Job Description

What is it like working at a VR arcade?

Imagine a place where virtual zombies roam in hordes among LED-lined space stations. A space where super talented and kind humans crew up together into an enterprising team. A bridge where old memes, ‘terrible’ EDM, and a love of outstanding customer experiences are at the core of our warp drive. Welcome to iSimu VR, Georgia’s first virtual reality arcade.

In other words, we help dozens of people a day from diverse backgrounds experience PC-based virtual reality. We educate them, guide them, and help them when problems crop up. We try to keep a lively atmosphere and ensure folks are having a great time. This position requires a love of customer service, patience for technical troubleshooting, an aptitude for operations management, and a passion for virtual reality.

Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

We need you to help us create an unforgettable experience for our hundreds of VR newbies (and veterans). In this position, you’ll be on the front lines, so you need to show off a lot of communication skills, empathy, buttloads of patience… and a sense of humor to keep you sane! You need to be good at spotting uncomfortable people in a crowd of excited, yet-to-be-goggled faces and get them excited too. You also need to be excited to use virtual reality. A lot. We're a super small, lean team, but we have big dreams. :D

We are looking for someone comfortable and available to work in-person at our arcade in Duluth, Georgia. You will need to work 5 days a week: 2pm - 8pm on Wednesday to Friday, 12 - 10pm on Saturday, and 12 - 7pm on Sunday. 

This is an in-person, on-site job! We do everything we can to ensure it is safe. In fact, we are one of the safest places people can go outside their home because players are automatically 10ft apart inside partitioned booths and every headset is sanitized after every use. It's also a small, well ventilated location so there is good air circulation.

We've weathered through this chaotic time since 2017 and we plan on adapting however we can to continue delivering amazing experiences with new technology. We hope to figure out new, ever safer ways to create the 'WOW' moments people love to enjoy at our arcade.

During the first month, you will learn what it takes to manage an arcade as an assistant manager, before transitioning to have more autonomy afterwards. Eventually, we hope you will take the lead on not just keeping the ship afloat, but also taking us to new horizons.

Arcade Responsibilities

• Communicating with customers in such a way that they think it a good idea to purchase time for an Epic, Immersive VR Experience via the phone, email, social media, holodeck, and in-person.
• Making event sales for large groups (corporate events, birthday parties, friend outings, and other groups).
• Using your tricorder (ie your 5 senses… well I guess just 2 or 3) to figure out how to troubleshoot software or hardware issues before the customer gets trapped in the Matrix forever.
• Document problems, replace/repair broken equipment, and optimize our troubleshooting process.
• Evangelizing our existence to the world with your friends and family and frenemies and totally huge social media followers.
• Learning how to use Google AdWords and social media marketing to increase our brand recognition, site conversion rates, and grow the customer base.
• Living and breathing VR experiences
• Finding, testing, and eventually licensing new VR experiences (and possibly a new VR arcade licensing software) to keep up with the ever-growing industry.
• Cleaning up the spaceship, because modern day robots can only do so much... :/
• Ensuring the arcade is clean, the inventory is well-stocked, and the point-of-sale books are balanced.

Requirements for Getting Us to Beam You Up

• [VR Experience]. You either have or regularly use virtual reality technology, ideally PCVR and are familiar with the unique problems, potential, and limitations of virtual reality. You regularly get your friends and loved ones to try VR!
• [Patience]. Like totally cool on the operating table even with customers trying to dissect your virtual innards with a million questions. You possess the ability to answer those questions in a clear, effective, and friendly manner.
• [Charisma]. Have a commanding voice that projects through hordes of zombies and robots... and excited kids ... and adults. You can ‘yell’ without sounding rude or patronizing.
• [Troubleshooting]. You understand general troubleshooting processes and have the ability to fix problems yourself, as well as guide others on how to troubleshoot as well.
• [Tact]. Be able to gently steer users without them feeling like they’re not in control. You understand that making sales, suggestions, or giving assistance lies just as much in managing expectations as it does getting them to do what you want. You understand how to turn away rude people respectfully.
• [Entrepreneurial]. Treat this as if it's a business you started with your own money. 

Level Up Bonus Points

• +10 [Communication]. Experience in customer service, especially retail.
• +5 [Tech Support] [Game Support]. Even with Google, Siri, and Alexa, your parents still call you for tech support because they know you’re great at it. And you happily help them! You also have the patience to carry/guide people through a game every weekend,... and can even get them to play an easier game without them ever feeling patronized.
• +10 [Stress Management]. Experience in high stress situations. Like the stress of having to fix two computers while walking another customer through a difficult game all while being diligent and courteous. (But there’s always a rainbow on the other side! Even if it’s in a headset ;)
• +10 [Tech Support] [PC Gaming]. Experience in computer technician jobs or even PC games on Steam
• +10 [Social Media Marketing]. Maintaining a social media presence.... so that we can totally not get all your followers to come check us out....
• +10 [Metaverse Interoperability]. Ideas on the Open Metaverse and how to build a piece of it right here in Atlanta.

Pay and Benefits

This is a very entry-level friendly manager position at a bootstrapped small business. Therefore, our pay starts at ~$14/hour for 40 hours a week. A 30K per year salary, with opportunity to earn more as you help grow the business.

You will have more and more autonomy, until you are able and willing to take the arcade to the next level. 

Additional benefits include free access to the arcade for you and your family, steep discounts for friends to be shared at your discretion, and amazing relationships within the XR industry.

Note: Please make it easy for us to know that you will be good at this job by sending a few sentences or paragraphs about why you think you will do well here. Many people assume this is an easy job. Though an arcade is a fun/unique place to work, we still do a LOT of work. This is not for people who are just looking to sit around while on shift. We pride ourselves with being creative about growing the business, being proactive with our customers, and solving any problems that come up quickly, elegantly, and kindly. If you are not ready to engage with dozens of people a day and with being in charge of almost every aspect of a business, then don't apply.

Feel free to let us know if you have any questions before (or after) applying! You can contact the hiring manager, Elijah Claude at elijah@isimuvr.com, or just reach out to me on LinkedIn. Thanks for your consideration!!