One Day, One Job » consulting

Urban Science

Willy Franzen — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:26:44 +0000

I’ve only purchased a car once in my life. It was in 2001, and it was my first car–a ’97 Ford Explorer. I definitely did some online research, but most of my time was spent going to dealers and actually looking at cars. It seems that more than a decade later, the car buying process hasn’t changed all that much, even though so many other business models have been upended by the Internet. That’s not to say technology isn’t becoming a tremendous asset in the automotive retail business. Managing dealer networks and marketing cars can get extremely complicated for auto manufacturers, and that’s where Urban Science steps in. Though they may sound like a non-profit that teaches inner-city kids science, they’re actually a Detroit, MI based “consulting and software solutions” provider that helps “automotive clients increase market share and boost profitability through high performing retail networks.” It all started in 1977 with a Wayne State University professor named Jim Anderson, who was disappointed to hear that Cadillac was told one of their marketing problems “couldn’t be solved.”

Are You an Urban Scientist?

Since its founding Urban Science has grown from one guy to 750+ employees, and they serve all of the biggest names in the auto world. Just look at their Client Showcase. Every name you could ever want to see on there is: Audi, Bentley, Ford, GM, Land Rover, Toyota, Volkswagen, Mercedes, Chrysler, Honda, and it keeps on going. It’s hard to understand what it is that Urban Science does if you’re not in the automotive industry, but you can start to understand by looking at their four step process for clients:

I highly recommend that you read through those pages, as they dig into the exact value that Urban Science provides to clients (and understanding that will help you understand how you can offer value to Urban Science). After you do that, check out Urban Science’s Careers page. They have quite a few jobs posted, and a bunch are “Recent College Graduate,” and they include:

Client Services Associate
QA Associate
Analytical Services Associate
Associate Developer
Information Technology Operations Associate
Analytical Services Associate (Long Beach, CA)
IT Associate (Long Beach, CA)
Client Team Associate (Long Beach, CA)
Associate (Herndon, VA)

Urban Science looks like a fascinating company, so look over these positions and see if any of them make sense for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

When was the last time that you bought a car?

The Marketing Arm

Willy Franzen — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:23:26 +0000

Although I only took one marketing class in college, I’ve really learned to love the field of marketing as I’ve built this business. There are so many different approaches, but the core of every valid one is having a great product. (I’m right in the thick of developing a new version of the site that you’re going to love.) Once you have a great product, there are a lot of different ways to spread the word. For the The Marketing Arm, a Dallas, TX based agency, the focus is on promotions. As they put it, they “help brands connect with those consumers by providing insight-driven ideas across nine emotional platforms: TV, film, music, gaming, celebrities, causes, multicultural, sports, and motorsports.” It’s all about creating an incentive to experience the brand, and then providing an exceptional experience when that happens.

Arm Yourself

Promotions is an area of marketing that I’m not all that familiar with in terms of execution, but I’ve certainly been lured in by my share of promotions. Here are some of the areas of promotions that The Marketing Arm focuses on:

Sweepstakes, games and contests
Frequency, loyalty, and reward programs
Discount offers
Partner marketing
Consumer, employee and business-to-business
Premiums and gifts-with-purchase
Design, collateral, and POS
Interactive (Web and wireless)

If you want to see what these look like in action, just head over to The Marketing Arm’s Case Studies. They have some in-depth stories on what they’ve done for different brands and what kind of results they’ve garnered. If you’re excited about what you see, then you’ll want to take a look at The Marketing Arm’s Jobs page. Right now they have a few opportunities that look exciting for new or recent grads including:

There are some excellent opportunities here, so promote yourself to The Marketing Arm and see what happens.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What kind of promotions are your favorite?

