So I’m recruiting for a gift buyer, the first job in my start-up

So it turns out people are actually interested in buying from my company, The Gifting Co. yay! The, problem this creates is that there’s too many orders for little old me to manage.

If you don’t know what I and The Gifting Co. are up to, you can read that here.

Tl;dr? We help people give great gifts that will be remembered and treasured.

They share everything about the special person they’re buying for. They choose one of the thoughtful themed gift packages we create and curate from what they’ve shared. We deliver the beautifully packaged present.

Between sentence one and two is where you come in…

As a gift buyer for The Gifting Co. your job will be simple: create thoughtful, bespoke gift recommendations for our customers that the special person they’re buying will remember and treasure.

To achieve this you’ll need to take the briefs shared with us to really understand the person they’re buying for — maybe just as well as our customer does.

Add everything you already know about what’s out there, you’ll use the internet to research and curate amazing gift and product ideas that you’ll then turn into a series of carefully-selected, thoughtful, and bespoke recommendations for our customers to choose from.

Finally, you’ll be building relationships with our customers through the personable but professional emails and conversations you’ll have with them, you’ll write great copy and select beautiful photos to ensure your recommendations entice our customers to buy.

Who are you?

The longer list about the kind of person you’ll be can be found here. But basically you like buying stuff online (and can do it efficiently), you know what makes a quality present and you can summarise what a product is into short and compelling prose that will make someone think, “Yeh, my Dad would love that.”

Now you’re thinking…

“Of course I love buying great things off Not on the High Street and Firebox, who doesn’t!?”

Well our customers don’t, or at least they don’t have the time to. And we’re here to help them do this important thing, find great things to share and make the people in their life happy.

And that’s the crucial bit. You won’t be looking for yourself, you’ll be looking on behalf of our customers, who in turn are looking to share an amazing, loving or surprising gift with someone who is specially to them. So while your great product knowledge and curation skills are part of why I’d hire you, most crucially what you find has to be what the special people will love and what our customers are prepared to give.

The magic happening @thegifting_co our own little photo studio in the office :) #gift #stocking…

Where are you?

Well, London or can easily commute to London (N1), but that wasn’t what I really meant.

• Maybe you’re working in John Lewis, you know what a great customer experience looks like and want different way to help them?
• Maybe you’re in fashion, you get what amazing quality looks like and want a broader way to show what you know?
• Maybe you’ve just finished your degree, you know why you love and hate the Amazon website and want your first job to be really interesting?
• Or maybe you’re none of those things and you just remember the delight on your friends face the last time you got them an amazing present and know exactly how you made that happen.

Where we’re based, the Forward Partners office — the investment firm who have invested in The Gifting Co.

What will you get from me?

You mean a living wage and FREE breakfast isn’t enough? OK then.

1. It is impossible to not learn loads every single day you work for a start-up, too much interesting stuff is going on around you. Whether that’s from me or one of the other start-ups/businesses we share an office with. And you’ll get to take all that with for the rest of your career.
2. You’ll get to help build something from nothing. You and I doing the whole gift buying process manually isn’t the business model — you can read more of what it is here and your insights into the product finding/buying process will be invaluable.
3. A job that’s about making people happy. There aren’t the words to explain how an amazing and thoughtful present can brighten up ones year and you’ll get to help make the happen.

You’re sold! …What now?

1. Check that the slightly more formal JD and personal spec is for you.
2. Upload your CV and write a short summary of who you are.
3. MOST IMPORTANTLY. I’d like you to please tell me what beauty and cosmetics products you’d buy with £65 for a 30 year-old married woman who is a PR manager for a financial institution, she loves The Great British Bake-off, dinosaurs and holidays to the Gambia. (If you don’t take the time to answer this well, there’s no chance you’ll get an interview. )

If you have ANY questions please call me (07704 163099), drop me an email (ben@thegiftingco.uk) or just say hi on twitter (@benfurber).

Oh, and if you’re noticed, rolled your eyes at and can count all the cliché rhetorical devices I’ve used in this, please please please apply.