Hiring Staff Outside Of Your Member Base

Background: So, last December I hired someone from here on the 'D to help with graphics on my board. They did a great job with both the graphics and the layout, though there were still other things I wanted them to do that they never did. They started on an application for a character but never finished it. They gave reason after reason (which were totally legit) but eventually they just decided that they weren't going to be able to help out any more, which was fine.

Right now, I'm working on an employee search to post, because we're in need of at least two more people to help out with the factions.

One of the issues (besides whether or not to include a third position I've been debating adding into the search*) I've been struggling with is that my remaining staff member (who has been busier than usual, which is one of the reasons we need more staff) and I both agreed we don't want to deal with what the person who was supposed to be our graphics mod did, which was join, do some graphics but not everything we needed, never finished an application, and barely came around on the board. We realize that real life>role play and there's still a possibility of something similar happening, but we're hoping it won't. I also realize that one of the risks of hiring outside my member base includes the possibility of whoever I 'hire' going MIA or no longer being able to help out or whatever.

So while I've been working on the employee search form, I've been struggling with how to word that we want staff who are going to actually make an effort to be a part of the board, since we're hiring outside of our member base- write up an application, get it approved, and just make an effort to show that they intend to be active. Any suggestions for the best way to word it?

Also, on one hand I don't really want to require that anyone who applies be a certain age (like 17+), because I have one member who literally just joined like two days ago and put in a staff application the day he joined...but he's fourteen years old, and while he says he has a fair amount of experience, I hesitate because I know that school will start up for him and he'll likely be even busier than he is right now. But at the same time, if I end up deciding to hire him to help out with one of the factions (but not be the only faction mod for it) then I don't want to come off as being hypocritical for saying I want people aged 17+ but end up letting a fourteen year old co-mod a faction. What do you guys think is the best way to word it so that I emphasize that I'd rather have older people be mainly in charge of the factions, but I'm not -against- people who are younger helping someone else out with the factions if possible?

*I have a staff member who's in charge of one of the factions and hasn't been around since the beginning of the month. I've sent PM's and an email have haven't gotten any responses. So basically I've been struggling with whether or not to find someone to take his place as that faction's mod.

I'm also struggling because on one hand, I really could use some help with the factions as soon as possible, but at the same time since I'm looking outside of my member base, I'd much rather get to know the person, see them actually create a character and make an effort to be active, and come online a fair amount before I go ahead and promote them. What's the best thing I can do in this situation? Should I just look for staff and have the understanding between whoever applies that I say yes to that I really just want to get to know them and see how things go and that I reserve the right to say it's not working if I feel that's the case? Things are slow enough around my board in terms of actual posting that I really don't think waiting a month or more for me to see how active whoever I hire becomes is going to do my board any good.

Also, as a potential staff member, would you apply for a staff position based on all of this information- mainly the fact that I'm looking for one or two people who will actually create a character and make an effort to be active, as well as for people who are interested in being in charge of one or more faction, or would it scare you away from wanting to apply? Basically, I'm on the fence because I don't want anything I put in my staff search to scare people off, and I could use the help sooner rather than later.

Last question: I currently have five main factions, though I think I might turn one of them into a sort of co-faction of another, and then there are sort of sub-factions of one of them (basically factions of Jedi that are smaller/less popular than the regular Jedi Order). I was thinking of hiring two more staff members, because myself and my remaining staff member will still be around to do things with the factions and all that...but I'm wondering if two is too little, and if I'm expecting/hoping for too much. Basically, my plan was to have two people. These two people would be in charge of almost any one main faction by themselves (at least at for now) outside of two (each one being one that my staff member and I are in charge of separately)- NPCing, starting plots, starting threads, etc- with the possibility of being in charge of more than one, including co-modding a faction (i.e. I would hopefully have someone help out with my Jedi faction). Do you think two members is going to be too little for this idea, or should it be okay? My main concern is that I don't want to hire too many people, because there's too much of a chance that we won't have enough for them to do. I don't think we have an active enough member base to really justify more than two, but at the same time I feel like I should be looking for at -least- three total people. What would you do in this situation?

tl;dr I'm trying to figure out what the best way to add more staff is, while dealing with some complications that I need help with. XD Thanks in advance for reading!

I had hired from RPG-D and once it didn't work, once it worked. If there is somebody to flake, they will no matter if hired from within the board or outside, be sure of this!

And by putting a limit of age you might avoid a good person. My now co-administrator is 16. She wasn't yet 16 when she applied for moderator and I hired her because she wanted to learn and she had potential. But I didn't trust her fully, so I hired an older moderator too (22 or 23) thinking about her as a junior mod, still in training. Guess what! The older moderator did never do much, then disappeared completely. The younger one, who had helped me more than anybody else, became my co-administrator when there was a free spot, exactly because she has been helping.

^This. This so much, in every aspect. It doesn't matter where you get them from - they will flake anyway. As a sixteen-year-old, I might be a bit biased, but I do have to say that, with all modesty, I am mature enough to play with older players. I think it depends more on how responsible the person is, not on their age. They don't necessarily have anything to do with each other.