Zingerman’s

Willy Franzen — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 17:20:00 +0000

I spent the weekend in Ann Arbor, MI visiting some friends, and today I’ll be doing office hours at The Career Center at University of Michigan from 3 – 5 PM (if you’re a UMich student, you should definitely stop by and say hi). I’ve already been to Zingerman’s twice, and I wouldn’t be surprised if my girlfriend forces me to go one more time (not that I’m complaining). In case you’ve never been, Zingerman’s is an Ann Arbor institution. Their flagship store is a deli, but they also have the following businesses: a bakery, a workforce training consulting firm, a caterer, a mail order company, a creamery, a sit-down restaurant, a coffee company, and a confectioner. The whole business generated nearly $40 million in revenue in 2009, and the deli alone generated more than $10 million in revenue. The really remarkable thing is that they’ve stayed local throughout. It’s not about taking the concept and growing it into a chain.

Zing!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve ordered a sandwich (always modified to exclude the disgusting substance known as mayonnaise) and had no confidence that the person taking my order actually listened to what I said. At Zingerman’s that’s not an issue. Their staff is phenomenally well trained and extremely attentive. It’s not what I’ve come to expect when I deal with businesses in the service industry. It all has to do with Zingerman’s approach to people. They hire selectively, they train well, and they offer amazing benefits. Most of their jobs aren’t of the type that we’d typically cover, but “the Zingerman’s experience” changes everything. So take a look at Zingerman’s Jobs page, and see if any of the positions appeal to you. There’s a ton to be learned at Zingerman’s, and I’m sure that they do a lot of promoting from within.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever had a sandwich from Zingerman’s?

Cvent

Willy Franzen — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:30:27 +0000

Yesterday we told you about Blue Chip Career, so here’s another reminder to check them out. They offer personalized guidance from seasoned executives to help you overcome your biggest job search challenges. Get paired with one of their experts and receive the inside scoop on how to land the job of your dreams.

My girlfriend and I are having a housewarming/birthday party this weekend. We invited people by e-mail, and we’re keeping of track of who is coming through a Google doc. That’s about as simple as it gets in terms of using software for event management. I don’t think our solution would cut it for companies like Verizon, Yahoo!, Walmart, and Oracle. They need something a little more… industrial strength. That’s what Cvent offers. They’re a McLean, VA based company that offers comprehensive event, survey, and eMarketing software solutions–exactly what large companies need to make sure that every little detail is taken care of when they put on an event.

Have a Cventful Job Search

The best way to get a feel for the scale that Cvent operates on, you need to look at some of their key statistics. They were founded in 1999, and since then their software has managed more than 275,000 events, sent 850 million e-mail invitations, and managed 30 million event registrations and survey responses. You can learn more about what those solutions look like here. You may also want to dig into some of the Resources that they provide–it’ll give you a better sense of the kinds of problems that they solve for their clients. If you like what you see, then you’ll want to check out Cvent’s Careers page. You’ll see some great openings that seem suitable for new or recent grads including Blogger/Social Media Associate, Business Development Associate, Information Security Analyst, Mobile Application Developer, Product Consultant, Quality Engineer, Sales Associate, Software Engineer, Systems Analyst, Systems Programmer, Systems Support Engineer, and Technical Support Engineer. There are lots of options, so hopefully at least one will intrigue you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Cvent?

Prophet

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

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

Make a Prophet

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Prophet?

Opera Solutions

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

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

Join the Opera

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Opera Solutions?

Morningstar

Willy Franzen — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:01:41 +0000

Want to land a job and save the world at the same time? This week’s sponsor is Samaritan’s Purse, a non-profit organization with some amazing entry level career opportunities.

Sometimes during your job search a company name will keep popping up. You’ll ignore them because of assumptions that you’ve already made about them. Eventually you’ll give them a look, and you’ll realize that you didn’t know as much as you thought about them. That’s kind of how I’ve been with Morningstar. I knew of them well before I started this site. I have a friend who worked for them. They’re headquartered here in Chicago, IL, and they’re big supporters of the local startup and technology scene. They’re one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, and I’ve even had multiple people tell me to write about them. I guess it’s time to take a closer look at Morningstar, which is “a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.” They serve all investors from individuals to financial advisors to institutions, and they do so with a wide range of products that includes services, software, online publications, and print publications.

