How to recruit Discord moderators, from the opening to the trial period

Before you open applications

A bad hire often starts with a vague need. Take ten minutes to pin down the following, and write it where staff can find it

• The role: moderation, events, support, and how many seats
• The minimum bar, like age, availability or a mic if you moderate voice
• Questions that make people write: a scenario tells you more than “why you?”
• Who reads applications and who decides after the interview

The staff application form

Applications posted in a channel get lost and are visible to everyone. A form keeps them in one place, one per applicant

• A Kotbo form

  Under Forms, write your questions and turn on Recruitment for the form. Applicants have to sign in with Discord to answer, so you always know who applied

• A linked hierarchy

  Tie the form to a staff hierarchy, Moderation or Events for example. It decides the rank and role the new mod will get

• Your Google Form, if you prefer

  The Recruitment page generates a Google Apps Script and an API key. Paste it into your Google Form, add the on-submit trigger, and responses land in Kotbo

• Automatic closing

  A role can close itself at a number of pending applications and reopen once one is decided. It can also close at a number of hires

Announcing open roles on Discord

The recruitment panel is a Discord message that lists each role with its status, OPEN or CLOSED, and an apply button that opens the right form. It updates itself when a role opens or closes, so no more stale “applications closed” message pinned at the top. You create it under Forms, in the recruitment panels section: a title, a channel and the roles to show, in order

Sorting applications and holding the interview

Every application lands on the dashboard’s Recruitment page, and the recruitment log channel can announce them on Discord

1. 1

   Read and annotate

   Filter by status or role, search a username or an answer, move between applications with J and K. Management notes stay visible to staff only

2. 2

   Reject with a reason

   Rejecting closes the application. The reason is optional and goes to the applicant by DM

3. 3

   Move to the interview

   The interview button opens an interview ticket, in the category you choose or on your linked staff server. The applicant is asked there for their availability for a voice call

4. 4

   Decide on the interview

   Passed: the applicant joins the team. Failed: the application is rejected and they have to wait a month before applying again, which Kotbo tells them by DM

Bringing the new mod into the team

When the interview passes, Kotbo creates their staff profile at the hierarchy’s starting rank, gives them the staff roles on Discord and opens a trial period. You can pick the hierarchy and starting rank when you confirm. The new mod then shows up in the org chart with the rest of the staff

Trial period and mentoring

The first weeks decide whether a new mod stays. The Tutoring module gives them a frame

• A trial period

  It opens when the mod joins, planned for 14 days, and ends in a pass or a fail

• A mentor

  From the application, assign a mentor among staff at level 2 and above, or members flagged as mentors. They get notified of their new mentee

• A checklist and tasks

  Each hierarchy has its own mentoring checklist, and a list of tasks given during the trial shows up in the new mod’s schedule

• Follow-up reports

  The mentor writes reports on the new mod, so the end-of-trial call doesn’t rest on memory