One Day, One Job » accounting

Crate and Barrel

Willy Franzen — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:36:24 +0000

Furniture shopping brings out the worst in me. I tend to revert back to my childhood when my sister and I would team up (by fighting of course) to make our parents miserable so that we could leave the furniture store sooner. Luckily, my fiancée loves going furniture shopping with me. She’s found that if she creates conditions for success (making sure that I’m in a good mood and have recently had a meal), I can actually act like a human being at places like Crate and Barrel. In case you’ve never been to a Crate and Barrel, it’s a giant furniture and housewares store that is essentially my worst nightmare. It all started with one store in downtown Chicago, but now Crate and Barrel is headquartered in Northbrook, IL and has more than 170 stores including CB2 and The Land of Nod locations.

You Can’t Spell Crate and Barrel Without Career

It’s almost as if a trip to Crate and Barrel or CB2 (which is targeted towards a younger crowd) is a rite of passage after you land your first job and move out of your parents’ place. You may not end up buying anything, considering that an entry level salary won’t get you very far at Crate and Barrel, but it’s at least worth a look. If you’re not quite at that point in your life yet, you still may want to visit a Crate and Barrel to get an idea of how they operate and what their style is. Then you can go take a look at the Crate and Barrel Careers page. They separate out job listings between Crate and Barrel, CB2, and The Land of Nod, but the Crate and Barrel job listings seem to be where all of the corporate jobs are. Here’s what’s available:

There are also a variety of Sales and Management Trainee positions across the country. You’ll want to check those out if you’re not tied to working at the Corporate office.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you shop at Crate and Barrel?

New York City Ballet

Willy Franzen — Sun, 06 May 2012 15:21:53 +0000

I’m the last person that should be telling you anything about ballet. I can’t remember the last time I saw a ballet performance, but I guarantee you it was at something like a middle school talent show. Despite my knowing nothing about ballet, I can tell you that the New York City Ballet is a big deal. They train their own artists and produce their own works, and with 90 dancers, they are “the largest dance organization in America.” It all started with Lincoln Kirstein, who had a vision of “an American ballet where young native dancers could be trained and schooled under the guidance of the world’s greatest ballet masters to perform a new, modern repertory, rather than relying on touring groups of imported artists performing for American audiences.” He met a guy named George Balanchine in London in 1933 and invited him to help start the school. The rest is history.

Nothing to Dance Around

If you want to read about that history, you can find it here. If you’re interested in learning more about the New York City Ballet from an artistic standpoint, there’s plenty to find on their website–you can read up on their dancers or their costume shop. If you really want an in-depth look at how the NYC Ballet operates, look no further than their Annual Reports. If everything looks good to you, then you may want to take a look at the New York City Ballet’s Jobs page. Right now they have some great opportunities that look well suited for new or recent grads including Major Gifts Assistant, Part-time Accountant, and Administrative Assistant (posted on Idealist). If you love ballet, these positions would be hard to beat.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever been to the ballet?

Highlights

Willy Franzen — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:05:50 +0000

Yesterday I almost got highlighted. I was in a boat, on a river, fishing with my Dad and a guide. A thunderstorm came up behind us, and we decided to tuck the boat in a cove under a bunch of trees and take cover. It wasn’t the best spot, but there wasn’t anywhere else for us to go. When it started hailing, I got a little nervous. And then BANG! A bolt of lightning hit the water about three feet to my right. You and I are both lucky that you’re reading this today. This story has nothing to do with today’s company except for the fact that yesterday’s near death experience made me want to regress back to being a little kid–the kind that reads Highlights. If you’re not familiar, Highlights is a Columbus, OH company that develops products for children with a common theme: “Fun with a Purpose.” It’s all about “wholesome fun” that “is dedicated to helping children grow in basic skills and knowledge, in creativeness, in ability to think and reason, in sensitivity to others, in high ideals and worthy ways of living.”

Share Your Highlights

I definitely had a subscription to Highlights at some point in my life, but even after it lapsed I still picked up the magazines in places like doctor’s offices. You can get a feel for what Highlights looks like today by taking a look a their Favorite Characters and Features page. My favorites were always the What’s Wrong and Hidden Pictures. I truly hope that these somehow find their way into Highlights’ hiring process. It wouldn’t be right any other way. You may also want to check out Highlights’ State of the Kid 2011 Report. It will help you get in touch with today’s Highlights reader. If “Fun with a Purpose” describes your approach to life, then you have to take a look at Highlights’ Jobs page. There are a few positions worth taking a closer look at including:

Administrative Assistant – Accounting & Finance
Analyst – Campaign Management
Web Production Associate

Before you apply, you probably want to pick up a recent issue of Highlights and get reacquainted.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you read Highlights as a kid?

Royal Caribbean Cruises

Willy Franzen — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:54:31 +0000

I’ve never been on a cruise ship, and I’m not looking to change that any time soon. I realize that cruises are the ultimate vacation for some people, but they’re just not for me (especially after hearing about food poisoning outbreaks and the Costa Concordia disaster). Still, I respect the brilliance of the cruise ship. Travelers can sample a variety of destinations without having to think about logistics or anything else really. When you can combine hospitality, transportation, and gambling all in one, you have pretty good foundation for a business. The second largest cruise company in the world is Royal Caribbean Cruises, which is based in Miami, FL and owns the following cruise lines: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises and CDF Croisières de France. Those all contribute to nearly $7 billion in annual revenue.

Go Cruisin’

There’s no doubt that the cruise business is extremely complicated. There are massive fixed costs (namely cruise ships), and there are also massive marginal costs (fuel, staff, etc). Then there’s the fact that the market for travel is extremely sensitive to economic conditions. That’s not to mention that cruise companies have to maintain massive boats while providing an amazing vacation experience for thousands of people at a time. There are plenty of businesses that I have no trouble wrapping my head around, but Royal Caribbean Cruises is not one of them. If this excites you, then you have to take a look at Royal Caribbean Cruises’ Careers page. From here you can check out shipboard jobs with specific lines, seasonal jobs, internships, and corporate jobs. We’ll focus on the latter, which are posted here. There are a few opportunities that look well suited for a new or recent grad including (I’d link to them but their ATS won’t let me):

Marketing Campaign Analyst
Cruise Rep (Wichita, KS)
Cruise Rep (Miramar, FL)
Cruise Rep (Springfield, OR)
Care Team Specialist
Financial Hotel Operations Analyst
Software Engineer
Accounts Payable Coordinator
Business Analyst
Transportation Coordinator
Casino Database Specialist
Administrative Temporary

Those jobs are just the tip of the iceberg (I shouldn’t say that when talking about cruise ships, should I?), so look through all of Royal Caribbean Cruises’ offerings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever been on a cruise?