Good Morning!

Morningstar is a big company. They have thousands of employees, and work all across the world–26 countries to be exact. They provide “data on approximately 380,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 5 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets.” In other words, there are all kinds of job opportunities at Morningstar. Luckily, they do a great job with their Careers site. You should probably start with the Morningstar Story, and then read up on what it’s like to work at Morningstar (you may also want to check out their Employee Testimonials).

From there you will have two options. The first is to look at Morningstar’s Development Program, which is their formal entry level recruiting program. They’re actually having a Meet and Greet at their headquarters on August 4th for people interested in the program (you must register by e-mailing mdpresumes@morningstar.com before July 29th). The second option is to go straight to their Job postings. You can narrow it down to only Morningstar’s entry level listings, where you’ll see positions like Associate Municipal Credit Analyst, Data Analyst, Private Funds – Custom Software (Chicago, IL),
Data Management Analyst (Chicago, IL), Data Management Analyst (Oakland, MD), IFA Journalist (Australia), Investment Analyst – Morningstar Investment Management (Chicago, IL),
Operations Associate, Morningstar Investment Services (Chicago, IL), Product Consultant (United Kingdom), Product Consultant for Institutional Software (France), Product Support Specialist (Austin, TX), Quality Assurance Analyst – Custom Solutions (Chicago, IL), Research Analyst (Chicago, IL), and Sales Associate – Inside Sales (Chicago, IL). There’s a ton of opportunity at Morningstar, so don’t overlook them like I did.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What company have you been ignoring?

Yodle

Willy Franzen — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 15:50:53 +0000

I keep finding myself talking about local marketing, and there’s a good reason for it. It’s an industry that has taken off in the last couple of years. Previously, the Yellow Pages and newspapers dominated local marketing. The web has eroded large parts of those businesses, but it has taken a while for new options to reach critical mass. Then businesses like Groupon and Yext realized that they could use the same sales strategy that the Yellow Pages and newspapers used, but sell marketing products and services that are results focused. Yodle is another one of these companies. They’re based in New York, NY (with offices across the country), and their mission is “to connect local businesses with consumers so simply and cost-effectively that business owners can’t imagine any other way to advertise.” They aim to achieve this by making online advertising a whole lot simpler for the average small business owner.

Can You Yodle?

Yodle got its start because a kid was helping his dad’s car dealership with online marketing. This kid, Nathaniel Stevens, realized that what he was doing could be applied to lots of different types of small businesses, so he came up with a plan to start a company that would work at a big enough scale to help all kinds of business owners attract new customers. Apparently Yodle is doing a good job, since they seem to keep growing. They do everything from building websites for businesses to running search advertising campaigns to setting up social media presences. You can learn more about their offerings here, and you can read some client case studies here. You’ll also want to be sure to check out Yodle.info, where they put the spotlight on some of their employees. If you like what you see, head over to Yodle’s Jobs page. They have a ton of opportunities for new or recent grads including: Sales Development Representative (Scottsdale, AZ), Sales Representative (Scottsdale, AZ; Boston, MA; Philadelphia, PA; Charlotte, NC; and New York, NY), IT Analyst (Austin, TX), Software Engineer (New York, NY), Marketing Associate (New York, NY; Boston, MA; and Scottsdale, AZ), Search Marketing Analyst (Boston, MA; New York, NY; and Scottsdale, AZ), Search Marketing Consultant (Boston, MA; New York, NY; Charlotte, NC; and Scottsdale, AZ), Customer Support Specialist – Temp to Perm (Scottsdale, AZ), Organic Associate – Temp to Perm (Scottsdale, AZ), and Executive Assistant/Office Manager (New York, NY). There are a lot of options here, so hopefully something will fit your interests.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Yodle?