ALTHOUGH. Letting someone you don't know have access to your site (whether via Admin CP or Mod CP or even just power over other members) might be dangerous. Make sure they are trustworthy if you do take from the 'D. Think about it in terms of this: you are letting someone into your site who could potentially do it harm.

Oh believe me, I've had people flake both within and outside of my member base. It's definitely not something I haven't seen before.

True, and I do know that it's not entirely fair to try to avoid people of a certain age (especially because even people above the age of eighteen can flake, because of being busy with college or working or whatever)...but at the same time, I guess there's just as much of a risk regardless of the person's age. I don't know the fourteen year old that well- like I said, he literally joined, posted a character app, and then sent me a staff application all in one day, when I hadn't even spoken to him yet. So far he seems pretty mature and is understanding of why I'm hesitant to just let him be the only person in charge of a faction. It's less because of his age (though it is a factor) and more because I barely know him and the fact that he jumped so quickly into applying to be a staff member, though it does show that he's enthusiastic about it.

Yeah, see, I don't KNOW how responsible this fourteen year old is, because I don't know him that well. So I'm kind of stuck because on one hand, I want someone who's going to be reliable, responsible, mature, and actually do their job, and I need someone to help out sooner rather than later...but at the same time I don't want to rush into letting this kid (or anyone else, for that matter, regardless of their age or whether or not they're already a member) take on a staff position and not know whether or not he can really handle it, especially if he's by himself at first until I find someone to help him with his given faction.

I don't intend to give anyone I hire access to the ACP or mod ACP, regardless of how old they are. My current staff member doesn't even have access to the ACP (mainly because she doesn't know how to do anything in it) and she's been staff for over a year. Though I hadn't actually thought too much about the mod ACP...they automatically get access to it once they're made a mod of certain boards, don't they? I forget.

Any other advice regarding the rest of my questions?

You have to trust him if there is nobody else to help you. But it doesn't mean that your search is over. Consider him a junior mod, and keep searching while training him.

I can understand the desire to have someone who is older leading a faction but is there anything actually going on in the faction/faction plot/board plot that really demands that the faction leader should be an older player?

Also I have found that some the best mods that I've hired, albeit from sites other than 'd, are the ones that don't play a character all. The welcome new members, they keep lists up to-date, they help with the plot, they are active in the community section of the forum, and all that jazz. That's not to say mods that have characters aren't good, not by any stretch of the imagination.

::EDIT::
Some people just like helping out on a site with out having to actually play a character. Just a thought.

Well, that's what my plan has always been (I think I might have even said as much somewhere in the tl;dr original post), was to have him be a co-mod of the faction he'd be interested in. My idea behind that was so that there'd be two people for that faction, mainly, and also so that at least if things don't seem to work out with the fourteen year old being in that position, that faction wouldn't be completely screwed in terms of having someone in charge of it.

At the moment, no...that's the thing. The factions have -nothing- going on at the moment. The staff member who was in charge of the Imperial Knights has gone MIA without a word, my Sith staff member has been busier than usual, and I'm the remaining staff member (and also admin/creator) trying to hold things together, figure out what the heack to do next, and not sure what to do with my own faction (the Jedi). I just feel like I would feel better if someone older than fourteen was the main person in charge of that faction. I don't know this kid that well, and I don't know what kind of ideas are going to pop into his head the moment he has any sort of power, you know? I mean, that could happen with anyone regardless of their age, but...I don't know. :| My gut just tells me that it would be better to have someone older, if possible, to be in charge of that faction, and to have the fourteen year old be that person's helper.

The fourteen year old is willing to be the person's helper. He totally understand where I'm coming from, and he's good with it, so the age thing isn't really an issue at the moment...but everything else that I described in my post is.

Interesting. So you're saying I could possibly look for someone who isn't even all that interested in Star Wars (or maybe is, but isn't interested in creating characters, to help do that stuff? My only thing with that is that I could -really- use someone who's actually going to help create characters and NPC characters and all that stuff...so I'm not entirely certain that that's the way I need to go at the moment...unless I find one person where that's the case, and I find another person who's willing to create characters and such...or something.

Moving past the age thing...does anyone have any suggestions regarding the rest of my questions? That's really what I'm looking for answers about at the moment, not the age issue, because without having an idea of what I should do about those things, it's keeping me from posting my employee request.

I think that sometimes you have to find staff members outside of your community, however it is something that should be limited by duties. For example, you are currently in need of someone capable of doing graphics for the site. If your community lacks someone with those talents who would also be willing to assist periodically, then it's logical that you seek outside of the site. That said, it wouldn't be good to do so to find someone to moderate the site or help with any approval process since those are tasks that can pretty much be universally done by people within your community. If you go outside of the site too frequently for non-technical assistance, you may alienate people.

I would not recommend denying staff applicants on the basis on their age. I've joined a number of online organizations and I've known a number of people within them who have power, wield it well, and are young. I mean, sometimes thirteen or so. Instead, outline the requirements and select people based on those criteria. Afraid that a teen may not be available when school starts? Post that you want someone who will be available throughout the week, perhaps once a day. I can tell you that, as an adult, I can definitely foresee time constraints being a problem for people who aren't teens as well!

