One Day, One Job » Canada

Say Media

Willy Franzen — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:05:27 +0000

When people ask me what I do, I tell them that “I run websites that help college students find jobs and internships.” About half the time, I get, “Oh, so you’re like a recruiter?” That’s pretty far off, so I try to provide an explanation that includes the term “online media.” That usually gets the point across. We live in a time where nearly anyone can build their own media property. Technology is so cheap and easy to use that the hardest problems in online media usually come down to content creation, marketing, and monetization. Say Media is a company that brings together the technology with the media savvy. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and they’ve been built out of two companies that merged: Six Apart and VideoEgg. Six Apart worked mostly on the technology side, and VideoEgg was an advertising network. Together they’ve become a company that “empowers culturally relevant individuals with its publishing platform and media services designed to help them grow audience and earn a living.”

What Do You Say?

Say Media has built a network with massive reach–400 million monthly unique visitors. Not only do they provide services that bring together advertisers and publishers, but they also own Blogs.com and TypePad. It’s all about “passion-based media properties,” whether SayMedia owns them, provides the technology to run them, or helps monetize them. Say Media bases everything that they do on 7 principles:

Attention is scarce

Passion is abundant

Media is fluid

Advertising is content

Storytelling is vital

Influence is earned

Engagement is a science

If you want to learn how Say Media came up with those principles and how they put them to work, then take a look at their Careers page. Right now they have a few jobs that you may want to check out including Financial Analyst, UI Site Designer, Technical Account Manager, and Sales Executive (Toronto, Canada). There are a variety of interesting opportunities at Say Media, so give them a shot.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Say Media?

Travelzoo

Willy Franzen — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:15:38 +0000

On Saturday I’m heading to Aruba for two weeks! (Don’t worry, you’ll still get your daily e-mails–even on Christmas Day.) I booked well in advance, so I got a decent fare, but it’s still about four times more expensive than traveling at a different time of year. If you want to travel during the holidays, you’re probably going to have to pay through the nose. Still, it’s worth looking for a deal, and there’s no better place to do that than Travelzoo. They’re a New York, NY based company (with 23 other offices all across the world) that has perfected the art of the travel deal. They don’t just go out and find low rates–they actually “research, evaluate, and test thousands of deals to find those with true value.” Although it’s not exactly the same, they kind of do for travel deals what I do for jobs: curate. Though they have 250 experts working on it, which is 249 more than we have.

Take a Trip to the Zoo

Travelzoo’s site is about as basic looking as it gets. It’s simple, clean, and uncluttered. It may not look like the site of a publicly traded company, but it certainly stands out from other travel sites that seem to bombard you with useless offers. I guess that’s why they have 24 million members, though the fact that they require you to be a member to see their deals has to help with that too. Beyond travel, Travelzoo has also moved into entertainment deals and local deals, but travel is definitely their bread and butter. What’s so unique about Travelzoo’s model is that they’re not for sale. Yes, they accept payment from advertisers, but they only publish deals that they are confident will make their members happy. There’s no way to get on Travelzoo except offering a high quality deal. If you’re liking what Travelzoo is all about, then take a look at their Jobs page. They have a ton of openings, and a few look perfect for new or recent grads including: Associate Producer (Chicago, IL), Producer (Chicago, IL) Assistant Producer (Miami, FL), Producer (New York, NY), Assistant Producer – SuperSearch (San Francisco, CA), and Producer (Toronto, ON). Travelzoo’s Producers are “top-notch journalists whose commercial acumen would impress the Donald himself.” In other words they take on a role that includes researching, writing, producing, account managing, sales, and a lot more–they find the deals and get them live on the site. It sounds like an extremely cool role, so check all the positions out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used Travelzoo?

Admeld

Willy Franzen — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:24:55 +0000

A lot of people don’t realize that Google is an advertising company. Your main interactions with them are probably through their search product, Gmail, and maybe Google+ if you’re an early adopter, but all of those are just ways to deliver relevant advertising. Behind the scenes Google has been doing everything it can to become an even bigger player in the online advertising industry. That includes acquiring a New York, NY based advertising optimization startup called Admeld for $400 million. The acquisition hasn’t gone though yet because the Department of Justice is investigating whether Google’s buying Admeld should be considered anti-competitive. (This is stupid. Should a business not act in its own best interest so as to maintain a competitive market?) Regardless of the uncertainty caused by the investigation and the fact that Admeld employees will soon be Google employees, you have to be intrigued by the fact that the DOJ considers Google’s acquisition of Admeld such a big threat to competitors.

Melding Admeld

Why is Admeld so valuable? They have built a platform that helps publishers sell ads more efficiently in a market littered with middlemen. By helping customers optimize the ad sales process, Admeld is able to significantly increase the revenue that publishers generate. The way they do this is a little confusing for someone not in the advertising industry, but this video should help you better understand how their business works.

Until the acquisition gets approved, Admeld is going to continue to operate independently from Google. It’s hard to say how that will affect their hiring, but they continue to have jobs posted on their Jobs page. If you don’t mind a little uncertainty (and like the idea of ending up a Google employee), then you may want to consider a few positions they have like Demand Services Account Manager (London/Berlin/NYC), Client Services Account Coordinator (Berlin), UI Engineer (NYC and Toronto) and Software Engineer – Ad Serving (NYC). Even if Admeld isn’t right for you, you should think about how acquisition news might help you with your job search.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about Admeld?

Active Network

Willy Franzen — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:52:23 +0000

Lately I’ve been making it a habit to look for interesting companies in cities I visit–it’s just another way to generate new ideas. Since I’m in San Diego, CA for the weekend, I did a little searching and came across Active Network. They’re a company that is all about enabling active lifestyles, so their location is quite fitting. They are “a technology and media company powering the largest network of organizations, activities, and people.” I know that sounds like marketing speak, but Active Network actually serves more than 47,000 customers and handles over 70 million event registrations annually. If you’ve ever run in a race, played in a sports league, or stayed at a campground, there’s a good chance that you in someway interacted with Active Network software.

Be Active About Your Job Search

To really get a feel for Active Network, you need to browse their website. Be sure to take a look at the Industries They Serve, the Technology Solutions They Offer, and the Media Properties they own. Active Network’s customers include a ton of big names ranging from IBM to Notre Dame to the State of California. The business continues to expand, but the common theme of supporting active lifestyles remains. So if you’re into being active, you’ll want to check out Jobs at Active Network–there are more than 100 positions open at Active Network right now. Since there are so many, I’m going to leave you to browse through the positions. There are options in Sales/Account Management, Marketing, Software Development, and lots of other areas. Additionally, the jobs are kind of all over the place geographically.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How active are you?

Catalyst

Willy Franzen — Sat, 25 Jun 2011 12:41:35 +0000

Gender in the workplace is a complicated issue. Over the past 50 years, a lot has changed, and a lot has stayed the same. Over that time one of the organizations that has played a significant role in “expanding opportunities for women and business” has been Catalyst. They’re a non-profit headquartered in New York, NY and with offices in Sunnyvale, CA; Toronto, Canada; and Zug, Switzerland. Since they were founded in 1962 they have studied “women and men across levels, functions, and geographies to learn about women’s experiences in business, barriers to their career advancement, and individual and organizational strategies leading to success.” They provide this research to their members (they’re a member organization) with the goal of “building the inclusion that will expand opportunities for women in the workplace.”

Catalyze Your Career

Considering that my college education at Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations was all about studying the world of work, I’m pretty interested in what Catalyst is all about (even if they’re not working to expand opportunities for me). If you’re also interested in what they’re doing, you have to check out their Research & Knowledge, the Catalyst Timeline, the Catalyst Awards, and the Services they offer. Each of these will give you a broader view of what Catalyst does and how they’re working to change workplaces and to change lives. If you like what you see, you’ll want to head over to the Catalyst Jobs page. I have to imagine that they have opportunities for both men and women, though their entire Executive Staff is female. Right now they’re looking for a Research Associate and Writer (does require some experience) and an Emerging Markets Librarian (requires an M.L.S. or equivalent degree). Take a look at both New York City based positions and see if they intrigue you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about Catalyst?

