Hello Robin!

I am Kelly. While not staff, I've been here a little bit and would like to offer some input.

In general

While the "Characters We Do and Don't Need" is an incredibly useful tool for diversifying the board, I wouldn't necessarily recommend starting off there when getting established on site. Honestly, the best way to make connections here is typically more in the range of "Don't need" as often it's an over populated type of character. A lot easier to plot when you have plenty of characters around with similar interests to your own.

I believe that you are correct on how to reserve occupations. But the main reason I say believe is that hardly anyone reserves an occupation unless they are gonna take a while to finish the app before they are posting the character and that job has a limit on how many people can have the title.

(This advice can be useful for both original and adoptable characters.)

If you want to adopt:

Always a dear favorite when someone adopts a character from me or a character that I want that I shouldn't make. It is certainly easier to reach out when you already have one account going. CBox is one option of communication if you manage to catch the attention of the person you wish to speak to. When in doubt, I know that a few new members have made the account to PM someone and staff can change names during the app process or in maintenance should an adoption not work out.

I really hope this helps!