One Day, One Job » aerospace

FlightAware

Willy Franzen — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:06:27 +0000

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In my previous life as the boyfriend of a management consultant, I would often spend my Thursday evenings using a flight tracking website to figure out when I’d be eating dinner. Those days are mostly over now that Amy is working at Groupon, but I had a bit of a flashback since she is traveling for work this week. My preferred flight tracking website is FlightAware, which tells me that she’s somewhere just south of the Great Salt Lake right now. I also know that she’s moving at 459 knots at an altitude of 35,000 feet. I can even see that the fares for her flight ranged from $50.03 to $3,365.92 with an average of $238.13. FlightAware is based in Houston, TX, and they provide “live flight data, airport information, weather maps, flight planning, and navigation charts, as well as aviation news and photos to over two million users a month.” I have no idea how they get all of their data, but it’s extremely useful and very easy to access.

Show Your Awareness

FlightAware’s free offerings are pretty robust. They offer everything that a typical frequent flyer might want access to; however, they also offer commercial level services to aviation businesses like “corporate flight departments, airlines, charter operators, aircraft and engine manufacturers, airport operators, government,” and more. These expanded services include: “data analysis, trending, outsourcing of data processing, and finding the answer to tomorrow’s aviation optimization and reliability problems.” Their customers include Cessna, NetJets, and Lufthansa, so they’re dealing with the biggest names in the industry. FlightAware is a company entirely made up of aviation geeks–they won’t hire you if you don’t have a passion for flight and flying, and more than half of their “employees hold an FAA pilots certificate (ranging from student to ATP).” If you think you’d fit in, then take a look at FlightAware’s Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Customer Service Specialist, a Web/Front-End Software Developer, and a Systems Engineer. FlightAware looks like a pretty cool place to work, so check them out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use FlightAware?

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?

Exa

Willy Franzen — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 16:53:50 +0000

Everything that I know about aerodynamics I learned from MythBusters. Ok, that’s not completely true–AP Physics taught me a little bit too, but MythBusters does a remarkable job of explaining how different objects (from bullets to cars) react to the drag forces of air and water. Today I found a company that puts MythBusters to shame, at least when it comes to aerodynamics (but definitely not when it comes to explosions). Their name is Exa, and they’re a Burlington, MA based company that “develops, markets, and supports simulation software for the fluids engineering marketplace along with a full suite of engineering consulting services.” They typically work with companies in the “automotive, aerospace, architectural, environmental, electronic, and heavy equipment industries,” so I’m sure that you can imagine what kind of cool projects they’ve been involved with. Think optimizing the USA 4-man bobsled that won the Olympic Gold Medal or providing simulations for a Discovery Channel TV show called Ultimate Car Build-Off (ok, it’s not MythBusters).

Are You Dynamic Enough?

Since I’m only TV educated, I’m obviously not the best person to judge Exa’s offerings. But their clients are. Since companies like Audi AG, BMW AG, DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company, Hyundai, Kenworth, MAN, Nissan, Peterbilt, Renault, Scania, Volkswagen AG, Volvo Trucks and many others trust Exa to help them “create competitive designs” and shorten “product design cycles and improving time-to-market,” I have to believe that Exa is a leader in the field. In addition to aerodynamics, Exa also focuses on thermodynamics, aeroacoustics, and how they interact with each other. I’d tell you more, but I’m already in over my head. Obviously, Exa is looking for people with very specific types of knowledge, but they do offer some opportunities that could be appropriate for a new grad (though many require Master’s Degrees or higher and some prior experience). If you look at their Jobs page, you’ll see positions like Application Engineer (Livonia, MI), Field Application Engineer (Livonia, MI), Aerodynamics Application Engineer (Burlington, MA), Geometry Expert (Stuttgart, Germany), Praktikant (Stuttgart, Germany), Application Engineer (Stuttgart, Germany), Aerodynamics Application Engineer (Livonia, MI), Computational Aeroacoustics Engineer (Brisbane, CA), Thermal Engineer (Livonia, MI), Application Engineer(s) – Heavy Vehicle North America (Burlington, MA), Software Engineer – Geometry (Burlington, MA), Computational Aeroacoustics Engineer (Livonia, MI), and Application Engineer (Munich, Germany). All of these job postings have very specific requirements, so it’s hard for me to determine what might be appropriate for recent grads.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How aerodynamic are you?

Conrad Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 16:30:34 +0000

When I was in high school, I got good grades, did community service work through my church, played baseball and basketball, and ran a fan website about my favorite rapper (it was a long time ago, and it was profitable). It may sound like a lot, but I can’t believe how much time I wasted. High schoolers are capable of a lot, and they need to be challenged. That’s exactly what the San Francisco, CA based Conrad Foundation does. They’re a non-profit organization that challenges “high school students to create innovative products using science, technology, and entrepreneurship to solve real-world, 21st century problems.” They do so through the Spirt of Innovation Awards, which is a competition put on in honor of Pete Conrad (whom the foundation is named after), the astronaut who commanded Apollo 12. Pete was expelled from a prestigious high school because he couldn’t read or spell. It turned out that he was dyslexic, and the headmaster at his new school was able to help him make the most of his genius. After high school he went to Princeton and the moon. Not bad for someone who couldn’t read or spell in high school.

