aren’t really involved in the marketing efforts. To keep them in the loop, I send out biweekly “Orbit Happenings” emails. It’s just an overview of what the marketing team is working on, speaking engagements that we have coming up, events that we’re hosting or attending, press, new clients that we’ve gotten, etc. I won’t lie, there are a few cat videos that go along with it. The team loves it.
- Explain about a time you handled a member/customer who was difficult, impatient, or upset?
Many community manager roles involve elements of customer service. After all, you’re interacting with people daily and will often encounter someone who is reaching out to you with an issue that needs solving. Let your interviewer see that they can trust you to be the face of and voice for the community.
- Best Top Community Manager Job Interview Questions:
☛ What are some common complaints you have received from property owners or tenants?
☛ Give an example of a time when you had to be relatively quick in coming to a decision.
☛ How do you handle complaints from property owners or tenants?
☛ What is your process for hiring maintenance work? What do you look for in a company, cheapest price or higher rated service?
☛ Have you ever had to deal with a major problem in your community before? Example, sewage back up, major power outage, etc? How did you handle it?
☛ Have you led any HOA meetings before? What was your role?
☛ Are you an organized person? Explain.
☛ What bookkeeping experience do you have?
☛ What are some common HOA laws? Have you read through our HOA laws, if so, what did you think of them?
☛ When have you had a problem with a homeowner or tenant before? How did you handle the situation?
☛ What do you know about our development? Our community?
☛ Tell me about a time when you were able to overcome an obstacle in a creative manner.
☛ Could you tell me a little bit about your computer skills?
☛ What skills would you like to develop in this job?
☛ How are your presentation skills? How do you prepare for presentations?
☛ What kind of events cause you stress on the job?
☛ Why did you choose to pursue a career as a community association manager?
- Top 21 Community Manager Job Interview Questions:
1) How do you know when a community is working and thriving?
2) What makes a great question (if Q and A community)?
3) What makes a great answer (if Q and A community)?
4) What are the most important things to know about your audience?
5) How do you drive audience engagement?
6) How do you reward good behavior/manage bad behavior?
7) How do you get a community to become (mostly) self-policing?
8) Describe a situation you’ve resolved with a “problem child” user?
9) What sites that have communities does the candidate like/dislike?
10) What’s their value thesis for your users (what do they want/how can you tell)?
11) Describe a great community member experience, all the way from first contact until revisiting the site
12) What are ways to use notifications to drive engagement?
13) What are ways to use social sharing to drive engagement?
14) What are some strategies to make community members you marketers?
15) How should reputation in a community be handled (by a score like Klout; by data for followers, following, answers, etc.; by endorsements; by topic, etc.)
16) What’s a good example of an actionable feedback loop for a community?
17) What does this refer to: n(n-1)/2? Why does that matter?
18) Why do people join communities — what are some of the biggest drivers?
19) How can the site’s community be improved — what are three quick ways to make it better?
20) Where does the candidate go to learn more about communities — whose books and blogs have they read, etc. (see if they give you names like Godin, Verdino, C. Anderson and such). Whose advice do they trust?
21) What are the best websites they visit — or events they attend — to learn more about social media news, and community building in particular?
- Top 10 Basic Community Manager Job Interview Questions:
- What is the role of a Community Manager in this type of organization?
2. Tell me about your experience working with multiple internal and client stakeholders to achieve a singular purpose?
3. What websites do you enjoy viewing personally? What blogs do you follow consistently?
4. What types of content are you most interested in?
5. Tell me about a time you almost hit ‘send’ when responding to a fan/follower but hesitated.
6. What is your approach for mapping out a content plan?
7. Give me 3 examples of excellent content and tell me about what makes it so great.
8. Tell me about what it’s like meeting your community members in person. Is there a community member that has changed the way you think, work or live?
9. How would you like to evolve the Community Manager role?
10. What do you need to be successful in this role? - General Community Manager Job Interview Questions:
☛ What was the biggest lesson you learned from your previous job?
☛ What quality or skill gives you a special edge?
☛ What’s the most effective project you’ve worked on? How did you know it was a success?
☛ When was the last time you quit a project or responsibility and why?
☛ What have you done recently to make someone else happy?
☛ What’s the best introduction between two people that you’ve ever made?
☛ What’s an opinion you hold that most people disagree with?
☛ What’s the best book or article you’ve read recently and what made it great?
☛ If we’re sitting here a year from now celebrating what a great year it’s been for you in this role, what did we achieve together?
