[Foundation-l] Wikimedia "Storyteller" job opening
Birgitte SB
birgitte_sb at yahoo.com
Tue Mar 1 22:46:10 UTC 2011
________________________________
From: MZMcBride <z at mzmcbride.com>
To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Tue, March 1, 2011 3:24:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Wikimedia "Storyteller" job opening
Zack Exley wrote:
> But there is one important purpose of that job that may be a bit hidden in
> between the lines: For this position, I'm looking for someone who can help
> free us from dependence on "The Jimmy Letter" in fundraising.
I think part of my confusion (maybe the biggest chunk of it) comes from
terminology and naming. I guess you're not really trying to hire a
"storyteller," you're trying to hire a "public relations (fundraising)"
person. One title is obviously a bit more poetic, but also a lot more
confusing, I think.
The other aspect to this that's confusing to me is the underlying purpose of
the "Community Department." Best as I can tell, it's largely focused on
fundraising. Is there a description of the current "Community Department"
that clarifies what it does (other than fundraising)? I'm not saying that
Wikimedia shouldn't have a team devoted to fundraising, but I don't really
understand why it's named the way it is. Is there something wrong with it
being named the "Fundraising Department"? I can't imagine I'm the only one
confused about this.
It makes sense to me that there would be a lot of overlap on the ground
delivering the two messages "We are a worthwhile project and you can join us and
contribute on our websites" and "We are a worthwhile project and you can donate
some money to the supporting Foundation".
Ambiguity is only a bad thing when someone knows exactly what they want and they
choose to be unclear about it rather than when is someone aware of a general
need while being somewhat open-minded about how might be filled. This situation
strikes me as the latter, advertising for a writer to develop public relations
material for fundraising would probably bring in a much more narrow set of
applicants and would also make it harder to get the new employee to take the
other duties that are desired seriously. I don't know how much hiring you have
done, but it is not uncommon for people to get their minds set as to what their
"job" is early on and getting them to put a lot of effort into things they
believe are "not what they were hired to do" is difficult. So if you want a new
employee to have a wide range of duties, you should advertise describing a more
open-ended position. People that have narrow mindsets are less likely to apply
for vague jobs, and everyone wins because good hiring is all about fit. Narrow
and well-settled duties = detailed description of opening. Wide-ranging and
uncertain duties = ambiguous description of opening.
Birgitte SB
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