One Day, One Job » banking

Grameen America

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

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

Take a Micro Approach

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Grameen America?

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?

Cabela’s

Willy Franzen — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:57:28 +0000

Being a fly fisherman, I sometimes get frustrated with living in Chicago. Not only are there few opportunities to go fishing without a decent drive, but the winters are way too long (it’s supposed to be spring now, and it’s not). To get through the winter I’ll often visit fishing stores, look at websites, and read through catalogs. It’s not much, but it’s all I have. And Cabela’s provides all three options. The company is based in Sidney, NE, and they’re the “largest mail-order, retail and Internet outdoor outfitter in the world.” It all started in 1961 with a tiny classified ad that Dick Cabela placed in a newspaper because he wanted to sell some fishing flies that he purchased while visiting Chicago for a furniture show (since Nebraska is even less of a fly fishing destination than Chicago is). Despite a lackluster response to the original ad, Dick Cabela kept trying. The company grew organically, and now Cabela’s is dominating three major retail channels. The truly amazing part of the story is that Cabela’s has been able to maintain their commitment to customer service throughout all of the growth. I’m not a big customer (I try to support local shops), but I have quite a few friends who are extremely loyal Cabela’s customers because of the quality of products and service.

Outfitting Your Job Search

If you love the outdoors, you probably already know all about Cabela’s. Their stores are massive shrines to everything that is great about being an outdoorsman. They have fish tanks, taxidermy, indoor mountains, archery ranges, and, obviously, lots and lots of products that you can buy. According to Wikipedia, their store in Kansas City had 4 million customer visits in a single year, while the store in Hamburg, PA covers a quarter million square feet. Obviously, the ultimate Cabela’s experience requires visiting one of their stores, but their catalogs and website are pretty good proxies if you’re stuck at home. And if you are stuck at home, you might as well take a look at Cabela’s Careers site too. You can check out their testimonials and culture quiz, or you can just head straight for their job listings. We’re going to pass over all of the retail positions (there are a ton of them), and only look at corporate jobs that might be suitable for new or recent grads. These include (all positions in Sidney, NE unless otherwise noted):

Cabela’s has one of the worst applicant tracking systems that I’ve ever seen. It’s “Powered by Kenexa,” and it’s completely unusable. I slogged through it so you don’t have to, so the positions above should give you a good idea of what kind of entry level opportunities exist at Cabela’s. There are more entry level postings than just these, but I can only bang my head against a wall for so long.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you shop at Cabela’s?

WePay

Willy Franzen — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:17:15 +0000

Like us on Facebook and follow me on Twitter. Better yet, tell two friends about us today.

You know what’s a pain in the butt? Collecting money from people. Maybe you’re the captain of your intramural team and need to collect entry fees from your teammates (my volleyball league starts on Sunday!) or your group of friends want to do the “pitch in” and buy The Drake a big-screen tv (yes, that’s a Seinfeld reference). Maybe you want to easily collect donations or collect money from your 9 deadbeat roommates who never pay the cable bill. (Or maybe you’re collecting money for an NCAA Tournament bracket that may or may not be violating gambling laws.) You can collect cash, checks, or try to use PayPal. No matter what you do, it’s probably going to be frustrating. WePay is a Palo Alto, CA based company that wants to change that. They’ve built the “best way to collect money from other people.” Their site allows you to “send bills, sell tickets, and accept donations” while easily tracking payments and managing money. It’s essentially a group bank account (you can even get a debit card for it)

I Pay, You Pay, We All Pay on WePay

This is where I announce that I’m now going to start using WePay to charge you for these daily e-mails. Just kidding (but if you feel like paying, I can definitely set up a WePay account). I’m a prankster, just like the team at WePay, except they’re way better than me at pulling gags. Like the time that they dropped $100 bills frozen in a 600 pound ice block in front of PayPal’s developer conference. Why would they do such a thing? To take a jab at PayPal for constantly freezing people’s accounts. WePay is extremely focused on making group payments simple and pain-free. They know that they face stiff competition from entrenched competitors that have more reputability (which is important when it’s money related), so they’re constantly working to generate awareness about how much better their product is. If you’re a fan of what WePay is doing, then you’ll want to give their Jobs page a look. They’re currently hiring a Designer, an Operations Associate, a Web Developer, and Campus Champions. The company is strongly focused on the college market because group payments are pretty common for twenty-somethings, so it’d be a great place to start your career after graduation.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used WePay for any group payments?