Making the Most of High School

High school is the time to start getting serious about life, yet many talented students don’t get on the right track because they’re not engaged at school. The Conrad Foundation and the Spirit of Innovation Awards is all about giving students an alternative setting to pursue their interests. The Foundation’s vision is three-fold—they envision:

An education system where every student is engaged in and excited about learning.
An innovative, 21st century STEM workforce capable of solving society’s grand challenges and sustaining our knowledge based economy.
A movement in transformative education where innovation and entrepreneurship play an integral role in developing leadership & thinking skills.

The main activity of the Foundation is The Spirit of Innovation Awards Competition, which focuses on three specific areas: Aerospace Exploration, Clean Energy, and Cyber Security. You can read about all of the specifics of the competition on the Conrad Foundation site, and if you like what you see, then you may want to consider Getting Involved. They’re looking for Mentors and Supeheros on the volunteer front, but their Jobs page doesn’t show any opportunities. Luckily, I checked on Idealist, which says that they’re looking for an Administrative Assistant and a Fundraising Manager. If you are a fan of innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, there couldn’t be a better place for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’d you accomplish in high school?

MITRE

Willy Franzen — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 12:28:19 +0000

Not many of the companies on Fast Company’s list of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” are non-profit, and not many non-profits generate over $1 billion in annual revenue, but MITRE fits both criteria. I know that many of you responded in our survey that you wanted to see fewer technical jobs, but I’ve also noticed that most of the non-profit jobs that we feature on weekends aren’t very technical. MITRE, which has headquarters in Bedford, MA and McLean, VA offers an exception. They are an “organization chartered to work in the public interest” through “expertise in systems engineering, information technology, operational concepts, and enterprise modernization.” They do this work through “four Federally Funded Research and Development Centers,” with one focused on the Department of Defense, one on the Federal Aviation Administration, one on the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, and one for the Department of Homeland Security.

Give MITRE a Try

MITRE serves each of these groups by providing “a unique combination of broad operational knowledge and in-depth technical skills” while also developing new technology that can be transferred when appropriate. What is really astonishing about MITRE is its size. They have over 7,000 employees, and more than 65% of them hold an advanced degree. The organization is a hotbed for technical knowhow and creativity, and it’s great to know that they have thousands of talented people working to ensure the future of our country. On that note MITRE is constantly looking to hire smart people for both technical and non-technical positions. They have a very strong college recruiting program, which you can find out about here. There are nearly 400 positions posted right now on MITRE’s Jobs site, so browsing through everything may be a little tough. It maybe a little hard to sniff out which jobs are considered entry level, so you may want to reach out to Jessica Yu using MITRE’s employee directory to get your questions answered (or you can use the chat box on the Student Opportunities page during working hours).

Job categories at MITRE include: Acquisitions, Artificial Intelligence, Business Analysis & Administration, Communications, Computer Operations, Contracts/Subcontracts, Database Technology Software, Defense & Space Systems, Desktop Support, Digital/Microprocessor Hardware, Domain Operation Analyst, Economics/Business, Electromagnetic & Nuclear Effects, Facilities Engineering, Financial Analysis, General Accounting, General Systems Engineer, Graphics, Human Resources Generalist, Human Factors Engineer, Industrial Security, Information Security, Information Systems Engineer, Integrated Electronics, Legal, Multi-Disciplinary Systems Development, Networking & Distributed Systems, Physical Security, Procurement, Sensor Systems, Signal Processing Engineer, Software Applications Development & Software Systems, Special Security, System Administrator, Technical Project Support, Telecommunications Specialist, and Treasury & Risk Management. There are also a variety of locations beyond MITRE’s headquarters, so you’ll have plenty of options.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about MITRE?

Applied Physics Laboratory

Willy Franzen — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:44:51 +0000

This has nothing to do with physics, but yesterday was likely the greatest day in Cornell athletics history. I’m a happy guy. I’m also a guy who took AP Physics and found it extremely difficult. Despite the fact that our survival is based on having a basic understanding of physics (like knowing how a spear will fly when you throw it at a mammoth), most of us have basically no clue about the scientific side of physics. That’s not the case with the folks at The Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD. The APL is a division of Johns Hopkins University, and it’s “a not-for-profit center for engineering, research, and development.” The Laboratory’s work has a huge impact on the success of our nation—they work in areas like Air and Missile Defense, Homeland Protection, Biomedicine, and Civilian Space.

Apply Yourself at APL

To get a better feel for what The Applied Physics Laboratory does, you should take a look at some of their Sample Programs. It includes things like Space Threat Awareness and Characterization, Imaging Inside Buildings with Radar, and Effective Preparation of Biological Samples. If you pore over these case studies, you’ll start to realize just how important the field of applied physics really is. Another thing that The Applied Physics Laboratory is known for is hiring the best and the brightest. They have a significant College Recruiting program, and they do have a single posting on their site for technical entry level positions. It covers a number of different job functions including: Aerospace/Aeronautics, Communications Engineering, Controls Engineering, Defense Systems Test and Evaluation, Hardware Design, Information Systems/Security, Modeling and Simulation, Network/Communications Engineering, Signal Processing, Software Engineering, Space Physics, and System Engineering Analysis. They’re looking for candidates from all degree levels, and they seem to offer a great work environment. Their Careers page has a lot more information, so check it out for more details. And if you’re looking for a non-science position, you can keep your eye on all of the APL’s job listings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you see the Cornell game?

