One Day, One Job » analytics

Wayfair

Willy Franzen — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:03:50 +0000

I’ve made a point of being more active in Cornell’s entrepreneurship community, so I like to think that I do a good job of keeping tabs on which other companies have been started by fellow alums. That’s why I was shocked to learn that the #2 online retailer of home furnishings and housewares was not only a company that I’d never heard of before, but a company founded by two Cornell grads. It’s called Wayfair–they’re based in Boston, MA and did $500 million in sales last year. The reason I hadn’t heard of them is that they were known as CSN Stores until last year (they were founded in 2002). CSN Stores was focused on building out 200+ product specific properties with generic domain names like Bedroomfurniture.com, Cookware.com, AirHockeyTables.com, and AllBarstools.com. Last year they decided to get serious about branding and started pulling all of their sites into the Wayfair brand.

Find Your Way

If you’d like to read a more in-depth version of the Wayfair story, check out this write up from GigaOm. It provides a lot of interesting details, but I actually think the Wayfair site is even better. Their About page is beautifully designed and packed with information, and the same can be said for the company’s Careers page. It’s also nice that they have a Campus Recruiting section that includes this video (you may need to click through to view it):

The campus recruiting page also includes four positions targeted towards 2012 grads: Business Analyst, Business Intelligence Analyst, Category Management Associate, and Software Engineer. Additionally, they have a ton of job postings for immediate hire:

Category Analyst / Entry Level Buyer (Sydney, Australia)
Jr. Designer/Web Production Artist
Customer Service Consultant (Sydney, Australia)
Bilingual Sales & Service Consultant (Galway, Ireland)
Customer Service Consultant (Ogden, UT)
Email Sales and Service Consultant (Ogden, UT)
Inbound Sales Consultant (Ogden, UT)
Sales Consultant (Ogden, UT)
Junior Web Operations Engineer
Software Engineer
Analyst, Email Marketing – Private Sale

There are a ton of great opportunities at Wayfair, which was named one of Glassdoor’s 2012 Best Places to Work, so browse through the postings and see if any of them are appropriate for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you purchased anything from Wayfair?

Vertive

Willy Franzen — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:54:07 +0000

Having written profiles on more than 1,500 companies, I start to see the same stories over and over again. Some business models are just better than others, and those are the ones that seem to keep popping up. One of the most effective models these days is based on providing a free online resource to help save people money and using affiliate programs to monetize the traffic. Sites like Slickdeals, Fatwallet, Savings.com, ShopAtHome.com, CouponCabin, and WhaleShark Media have all taken that approach and succeeded. Vertive is another. They’re based in Austin, TX, and they were founded “to provide search engine marketing consulting and affiliate marketing services.” They eventually started building their own web properties, and that turned out to be way more profitable than consulting. Vertive’s biggest property is Offers.com, but other properties include DailyDeals.com, CouponCodes.com, and Subscription.com.

Get an Offer from Vertive

Because their properties are separate brands, the Vertive.com website is solely dedicated to providing information about the company. Luckily, the information is by no means generic. Vertive actually offers a pretty good look at how their business works. The section title How We Do It is especially good at describing Vertives’ approach to performance marketing. They also provide some good information on what it’s like to work at Vertive. If you like what you see, then you’ll want to check out Vertive’s Jobs page. Right now they have a good number of opportunities that are suitable for new or recent grads including:

Even if Vertive isn’t a good fit for you, it’s worth spending the time to learn about their business. The performance marketing model is… performing extremely well lately. It’s time that you understand how it works.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Vertive?

Bluefin Labs

Willy Franzen — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:58:16 +0000

When I first learned about Google Trends, I was shocked to see how much Internet search traffic is driven by television. It’s pretty clear that browsing the web and watching the tube go hand in hand, which is great news for both marketers and tv content producers. Since its inception tv’s biggest problem has been that it is a one way medium with no real feedback loop. That’s changed, and Bluefin Labs “has accomplished a breakthrough in this field by applying cognitive science research combined with large scale computing techniques to successfully and automatically link TV to social media.” If all goes as planned, the Cambridge, MA will make traditional tv ratings obsolete. Who cares how many people are watching when you can know who’s watching and what they’re saying?

Hook a Bluefin

While there’s no doubt about what Bluefin Labs does, they don’t really emphasize their business on the website. You have to scroll down on their home page to learn that their “clients span TV networks, advertising agencies, and brand advertisers” and include AMC Networks, CBS, MTV Networks, Mars, PepsiCo, MediaCom, and lots more. The solution that they sell to these clients is called Bluefin Signals, and you can read about the science behind it here. If you want to get a very basic sense of the kind of data that Bluefin Labs offers, you can check out their sample dashboard. Last night’s hottest show was the Heat vs. Hawks game, which was closely followed up by Jersey Shore (I know which one I would have preferred to watch). I found out about Bluefin Labs from a reader who landed a job there recently. They don’t post specific positions on their Jobs page, but it mentions that they’re looking for people in the following areas:

Machine learning
Natural language processing
Computer vision
Social network analysis
Data analysis
Information visualization
Interaction design
Large scale data storage and analytics
Sales
Account management
Marketing
Product development

That covers a wide range of interests, so don’t be afraid to reach out to careers@bluefinlabs.com and apply for a position in one of those areas.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Bluefin Labs?

WhaleShark Media

Willy Franzen — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:54:41 +0000

You probably should have already purchased and given all your gifts for the holiday season, but if you haven’t, it’s a wonderful time to get deals. Retailers are eager to grab a few more dollars from all of the people returning ugly sweaters and books they’ll never read, so they’re offering deals. And if you’re looking for deals, you’ll likely end up on some WhaleShark Media properties. They’re an Austin, TX based company that runs “the world’s leading marketplace for coupons and deals.” Their sites include RetailMeNot.com (one of my favorites), Deals.com, CheapStingyBargains.com, CouponShare.com, and a lot of others. I’m not exactly sure what separates these sites from each other, but they seem to do really well in search rankings and that is why they reach more than 265 million visitors every year.