MathWorks

Willy Franzen — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 15:48:59 +0000

Reasoning Mind is an education focused non-profit that uses the web to teach kids math, and they’re hiring 30 new grads as Program Coordinators. Learn more about these amazing entry level opportunities.

Just a few days ago I mentioned that computers are better than humans at math. That’s true for many math operations, but the ultimate combination is a smart human working with a fast computer and great software. MathWorks is a Natick, MA based company that makes this possible, as they are “is the leading developer of mathematical computing software for engineers and scientists.” They’ve been around for nearly 30 years, which is a seriously long time in the software business. MathWorks is probably best known for MATLAB, which is “a programming environment for algorithm development, data analysis, visualization, and numeric computation.” It’s used everywhere from research in top universities to designing industrial machines. If advanced math is involved, there’s a good chance that MATLAB will be used.

Work at MathWorks

It’s easy to forget how important math is to our everyday life, even if our teachers reminded us time after time when we were in grade school. I’m not talking about calculating a tip or even understanding a newspaper article about poll numbers. I’m talking about the fact that nearly everything we interact with on a daily basis has been inspired by math, which means there’s a very significant chance that MathWorks’ software tangentially affects your life almost every day. That’s why they’ve been able to build a business $600 million in annual revenue and more than 2,000 employees. If you’re inspired by math and would like to join the ranks, then check out MathWorks’ Careers page. They have a special section for new grads and students, and you can use this search to identify only entry level jobs and internships. How luxurious! You can even sort the postings by Title, Job Function, Location, and Type. I’m going to leave it to you to browse through the postings, which are mostly math/engineering/software development focused, though there are a couple of accounting positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used MATLAB?

National Marine Sanctuary Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 13:43:31 +0000

One of the most amazing things about the United States is our National Park system (check out National Park Service jobs)–it really shows off how vast and how diverse the country’s natural beauty is. While you’ve probably visited at least one National Park and know of many more, chances are that you’ve never heard of National Marine Sanctuaries. NOAA manages the system of sanctuaries “to conserve, protect, and enhance their biodiversity, ecological integrity and cultural legacy.” The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation is a Silver Spring, MD based non-profit organization that “was created to assist the federally managed National Marine Sanctuary Program with education and outreach programs designed to preserve, protect and promote meaningful opportunities for public interaction with the nation’s marine sanctuaries.”

Under the Sea!

Before you dig in and learn about the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, you really need to learn about the National Marine Sanctuaries. This is probably a good place to start, and you’ll also want to read up on the history of the program. From there you can start to learn more about the NMSF. There isn’t a ton on their website, so the best way to take a deep dive into what they do is to read their most recent annual report. It’s a lot to read, but it will give you a much better idea of now the non-profit interacts with the federal government. If you like what you see, then you will probably want to check out the NMSF’s latest job posting for an Accounting and Administrative Assistant. It looks like a great way to get involved with a really cool organization–don’t overlook them like most people overlook our marine sanctuaries.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you visited any National Marine Sanctuaries?

Nasty Gal

Willy Franzen — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:30:24 +0000

One of the coolest things about the time that we live in is that the barrier to starting a business is essentially nonexistent. You can test your ideas on someone else’s platform, and if it works, then you build your own. Nasty Gal is a perfect example of this. The Los Angeles, CA based company began in 2006 when Sophia Amoruso “started an eBay store selling a highly curated selection of vintage pieces.” After finding success on eBay and validating the business, she started her own site where she could control the entire customer experience (and not pay eBay’s crazy fees). A lot of Nasty Gal’s stuff is pretty far out there–their home page has a huge picture of studded platforms that look like a medieval torture device–but it’s hard to argue with a brand that has nearly a quarter million Facebook likes.

Are You Nasty?

The key to Nasty Gal’s success is curation. Even though they’re in the business of selling and not editorial, they’re seen by many customers as a guide to what to buy. If it’s on Nasty Gal, it has to be cool–and that begs the question: What is a Nasty Gal? She’s “the coolest girl in the room‚ pulling off whatever wildly unique piece that suits the mood.” I’m certainly not a Nasty Gal, but maybe you are. And if you are, you’d be a great fit for a job at Nasty Gal. Right now they have a few opportunities that seem like they could be perfect for a new or recent grad. These include Accounting Clerk, Production Coordinator, Software Engineer, PR Coordinator, and Planning Analyst. Hope you’re nasty enough.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Nasty Gal?

HealthCorps

Willy Franzen — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:33:44 +0000

If you’ve been job searching for a while, there’s a good chance that you’ve picked up a daytime tv habit. That’s not the most productive thing to do with your time, but at least you know who Dr. Oz is. If you don’t know, he’s a heart surgeon who was made famous by his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show. He now has his own show, but he also started a non-profit with his wife called HealthCorps. It’s based in New York, NY, and it’s aimed at “fighting the obesity and mental resilience crisis by getting American students and communities across the country to take charge of their health.” The organization was founded in 2003 and already has its peer mentoring programs in 54 high schools across 13 states. By the end of the year they expect to impact more than 100,000 students, and by 2015 they want to be in 100 high schools across all 50 states.

Join the Corps

The way HealthCorps structures their programs makes so much sense that I’m surprised more non-profits don’t have a similar structure. The base of their programs is focused on in-school programs targeted directly at changing student behavior. The next level is community outreach programs focused on getting more people involved beyond just the students. Finally, they do advocacy work at the national, state, and city levels. To get a deeper feeling for how HealthCorps does its work, watch this video (e-mail readers may need to click through):

If you like what you see, then you should probably check out HealthCorps’ jobs on Idealist. There are a ton of internships posted, but the only full-time job is for a Junior Accounting Analyst. Oddly enough, one of HealthCorps’ main ways of doing work is through their Coordinator position. It’s essentially a mentor for healthy living. You have to know to look for it, but there’s also a place to apply to be a HealthCorps Coordinator. I almost missed it, so they should probably do a better job of promoting it.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of HealthCorps?

Wolverine Trading

Willy Franzen — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:32:44 +0000

When I was a kid, I had a huge baseball card collection (actually, I still have it). I never seriously collected any other sports cards, but I did have a phase where I collected a Marvel cards. I haven’t thought about those cards for years, but when I came across the name Wolverine Trading, they instantly jumped back in mind. Unfortunately, Wolverine Trading, which is based in Chicago, IL, doesn’t have anything to do with superheroes–though they may consider themselves financial superheroes. They are a “diversified financial institution specializing in proprietary trading, asset management, order execution services, and technology solutions.” Those are all just big words for making money by combining technology with knowledge of the financial markets.

