“Yo I’m a Raptor doin’ what I can gonna eat everything till the appearance of man. Yo yo yo, see me, I’m living below the soil, I’ll be back but I’m comin’ as oil!” That has to be one of my favorite lines from Mrs. Doubtfire, a movie that I saw dozens of time as a kid. I thought it was funny even though I had no idea what it meant (probably because Robin Williams saying anything is funny). Mrs. Doubtfire was on tv recently, and I saw the scene for the first time in a long time and finally got it. Disappointingly, petroleum doesn’t actually come from dinosaurs, but from decomposed single-celled organisms that existed 10s or 100s of millions of years ago. That means that oil is a non-renewable resource… or at least it used to be. Solazyme is a San Francisco, CA based company that has “pioneered an industrial biotechnology platform that harnesses the prolific oil-producing ability of micro algae.” Yes, they are actually synthesizing real oil that can be refined and used to power things.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
beauty,
biology,
biotechnology,
California,
energy,
food,
nutrition,
research,
science
Earlier this week I was catching up with Jason Seiden. We covered a ton of topics, but one thing that we kept coming back to is how frustrating it can be to work in the careers space. Why? Because, as Jason said, “Truly valuable career advice is like vegetables–you can’t give it away.” This is so true. You can try to force things on people, but you won’t get anywhere unless they want what you’re selling. Super Sprowtz is a company that is trying to change the way people–namely children–think about vegetables. They’re based in New York, NY, and they’ve seen how powerful cartoon characters can be in affecting children’s food choices, so they’ve developed a cast of “vegetable super heroes” to “entertain and educate children about healthy eating habits.” I started out thinking this was pretty weird, but I’m kind of warming to the idea.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
administrative,
agriculture,
all employers,
education,
entertainment,
media,
New York,
nutrition,
organic,
public health
It’s Christmas Eve! This was the first year that I’ve had a Christmas tree in my apartment in Chicago. Unfortunately, it isn’t a real tree. It isn’t even a decent fake tree. It’s a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. That’s a far cry from the Christmas trees that my family cuts down every year. There’s nothing better than a real tree–it looks great, smells great, and gets needles everywhere. I feel that everybody should have a real Christmas tree (even if they don’t celebrate Christmas), and so does the National Christmas Tree Association in Chesterfield, MO. They are a lobbying organization that “strives to be one voice representing Christmas Tree Professionals and promoting the use of Real Christmas Trees.” They have more than 5,000 members, and they’re constantly working to protect the interest of Christmas tree farmers by promoting the industry, lobbying the Federal government, and enabling knowledge sharing. It’s unclear whether they have any job opportunities, but you can Contact them if you’re truly interested. You may also want to look at our past Christmas Eve posts on The Elf on the Shelf, Caribou Coffee, and NORAD
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
holiday,
Missouri,
non-profit,
plant science,
trade association
One of my favorite classes at Cornell was Animal Science 290, which was better known as “Meat Science” or “Meats.” We did pretty much everything including slaughtering, butchering, curing, cooking, and eating, but, even better, we learned all about the scientific reasons for why we were doing what we did. Everything about the class was great (especially the eating), but one of the unexpected benefits was getting to interact with an entirely different group of students than I was accustomed to. A lot of the kids in the class actually grew up on real, working farms, and I don’t think that I had ever met anyone my age who grew up on a farm before Cornell. They were the kind of kids I assumed did 4-H in high school. It turns out that my view of 4-H was a bit narrow, as it’s much more than an organization for farm kids–it’s a non-profit that “empowers youth to reach their full potential, working and learning in partnership with caring adults” in all environments. 4-H is based in Chevy Chase, MD, and it’s pretty clear from their website that they’re trying to build an image that goes beyond agriculture. Still, 4-H is administered by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the United States Department of Agriculture and works through the Cooperative Extension of “America’s 109 land-grant universities,” so agriculture remains extremely important within the organization.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
community management,
education,
food,
Maryland,
merchandising,
research,
science