A Whale of a Deal

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not brand loyal to RetailMeNot.com, but whenever I search for coupon codes, it seems one of their pages pops up. I can’t tell you how much money I have saved by taking 15 seconds to search for a coupon code when I’m making a purchase. This behavior is getting more and more common, and that bodes well for WhaleShark Media’s business model. If you’d like to learn more about that model and see how a profitable coupon business is built, check out WhaleShark Media’s Jobs page. Right now there are a number of opportunities or new and recent grads including:

Part-time Business Intelligence Analyst
Associate Software Engineer
Merchandiser – Deals2Buy.com
Accounts Coordinator
UX Designer
Visual Designer

There are a number of other interesting looking positions, but they all require more experience, so take a look at these and see if any of them make sense.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use coupons?

University of Chicago

Willy Franzen — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:51:58 +0000

This is a sponsored post for the University of Chicago.

Even though I’m five years out of college, I still miss it. As much as I know many of you would like to stay (or go back), it’s time to get a job and leave the world of academia. Or is it? I’ve recently heard from a number of readers who have found a way to have their cake and eat it too. Some have landed jobs at their alma maters, while others have gone to work for other colleges and universities. If you think that Chicago would be a cool place to live (it is!), then you have to consider the University of Chicago.

The University of Chicago was founded by John D. Rockefeller, and it first offered classes in 1892. They currently serve 5,134 undegraduate students and 10,492 graduate, professional, and other students with a full-time faculty of 2,188. These three groups along with the more than 150,000 worldwide alumni form “a community of creative, demanding, inspired scholars who debate and collaborate to enrich human life through their work.” If you want more info on what the University of Chicago is all about, check out their About page.

Right now, the University of Chicago’s Alumni Relations & Development Division is working with us to fill 5 positions that they think are well suited for the One Day One Job audience. These positions include:

These are great opportunities to start your career while still staying close to the college atmosphere. Give the positions a look, and see if any of them interest you. If you’re interested in other positions at the University of Chicago, be sure to take a look at their Jobs page.

Spartz Media

Willy Franzen — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:28:29 +0000

Life isn’t nearly as exciting with no new Harry Potter books or movies coming out. I’m pretty bummed about it, but probably not nearly as bummed as the people who hang out on MuggleNet. In case you’ve never heard of it, MuggleNet is “the world’s #1 Harry Potter site.” It was started by Emerson Spartz when he was 12 years old, and it quickly started generating a ton of traffic. And with that traffic came some serious revenue opportunities. As MuggleNet turned into a real business, Emerson rolled it into a company called Spartz Media and started launching new entertainment focused sites. Some of the bigger names include OMG Facts, Gives Me Hope, and SmartphOWNED. Spartz Media is located in Chicago, IL (about 3 blocks from me), and they’re reaching more than 8.5 million people every month through their web properties. They’ve been at it since 2009, though MuggleNet has actually been around since 1999.

OMG Jobs

I actually learned about Spartz Media from a guy I occasionally play volleyball with who works there (though I’d heard of MuggleNet before that). He made it sound like a pretty cool place to work, and how can it not be when your business is all about making websites that entertain people? You can check out all of Spartz Media’s brand here, just make sure that you don’t end up wasting a few hours. What’s cool about Spartz Media is that it’s not all fun and games–there’s a science to what they do. Whether you want to be part of the fun, the science, or both, you should take a look at Spartz Media’s jobs. Right now they’re looking for a Business Analyst and a PHP Developer, and if you look at their Team page you’ll see that there may be other potential opportunities in Design, Web Development, Project Management, Editorial, Community Management, Business Intelligence, Analytics, and more. If you do end up applying, be sure to let them know that we sent you (and if you want an intro to my fried, just e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com). It’s a really young company, so I bet it’s a great place for new grads.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Spartz Media’s sites is your favorite?

Octopart

Willy Franzen — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 16:06:23 +0000

Ever since I was a kid I’ve liked building stuff. That’s why there’s a part of me that wishes that I had majored in Engineering. I’m ok with building non-physical things like a community, a website, and a business, but I still have an urge to actually use my hands to make something. There are a lot of people with that same urge, and luckily many of them are actually building stuff in their jobs or on their own. Octopart is a New York, NY based company that helps these people find the parts that they need to build what they’re building. In other words, Octopart has developed “search technology to help engineers and scientists build the next generation of electronic devices.”

Are You the Part Octopart Needs?

Most of us have become accustomed to finding what we want, whether it’s information or a product, by searching online. Surprisingly, many of the parts that are used in the devices that power our ability to search the Internet are extremely hard to track down. And if you want to compare prices and availability, it’s even harder. That’s why two Physics grad students started Octopart to help “you compare the prices and availability of electronic parts across different distributors.” Whether you need a solid state relay or a red LED, they’ll help you comparison shop as if you were buying something a little more common like a television or a flight. Octopart is still a very small company, but their Jobs page shows that they have three positions open. They’re hiring a Frontend Software Engineer, an Analytics Software Engineer, and their first person in Business Operations (Business Development, Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, and more). These look like awesome jobs, and according to the posting, every new hire gets a pony.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you build stuff?

Prophet

Willy Franzen — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 11:09:15 +0000

One of my favorite sources for company ideas is e-mailing people who unsubscribe from this mailing list saying they found a job or internship. I figure if somebody is hiring them, then there’s a good chance that that same somebody might hire other readers. A while back a reader told me that he landed one of a few coveted internships at Prophet. I’d never heard of Prophet before, but when I checked them out I saw that they’re “a strategic brand and marketing consultancy with offices around the globe.” Apparently, they’re headquartered in San Francisco, CA, but also have locations in Chicago, IL; New York, NY; and Richmond, VA along with a number of international offices. What I find interesting about Prophet is that they seem to lean more towards a management consulting model in how they do business, even though their focus is on areas including Brand, Marketing, Innovation, Design, and Insights & Analytics.