Offerpop

Willy Franzen — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:39:08 +0000

It seems as though every business has a Facebook page and a Twitter account these days. Everybody is excited about social media marketing, yet very few people know how to get it right. We have a Facebook page with 3,041 Likes, a Twitter account 3,888 followers, and a LinkedIn Group with 749 members, and I barely know what to do with them besides send out our daily updates (but you should still Like, Follow, and Join). Offerpop is a New York, NY based company that helps businesses use social media more effectively through a suite of tools and apps. They’ve only been around for about a year and a half, but they’ve already done some really cool stuff with some big name clients.

An Offer You Can’t Refuse

To get a sense for what Offerpop means when they talk about their “engaging, end-to-end, white label campaign tools for Facebook and Twitter,” you should take a look at both their Product page and their Case Studies. The range of apps that Offerpop already offers is pretty impressive, and all are focused on using social media to drive sales or other desired actions. Offerpop has worked with names like Tumi, Gilt City, Acura, Poker Stars, Girll Scouts, Bravo, Skype, Audi, Athleta, Samsung, Sara Lee, and American Eagle Outfitters, so you know that their product offerings must be generating a solid ROI. If you like what Offerpop is doing, you can head over to their Jobs page to learn more about their career opportunities. Right now they’re looking for a Sales Representative, a Social Marketing Consultant , and a Facebook and Twitter Developer. The first and the last are probably best suited to new or recent grads, but check out all of the job descriptions here.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you find social media marketing effective?

Catchafire

Willy Franzen — Tue, 24 May 2011 16:13:18 +0000

Volunteering is a great thing to do during your job search. It’s an opportunity to do good while building valuable skills and putting yourself to work doing something (which is always better than nothing when you’re job searching). Obviously volunteering isn’t only for people who have time on their hands, yet many non-profit organizations treat it like it is. Why would you have a top notch software developer running around picking up trash when he or she could be fixing a few bugs on the organization’s website? Why have a brilliant investment banker building a house when he or she could be managing the organization’s endowment? If the volunteers want time away from work and would prefer to do something different, that’s totally cool. But what if they want to offer pro bono services? Where do they find organizations who can make the best use of their time? Catchafire is a New York, NY based B-Corp (a for-profit company with a social mission–we actually featured jobs with B Corporation) that aims to fix this problem. They want to “make it easy for every professional to use their skills for good, and to make it easy for every nonprofit and social enterprise to access and effectively use pro bono as a way to build capacity within their organization.”

Catchajob

So far non-profits have received $2,217,500 worth of volunteered services through Catchafire. It would take hundreds of thousands of hours of typical volunteering to deliver that kind of value, but because Catchafire posts specific volunteer projects with well defined needs, they’re able to capture way more value with way less time. It’s a really cool model, and it’s cool that it’s actually a business and not just a non-profit. Catchafire charges organizations a membership fee on a sliding scale based on size and budget. It seems to be working, as there are quite a few success stories. You can learn more about how Catchafire came to be by reading their story, and you can learn more about how they work by checking out their About page and FAQs. If you like what you see and the B-Corp style, then you should check out jobs at Catchafire. Right now they’re looking for a Product & Marketing Summer Associate, a Software Engineer, and a Social Good Organization Consultant. These look like great jobs, so look them over and consider applying.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How often do you volunteer?

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?

Sapphos Environmental

Willy Franzen — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:23:21 +0000

It used to be that if you wanted to build something, the hard part would be actually building it. These days the biggest hold up in construction and development is often environmental compliance. There are a multitude of regulations that limit what you can build, where you can build it, and how you can build it. The rules are often complex and they can vary greatly between jurisdictions. Sapphos Environmental is a Pasadena, CA based company that helps its clients resolve “planning, resource management, and environmental compliance issues through the development of pragmatic solutions and exemplary client service.” In other words they offer a range of services that ensure that development projects are done in an environmentally sensitive and compliant way.