When I think of the energy industry, I think of big machines like oil drills, windmills, and coal elevators. Microbes and genetics just don’t come to mind. Synthetic Genomics is a company that is aiming to change that. Energy is just one of the industries that they are working to disrupt as they develop “breakthrough genomic-driven solutions for major global issues.” Right now Synthetic Genomics, which is based in La Jolla, CA, has put a heavy emphasis on working with the energy and chemical industries because there is so much potential for gain–especially in terms of the environment; however, they’re also working on things like food production, human health, and water availability. It’s all about “turning novel science into life-changing solutions.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
biology,
biotechnology,
business development,
California,
energy,
environmental,
genetics,
green,
research,
sales
Somehow my Dad and I forgot to get the proper cord to hook up my iPhone to his car speakers. That’s a big mistake when you’re doing two 13 hour drives in less than a week. We really could have used a book on tape considering that NPR is pretty much the only non-music station that comes in reliably in Northern Maine (and the CBC once we get close to the border). I know I’ll catch a lot of flack for this, but I’m not an NPR fan (it bores me to tears, and the CBC is even worse); however, there was a segment this morning that caught my attention. It was on Hamilton Farm Bureau and how they’re having trouble hiring qualified people. Considering that the company is based in Hamilton, MI and has locations across the state of Michigan, you’d think they’d be able to tap into the nearly 20% of state residents who are under or unemployed. Who knew that a cooperative that “sells fertilizer and propane gas, packages and ships eggs, and helps farmers market what they raise” would have so much trouble finding good people?
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
analyst,
animals,
energy,
food,
horticulture,
information technology,
Michigan,
sales
Have you ever had Craisins? The ingredients list only says “cranberries and sugar,” but I swear that there has to be something else in there that makes them so addictive. Ocean Spray has made a name for itself by consistently finding new ways to market the fruit that they produce. See, Ocean Spray is an agricultural cooperative (I assumed they were owned by some big conglomerate or something), which means that they’re “owned by large group of cranberry growers throughout North America.” Most of the 600 members are cranberry growers, but there are also 50 Florida grapefruit growers. This means that Ocean Spray is all about finding new ways to increase demand for two tart, but delightful fruits. The company is based in Lakeville-Middleboro, MA, and they’ve been “the leading producer of canned and bottled juice drinks in North America” since 1981.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
analyst,
beverage,
business development,
farming,
food,
information technology,
logistics,
Massachusetts,
supply chain,
Wisconsin
Ten days ago we took a look at Rodale Institute, a non-profit that is “dedicated to pioneering organic farming through research and outreach.” We talked about how industrial farming has led to amazing boosts in productivity, but it’s also created a lot of problems. Marrone Bio Innovations is a Davis, CA based company that is taking a natural approach to one specific area of agriculture: pest control. They’re aiming to be “the world leader in natural product innovation” by making “natural, effective, safe, environmentally friendly products the mainstream future of pest management.” Usually you don’t hear organic and pesticide in the same sentence, but Marrone Bio Innovations’ business is predicated on bringing the two together.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
biology,
biotechnology,
botany,
California,
farming,
green,
organic,
pest control,
plant science,
research,
sales,
science
Last week I got an e-mail from a One Day, One Job reader who is just wrapping up a seasonal position and looking for her next gig. In doing so, she realized that other readers might be interested in her current position, so she wrote me to tell me about it. When I saw the name Rodale Institute in her e-mail, I swore to myself that I had already featured the organization, but it was actually a publishing company named Rodale that was started by the same person as the Institute and used to be financially linked to it as well. The Rodale Institute is a Kutztown, PA based non-profit organization that is “dedicated to pioneering organic farming through research and outreach.” They’ve been at it since 1947, and they’re going to keep “researching the best practices of organic agriculture and sharing [their] findings with farmers and scientists throughout the world” because they believe that eating organic is the healthiest option for people and for the Earth.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
advocacy,
agriculture,
all employers,
biology,
botany,
conservation,
data,
environmental,
farming,
green,
non-profit,
organic,
Pennsylvania,
research,
sustainability
Environmentalism and farming have an interesting relationship. Without a healthy environment, productive farming is nearly impossible; however, farming done wrong can be even worse for ecosystems than a smoke-spewing, toxic waste dumping factory. American Farmland Trust is a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, DC that works with communities and individuals to “to protect the best land, plan for growth with agriculture in mind and keep the land healthy.” As America forgets how reliant it is on farmland for our food, more and more farms are being developed and losing their food producing capacity. American Farmland Trust was founded in 1980, and since then they’ve saved “millions of acres of farmland from development and led the way for establishing sound environmental practices on millions more.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