Make a Prophet

To get a better sense of what Prophet does, you should definitely dig into their Client List and Project Portfolio. They work with huge names like Sony, GE, Harrah’s, Visa, Cartier, United, GM, BMW, and Kellogg’s. It’s a big deal when companies like those entrust their brand identity to an outside firm. Prophet does a really great job with their website, so even though “strategic brand and marketing consultancy” can mean a lot of things, you should be able to get a really good idea of what they do and who they are by spending some time on their site. (You definitely want to look at their sections on Brand, Marketing, Innovation, Design, and Insight & Analytics.) After you’ve spent some time digging into what Prophet does, you can head over to their Careers page. Their entry level position is Associate. It looks really interesting, and I’ll bet it’s super competitive. They don’t mention needs in specific offices, but I’ll guess that they’ll find a place for you if you’re a great fit.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Prophet?

ngmoco

Willy Franzen — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:31:56 +0000

While I’m not a serious gamer, I definitely enjoy playing casual games on my iPhone and iPad. Although the App Store does offer recommendations, I find that it’s still hard to find good games. Instead I rely on getting recommendations from people I know–namely my girlfriend’s 10 year old sister. I watch what she’s playing, and if it looks fun, I buy the app. Then I can try to top her score and talk smack even though I can’t come close. Games are inherently social (even though gaming can become super anti-social), so it’s no surprise that gaming companies are bringing mobile and social gaming together. One of the big players in the industry is ngmoco. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and their name is pronounced “en-gee mo-ko” (apparently it’s an acronym for Next Generation Mobile Company). ngmoco is all about building a social entertainment company in a time when “there will be more iOS/Android devices shipped than PCs/notebooks.” It makes sense.

Be a Mofo!

I’ve heard of companies calling their employees ninjas, rockstars, geniuses, and a bunch of other endearing terms. Until I came across ngmoco, I’d never heard the term “mofo” used for an employee (at least one that was still employed by the company). But that’s exactly what ngmoco will call you if you work for them. There’s an explanation here, and I think you’ll like what they have to say. Now, ngmoco has an amazing Careers site, but before you jump into that, you should probably get familiar with their games and read through their blog. Then you can visit their Careers page and see how awesome they make working for them look. You can browse through all of the positions here, and you should not that there are plenty of jobs for both techies and non-techies. Here’s what seems most appropriate for new grads:

There appear to be some amazing opportunities at ngmoco, so you better act on them now. Otherwise, you’ll never be a mofo.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What games do you play?

RadiumOne

Willy Franzen — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:36:37 +0000

In case you haven’t heard, we’re hiring! I’m looking for help in Writing/Editorial/Content Development, Marketing/Outreach/SEO, and Web Design/Development/User Experience. You can learn more here.

Sometimes when I’m watching television I get irritated by how stupid the ads are. Then I realize that the ads are targeted to the show, and it’s my fault for watching something idiotic. Ad targeting is getting better and better as advertisers gather more and more data on us, and this presents a great opportunity for us to learn about ourselves by observing which ads are targeted to us. The obvious next step in advertising is social, and RadiumOne is a San Francisco, CA based company that “is the first online ad network to leverage social data on the Web.” I know it’s a little creepy, but it’s the future. Brands want to be able to “identify users who are most likely to interact with their ads,” and that’s exactly the service that RadiumOne provides. I just hope the ads they serve me don’t tell me that I don’t have any friends.

A Social Target

Despite the fact that RadiumOne claims to be the first at what they’re doing, I’m sure you’ve heard the term social advertising before. It’s not really a new idea, but it’s an idea that is now ready for the mainstream. So what makes RadiumOne stand out? Results.(What else matters?) This TechCrunch article discusses how RadiumOne has significantly increased advertising ROI for clients. RadiumOne is able to do this because they have great data source. You may assume that they’re partnered with Facebook, but they actually gather data from partners like “niche social networks, blogs, URL shorteners, and media-sharing sites.” RadiumOne has built an entire social ad network parallel to traditional online ad network–they work with different publishers, they use different data, and they deliver different ads. It seems to be working for everyone. If you’re excited about the future of social advertising, check out RadiumOne’s Jobs page. They have a number of positions suitable for new grads including Technical Operations Analyst, Display Optimization Analyst, and Media – Account Manager. There are also a few positions that don’t have job descriptions, so you may want to look at those too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of what RadiumOne is doing?

Opera Solutions

Willy Franzen — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:34:56 +0000

I guess I could have done today’s post about how we’re hiring, but I already wrote a post about that on our blog. So today we’re going to talk about something completely different. Big Data Analytics. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Opera Solutions is a company that “combines human expertise with advanced capabilities in analytics, technology and data management to offer Big Data Analytics as an ongoing service to leading organizations in industry and government.” They’re located in New York, NY; Jersey City, NJ; San Diego, CA; London, UK; Paris, France; New Delhi, India; and Shanghai, China. I know it’s kind of hard to get a grasp on the kind of problems that Opera Solutions solves, but luckily they’ve provided an awesome example. They put together a team to work on the Netflix Prize, a contest that offered a $1 million prize for a solution that would “substantially improve the accuracy of predictions about how much someone is going to enjoy a movie based on their movie preferences.” Opera Solutions’ team ended up tying for first, but just barely missed out on winning the prize.

Join the Opera

Not a lot of what Opera Solutions does is as fun as improving movie recommendations, but the problems that they work on are often extremely important. They focus on a number of specific Solution Areas including Marketing Services, Credit and Risk Services, Supply Chain Services, Global Markets Analytics, Data Transformation Services, and Custom Analytics. Their work even touches crucial areas like Security and Defense. I was introduced to Opera Solutions by a reader named Katharine Bierce. She landed a job with them a while back, and she offered to make herself available via e-mail to anyone who is interested in working at Opera Solutions. You can reach her at: kbierce@operasolutions.com. Before you ping her, you should definitely check out their Careers page, Roles, and Current Opportunities. None of the current opportunities look quite right for a new grad, but they do offer entry level roles like Business Analyst and Analytics Specialist. There are also roles for Master’s and Ph.D. level grads. Anyway, if you’re interested, your best bet is probably to e-mail Katharine and have her give you the inside scoop.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Opera Solutions?

MailChimp

Willy Franzen — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 16:19:40 +0000

A few weeks ago in my post on SailThru, I urged you to consider e-mail marketing as a career option. It’s a field that provides an immense amount of value to businesses, yet it gets far too little attention–especially from college students and grads. One of the keys to doing well with e-mail marketing is finding great tools to use. I use Aweber to deliver our daily e-mails, but I’m constantly tempted to switch over to MailChimp. They’re an Atlanta, GA company that is growing at an insane rate. They offer a platform for e-mail marketing that just keeps on getting better for a user base that is climbing towards 1 million. MailChimp’s attention to design and detail has made them a standout in a space that is getting more and more crowded. Every day I seem to notice that another e-mail newsletter that I’m subscribed to has moved over to MailChimp.

