I just realized I didn’t post here, even though I posted this on Twitter, FB, and G+. Doh!
If you saw the tweet or the post, you know I’m looking for CSRs and that remote is okay for those spots. But there’s one position my company is hiring for that is not remote – and that’s the CS Manager/Director (which it is depends on the candidate 
). I need someone who:
- Will relocate to Chandler, Arizona. (This is a suburb of Phoenix, which is basically like a normal city but in a place where it’s always sunny.)
- Has management experience in customer service. That means you managed a team of customer service people. A shift, a whole pit, a special strike team, whatever, that’s fine, but you actually need to have been someone’s boss.
- Has experience doing customer service in an MMO.***
Ideally, the management experience was in the CS pit of an MMO, but as long as you can check off both boxes, we want to talk to you.
Bonus points for (in no particular order):
- Being able to relocate immediately
- Being able to write clearly
- Having done MMO customer service for a PVP title
- Not secretly hoping to be a developer/designer
- Being fun under pressure
- A history of managing down, not up
- Experience managing remote employees (there are some great resumes coming in, but those people won’t be in AZ)
If you meet the top three criteria (and there is no number of bonus points that can be combined to substitute for one of the top three), please email me right away at my work addy – sanya AT pitchblackgames DOT com.
*
Just a few side notes – some of the resumes I’m getting are breaking my heart, because the senders (and I know many of you) are brilliant, thoughtful, interesting, and I know you could learn this job. I KNOW you could. But this is a startup MMO team. The initial CS group (the one that gets paid out of financing, not income) is going to be small and lean. Even the front liners are going to be contributing to policy writing and standard setting. At the outset, we can only use people who have done this before.
*I* do not count as having done this before in a CS sense. (Okay, I did, but it was 1999.) I have said many times that I could not have been a good community weenie without top flight CS people as colleagues, and so yeah, I’ve worked closely with some of the best. As such, I can write policy and do planning, but I am still not qualified to lead the team.
Also, related customer service experience is only relevant to a point. If you managed a call center, or ran a team doing live product support, I’d be excited – but I’d still want to see some evidence that you understand and respect the needs of MMO customers.
These customers are my players. I feel a responsibility for them that you cannot understand unless you also do community. The person who gets this job is going to be my colleague and partner in doing right by people.
***Lots of people have been asking if volunteer CS counts. Since that is how I started… okay, seriously. If you took tickets, answered appeals, handled low level problems, escalated big problems without making them worse, then yeah, it counts. If you hung around in a chat channel answering newbie questions, no, it doesn’t. Those things are related but not the same.
If you are applying for the boss job, and your only MMO experience is as a volunteer, your other CS experience would have to be pretty amazing. But yes, it would get you in.
Sanya,
Thanks for clearing it up. I am sure you’re mail box is filled with tons of info! Hopefully down the road when you’re group is up and kicking, you guys will look for remote CSR’s or even other positions. Sadly, in my case I’ve only ever done the in game answer tickets and chat answering questions, albeit for a good many years. I would not be qualified to run a group of people… yet
But if you need some more community help, I’m all yours
I like that you included “Not secretly hoping to be a developer/designer.” It’s heartbreaking to watch someone think they have a foot in the door, and not understand why they aren’t “promoted” to game design/development after a couple of years. I wish more companies would head that off at the pass.
I suppose if a candidate doesn’t know what you mean by “A history of managing down, not up,” it’s significant.
Interesting, sadly the requirements for a work visa (Canadian eh!) are a little on the ridiculous side (and I’m rather attached to my humble abode)! Not to mention my last real experience in game CS was in the late 90′s in GS.
I know you’ll find the right person though, and hey, if you do ever open up volunteer CS positions – that’s definately something I’d be interested in.
Rob
Hey! I often stand around in chat channels being helpful. Well, more accurately I am helpful when I am waiting for a big stack of crafting to finish, not so so much other times. Unless of course someone posts something to general that ticks me off. In that case I help everyone on the server by telling them what an idiot they are in clear and antagonistic terms.
I also know that game developers for the most part (save the bigwigs ate the very top) make a ton less money per unit time they put in than then they could doing software development in almost any other field. Close to an order of magnitude less than if they were talented and working in the financial sector, if I’m not mistaken. I certainly won’t be trying to join their ranks. I also know that the CS guys make even less than the game developers and deal with random pissed off customers all day long; I’m fairly certain it rocks as a job.
Feel free to get in touch with me
Edit: I was not trying to belittle your job posting, it occurs to me now that it may come across that way. I was (A) trying to portray myself as the least possibly qualified candidate for the job (not far off short of hiring random hobos that can’t speak English) and (B) pointing out that there is no reason on earth you’d be interested in the job save that you are utterly passionate about MMOs. I admire anyone that has that kind of passion.
LFG? Bah, forced grouping is bullshit!
Wait, wrong blog….
Chandler, AZ
Temperature 103.0 °F
Feels Like 103 °F
Fuck no.
Listen, you, the Weather Channel says lately it “Feels like” 116 here in Maryland. At least in Phoenix there’s no humidity.
Seattle, WA
69°F, Mostly Cloudy. We know it’s summer here because we saw the sun for 12 minutes last week. I think that was the sun; it might have been a fluorescent light reflecting off my monitor.
Whatever it was, it went away!
I already live in Chandler!
I wonder where this studio is located. . .
There’s a picture on the PBG website, maybe you’ll recognize it
well i stopped by the office to say hi since i found the studio but the reclusive folks have a biolock on the door!
How can i bring cookies if the door is locked!
I know I’m no good for CS Manager/Dicrector…but gotta start somewhere, like regular in-game CS?
And Arizona ain’t hot, it’s quite breezy compared to other places I’ve lived!
Last time I was in Phoenix it was 114 °F. Still, I’m assuming a CS Director would be spending a lot of time indoors anyway.
Working CS really takes a certain personality type. You have to genuinely want to help people and have the patience of a saint. I have worked in some form of CS my entire life and it is very rewarding if you are able to hack it.
Been to various places in AZ over the last few years for DoD contracts. Driven a lot of the state. I’d probably move there before I move to Alabama or Mississippi but… yeah its right down there in my bottom 10 list. I think it was the border patrol checkpoint that annoyed me the most. They were determined to harass me until I showed them my DoD badge. Then it was all ‘yes sir’ ‘have a nice day sir’. I don’t even look like an immigrant. I wasn’t even close to the border either. On the plus side though maid and yard service is cheap.
The miles of nothing I could get over, kinda like that really. But the pure heat and the miles of nothing… bleh. Even without humidity. I like my cool mountaintop where the warmest it ever gets is about 75.
The ‘Not secretly hoping to be a developer/designer’ I have to say is amusing though. In my line of work (Computer Security) we’ll get people who come in with dreams of being a paid hacker. The crushing of dreams is one of the most enjoyable aspects and watching the life die from their eyes as it happens is downright pleasurable. However it may be a field thing, most of us in IA are a bit jaded, cynical and had our empathy torn out and stomped flat by the things we’ve seen.
I’m not qualified for the position and am completely uninterested in becoming a designer. Your post reminds me that I need to see if I can find hourly remote positions someplace, as I could work those around my day job. I like gamers, and I like groups of gamers–even though I am an old fart compared to pretty much all of them. I’ve managed a large community of gamers, but not for one of the major websites. Time to branch out!
Phoenix sounds okay, but the heat would be bad for my dogs. I’d have to train them at an indoor facility too many times in a year.
Bah, wish I had seen this when it was posted. I qualify darn it. LOL