Applying for a community manager position at a gaming company

And at the bottom of the position description it reads

"Bonus Points Include your favorite meme in your application"

What kind of a meme should I include?

Thanks, experts at Linux Questions!

You know what... I did one search and I know exactly what you applied for.

Originally Posted by dugan You know what... I did one search and I know exactly what you applied for.

First of all, no you don't, because there are two positions with the exact phrase. One is Korean and the other is Japanese.

And secondly, in what way have you helped me with that response? I did not ask "Can you guess which position I applied for?" or "Do you know how to use Google?"

I asked " What kind of MEMEs should I provide when I submit my CV? "

That is like, you are asking me "I just moved to this city, I am hungry and I need to buy a hamburger. Is there any hamburger restaurant around here and what is the price of the hamburger?" and I respond to you, "I just googled and read that hamburgers are made of beef" ( This response is not exactly helping you buddy, is it? )

You might be fine with people knowing where you want to work, but not everyone is - it's perfectly reasonable for Dugan to point out the uniqueness of that phrase, in case it mattered to you.

Also, what you're asking is akin to "I'm hungry and the restaurant wants to know what my favourite food is. What should I tell them?"

How is anyone supposed to answer that?

It's your application.

You should determine what content to provide.

None of us know anything about you, and even if we know a little, it still should be your decision. The implication is that this is a statement about you and the type of talent ideas, and style, you potentially can offer when working with them. They're expecting your personal statement style, not anyone else's, and not some "idea" you asked someone else to suggest.

Originally Posted by snowmagician First of all, no you don't, because there are two positions with the exact phrase. One is Korean and the other is Japanese. And secondly, in what way have you helped me with that response? I did not ask "Can you guess which position I applied for?" or "Do you know how to use Google?" I asked " What kind of MEMEs should I provide when I submit my CV? " That is like, you are asking me "I just moved to this city, I am hungry and I need to buy a hamburger. Is there any hamburger restaurant around here and what is the price of the hamburger?" and I respond to you, "I just googled and read that hamburgers are made of beef" ( This response is not exactly helping you buddy, is it? )

They're asking YOU to do it, not us, so why ask? Pick what you want.

And honestly any company asking for a 'meme' as part of a professional application wouldn't be the kind of place anyone would want to work for long. Without even looking at anything but the subject line of this post, I am willing to bet:

• You're going to be an 'advocate' of some sort
• You'll work 'closely' with other teams
• A 'dynamic, fast-paced environment'
• Great collaboration/communication skills
• Experience with <INSERT WHATEVER TRENDY THING> here
• Need to have a 'passion' for <INSERT WHATEVER HERE>

And be aware that such nebulous positions as 'community manager' will be the first to get tossed out when sales start to dip....they need programmers/admins to keep things running.

And be aware that such nebulous positions as 'community manager' will be the first to get tossed out when sales start to dip....they need programmers/admins to keep things running.

I don't plan to stay in the position for the duration of my career. I just want experiences / make connections / make my CV a bit more meaningful! And I plan to start my own smartphone application development some day.

It is a game company, and a very large portion of its customers should be young people.

It is reasonable to imagine the company is searching for the type of workers who are familiar with the latest trends among young people and know what young people like nowadays

Originally Posted by snowmagician I don't plan to stay in the position for the duration of my career. I just want experiences / make connections / make my CV a bit more meaningful! And I plan to start my own smartphone application development some day. It is a game company, and a very large portion of its customers should be young people. It is reasonable to imagine the company is searching for the type of workers who are familiar with the latest trends among young people and know what young people like nowadays

As someone who is older and has been exactly where you are, I can tell you two things and be fairly certain of them:

• That position won't make your CV more meaningful at all. "Community Manager" can mean anything, and as such, is pretty meaningless going forward.
• The company won't pay or value you; they want people who (exactly as you say), want to make their resumes better. As such, you'll be paid the bare minimum, have a crap work environment, and be worked huge hours. Why? Because they can (and will) find someone else to take your job for exactly the same reasons very quickly. Because someone younger will want something better than minimum wage and something on their resume...and there are always THOUSANDS who want the same things.