Start Chimping Around

One of the best ways to understand how MailChimp serves their clients is to read through some of their Customer Stories. You’ll learn all about what MailChimp offers and how companies are using these services to build better businesses. You can even set up a free MailChimp account and use it to start learning a little bit about e-mail marketing. MailChimp is so product-focused that learning about their product is the best way to learn about their company–though they do seem to have a pretty sweet culture too (you can just feel it on their website). Additionally, MailChimp has one of, if not the best Jobs page that I’ve ever seen. It’s simple, clear, and beautiful. It also has a bunch of jobs that seem perfect for new or recent grads including Compliance Geek, Tech-support Geek, Multilingual Tech-support Geeks (Spanish, French, Portuguese, German or Dutch), Infrastructure Engineer, PHP Developer, IT Human, Zookeeper (Office Manager), and Web Analyst. These look like awesome jobs, so check them out–even if it’s just so that you can experience a Jobs page that isn’t completely frustrating to use.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you love MailChimp’s logo?

Yammer

Willy Franzen — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:40:57 +0000

Communication in the workplace can be a major hassle, especially considering the fact that a lot of people who work together are doing so from different locations these days. E-mail was an amazing step forward, but it still has a ton of flaws. (I’m dying for an e-mail client that is built for how I think and work–nothing comes close.) Now that I’m starting to consider hiring interns or part-timers (more on that soon!), I need to come up with a way to communicate with them and manage projects. Social networks like Twitter and Facebook are on to something with their interfaces, but they are most certainly not for communicating about work. I’ve played around with the the WordPress P2 Theme, which turns blogging software into something Twitter-like, but I’m not completely sold on it. I’ve also heard some good things about San Francisco, CA based Yammer, which seems to be a pretty sweet solution. Yammer enables “people to create private enterprise social networks.” It’s more collaborative than e-mail, and it allows you to open up conversations to a wider audience without annoying them.

Communicate Your Skills

Most major companies have Intranets. They’re moderately useful, but they are often completely lifeless. Yammer brings life to internal networks. They’re already working with major clients like Deloitte, Groupon, PayPal, and lots of other big names. The product looks like it’s super simple to use, and it has a ton of useful features. What may be the coolest thing about Yammer is that you only need an e-mail address to set up your own network. I put in my e-mail, and in a matter of a few seconds I had my own Yammer network set up (but nobody to Yammer with). There’s still a lot of progress to be made in the area of communication in the workplace, but Yammer has taken some major leaps. If you like what they’re doing, take a look at their Jobs page. They have great some great opportunities for new grads including:

Implementation Engineer (San Francisco, CA)
Implementation Engineer (United Kingdom)
Android Developer (San Francisco, CA)
Data/Analytics Engineer (San Francisco, CA)
iPhone Developer (San Francisco, CA)
Tools Engineer (San Francisco, CA)
Web Software Engineer (San Francisco, CA)
Technical Recruiter (San Francisco, CA)
IT and Corporate Applications Support Engineer (San Francisco, CA)
Associate Product Manager (San Francisco, CA)
Associate Product Marketing Manager (San Francisco, CA)
Quantitative Product Analyst (San Francisco, CA)
UX/Information Architect (San Francisco, CA)
Enterprise Business Representative (San Francisco, CA)
International Enterprise Business Representative – Spanish or Korean Language (San Francisco, CA)
Technical Support Representative (San Francisco, CA)

While most of the options are tech oriented, there are a few at Yammer for the not-so-technical. They’re doing some really cool stuff, so give them a nice long look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used Yammer?

BankSimple

Willy Franzen — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 16:11:29 +0000

Samaritan’s Purse is this week’s sponsor. They’re an international aid and development organization that has a bunch of jobs for new and recent grads.

When I was job searching after graduating from college, one of my big projects was getting my finances in order. I opened accounts, closed accounts, cashed out savings bonds, started investing, and made sure that I knew where all my money was. I also started using Mint to track everything. It worked well until my bank updated their online banking software and killed Mint integration. It eventually got fixed, but there was no way to merge my old Mint data with my new Mint data (I essentially had to set up another bank account in Mint). This was pretty minor in terms of banking nightmares, but it was still a huge pain. Otherwise, I’m happy enough with my current bank, but I’d love to have a bank that is focused on delivering a superb online experience. BankSimple (also known as the Simple Finance Technology Corp.) wants to be that bank. They’re based in New York, NY and they’re all about customer service and user experience.

WorkSimple

Some people may be skeptical about a startup bank, but the 50,000+ people on BankSimple’s wait list likely realize that it can’t get much worse than all of the hassles, fees, and rudeness that you get from today’s big banks. It’s unbelievable that we actually trust some of these companies with our money. BankSimple is starting from scratch, so they fully intend to earn their customer’s trust by first launching an amazing product and then living up to their promises of simple banking and stellar service. You can learn more about what they’re promising on BankSimple’s Home page–they pretty much put all of their information on there. BankSimple may not have launched yet, but they have rolled out bank cards to some of their employees. Hopefully this is the start of some big changes in the banking industry.

I’ve been watching BankSimple’s Jobs page for a while, and it seems that they’re starting to pick up steam in terms of hiring. They have a few new positions posted: Analytics Engineer (Brooklyn, NY), Backend Engineer (Portland, OR), and Support Systems Engineer (Brooklyn, NY). None of these are really entry level, but there is a paid Writing position that they call an internship, but that could be a good way to get your foot in the door. Additionally, they introduced a class of interns, despite the fact that I never saw the internships posted. That means that you should definitely reach out to them about potential jobs, even if nothing listed matches up with your qualifications.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Will you try BankSimple?

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?