☛ What would you change about our community to make it better?
☛ What do you think makes a strong community?
☛ Can you give me an example of a thriving community and tell me what they are doing so well?
☛ What are some of the most important metrics you consider when tracking results from community management?
- Tell me have you ever had to deal with a major problem in your community before? Example, sewage back up, major power outage, etc? How did you handle it?
Notified all involved via email notice. Contacted sewer department for repair.
- What skills would you like to develop in this job?
Becoming an expert as a portfolio manager.
- Tell me how does your approach change when managing different social media platforms?
It’s a common misconception that a social media manager is the same as a community manager. However, being a community manager often involves creating content and interacting with users on social media accounts. Simply being a personal user of Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram is not enough to show that you can manage a brand or business social media presence, if that’s part of what the role you’re interviewing for asks for (many will ask for this, many will not– this is why you need to do the research).
- Tell us in what way are you a community person?
This question allows the interviewee to tell you about what communities they participate in on a daily basis and why they see themselves being a good fit for your role. This question will also draw clear lines between community folks and interviewees who are simply good on the twitters, can manage a support box like a pro, or can throw a fun party. It’s not that these skills are not important or relevant to being a community manager, but what’s more important is that there are true community skills supporting these efforts.
- Tell me what Does the Role of Online Community Manager Entail?
Even though the role of online community manager is usually pretty broad, that doesn’t mean you’ll be constantly focused on putting out fires. Your main responsibilities will be tweaking the processes of the online community to try and increase participation and get more people through the onboarding process. You’ll coordinate the content that will be added into the community to ensure your customers or members are getting the value and support they expect.
At their best, online community managers wear a lot of hats, but perhaps one of the biggest challenges of the position is continually educating the people around you about the purpose of your role. Since staffing an online community manager is a relatively new experience for most organizations, you will likely have the ability to shape your role, for better or for worse. Taking the time to educate those around you about what you bring to the table can help solidify your position as a necessity.
- Suppose i don’t expect you to go into too much detail – but why are you leaving your last job?
An innocent question. But a question that if answered improperly, can be a deal breaker. While many individuals will be looking to a new job as a means of increasing their salary, “not being paid well enough at your last job” is not something you want to mention to your interviewer. After all, are you not likely to leave this particular job if you found you could make more down the street?
If you’re currently employed and leaving of your own accord, craft your response around enhancing your career development and a seeking out of new challenges.
- Tell me what do you see yourself doing in five years as Community Manager?
This one is all about job commitment.
Some people make job hopping a career in of itself, and your answer here can be telling. Here, your interviewer is determining if you are:
☛ someone who sets goals
☛ someone who has a vision
☛ someone who is reliable
☛ someone who demonstrates commitment
☛ someone who is loyal
While no interviewer expects someone to stay at a company forever, try and craft your response in such a way that shows progression in your career, and alignment with the Company’s needs and future. Again, self awareness is key – your employer doesn’t want to send you down an unwanted path, resulting in wasted time and energy for everyone.
- Explain me how would you build and foster a community?
The best way to answer this question is to pull from examples of how you’ve built communities in the past. If it wasn’t with a business, that’s OK. Maybe it was a book club, or writing club. The important thing is to take the interviewer step-by-step through the process of how you’ve created, and maintained, a community.
- Explain me what tool do you recommend we build our community/new feature on?
If all they suggest are hosted community platforms, you might have a shill. An open-minded and competent community manager will be able to build a thriving space using free tools if necessary, and will most likely respond by asking what the requirements are, as this will dictate the toolset, not the other way around.
- Tell me which online communities are you a member of?
I’d expect more than just a Twitter/Facebook answer here. A few niche examples suggest they are capable and aware enough to identify the right places to promote your own community and grow your audience. They are also more likely to have been exposed to different management styles which will help them craft something for your community, rather than blindly rehashing something they read in a book or blog (yes, including this one)
- Explain an example of a time that you had to mediate a crisis for your business?
You’ll find a real-world example to be extremely telling of their social media management experience to this point. Remember, an ideal candidate is a fantastic story teller, so you may be assigning bonus points for a candidate who presents an exciting story.
- Tell me a bit about your morning routine?
Wake up, read theSkimm, check email, check Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, then walk to the office listening to TED Radio Hour or This American Life.
- Tell us what metrics do you track, and why? How will you communicate these to management?
