Discussing about some points scrutiny of Application for any role at 7 cups................
Hello admins,
I want to speak about some issues here. My name is debojyoti and I am from India. I am not a native speaker of English, that's why many times my english writing is not upto the mark. But I am always trying. When I was joined in this 7cup I heard that 7cup is very supportive towards non english speaker but very much unfortunately your teams when consider any application, not very supportive towards non english speaker.
Example:
Recently I had applied for a role in 7cups but my application was rejected due to my forum posts are very hard to understand bacause of my English. And the observer or leader whatever decided that on ground of other feedback.
Now my issue:
1. How can you judge someone's ability on the basis of forum posts?
2. If you consider English language very seriously then why you not put these line on the application form " Good knowledge of English is required"
3. You decide someone's role on basis of others feedback then why you are not give that details of feedback to the applicant. It is our total right to know who gives feedback and what marks or points we get in our application form but if you decide this is breach of privacy then why you asks us to give reference? You know others feedback can be biased. Scrutiny of 7cups application process is very unclear and very biased.
4. Your application of various roles are full of irrelevant questions? When some one go for specified role then your qs should be specified otherwise it is not make sense any more.
Next Example:
I had also get a feedback about professionalism. The leaders said I have lack of professionalism. It is okk I am totally agree with the leaders. I have lack of this.
But what kind of professionalism you need for 7cups when we spend our valuable times here for supporting others and after that we get hate and curse in rooms. We also do it voluntarily. But this kind of feedback can loose confidence any listener.
You rejected application on the basis of professionalism but at the same time you give badges to the people who dont even spent 1 hr daily and give them authority to handle the first one who tried their best to resolve many things or support.
So my points
1. Please clarify which kind of professionalism you need? But rules must be same for all the listener.
2. After deciding any result please make sure all the applicant should get proper response and their application form back. Why a applicant need to find the leader for asking their result feedback? What kind of professionalism is this?
3. Ask clear questions. If you not satisfied then please take a test. Do not decide someone's role on the basis feedbacks of few persons. May be they give wrong feed back.
4. Give priority on the basis of date of joining at 7cups. Dont choose randomly. That also show biasness.
* I am not accusing. Just asking direct questions. I asked because I face this, but in reality many listeners faced but affraid to ask this.
May be my points will be ignored, but one thing I want to say many awesome people are also present in 7cups ,so my request is dont loose them on the basis of your faulty application process. If you not understand my points then please use delete button. It will be better choice.
@Laura @kate @Jill7cups
@debojyoti012
On the one hand, your English writing does not conform.
On the other hand I had absolutely no trouble in understanding this post. It was quite clear to me what you are getting at.
Whether it would be the same if we were working together on emotional issues I don't know, though. That demands a very good understanding of the nuances of words and phrases. I suspect that face to face work would be easier, as we have all the presence and body language to work with too.
Just my opinion.
@Anomalia
@Debojyoti012
First of all, sorry that I did not see this until now! I appreciate the feedback on the application process and am always open to hearing other perspectives about what may make sense there. I did want to address a couple of points.
Re: Feedback – I completely agree that if you are not accepted into a role you deserve feedback on why! On the forum team, we always discuss this with applicants at a high level and if more detail is desired, we can share that. If thats not what is happening on other roles, I agree that a change needs to be made. That said, feedback is intended to help people grow into a role – its not an outright rejection, but rather an explanation of what needs to be seen prior to taking a role on. Sometimes people arent ready for a leadership role yet and thats completely okay. No one is entitled to a leadership role simply because they want one or have been at the site for a specific amount of time
I do disagree here that someone should inherently get to know who gave what feedback for the same reasons that we do not share the member name who wrote a review with the listener – by having that feedback be anonymous, it allows more freedom to speak openly without fear of retribution. When reviewing leadership applications we often reach out to others to solicit feedback – on the forum team, this would include leaders in the community you are applying for (as they will be working directly with you and have the best ability to assess how youve been doing in that community to date), the reference(s) you provide (as this is a chance to talk to someone that you have said can speak well to your work), and the broader ambassador team (who reviews all potential mentor applicants to make sure that we are aware of anything that has come up in other areas of the site that could influence an application).The person reviewing the application (in the case of the forum team, me) brings that feedback together and shares it back with the applicant if they are turned down from to role so that they can know what the concerns are and can learn and grow from them.
Re: Requirements – You mentioned that someones ability shouldnt be judged on the basis of their forum posts. I dont entirely agree with that. I think at a basic level, behavior across the site needs to be professional, respectful, and supportive for anyone to take on a leadership position. At a higher level, the quality of a persons activities in the relevant area matters (e.g., making great forum posts isnt a requirement for a group support role, but is very relevant to someones ability to be a successful forum mentor)
Re: Professionalism – I think thats a fair challenge that we do not always make it clear what we mean by professionalism. I think that when it comes to being a leader, the term encompasses a few things including 1. Maintaining the listener role while on a listener account (e.g., not seeking personal support), 2. Remaining respectful and supportive of others at all times on the site, 3. Being able to accept feedback and grow from it, 4. De-escalating conflict and remaining empathetic even when others are not, and 5. Knowing when to take a step back if feeling something personally or unable to stay calm to avoid contributing to conflict. While we do expect all users to maintain a certain degree of professionalism, the standards are higher for leaders and need to remain there even when other users are not professional and to use appropriate channels to report if they have concerns about the behavior of others (e.g., L-L reports, mod review form, emailing community@7cups.com , etc.)
Re: English fluency – This is a tricky one because so much of the site is run in English. While English fluency isnt important for 1-1 chats in other languages, for quality mentor mock chats, or for work in the specific communities that function in other languages, it is pretty important in spaces where communication is required in English (i.e., most group support rooms and forums). That doesnt mean that English has to be perfect – we all make mistakes and thats okay – but that to effectively support others in these spaces, it is necessary to be understood. I could not effectively guide or moderate an English discussion in a group support room if I didnt speak the language and similarly, I cannot effectively build community in English forums if I cannot speak it to a degree sufficient for my posts to be understood.
Re: Irrelevant questions on application forms – I dont feel comfortable addressing this without more detail on what questions feel irrelevant, but I will say, I am open to feedback or questions about why certain things are included in forum application forms. A few months ago (or maybe longer by now) we updated ours to remove some things that did feel less relevant to make sure our application was focused on how people behave in the forums and how they would handle the role they are applying for.
Re: Priority based on joining date – Im not entirely sure what you mean by Give priority on the basis of date of joining at 7cups. Dont choose randomly. That also show biasness. – applications are not considered based on join date because the date someone joins is not necessarily relevant to whether they will be an effective leader (though all roles require some minimum amount of time on the site or in specific roles – e.g., to be a forum supporter you must have been on the site for at least 3 weeks and to apply for forum mentor you need a minimum of one month in the forum supporter role). But not being based on join date does not mean that they are chosen randomly – roles are chosen based on the criteria laid out and the readiness to take on a leadership role. I cant speak directly to all tracks, but at least in the forums, there are no limits to the number of people who can be brought onto these roles, so each applicant is reviewed independently of the others and determined if they will be accepted or not based solely on their application and activity. If there is other bias you are concerned about, Im happy to try to address it.
I hope that addresses your points, but if I missed anything, please feel free to let me know and I will do my best to respond.
Take care!