NetJets

Willy Franzen — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:36:24 +0000

If I ever make a ridiculous amount of money, the first thing that I’m going to do is buy a private jet—or at least a share in one. It seems like the ultimate way to travel. I’ve been on private planes before, but they had propellers and I was sitting next to or right behind the pilot (not nearly as classy). NetJets is a company that allows wealthy individuals and businesses to buy shares in private jets (since who really needs an entire jet to himself or herself?). They also have a subscription service called MarquisJet that lets you get a guaranteed number of hours of private jet use. It may not make private air travel affordable or cost effective, but it certainly puts it within reach for a lot more people. NetJets is by far the market leader, and they’re also a Berkshire Hathaway company. You know if Warren Buffett is investing in it, it has to be pretty good. NetJets is based in Columbus, OH, but quite obviously they operate all over the world.

Be a NetJetter

Even Warren Buffett thinks that private jet travel is a ridiculous luxury, but that didn’t stop him from becoming a customer and then buying the company when the time was right. The truth is that commercial airline travel is a pain in the butt, and many people will pay exorbitant costs to avoid it. Even if energy costs get continue to grow, you have to like the future of NetJets. Assuming that you aren’t morally opposed to private air travel, you should check out NetJets’s Jobs page. It’s split in to three sections: Pilots, Flight Attendants, and Corporate Positions. We’ll look at the latter since that’s most likely to have good fits for new grads. There are 15 jobs posted right now, and a few appear to be suitable for new grads. These include IT Business Analyst, Prospect Development Specialist (Teetorboro, NJ), and Technical Marketing Analyst. You can apply online, but we can’t link you directly to the job descriptions because NetJets uses a crappy applicant tracking system.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever flown on a NetJet?

SpaceX

Willy Franzen — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:35:37 +0000

You may have heard that NASA just had what was probably the final night launch of the space shuttle. I was lucky enough to see one a few years ago from a beach in Connecticut, although it didn’t look like much more than a bright light screaming through the night sky. Our space program is going through a lot of changes, and it seems that current funding for some future programs isn’t what the people at NASA were hoping for. Many fans of the space program are disappointed and pessimistic about the future of space exploration. Luckily, the past decade has led to the rise of private space companies that are taking up a lot of the slack when it comes to space flight. One of these companies is Hawthorne, CA based SpaceX, which was started by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk in 2002. Their focus is on building launch vehicles (mostly for satellites) that are not only more reliable, but also more affordable.

JobX

SpaceX has been growing like crazy—in late 2005 they had 160 employees, and now they employ more than 800 people. Not only has SpaceX grown at an impressive rate up to this point, but they seem to be continuing their growth. Their Jobs page shows more than 70 open positions. As long as the government keeps cutting its funding for space program, the private aerospace industry is going to keep booming. SpaceX is well positioned as they already have a track record of success—they were the first private company to develop a launch vehicle and reach earth orbit from the ground.

If that sounds like something that you want to be part of, then you should check out jobs at SpaceX—they even have opportunities for people who don’t have a background in aerospace. They identify 7 of the jobs that they have posted as being for new graduates: Dynamics Engineer, Electrical Engineer, Guidance, Navigation, and Controls Engineer, Mechanical Engineer- Fluids & Thermal, Mechanical Engineer- Structures, Software Engineer, and Systems Engineer. There are plenty of other positions posted, so you may want to check them out even if they’re not explicitly identified as being for new grads—these include jobs in Marketing, HR, Technical Writing, and more. You can apply online for positions at SpaceX, and you should also take note of the following:

Since the people we seek tend to be highly sought after, SpaceX offers up to a $5000 referral award to anyone who refers a candidate we hire.

If you end up applying for a job at SpaceX, please let them know that you found about them from One Day, One Job.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about the private aerospace industry?

Ball Aerospace

Willy Franzen — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:23:55 +0000

Now, I’m not a rocket scientist, but there’s a chance that you are—or want to be. If that’s the case, then you need to check out Ball Aerospace. And even if your pursuit of rocket science ended with building model rockets as a kid, you still might want to take a look. I first came across Ball Aerospace while reading an article about the 20-foot tall, 130 pound rocket that their interns launched 4,000 feet into the sky. That puts my childhood rocket launches to shame—which it should considering the fact that Ball Aerospace “is a leader in design, development and manufacture of innovative aerospace systems.” They develop things like “spacecraft, instruments and sensors, RF and microwave technologies, data exploitation solutions and a variety of advanced aerospace technologies and products that enable exciting missions,” so a 20-foot tall rocket is child’s—er—intern’s play for Ball Aerospace, which is located in Boulder, CO; Dayton, OH; and Albuquerque, NM.

Get on the Ball and Launch Your Career

Ball Aerospace has been around since 1956. They work with both defense and civilian government agencies and commercial customers too. To last that long in such a rapidly advancing industry, Ball Aerospace has to be constantly innovating, and to do that requires great people. Which is why Ball Aerospace is extremely aggressive about college recruiting. They’re looking for the best minds in aerospace, and they’re trying to get them while they’re young. There’s an entire College Relations section on their Careers site. They visit a select number of campuses, but most students will have to interact with them online. You can start by browsing their Job listings; however, I think that reaching out to collegerelations@ball.com to get a feel for the kinds of opportunities that are available at Ball Aerospace might be a better bet. That e-mail address is not meant for résumé submission, so keep that in mind.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you play with model rockets as a kid?

SPARTA

Willy Franzen — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:57:37 +0000

Usually when I’m looking at the job requirements to determine whether a position is suitable for new college grads, I’m looking at things like education, experience, skills, and job functions. It’s not often that I’m thinking about security clearance, but at today’s company, SPARTA, it’s essential for most of their positions. (Now, don’t worry if you don’t already have Top Secret Clearance, they still might have jobs for you as long as you didn’t get into too much trouble during your college years or before.) The reason that there’s all this talk about clearance is that SPARTA is a company whose “core business areas include strategic defense and offense systems, tactical weapons systems, and space systems” and whose “major intelligence credentials include intelligence production, computer network operations, and information assurance.”