Bling Nation

Willy Franzen — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:48:20 +0000

When I came across an internship posting for Bling Nation, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I didn’t know if it would be something like Cash4Gold or an online store for pricey hip hop accessories, but it turns out that Bling Nation is something far more reasonable despite their flashy name. They’re a Palo Alto, CA based company that is building an alternate payment platform for in-store purchases. Instead of using cash or credit card, they want you to swipe a tag that is affixed to your mobile phone. It makes sense. Credit card purchases where you sign the receipt seem outdated, and merchants are getting fed up with the processing fees that they have to pay for credit card transactions. PayPal has been the de facto online payment standard for a long time (even though a lot of people hate them), but they do nothing for in-person purchases beyond offering a credit card that links to your account. It seems to me that it’s inevitable that our mobile phones will replace our wallets in the future, but I wonder whether a Bling Nation sticker on the back of the phone will be the way in which we do it.

Bling Bling

So Bling Nation has an odd name and an odd approach to alternate payment processing; however, they have something like $33 million in venture capital funding. Mobile payment platforms are going to be the future, and Bling Nation is positioning itself to be a player in that market. Interestingly enough, they’re building their platform by starting in tiny markets. Instead of attacking New York City or San Fracisco, they’re focusing on a couple of small towns in Colorado. People can get a Bling Nation account going through their local banks, and then they can use their accounts at local merchants who have been outfitted to accept Bling Nation payments. It’s the opposite of how most companies launch, but I like it—it’s an interesting marketing strategy. If you’re intrigued by it, you might want to check out jobs at Bling Nation. Right now they have a Marketing Internship and an Online Marketing and Website Evolution Leader position posted. Neither is an entry level job, but I can imagine that they might want to fill a position between those in the near future. They accept general applications, so check them out and apply here.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you use Bling Nation?

The Reinvestment Fund

Willy Franzen — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:13:45 +0000

I grew up in Fairfield, CT, which is next to a city, Bridgeport, that is always aiming for “revitalization.” They’ve talked about a building a casino for years, and they even built a minor league baseball stadium. It’s hard to say whether that has helped or hurt, but it seems that Bridgeport is at least doing a little better than it was a decade ago. I’d imagine that the real reasons for improvement have come from smaller projects that are more in tune with the city’s communities’ needs. These are the kinds of projects that The Reinvestment Fund invests in in cities in the Mid-Atlantic. They are “a 24 year old nonprofit financial lending institution with a strong social mission” and offices in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. They started out as a small community development organization, and they’ve grown to become something much bigger.

Reinvest in Yourself

So far the Reinvestment Fund has invested nearly a billion dollars in capital into economic development projects. The results speak for themselves, as TRF has helped create:

532 businesses

18,590 housing units

28,870 charter school slots

45,755 jobs

8.2 million square feet of commercial space

2.7 million MWh of clean energy – enough to power over 290,000 homes for a year!

It may not sound as sexy as a baseball stadium or a casino, but The Reinvestment Fund is all about finding “the point of impact.” That means that they’re looking for the place where they can get the most bang for the buck. They want to maximize the opportunity that they create for both individuals and neighborhoods regardless of what might be popular. If you’d like to help “build wealth and opportunity for low-wealth people” while revitalizing communities, then you need to look no further than The Reinvestment Fund’s Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Financial Analyst in addition to post-doctoral students for their Policy Solutions Group Fellowship. They also have some part-time Policy and Information Services positions available, but they seem more along the lines of internships than jobs (but they are paid).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about The Reinvestment Fund?

Bank Information Center

Willy Franzen — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:09:40 +0000

You’ve probably heard of the World Bank, but do you know what it is? Now’s a good time to head over to Wikipedia to find out. The short version is that they’re “an international financial institution that provides leveraged loans to developing countries for capital programs” with the goal of reducing poverty. Bank Information Center is a Washington, DC based non-profit that helps “developing and transitioning countries to influence the World Bank and other international financial institutions to promote social and economic justice and ecological sustainability.” Basically that means that they work at the local level in countries across the world to make sure that the interests of the people are represented in the decisions of international financial institutions. Their aim is to democratize development.