Be a Glutton

Beyond being the name of a superhero, a wolverine is also a carnivorous mammal known for a gluttonous appetite and strength beyond its size (and the mascot of the University of Michigan). What a perfect name for a trading firm! Most trading firms keep what they actually do pretty close to the chest. If details about their internal operations leak out, then they lose their edge and ability to make money. Still, you can get a pretty good intro to Wolverine Trading from their Careers page. Beyond having their job postings, you can learn about their Culture, Benefits, Top 10 Reasons to Join Them, and FAQs on Trading and Technology. Once you read through all of those, you’ll either want to look at the College Recruiting page where they list a Rotational Trading Program and a Software Engineering Program. You can also check out their normal job postings for positions like Applications Developer, Trading Technical Support, Trading Associate (London), Software Engineer, Database Administrator, Junior Accountant, and Trading Assistant. There appears to be a lot of entry level opportunity at Wolverine Trading, so give them a really close look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Wolverine Trading?

Accuweather

Willy Franzen — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:06:13 +0000

We’re finally getting our first snow storm of the winter here in Chicago. I’m not traveling anywhere, I don’t have a commute, and I know well enough not to drive on Lakeshore Drive today (this is what happened last year), so I’m excited and watching the weather hoping for a lot of accumulation (even though there are no sledding hills nearby). I don’t have a favorite weather site, so I keep my eyes on a number of them including Accuweather. I guess it’s a bit of an understatement to call Accuweather a site–they’ve been around since 1962 and they call themselves “the World’s Weather Authority.” They’re based in State College, PA (with an office in New York, NY) where they’re stockpiling meteorologists there (the most in any location in the world). They need these weather guys and girls because they provide “products and services to more than 175,000 paying customers in media, business, government and institutions.”

Forecast Your Future

I love weather, so I think I’m thrilled by how much information and data is available the average person over the Internet. But I have to admit it’s a bit disappointing that weather predictions are so inaccurate–sometimes I think I can do a better job predicting weather by just looking at the radar. I’m thinking that Chicago is going to get more than the 4-8 inches that Accuweather is predicting right now, but you’d probably be better off going with their prediction. It is their business, and they are trusted by countless media sources. There’s not much more to say about Accuweather than they devote a ton of resources on the meteorology side–just take a look at the stats on their headquarters on their About page. It really is the ultimate weather tracking center. If you’d like to work there or at Accuweather’s Sales office in NYC, check out Accuweather’s Careers page. It takes too many clicks to get to their actual job listings, but once you’re there you’ll see a number of positions including:

Ad Sales Marketing Associate (New York, NY)
Mobile Applications Developer (State College, PA)
Account Executive – Advertising (New York, NY)
Staff Accountant – Payroll (State College, PA)
Staff Accountant (State College, PA)
Network Operations Center Technician (State College, PA)

Take a look at the jobs, and hope for a snow day!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How much snow are you expecting?

Oriental Trading

Willy Franzen — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:25:58 +0000

It’s probably a little late to be planning a New Year’s Eve party, but I guess for a lot of people all it takes is a trip to the liquor store to prepare. But if you really want to do New Year’s Eve right, you need party hats, noisemakers, those popper thingies, and all kinds of other novelties. One of the best places to get those is Oriental Trading, an Omaha, NE based “direct merchant of value–priced party supplies, arts and crafts, toys and novelties, and a leading provider of school supplies and affordable home décor and giftware.” I remember getting their catalogs as a kid and thinking how awesome it would be to have not one stupid plastic toy, but a 1000-count tub of them. Oriental Trading has been around since 1932, and they’ve been able to stay competitive by quickly adapting to the changing ways people buy stuff.

A Favorable Trade

Oriental Trading may not sell high-end products like a lot of other long-lived mail order companies, but they’ve still “been recognized as one of the Top 50 Internet Retailers and one of the Top 50 Catalog Companies.” What I think is cooler is that The Omaha Chamber of Commerce named Oriental Trading as “one of Omaha’s Fastest Growing Companies three consecutive years.” I’m not sure how recently that was, but any time you can grow an already large, 80-year old company at an above average rate is impressive. If you’d like to help keep that growth going and you find that flipping through the Oriental Trading catalog is a good way to spend a few hours, then take a look at Oriental Trading’s Careers page. Right now they have some cool job opportunities for new or recent grads including Assistant Brand Merchant, Cost Analyst, Inventory Specialist, Payroll Specialist, Studio Sample Coordinator, and Senior Sales Assistant. Check out the job postings, and please forgive the HR people at Oriental Trading for using Comic Sans in their job postings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever looked through the Oriental Trading catalog?

OpticsPlanet

Willy Franzen — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:25:36 +0000

When I was a kid, I had eyes like a hawk. At my best I had 20/12 vision. Then in high school things started getting blurry, and I eventually had to get contact lenses. Luckily, humans have spent a ton of time and energy in developing technology that helps us see better. Whether you want to see something really small, far away, or in the dark, there’s optical equipment that can help you out. The thing is that microscopes, binoculars, night vision goggles, and even glasses aren’t something that you buy casually–you want to buy from someone who knows his or her stuff. OpticsPlanet is a Northbrook, IL based company that employs a whole bunch of those people. They are “one of the world’s leading online retailers of a wide selection of sport optics, tactical and military gear, scientific products, hunting gear, professional grade products and eyewear.” I get excited when I get a new contact lens prescription, so I bet getting to play with some of OptcisPlanet’s offerings would make me giddy.

Seeing Is Believing

When you end up on OpticsPlanet.com, it looks like a pretty generic e-commerce site. I would have never guessed that they generated $82.6 million last year, but thats’ what the numbers from the Inc. 5000 say. They’ve also been growing at a 113% rate over the past three-years, so they must be gaining a significant share in the optics market. I found a video on their About page that gives a pretty good intro to the company, so check it out below:

If you like what you see in the video and you also like the fact that OpticsPlanet was named one of “The Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces,” then you have to take a look at their Careers page. Right now they have some great opportunities for new or recent grads including:

User Interface Designer
Communications Designer
Content Project Manager
Junior Web Developer / JavaScript
Accounts Payable Specialist
Call Center Quality Assurance
Risk Management – Order Review Agent
Search Engine Optimization Specialist
Pay Per Click Marketing Specialist
Online Marketing Specialist
Copywriter
Vendor Services Account Coordinator

There are all kinds of opportunities at OpticsPlanet, so take a really close look and see if you like what you see.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What would you get from OpticsPlanet?

