We at AN24 are always looking to speak with people from all aspect and political alignments in this game if we have not reached out to you already for content, articles, or interviews and you would like to contribute content about Albion Online please join our discord https://discord.gg/6rPPdJA and message Voltel!

AN24: To start off, would you describe your role in Albion and what you do?

Kirstie: My name is Kirstie and I’m the head recruiter for the guild Crimson Imperium Reborn (CIR), part of Sometimes We [WIN] alliance. I’m also taking charge of a new guild called CIR Academy, designed for new players to Albion. My job is to find the right people for our guild, to ensure that social issues within the guild are handled appropriately, and to mentor new players. I hope to talk a bit today about how important the role of recruiting can be in allowing a guild to thrive and grow, and also the benefits of mentoring new players.

AN24: So, what is your history of gaming and recruiting?

Kirstie: I’ve been a big fan of MMORPGs for almost 20 years. Started out with Ultima and Myth of Soma. Developed an interest for MOBAs. EVE online was a notable game that I thoroughly enjoyed and played for a few years, and still is one of my favourite MMORPGs of all time. I fell in love with the mechanics of Albion because it has a little of everything that I was looking for, guild politics, full loot pvp, no gear treadmill, pvp focus, and skill-based mechanics. All I’ve learnt about recruiting has come from previous guilds in past games and my real-life career.

AN24: How did you get involved in recruiting with CIR?

Kirstie: Starting off as a newbie in Albion, I was looking for a decent bunch of people to run content with, without unnecessary drama. Hirihito the GM at the time was helpful in getting me up to speed quickly. I’ve met some great people in CIR and really gelled well with a mature, no-bullshit environment.

Throughout my time playing, I kept meeting new people and friends that I would encourage to join CIR with me and so I was asked to help recruit. During this time CIR was suffering in active membership numbers. I’m fortunate that I was able to bring some important members to CIR that has really helped us in our more recent successes.

AN24: How do you go about recruiting people in general?

Kirstie: The more obvious part of recruiting is carrying out recruitment campaigns regularly and getting your guild’s name out there. We have an emphasis on quality over quantity, so we interview all prospective members for as long as required, something that I’ll talk about in a bit more detail later on.

I also try my best to bring people that I meet in Albion to CIR and I also reach out to newer players that have potential. Understanding the new player experience is very important when reaching out to newer players, because it helps to put yourself in their position so you can best provide what they’re after. It varies a little for each person, but most people are looking for a good community of people and to get involved in Albion content quickly. As a recruiter you’re trying to sell an experience to a member. You want them to be excited for what the guild has to offer and you want to emphasise exactly what sets your guild apart from others. It’s a very social role and you have to be patient with people.

I realised that even one player can make an enormous difference in Albion and recruiting isn’t just about finding numbers, it’s about finding the right kind of people for the guild, even if that means growing at a slower rate. You might want a lot of numbers in an alliance, but in my view for a guild with limited space, you want to maintain standards that allow you to thrive long-term and you have to ensure that members are fitting in well.

That’s not always an easy task; you want to recruit people that are willing to learn, somewhat active, to ensure their personality would be a good fit for the guild, and more. Finding out what people’s strengths are, what their passions in the game are, what builds they like to use. All of these help me to accommodate and allow members to grow as much as possible. A really important aspect to consider when recruiting is that you may also be taking on some mentorship responsibilities for newer members. It’s really your duty as a recruiter to make sure the game will be enjoyed by all members in the guild and that’s a huge part of any member fitting in. If it’s not fun, most members will not stick around for long. Especially so with newer members, to which first expectations are so important, to best ensure their retention in Albion. These newer members would typically be placed in our new guild CIR Academy.

AN24: What is CIR Academy?

Kirstie: CIR Academy is a guild I set up specifically for newer members. As we started to see more successes within our guild and alliance, we increased our member requirements for CIR. However, I wanted to make sure that newer players still had an opportunity to prove themselves and take part in veteran guild activities. New players that are willing to learn, but are inexperienced can sometimes benefit from mentoring. We assign mentors to all Academy members that require it. CIR Academy is designed to be a temporarily place for newer players to get some extra assistance to get them up to speed quickly, so that they can be transferred to the main guild. I strongly believe that it’s our responsibility to be as inclusive as possible to newer players and I think new player potential is often overlooked by experienced guilds.

The approach of mentoring new recruits, whilst time consuming, is a fantastic way of giving new players a chance to join in with some of the most fun content in the game.

AN24: How does the actual recruitment process work in CIR?

Kirstie: In order for anyone new to be invited into the guild, I insist that an interview is held with voice. There is so much that can be determined by a quick interview with a prospective member; I believe it’s essential. A recruiting interview in Albion is all about building up a profile of a person.

What can be determined from interview:

The hours that a member can play, what commitments they may have IRL;

The level of experience in Albion a member has;

The content they most enjoy in the game;

If they’re PvP focused;

If they’re a candidate for GvG training and scrims?

How long someone has been playing for, if they have any past mmo or relevant gaming experience;

The maturity of the person;

A glimpse of their personality;

Their goals and ambitions for Albion;

What they may be looking for in a guild, so that we can best accommodate them;

Do they understand our rules and expectations?

Can they manage their own economy?

Are they acting suspiciously or are things not adding up?

Do they understand how to use our comms, what the guild culture is like, how to join in with the rest of the guild quickly?

These are the types of things that I always try and determine from every interview with each member. I make sure to record recruiting notes on each individual member. This is a really important part of the process and frequently comes in handy.

In addition to the interview, which is the main component of the recruiting process, we also have a new member form that people can fill out, which allows me to get a very rough picture of a new member, to which I can add additional notes to.

AN24: What do you think makes someone a good recruiter?

Kirstie: As mentioned, recruiting is a social role. You have to be able to talk to people and be patient with them too at times. You’re the face of the guild and you should be the first point of call for any questions to be answered. Being fair, having the ability to be of a good judge of character, being able to mentor members and provide advice are all important qualities in my view.

AN24: Have you had any failures whilst recruiting?

Kirstie: It’s impossible to get a full picture of a person in the span of a short interview. Sometimes conflicts occur and sometimes people aren’t a good fit for the guild. That’s part of the process. As long as you are monitoring members and how they’re progressing, picking up on issues within the guild as they occur, then you’re going to minimise the impact of members that may not fit in. I’ve had a few instances before where members have clashed too much with existing members and have been too drama prone to be a good fit. Being organised and using some sort of member tracking document/system is incredibly useful when building up profiles of members over time. The last thing you want is to lose track of members and not remember who they are, or when they even joined. That also means keeping track of the alt accounts of members!

AN24: And finally, what are your future plans of recruitment with CIR?

Kirstie: My current focus will be growing CIR Academy and getting new members involved in our community. I will likely be spending a lot of time mentoring new players and helping them integrate into the guild. I’ll also be keeping up the usual recruitment efforts! I want to give a huge thanks to the entire recruiting team at CIR, who have been putting in a lot of continued effort in improving our recruitment process and getting new players settled into the guild.

AN24: Anything final to add?

Kirstie: If anyone is interested in talking to me about recruitment in more detail, or wants to consider joining CIR or CIR Academy, you can DM me on discord @Kirsty#7801. Thanks!

*Editors Note* we are always attempting to get content, articles, and interviews from everyone in the Albion Community please join our discord and get involved! https://discord.gg/6rPPdJA