Digital Sandbox

Willy Franzen — Wed, 18 May 2011 17:07:51 +0000

If you watch the news, it’s easy to believe that we’re all constantly at great risk of dying in some sort of disaster. Yes, there are a lot of threats out there, but most of us shouldn’t waste a lot of time worrying about them. There are, however, some people whose job it is to worry about and prepare for the worst. Public Safety Risk Management is a seemingly impossible task, but someone has to do it. Our local, state, and federal governments need to be prepared to deal with all kinds of things–some you could never even dream of if you spent your whole life trying. Digital Sandbox is a McLean, VA based company that helps these professionals by providing “them with the tools they need to mitigate the catastrophic and disruptive threats that can impact them.” Most of these tools are in the form of software, and they are based on strategies and “analytical frameworks essential to effective management, analysis, and assessment of terrorism, natural hazard, and technological accident risk.”

Step into the Sandbox

I’m clearly not the person to analyze how effective Digital Sandbox’s software solutions are, but their client list certainly indicates that they’re a leader in the industry. They have worked with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the States of North Carolina, New Jersey, Maryland, Maine, and the District of Columbia; multiple directorates and agencies within the Department of Homeland Security, the Departments of Justice and Defense, and members of the Intelligence Community. Digital Sandbox’s software is cloud-based, and it is accessible from mobile devices like the iPhone and iPad (according to the images on the company’s site). To get a better feel for exactly what the software does, you should take a look at Digital Sandbox’s Products and Solutions. If you’re intrigued by what you see, check out Digital Sandbox’s Jobs page. Right now they have a Risk Analyst I position open that looks like a great opportunity for a new or recent grad.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Digital Sandbox?

33Across

Willy Franzen — Tue, 03 May 2011 16:13:26 +0000

One of my favorite daily activities during college was doing the crossword puzzle in The Cornell Daily Sun. It was a nice diversion during lunch (or an especially boring class). One of the best things that you can do while working on a crossword puzzle is to get one of the large horizontal words in the middle of the puzzle. These words are often 32 or 33 across, which is where 33Across got their name. They’re a company that “uses social graph data to dramatically improve online marketing” and “unlock the puzzle of social connections.” In other words, they have built a platform that targets advertising to people whose online connections already use the products or services that are being advertised. 33Across is based in New York, NY, and they have another major office in Sunnyvale, CA. Social advertising really is a lot like 33 across on a crossword puzzle–it’s really tough to solve, but when you do it opens a world of opportunities.

Here’s a Clue

Word of mouth marketing has always been the holy grail of marketers. If you can get people to tell their friends about your product or service, you win. It seems like every “social advertising” company is trying to figure out how to influence and promote more word of mouth. 33Across has taken a different approach to merging advertising with the data in social graphs. They do a great job of explaining how their “SocialDNA” Platform works on their website, so here’s what they have to say:

In order to deliver relevant ads, we have developed technology which tries to predict what consumers might be interested in based on anonymous data collected from various web sites. Specifically, our technology focuses on social interaction data. How does this work? One example is that when two people post a comment on the same photo on a social network site, our technology might assume that these people are part of the same social circle, and therefore may have similar interests. Then, if one of those people clicks on an ad for running shoes (for example), our technology might deliver the same ad to the other person.

Even though it all feels a little creepy, I love how the science of online advertising is advancing these days. If I’m going to have to look at ads, they might as well be relevant to me. If you’re good at solving crosswords and interested in the connection between advertising and technology, then you should check out jobs at 33Across. They have a couple of options for new or recent grads right now including Campaign Analyst (New York, NY) and Assistant Operations Analyst (New York, NY). And for those with a little more experience, they’re also looking for a Junior Financial Analyst (New York, NY) and R&D Engineer/Scientist (Sunnyvale, CA). 33Across looks like a really cool company, so read up on them and see if they’re a place you might wan to start your career.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you do crosswords?

OPOWER

Willy Franzen — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:09:39 +0000

SinglePlatform is our sponsor this week. They’re looking to hire new grads from all majors as Outside Sales Consultants in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, DC. They’re also building an Inside Sales team out of their New York City headquarters.

Have you ever heard of a company or industry that wants you to use less of their product? Doesn’t really make sense, does it? It does if you’re in the power industry, at least to some extent. Some of the biggest proponents of energy efficiency are the utilities themselves. The reason for this is decoupling, or the “disassociation of a utility’s profits from its sales of the energy commodity.” It’s a tactic used by many states to create positive incentives for energy companies to be more green. Still, promoting energy efficiency to consumers is no easy task. That’s where OPOWER comes in. They’re based in Washington, DC and San Francisco, CA, and they use “cutting edge behavioral science and patent-pending data analytics” to enable “utilities to connect with their customers in a highly targeted fashion, motivating reductions in energy use, increased program participation and overall customer satisfaction.” It’s all about helping consumers make better informed decisions (which usually are also better decisions for the environment).

You Got the OPOWER

If I remember correctly, I had a friend in college whose roommates were some seriously nerdy Electrical Engineers. They spent an entire day using voltmeters (or something similar) to figure out the average daily energy consumption of each roommate. They then prorated the monthly electric bill based on usage. OPOWER takes a way cooler approach to doing something similar. You can get a feel for exactly how they do it by taking a look at their Approach, Products, and Results. Because they work directly with utilities, OPOWER is able to get into the homes of millions of consumers through monthly bills. It’s a pretty cool model, and it seems to be working. If you’re excited about what OPOWER is doing, then you need to check out their Careers page at OPOWERJobs.com. They don’t seem big on entry level positions (they like work experience), but there are a few jobs that you should at least take a look at. The Virginia/DC positions include Software Support Engineer, Consumer Marketing Coordinator, Quantitative Analyst, Software Engineer in Test, Policy Analyst, Associate Product Manager, User Experience Prototyper, and Proposal Writer. There are also some Software Engineerings in San Francisco. Take a look at all the jobs, and see if you can match up with the qualifications.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Does your utility work with OPOWER?

Jawbone

Willy Franzen — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:35:27 +0000

When the phone was relegated to only the home and office (and phone booths), it wasn’t a big deal to hold it against your head. If you really used the phone a lot, you might get a headset or one of those rubber things that makes it easier to hold the phone between your ear and shoulder. Now that we take our phones everywhere, holding your phone becomes a big pain in the butt (or hand). It makes your hand cold in winter, and it’s a risk while driving. I’m completely happy with my iPhone headphones, but some people just can’t be tied down like that. That’s why Jawbone has been so successful. They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that creates “products and services for the mobile lifestyle unparalleled in their innovation, ease-of-use and sophistication of design.” They’re best know for their bluetooth headsets, but they also make wireless speakers/speakerphones and develop some mobile apps.