Octagon

Willy Franzen — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 16:19:11 +0000

Usually when readers recommend companies, I put them on my list and cover them soon after if they look interesting and have relevant opportunities. Lately I’ve had two readers mention that they applied to Octagon, but I somehow overlooked the company. My only excuse is that I’m often skeptical of sports and entertainment marketing companies because there are so many sports marketing hiring scams. But that’s very clearly not the case with Octagon, they’ve been around since 1983 and they have offices all across the world. As they put it, they’re “the recognized, global thought leader in passion-based, sports & entertainment marketing.” Some of people they represent are Chris Paul, Michael Phelps, Randy Johnson, John Elway, Elena Dementieva, Landry Fields, Michael Johnson, Anna Kournikova, Apolo Anton Ohno, and many more huge names.

Can You Compete Inside the Octagon?

From what I can tell, Octagon separates their business into four divisions. On their Octagon’s What We Do page, you’ll see links to: Marketing, Marketing North America, Athletes & Personalities, and Events. Within the Athletes & Personalities section you’ll find links to specific verticals like OctagoOly.com, OctagonHockey.com, OctagonBasketball.com. Additionally, there are separate sites for Octagon’s international businesses like OctagonBrazil.com, and Octagon-UK.com. It’s all a bit overwhelming, but it’s indicative of how big Octagon’s presence is in the field of sports and entertainment marketing. In fact, the best overview of what Octagon’s businesses actually do is on their Careers page. Once you read through that, then you can take a look at their current job postings. Right now they have a few positions that seem right for a new or recent grad including Account Executive – Telecom (Kansas City, KS), Non-Profit & Media Relations Coordinator (Portland, ME), Account Executive – Sales Assistant (Norwalk, CT), Associate Producer – Digital (Norwalk, CT), and Account Executive – Multicultural – Home Improvement (Atlanta, GA).

Octagon has offices in the following locations, so you may want to watch out for new postings in any of these places:

Atlanta, GA
Cary, NC
Charlotte, NC
Chicago, IL
Los Angels, CA
McLean, VA
Minneapolis, MN
Naples, FL
New York, NY
Norwalk, CT
Ormond Beach, FL
Portland, ME
Richmond, VA
Rogers, AR
San Diego, CA
San Francisco, CA
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Ottawa, Ontario
Waterlool, Ontario
Adelaide, South Australia
Hobart, Tasmania
Melbourne, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Beijing, China
Mumbai, India
Tokyo Japan
Singapore, Malaysia
Paris, France
Frankfurt, Germany
Doha, Qatar
Moscow, Russia
Cape Town, South Africa
Johannesburg, South Africa
Barcelona, Spain
Sevilla, Spain
Stockholm, Sweden
Istanbul, Turkey
London, United Kingdom

That’s a lot of locations, so keep an eye on Octagon’s job postings for opportunities closer to home (or further away if that’s what you’re looking for).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about Octagon?

Corbis

Willy Franzen — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:37:26 +0000

Have you ever grabbed a photograph off the Internet for an assignment? I’ll bet most students have done this at some point. But how many actually think about whether or not they have the right to use that image? It may not seem important, but what if that photo is being published in a newspaper, magazine, or blog? The person who created the image needs to be compensated. The same can be said for other creative works like videos, illustrations, music, and more. The problem is that individual creators don’t want to spend their time selling their work and protecting their copyrights–they want to keep putting out more quality work. That’s why companies like Seattle, WA based Corbis exist. They buy and sell the rights for creative intellectual property. They have a massive catalog, so if you needed an image of fly fisherman with a mountain in the background at sunset, they have what you need. In other words they bring efficiency to a market that would otherwise be extremely fragmented and inefficient.

Picture This

Corbis works through a number of different brands for different types of intellectual property. These include Corbis Images (images), Corbis Motion (motion/video content), Veer (photographs/illustrations/fonts), and GreenLight (music/video/film/tv/celebrities/iconic properties). Rights management may not seem all that exciting, but it’s pretty cool that Corbis is able to help creative professionals get their work out to people who can use it in new and interesting ways. I think best way to get a feel for Corbis is to browse the sites mentioned above so that you can get a feel for what kind of content they license and how the process works. Once you do that, then you can take a look at Corbis’ Jobs page. There are a number of positions worth taking a closer look at including Sales Representative (New York, NY), User Experience Designer (Seattle, WA), Sales Account Executive (Hong Kong), Designer (Calgary, Canada), and Account Executive (Hong Kong). They also have a few internships posted, so that may indicate other entry level opportunities in the future.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Corbis?

Perkins+Will

Willy Franzen — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 16:25:29 +0000

Despite having a father who is an architect, I have to admit that my appreciation for architecture is quite basic. Except when my Dad drags me along, I don’t go out looking at buildings just for the fun of it, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t notice things that are architecturally interesting. When I came across a link to some positions at Perkins+Will, the first thing that I did was look at their work. I was surprised by how many of their projects I’ve noticed and enjoyed. Just a few of them include the San Francisco Ferry Building, Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, and The Contemporaine (which is only a couple of blocks from me). And that’s just a small sampling of the work that the firm has done. Perkins+Will was started in Chicago, IL in 1935, but since then they’ve expanded to 23 offices across the world (including locations in Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Dubai, UAE; Hartford, CT; Houston, TX; Los Angeles, CA; London, UK; Miami, FL; Minneapolis, MN; New York, NY; Orlando, FL; Philadelphia, PA; Research Triangle Park, NC; San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; Shanghai, China; Toronto, ON; Vancouver, BC; and Washington, DC.) I spent some time trying to figure out if they have an actual headquarters or main office, but I couldn’t come up with anything.

Where There’s a Will There’s a Way

Like I said before, I’m not much of an architectural critic. It definitely says something that Perkins+Will’s work caught my eye, but what’s more important is that they’re constantly getting recognition from big names in the industry. They’ve been ranked #1 Sustainable Design Firm and #2 overall in the “Architect 50″ by Architect magazine, #2 University Design Firm by Building Design+Construction, and #2 Interior Design Giant and one of the Most Admired firms by Interior Design. I’m even more impressed by the names that they’ve worked with, which include: Cornell University, Chicago O’ Hare International Airport, NASA, Mayo Clini, Stanford University, UCLA Medical Center, Perspectives Charter School, Crate & Barrel, and plenty more. If you want to get the full view of all of Perkins+Will’s noteworthy accomplishments, just check out their Press Kit. Anyway, if you love Perkins+Will’s work, then you have to check out their Careers page. Their current job listings include entry level positions like Architect I (Chicago, IL), Architect I (Seattle, WA), Graphic Designer (Dallas, TX), Interior Designer I (Glastonbury, CT), Interior Designer I (Washington, DC). That’s it for now, but I’m sure that they regularly have positions popping up all across the world.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Perkins+Will’s projects is your favorite?

Corporate Executive Board

Willy Franzen — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 17:15:02 +0000

As someone who started a bootstrapped business straight out of college, I’ve had to rely on free resources to learn the tricks of the trade. Sites like Hacker News, SEOmoz, Mixergy have been invaluable to me. But you can only get so much for free. Fortune 500 companies often spend many millions of dollars to ensure that their executives are well informed and well advised. One place that 80% of Fortune 500 companies go for advice is The Corporate Executive Board. They are an Arlington, VA based company that helps “senior executives at the world’s leading organizations… and their teams with actionable insights, analytic tools, and advisory support to quickly and confidently focus efforts on what they need to know, and do, next.” The Corporate Executive Board spun off from The Advisory Board Company (they focus only on healthcare and higher education) in 1997 and has since IPO’d.