This Is SPARTA

If you’ve spent your time in college attending peace protests, then SPARTA probably isn’t for you, but if you have a hard science or engineering background that you’d like to put to practical use, then you’ll be fascinated by the job titles that SPARTA is hiring for. Current openings include Weapons Effects Analyst, Cyberspace Analyst, and WMD Engineer (don’t worry, this job is about “supporting national efforts in developing, integrating and synchronizing capabilities to combat weapons of mass destruction”). These aren’t SPARTA’s entry level jobs, but they demonstrate what kind of projects the company is working on. They have more than 100 jobs listed right now, and quite a few of the opportunities actually are entry level. These include Integration Engineer, Software Engineer, Systems Engineer, and Linux/Unix Software Engineer. These are the only jobs that are identified as entry level, but you should definitely check out the rest of their job listings. You can apply online, and SPARTA has locations that include Arlington, VA; Aurora, CO; Bel Air, MD; Bellevue, NE; Billerica, MA; Centreville, VA; Colorado Springs, CO; Columbia, MD; El Segundo, CA; Huntsville, AL; Laguna Hills, CA; Lake Forest, CA; Nashua, NH; Newport News, VA; Orlando, FL; San Diego, CA; and Sunnyvale, CA.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you fascinated by SPARTA’s job titles?

ATA Engineering

Willy Franzen — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:36:04 +0000

If you’ve read our article on 9 Magazine Lists That Will Find You a Job, you know that we’re always looking for new lists of great companies who might be hiring new grads. We recently came across the Wall Street Journal’s Top Small Workplaces 2008, so of course we’re going to poach from it to bring you more companies with great entry level job opportunities. The list is alphabetical, and we didn’t even have to go past A because ATA Engineering Inc. looks like an awesome place to work, they appear to hire a lot of new college grads, and this is just one of many awards that they’ve won. They’re an employee-owned engineering consulting firm, and they specialize in the areas of Spacecraft, Launch Vehicles, Entertainment, Electronics, Airframes, and Software. ATA Engineering is all about teamwork, and their compensation plans and hiring processes reflect that. They only thing that they don’t do for their employees is give them an iPod on hire, but if you win our contest, you’ll already have one.

Alphabetically the Best Small Workplace for 2008

ATA Engineering’s Jobs page starts with a question: “Are there really career opportunities with a company that designs, analyzes, and tests amusement park rides, aircraft, launch vehicles, satellites, consumer electronics, sports equipment and more?” Obviously the answer is yes, and ATA Engineering really does all of those things. They don’t specifically have job listings for new college grads, but they have quite a few jobs posted that only list academic requirements. These jobs include: Dynamic Test Engineer, Analysis-Driven Design Engineer, Engineering Applications Software Development Engineer, Thermal Analysis Engineer, and Structural Analysis Engineer. All of the positions that ATA Engineering is hiring new grads for require an Engineering background, but they do occasionally have positions in Administration and Business (we don’t know if they’re ever entry level though). ATA Engineering is looking for the best of the best, so you better have excelled in college if you’re going to apply for one of their jobs. ATA Engineering is headquartered in San Diego, but they also have regional offices in Los Angeles, Denver, Albuquerque, and Northern Virginia. All of the jobs that we listed above appear to be based out of San Diego, except the Software Development position which can be in San Diego, Denver, or Northern Virginia.

To apply for a job with ATA Engineering, you should send your cover letter and resume to careers@ata-e.com. Since many of their contracts require access to government, defense, and classified information, they’re not able to consider applications from people unless they are a US citizen or possess a US permanent resident alien visa (green card). Also, if you do land an interview, be sure to be nice to everyone. ATA Engineering’s hiring process is team oriented, and a single employee has the power to veto any hire.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have any insight on what it’s really like to work at ATA Engineering? Please share it with us in the comments.

Garmin

Willy Franzen — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:43:43 +0000

Ok, it may be politically incorrect to celebrate Columbus Day, but it’s just about the only holiday that I had off in college. Maybe it just happened to be a convenient weekend for Fall Break, but I still can’t believe that I didn’t have class on Columbus Day, but did have class on Labor Day (when I went to a School of Industrial and Labor Relations). Anyway, Christopher Columbus wasn’t much of a navigator. He had no idea where he was going, and he tried to take the long way around the world. Still, his ineptitude was the reason that he “discovered” the Americas. Had Garmin been around in the 1490s, Columbus never would have ended up where he did. Then again, the existence of a company built on GPS technology would have changed a lot of things for famous explorers five centuries ago. (Much like the existence of iPods – like the one we’re giving away – would have changed the world for musicians back then.)

Find Your Way to Garmin

Since Garmin started in 1989, their goal has been to “create navigation and communication devices that can enrich their customers’ lives.” GPS has certainly enriched my life, and I’m sure it’s done the same for you. Getting lost is a thing of the past, right? Ok, maybe not yet, but we’re getting there. I can say with certainty that with a GPS system I never would have started my first drive home from college during Columbus Day Weekend by driving for 45 minutes in the wrong direction. Garmin keeps improving their navigation devices, and they rely heavily on new grads to help them do it.

