It’s that time of the year; winter’s officially over (in a few hours) so we need to beef up staffing in our stores. It sounds corny but this is an opportunity to do something more than just earn a paycheck; helping people with bikes has got to be one of the coolest jobs around.

Enthusiasm about bicycles is the most-important things we’re looking for. Not just enthusiasm for how you enjoy cycling, but also a willingness to embrace someone else’s cycling dream, and help them expand it.  I figure it’s a given that anyone reading this is enthusiastic about cycling! Previous experience in sales (for sales positions) is not a requirement, but certainly a plus.

College students, retired soccer moms, talented high school juniors & seniors looking for their first real job… this could be it!

Empty-nesters looking for something productive to do, this is it! You worked with kids (your own) for years, without pay. Now you’ve got the chance to work around kids and get paid for it! Plus, the fact that you survived raising kids tells us retail will be a breeze for you.

Will you get rich working in a bike shop? Monetarily, no. But when you see the smile on a kids face with their first new bike, you’ll realize it was worth giving up that 6 or 7-figure job in the financial district. Might be worth talking it over with your spouse first though. Sales positions generally pay $10/hour plus significant incentives, with junior mechanics starting at $11/hour, more with experience. Full-time employees receive Kaiser health care. Full & part-time staff also receive generous discounts on purchases as well as access to special employee-only deals from Trek on both bicycles and accessories, plus employee-only access to Trek University.

Saturday hours are mandatory, as that’s our busiest day. People skills… if you’re not a patient person, retail is probably not the place for you. But our customers are the best, so patience and kindness are well-rewarded.

Interested? For sales positions in our Redwood City location, contact Becky Jacoubowsky via email Beckyj@chainreaction.com. For mechanics, MikeJ@ChainReaction.com.  For opportunities in Los Altos, contact  AmyW@ChainReaction.com. Please include why you enjoy working with bicycles and perhaps a story about  your favorite bicycle experience.

Thanks, Mike Jacoubowsky, Partner, Chain Reaction Bicycles

This has not been a fun week for the almost-daily diary. Our site, based on WordPress and hosted by LunarPages, has been attracting… something. Too much of something. We’re not sure what that something is. It would be nice to think it’s zillions of people reading the Almost-Daily Diary, but the reality is that it looks more like a “Denial of Service” attack, or some weirdly-configured software, either of which is bringing the server to its knees. And LunarPages, when they see a server being brought to its knees, disables whichever website (ours, in this case) which seems to be the cause.

For the time being we’re back up, but not without a few hitches. Images, for one, don’t seem to be showing up on a regular basis. And there’s a new piece of software attached to the front end, so when you log on, you get a message telling you that it’s going to be about 5 seconds delay while your web browser is checked out. I’m concerned that many will think they’re looking at something that’s trying to attack their computer when they see that message.

I’ve spent a lot of time back & forth with LunarPages over this, on the phone, via email, and on-line e-chats. They seem to be sincerely working to fix the issue, but how long should it take? I’m willing to throw more resources (money) at it, but that apparently isn’t an option.

So we’ll see how it goes. Crossing my fingers that things are on the mend and I can get back to posting regularly about rides, lobbying efforts and pointless personal stuff.  –Mike Jacoubowsky, Chain Reaction Web Guy