Hop On Board

The Corporate Executive Board may sound like a consulting firm (and they do some consulting), but they have a somewhat unique model. Companies pay an annual membership fee to The Corporate Executive Board, and this allows them to access CEB’s resources. The beauty of this model is that member companies also share information with The Corporate Executive Board, so there’s a network effect–the advice that they provide gets better as more members join. The Corporate Executive Board’s services focus on a wide range of areas that include: Communications, Corporate Finance, Corporate Strategy, Customer Service, Human Resources, Information Technology, Legal and Compliance, and Sales and Marketing, with additional offerings tailored to the Financial Services, Government, and Midsized sectors. With an eye to these areas, CEB helps executives manage six key challenges:

Assessing Key Performance Trends and Risks
Organizing and Managing Critical Talent
Benchmarking Performance and Plans
Establishing Innovative Operating Approaches
Driving Alignment and Support for Change
Navigating Leadership Transitions

If you’re fascinated by large corporations and how they work, then The Corporate Executive Board would be an excellent place to start your career. I know that they do a lot of on-campus recruiting, but that all happened in the fall. Luckily, CEB has more than 100 jobs posted on their Careers page, and many of them can be considered entry level. Unfortunately, TheCorporate Executive Board’s Jobs site doesn’t allow me to link directly to specific postings. You should start looking at their undergraduate opportunities here, and then move on to their full job listings here. Their locations include Washington, DC; San Francisco, CA; Chicago, IL; Minneapolis, MN; Needham, MA; Rochester, NY; Scottsdale, AZ; West Chester, NY; Toronto, Canada; London, UK; New Delhi, India; Singapore; and Sydney, Australia.

The Corporate Executive Board has two heavy concentrations when it comes to job opportunities. One is positions that help them put out their products and services. The other is positions that help them sell memberships. Makes sense. You’ll want to look for job titles like Research Analyst, Sales Specialist, Web Designer, Member Support Associate, Meetings Associate, Market Research Specialist, Data and Tools Analyst, Business Development Associate, Business Analyst, Associate – Learning & Development Team, Analyst, Account Management Associate, Account Administrator, Quantitative Analyst, Online Community Specialist, Junior Sales Executive, and lots more. And if you’re looking for another way to catch the eye of the folks at The Corporate Executive Board, you may want to check out their Case Competition that just opened up. It looks like a great way to win a scholarship and possibly get a job.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about The Corporate Executive Board?

Spin Master

Willy Franzen — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 13:40:59 +0000

I may be 26 years old, but I still love getting toys for Christmas. I don’t mean expensive gadgets—I mean real toys. In past years I received gifts like a Marshmallow Shooter and a Fisher-Price T.M.X. Tickle Me Elmo (only entertaining for about five minutes), and this year I got the most awesome remote control helicopter ever. It’s not an Air Hogs helicopter, but I’ve always been impressed with that particular brand. They do some pretty cool stuff when it comes to flying toys, so I thought that my Christmas List could help your job search. Spin Master is the Toronto, CA based company (with locations in the US) that owns the Air Hogs brand in addition to other toy brands like Aquadoodle, Bugville, Flick Trix, Liv, Moon Dough, Zoobles, and plenty of others. They make all kinds of stuff that you and I are too old to play with, but I guess you’d have an excuse if you worked for them.

Put a New Spin on Things

Spin Master started with three college friends and $10,000. Their first product was The Earth Buddy, and then came Devil Sticks, Grow Things, and Chatter Rings. None of them were huge hits, but then Spin Master hit on the “Sky Shark” in 1998. It was a toy airplane propelled by compressed air, and it was the precursor to the entire Air Hogs brand. Now Spin Master is a leader in toy innovation, and they’re also doing a lot on the licensing front (cobranding with major media properties). Their website has a ton of information on it, but I can’t link to specific pages because it’s all in Flash (though I can link to their job postings). The site includes an in-depth Careers page, that shows a ton of opportunities—many of which are entry level. These include Web Designer/Flash Developer (Los Angeles), Preliminary Cost Engineer (Toronto), http://www.spinmaster.com/app/website/careers/?id=183 (Toronto), Customer Care Representative (Toronto),IT Helpdesk Analyst – Mac (Toronto), Community Manager (Los Angeles), Customer Support Representative – Sales and Service (Toronto), and Retail Merchandiser (Montreal). Have fun!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

SpinMaster.com

Do you own any Spin Master toys?

Hockey Hall of Fame

Willy Franzen — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 15:36:52 +0000

I was out last night with some friends when a bus with a police escort came roaring down the street. I quickly realized that it was the Blackhawks, so we started cheering as Jonathan Toews stuck his head out of the back of a police car and showed his appreciation for our appreciation. We thought that was pretty cool and continued on our way. As I kept walking, I looked down the street and saw that the bus had stopped and that I could now see the Stanley Cup raised over the head of one of the Blackhawks players who got out of the bus. I ran down the street and snapped this picture.

Chicago has been partying since the Blackhawks won, and there’s no trophy more suited to partying that then Stanley Cup (I mean guys drink champagne out of it). The story of the Stanley cup is actually really interesting, and you can find it all on Wikipedia. The Hockey Hall of Fame, which is based in Toronto, Ontario, is the keeper of the cup, and they could provide some pretty cool job opportunities. We’re not getting a lot done here today in Chicago (it’s essentially a holiday) with a parade and the start of the World Cup, so I’m going to leave it to you to see if a job at the Hockey Hall of Fame is for you, but if that doesn’t work out, you can also check out jobs with NHL teams. I may be a bandwagon fan (and a late one at that), but you can’t not get excited when the Stanley Cup is being paraded around town.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Where would you take the Stanley Cup if you had it for a day?

The Second City

Willy Franzen — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 13:26:09 +0000

I know how tough the job search is, so I’m not going to pull a prank on you. It would just be mean to tell you about some awesome jobs and then say that they don’t exist. Instead, I’m going to stick to what I’ve done for the last two April Fools’ Days and introduce you to some jobs with a humorous side to them. Two years ago we took a look at Motley Fool, and last year it was College Humor. This year we’re going to check out The Second City, which is “the leading brand in improv-based sketch comedy.” They have theaters in Chicago and Toronto, along with Training Centers in those cities and Hollywood too. The Second City is also where famous comedians like Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd, Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters!), Stephen Colbert, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, and Chris Farley cut their teeth. (My buddy Jason Seiden also did a little work at their Training Center.) It is the place for comedy, and it’s all located a mile up the street from where I live.

These Jobs Are No Joke

I’ve been to a Second City performance, and I thought it was pretty good (although I expected a little better). That’s the way that improv comedy works though. Some nights are good, and some aren’t so good. Beyond the theater, The Second City does a ton of improv training. Some people do it to pursue a career in comedy or acting, others do it for fun. Some people do it for personal development, and it wouldn’t be bad for the job search. If you can walk your way through an improv skit and get some laughs, then a job interview should be a piece of cake. If that job interview is with The Second City, then you might really need that improv training. Right now their Jobs page shows two positions: Assistant Theater Manager and Administrative Coordinator (both are at the Second City Training Center in Chicago). The jobs look great, and they may be right for new grads depending on what you’ve done in the past. The only catch is that if you land the job, I’m expecting some free tickets. The Second City also occasionally holds cast auditions, so if you’re serious about comedy, that’s the way to go.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you seen any Second City performances?

WebMD

Willy Franzen — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 16:03:02 +0000

If you woke up this morning with a sore throat, what would you do? I bet many of you would get on the computer, type your symptoms into Google, and probably end up on WebMD trying to self-diagnose. I’m not sure whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing (maybe we should leave the diagnosing for the doctors), but it’s how most of us operate these days. We have a remarkable amount of medical information available at our fingertips, and WebMD, which is based in NYC with a significant presence in a number of other cities, is responsible for a lot of it. They consider themselves “the leading provider of health information services, serving consumers, physicians, other healthcare professionals, employers and health plans.” If you read that closely, you probably noticed that WebMD’s business goes well beyond their consumer facing website.

A Prescription for Your Job Search

From what I can tell, WebMD’s Consumer Network is ad supported, while they also offer paid Professional Networks, Private Portal Services, and Publishing Services that provide additional sources of revenue. I’d expect their business to continue to grow well because of their unique position. They are in the business of providing information, so they can grow as our consumption of healthcare increases, but they don’t have to worry about the threat of legislation killing their business model. One indication of this expectation for growth is the fact that they have 85 jobs posted right now. Some of the positions that seem best suited to new grads include Associate Project Manager (Montreal, Canada), Customer Service Representative (New York, NY), Health Educator (Indianapolis, IN), iPhone Application Developer (New York, NY), Onsite Health/Wellness Coordinator (Puerto Rico), Sales Planner/Account Specialist (New York, NY), and Web Designer (Portland, OR). It appears that WebMD was actually posting more jobs as I was writing this, so you’ll want to look for yourself and see what they have. There appears to be a good mix of jobs (tech, health, writing), so see if there’s a good fit for you and apply online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How often do you use WebMD?