Garmin has a great recruiting site for college students called GarminU, although it’s easy to miss when you visit their Careers site. It’s just a little link on the left side of the page, but it’s well worth visiting. It includes behind the scenes videos with Garmin’s entry level employees, interview preparation tips, internship testimonials, and info on why you should pick Garmin. There’s also a link to Garmin’s campus recruiting schedule. You should definitely check that before applying for a job online, since campus recruiting is usually a much more effective way to make your first contact.

If Garmin isn’t visiting your campus, or if you’ve already missed them, then you’ll have to browse Garmin’s online job listings to find the right opportunity for you. They don’t have specific listings just for entry level opportunities, but we’ve identified which jobs that we think will be good fits for new grads. The listings are easy enough to browse, but we can’t link specifically to the jobs. We’ll list the titles, but you’ll have to search for them yourselves. Most of Garmin’s job opportunities are at their Olathe, KS headquarters. These include Cartography Technician, Web Content Writer, Web/Interface Designer, Test Software Engineer, General Accountant, Component Engineer, Software Engineer – Development Tools, and Software Engineer. There are also opportunities in San Francisco, CA (Software Engineer – Web Services and Web Developer); Minneapolis, MN (Software Engineer – Information Services and Web Software Developer); Salem, OR (Aircraft Systems Engineer); Tempe, AZ (Software Quality Engineer – Applications); and Los Angeles, CA (Software Quality Engineer – Automotive OEM). Garmin accepts online applications, so you’ll have to find the jobs that interest you and apply from there.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do any of you have any embarrassing travel experiences that would have been prevented by having a Garmin GPS unit? Please share in the comments.

Rolls-Royce

Willy Franzen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:18:34 +0000

Let’s be honest – the closest that you’ve ever come to a Rolls-Royce was when you were watching MTV Cribs and saw one in a rapper/athlete/actor’s garage. I’ve seen some college students with some really nice cars, but never a Rolls. With that said, you can finally get close to Rolls-Royce through the college recruiting process. In fact, your lack of familiarity with Rolls-Royce automobiles won’t even matter, because Rolls-Royce plc (the company that we’re talking about today) doesn’t even make cars anymore. That business was sold to BMW in 1998. Rolls-Royce focuses on four global markets – Civil Aerospace, Defense Aerospace, Marine, and Energy – and two vital teams – Services and Research & Development. Although that may not be consistent with the brand image that you’ve associated with Rolls-Royce for a long time, you’re going to have to get used to it – especially if Rolls-Royce sounds like a company that you’d want to work for.

Think High Tech Engineering, Not Luxury

As a “high technology engineering company,” Rolls-Royce is obviously always looking for top engineering talent, but they also need talent in other business areas. They rely heavily on college recruiting to fill these needs, and now is the time to get involved in the recruiting process. In fact, Rolls-Royce is already more than halfway through their campus recruiting schedule. They still have a few campuses to visit, but most of you are going to have to initiate the process online. Before we get into how you do that, let’s see what kind of entry level job opportunities Rolls-Royce offers.

Rolls-Royce has two entry level programs for new graduates – Leadership Development and Professional Excellence. To figure out which of the programs is right for you, you can look at the descriptions that we just linked to you, but you should probably first take Rolls-Royce’s Which Programme (they’re British) assessment. From here, you will hopefully find that your program of choice is open in your area of interest. Rolls-Royce provides a grid that shows which programs they offer in which areas by location (US, UK, and Germany). For the 2008-2009 recruiting season they are looking for people in Customer Management, Engineering, Finance, and Human Resources for the Leadership Development program and Engineering, Supply Chain Planning and Control, and Project Management for the Professional Excellence program. There’s actually a third program called Controls Fast Track for Engineering grads who are interested in becoming a Controls Engineer, but this only seems to be available in the UK.

Getting in the (RR)ecruiting Process

First of all, Rolls-Royce’s Careers site is filled with information. It’s a huge improvement from their old site, and should answer almost every question that you’ll have. The only problem is that it seems to make the assumption that you’ll be making your first contact with Rolls-Royce through campus recruiting. They don’t clearly state how applicants from schools that they don’t visit should apply. There is an online job application process that you can use; however, the Student and Graduate Programmes section only links to internships. The Other Job Opportunities section seems more promising in terms of listings, but it has a note that says “If you are a college student and you are interested in a co-op, intern, leadership program or entry level position, please click here to apply.” Unfortunately, the “click here” links to a page that redirects to Rolls-Royce’s main Careers site. This is a pretty big screw up considering that Rolls-Royce works so hard to sell college students on its jobs. We think that your best bet is to e-mail collegerecruiting@rolls-royce.com and ask them how you should apply (you may even want to include your cover letter and resume). If you figure out what works, please share it with the rest of our readers in the comments.

From what we understand, the Rolls-Royce recruiting process closes in December, so you still have time. They have 64 facilities in 26 states, and we’re not sure where they locate most of their entry-level hires, so that’s another question that you may want to direct towards collegerecruiting@rolls-royce.com. You’ve probably noticed that we’ve focused almost entirely on jobs in the US, but Rolls-Royce also offers opportunities for new grads in Germany and the UK. If those are something that you’re interested in, you can find all of the corresponding information on their Careers site.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you know that Rolls-Royce wasn’t in the automobile business anymore?

