Hello there! I’m a new member here on the forums, and I’ve been looking through the recruitment category a lot, cause I would like to find a decent job. It’s been a few weeks and I’ve been successful in finding work, but through my search, I have noticed something concerning: Many recruitment posts do not meet the basic requirements set up for the category, and even less are phrased or formatted in such a way that makes it professional. For this reason, I want to propose the following:
Post-Approval for Recruitment Topics
Now, I know, most people do not like the post-approval mechanism because it is either too slow, too inefficient, or too limiting, but I ask that before you post below with your justification for those views, allow me to explain why and how.
As I mentioned in my introduction, a lot of recruitment posts just do not meet standards that many developers consider to be reasonable for job listings. Many lack payment plans, game concept descriptions, and some even lack contact information. I do not feel I should give examples so as not to call out any individuals, and if you need to find proof of this, you can scroll through the category yourself.
The result of the poor quality of the posts is that many people looking for work are entering studios without clear leadership or goals, without a clear payment path, and without any guarantee of actually doing anything. It has gotten to a state that composers like myself have formed an independent guild to find the best job listings and share them amongst ourselves so we all get protected.
Another consequence of the poor quality of a lot of the recruitment topics is that many people who are looking for development teams aren’t getting any takers, and thus it is limiting the ability of developers to create their visions. I, at least, can say that if I see a post that lacks a clear explanation of the goals of the studio or project, I quickly move on. In fact, sometimes I(or others) will leave replies stating that the information given is insufficient or not clear enough. This is a serious issue for credibility across the forum.
As a result of the above, I propose the forum creates a post-approval mechanism for recruitment topics if only to help new developers create listings that contain relevant, important information. This will limit the number of poor quality postings and increase the interaction between developers since people won’t be turned away by the lack of clear instructions or information in the listings. However, I can foresee a few arguments against this, so I want to take a minute to answer them.
First, I understand that post-approval is a slow, cumbersome machine. However, I think this will help in the long run. Many young developers come up with ideas without fully fleshing them out, so they lack a clear vision going forward. Forcing this period of waiting for the post to be approved, or requiring revision, gives new developers the chance to fully think out their game concept, which I think will go a long ways towards increasing development quality on the platform in general.
Second, post-approval is considered by some to be a burden on the people who take care of it. This I can understand, and ultimately only a member of post-approval can truly answer this concern.
Third, there may be a concern about replying to these recruitment posts. In this case, I also propose requiring contact information to be listed on every thread. This way, new members can contact either on discord, the forum, or another service to get their interest recognized.
Finally, some may worry that this will limit the number of recruitment posts in general. This is also something I grappled with, for it could be that by introducing this system the total number of listings drops to a point where competition makes it a mute category. However, I think that reasonable post-approval requirements will not hinder the recruitment category that much. I feel it may increase the quality of listings available, and that, I feel, is more important than the quantity of listings available.
I would love to hear some feedback on this idea. I’d rather we discuss this than not ever address what I think is a problem of sufficient concern to warrant one.
Happy trails,
CaptLincoln