Organic

Willy Franzen — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:04:24 +0000

I hope the title of today’s post didn’t make you hungry, because we’re not talking about jobs in organic food. Organic is a San Francisco based interactive marketing agency with a brand that has gained a lot of keyword competition over the past 16 years. Yes, people were eating organic back in 1994, but the word wasn’t nearly as common as it is today. Doing research on Organic is tough because the organic search results (excuse my SEO pun) have all kinds of other stuff in them (at least they own Organic.com). Either Google needs to get inside my head to discern my intent, or Organic is going to have to hope that artificial packaged, processed foods go back in vogue. Ok, enough of my ripping on their name—Organic was ranked by AdWeek as the #1 interactive agency in 2007. That fits in perfectly with my impression of Organic from browsing their website and looking at their work. In fact, I’m blown away by how good Organic’s website is. It’s easy to use, it’s full of information, and it’s gorgeously designed. Their corporate mantra is “Exceptional Experience,” and they certainly live up to it.

Live Organic

I’ve found that interactive agencies sometimes go too far with their websites. They get too fancy and end up making an unusable piece of garbage. The way Organic has built their website shows that they’re good at what they do. Beyond San Francisco Organic also has locations in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Toronto. The company’s clients include Bank of America, Jeep, Nike, Guitar Center, and plenty more. I could tell you more about Organic, but you’re much better off visiting their website, because it does a great job of telling their story. Organic even does a great job with their Careers site—they even make a usually crappy applicant tracking system look good. The interesting thing about Organic is that most of their 40 job openings are at pretty Senior levels. Their only real entry level job is Interactive Strategist (San Francisco). You might also want to check out Contributor Mktg Intelligence (Detroit), Associate Producer (San Francisco), Associate Delivery Management (San Francisco), and Recruiter (Toronto), but they all require some prior experience. You can apply online for any of these positions, and you can also submit a résumé for general consideration (this might be the best tactic, as they do list college recruiting as one of their sources). Finally, Organic seems to allow new grads in their paid internship program, so that might be another option.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Organic’s name?

Ceteris

Willy Franzen — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:19:06 +0000

The way that large corporations operate often boggles my mind. Take for example my friend who worked in the internal consulting division of a massive, well-known company. Despite being owned and operated by the company, his division had to bid against outside consulting firms for projects. There was a good reason for this (it forced the internal consulting division to watch its back), but it still seems a bit ridiculous. Another example of this kind of thinking is transfer pricing (don’t worry, I had to look it up too). It’s the “pricing of contributions (assets, tangible and intangible, services, and funds) transferred within an organization.” At first it may seem that since all of the money is going to the same place pricing things that are transferred within an organization doesn’t really matter. Unfortunately, that would cause all of the accountants in an organization (and the IRS too) to have a fit. So how do companies price these transfers? There’s no external market to set the price, and trying to do it internally can get really messy. That’s when companies bring in Ceteris a “global independent consulting firm specializing in transfer pricing, intellectual property and valuation services” that is headquartered in Chicago.

Transfer Yourself to Ceteris

For most new grads, grasping exactly what Ceteris does is pretty hard. The best way to get a feel for the kinds of projects that they work on is to take a look at examples of their work. It turns out that this stuff is pretty fascinating—at least to me. If you agree, you’ll want to check out Ceteris’ Jobs page along with their Campus Recruiting page. Although they don’t explicitly post job opportunities and they don’t have any campus events coming up, they say that they’re looking to hear from outstanding undergraduates with a background in Economics, Business, Accounting, Finance, Statistics, or Mathematics. They provide a decent amount of information about what it’s like at Ceteris including employee profiles, and they invite interested applicants to send a résumé and cover letter to careers@ceterisgroup.com. The company has only been around since 2003, but they’ve already expanded to 13 locations: Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Calgary, AB; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Libertyville, IL; Los Angeles, CA; Mexico City, Mexico; New York, NY; Salt Lake City, UT; Toronto, ON; Washington, DC; and Auckland, New Zealand. It’s not clear which offices have entry level opportunities, but their Locations page does allow you to contact the head of each office if you’re so inclined.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Ceteris?

Uline

Willy Franzen — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:49:51 +0000

I love boring businesses. It may not seem like it considering the fact that I’m often featuring startups that are on the cutting edge of technology, but I really do appreciate when a company is able to take an extremely simple idea and make it profitable. Uline is a perfect example. They are a Waukegan, IL based company that considers itself “the leading distributor of shipping, industrial, and packing materials to businesses throughout North America.” It all started in 1980 when Liz and Dick Uihlein identified a need for a local shipping supplies distributer. They started the business in their basement with the H-101 carton sizer, and now they have a product line that fills a 452 page catalog. That’s a lot of growth, and I expect it to continue as e-commerce and the shipping that results from it keep expanding (I have about a dozen boxes in my apartment from various holiday season shipments). And if for some reason the shipping business does slow down, Uline can always reorganize as a producer of forts for children—I always loved playing in cardboard boxes.

Box It Up

Now, if you give Uline a closer look, there are some striking similarities between their business and our favorite fictional employer, Dunder Mifflin. They’re both customer service oriented companies that provide businesses with essential supplies; however, I’m going to make a wild guess that the similarities between Uline and Dunder Mifflin end there. Companies with dysfunctional leadership don’t have sustained growth, and Uline is growing so much that they broke ground on a new Pleasant Prairie, WI corporate headquarters last Fall. With that growth comes jobs, or American jobs as Uline likes to call them. If you take a look at Uline’s Jobs page, you’ll see that they have opportunities in Ontario, CA (that’s California, not Canada—I know it’s confusing); Toronto, Canada; Duluth, GA; Waukegan, IL; Tijuana, Mexico; Eagan, MN; Allentown, PA; Coppell, TX; and Seattle, WA. Positions that might be suitable for new or recent grads include Account Rep (Ontario, CA), Administrative Assistant (Toronto, CA), Customer Service Representative (Toronto, CA), Account Rep (Toronto, CA), Accounts Receivable Clerk (Toronto, CA), Account Rep (South Florida / Duluth, GA), Computer Operator / Help Line Technician (Waukegan, IL), .NET Web Developer (Waukegan, IL), Internet Marketing Associate (Waukegan, IL), Desktop Technician (Gurnee, IL), Account Rep (Eagan, MN), Account Rep (Iowa / Eagan, MN), Account Rep (NYC / Breinigsville, PA), Account Rep (Pittsburgh, PA / Breinigsville, PA), and Account Rep (Dallas – Ft. Worth, TX / Coppell, TX). You can apply online for any of these positions, just don’t try delivering yourself in a box to their corporate headquarters. That would be weird.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Uline?

Blue Entertainment Sports Television

Willy Franzen — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:36:53 +0000

Be sure to check out our new contest, Maghound Your Way to a New Job. We’re giving away two one-year subscriptions to an awesome new magazine subscription service that can help you find a job.

In continuing with my obsession over jobs at Inc. 5000 companies (which fits in perfectly with our latest giveaway), we’re going to take a look at Blue Entertainment Sports Television today. They’re a Louisville, KY based “full-service sports and entertainment management, event and production company.” They’ve taken the unified agency approach that you often see in Marketing and Advertising, and have applied it to sports. That means that their areas of work include representation, marketing, promotion, hospitality and events. Their strategy seems to be pretty solid considering that their revenue has grown 4,685.3% over the past three years to $22.9 million.

Are You the BEST?

Blue Entertainment Sports Television is fortuitously named, as their acronym is BEST. I guess you’re well on way to living up to that name when your clients include Magic Johnson, Reggie Bush, Victoria Azarenka, Shawn Marion, Bryan Brothers, and Caroline Wozniacki. Blue Entertainment Sports Television is actually a relatively new brand that came from the combination of preexisting brands SFX Tennis, SFX Events, SFX Media, Game-Seven Sports Marketing, Team Championships International, Blackwave Sports, Humarks, and Worldwide Football and Management Group. There’s actually a case study on the rebranding, and it seems to be correlated with huge revenue growth.