Southwest Airlines

Willy Franzen — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:08:56 +0000

Periodically the news is riddled with stories about how the airlines are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Lately the focus of doom and gloom commentary has shifted to finance and insurance companies, but that doesn’t mean that the airlines are doing any better. There’s one company that is seemingly never in the conversation about struggling airlines – Southwest Airlines. If you’ve ever flown Southwest, you probably know why. They do things differently, and it makes flyers happy. Even though it seems like almost no one can succeed flying commercial routes, Southwest continues to impress. A One Day, One Internship reader tipped us off to some amazing internship opportunities at Southwest Airlines, so we thought that we’d look at their entry level jobs today too. Air travel isn’t going anywhere – it’s too important to us, so don’t write off an entire industry because the other losers can’t get their acts together.

Future Booking at Southwest

Honestly, I’ve never heard of a company cited in more case studies than Southwest is. When I was studying Human Resources in college, I swear that I heard about Southwest’s corporate culture every week. It must make the CEOs of other airlines sick to their stomachs. Just look at the honors Southwest has received recently:

Ranked 12th on Fortune’s “Most Admired” list in 2007
Made Forbes “Platinum List” in 2007
Ranked by Business Week as one of the top “50 Best Places to Launch a Career”
“Most Admired Companies Among Women” by Professional Womens Magazine in 2006
“100 Best Corporate Citizens” by Business Ethics magazine for eight years in a row
“Corporate 100” by HISPANIC magazine since 2000
Included in the “Top 100 Most Innovative Technology Organizations” by InformationWeek in July 2007

And in case you aren’t already dreaming about working for Southwest, you should know that they offer “FREE UNLIMITED space-available travel anywhere Southwest Airlines flies” in addition to a laundry list of other benefits or “freedoms,” as they like to call them. To get a sense of what kind of jobs are available at Southwest Airlines, you should first look at their position profiles. These will give you a brief overview of each type of job that Southwest offers, so when you look at their actual job listings you will have a good understanding of what you’re looking at. Their Careers site is exceedingly simple, and really easy to navigate. It’s also loaded with information. We love (LUV) it.

Of the 39 non-internship job openings that we’ve identified on Southwest’s site, here are some that might be a good fit for a new college grad.

There are certainly more jobs to look at, some with slightly higher experience requirements. Most of the jobs are located at Southwest’s Dallas, TX headquarters (Ramp Agent openings are in Denver, Philadelphia, and Baltimore). Applying online for any of these jobs should be quite easy, so get to it!

Southwest Airlines also offers an RSS feed and e-mail alerts to notify you of new job postings, so if you don’t see anything that you like right now, you can sign up to be notified of future opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you flown Southwest? Did you LUV it?

Masten Space Systems

Willy Franzen — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 13:34:25 +0000

“Just gas ‘em up and go!” is not the slogan that you’d expect to hear from an aerospace company, but that’s exactly how easy Masten Space Systems would like space travel to be. They’re a space startup, and they’re working on “developing a line of Vertical Takeoff and Vertical Landing (VTVL) launch vehicles,” although Masten is also know for offering to send your junk into space for a reasonable fee. Anyway, the whole idea behind what Masten Space Systems is doing is to create rocket vehicles that are reliable and reusable.

Vertical Takeoff for Your Career

<div><a href='http://www.omnisio.com'>Share and annotate your videos</a> with Omnisio!</div> <p>

Masten Space Systems’ CFO and VP of Business Development, Michael Mealling, recently did a pitch at Startup Riot and posted the video presentation on the Masten blog. We’ve posted the video above since it is the best way for you to get familiar with the company.

Masten Space Systems still has a very small team, but they do seem to be adding people occasionally. Right now they’re looking for a Senior Engineer / Project Manager, a Technician / Fabricator, and an Office Manager. The Technician / Fabricator job is the only one that seems like it could be well suited to a new college grad. It requires welding / brazing experience and manual / CNC milling experience, so you shouldn’t apply unless you’ve had your hands dirty before. Masten is growing, so you may want to try sending a resume and cover letter for an unlisted position. If you stick out as someone who would be perfect for their team, they’ll probably hold on to your resume until something opens up. Another option is to try for an internship at Masten Space Systems. They give their interns extremely high level work, and it might be a good way to get a foot in the door. Masten Space Systems is located in Mojave, CA and requires that all job applicants fill out an employment application and attach it with a resume and cover letter in an e-mail to info@masten-space.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Know anything about Masten Space Systems? Leave a comment.

Aeros Corporation

Willy Franzen — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:18:13 +0000

Sometimes we come across companies that aren’t currently offering entry-level jobs but are just too cool to not post about immediately. Aeros Corporation is one of those companies. The people at Aeros think that they’ve seen the future of air travel, and it’s chubby looking – at least compared to the jets we travel on today. Why is it chubby? Because blimp-like airships are the future. Aeros currently considers themselves “the world’s leading lighter-than-air, FAA-certified aircraft manufacturing company;” however, the future lies in the Aeroscraft (you need to click the link to check it out) which is not quite lighter than air. It is to be a “partially buoyant craft [with] a rigid hull structure” that can takeoff and land vertically, hover for extended periods of time, land practically anywhere in any weather, and will be extremely safe.

Not Quite Lighter Than Air

Aeros Corporation has big plans for the Aeroscraft, and they’re working to make it happen. Still, we think this could just be a lot of hot air (FYI: they actually use helium to float the airships). A project like this is extremely ambitious, and changing the way people fly will not be an easy task. Aeros is certainly on the way, as you can see in their Photo Gallery and Videos. On the other hand, if Aeros is successful in changing the way we fly, it would be pretty freakin’ cool to say that you were a part of it. Only time will tell if travelers will choose the extreme comfort and luxury of the Aeroscraft over the speediness that jets currently offer.