Seeds of Peace

Willy Franzen — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:21:22 +0000

The University of Chicago has five job openings that are perfect for recent grads. Check them out here.

I love hearing from readers when they land jobs, even if they didn’t find theirs through One Day One Job. I sometimes even hear from moms or dads who have been helping their kids with the job search and are thrilled to share a success story. That’s how I found out about Seeds of Peace. It’s a New York, NY based non-profit (with offices in Ramallah and Tel Aviv) that empowers “young leaders from regions of conflict with the leadership skills required to advance reconciliation and coexistence.” It was founded in 1993 by journalist John Wallach, and since then they’ve brought together more than 4,300 young leaders through a summer camp, “dialogue meetings, conferences, workshops, educational and professional opportunities, and an adult educators program.”

Plant a Seed

Seeds of Peace got its start with Egyptian, Israeli, and Palestinian teenagers, but they’ve expanded to include young people from South Asia, Cyprus, and the Balkans. The best way to get a sense for how Seeds of Peace is changing the world for the better is took at the profiles of their graduates. It’s pretty clear that Seeds of Peace’s programs helps develop young people into impressive adults, but the programs also build a perspective of cooperation before biases have time to become ingrained. It sounds like Seeds of Peace is doing amazing work, and it’s really cool that they have been around long enough to see meaningful positive results. If you want to be a part of future results, check out Seeds of Peace’s Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Grants Compliance Coordinator, and it looks like an appropriate position for a new or recent grad. You may also want to take a look at their Camp Positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Seeds of Peace?

SendGrid

Willy Franzen — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:56:10 +0000

E-mail is supposed to be simple: you send a message and the recipient gets it nearly instantly. That’s the way it usually works for most people, but there are those rare instances where a message gets caught in a spam folder or bounces back to the sender. Those problems get much bigger when you start to send a lot of e-mail; in fact, I recently had to deal with an issue that resulted in some of our daily e-mails that were sent on a Friday being received the following Wednesday. Because I send nearly 400,000 e-mails a month, I use one of the top providers in the business, and this still happened. E-mail is a complicated beast, which is why companies that send multiple orders of magnitude more e-mail than I do need help to overcome the fact that “20% of emails sent by web applications either go missing or they get caught by spam filters.” SendGrid is a Boulder, CO based company that specializes in e-mail delivery. They’ve delivered more than 20 billion e-mails for clients that include Foursquare, SlideShare, and GetSatisfaction, so I think they must do a lot better than 80%.

Get in the Grid

While many e-mail providers focus almost entirely on newsletters and marketing-type e-mails, SendGrid can deliver pretty much any kind of e-mail it needs to. Businesses plug their web applications into SendGrid using APIs, and they can send to both individuals (think receipts, notifications, etc) or to a larger group. SendGrid runs the mail servers so that their clients don’t need an individual or team devoted to e-mail delivery. It’s a big win for businesses who need near flawless e-mail delivery but want to stay focused on doing the things that are core to their business. I know all of the e-mail technical talk can be a little overwhelming, but there’s a good mix of technical and non-technical jobs at SendGrid. Their Jobs page shows that they’re looking for an Account Receivables Specialist, a Technical Support Representative, a Quality Assurance Engineer (Anaheim, CA), Content Writer (Anaheim, CA) and a Web Engineer.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about SendGrid?

Medallion Financial Group

Willy Franzen — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:54:15 +0000

Last night I read an article from The New York Times about how two New York City taxi cab medallions recently sold for $1 million each. These aren’t some weird collectors’ items–they are actual pieces of metal that are attached to the hood of a taxi cab and are required for the cab to be able to operate in a given city. It’s a relatively common system (you can read about it here), and it limits the number and ensures the quality of cabs in the city. In some cities, the medallions can be bought and sold, and the secondary market for them is getting extremely expensive. Because of this, most cabbies can’t own their own medallions–they usually have to lease them or work for a fleet that owns it own medallions. That’s where Medallion Financial Group comes in. They’re a New York, NY based financing company that specializes in Taxi Medallion and Commercial Lending.

Hail a Job

Medallion Financials’ slogan is “In Niches There Are Riches.” It’s quite fitting considering the story of their Founder, Leon Murstein. In 1937 he was an immigrant who was driving cabs. He eventually saved up to buy his first medallion for $10. He got hooked and ended up buying 500 more. Now Medallion Financial is a publicly-traded company (their ticker symbol is TAXI) with a market cap just under $200 million (and they have over $1 billion in assets under management). If you really want to dig into the numbers, you can check out Medallion Financial’s Annual Reports. I think this business is absolutely fascinating, which is why I decided to do a writeup on Medallion Financial even though I can’t find any info on current job opportunities. My recommendation is that if you really like what they’re doing, check them out on LinkedIn, and then use their Contact page. It’s a long shot, but that’s what you have to do if you want to work at unique companies like Medallion Financial (note that Medallion Financial is not uniquely named, so there are some other companies with the same name). I do know that they’ve offered internships in the past, so entry level jobs really aren’t out of the question.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Had you noticed taxi medallions before?

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Willy Franzen — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:01:25 +0000

Columbus Day isn’t much of a holiday anymore–it’s become yet another regular work and school day for many. It makes sense considering Christopher Columbus wasn’t really the guy that my 1st grade teacher taught me that he was. Still, I’m amazed by the feats of guys like Columbus (which is why I’ve written about Garmin and Facet Technology on past Columbus Days). Getting in a boat with an uncertain route to a far away destination still seems crazy to me, and these guys did it in a time when navigation equipment was quite basic. Their minds would be blown if they knew what kind of information the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (formerly the National Imagery and Mapping Agency) has. The agency is headquartered in Springfield, VA and has major facilities in St. Louis, MO (I learned about them from one of my awesome interns whose boyfriend works for the NGA). They are part of the Department of Defense, and they are tasked with providing “timely, relevant, and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security.”

Do You Have Geospatial Intelligence?

If you want an example of what the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency does, you’re not going to get a full answer because a lot of what they do is classified. However, they have been identified as playing a “critical role” in Operation Neptune’s Spear, which was the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. The agency’s employees operate in a number of areas including aeronautical analysis, cartography, geospatial analysis, imagery analysis, marine analysis, the physical sciences, geodesy, computer and telecommunication engineering, photogrammetry, and more. The NGA website is ok, but I highly recommend that you check out Wikipedia’s entry on the agency for a really good overview of the organization’s history and what it does.