Although BEST doesn’t get specific about what kind of jobs they offer, they do make a call for résumés on their Contact page. To get a feel for what kind of jobs they might offer new college grads, you should browse through their LinkedIn Company Profile and take a look at what types of positions their current employees have. You can apply for a job at BEST by sending a cover letter and résumé to careers@experienceBEST.com. You should also note that they have quite a few offices beyond their headquarters in Lousiville, KY including domestic offices in Denver, CO; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; and Washington, DC and international offices in Australia, Austria, Canada, Argentina, and Poland.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about BEST?

Rockstar Games

Willy Franzen — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:22:44 +0000

After a second company used the term “rockstar” in their job postings, it became clichéd. I know that I’ve said this before, but no matter how good your coding skills (or whatever other rockstar skills employers look for) are, you’re never going to be a rockstar. Unless, of course, you land a job at Rockstar Games. If you work there, at least you’ll be a rockstar in name. You may not have a guitar, but you’ll be working for the company behind video game series like Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, and Manhunt. And for those of you who have a different taste in games, they’ve got Table Tennis for the Wii. I keep harping on the fact that the video game industry is doing well, but it’s just so impressive. Other content producers like newspapers, magazines, record labels, and move producers are struggling with changes in how we consume content, but video game companies keep humming along—and Rockstar Games is no exception.

Grand Theft Entry Level Job

I first found out about the fact that Rockstar Games is hiring when I watched this YouTube video from the Art Institutes’ Career Services team (this video actually comes first in the series). It was cool to see such in-depth content on what it takes to get a job at Rockstar Games, and it obviously got me looking to find where they post their job opportunities. Their website is entirely in Flash, which is a total pain in the butt, and the main navigation for the site only shows up if you put your mouse over it. And even if you do put your cursor in the right place, you won’t find a link to their Jobs page (at least I couldn’t).

Luckily a Google search turned up Rockstar Games’ Jobs page. It’s loaded with opportunities (and not all of them are in Software Development), so it’s kind of like a hidden treasure. We can’t link to specific postings (stupid Flash), but I can tell you that they have Game Programming and Animation jobs in Vancouver, British Columbia; a Game Content Creator position and all kinds of Game Programmer positions for RAGE in San Diego, CA; Game Programmer and Character Artist positions in Toronto, Ontario; Junior Web Developer and Marketing Coordinator in New York City; and Gameplay Generalist/Programmer in Andover, MA. Additionally, Rockstar Games has a ton of open position at their 4 locations in the United Kingdom. It’s amazing how many job openings Rockstar Games has, so whether you’re an artist, programmer, or marketer, there’s probably something for you. You can apply online for any of the positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Rockstar Games’ titles is your favorite?

VistaPrint

Willy Franzen — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:46:26 +0000

When I started this business, I focused almost entirely on the web for networking – a LinkedIn connection or an e-mail address was all that I needed. However, my mom (who is also my graphic designer) had other ideas. Right after she designed my logo, she sent away to VistaPrint to get me business cards. Although I didn’t use them right away (I was glued to the computer screen and not talking to many people in real life), eventually they became a necessity. Those business cards also came with the one and only One Day, One Job t-shirt (a free gift from VistaPrint). They are the place to go for customized stuff (there’s no better way to put it). You can get business cards, pens, checks, banners, postcards, lawn signs, rubber stamps, mouse pads, magnets, and much much more. The best part about it is that you can do it all online and get a really great price. VistaPrint is definitely achieving their goal of “making high-quality graphic design and custom printing convenient and affordable for everyone.”

A New Vista for Your Career

The printing industry has been around forever, and it’s taken hundreds of years to begin its decline phase, but we’ve certainly reached it. That’s why it’s hard to believe that VistaPrint has built a $400 million printing business in less than 10 years. I guess that’s what happens when you own 90 percent of the online printing market (even if the market only makes up 1% of the total small business printing market). With such a rapidly growing business, it’s no surprise that VistaPrint continues to recruit top talent. Their Campus Recruiting page says that they focus on grads from Brown University, Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, MIT, University of Illinois, University of Maryland, University of Pennsylvania, RIT, RPI, University of Waterloo, WPI, and Yale University. All of their events at those campuses occurred in the fall, but their site says that they will have future opportunities for Software Engineers, Quality Assurance Automation Engineers, Quality Assurance Engineers, Internet Software Quality Assurance Engineers, Marketing Associates/Analysts, and eCommerce Business Analysts. The jobs that are currently posted don’t seem to line up with their entry level opportunities, but you should still check them out to see if there’s anything that excites you. If not, you can submit a resume for general consideration. VistaPrint is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda, but they also have offices in Lexington, MA, The Netherlands; Windsor, Ontario; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and Barcelona, Spain. I should also note that VistaPrint has a fantastic Careers site, that makes it really easy to find information about what it’s like to work for them. The only snag is that it’s not immediately clear how you should apply for entry level jobs.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used VistaPrint?

Research In Motion

Willy Franzen — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:21:42 +0000

I’m an iPhone guy, so I tend to feel sorry for people who are constantly thumbing away on their BlackBerries. That’s just my being a smug Apple user though. I realize that a lot of people love their BlackBerries and for good reason. They’re pretty remarkable devices, and they’re perfectly tailored for business use. (Although not as perfectly tailored as my iPhone! Ok, I’m done.) That’s why Research In Motion, the company that makes BlackBerries, has a 16.6% share of the smartphone market. They seem to have hit a bit of a rough spot lately (at least their stock price makes it look like they have), but their market position is still very strong. That’s why it’s no surprise that they’re doing a good amount of entry level hiring; however, the real reason that I wanted to feature Research In Motion here is that they chose an unfortunate, yet inappropriately hilarious domain name for their Jobs site (it redirects now, but I think that you can figure it out).

Jobs at RIM

RIM’s description of what they do is pretty complex:

Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, text messaging (SMS and MMS), Internet and intranet-based applications.

However, I think that you can put it pretty simply by saying that they make BlackBerries. I’m sure that there’s a lot more that they do on the technology side, but it seems that smartphones are their bread and butter. They’re a big company, so it’s no surprise that their Careers site has a special section for students. You can get all of the details on RIM’s Student Hiring Program here, and then you can search their job postings for positions specific to your interests. Their job search function is very flexible, and it allows you to select jobs specifically for new grads.

Right now there are 25 of those opportunities available in a variety of world locations and business areas. They include: Hardware Engineering Designer (Waterloo, Canada), Java Software Developer (Ottawa or Waterloo, Canada), Financial Analyst (Waterloo, Canada), Technical Writer (Waterloo, Canada), Embedded Systems Software Developer (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Graphics Software Developer – Advanced Rendering Applications (Waterloo, Canada), Embedded Software Developer (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Multimedia System Specialist (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Communications Specialist (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Mobile Phone Safety Test Specialist (Waterloo, Canada), 3GPP Compliance Specialist (Waterloo, Canada), Software Development Support Specialist (Waterloo and Mississauga, Canada), Database Developer – BlackBerry Infrastructure (Waterloo, CA), Project Coordinator (Waterloo, Canada), Software Test Specialist (Waterloo, Canada), Project Coordinator – Accessories (Waterloo, Canada), Carrier Technical Manager (Kansas City, KS), Systems Engineering Specialist – M&D (Mississauga, CA), Systems Engineering Specialist – Provisioning (Mississauga, CA), Protocol Stack Developer (Bochum, Germany), Systems Engineer (Irving, TX), Software Testing Specialist (Waterloo, Canada), Requirements Manager (Waterloo, Canada), and ISP Engineer (Waterloo, Canada).

