Week one: announce company. Week two: hiring.

In classic startup style we’re already hiring at GigPark ;).

This going to be a busy (and extremely exciting) summer for Paul, Noah and I so to help us along the way we’ve decided to recruit a developer. All three of us believe in giving opportunities to young people so ideally we’d like to find a talented student for this role.

Here is the job posting:

Build a web application in Ruby on Rails this summer: GigPark is hiring a Developer

Who are we?
GigPark is an early stage startup based in Toronto (www.gigpark.com). We’re made up of three entrepreneurs who have collectively launched web applications, a communications company and the national newspaper, Dose.

What are we looking for?
Someone with a passion for the web.
Do you build web applications in your spare time and contribute to open source software projects? – we’re looking for you! Experience with Ruby on Rails would be great but it’s not essential, especially if you have had experience in a variety of other languages (experimenting tells us you are passionate and able to learn!).
We’d love to see a demo app that you have built.

What will you get out of it?
> Mentorship from a very experienced developer.
> A supportive and exciting startup environment.
> The chance to work on and release version one of our application.
> A competitive salary and a comfy chair.

We’re looking forward to meeting you!

Paul, Pema and Noah.

For more information: http://blog.gigpark.com
To apply: jobs@gigpark.com

We think this is a great opportunity for a young developer to hone their skills and learn about the process of building and releasing software in a startup environment.

I would be very grateful if you could forward this posting to any groups you think might be interested and help us spread the word.

Send this to your HR director

Flicked through the job listings in your local paper or on Monster.com lately? They’re almost always uninspiring, visually boring and just completely lame.

Which makes it even more cool when you see a recruitment campaign that doesn’t suck. Check out this listing for the editor of a small Virginia newspaper (thanks to Mathew Ingram for the link). They got staff, critics and readers involved and presented the whole thing in a nice little web package. More than anything the site tells applicants about the culture of the paper and the passion of the staff. I’m sure they’ll get some great applicants.

Would you take a job at BitTorrent?

A good friend of mine is considering whether he should move from Toronto to San Francisco for a job at BitTorrent. There is obviously a long list of pluses and minuses, particularly with the launch of their new service tomorrow, but when he asked my opinion it came down to three simple things: The download market is an incredibly interesting space, BitTorrent is one of the most interesting players and San Francisco is the epicenter of the tech world.

In my mind it doesn’t matter that BitTorrent face a lot of challenges. They have as good a chance as anyone and they are running in one of the most exciting races going on right now. A job at BitTorrent would be an opportunity to live on the bleeding edge for a while. You’d have a business card that would get you into a lot of interesting meetings and, very importantly, you’d be in the Valley. I think this would be an opportunity to learn and to make contacts. If BitTorrent became a huge success – great. If not I’m sure other opportunities would appear quickly, and often.

Two and a half years ago when I was deciding to move to Toronto for a job I approached the decision differently. I was looking for a company that I could help make successful. Now, potential failures are just as interesting. A chance to fail (maybe) is a chance to learn and as long as you are meeting great people and enjoying yourself then it looks like a good opportunity to me.