Jawing for a Job

Bluetooth headsets are an awesome way to make yourself look dorky. Most manufacturers seem to put function over form. Not Jawbone. They’ve not only developed a line of products that has an amazing set of features like noise canceling and HD audio, but they’ve also made the bluetooth headset cool. There’s a ton of attention to detail in the design of Jawbone products, and this has allowed them to stand out as a luxury product in a market that is largely commoditized. Jawbone doesn’t offer much information about themselves on their About page, but they do seem to have a ton of cool jobs on their Careers page. Here are some that seem suitable for a new or recent grad: Mobile Application Developer, Web Developer, Interaction Designer, Quantitative Consumer/Market Insights Researcher, User Interface Designer, Business Planner – Sales Support, Videographer, Receptionist, and Scheduling Assistant. There are a lot really cool sounding jobs that require more experience, so it’s probably worth doing what it takes to get your foot in the door.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use a Jawbone?

Bump Technologies

Willy Franzen — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:54:20 +0000

I’m on my way to Ithaca, NY today for the Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration (e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com if you’re a Cornell student who wants to meet up). I’ve never been before, but I’m really excited to get more involved with my alma mater’s entrepreneurship community. I’m looking forward to meeting new people and catching up with old friends, and if all goes as planned I’ll be exchanging a lot of contact information with people. This usually means exchanging business cards, which inevitably end up in a pile in my apartment. There’s a much better way to swap contact info, and I even have the app loaded on my iPhone (though I must admit that I rarely use it). It’s called Bump and it’s produced by Bump Technologies in Mountain View, CA. Their app is as simple as their name–all you have to do is open the app, bump your phones (softly so as not to damage them), and you’ll have traded info.

Bump Bump Bump

I really like Bump’s story. As they put it, there’s “a major problem with mobile phones: as powerful as they have become, they are still pretty useless for interacting in the real world, with real people, places, and things.” They set out to change that, and they have. I’m still not quite clear on what Bump’s business model is, but they’ve already built a product that millions of people use, and that’s a great start. Judging from the postings on their Jobs page, Bump is still extremely focused on improving their product. There aren’t really any businessy positions, but there are plenty of techie ones. These include Interaction Designer, Visual Designer, Algorithms Engineer, Android Developer, BlackBerry Developer, iOS Expert, Mobile Web Developer, Growth Analytics Engineer, and User Engagement Hacker. Bump looks like an amazing place to work, so be sure to check out all of their positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used Bump?

GroupMe

Willy Franzen — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:51:36 +0000

I know it’s hard to believe right now, but it actually gets warm in Chicago sometimes. And during those warm months I try to play as much beach volleyball as I possibly can. There’s a group of guys that I often play with, and we organize via text message. The problem is that one guy controls the text list, and it’s always unclear how many people are going to show up. I actually think that e-mail is a much better alternative, but for some reason people love SMS, which is a terrible platform for group messaging. At least it was. GroupMe is a New York, NY based startup that “lets you effortlessly group text with the people in your life that are important to you.” It’s a free service that works on any phone (ok probably not a rotary phone).

Join the Group

Mass texting just doesn’t work well. Here’s a perfect example. You get a “Happy Thanksgiving” text from a not-so-close friend. You send a thoughtful reply, and then realize that the person just mass texted his or her entire address book. Now you feel stupid. GroupMe won’t stop that, but it brings more intimacy to the text message—you know who’s sending and who’s receiving. If texts aren’t doing the job, you can hit a button and initiate a conference call with the group. GroupMe’s business model seems a bit unclear right now, but it sounds like they plan on making money through some sort of sponsorship/advertising model. I could also see their offering premium paid services—for businesses perhaps. Still, GroupMe is one of the hottest startups in New York City right now, which is why you might want to consider working for them. Their Jobs page has four positions posted right now: Analytics Engineer, Android Developer, Application Engineer, and Interaction Designer. And if none of those sound good to you, then you can tell them about how you think you’d fit in. Just make sure you’ve started using GroupMe before you apply.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used GroupMe?

FactSet Research Systems

Willy Franzen — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 16:49:22 +0000

The world of high finance is mind-bending. Billions and even trillions of dollars are being exchanged, yet no paper money is actually changing hands. It gets even crazier when you realize that real people are behind all of these transactions. They’re constantly making decisions that affect more money than you’ll probably accrue in your lifetime—and it’s not even their money (some of it might even be yours). When it comes to finance, research is crucial to sound decision making, and as technology has evolved, research has become more and more plentiful. FactSet Research Systems is a Norwalk, CT based company that provides investment analytics tools. As they put it, “FactSet enhances productivity of the global investment professional by providing superior workflow solutions.” It does this by consolidating “all the tools you need to monitor global markets, public and private companies, and equity and fixed income portfolios in a single, intuitive interface.”

Get Your FactSet

FactSet puts most of their emphasis on two business areas: Consulting and Engineering. The former is all about providing excellent service to their clients, while the latter is directed towards constantly innovating and improving their product line. What makes FactSet’s offering stand out is that they combine “hundreds of databases from industry-leading suppliers and clients’ own proprietary data into a single, powerful information system.” This means that clients can use FactSet as “a one-stop source for financial information.” In addition to Consulting and Engineering, FactSet’s other departments include Sales, Product Development, Content Collection, Corporate Communications, Finance, Human Resources, Legal, and Training. However, FactSet seems to focus their College Recruiting on Consulting and Engineering (you can check out some Employee profiles here). They’re right in the thick of their on-campus schedule, so you should try to find them at your school if they’re visiting. If not, you may want to try to find a way to reach out to them (I couldn’t find an e-mail address except for internships@factset.com) or just apply through their Job Search function (there are nearly 100 jobs posted). Beyond their headquarters in Norwalk, CT, FactSet also has offices in Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; New York, NY; Newark, NJ; San Mateo, CA; Tuscaloosa, AL; and Austin, TX.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about FactSet?

Dropbox

Willy Franzen — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:00:41 +0000

Want to try Dropbox? You get 2 GB for free plus another 500 MB if you sign up with this link.