You can apply for all of these jobs online from the job listings that you’ll find through the search function. Be wary though, because when you view a job listing and then hit the back button to get back to your search, you’ll have to reenter your search to get the results that you want.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you have a BlackBerry?

lululemon athletica

Willy Franzen — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:57:32 +0000

When I graduated from college a semester early and started thinking about looking for a job (thinking about doing something and doing something are very different, by the way), I quickly became overwhelmed by my lack of time commitments and lack of a plan. I was suffering from too much freedom, so my first response to join a gym and to commit to keeping my body strong while I figured out what I was going to do with my brain. It was a great idea, and I strongly recommend a gym membership for all job seekers. (I also strongly recommend that all first-time job seekers take our online job search training course). Anyway, I always try to join a relatively expensive gym, but not for the obvious reason. I don’t care about all of the frivolities. I just know that if I’m paying $10 a month for a gym, I’m a lot less likely to go – I need to feel invested. With expensive gyms come lots of people in expensive, designer workout outfits. That’s where I learned about lululemon athletica, a Vancouver, British Columbia based manufacturer and retailer of “yoga-inspired athletic apparel.” Everyone at my gym is wearing lululemon, and the retail stores around here are packed, so it’s no big surprise that they’re hiring.

Find a Job That Fits Like Yoga Pants

I didn’t realize how big lululemon athletica is until I started doing some research. They’re publicly traded on NASDAQ (although their stock has tumbled big time over the past year), and they have 260 jobs (many with multiple openings) posted on their Careers site right now. Most of the jobs are based out of lululemon athletica’s retail stores and fall under three titles – Educator, Community Leader, and Key Leader. Beyond these titles other jobs include Video/Motion Designer, Seamstress, Quality Assurance Technician, and Distribution Industrial Engineer. You can find all of lululemon athletica’s job postings here, and you can apply online for any of the positions. The retail positions are located all across North America and beyond, while the corporate positions are all in Vancouver, BC. lululemon athletica has a great website that is filled with information, so the links below will give you a ton of insight into what it’s like to work for lululemon.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own any lululemon?

Major League Baseball

Willy Franzen — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:51:01 +0000

I never thought that moving to Chicago would prolong the baseball season for me. Living in the New York City area gave me 13 straight years of October baseball, and now that I’ve left, both Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium will remain empty for the rest of the fall before they eventually face demolition. It’s lucky for me that I’m now living in a new city that happens to have two teams that are still in it. I get a 14th straight year of local baseball in October! Playoff baseball is by far the most exciting baseball of the year, but it also means that season will soon be over. Those of you who are baseball fans know how long the winter seems when there is only hot stove chatter to keep you entertained while you wait for pitchers and catchers to report to Spring Training. While you’re still excited about baseball, you should start thinking about how you can land a job with Major League Baseball. Jobs with the MLB are in hot demand, so it’s a smart move to get familiar with their hiring process as soon as you can.

Take Me Out to an Entry Level Job

As far as we can tell, there are 2 ways to get jobs in Major League Baseball – there are jobs with MLB.com and jobs with specific MLB teams. There also seem to be jobs directly with the league (I have a friend on Facebook who is a member of the Major League Baseball network), but I’m not sure how you can go about finding them online. Here’s a rundown of the two types of jobs that we’ve found and how you can apply for them.

MLB.com Jobs

MLB.com is part of MLB Advanced Media, which is a separate arm of Major League Baseball. They run all 30 team websites and allegedly have editorial independence from the league. Their focus is entirely on multimedia and production, but they offer all kinds of jobs. Right now, the only openings that may be suited to new college grads (and are still a stretch) are in Database Marketing and Marketing Production. MLB.com offers internships in Finance, Marketing, Club Marketing, E-Commerce, Legal, Technology, Sponsorship, Design, and Public Relations, so there are a number of areas in which jobs with MLB.com can pop up periodically. These jobs are located in New York City, and you can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to jlc@mlb.com.

Jobs with MLB Teams

There’s a separate site where you can search for jobs with all of the Major League Baseball teams. This is where the MLB follows the lead of other major sports leagues do and uses TeamWorkOnline to post their jobs. Right now there are listings from most of the teams (although only some are entry level), but this will probably change over time, as different teams have different hiring schedules. If you’re waiting to hear about jobs with a specific team, you can sign up for Job Notification e-mails or you can subscribe to the MLB Teams Jobs RSS Feed. There is an online application process for jobs with MLB teams, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to navigate.

The TeamWorkOnline site also lists some jobs with MLB Networks, so it’s possible that this is where they post opportunities with the league as they become available. We’re not sure about this, but we can’t find anywhere else that MLB jobs are posted. If you know anything about Major League Baseball’s hiring process, we’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Who do you think is going to win the World Series?

Chill

Willy Franzen — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:50:49 +0000

With the first day of fall just two days a way, you can definitely feel a chill in the air (at least if you’re in the Northeast like me). The leaves are already starting to change colors, and before you know it there will be snow on the ground. For many this is a depressing picture, but for those of you who love snowboarding, the coming of winter is filled with excitement. Snowboarding is all about seeing hope in the desolate bleakness of winter, and that’s the kind of attitude that Chill is looking for in Local Coordinators. The Chill program is a nonprofit learn–to-snowboard program for underserved youth run by Burton Snowboards.

Can I Chill?

Beyond sounding like a lot of fun, the Chill program seems to be doing a lot to enact positive change in the lives of young people.

From the Chill website:

Every year, we take over 100 youth from each of our sites to the slopes. We provide them with everything they need to learn to ride: lift tickets, lessons, transportation, and head-to-toe gear. Snowboarding is fun and a great activity for the youth we serve, but it takes several lessons and plenty of hard work to learn. We use board sports to motivate youth to accomplish goals they never thought they could, while teaching them some of the most important lessons in life about patience, persistence, responsibility, courage, respect, and pride. With positive adult role models, engaging activities, and incredible mountain environments we build self confidence and raise self esteem.

This is a truly unique

Am I Chill Enough?

Chill is currently looking for 2 Local Coordinators at 13 of their sites. That’s a lot of entry level jobs. These aren’t permanent, full-time positions, but they are a perfect way to transition from the student life to the working life. They’re looking for college graduates who have at least 3 years of snowboarding experience along with experience working with kids. Chill’s sites include Baltimore, Boston, Burlington, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, Prince George, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington D.C. The program runs from November through the end of March. You can find the job description for the Chicago Coordinator here (.doc) and the Chill Fact Sheet here (.doc). The pay scales, dates and hours very depending on location, so you’ll have to e-mail Jason Hirsch for more details. He’s also the person that you should apply to, so when you’re ready, send your cover letter and resume to jasonh@chill.org. The application deadline for the Chicago position is October 6th, but we’re not sure if the deadlines for other sites will vary as well. Your best bet is to apply as soon as possible.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you snowboard?

Ford Models

Willy Franzen — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:35:13 +0000

Are you a fashionista? Do you just like being around beautiful people? Do you secretly wish that you could be a model despite the fact that you are way too awkward to walk down a runway without tripping? If you said yes to any of those questions, then you might want to look into Ford Models. They’re a tough company to research, since there’s a ton of online information about them, but very little that is job related. Getting a job at Ford Models doesn’t look like it’s an easy task, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try.

But I Can’t Turn Left

Go look in the mirror. Take a good long look at yourself. You should be paid to be beautiful, shouldn’t you? You’re a perfect candidate for Ford’s modeling opportunities. We know you’re good looking. Everyone who reads One Day, One Job is, right? Now here’s one more test, to make sure that giving up on your job search and becoming a model is the right choice. Walk down a hallway in your house, pose, turn left, and come back to where you started. Ahh… that left turn snagged you up didn’t it? It’s not as easy as it looks. If you can’t turn left, you can’t be a model. Looks like you’ll have to consider Ford Models’ entry-level job opportunities instead.

Ford Models doesn’t list specific job opportunities on their website, but they do invite individuals who “have an understanding of the dynamic changes in the fashion talent industry and an innovator’s desire to create value” to send a cover letter and resume to careers@fordmodels.com. There’s a significant internship program at Ford Models, which makes us think that they are relatively likely to hire new college grads; however, you’d have to think that competition for jobs at Ford Models is pretty fierce. Everyone wants to be around beautiful people, and there are few jobs that offer better opportunities for that. Ford Models takes on most of its interns in New York City, so that’s probably the place they’re also most likely to do entry-level hiring. They also have offices in Miami, FL; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Milwaukee, WI; Chicago, IL; Scottsdale, AZ; Canada (Toronto and Vancouver); Brazil (Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), and France (Paris). Our guess is that job opportunities might be in Marketing or PR, with an outside shot at some other areas. If the careers@fordmodels.com doesn’t work out for you, you can also try using the contact information for individual offices found on Ford Models’ home page in the Location – Division link (we can’t link to it, because it’s Flash based).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Ford Models.com (Flash site, can’t link to individual pages)
FordModels.tv
Ford Models on YouTube
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ford Models from the Freakonomics Blog

Are you too good looking for an entry-level job? Then stop reading this site and go fill out a modeling applications.