Anyway, we prefaced this posted by saying that Montebello, CA based Aeros Corporation doesn’t have any entry-level jobs. Their Careers page shows two job openings – one for pilots and another for engineers. The pilot position is clearly out of reach for new college grads, and the engineering position requires 2 years of experience “in design of steel or aluminum structures or heavy machinery.” It’s possible that some new grads who majored in Mechanical, Structural, Design, or Aerospace engineering might be able to land these jobs, but we really can’t say. Aeros’ Careers page also says that they typically hire Avionics Engineers, Design Drafters, Mechanical Designers, Mechanical Engineers, Military Programs Manager, Pilots, Quality, Assurance Engineers, Sales and Marketing, Senior Engineers, System Engineers, Technical Writers, and Test Support Engineers. That means that cold calling might be a viable option with Aeros. They must do some entry-level hiring.

If you think the future of air travel includes partially buoyant craft, then you need to be working at Aeros. We’d love to see you help them succeed, but we realize that ambitions as grand as Aeros’ are really hard to achieve. We’ll see what happens.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you fly on an Aeroscraft?

Keystone Strategy

Willy Franzen — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:17:52 +0000

You’re sitting in class listening to your professor go on and on about how he’s so much smarter than the CEO of some company and how if he was in charge he’d do this and that, when you say to the kid sitting next to you, “If he’s so smart, why is he standing here lecturing instead of making bank in an executive level job at some company?” That’s a really good question. College professors are supposed to be the best minds in their respective fields, but they often eschew a big pay day for the safety of academia – hey, the hours are great. The folks at Keystone Strategy consider this a waste of resources, so they’ve put some of the top professors from Harvard Business School to work as expert advisors for their consulting firm.

Despite the Name, They’re Not Located in Pennsylvania

We’re not sure where the name came from, but Keystone Strategy is headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices in Boston and Salt Lake City. They are an international strategy consulting firm that specializes in Aerospace, Biotech and Pharmaceuticals, and Technology. Their Job Openings page doesn’t specifically identify positions that are available, but it does have a long list of requirements for applicants. We have seen job postings for Analyst and Consultant positions at Keystone, but we’re not sure which of these are geared towards new grads at the entry-level. Their standards are extremely high, but there’s barely a mention of prior work experience. It seems like they’re more interested in getting the smartest people they can. Our favorite of their 6 qualifications that applicants should cover in their cover letters is “The Pittsburgh Airport Test: Something that gives us confidence that we wouldn’t hate being stuck with you in the Pittsburgh airport for more than six hours.” Yes, they have specific requirements for cover letters, so make sure you read them over before you send your resume to careers@keystonestrategy.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Sorry for the short post today, but I’m getting on a boat to float down the river. Happy job searching!

NASA

Willy Franzen — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:00:21 +0000

Typically young children are quite realistic about their career aspirations. They want to be firefighters, policemen, and teachers – professions that are in constant, steady demand. The more ambitious children might want a job as a doctor or veterinarian – still steady, but requiring a significant investment in education. It almost seems that as children we’re more realistic about life and careers than we are when we reach adulthood – except those kids who wanted to be astronauts. Since the beginning of the space program, there have only been 321 astronauts selected. Ever. There’s no surefire (or easy) way to become an astronaut – pilots, schoolteachers, doctors, scientist, and engineers have all been astronauts – but if selection as an astronaut is one of your life goals, you need to start preparing now. If you’re not ready for the commitment that it takes to be an astronaut, there are still plenty of entry-level jobs at NASA that will enable you to have a meaningful impact on the space program and NASA’s other endeavors.

NASA is a large government agency with many entry-level jobs, so instead of identifying each job opening, we’re going to guide you through how to their jobs website and help you find the information that you need before you decide to apply for a job. Usually, we complain that companies shortchange job searchers in terms of career related information on their website, but with NASA the problem is one of too much information. Maybe it’s a test to weed out candidates who can’t deal with navigating through complex situations, but we were a bit overwhelmed by NASA’s jobs site. Before you jump in and start looking around the site, you might want to read NASA’s Applicant Guide. It’s audaciously long, but it covers everything you need to know to get a job at NASA. If we left you to navigate the site, it would probably take you quite a while to find the guide, but we think it’s important to reward our loyal readers with shortcuts straight to meaningful content (if you like shortcuts, subscribe to One Day, One Job).

If you read our post about entry-level jobs at the US Forest Service, then you’re aware of the fact that all jobs with the United States government are posted on USAjobs.gov. Since NASA does not accept applications for unspecified positions, you must go through this site and search specifically for NASA jobs. We couldn’t find any information on an application process tailored specifically to entry-level candidates (probably because there isn’t one); however, there is a guide for college students who are seeking employment. There are also lists of occupation types, applicable entry-level pay ranges, and NASA locations to help you determine which jobs you should apply for. NASA also offers a FAQ for students. Like we said, there’s a ton of information.

In addition to NASA’s jobs site, there are a few other sites that are worth mentioning. First is NASA People, which is a site that appears to be targeted towards current NASA employees. It covers almost any question that you could have about what it’s like to work at NASA, so serious job searchers should spend some time browsing this site. Second is the annual ranking of Best Places to Work in the Federal Government, which ranks NASA at fourth. This gives in-depth statistics about what kinds of people are more likely to be happy working at NASA (most employees), and what types of people are less likely to be happy at NASA. It also breaks down the rankings into a number of factors that may or may not be important to you.