If you like what you read, then you’ll want to take a look at the NGA’s Careers page. (Remember that we’re dealing with the federal government, so this isn’t going to be simple.) First, you’ll probably want to visit the Occupations page, where you’ll see that the NGA offers the following positions:

Accountants
Aeronautical Analyst
Bathymetrist
Contract Specialist
Counterintelligence Officers
Enterprise Account Managers
Geodetic Surveyors
Geospatial Data Stewards
Geospatial Intelligence Analysts
HD Consultants
Imagery Scientists
Imagery Intelligence Analysts
Information Assurance Officers
Maritime Analysts
Open Source Analysts
Police Officers
Political Geographers
Program Management Execution Officers
Project Scientists
Recruiters
Regional Geographers
Regional Source Analysts
Scientific and Technial Program Managers
Source Strategies Analysts
Systems Engineers

You won’t see most of these positions in the NGA’s Current Opportunities, so you may be better off meeting them at one of their On-Campus Recruiting Events or by reaching out to them at recruitment@nga.mil. You may also want to read through the NGA’s Recruitment FAQs and looking at their Application Process. It’s all complicated, but that’s to be expected with one of our country’s intelligence agencies.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you amazed by what the NGA does?

Whitney Museum of American Art

Willy Franzen — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 14:40:24 +0000

I’m no art expert, which is probably why most of the artists whose work I am familiar with are both European and dead. My knowledge of contemporary American art is pretty limited. Maybe that would change if I visited the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, NY, as it’s the “preeminent institution devoted to the art of the United States.” My awesome sister (who is a painter now pursuing a career in medicine) gave me the heads up on the fact that they’re hiring. The Whitney Museum of American Art was founded in 1930 after sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s offer to the The Metropolitan Museum of Art of a collection of more than 500 works was rejected. Much like taking her ball and going home, she took her art and started a new museum.

The Whitney

In its 80 years since opening, the Whitney Museum of American Art has become “the preeminent institution devoted to the art of the United States” as it “presents the full range of twentieth-century and contemporary American art, with a special focus on works by living artists.” You can find the full history here. If you’d like to get a feel for what kind of art they have at The Whitney, you have to look no further than their current exhibitions–or better yet, you can actually visit the museum if you’re in NYC. If contemporary American art speaks to you, then you have to check out jobs at the Whitney Museum of American Art. They have a few positions open right now, and the best fits for new or recent grads are Development Records Assistant, Accounts Payable Clerk, and Part-Time Member Services Assistant.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever visited the Whitney?

Yeti Coolers

Willy Franzen — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:33:33 +0000

I spend a ton of time outdoors between fly fishing and playing beach volleyball. You’d think I’d have a cooler to take along with me, but I don’t. If I did, it’d have to be one of the models made by Yeti Coolers. They’re an Austin, TX based company that builds coolers that are more durable and keep things colder than any other coolers on the market. Yeti Coolers are built for tough conditions, which is why some of the biggest names in outdoors sports endorse them and the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee has deemed them Grizzly Proof. You may think it’s cooler overkill, but the market for high quality coolers seems to be extremely strong. That’s why Yeti Coolers made the Inc. 5000 with 613% three-year growth to $13 million in revenue.

These Jobs Do Exist

Yeti Coolers’ business seems pretty simple. They build a superior product and market it to a demographic that appreciates the kind of quality that Yeti Coolers offers. It’s obviously been a bit more complicated than that considering how quickly Yeti has been able to grow. I’m sure their engineering and manufacturing is pretty high tech, and I’m sure that going up against entrenched cooler manufacturers is a big challenge for a relative upstart. Still, you have to love that there’s still a ton of room for Yeti to grow in the market. If you want to be a part of that growth, then you should check out Yeti Coolers’s Careers page. While they don’t have any openings posted there, they do have an Application Page where you can apply for positions in Account Management, Accounting/Finance, Administrative, Cusomter Service, Human Resources, IT, Marketing, Operations, Order Processing, R&D / Product Development, Sales, and Warehouse. Hopefully your search for these jobs will be more fruitful than the search for the Abominable Snowman.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own a Yeti Cooler?

Grameen America

Willy Franzen — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 15:42:54 +0000

As my actions show, I’m a strong believer that entrepreneurship can solve most of societies problems. It’s amazing what you can create with your own labor and a little bit of investment. That’s why I find the microfinance movement so interesting. What I don’t understand is why there isn’t more focus on this kind of lending in the United States. Grameen America is a five-year old non-profit that is changing this. They’re based in New York, NY, and they’re aiming for “a market where any individual with a dream can receive affordable financial products regardless of income, previous credit history, education, or business experience.” Grameen America is attacking poverty head on, and it seems like they’re having some great success.

Take a Micro Approach

What’s really cool about Grameen America is that they took something that worked well in addressing poverty in Bangladesh and brought it to America. I feel like it usually goes the other way. To better understand what Grameen America does, you should take a look at their model. There’s a big social aspect to how Grameen America lends, and I think that has to play a big part in why they have success stories like these. If you like what Grameen America is doing, take a look at their Jobs page. Right now they’re hiring Center Manager Trainees. It looks like the perfect opportunity for a new or recent grad who wants to get into microfinance.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Grameen America?

SurveyGizmo

Willy Franzen — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 16:25:45 +0000

It’s been a while since I did a survey of One Day, One Job readers. There’s really no excuse for that considering how useful survey data can be and how easy it is to run a survey online. (So watch out for a survey sometime in the next month or two.) When I see online surveys, they’re usually run on SurveyMonkey or Google Docs, but I’ve also seen a few surveys driven by SurveyGizmo. They’re based in Boulder, CO, and they offer “a web-based software company giving researchers, and small and enterprise companies powerful tools to create online surveys, questionnaires and forms – allowing capture and analysis of virtually any type of data essential for business.” It’s working for them. SurveyGizmo came in at #144 on the Inc. 5000 with 1,940% three-year growth to $3.3 million in revenue.

