Thursday, May 26, 2011

Job Opportunity: WikiTree is looking for a Cousin Connector

I received this in email from Chris Whitten, the webmaster at www.WikiTree.com:  It looks like an excellent part-time position for someone that meets the qualifications:

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WikiTree.com is seeking an experienced genealogist to be its official Cousin Connector." This person will work from home approximately five hours a week introducing distant cousins to each other, helping them merge their ancestors, and facilitating their enjoyable, productive collaborations.

The full description is at http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help_Wanted and included below:

JOB DESCRIPTION

As WikiTree.com's Cousin Connector, you will help connect distant cousins and facilite their enjoyable, productive genealogy collaborations. This http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/WikiTree_Honor_Code will be your guide. You will be setting an example for what's best about WikiTree:

*  A generous, cooperative, community attitude ...
*  A dedication to discovering and sharing genealogy ...
*  An excitement about the grand goal of growing a single worldwide family tree.

You will be helping make sure that WikiTree really is a worldwide shared tree and not a collection of individual trees. Specifically, we anticipate that you will be spending a few hours a week browsing surname index pages and using our FindMatches tool to look for likely duplicates.

From there, you'll be proposing merges. You will also be improving the overall quality of merged ancestor profiles by demonstrating and explaining good genealogical methods (especially: citing sources).

You'll be making research suggestions and answering questions by e-mail and our message boards. Since disagreements are so common in collaborations, you will be helping diffuse conflicts and encourage a style of WikiTree usage that minimizes them (again, especially: citing sources).

You'll be clicking a lot of "thank you" links to demonstrate how this feature can encourage people to make useful contributions and help maintain a friendly atmosphere through positive reinforcement.

QUALIFICATIONS

You should have prior experience helping people research genealogy, either as a volunteer or a professional. You must be able to express yourself well in writing. You need to be able to show a smile in your electronic communication. :-)

Most importantly, you need to be genuinely excited about this as an opportunity to help other people with an interest in genealogy and our common mission. This needs to be what motivates you. The compensation is just what enables you to prioritize it.

HOURS

Approximately five hours a week to start. You can work whenever you want. The only constraint is that if someone asks you a question you can't leave them for days without a response. If you're not going to be available you just have to let people know.

LOCATION

From your own computer, anywhere on the Internet.

COMPENSATION

We will negotiate a monthly rate that works for you, based on your experience and needs. It won't be a lot of money. WikiTree is a free website; you'll be helping non-paying members with their genealogy. You'll be working alongside volunteers.

On the upside, if you also work as a free-lance professional genealogist, this will be great advertising. WikiTree gets thousands of visitors a day and is growing fast. You will be a highly-visible leader in the community. The job description is to be fun and helpful, so you will get a good reputation. Every person you help is a potential future client.

Plus, if you have a website or page elsewhere on the Internet the search engines will rank it more highly because of your visibility here.

TO APPLY

E-mail Chris Whitten at chris -at- wikitree.com.

A CV or resume isn't necessary if you don't have one handy. Just tell me about your relevant experience. In particular, are there discussion forums, blogs, or websites where I could see posts from you?

Let me know what you would need for compensation and ask any questions you might have about the position or WikiTree in general.

If you haven't used WikiTree lately, be sure to spend some time using the site and browsing our Help Pages before contacting me so that we can have a more informed discussion.

You might also contact Elyse Doerflinger at elyse -at- wikitree.com. She can tell you what it's like to work as part of our team.

You can also get a sense of our community through our http://www.facebook.com/WikiTreeOnline Facebook page.

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