Hi all! I'm new here so hoping this is in the right place.

I'm looking to change careers into the video games industry, but my lack of experience is proving to be quite the hindrance. I currently work as a dog groomer with over 5 years experience in my trade but have CTS in both my wrists so I've decided to pack that up and move on to something new. 
I've given it a lot of thought and I wouldn't be suited to the creative side and concluded I'd make a fairly good Community Manager.

However, I am clueless as to where to start. Obviously I wouldn't expect to be given a management position straight away so I'm looking to start entry level but my question is, what is entry level and where can I find it? After some Googling the only result I've found is QA Testers but most I have found require you to be bi/multi-lingual (I speak Japanese but not fluently enough to be considered for those types and I can't read or write in Japanese very well)

Any insight would be helpful. I'm pulling my hair out over this! Thanks bunches ?

Community managers are hired in a couple of different ways: sometimes active helpful forum participants are recruited to keep on doing what they've been doing, but for pay - and sometimes marketing/PR people fill the job. If you want to be a community manager, you should probably begin by participating in a game's community. And the company that makes that game should have offices within daily commuting distance of your home. My articles 24 and 27 might offer some useful information for you. 

4 hours ago, Tom Sloper said:

Community managers are hired in a couple of different ways: sometimes active helpful forum participants are recruited to keep on doing what they've been doing, but for pay - and sometimes marketing/PR people fill the job. If you want to be a community manager, you should probably begin by participating in a game's community. And the company that makes that game should have offices within daily commuting distance of your home. My articles 24 and 27 might offer some useful information for you. 

Thank you, I hadn't thought of the forum thing, I'll get on that right away. I live in commuting distance from London which helps, I'm also willing to relocate should the need arise.

I'll read over your articles, thanks again!

As Tom said, Community managers are often promoted  moderators, or marketing people. 

Usually CMs have to travel, so if you want that job, be prepared to  do so. 

They have to be good private and public speakers, and better  diplomatic writers. 

If you look up CMs, make sure you find the  jobs that are for games and online platforms, not for property management.(It's very annoying that the titles are the same)

Another potential way besides being an active community member for the games/ games your looking at, is to join and manage clans/ guilds/ leagues.  Not all people see that as relevant experience, but if you can demonstrate your knowledge of the community, that is what matters. 

 Another way is to be a CM for a mod or indie game in the sphere your looking at. There you will likely learn a lot . 

A community member once asked me what  I thought the key to a good PR manager was, he asked if it was dedication.I told him dedication is a natural thing that is needed, but I'd say it's discretion.Knowing what to say, when to say it, how to say it, and times where silence is called for. 

So, practice your diplomacy skills. 

When you speak for a brand/ project/ product, everything you say will be dissected and put under the microscope. 

A while ago I was a PR person for a community driven news series. I said one thing wrong on a public forum, and even though I apologized, in public and in private, the community called for my head. It was so bad that the current members of the project called a vote and voted me out. Even though a month later most of those people left the project, it showed me just how fickle people can be. 

As the CM, your the barrier between the community and the dev team. It's a tough role that requires a lot of communication, little respect, and a lot of work. 

No matter what you do, some one will find fault, and you just need to deal with it. 

37 minutes ago, GeneralJist said:

it's discretion.Knowing what to say, when to say it, how to say it, and times where silence is called for. 

Well said.

On 9/11/2018 at 4:20 AM, MuppetRat said:

For me I keep getting jobs from either my friend or the internet. the internet is a really good source thou(job sites)

Are you trolling?

All jobs are on the internet these days. 

Gone are the days where you randomly show up at an office and hand some one a hard copy of your resume. 

9 minutes ago, GeneralJist said:

All jobs are on the internet these days.

That's not universally true.

Quite a few interesting jobs aren't posted externally to the company, another set of jobs aren't posted at all, and some don't even exist until you talk to the right person in the right context... Personal connections are still one of the most reliable ways to obtain a job in many fields.

The point I was trying to make is that in the above post, the guy basically says to look for jobs online, and talking to friends to get jobs is good,which is a no brainier, and bordering on the obvious and not helpful. His response is almost the same as if I ask :where can I experience nature?" And he responds "outside".  

Sure the hidden job market exists.  And If Remember right, something like 60-70% of job vacancies are filled by referrals. 

Even if you have a personal connection, it won't matter if you don't have the minimum qualifications. 

We in HR are the gate keepers, it's our job to try and mitigate any bias in the selection process.

Getting a job is indeed usually about knowing the right person in the right place, however, if you don't have anything knowledgeable or t relevant skills that fit the job, it usually doesn't matter. (unless they are really desperate)

But ya, staffing agencies can  make bank for some candidates, just this week I Processed a payment for my company for $35,000 for one guy. I meant him and looked him up on linked in, and he did have a nice background, but $35,000?! that is just ridiculous. 

Well I think many community managers are from someone who already manage some kind of community before. Like .... facebook group/page, web board, forums, etc. So it will be quite difficult if you don't have some experience in this area before. However it is still quite difficult to get into running a community that you don't own. I don't know how I got into moderating one of the game developer communities in my country, to be honest .

You can started with finding something you're interested and build a community from there. It will take a year, or a few years, before the community grows much enough to show that you can run a community. You can later add that into your cv saying that you have an experience running one.