advocacy,
agriculture,
all employers,
California,
Connecticut,
conservation,
development,
green,
Illinois,
Massachusetts,
New York,
non-profit,
Washington,
Washington DC
Agriculture has done a lot for us over the past few millennia. It’s by far the biggest development in the history of our species, as it’s pushed us forward into all kinds of other technological advances. Sadly, most of us have left agriculture behind—we couldn’t possibly feed ourselves without supermarkets and restaurants. That’s not really a problem, but it’s still a bit disheartening. Luckily, there are some non-profit organizations out there like Portland, ME based Cultivating Community that are using agriculture to enact positive change. Cultivating Community, for example, grows “tens of thousands of pounds of organic produce with and for people with low incomes” while using “community food work as a platform for youth empowerment programs.” It almost sounds too good to be true.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
community development,
food,
green,
Maine,
non-profit,
organic
It’s Thanksgiving! That means that we’re going to run with the theme and talk about a… chicken company? I know we’re all getting ready to chow down on some turkey, but first we should take a look at Pilgrim’s Pride, a Pittsburgh, TX based company that happens to be our country’s largest chicken producer. Much like how our tradition of Thanksgiving started with one small group and grew to be celebrated by hundreds of millions of people, Pilgrim’s Pride started as a single feed store and grew to be an $8.5 billion company. Unfortunately, Pilgrim’s Pride has hit some problems as of late, as they’re going through a bankruptcy. Still, they couldn’t have a more appropriate name (it came from their founder’s last name) for a Thanksgiving themed post, and they do still appear to be hiring; in fact, they even seem to have turned a profit in their most recent quarter.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
animals,
food,
holiday,
Texas
Have you ever heard of animal-assisted therapy? Wikipedia defines it as “a type of therapy that involves an animal with specific characteristics becoming a fundamental part of a person’s treatment.” This type of therapy can have all kinds of beneficial effects for a wide array of ailments, and it can be done with animals ranging from dogs to horses to elephants to lizards. Green Chimneys is a Brewster, NY based non-profit organization that “operates residential treatment for children and a special education school” with a large focus on animal-assisted therapy. They’re located on a 200-acre farm, and they’re constantly working towards “restoring possibilities and creating futures for children with emotional, behavioral, social and learning challenges.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
animals,
education,
New York,
non-profit,
outreach,
psychology,
social work,
teaching
The economy may suck, but you still need to eat. No matter what you’re eating (unless it’s dirt), it probably came from a farm. That means that farms won’t be going out of business anytime soon. I haven’t deeply investigated how a recession affects the agriculture industry, but it might be an area worth looking into even if you’re not an Aggie. One company that is hiring new grads in the agricultural sector is Rochester, NY based Agricultural Consulting Services. They seem like a relatively small company, and it’s hard to get a lot of details about who they are, but they’re a perfect example of a company that the large majority of job seekers would overlook. They offer a wide range of consulting services to farmers that include farm mapping, soil and plant analysis, fertilizer recommendations, integrated pest management, weed scouting and control, tillage recommendations, manure management, crop residue and cover crop management, laboratory services, environmental services and recommendations, and custom farm management software. I’m sure some of you are BS artists who specialize in “fertilizer recommendations” and “manure management,” but for the most part ACS is looking for new grads who have a background in Agriculture or Engineering.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
botany,
consulting,
engineering,
New York
Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for reading and helping to make the first year of One Day, One Job a great success. Last year we told you about jobs at Plimoth Plantation and Colonial Williamsburg, which are still a great option if you want to be reminded of Thanksgiving every day when you’re at work, but this year we’re going to take the easy way out and talk about turkey. I was first introduced to Jennie-O when I tried some of their turkey bacon. It’s good, if you haven’t had real bacon in a while. Since my Thanksgiving cooking philosophy is that bacon makes everything better (especially when it’s put on top of the turkey and doused in maple syrup, seriously, try it), I’ll let Jennie-O provide the turkey, but I’m getting the bacon somewhere else. In the three or four years that I’ve been familiar with the Jennie-O brand, I’ve noticed that they’ve revved up their branding efforts. You’ve probably seen some of their tv commercials, which are pretty funny, but you may have overlooked the fact that they’re working hard to expand recognition of their employment brand with college students.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