Survey Says…

If you look at all of the online survey platforms out there, you’ll see a huge range of features. There’s a ton of overlap, but some companies offer a killer feature that enables them to serve a certain group of needs really well. SurveyGizmo definitely puts a big emphasis on product development and delivering new and useful features for their customers, but it seems that they put a bigger emphasis on customer service. There can be a lot of complexities when it comes to running surveys online, and SurveyGizmo has invested in making sure that they deliver the ultimate customer experience. That’s why they can name companies like Adobe, Apple, Gulfstream, General Mills,Hershey’s, and Disney as clients. If you like SurveyGizmo’s approach, head over to their Jobs page. They have a bunch of opportunities available including Technical Programming Genius, Sales Representative, Technical Writer/Product Writer, Web Designer, Accounting/Billing Clerk, and Customer Software Support Hero.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you respond to surveys?

Intergi

Willy Franzen — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 16:12:16 +0000

A few years ago during the beginning of the recession, I featured a bunch of jobs in the video games industry. All those people who lost their jobs were buying video games, and business was booming. Things have slowed since. I’m not sure if it has to do with the economy, but I do know that gaming on phones and tablets is really biting into video game industry sales. One video game related company that is continuing to grow is Intergi. They’re a Deerfield Beach, FL based company that “partners with the foremost gaming web publishers to provide advertisers with targeted ad placements.” They’re another Inc. 5000 company, and they’ve seen 2,383% three-year growth from $253,818 in revenue to $6.3 million in revenue.

Game On

Intergi is in the business of “site representation,” but a better explanation might be that they monetize gaming related traffic. They’ve built out a significant network of publishers and advertisers that enables them to offer a ton of value to both sides. You can read about their offerings for publishers here and their offering for advertisers here. Integri not only works with publishers, but they also are a publisher. GameZone.com is their major property, but I suspect that there might be a few more sites. I couldn’t find a list of Intergi’s publishers, but they do have a Client List. If you’re interested in the video game media business, then Intergi would be a great place to work. They’ve bee growing their headcount, and they have a bunch of entry level jobs posted on their Careers page. These include Online Editor, Web Designer, Book Keeper, Junior Account Executive, and Account Coordinator. The weird thing is that I can’t figure out how you’re supposed to apply for these positions. There’s no link, button, or e-mail address. WHOOPS! I guess you should use their Contact page to apply.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a gamer?

New Profit

Willy Franzen — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 15:57:53 +0000

Although getting money to fund a startup company isn’t what I called easy, there’s a pretty standard process for seeking investment. When it comes to starting up a non-profit, the process isn’t often so clear. This can make finding funding seem impossible. However, there are some smart people who have taken the venture capital model and adjusted it for the non-profit world. One of these organizations is New Profit, which is based in Cambridge, MA. They were founded in 1998 and they focus “on supporting innovative social entrepreneurs who have brought a pathbreaking, big idea to life in an innovative organization.” They do this through their philanthropy fund, which has funded a ton of non-profit organizations. (I’m having trouble determining whether New Profit is actually a non-profit, but philanthropy funds usually are.)

Make a New Profit

While New Profit does a lot of work behind the scenes, they’re really all about their portfolio organizations. You can take a look at both their current investments and their past investments. We’ve covered quite a few of the organizations that they’ve funded including Freelancers Union, Kickstart, Right To Play, and a few others. You’ll also want to read up on New Profit’s Model and Plan For Impact. If you like what you see, then you’ll want to take a look at New Profit’s Jobs page. Their offerings are a bit limited right now–there are two postings you might want to look at: Communications Fellow (which is really an internship) and a Staff Accountant (which requires a few years of experience). The other option is to check out jobs at New Profit’s portfolio organizations. You should be able to find some pretty interesting options.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of New Profit?

Quickparts

Willy Franzen — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:14:53 +0000

I’m headed to Atlanta for a wedding this weekend, so I decided to do a little searching for interesting companies in ATL. Pretty quickly (no pun intended) I came across Quickparts, and they stood out because I’ve never covered a business that does what they do before. The Atlanta, GA headquartered company that is “dedicated to providing [their] customers with an online e-commerce system to procure low-volume and high-volume custom manufactured parts.” What does that mean? You can upload CAD drawings for some sort of part or product to their site, and they will instantly offer a quote based on “the part geometry, the required materials, lead time, and quantity.” If the quote meets your specs, then you give them the go ahead to start manufacturing. Yes, this company actually make stuff!

Be Quick

It’s kind of mind blowing how easy it is to have a product made these days. Quickparts makes it even easier. They’ve worked with huge names like Boeing, Caterpillar, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, General Electric, NASA, Nike, and plenty of others, so you know that they must do great work. I wish I knew more about Rapid Prototyping and Injection Molding, so that I could explain them better, but I only have experience in building web products. If you really want to dig into the ins and outs of Quickparts’ business, you should check out their Learning Center. If you like what you see, you’ll want to look at jobs at Quickparts. Right now they have a few positions that you may want to check out including Receptionist, Territory Accountant, Graphic Designer, Project Manager, Business Analyst, and Inside Sales Manager. All of the positions have some experience requirements, but they’re generally pretty light.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Quickparts?

Redbox

Willy Franzen — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:40:58 +0000

Want to land a job and save the world at the same time? This week’s sponsor is Samaritan’s Purse, a non-profit organization with some amazing entry level career opportunities.

There aren’t many companies that have as many loyal fans as Netflix. I swear that everybody loves them (check out jobs at Netflix). At least they did until yesterday when Netflix announced a change to their plans. They touted it as a good thing with their “lowest prices ever for unlimited DVDs,” but it really was a price increase for streaming subscribers. I guess yesterday was a good day for Redbox, which is based in Oakbrook Terrace, IL (with a major presence in Bellevue, WA). They operate more than 27,000 DVD and Blu-ray rental kiosks, or redboxes. Believe it or not, rentals aren’t dead, and Redbox has found a sweetspot between Blockbuster and Netflix. There’s definitely something I miss about the old school video rental shops–especially the pre-Blockbuster independent ones. But it’s mind blowing that Redbox is able to fit an entire video rental store in 12 square feet.

Think Inside the Redbox

Redbox has rented out more than 1 billion movies. Back in 2007 the kiosks were averaging nearly 50 rentals a day and almost $40,000 in annual revenue each. That’s pretty amazing considering Redbox kiosksi are typically just filling in empty space in high traffic buildings. Obviously a 12 square foot kiosk can’t offer much variety in terms of movies, but by stocking mostly new releases Redbox is able to stay relevant and serve a significant portion of the demand for in-home movie viewing. Now, we all know that streaming is the future, but there’s still a huge portion of the population that relies on hard media like DVDs and Blu-rays. It’ll be interesting to see how Redbox adapts moving forward, but for now I think they can still find opportunities for growth. If you like what Redbox is doing, you’ll want to take a look at their Jobs page. Unfortunately, it’s just a list of jobs, and there are a lot of them to browse through. Most are Field positions all across the country, but there are a few that seem better suited for recent grads. These include Service Representative – New Ventures (Hayward, CA), Sales & Use Tax Accountant (Oakbrook Terrace, IL), Machine Support Coordinator (Oakbrook Terrace, IL), Web Analyst/ eCommerce Analyst (Oakbrook Terrace, IL), Software Engineer (Oakbrook Terrace, IL), Service Representative – New Ventures (Fairfax, VA), Quality Engineer I (Kent, WA), and Business Analyst (Oakbrook Terrace, IL). There are a lot more mid-level options, so if you have some prior experience, be sure to check those out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Redbox?