Be Informed About the BIC

The Bank Information Center approaches its mission with three major strategies: “(i) information services and capacity building; (ii) project and policy monitoring; and (iii) policy reform.” They do this by having staff who are dedicated to specific regions and who know the ins and outs of how to work in these areas to influence development decisions. It’s all really complex, so your best bet for getting a full understanding of how the BIC works is to read their About page. Once you get a feel for them, you can check out their Jobs page, where you’ll see how their strategy and mission are reflected in their positions. Right now they’re looking for a Latin America Program Assistant and an Africa Program Assistant. These positions do require some prior experience, but I think some internships in International Development or an environmental field would be sufficient. You can apply by sending “a cover letter explaining your interest in the position, a 1-2 page resume, and two writing samples to jobs@bicusa.org” with the name of the position in the subject line.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about the Bank Information Center?

ING Direct

Willy Franzen — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:42:55 +0000

I’m a big proponent of making personal finance part of the job search. By managing your money wisely (even if you barely have any left), you’re creating a project for yourself that you can use to demonstrate to employers how you’ll be an effective employee. When I need information on personal finance, I always look to Ramit Sethi, the founder of a website called I Will Teach You To Be Rich and the author of a book by the same name (he also just launched a course on how to make money freelancing and he’s doing a free webinar tonight at 7 PM PST – affiliate links). One thing that he strongly recommends is using online banks that offer high interest rates and great easy to use features. One of these banks is ING Direct, which is headquartered in Wilmington, DE. While you may have noticed that most banks are on a real estate binge as they try to gain customers, ING Direct is doing the opposite. They operate almost entirely “in the cloud.” Since they “believe saving money should be as simple as having a cup of coffee,” they do have cafés in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Wilmington, Chicago, St. Cloud, and Honolulu where you can ” sip a latte, surf the Internet for free and talk to [them] about how [they] can help you Save Your Money.” And by keeping a low overhead, ING Direct is able to offer better interest rates and fewer fees, which gives them a huge advantage in winning over customers.

Saving Towards a Career

It may be hard to imagine not needing a brick and mortar bank, but ING Direct makes it work. They have a huge ATM network, they’ll write and mail your checks for you, and they make transferring money between accounts simple. It’s the way that you’ll expect to bank in the future, but ING Direct is doing it now. ING Direct is owned by ING, the Dutch financial institution, but it seems that they act quite independently—they’re not like other banks. This is where banking is headed, so ING Direct should be the place to be if you want to work in “retail” banking. To get started, you need to check out ING Direct’s Jobs page. You’ll see that in addition to their Wilmington, DE location, they also have offices in St. Cloud, MN; Los Angeles, CA; and Seattle, WA. There are dozens of positions posted, and quite a few of them appear suitable for new grads. Most of these positions fall into one of three categories: Sales, Analyst, or IT/Software Development; however, there are a few exceptions like Interactive Advertising Designer and Card Dispute Associate. Unfortunately, ING Direct’s applicant tracking system is kind of terrible, so it makes it impossible for me to link to specific positions. You’ll have to browse through the listings yourself, and apply through their submission form.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you have an ING Direct account?

Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Willy Franzen — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:42:58 +0000

If there’s ever a time to be a Bank Examiner, it is right now. What probably would have been considered a boring job just a couple of years ago is now action packed. What is a Bank Examiner? It’s the entry level position at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. What’s the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency? It’s a bureau of the the U.S. Department of the Treasury that was chartered in 1863 to ensure a safe and sound national banking system for all Americans. How do they do that? They have a nationwide staff that “conducts on-site reviews of national banks and provides sustained supervision of bank operations. The agency issues rules, legal interpretations, and corporate decisions concerning banking, bank investments, bank community development activities, and other aspects of bank operations.” I think that it’s pretty obvious that the OCC has become a lot busier in the past couple of years. That’s why now is a great time to check out their entry level hiring program.

Are You Down with OCC?

There’s a lot to learn about OCC before you apply for a job, so you should probably spend a couple of hours on OCC.Treas.gov, if you’re serious about applying. If you’re not quite so serious yet, but you’re intrigued about what an entry level Bank Examiner does, then you should watch the OCC’s Careers Video. It’s a nice introduction to what the OCC does and what it’s like to work for them. After watching that, you should check out their Bank Examiner Careers page. This goes into great detail about the specific position that they typically hire new grads for. The jobs require a degree in “accounting, banking, business administration, commercial or banking law, economics, finance, marketing, or closely-related field from an accredited U.S. institution” or extremely relevant prior work experience. The OCC is based out of Washington, DC; however, they have locations all across the country and often require travel (30-80%) because Bank Examiners are often working in Community Banks. The pay is great, with a starting salary of $47,000, and the benefits are top-notch. It’s no big surprise that the OCC was ranked the 4th Best Place to Work in the Federal Government. The OCC already did some recruiting back in September, but they being recruiting again in February. Keep your eye on the Bank Examiner Careers page to see when they open up applications.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you think that we have a safe and sound national banking system right now?

