Is Handpicking your Staff Members better than using Application Forms?
Welcome back to another post in this blog! Today we will be talking about two popular methods to select staff on a server: handpicking and application forms! Which is the best one?
Selecting moderators isn’t an easy task, as they need to meet certain requirements for one to see if they’re fit or not for the position. Different methods are used, but which method is the best one out there?
First, we have to understand how the two methods work: application forms seek to obtain information from questions, which can be open or multiple choice, while handpicking consists of carefully selecting something with a purpose in mind; in this case, to select a staff member to help you with moderation or managing your community.
Advantages of using forms
- It lets you gather specific information about applicants.
- It is more organized than handpicking members.
- Does not require constant monitoring of applicants.
- It is very effective in large servers.
Disadvantages of using forms
- People might just join the team for the role/permissions (for status).
- The forms do not allow to see what the applicant is really like or what their true intentions are.
- It can sometimes be a slow process
Advantages of handpicking staff members
- It allows you to observe the normal behavior of a candidate. If someone applies through a form and gets accepted, their behavior might change, something that doesn’t happen when handpicking your staff members.
- It is effective if you’re looking for specific people (unlike application forms).
- Finding candidates can be fast (unlike application forms).
Disadvantages of handpicking staff members
- It is usually not effective in large servers.
- Requires constant monitoring of members.
- The information gathered about a user isn’t very specific.
Which method should you be using?
Quite simple: the one that best fits your needs. For example, here in Modflow we handpick our staff members as we’re looking for specific people to join the team. But a larger server, such as Jet’s Dream World uses applications, since they recieve hundreds of applications and having to go through the process of handpicking isn’t a viable option, as many moderators are needed and chats are more active.
Keep in mind that this info is based on my knowledge and what I’ve been through, which means that this text shouldn’t be treated as “official information”. And this is how we conclude this post. Thank you for reading!
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