Samaritan’s Purse

Willy Franzen — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 19:13:00 +0000

This is a sponsored post for Samaritan’s Purse.

We all have a Good Samaritan story–a time where we helped someone in need or were helped by someone when we were in need. These are the moments when people are at their best, yet they don’t seem to happen often enough. Samaritan’s Purse has spent the last 40 years working to ensure that the story of the Good Samaritan lives on and continues to inspire people to “go and do likewise.” Samaritan’s Purse is a non-profit “nondenominational evangelical Christian organization providing spiritual and physical aid to hurting people around the world.” They’re based out of Boone, NC, but they’re constantly repositioning their resources to react to world events. Samaritan’s Purse’s work can typically be separated into two categories: Emergency Relief Programs and Community Development and Vocational Programs. While these two Program groups serve very different situations, they share the goal of helping people in need wherever they may be.

Be a Good Samaritan

There’s no better way to get a feel for Samaritan’s Purse’s work (besides actually joining them and doing it) than taking a look at the In Pictures section of their website. It will give you a feel for what they do, how they do it, and whom they help. One of their major relief projects is focused on helping Japan and the Japanese people recover from the earthquake and tsunami that struck in March of 2011. Samaritan’s Purse was on the ground almost immediately (as you can see here, here, and here). The need for immediate relief supplies has obviously subsided, but now Samaritan’s Purse is leading a rebuilding effort. They are working in a number of communities to get the Japanese people back to a normal way of life before winter comes. This is a tall task when you consider that one community they’re working in “lost 70% of its physical structure” and another was hit by a wave as tall as a 12-story building, but Samaritan’s Purse has a history of excelling with this kind of work.

Right now Samaritan’s Purse is recruiting heavily for their Japan reconstruction effort. Right now their biggest need is for Japanese Interpreters and they think that recent college grads could be perfect fits (they’d also love to hear from people with more experience). This position is vital to the reconstruction effort, and it offers an amazing opportunity to get life-changing experience while doing amazing work. Christian values are an essential part of what Samaritan’s Purse does, so be sure to read their Statement of Faith and learn about their leader Franklin Graham before applying. And if you don’t speak Japanese, there are plenty of other job opportunities posted on Samaritan’s Purse’ Jobs page, and many are perfectly suited for new and recent grads. They include:

Japanese Interpreter (Japan)
Digital Video Producer (Boone, NC)
Marketing/Metrics Analyst (Boone, NC)
Network Administrator (Boone, NC)
Curriculum & Training Specialist (Boone, NC)
Bio-Med Technician (Boone, NC)
Field Accountant (Juba, South Sudan)
Social Media/Marketing Specialist / Communications (Boone, NC)

These look like amazing jobs that truly offer the opportunity to make the world a better place. Give them a look and see which positions fit you the best.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Samaritan’s Purse?

Hill Holliday

Willy Franzen — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:52:54 +0000

I have to admit that I’m a little bummed that the holiday weekend is over. Since it’ll be a solid 2 months until we get another one, we’re going to have to make do with Hill Holliday. They’re a full-service advertising, marketing, and communications agency with presences in Boston, MA; New York, NY; and Greenville, SC. It all started in Boston in 1968 as Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos, Inc., and now it’s a firm of more than 800 employees with some really big name clients including Dunkin’ Donuts, Major League Baseball, Anheuser Busch, CVS, Liberty Mutual, Bank of America, and more. Unless you are a total hermit, there’s almost no way that you wouldn’t recognize at least some of their work.

Another Holliday!

Whenever I look at advertising or marketing agencies, the first thing that I do is look at their work. Hill Holliday’s work is super impressive, and there’s a ton of it to look at. At first I though there were only a few pieces, but then I noticed the slider at the top of the page that lets you browse everything that they’ve done by client. One of my favorites has to be Brian Wilson’s Beard. If you’re digging Hill Holliday’s portfolio, then you’re in luck, because they also appear to be an awesome place to work. In 2010 they were named #1 in the “Boston Globe 100 Top Places to Work.” That’s why you should check out Hill Holliday’s Careers page, and then dive into their job postings. They have a bunch of opportunities for new or recent grads including Junior Studio Designer (Boston, MA), Administrative Assistant (Boston, MA), Front End Developer (Boston, MA), Jr. Flash Animator/Developer (Boston, MA), and Junior Media Buyer (New York, NY). There are a bunch more positions that require a little more experience, so you may want to check those out too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Hill Holliday?

Chegg

Willy Franzen — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:31:16 +0000

During my Freshman year at Cornell, I took Econ 101. Since I was planning on being a good student, I bought the textbook and went to class diligently. Then I realized that the professor only gave multiple choice exams which were based on the slides from the class lecture. Those slides were posted online after every class, which made attending class and taking the textbook out of its plastic wrap completely unnecessary. I still went to class because I liked the professor and it helped me learn, but I’m pretty sure that I still have the $100+ textbook with CD-ROM sitting on a shelf at my parents’ house in its plastic wrap because the campus store wasn’t buying that book back. What a waste. If I were going to college now, there’s no way I’d buy textbooks. I’d rent them. That’s exactly what Chegg offers. They’re a Santa Clara, CA based company that is saving students a ton of money. When you buy books and then sell them back, you might as well be renting them, so why not actually rent them? According to Chegg, the average college student spends $1,000 a year on textbooks–using Chegg will save them half of that.

