_x000D_ Thanks for your interest in working with us. I'm Dallas, the owner of LowerGear, and I am on-site everyday to meet the day-to-day management needs of our operation. I'm assisted by a number of part-time staffers that work various week-parts as their schedules allow, but generally, I'm married to the store 6 days a week._x000D_

_x000D_ I'm getting tired of that "marriage", so here's an opportunity for you - your goal will be to let me leave the store on occasion and know everything is in good hands._x000D_

_x000D_ If you have retail store operational supervision experience, good customer service skills, love the outdoors, are an avid backpacker, a bit of a outdoors gearhead, and can talk up the outdoors to a wide range of customers, then this job could be a good fit. I'm looking for a full-time retail wizard to come in and help me out. There's lots of improvements that need to be made in our operations, but right now I'm too busy working to get around to it. You'd work with me to make sure the day-to-day rental orders and retail sales are covered, but also help grow the business by improving our retail setup, help determine a better product mix, and making the community more aware of our presence and offerings. Your reliable presence and knowledge will allow me to focus on other things the business needs to grow._x000D_

_x000D_ You must have three things going for you, all equally important. You must have prior retail store managerial experience - if not the head person for the entire store, you need to at least be experienced as a shift supervisor, lead person for a defined retail department, or assistant store manager, all preferably at an outdoors-related retailer. And it's an absolute necessity that you be able to walk the walk - that is, you can easily explain something about the outdoors, especially backpacking skills, based on your direct and extensive personal experiences. If that's not part of who you are, this isn't the right job for you. Lastly, you need to be one of those "smartest guys in the room" types - not so much as that being proven by high grades, but always being able to pick up new things quickly, and being able to appropriately apply past experiences to different situations. You know if you are or you aren't that type of person._x000D_

_x000D_ You'll do your share of strategizing and managing others, sitting at a desk sometimes, but this a "doing" job as well. That means pitching in on the same things everyone else does, including me - cleaning, checking in gear, taping up boxes, doing UPS labels, stocking shelves, waiting on customers. Our current hours are 9-6 weekdays; 10-4 Saturdays. Figure on a flexible 40-hour work week carved out of those 51 total hours we're open, and no, you won't have to work every Saturday. If you've got lots of years, as well as miles, on your legs, I consider that an asset, not a liability. So if you're otherwise qualified, but have been frustrated by being age-blocked out in your previous employment efforts, give this a chance._x000D_

_x000D_ We're a low key, low-stress operation that's been around in this space for more than 15 years. My company has been in continual operations since 1959, so we'll be around probably as long as you'll want to be involved. You won't be overworked with us, but there will be an expectation of reliability, expert knowledge and good customer relations and managerial skills. Depending on your experience and talents and success your efforts bring to the table, we'd have a wage and benefits package for you in the $35k to $50k range._x000D_

_x000D_ If interested, please follow these exact instructions. You'll be surprised at how many applicants won't, so you'll be ahead of many others just by doing this part right. First, poke around the site some, and read some of the educational articles and the product write-ups. The site is mostly geared toward rentals, as that's the biggest part of our business. The key here is to get the flavor of how we operate and see if it's for you or not. If it is, email your resume as a PDF file (Word docs won't even be opened) to me at "jobs at lowergear.com". In the body of the email you send, tell me in 2 or 3 sentences where your favorite backpacking area is, and why. You can add whatever else you want, but at least tell me that. Impress me with the total package, and I'll invite you in for a chat. We're looking to fill the position as soon as possible, so perhaps this will be the last step in your employment search!_x000D_