Process: Hiring a Community Manager for the OWASP Foundation

OWASP Community Members –

We have hired someone for the new OWASP Community Manager Position (as some of you on social media may have already seen) and details about this person will be in the next post.  Here is some additional information about the hiring process and candidate pool.

The Event Manager job description was drafted by me and reviewed by the OWASP staff before posting.  The job description was posted to the wiki along with background requirements, desired skills, and starting salary. The job was promoted through OWASP channels: OWASP Blog, OWASP Connector (email to owasp-all and posted to blog),  OWASP Leader’s List, OWASP Foundation Linkedin Group, @OWASP Twitter Account, OWASP Group on Facebook, and OWASP Community Page on Google+. Externally, the job was also posted to Indeed, Smart Recruiters, Learn4Good, Zip Recruiters, and NYC Craig's List.

Applications

The Event Manager job was posted on February 11, 2014 and applications were accepted via email through February 25, 2015 (15 days).  We received exactly 99 applications and here is a breakdown of the sources of the applications as well as by geographic region where the applicants resided:

Interviews

From the 90 applications received, we asked 5 candidates for a bit more information about their experience with volunteer management over email, offered interviews to 11 candidates (roughly the top 10%).  The interviews were offered to the most qualified candidates based on required background and desired skills posted in the job description. Particular focus for this position was on whether the candidate had a minimum of 1 year of experience with community engagement initiatives (or volunteer management) as well experience working with a remote team and a commitment to the organization's goals and values.

Final Selection

Our final candidate went through 2 interviews as well as demonstrating an ability to motivate the community to voice their support of her in this role.  We received a wide variety of applicants (including more from outside the US than we have in the past).  Many applicants were quite qualified in the area of application security or IT, but did not have the amount of experience working with volunteers that this job requires.  We are really fortunate to have found a candidate that not only met, but exceeded our expectations in her wealth of previous experience.

Please read on to the next post for an introduction of out new staff member.