Rent Yourself to Chegg

Chegg is a really interesting business to me. They’ve raised a ton of capital because it’s extremely expensive to build the kind of business that they’ve built. They not only have to invest in buying all the books, but they also have had to build a distribution system that can get students books at a cheap enough price. My only question is what will Chegg do when college textbooks move to Kindles, iPads, and other similar devices? They do have a new E-Textbook service, so maybe that’s the answer. If you like what Chegg is doing for college students, check out their Jobs page. Right now they have a number of opportunities including Customer Program Specialist (Portland, OR), Product Designer (Santa Clara, CA), Front End Engineer (Santa Clara, CA), Software Engineer – Cramster (Pasadena, CA), Marketing Business Analyst (Santa Clara, CA), and Accounts Payable/Payroll Specialist (Santa Clara, CA). Not only can you land a job with them, but you can exact revenge on those campus bookstores that robbed you blind.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you rented textbooks from Chegg?

Mimeo.com

Willy Franzen — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:41:39 +0000

My mom is a graphic designer, so many of my childhood memories consist of me sitting in the car fighting with my sister while my mom went into the print shop to drop something off or pick something up. Today’s version of me probably has it a lot easier because leaving your kids in the car is generally frowned upon, and brick and mortar print shops are a dying breed. Today, if you have a serious print job, you’re probably going to use an online printer who can do your job and ship it to you more quickly and more cheaply than the local print shop can. We’ve already looked at one company like this, VistaPrint, and today we’re going to look at Mimeo.com. They’re located in New York, NY; Newark, NJ; Memphis, TN; and Hayward, CA, and they call themselves “the innovator of online, on-demand document printing and distribution.” They were founded in 1998, and since then they’ve been focused on developing web-based technology to make online printing even easier than walking into a print shop.

Put the Me in Mimeo.com

You can get pretty much anything printed by Mimeo.com: presentations, manuals, brochures, booklets, flyers & sell sheets, posters, newsletters, postcards, and whatever else you may want to print. They must do a good job, because they’ve received a number of accolades ranging from being named to the Inc. 5000 to having their front end applications “judged to be ‘best’ in the industry 2 years in a row by the PIA, the largest print and graphics trade organization in the world.” Mimeo.com has also enlisted some major partners to share technology and make the company’s offerings even better. Mimeo.com seems to keep growing, and that’s why they have a ton of job openings posted right now. If you check out their Jobs page, you’ll see a bunch of positions suitable for new or recent grads including Account Administration Analyst (Memphis, TN), Account Executive (New York, NY), Front End Developer (New York, NY), Industrial Engineer (Mephis, TN), Lead Acquisition Specialist (New York, NY), Operations Leadership Program Associate (Memphis, TN), Quality Auditor Associate (Newark, NJ), Shipping Associate (Newark, NJ), and Solutions Advisor (Memphis, TN). Most of these positions have multiple openings, so there are a ton of jobs available.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever ordered anything from Mimeo.com?

Weight Watchers

Willy Franzen — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:53:50 +0000

A little known fact about me is that I earned “The Speed Limit” as a nickname during my Senior year of high school. It wasn’t because I drove slowly; it was because I somehow managed to lose 55 pounds between the end of Junior year and the beginning of Senior year. I still don’t know how it happened–I wasn’t even trying to lose weight–but it did (I’ve since gained much of it back, but part of that is because I don’t have the body of a scrawny 17-year old anymore). Apparently, there’s some mysterious weight loss secret out there that I used, but don’t know about. Unfortunately, weight loss isn’t usually that easy, and for most people it’s a huge struggle. I’m a big proponent of “the slow-carb diet” and other methods from Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Body, but it’s all about finding what works for you. For many it’s Weight Watchers. The New York, NY based company was started in Queens during the early 1960s by Jean Nidetch who “began inviting friends into her Queens home once a week to discuss how best to lose weight.” Now more than a million people across the world go to Weight Watchers meetings every week.

Jobs to Watch Out For

The Weight Watchers business is based on providing “information, knowledge, tools and motivation to help you make the decisions that are right for you about nutrition and exercise.” Everybody knows that the science of weight loss is easy. If you’re burning more calories that you take in (or at least absorb), you will lose weight. Putting that scientific fact to work is what’s so difficult. Weight Watchers is really about overcoming the psychological obstacles that prevent people from losing weight. The meetings are one way that they help people achieve this, and their Points systems is another. By simplifying healthy eating into an almost game-like system, Weight Watchers makes it easier for people to make the right decisions. In a way, weight loss is a lot like the job search in that you almost have to trick people into doing the right things because they’ll rarely do what you tell them to do. Anyway, the weight loss industry is about as competitive as it gets, but Weight Watchers seems to continue to do well. They’re expanding their online presence, and they also seem to be hiring some new people. You can learn more on their Jobs page, where you’ll see positions like Administrative Assistant (Jericho, NY), CHAMP Reconciliation Specialist (Jericho, NY), Part-Time Collections Clerk, Corporate Sales Operations Coordinator, Field Coordinator, Program Innovation Developer, and Tally Clerk.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever tried Weight Watchers?

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

Willy Franzen — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:41:43 +0000

Ever consider a career in teaching? Here’s some info on how to get started.

There’s a long history of poking fun at Martha Stewart, and it started well before she went to prison. There’s just something funny about someone who takes perfection in domesticity as seriously as she does. My family even played an integral role in the satire of Martha with my little sister’s appearance in the parody magazine Martha Stuart’s Better Than You at Entertaining, which was a follow up to Is Martha Stuart Living? (here’s a picture my sister as young Martha Stewart in the parody). We can keep laughing at Martha Stewart, but she’ll always get the last laugh. She has an amazing track record of reaching the top in nearly everything that she has done–from babysitting for Mickey Mantle’s kids to starting a successful catering company in her basement to building a New York, NY based media empire in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Martha Stewart is apparently now worth well over half a billion dollars, and has used her personal brand to build amazing print, television, online, and merchandise properties.

Are You Living?

Whether or not you’re a Martha Stewart fan, you have to be impressed by what she’s done throughout her career. She’s had an amazing ability to stay relevant, and a lot of that has to do with her media strategy. She easily could have settled with a successful catering business, or a popular magazine, or having her own television show, but she didn’t. It seems that she is obsessed with using every channel possible to reach people with her “unique lifestyle content.” That’s what Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is all about. If you enjoy the Martha Stewart brand and want to work on the media or merchandise side, then you definitely need to take a look at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s Careers page. There are some great opportunities posted in their job listings, and a few seem suitable for new or recent grads including: Assistant Food Editor, PHP Application Developer – Internet Content Management Systems, Front-End Web Developer, Decorative Pillow and Bedding Accessory Designer, Executive Assistant, Freelance Recipe Taster, Retail Merchandising Assistant, Apparel Designer – Martha Stewart Pets and Quilt Designer. You can also apply for an unlisted position if you don’t see something that suits you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a Martha Stewart fan?