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Blizzard is hiring Hearthstone community managers – having laid the whole team off five months ago

New job listings have appeared for the Hearthstone community team - while "hundreds" of former employees are still without a job

In February this year, Activision-Blizzard announced that more than 800 employees would be losing their jobs as part of company-wide lay-offs. Now, it looks like Blizzard is beginning to re-hire for some of those roles, despite axing them just a few months ago.

Earlier this week, a job listing for a Hearthstone community manager was posted on the developer’s careers page. The role asks for “an experienced community manager passionate about the gaming industry, player communities, live events, and player relationships.” Requirements include a Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field, as well as “minimum three years’ experience with brand communication, forums, and social media.”

Following Blizzard’s post, former employees (who we have not named) responded on Twitter. One ex-Hearthstone employee – who says that they were laid off along with their entire team back in February – said that the listing was “shameful,” and referred to the community managers who are still looking for new employment in the wake of the lay-offs. Another said that “hundreds” of former employees are still looking for work.

Employees have suggested that the most recent listings are not the first examples of Blizzard hiring for roles that were axed earlier this year.

Around 8% of the company lost their jobs as a result of Activision-Blizzard’s cutbacks, which came after the company announced record profits in Q4 last year. In the wake of the mass lay-offs, the investors were warned that the cut-backs could hurt business due to decreased employee morale and a number of other factors.

Read more: After telling Blizzard to cut costs, Activision welcomed its new CFO with a $15 million bonus

We’ve reached out to the employees mentioned above for more information, and to Blizzard for an official statement. We’ll update this article when we learn more.