Federal Reserve Board

Willy Franzen — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 12:00:37 +0000

“May you live in interesting times.” It’s allegedly a translation of a Chinese proverb, but Wikipedia can’t even figure out who actually said it first. Regardless, a job at the Federal Reserve Board should be extremely “interesting” over the next year (at the very least). With Bear Stearns almost falling into bankruptcy, and a lot of other investment banks in trouble, a job in finance doesn’t look nearly as attractive as it did a year ago. Still, if you’re interested in economics, finance, or a related field, a job at the Federal Reserve Board is a great alternative. Although connected to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the Federal Reserve Board is a different entity. If you don’t already know, the Fed, which is led by Chairman Ben Bernanke, is responsible for crafting the monetary policy that supports the American economy.

Whether you were too late in trying to get a job with an investment bank or you’re looking to get a Ph.D in Economics, the Federal Reserve Board still has a lot of entry-level job opportunities. Their hiring process is interesting for a government employer, since they don’t go through USAjobs.gov, but instead have their own system. If you want to be a Research Analyst or Economist (Ph.D required), then you need to use the links we just gave you to apply. Otherwise you can search for current openings at the Fed. These openings are categorized by pay scale. From what we can tell, Grade 22/23 jobs are definitely entry-level, and up to Grade 25 may be appropriate for a new grad. You’ll have to do the searching yourselves, because we’re on vacation.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Remember, we’re on Spring Break this week, so the posts will be on the short side. Don’t worry, we’ll be back in full force next week.

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Willy Franzen — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:00:09 +0000

The dollar may be going through a rough stretch right now, but that’s only another reason to be interested in monetary policy. If you’re a sucker for reading Milton Friedman and John Maynard Keynes, we think we’ve found a great career opportunity for you; however, if you’re supporting Ron Paul (and his abolish the Fed stance) in the Republican primaries, you can probably pass on this one.

The Federal Reserve, as the central bank of the US, directs the country’s monetary policy. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of 12 regional banks that acts as a fiscal agent of the United States Treasury. If you’re the kind of person who’d like to work at the Fed, we’re not telling you anything you don’t already know. If you aren’t, but you’d like to learn more, why not check out the Wikipedia entry on the Federal Reserve System? Many companies that are hiring at the entry-level are more concerned with raw talent than acquired knowledge, but jobs at the Fed appear to be quite knowledge intensive. Applicants probably should have majored in Accounting, Business, Economics, Mathematics, Statistics, Finance, Management, or a similar field. So, if you’re drawn to finance by your love of economics, but not looking for the investment banking lifestyle, take a look Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s job opportunities for new college graduates.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Careers Site lists a number of career options for undergraduates. Specific positions are listed on their Current Undergrad Openings page. These include jobs such as Assistant Bank Examiner, Reports Analyst, Senior Reports Analyst (why a Sr. position is listed for undergrads we don’t know), Rotational Analyst, and Research Associate. Each position has an individual page that should give you a good insight as to what skills you should have for the position and what you’d be doing if you were hired. It’s pretty safe to say that all entry-level positions at the Fed will provide a solid background for your future pursuits whether they be in business or academia.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s website provides additional information on their Research Associates Program, which appears to be geared towards those with more academic interests. Research Associates can work in a number of focuses including capital markets, financial intermediation, macroeconomic and monetary studies, microeconomic and regional studies, and money and payment studies. You may also be interested in the typical responsibilities of a Research Associate. Taking care of those responsibilities will likely lead to long-term career benefits and might even get you published.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is currently hiring undergraduates who plan on starting work between June and August of 2008. Their on-campus recruiting schedule is just winding down, so you may want to act quickly before the on-campus interviewees take all the jobs.

A job at the Fed will open doors for you for the rest of your life, and unlike in most jobs, a recession might actually mean more work. Jobs at the Fed aren’t going anywhere unless Ron Paul wins the election next November.

Note: On April 22nd we revisited entry-level jobs at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Leave a comment about jobs at the Fed. It might win you a Wii.