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Eager to Start a Career in PR, Media Management & Social Media?

THIS POSITION HAS BEEN FILLED; HOWEVER, WE DO VALUE GREAT TALENT AND CONTINUE TO ACCEPT OUTSTANDING APPLICATIONS.
So we think this opportunity is a little different so bare with me while I build up to it and skip a lot of the hyperbole about us being “an exciting Internet startup, with excellent potential, blah, blah, blah.”
Hands up if you’ve ever heard of Cameron Herold of 1-800-GOT-JUNK and BackPacket COO fame? Cameron has mastered the art of pitching companies to getting a massive amount of coverage when he does. His disciples have followed his principles and have achieved great media success. Cameron’s PR Strategy can be distilled as:

1. Know your angle.
2. Know your target.
3. Pick up the phone.

(A good summary of his approach can be found here: http://bit.ly/oekU5y)
Anyhow, to make what could be a very long story, short … We need someone to come up with angles, research targets, and pick up the phone as we launch one of the top internet brands in the world. And that last statement is not hyperbole.
So what is that brand, and who are we? Let me answer that second question first and build up to the great reveal, that “MOVE THAT BUS!” moment if you will.
We are a Maple Ridge, BC-based startup that builds real web businesses on million dollar domain names. These web brands include: Villa.com, HomeDecor.com, Massage.com, and countless others. You can read a bit about us on our website at www.LeftOfTheDot.com.
We are very much a startup. We launched over 2 years ago, but moved into some nice digs here in Maple Ridge. For those reading this from downtown Vancouver…  Yes, an internet startup from Maple Ridge! We have 7 in our offices here and another 10 or so overseas. We have darts, a foosball table, beer o’clock every Friday afternoon (and some other days too, like today… hey it was 33 degrees out there!). We have an office dog on most days.
And yes, we work really hard because we believe in what we are doing, and if we don’t, somebody else will come and steal our lunch. Everyone also recognizes that we are a startup, meaning that we are frugal while bootstrapping and filled with all kinds of uncertainty.
But the opportunity, oh the opportunity…. (If you’ve read this far, then you must be somewhat intrigued, so indulge me a little bit further while I describe you or what we envision you to be).
Your Personality:
> You must be a risk taker who has a passion for entrepreneurism
> You must love to talk to strangers. The media and bloggers won’t bite and you will have to want to pitch them on the phone.
> You must want to work in Maple Ridge and won’t bitch and moan about the commute if you are coming from downtown (read: a great opportunity for someone out this way)
> You must be a self starter and able to manage yourself and your projects
> You could be fresh out of school, or been around the block a few times. . . either way, you are enthusiastic and driven to make things work
> You must be willing to multi-task, while still getting your projects done. We have lots of shiny objects and while we may be distracted and pulling you in different directions continually, you can still focus. And remember, it is ever so important that you… SQUIRREL!!
> You should be someone who gets carried away simply by building something really cool, only to emerge in a couple of years and say, “Wow! Look what we’ve built together”
> You must want to work in a startup
> You must believe in the mantra of “work hard, play hard.”
> You should like to write, blog, tweet, and poke [do they still do that?]
> You must be eager to get started in PR and media relations. Ideally, you want to use us as a springboard for bigger and brighter things in a few years, and then realize that we’ve grown together and we are now that bigger and brighter thing you imagined when you applied.
Essential Skills
> A degree in journalism, communications, English, Art History, History of the Roman Empire, Geography, Psychology, … Ok, basically you need to have some initials behind your name or equivalent experience. We need you smart. Street smarts is a form of smart
> An understanding of social media
> Creative in concepts and ideas. You are a risk taker.
> Very strong English skills (while you are pitching via the phone, you would hate to land a spot on Ellen DeGeneres only to lose it because you can’t string a sentence together when you send a follow-up email).
Useful Things
> Pre-existing media contacts
> Knowledge/curiosity of Web businesses, Domain Names, and Internet Marketing
> Knowledge (and willingness) that sometimes it requires we work around the clock — not because someone is poking you with a sharp stick, but because you want to.
> Knowledge that you don’t know everything and that we don’t know everything, but if we put our heads together, we can probably figure it out.
About the Job
So I guess this finally where we tell you about our latest project. Consider it a reward for reading this far down the page.
Within the next week or two we will be launching an early version of Christmas.com. This is one of the top, un-built assets on the web. And we are building it as we speak (well the developers are over there doing the coding, I’m sitting here writing a mini novella called, “How to Hire an Eager PR Star in 2 Weeks or Less”, to be self published.)
In a way, we are kind of still in stealth about Christmas.com, but by putting this job posting out there, that kind of bursts that bubble. My hope is that by stringing this out, only those who really want to launch a career in PR and Media Relations will have read this posting to the bottom.
What you will do over the next 4 months includes:
> Pitch, Pitch, and Pitch Christmas.com… We are live for this holiday and we need the coverage
> Manage the social media for that brand. We will have some pretty cool social media things that we will be doing with the site, so we need to have you as our genuine voice on that site (and yes, you have to be genuine)
> Grab some low hanging fruit and manage the other social media for our other brands. We will have 16 brands live by the end of this year, and each has unique stories and brands that need telling.
> Oh … and you can also do corporate communications for us too at a company level while we try to secure our next round of financing.
> After Christmas, you can sleep, and get ready for 2013 while shouting from the rooftops about our other cool properties.
Compensation Next Steps
With my mini novella now complete, here is what you need to do if you’ve read this far and you want to learn more about us and the job at hand.
> Send us a cover letter and provide a resume (or link to an online resume) that tells us why you are right for this position.
> While your salary will be competitive and based on your experience, we believe that as we build this out together, we can all share in the upside and increase compensation as revenues increase. However, to make sure that we don’t waste each other’s time, please include your salary expectations  and available start date (which is hopefully soon).
> Oh and regarding salary, if you are on EI and FutureWorks eligible, then this may be a good fit. We also can’t ask or discriminate based on age, but there is a great program called Get Youth Working that we have used in the past to help offset our costs. We are a startup after all.
Send your resume to:  careers [at] leftofthedot.com
Thanks in advance for considering us, and while we thank all those who apply, only those who are being considered may be contacted.
 
 

by admin