Plurk

Willy Franzen — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:34:12 +0000

We talk about Twitter a lot – we’ve featured Twitter’s entry-level jobs, and we’ve found a number of the companies we’ve featured on Twitter. Unfortunately, Twitter’s servers sometimes goes down because it is too popular. A lot of the people I interact with on Twitter are nearly fed up and have decided to give Plurk a try. Plurk is also a micro-blogging service, but they differentiate themselves by advertising that they are a “place that lets you publish your thoughts, emo-ness, #^@%!%(&, and loves.” They also have a different feature set than Twitter, but it’s generally the same idea – you share short messages with your network. I haven’t tried Plurk, because I’ve already invested a lot of time in building my network on Twitter. How would you like to leave Facebook and then refriend everyone on a new site (if they’re even on the new site)? That’s exactly why I haven’t left Twitter for Plurk. By the way, we have a new article about Facebook and resumes dropping this afternoon. It’s by a new writer for us, Rich, who is very funny, so come back later today to read it.

Non-Emos Need Not Apply

We could recount Plurk’s short history for you, but the only way that you’re going to actually understand the company is to try out their service. If you’re an emo in search of a place to micro-blog, give Plurk a try and report back to us about what you think. Actually, you probably don’t need to be emo to use Plurk or to work for them, but hating the world and having ironic buttons on your backpack can only help.

What impressed us most about Plurk was there job titles and descriptions. We can’t get over how easy it is for companies to make their job postings pop by giving the work to someone with actual copywriting talent. Yet few companies invest any time or effort into their job descriptions. How could anyone not want to be a Python/Javascript Ninja Extraordinaire, L33T Systems H@x0R, Optimizer & Log Lord, or Schmoozy Plurkinista/Plurkster & Community Evangelist for Plurk? In fact, you could not read anything more than the job titles, and know if it’s something that you would consider applying for. Oh, right, you’d rather be an “Analyst.” In case you’re a bit confused by the titles (some people don’t speak l33t speak), the first job is in software development, the second one is in IT/systems, and the third is marketing/public relations. You can head over to Plurk’s Jobs page for the full descriptions.

Ok, I’ll fess up. I wrote this entire post without checking to see where Plurk is located. They don’t seem to list a location anywhere on their site (nor do they say much about what it’s like to work for them), so I finally did some searching. Plurk is located in Mississauga, Canada, which is near Toronto. So not only do you have to be emo, but you also have to enjoy hockey and poutine to work at Plurk. If one of these job offerings sounds like a dream come true, and you can learn to be a Blue Jays fan, then send a cover letter and resume to jobs@plurk.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Any One Day, One Job readers out there Plurking? Tell us where we can follow you in the comments.

Shriners Hospitals for Children

Willy Franzen — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:37:00 +0000

We hope you had a safe 4th of July. Unfortunately, every year some people don’t. Fireworks are a lot of fun, but they can result in some really nasty burns and injuries. Since we encouraged you to blow stuff up yesterday, we thought we’d counter that by featuring a non-profit organization that helps children who endure severe burns. The Shriners Hospitals for Children do exactly that. Who are Shriners? They wear funny hats. They drive little cars in parades. They’re Freemasons. And most importantly, they help kids through their hospitals. That’s going to be our focus today, since new college grads probably aren’t too interested in being part of a fraternal organization that seems like it probably has an average age north of 60. Then again, you probably got all hot and bothered about your college’s greek organizations and secret societies.

What Do Red Fezzes Have to Do with Burn Treatment?

So a group of Freemasons decided to start a non-religious fraternal organization for fun and fellowship based on a Middle Eastern theme, what the heck does that have to do with kids and burns? Somewhere along the way the guys in the organization decided to do some serious philanthropy, so they started Shriners Hospitals for Children which “is a one-of-a-kind international health care system of 22 hospitals dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing specialty pediatric care, innovative research and outstanding teaching programs.” Their three focuses are orthopedic care, burn care, and spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Over Shriners Hospitals for Childrens’ 86 years, they have provided free medical care to more than 865,000 children. Wow.

Do I Have to Wear a Funny Hat to Work There?

We don’t think wearing a red fez is a required part of the dress code, but we can’t make any promises. Shriners Hospitals for Children is headquartered in Tampa, FL and has hospitals in Boston, Canada, Chicago, Cincinnati, Erie, Galveston, Greenville, Honolulu, Houston, Salt Lake City, Lexington, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Northern California, Philadelphia, Portland, Shreveport, Spokane, Springfield, St Louis, Tampa, and Twin Cities. They have jobs available in just about every field imaginable, especially in medical related areas. Quite a few of these jobs are appropriate for entry-level candidates, but we’re not going to go through each of them. Shriners Hospitals for Children has a lot of job openings, and they do a nice job of organizing their Job Opportunities. Although their Careers site isn’t flashy, it should be easy to navigate. If helping children who are enduring seemingly unthinkable medical conditions is something that you could devote your life to (and you’re not going to Med school), there are few better places to begin a career then one of the Shriners Hospitals for Children.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever seen the Shriners drive their little cars around?

Google

Willy Franzen — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:45:35 +0000

If you don’t know what Google is, you have no business conducting your job search online. You should be typing your resume on a typewriter and sending it by carrier pigeon. We’ve been saying it over and over, but Google is the ultimate job search tool. They’re also the ultimate employer according to Fortune Magazine. With that said, many of you know that getting a job at Google is nearly impossible, especially now that most of their campus recruiting efforts are finished.

I’m Feeling Lucky

There’s no need to go into detail about what Google does, so we’re going to jump right into the jobs that they are offering for new college graduates. In fact, we were actually surprised to learn that Google still has some entry-level hiring left to do. One would think that they would be in the same boat as the investment banks and consulting firms – having a new recruiting class signed up and ready to go. That is the case for many of their positions; however, Google is growing so quickly that they need to keep bringing in new talent. It seems like Google is pretty good about keeping the Students section of their Careers site up to date, so you shouldn’t have to worry about getting your hopes up for positions that have already been filled.

We’re going to focus on opportunities in the United States today; however, Google does offer entry-level jobs all across the world. Here’s a list of countries where Google is hiring students. Google separates entry-level hiring into two categories: Technical and Business and General.

Jobs Google Is Famous For

When you hear that Google is hiring, you probably think that they’re only looking for the best software development minds in the world. That’s not completely true, but it appears that they are still looking for top notch entry-level talent in some of their technical departments. Open positions include: Software Engineer in Test (Irvine, CA; Kirkland, WA; Seattle, WA; Mountain View, CA; New York, NY; Pittsburgh, PA; and Santa Monica, CA), Software Engineer (Boston, MA; Boulder, CO; Chicago, IL; Irvine, CA; Kirkland, WA; Seattle, WA; Mountain View, CA, New York, NY; Phoenix, AZ; Pittsburgh, PA; San Francisco, CA; Santa Monica, CA; and Waterloo, ON), Associate Product Manager (Kirkland, WA; Seattle, WA; Mountain View, CA; and New York, NY), and Associate Webmaster (Mountain View, CA). These are all jobs specifically tailored to college students, and they’re the best of the best when it comes to jobs in software development. We’re not sure what Google’s timetable is for hiring, but we’d imagine that they’re itching to get the process moving. Don’t dawdle.

Not a Programmer? That’s OK.

In Business and General, there is only one job title that Google is still hiring for: Associate Product Marketing Manager. We first heard about this position when were forwarded an e-mail that was sent by a former Cornell student who is currently working in this job at Google via the Cornell Career Services office. The former student had nothing but great things to say about this job, which is a two year rotational program. The word is that they are looking to get the process moving fast for this position, so you should apply as quickly as you possibly can. Also, the e-mail we got said that you should include your SAT scores and GPA, although Google’s online application doesn’t appear to require these. This may bother many of you, but SAT performance is actually a much better predictor of job performance than an interview is (no, I don’t have a citation for this, but I learned it multiple times in my college HR courses).

