[Foundation-l] Wikimedia "Storyteller" job opening

[Birgitte SB]

________________________________
From: Birgitte SB <birgitte_sb at yahoo.com>
To: Wikimedia Foundation Mailing List <foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org>
Sent: Tue, March 1, 2011 4:46:10 PM
Subject: Re: [Foundation-l] Wikimedia "Storyteller" job opening






________________________________
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


Also you have to remember that the purpose of 
http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Job_openings/Storyteller is not to explain 
the job to curious community members.  The only purpose that should be 
considered in writing a job opening is to attract people who may be a good fit 
for the job and inspire them to apply, while repelling people who would be a bad 
fit for the job. The target audience of the job opening is job seekers. The only 
useful measure to judge if a job opening was "good" is whether it resulted in 
lots of applicants that you would like to find out more about and few applicants 
that are an obviously poor fit. Wasting your time processing the applications of 
obviously unsuitable people is nearly as bad as not producing an interview pool 
filled with equally great applications.  And the former has become the more 
likely scenario these past few years.  So if you personally find that a job 
opening turns you off, it may just be working quite well. A good job opening 
should turn off a fair number of people.

Birgitte SB