Jobhop Jobhop's blog : Day 4 Jobhop Kickstarter The Power Of Communities

The Jobhop Kickstarter Campaign Is about making employment human and we believe that this can be done through communities.

We get asked a lot of questions about communities, some people are unsure of how communities work online.

Here are answers to 5 of the most popular questions that we get asked about communities

What are online communities?

Online communities are exactly the same as offline communities, they're a place where people with the same interests, missions and passions congregate.

People within communities feel a strong sense of belonging, they feel safe and secure, trust and loyalty grow within communities. If you just take the sentence “people within communities feel a strong sense of belonging” and realise this, it’s human nature to want to belong to something, once someone is in a community they'll usually devote a lot of their time to it,because of that sense of belonging.

Communities can rapidly grow, because like attracts like, the people already within a community will want their friends and connections to join because “they know” it will be good for them also. An online community can grow a lot faster than an offline community, being online gives the community global reach and the potential for a message to spread like wildfire. Being in a community can help people grow, they can learn from each other, mentor each other, give each other advice, support and help.

Where do you find online communities?

A lot of the time you’ll hear about them via a tweet or a post to a social network, you may have a connection who is already part of a community and will tell you about it ( word of mouth ) On Twitter communities tend to congregate around a hashtag ..For example bloggers may turn up on Twitter on Tuesday at 9pm for an hour following the hashtag #blogHour. For an hour the community will chat about blogging tips and techniques and generally support each other. The same with horse lovers they will all get together on Twitter on a Sunday between 8-9pm using the hashtag #equinehour. If you’re passionate about a location there will be location communities #Norfolkhour, #Londonhour, #Cambridgehour, #Essexhour, #Manchesterhour and so on.

On Facebook and Linkedin there will be communities gathering together in groups, on Blab the same people will turn up at the same time every week to chat to each other via text chat or video. Then there’s niche social media platforms where like minded people flock to and even messenger apps are a place where communities form, What’sapp, Facebook messenger and Twitter messages are all places where communities form.

Can you leave online communities?

Absolutely! Just like offline communities anyone can leave at any time. Sometimes people outgrow communities, interests change or a realisation sets in that the community isn’t right for them. Even when people leave a community though the respect for it is usually ongoing and many people remember past communities with fondness.

Do you have to invest a lot of time when you’re part of a community?

When someone joins a community it really isn’t about having to invest a lot of time, it’s more about wanting to invest the time. Usually the more time that someone invests into a community then the more they get out of it. Some people are happy with taking on management roles for the community, that may be moderating chats, leading chats, creating graphics, finding guest speakers etc... This isn’t for everyone, usually what happens is everyone naturally finds their role within the community.

Can anyone start up an online community?

Absolutely, but remember it’s just like starting up a community in you local neighbourhood. For example someone may be passionate about skateboarding, dancing or coding, they may say to someone else let’s meet every Thursday at 6pm to practise. A couple of weeks later someone else also turns up to practise, by week 8 there’s now 10 people all turning up to practise. Starting up a community starts slowly but soon becomes thriving if it’s looked after. Starting up a community online is exactly the same, the key word is consistency, for a community to work it has to be consistent it can’t be ignored for weeks, people will find another community to join.

Now knowing a bit more about communities, I bet you’d like to know how communities will work on Jobhop.

Employers will be urged to create communities, we believe it will benefit companies in many ways.

For example if an employer knows that they are going to be ramping up their recruiting of digital candidates over the next six months, it would make sense to create a community around digital. The employer would put some great digital content into the community and start inviting suitable people to join the community, these people will be talented in the digital arena. The employer would then look after the community, they would encourage content from community members, hold online meetings, post pictures, video’s podcasts, hold polls, Q&A sessions etc... By the time it comes to inviting people along to interview, the employer will not need to advertise, the employer will have all the suitable candidates within the community.

Because communities attract like minded people once the employer has a few digital experts others will follow, these communities attract talent.

Communities also creates ambassadors, as more people find out about how great somewhere is to work, word gets round. When people in the community find out how great an employer brand is, ambassadors will start to come forward. Communities like these give employers the competitive advantage because so many of the competitors are still using yesterdays recruitment methods.

Communities also cut recruitment costs, no more need for expensive adverts or recruitment agencies when the employer has all the talent at hand.

The great thing about online communities is that they have the power to create lasting and productive relationships even if the community members don’t end up as employees of the company. This is because unlike talent pools, communities are always engaging, that means that there could always be another opportunity, they may go off and learn a bit more then come back at a later stage.

If you believe, like us that communities will help make employment human then please join us on our journey. Have a look at our Kickstarter campaign, you may see a reward that catches your eye.

Please also share the campaign where you can .... Much appreciated.

CHOOSE A REWARD ON THE JOBHOP KICKSTARTER

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