Good luck.

I didn't know you were young. Anyway...

Originally Posted by snowmagician That is like, you are asking me "I just moved to this city, I am hungry and I need to buy a hamburger. Is there any hamburger restaurant around here and what is the price of the hamburger?" and I respond to you, "I just googled and read that hamburgers are made of beef" ( This response is not exactly helping you buddy, is it? )

I watched you edit your post to add this.

I'm not offended that you were rude to me. I'm highly amused that you were openly rude to me while simultaneously applying for a customer-facing role in PR and marketing.

I can already imagine the part of the application process where they ask you for a writing sample...

It is a very respectful company with roughly 600 developers and is roughly 3 decades old. And as I had started earlier, I just want some experience / get to know other experts and the industry

Eventually I want to start my own smartphone application development business.

Originally Posted by snowmagician It is a very respectful company with roughly 600 developers and is roughly 3 decades old. And as I had started earlier, I just want some experience / get to know other experts and the industry

You do realize that "3 decades old" and '600 developers' is meaningless, right?? If the turnover rate is high (likely), they could have 10,000 employees and treat them all like tissues; use one up? That's ok...another pops up to take its place. Have worked with a Fortune 50 bank here in the US, and they had that culture....hire young, demand long hours with near impossible goals. Everyone would quit within two years at most....and they'd hire the next person in line. Didn't care, because they were making $$$, and they were (and are) a 'decades old' company. Unless you got hired in from outside at a pretty senior level, your chances of promotion were near non-existent. And they had lots of positions like "Senior Technologist", and "Workflow Analyst"....things that had zero meaning on a resume. But, it was at least work experience.

Your call, of course...personally, if my company did work for such a place, I'd want half in advance.

Eventually I want to start my own smartphone application development business.

You'd be far better off at a smaller company, if you want to start your own business.

There are 64 open positions at a ~600 person company - I'm not sure that's normal for a thirty year old single-location company?

I would definitely recommend looking at other companies in the same industry to see how common it is (and any other similarities/differences), and consider asking about it if you go for an interview.

(Also a reminder: interviews are a two way process - you need to be evaluating whether a company fits you at least as much as they are evaluating you.)

Originally Posted by boughtonp ... (Also a reminder: interviews are a two way process - you need to be evaluating whether a company fits you at least as much as they are evaluating you.)

Absolutely, spot on!

This is another very interesting position that has caught my attention

https://ca.indeed.com/jobs?q=HitGrab...f602eeca74a72d

Originally Posted by boughtonp There are 64 open positions at a ~600 person company - I'm not sure that's normal for a thirty year old single-location company?

Just based on the request for a meme with a job application, that ~10% vacant positions/turnover is pretty normal. Probably ALWAYS hiring about 10% of their staff on any given day.

I would definitely recommend looking at other companies in the same industry to see how common it is (and any other similarities/differences), and consider asking about it if you go for an interview. (Also a reminder: interviews are a two way process - you need to be evaluating whether a company fits you at least as much as they are evaluating you.)

Sites like Glassdoor are excellent for getting a 'review' of your potential employer from people who have worked there. Anytime I've ever seen a company doing such things as asking for memes, and saying their employees need 'passion', or that the position was for an 'advocate', those were red flags.

• "Need someone passionate about XXX" usually equals, "We'll expect you to work 90 hours a week, pay you for 30, and low-key make you worry about your job if you want time off or fewer hours"
• "Be an advocate for XXX" is usually, "You will hear gripes from folks and get yelled at so we don't have to. Write them up and tell someone about them so they can be ignored, while we claim to have a process in place. If we get called out on it, it's YOUR FAULT for not being an effective advocate, and you will be fired, so we can claim to have solved the problem."

Originally Posted by snowmagician This is another very interesting position that has caught my attention

THAT sounds like a decent job; actual skills listed, and benefits outlined up front. No buzzwords or anything nebulous, and an actual makes-sense job title.