accounting,
agriculture,
all employers,
analyst,
engineering,
food,
holiday,
human resources,
information technology,
Minnesota,
product management,
quality assurance,
Wisconsin
Surprise, surprise. We’ve selected yet another one of the Wall Street Journal’s Best Small Workplaces to be featured on One Day, One Job. That’s three in a row for those of you who are counting. We can’t express enough how helpful lists like these can be to your job search. Almost as helpful as Rainforest Alliance is to saving the rainforest. They’re a non-profit organization that “works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior.” How do they do this? By working directly with farmers, workers, business leaders, NGO’s, governments, scientists and local communities to change the way that they do agriculture to make land use more socially and environmentally responsible while maintaining its economic viability.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
accounting,
administrative,
agriculture,
all employers,
Bolivia,
conservation,
Costa Rica,
finance,
forestry,
green,
guatemala,
international,
New York,
Nicaragua,
project management,
web development
I love the Wall Street Journal’s list of Top Small Workplaces 2008, but I wish it was longer. It always alerts me to companies that I never would have found no matter how hard I look every day. For instance, Decagon Devices is a “is a small manufacturer of biophysical instrumentation for food and consumer goods manufacturers, agronomic scientists and soils scientists.” I can’t imagine how I would have found them without the WSJ’s list. Decagon Devices does appear to hire new college graduates, but the jobs that they are hiring for have very specific academic requirements. Maybe in the future they’ll have some jobs that don’t require a scientific background, but until then, those of you who aren’t scientifically inclined should spend time that you would have spent researching today’s employer telling your friends about us. That’s all that you need to do to win the iPod Touch that we’re giving away in 4 days. So far the number of entries is pathetic, so take advantage of everyone else’s laziness and go with that iPod.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
botany,
food,
physics,
science,
Washington
Back in the earlier days of One Day, One Job, we used to occasionally feature companies that didn’t even have any entry level jobs posted. We always made sure to pick really cool companies, and then we would encourage you to do a little extra research and give cold calling a try. We’re going to bring back that practice for today, because we found a non-profit organization that many of you would be totally pumped to work for. It’s the World Cocoa Foundation, a non-profit that “encourages sustainable, responsible cocoa growing.” Investment bankers and consultants can drop the names of their employers all they want, but they’ll never top saying “Oh yeah, I work for the World Cocoa Foundation.” That’s an instant conversation starter.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
green,
non-profit,
Virginia,
Washington DC
Organic food is back. First it was for hippies. Then it was for wealthy foodies. Now it’s hitting the mainstream with many every day supermarkets having an organic aisle. In just a few short centuries, we’ve come full circle from all organic farming (there were no other options), to chemically dependent factory farming, back to organic. Organics may be a little more expensive, but there is a growing population that is willing to pay a premium for food that they consider healthier, more humane, and better tasting. Organic Valley is a cooperative between 1201 farmer-owners that allows small organic farmers to combine their growing power and sell products on a scale that is usually reserved for industrialized farming operations. Yes, it’s true. One Day, One Job finally has a post for the aggies out there (although Organic Valley also has plenty of opportunities for people with a non-agricultural background).
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
accounting,
agriculture,
all employers,
marketing,
organic,
Wisconsin
“I was young, and I thought I was tough and I knew it was beautiful and I was a little bit crazy but hadn’t noticed it yet.” Those are the words of Norman Maclean, from his collection of autobiographical fictional works entitled A River Runs Through It and Other Stories
(the “other stories” are “USFS 1919: The Ranger, the Cook, and a Hole in the Sky” and “Logging and Pimping and ‘Your Pal, Jim’”). If Maclean’s words speak to you, a career in the Forest Service might be just the right move for you after graduation.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
agriculture,
all employers,
conservation,
forestry,
government,
nationwide