A Community Manager who doesn’t know which metrics are relevant to their community and doesn’t know how to measure the success of their engagement initiatives will soon run into trouble. A star performer will have some ideas that are pertinent to your community by the time they meet you for an interview. It’s even better if they ask you who will be viewing the report and devise a custom answer based on that.
- Tell me how do you track success in community management?
Measuring community success can be a little tricky at times. It depends on what your community goals are, but there are basic metrics you can keep track of such as member growth, communication engagement rates, and number of members interested in joining. If you’ve managed a community before, share how you’ve measured success in that role, and how it contributed to future success of the community.
- Tell me what are your salary expectations as Community Manager?
Many consider this question to be a loaded gun – dangerous in the hands of the inexperienced. Often times, an interviewee will start talking salary before they’ve had an opportunity to illustrate their skill set and value making any sort of leverage valueless. Here, knowledge is power, as salary often comes down to negotiation. Do some research into your industry to establish base rates of pay based on seniority and demand but keep in mind – your employer is hiring you for what they believe you are worth, and how much benefit they feel you will provide.
- I am curious, how did you come to find out about our company and what do you know about us?
This can be a great way to stand out from other applicants and demonstrate initiative. Almost every company will have a website, Facebook page, Instagram account, or some sort of digital footprint. Spend a bit of time doing some online research:
☛ If they have a website, check out their “About us” or “Culture/Mission/Vision” pages.
☛ Who are some of the principal people who work there? Who are the founders?
☛ What sorts of things does this company care about? Do they donate to a particular cause or charity? Which one(s)?
☛ What are their core values? Which of their core values resonate with you?
☛ Has the company been in the news recently or have they won any awards (Social Media can be a great place to find this information).
- Explain me as a community manager, what is your management style?
In my experience delegating responsibility and authority is crucial. A team needs to be able to develop and grow as individuals and a whole, not be held back by low expectations or ego.
I believe in building a team. Each member of the team should be clear on their role, know where they fit in and feel as though they can depend on one another. I also believe in real-time feedback. If you do something wrong you should know it immediately. Regardless of right or wrong, the further removed feedback is in time, the less effective it is.
- Explain me what Are the Characteristics of an Effective Online Community Manager?
As an online community manager, you’ll need to have a strong degree of initiative. It isn’t the type of job where you’ll wait for tasks to be assigned to you-more likely, you’ll be determining the necessary actions required to achieve the goals of your new organization. Chances are, you’ll probably have more experience with online communities than anyone else in your organization, so they’ll be looking to you for answers.
In order to be an effective online community manager, you need to have a firm understanding of the pillars of online community management. You might find yourself in a situation where you need to call on that understanding to stand up for yourself and your job. Being prepared with a concrete plan for the future helps establish your purpose and relevance.
All of this starts during your job interview. Since online community managers are leaders before they are doers, it is more than likely that you’ll be interviewed by someone looking for your guidance and initiative to meet the organization’s goals. Here are effective ways to set yourself up for success both during the interview and once you have the job.
- Explain how do you define a community?
“Community” as a term is something tossed around in conversation frequently, but few folks have thought to consider what it actually means. Good community talent will have their own opinions and theories and will be able to provide a succinct definition off hand. Red flag answers will include vague references to social media and content – and community management is not the same as social media.
- Explain me what communities are you a member of?
Your interviewer is asking this question to see if you can demonstrate your understanding of what a community is and what it means to belong to one. We’re all part of many communities throughout our lives. If you’re an active commenter on BuzzFeed and know the other commenters there, then you’re part of the BuzzFeed community. If not online, maybe you were a member of an after-school club or local charity. Be capable of talking about a time you contributed to a community in some shape or form.
- Explain me what initiatives would you take to increase engagement/retention/growth in our community?
Engaging, keeping, and attracting new users are goals for most (but not all) communities. Be prepared with two or three ideas to achieve these goals. Don’t worry about presenting original ideas here-you’re interviewing for a job, not providing free consulting advice. Just show the hiring manager that you have ideas. If you suggest ideas they’ve already tried, well, that shows you’re on the same page.
- Tell me what kind of events cause you stress on the job?
Dealing with people with a certain entitlement or just being rude.
- Tell me when have you had a problem with a homeowner or tenant before? How did you handle the situation?
Tenant does not feel she needs a lease to live in parents’ home. Our covenants state a lease must be on file. Explained that to her and she understood.
- Explain me an example of a time when you had to be relatively quick in coming to a decision?
Making decision to give gate pass for free or charge for it.