Finally, there is this Wired article that details the struggles that NASA is having connecting with young people. The problem is pretty obvious. The space race to put the first man on the moon created an amazing amount of interest in NASA for our parents’ generation, but we have been given technology like the Internet to explore the world that we live in. Many young people don’t see the point in exploring space, when there is so much to discover right at our fingertips. The article includes a presentation that was given to NASA management by some of NASA’s younger employees on how to improve engagement with Generation-Y/Millennials/whatever you want to call us by emphasizing NASA’s continued relevance to the issues that concern our generation. Even people who are not interested in jobs at NASA would do well to read this article as it brings up a lot of important questions about NASA, science, and the workplace. The Wired article ends by pointing to OpenNASA.com, which is a blog by NASA employees. It’s excellent, and as authentic of a resource as you’ll find on what working at NASA is like – especially for someone who is not far removed from college. Although the blog is unofficial, it’s the type of resource that every company could use to improve their recruiting practices.

If you want an entry-level job at NASA, you’ve got a lot of research to do. Get moving!

Note: On April 25th we revisited entry-level jobs at NASA.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Want an internship at NASA? They have a lot of them, and we’re talking about them at One Day, One Internship.

BAE Systems

Willy Franzen — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:00:51 +0000

BAE Systems is a global defence (they’re British) and aerospace company. They are quite huge, employing close to 100,000 people across the world, which means that they do an enormous amount of entry-level hiring. BAE Systems operates in a wide range of businesses – from land armaments to regional aircraft, from military air solutions to communications and electronic warfare systems. Their timeline of milestones will give you a better idea of the specifics of what they do. BAE Systems is probably not the best fit if you participated in a peace protest during college, but if you want to be in the industry that is pushing the bounds of engineering, it’s hard to overlook defense.

When we first took a look at BAE Systems, the link to their Careers page was broken and took us to their news page. That was enough for us to pass them up and say that we’d come back later. Well, it’s later, and BAE Systems has fixed their little linking problem. Now, we can see that they have quite an impressive Careers section on their website. It is full of information, and even has a special section for college career opportunities.

If you’re interested in a career at BAE Systems, take a look at the list of entry-level jobs that they typically offer to new grads and their schedule of on-campus recruiting events. BAE Systems has done a great job of upgrading their Career site from nonexistent (or at least not linked to) to having more information than we can digest. We especially applaud them for having a special section for college students.

If BAE Systems isn’t coming to your campus, then search their open positions for college students and apply online. Their website has more information than you could ever digest in one sitting, so start clicking around and find a great job in engineering. Doing the research is easy on this one.

Note: On April 24th we revisited entry-level jobs at BAE Systems.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever heard of BAE Systems? How can companies that don’t sell products that college students use do a better job of employment branding?

Insitu

Willy Franzen — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:00:59 +0000

Not too long ago, the only unmanned aerial vehicles were planes flown by women. Now we live in a world where planes can fly themselves. We thought we were pretty high-tech when we set up a blog, coded our own template, and figured out how to optimize our site for Google; however, the companies that design, develop, and produce autonomous aircraft put us to absolute shame.

Insitu is one of those companies. They build UAVs that have amazing reconnaissance, communications relay, and geophysical surveying capabilities. Most of their work has been with the military so far, but Insitu is operating in an infant industry with an amazing potential for growth. In fact, over the last 3 years Insitu’s revenue has grown by 1,702.4% to $50 million annually. This performance has put them on Inc. Magazine’s List of the 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in 2006 and 2007. Insitu CEO Steve Sliwa was also named CEO of the Year for 2007 by Seattle Business Monthly. Clearly this company is taking off. We’d tell you more about what they do, but the business of autonomous aircraft is way over our head.

On that note, let’s take a look at the jobs Insitu is offering. Most of their job descriptions contain words, terms, and abbreviations that we don’t really understand. Usually we’d complain about this, but for these types of jobs it makes sense for them to be explicit about the skills needed for the job. We did our best to find jobs that might be appropriate for a recent college graduate since Insitu does not have an entry-level hiring program. With the amazing accomplishments that some college students have achieved (the DARPA challenge contestants for instance), we think that it’s quite possible to have the equivalent of 2 years of relevant experience by graduation day. Individuals with a military background will be particularly well equipped for jobs at Insitu. Here’s a quick run down of the jobs we think might be attainable right out of college: Electronic Technician (Software Team), Software Engineer, Flight Test Engineer, and Field Systems Representative. Those who are seriously interested in working at Insitu might be better off looking over Insitu’s job openings themselves.

Beyond the cool factor of what Insitu does, we’re also impressed with their corporate culture. They describe themselves as “a lifestyle company with innovative and creative employees who pour as much into their personal lives as they do into their work at the office.” Insitu has a “business comfortable” dress code and is dog friendly. There is also a heavy emphasis on “Living in the Gorge” – meaning the Columbia River gorge, which offers extraordinary outdoor opportunities. You can go kite surfing, mountain climbing, steelhead fishing, or snowboarding with just a short drive. There is even a list of nearby activities on the Insitu website. The way Insitu treats its people has to be part of their amazing success.

So if we’ve piqued your interest, start researching! Don’t put your job search on autopilot, leave the autonomous systems to Insitu.

Note: On April 22nd we revisited entry-level jobs at Insitu.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

If you’re the type of person who could work at Insitu, you probably aren’t interested in the Nintendo Wii that we’re giving away. What’s exciting about a video game when you can help create a plane that flies itself? Those Wii remotes that interpret your motions so that playing Wii Tennis is like playing real tennis just don’t seem that special compared to an unmanned aircraft.

Leave a comment and tell us why you don’t want a Wii.