*Before we begin, please note that we are looking someone based in the Brighton & Hove area. Whilst the role is mostly remote at the moment, we are moving towards working more frequently out of our studio/office in Hove.*
Effervescent.
It’s a lovely word.
It comes from the Latin fervescere ‘begin to boil’, which is fabulous when you think about it, to have a term that describes the very beginning state of boiling. I don’t believe we have an equivalent word in English. We would say, “just coming to the boil”, when you get those lovely tiny bubbles dashing to the surface of the water.
Of course, I think for most people effervescence brings to mind champagne or sparkling wine, or indeed soft drink. I always think of a bottle of Schweppes lemonade, thanks to their 80’s ad campaigns (Schweppervescence, anyone?).
There’s a lightness about effervescence. When you use it to describe a person, it brings to mind an uprising of life or joy. A positive and contagious spirit.
I’m guessing you know where I’m going with this? Effervescent. That’s what we’d like you to be if you work for us. Well, not just when you work for us. Ideally, it would be your default state of being. O.K, no one is effervescent all of the time. Or are they? If you know anyone who is, do let me know. I think they would be a unique individual indeed. As the saying goes, everyone is fighting battles that we know nothing about.
So, effervescence as your modus operandi. No fakery. Just a (mostly) unfailing positivity. And curiosity. Where one goes, the other follows. When you’re in a positive frame of mind, life is so interesting.
Our clients are interesting. The work we do for our clients is unendingly interesting. The business we are in and the way we run it is interesting. And if you work for us, you’ll need to feel the same way.
I think The Picture Hanger is an exciting little business with so much potential. It’s at its heart a creative business run and staffed by creative people. So if you work for us, you’ll need to be a creative person too. How you define creativity is entirely up to you. But if you apply for the job I’m about to get around to describing, you’ll need to be able to put your version of creativity into words. So putting that aside for now, here’s the job.
The nuts and bolts
When clients, new or old, want to work with us, they either phone, email or ideally, fill out the enquiry form on our website (which gets emailed to the enquiries team).
Our ever-present goal is to get back to all fresh enquiries within 24 hours – ideally, the same day. Your job will be to help make that happen.
You’ll be a part of an existing team of four, Tamsin, Marty, John and Keira. They are a friendly, helpful bunch, and you’ll enjoy working with them. You’ll be working both remotely and from our small studio in Hove. Whatever is appropriate for you and for us.
Replying to clients by phone or email, you’ll make sure we have all the information we need to give them a clear estimate of cost and how soon we can carry out the work.
You’re the first point of contact for our clients. Hence the need to be effervescent. Not over the top. The most important thing is that our clients enjoy dealing with you because you are friendly, helpful and organised.
You need to enjoy speaking to people on the phone. All of our clients are great to deal with. We don’t work for rude people.
Equally, you need to enjoy writing straightforward, concise emails. Our clients need to know what they are going to get when we work for them. So your emails need to leave no stone unturned.
It’s not a simple job, and there are lots of moving parts. You’ll need to enjoy working systematically and efficiently.
You’ll also need to be a “digital native”. Fast to learn and grasp new tech and user interfaces. Able to switch easily and quickly between different software and apps. Getting estimates back to our prospective customers swiftly. Bish bash boom, as Marty would say. If you think this will be difficult for you, please don’t apply.
You won’t be able to learn it all at once. But, we certainly won’t throw you in the deep-end – we will train you, piece by piece, on the job.
That said, you need to bring with you relevant experience from other roles. So when you apply, make sure to shout about what you’ve done before. Not just in your CV, but in your covering email, video or voice recording. More on that in a moment.
The role is full time, ideally Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. However we are somewhat flexible to suit your work-life balance.
The salary is £1600 per month.
If this rocks your socks, then apply.
How do you apply? Well back to that definition of creativity.
Please don’t just send me your CV with a boring cover letter. I will send it to the trash before I even bother looking at your CV.
Tell me about yourself. Tell me how you are creative and why you would like to work for The Picture Hanger. And why we’d enjoy working with you.
Address the points I’ve made above, so I know why you tick all the boxes. And if you don’t tick all the boxes, tell me why I’d be mad not to hire you anyway.
You can email me, you can record yourself speaking, or if you’re one of the brave ones, you can send me a video of yourself. Whatever format you are comfortable with, as long as it’s interesting.
You can, of course, add a CV as support. But don’t make it the star of the show unless it’s creatively put together and a fascinating read. I’d love to see a non-boring CV.
Send your application to jobs@thepicturehanger.com
Thanks for reading. Even if you don’t want to apply but want to get in touch, I’d love to hear from you. Just don’t be boring.
Cheers,
Patrick Donohoe
Founder, The Picture Hanger