The Best Place to Work

For two years in a row, Google has been named Fortune Magazine’s Best Place to Work. There are many reasons for this, as you’ll find out if you browse Google’s Jobs site. There’s life at Google, amazing benefits, and employee profiles. Google offers a plethora of information about working for them on their site, but they also have a brilliantly simple layout that makes navigating their jobs a breeze. YouTube videos are integrated into job listings and job descriptions are well written and generally jargon free. Most importantly, though, Google has given students their own section of the Careers site to peruse. The #1 employer also has one of the best online recruiting presences we’ve seen, but that’s no big surprise, since it is Google.

I have fond memories of Google’s campus recruiting efforts, because they often put puzzle inserts in the campus newspaper. If I remember correctly, that’s how I was first introduced to the game of Sudoku. These were generally targeted towards engineers, but the branding still stuck with me. Many great employers ignore entry-level talent, but Google has always shown a commitment to hiring the best college students. We do know that Google can be slow when replying to job applications, but we think that they are urgent to hire for the positions that we mentioned. If you don’t hear back from them soon, you probably didn’t get the job (and that’s ok, Google turns down a lot of qualified applicants). The thing that amazes us is that these are jobs that college students dream of, and they’re still available in April!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Google.com
Jobs at Google
Jobs at Google for Students
Jobs at Google in North America for Students
Life at Google
Google’s Locations
Getting in to Google

As if we haven’t plugged it enough. Read our article How to Use Google to Find a Job.

Pi Media

Willy Franzen — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:00:37 +0000

We couldn’t resist ourselves. We’re math nerds (who have a fondness for offbeat holidays), and we love Pi Day. For those of you who don’t get it, March fourteenth or 3/14 represents the first 3 digits of pi. That means that at 1:59:26, the date and time will represent 8 digits of pi. How do we celebrate Pi Day besides coming up with a pi-related job for you? We take recommendations from PiDay.org and eat pies and other circularly shaped delicacies while reciting as many digits of pi as we can from memory. Hey, we never claimed to be cool. We went back and forth about what kind of job to feature, and even asked a math teacher for recommendations. We found a company called Pi Media that we just couldn’t pass up, so there won’t be any jobs in math, private investigation, or baking today. Sorry.

We don’t usually feature companies from outside the United States, but it’s an international holiday, and we owe it to our Canadian readers anyway. Pi Media is a Toronto, Canada based content creation company – North America’s largest in fact. What is content creation? It’s building the pieces of an effective marketing/advertising campaign. A big portion of this is photography, but there are also design and strategic aspects of the business. The Pi Media website is a bit jargon heavy, so it is hard for us to get a clear view of where their expertise actually lies. We really just like them because of their name. We were able to find this web page that takes an inside look at Pi Media’s photography studio. Hopefully it will give you a better sense of what working at Pi Media entails.

As for jobs, Pi Media doesn’t have specific listings; however, their Careers page talks about looking for creative individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit. They accept resumes at hr@pimedia.com, so send away.

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Think that you could have found a better Pi Day themed job? Tell us about it in the comments. Or better yet, write up your own post, send it to us, and if we like it, we’ll publish it.

Bliss

Willy Franzen — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:00:44 +0000

Job searching is stressful. Sometimes you need to just relax and let your mind clear before you continue on with your search. There are a lot of ways to relax, but what if you could find a job that is all about relaxation? That’s what Bliss offers. Ok, their employees have to work like any other company’s employees, but how bad can it be when your company’s About page starts like this? “After giving a million massages, a trillion triple oxygen treatments and about a bazillion Brazilians, we’ve learned a thing or two—and our passion is passing that ‘glow-how’ on to you.” So, maybe you don’t need to take time off from your job search to relax; you can dream about Bliss and their spas while putting together a killer cover letter that will ensure a future with a relaxation-based work experience. And before we forget, you might want to check out the online sale Bliss has going on right now, they’re offering up to 80% off on their products.

We really like the way Bliss talks about jobs on their website, but we think they might want to change the way that they link to their careers page. It’s titled “Bliss on the Job,” which sounds nice, but could mean a lot of things (like a listing of companies that offer Bliss products or services as perks to their employees). We appreciate the creativity. We love the effort. But it’s just not straight forward enough for someone who is honed in on finding job openings. Other than that, we love Bliss’ careers site. Their job descriptions are fresh, funny, and direct. It’s amazing how few words it takes for Bliss to get the point across about who they want to hire. They put many other employers to shame, because they realize that a job description is about getting people excited to work for you, not about listing a million qualifications that are irrelevant to whether or not you can do the job.

Most of Bliss’ entry-level jobs are located at their corporate office in New York City. The only clear cut entry-level jobs at Bliss are as an HR Coordinator, for someone who majored in an HR related field, and as Licensed Estheticians (the job description says that new grads are welcome). Beyond those, there are quite a few jobs that require some experience, but Bliss fails to say how much. Either they want a broad range of applicants, or they could stand to do a little better when specifying about experience in their job descriptions (we can forgive them for that, considering whoever wrote their job descriptions actually has copywriting talent). These positions include Counter Manager, Copywriter, Remède Marketing Associate Manager, and Sales Freelancer (Chicago, Minneapolis, Toronto, Dallas, Houston, and Miami).

You can also take a look at Bliss’ Spa Jobs. Bliss Spa locations include Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York City, San Francisco, and Punta Mita. These aren’t jobs geared towards new college grads, but they might be right for your post-collegiate plans.

Don’t stress out about your job search, instead dream of relaxation while you start researching Bliss and their career opportunities.

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Not ready for a full time gig? Why not take a look at Bliss’ internships.

American Apparel

Willy Franzen — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 14:00:04 +0000

They’ve invaded your Facebook with pics of half naked emo-hipster models (by the way, we’re dorks and had to look up the definitions of emo and hipster on Wikipedia, kind of like when Peter, Samir, and Michael Bolton look up money laundering in the dictionary in Office Space). A certain Ivy League campus in New York City has also been overrun with people dressed straight off this company’s website. Even when you win a t-shirt, it’s not Hanes or Fruit of the Loom anymore. American Apparel is attacking on all fronts. And before we go any farther, we should warn you that their site is filled with near-nudity, so don’t go browsing it in a public place or whatever.

American Apparel is a company whose defining advantage is the way they treat their workers. Yes, their clothes are trendy. Yes, American Apparel has provocative advertising. But without their made in America by fairly paid workers philosophy, they’d have no identity. And think about this: if they treat their sewers (people who sew, not where things go when you flush the toilet) well, they’re going to treat you well too. It’s definitely working for American Apparel, they’re growing rapidly and have been featured in Businessweek and more recently the Inc. 500.

American Apparel has a ton of entry-level jobs available in many different areas of work (almost all of which are located in Los Angeles, CA). There are more than we’re going to list, so if you want to see them all, head over to American Apparel’s jobs page. In Customer Service there are jobs such as: CSR & Reports, Retail Operations for Japan and Korea, Sales Coordinator, Showroom Sales Representative, and Wholesale Customer Returns Agent. In Production jobs include: Fabric Planning Assistant, Field Fabric Quality Control Assistant, and Technical Package Specialist. There are also a number of IT related jobs that might be good for new grads, but we feel we’ve listed a lot of tech jobs recently, so you can find them yourself. If you’re not quite ready for that desk job, you can always work at one of their retail stores.

Beyond paying above market wages, American Apparel also offers significant training for entry-level hires. So if you’re nervous about some of the skills needed for that position you really want, they might be able to help you get where you need to be. Beyond a willingness to train, they also offer free fitness and English as a second language classes, on-site masseurs, and company-subsidized lunches. From what we can tell, American Apparel also offers a very different work environment, so if their ads make you uncomfortable, working there might not be for you.

Don’t want a day job just yet? Want to just get by on your pretty face? Try modeling for American Apparel instead.

Note: On April 23rd we revisited entry-level jobs at American Apparel.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you like American Apparel’s ads? Or do you find them offensive? Leave a comment.