I'd also like to reiterate what others have said about having dedicated staffers who may not necessarily want to participate in the roleplay. For example, I love helping out other people. I would consider helping out a site on a somewhat regular basis (assuming one major task/project a week). However, I may not want to roleplay in that particular universe or I may be loathe to sign up for another RPG when I have a lot on my plate. I can understand wanting to tie someone to your community in order to ensure that he remains on the site, but that may not be an option for you. At the very worst, you get someone who has done work for you that eventually leaves. Up until that point, you have had the work done.

I would make sure, however, that you request copies of the original files if only for continuity purposes. Say that your graphics guy makes a badge template which is used for a number of images on the site. After he leaves, you find yourself wanting to introduce another badge, but you don't have that template. Just ask for the PSD ahead of time and save them yourself for future efforts. Or maintain an online repository where these files are stored and you both can access.

I disagree with this. o.o People look for application mods, faction mods, whatever, outside of their member base all the time. Sometimes there are simply just not any members among your member base that fit the qualifications for someone you're looking to have someone do, such as applications, and you can either keep on going with your current situation or find someone from outside the member base to help out. It's a risk that people take.

Hm. The idea of having someone as staff who doesn't actually role play is still intriguing, but I really need people who'll do things that actually require them to role play- i.e. NPCing characters, and creating characters for the faction(s) they'd be in charge of.

So I found out that my remaining staff member is going to be busy for the next like…fourteen days or something, which basically leaves me handling things on my own. I have a new member that just recently joined (not the fourteen year old, though I am going to go ahead and let him be a staff member) that ended up applying for staff tonight. It sounds like he's going to mainly be in charge of one faction, have help with it, and then help me out with my Jedi faction. Then, I have the fourteen year old…I think both he and the previously mentioned member are going to co-mod one of the factions together. I've yet to find out what's going to happen with the Sith faction while my other staff member is busy, and then that leaves two factions who currently have no faction mod (because of the staff member who's been MIA since the beginning of the month that was in charge of one of them).

Then, the new staff member who's going to help me out with the Jedi faction has a friend who's probably going to join and has the same amount of experience as the staff member that's going to help me out with the Jedi, and might be interested in being staff, but I don't know what faction(s) he wants to be in charge of yet.

Sorry, this is kind of confusing. My brain is kind of boggling at the amount of staff members I seem to be getting at the moment.

So basically, I have what will be a total of five staff members, including my staff member who's going to be busy for the next fourteen days and including the one new staff member's friend. Now I'm kind of wondering if, because of how slow things have been (though I just did an activity check, and I'm -hoping- that's going to bring some more of the members out of not being around as much and they'll actually start posting more), I'm going to end up with too many staff members. If that's ends up being the case, I'm not quite sure what I'm going to end up doing with them. I guess I could just have some of them be general moderators, or standby staff or something, though I'm not sure what kind of tasks they'd really do at the moment. So now I have to figure that part out, too. Hm.

Yeah, I learned this the hard way. I had an awesome graphics/general staff/faction mod (he became graphics mod/a staff member in general after the person I hired from here for graphics ended up not working out), but his father has been really sick and he's on hiatus until further notice. He has all the PSDs for various graphics, including the graphics for the ad (a dohtml thing) that he wasn't able to send me before he went on hiatus, so even if my Photoshop was working at the moment, I wouldn't be able to update it with the new plot or anything. I'm definitely going to make sure that, if one of the people I'm currently in the process of promoting ends up being really good at graphics, that they send me all the PSD files of whatever they make for the site.

First of all, NOW, you need all this support. After the activity picks up, you'll see how to distribute more evenly the tasks and maybe enhance other aspects you have neglected, such as advertising on various means...

So you don't think I'm going to end up with too many staff members, based on how few active members I really have? Interesting. I'm just not certain that I 100% agree that I'll see what I need to distribute between five (or really, I guess, four, since my one Sith staff member is going to be busy) people, but maybe. I guess I'll see once I get them all settled into being staff and such.

Edit: wow, somehow I completely managed to miss Kurai's post.

Yeah, see, I had no one who was interested in any of the things I need help with/would know what to do with them (the independents, in that case)/has enough experience.

Yeah, I'm not giving him a directly important position. If he's still interested (which I think he is), he's going to help out someone else (who's older, and I feel like I can trust a little more though he only just joined a few days ago as well) with the independents faction, helping to NPC characters and get a plot going for them and such.

And yeah, the 13-16 year old's acting immature thing is exactly why I was so hesitant to 'hire' the fourteen year old to begin with. There's another fourteen year old who's like...well, the immaturity is definitely there.

Hm. Well, it basically sounds like I'm starting with two more staff, with the possibility of a third, totaling five...which, since my Sith staff member has been busy and is going to be busy for the next fourteen days (possibly even more, I don't know), might not be an absolutely horrible thing. I think one of them might start off just being a member and then if I find I need their help, then we'll go from there.

Thanks for the help! I think I have things mostly figured out at the moment.