I’m headed back to Connecticut this morning to be with my family for Thanksgiving. One of my pre-travel routines is to backup my laptop. I plug it in to the external hard drive, and let Apple’s Time Machine go to work. It’s pretty simple, but it feels a little bit outdated. I know that I can get a Time Capsule and automatically backup over WiFi, but what I really want to do is have a backup “in the cloud” that I can access from anywhere. That way if my desk catches on fire and both my laptop and external hard drive get toasted, I still all have all of my important files. I’m still waiting for Apple to offer a seamless solution, but until then I’ve decided (as of last night) to use Dropbox. So far I’m pretty impressed with the offering of the San Francisco, CA based company. They offer extremely affordable, easy to use technology that can sync your files across computers while also making it super easy to share files with people.

Put Your Résumé in Their Dropbox

Cloud storage is a rapidly growing industry, but the problem for most people is that it’s complicated. In fact, I’d bet most people don’t even know what “in the cloud” means (it means on remote servers instead of on your hard drive). Dropbox has found success by making the cloud trivial to use for just about anyone. You can sync your files automatically, and you can access them from anywhere. How sweet is that? If you love what Dropbox is doing, then you should check out their Jobs page. Right now they have quite a few jobs posted, and most of them require some pretty strong technical skills. These include API Engineer, Backend Engineer, Core Sync Engineer, Desktop GUI Engineer, Android Engineer, Growth Engineer, Quality Assurance Lead, and Web Engineer. And for the non-techies, there’s a sole posting right now: Office Administrative Assistant. But maybe they’ll have other opportunities available if you reach out to them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Dropbox?

Prometheus Research

Willy Franzen — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:46:50 +0000

A while back a friend from high school e-mailed me to tell me that she’s been following the site and that I should feature her employer. She claimed that it’s not just because they give her a new MacBook Pro every three years, but that has to be at least part of it. Since she loves her job, and she’s someone that I trust, we’re going to take a look at Prometheus Research today. They’re a New Haven, CT based company, and they develop “low-cost, easy-to-use, web-based data access integration tools” while also “offering research informatics services.” Prometheus Research’s clients are mainly “biomedical and scientific researchers, research institutions, and research funding organizations,” which means that they’re enabling really smart people to stay focused on what they do best—science—instead of wasting time with the complexities of other database systems.

Prometheus Is a Titan

What Prometheus Research is known best for is their HTSQL software. HTTP is the language that most of the web is run on—you use it every day. SQL is a database language, and it runs the back end of millions of websites—including this one. Prometheus Research’s HTSQL translates HTTP to SQL, so that researchers can easily manage their databases with simple web-based tools. The goal is to provide “quick collaboration, fast and agile information management, and secure access to their rich scientific data,” and that’s exactly what Prometheus Research has been doing for the last ten years. A big part of their continued success relies on having great people, which is why they offer cool jobs and great benefits. My friend came in as a Business Analyst right out of college, and that seems to be the best fit for recent grads who don’t have a significant technical background. It’s the job for “nerds who can talk to people.” Additionally, Prometheus Research has positions like PostgreSQL/Python Developer, QA and Documentation Automation Developer, and UI Developer which may appeal to those of you with a strong technical background. You can find all of the information on these jobs on Prometheus Research’s Careers page, so check it out and get on your way to getting a brand new MacBook Pro. You can thank me later.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Prometheus Research?

Rise Interactive

Willy Franzen — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 16:42:04 +0000

One of the fun things about researching companies every day is that sometimes I get to learn more about my neighbors. If I hadn’t been cruising through the Inc 500, I probably never would have taken a second look at the building just a block from me, which I can see right now out my office window. However, it happens to house Rise Interactive, a Chicago, IL based “full-service Internet marketing company” that services “companies of all sizes, from startups to the Fortune 500.” They’ve seen 658% growth over the past three, and that led them to $2.6 million in annual revenue last year. Their site isn’t as flashy as many of the interactive agencies that we’ve featured in the past, but that makes sense when you look at the services that they offer—they seem much more focused on results-based areas like SEO, Paid Search, Display Advertising, and Affiliate Marketing.

When Do You Rise?

I’m really interested by the kind of work Rise Interactive does because a lot of it overlaps with what I do to run my sites. If you take a look at Rise Interactive’s Client List, you’ll see that they work with a mix of familiar names and more recent upstarts. If you want to dig even deeper, you can read their Client Testimonials and take a look at their Client Case Studies. If you have never considered a career in online marketing before, it’s definitely worth thinking about—especially because people from a variety of academic backgrounds can thrive in the industry. If you want to learn a little more, you can take a look at the Online Marketing Resources that Rise Interactive provides, then you can check out their Job page or their specific Jobs page for new grads. You can apply for a specific position like Internet Marketing Consultant, or you can just apply generally.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you know who your neighbors are? Might they be hiring?

Neutron Interactive

Willy Franzen — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:51:46 +0000

Believe it or not, we’ve actually covered a fair number of entry level employers in Utah, but I think today’s company might have the most personality of them so far. Neutron Interactive is a Salt Lake City based interactive agency that is taking online business to the next level. Neutron Interactive is an Inc 500 company that has grown 812% over the past three years. Their annual revenue was $9.5 million last year, so they’re quite big when compared to many of the other interactive agencies that also made the list.

What Do You Know About Neutrons?

Unfortunately, Neutron Interactive doesn’t seem to show off any of their work on their website, but they do have a list of things that they do “ridiculously well,” which include: Affiliate Marketing, Banner/Media Marketing, Social Media, Creative, Email Marketing, Recruitment Marketing, Internet Marketing, Interactive PR, Leads & Lead Scoring, PPC Management, Product Development, Proprietary Technology, Search Engine Optimization, Web Analytics, Web Design & Consultation, and Conversion Optimization. Neutron Interactive is also big on showing off their culture and their team. That means that you can get a good, inside look at what it might be like to work there just by browsing their website. If you’re excited about what you see, you’ll obviously want to check out the Neutron Interactive Jobs page. They have 7 positions posted right now, and a few seem well suited for new or recent grads. These include Junior Software Developer and The Ultimate Marketing Specialist. The other positions require a little bit more experience, but you may want to check them out too. They also offer the option to submit a general job application.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Neutron Interactive?

Retail Solutions

Willy Franzen — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 14:52:21 +0000

Although I’m not big on shopping, I love shopping online. It makes everything easier—as long as the online store has free shipping and a generous return policy. E-commerce is also great for businesses because it reduces costs and makes data collection far easier. With that said, the retail experience can’t be replaced, and it isn’t going anywhere for a long time. That means that retail stores need to be able to collect data as effectively as online stores if they want to stay competitive. This can be a tough problem to conquer, but Retail Solutions, which is headquartered in Mountain View, CA, has an… er… solution. They “develop and deliver a comprehensive suite of award-winning software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions that turn downstream data, such as point-of-sale (POS), supply chain, merchandiser feedback and category data, into actionable visibility into the store and onto the shelf.” They work with both retailers and consumer packaged good companies to track sales and provide data, which enables both sides to operate more efficiently.

What’s Your Solution?

Retail Solutions is yet another Inc. 500 company that is lower down the list, but has significantly higher annual revenue than many of its peers. They grew at an 820.6% rate over the past three years to $13.6 million in revenue last year, which means that they are a market leader. You could also ascertain that by looking at their customer list, which includes names like Hershey’s, Crayola, Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever, Procter & Gamble, and quite a few more on the manufacturer side and Food Lion, Hannanford, and Walgreens on the retailer side. A lot of what Retail Solutions will seem a little complex if you don’t already know how retail management works, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have entry level positions. If you check out their Jobs page, you’ll see opportunities like Inside Sales Representative (Bentonville, AR), Customer Support Analyst (Cranston, RI), Analytic Consultant (Cranston, RI), and Data Operations Specialist (Cranston, RI). Oddly enough they don’t have anything posted at their headquarters right now. And don’t forget to read about Life at Retail Solutions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you still do a lot of retail shopping?

L.L. Bean

Willy Franzen — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:20:43 +0000

August is typically a big vacation month, so it can sometimes be hard to reach the people you want to reach in your job search. If you’re taking a vacation yourself, you may want to thing about the brands that you associate with vacation. For me, it’s often L.L. Bean because I end up spending most of my time enjoying the outdoors—and that usually includes some of their gear. They’ve been “a trusted source for quality apparel, reliable outdoor equipment and expert advice for more than 95 years.” It all started with one man named Leon Leonwood Bean and some cold wet feet. He decided to combine the comfort of leather boots with the durability and functionality of rubber work boots. He then obtained the mailing list for Maine hunting license holders and sent them a three-page flyer about his new boots. L.L. guaranteed that people would be satisfied with his boots, and he had to eat his words. Of the first 100 pairs that he sold, 90 were returned for defects. that would put a lot of people out of business, but not L.L. Bean, which continues to be located in Freeport, ME to this day.

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Today L.L. Bean still offers their same satisfaction guarantee, and they continue to put a huge emphasis on customer service (places like this are usually awesome to work for). L.L. Bean now has 4,600 employees year-round, and that number spikes to 9,000 during the holidays. I guess that’s when L.L. Bean does a good portion of their $1.5 billion in annual sales. They also have a flagship store without locks on its doors—it’s open 24/7/365. It also comes with a “trout pond, a coffee shop, café and 3,500- gallon fish tank.” I’d imagine that the headquarters has some pretty cool stuff too—I know that the Orvis headquarters does. If you’re excited about Bean Boots, dog beds, outdoor apparel, tents, sleeping bags, and everything of the sort, then you’ll want to check out LLBeanCareers.com. It offers information on careers on Retail, Corporate, and Season opportunities. We’ll focus on the Corporate opportunities which include potentially entry level positions like Programmer/Analyst, Page Production Specialist, Associate Marketing Analyst – E-Commerce/Web Analytics, Assistant Merchandiser – Kid’s Category, and Assistant Merchandiser – Footwear & Travel.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own anything from L.L. Bean?

Indeed

Willy Franzen — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:47:51 +0000

It’s story time today! Let’s go back three years to when I was still job searching. I was getting extremely frustrated with the recruitment process, and I was starting to think about how I could make online job search better. Beyond my typical job searching, I was reading everything that I could about the online recruitment industry. I was generating new ideas, and trying to find a way in so that other job searchers wouldn’t have to go through what I went through. I took an especially strong interest in Indeed, not only because they provide an excellent job search engine, but also because they were an innovative and successful startup located in Stamford, CT—just 20 minutes from where I was living at the time (they also have an office in Austin, TX). They were still small, and they didn’t really have any job postings that were suitable for me, so I e-mailed the CEO. I told him why I wanted to work for him and what I thought that I could bring to the table. It worked, and I got an interview (going straight to the top is an underrated job search method). After clearing the phone screen, I got invited to the office to meet with some people on the team, and, to my surprise, that included the CEO whom I had e-mailed my initial “cover letter” to. The interview was kind of a disaster. It went well at first, but I had already started working on One Day, One Job, and telling a potential employer that you’re starting a company in the same space isn’t typically a good idea. I didn’t get offered the job (nor did they ever formally reject me), but I think it all ended up for the better.

Yes, Indeed

Indeed’s business model looks a lot like Google’s. Scour the Internet for information, organize that information in a coherent fashion, and spit it back to users in a relevant way with ads mixed in with the content. While Google does it for everything, Indeed only focuses on jobs. You probably already know all about Indeed, because if you’re job searching and not coming across Indeed at least occasionally, you’re either not searching very hard or using an ultra targeted, networking approach (which I approve of highly). If you don’t have a problem with getting meta about your job search by looking for a job at a job search company, then take a look at jobs at Indeed. They have a bunch of opportunities, and a number of them seem suitable for new or recent grads. These include opportunities at their Stamford, CT office like: Account Executive – Staffing and Sales Account Executive. And opportunities in their Austin, TX office like: Software Development Engineer, User Interface Developer, Web Front End Developer, Country Marketing Associate – Native Australian, Country Marketing Associate – Native Canadian, Country Marketing Associate – Native Spanish, Marketing Associate, and Online Marketing Analyst. I’m still a fan of Indeed, even if they didn’t offer me a job, so go get the job that I couldn’t.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Indeed?