Turning Compliance into Poetry

That maybe an odd heading, but it appears that Sapphos Environmental is named after an Ancient Greek poet. To get a feel for what the company does, you need to take a look at some of their past projects. They’ve worked on things ranging from the Hyundai Automotive Test Course to a Comprehensive Citywide Historic Survey of Santa Ana, CA. Looking at these cases, I can tell that Sapphos Environmental really digs in and looks at all of the issues surrounding a given project. Their job is to understand all of the factors that affect a given project, and then offer their clients a suite of options to their that work within the environmental and compliance constraints. It looks like fascinating work, which is why you may want to take a look at their Jobs page. They offer some really cool job titles like Archaeologist, Botanist, Avian Wildlife Biologist, Cultural Resources Coordinator/Architectural Historian, and Wildlife Biologist; however, most of these positions require significant prior experience. The two positions that you should look at are Wildlife Biologist/Botanist and Resources Specialist (if you have a Master’s Degree). If you have the right education and an interest in environmental consulting, you should be a good fit.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Sapphos Environmental?

FactSet Research Systems

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

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

Get Your FactSet

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about FactSet?

Framework:CR

Willy Franzen — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 15:23:19 +0000

I love it when I get tips from readers on cool companies to feature. I understand that a lot of you don’t want to hurt your chances by spreading the word about jobs that you’ve applied for, but sometimes it helps to pay it forward. So e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com and tell me about cool companies that you’ve found that you think that we should feature. If it weren’t for a reader suggestion, I wouldn’t have known to look at Framework:CR and the entry level position that they’re trying to fill. Now, Framework:CR is sustainability consulting firm based in Stamford, CT that “helps clients develop integrated sustainability strategies and initiatives that build brand value, cut costs, and, ultimately, enhance profitability.” They’re a small company with only a handful of employees, but they’ve been around for 8 years and appear to be growing.

A New Framework

Framework:CR use the tagline: “When sustainability is profitable, profitability is sustainable.” I like that a lot. No matter how much social good comes from sustainability, companies aren’t going to make changes unless they help the bottom line. Framework:CR helps “clients understand how they perform relative to their competitors and the expectations of key stakeholders” and offers “guidance and tools to facilitate their transition to better and more sustainable business practices.” You can get a feel for Framework:CR’s work here, and you can also check out their client list, which includes names like Avon Products, Citigroup, H.J. Heinz, Staples, and Symantec. You’ll also want to read up on Framework:CR’s Team—there are only four of them, so it shouldn’t take long. Finally, the Framework:CR Blog is updated frequently, so you should give it a look. The most recent post details how they negotiated with their new landlord to get sustainable paint and carpeting in their new office. Once you do that, you can check out their job posting for a Junior Analyst. It’s a perfect position for sustainability minded new grad, so check it out and apply.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about Framework:CR?

Gerson Lehrman Group

Willy Franzen — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 16:57:18 +0000

Sometimes I get dubbed as a career expert. I guess in some ways that’s true, but I see myself more as an entrepreneur whose business is helping students and grads find jobs and internships. In my opinion it takes way more knowledge and experience to become an expert. I’m talking about people with PhDs and 30 years of experience, and, amazingly, there are experts on nearly every topic. But how do you find them when you need them? That’s where Gerson Lehrman Group comes in. They’re professional matchmakers when it comes to experts. Since 1998 they’ve created a global marketplace for expertise and “helped the world’s leading institutions find, engage, and manage experts across a broad range of industries and disciplines.” I have friends who have actually used Gerson Lehrman Group in their jobs to find experts, and I’ve heard nothing but rave reviews about the people at Gerson Lehrman Group and their experts (who are not employed by the firm).

Become an Expert on Experts

Now, you’re coming from a college campus which is likely littered with experts. You can probably walk into a random professor’s office hours and gain insight from the foremost expert on some archaic topic. Usually expertise isn’t so free and easy. Businesses, consulting firms, and non-profit organizations are constantly seeking outside expertise to help guide their decision-making processes. Gerson Lehrman Group takes the pain out of finding the right expert for the job. While they provide experts in nearly any area imaginable, Gerson Lehrman Group calls out Accounting & Financial Analysis, Consumer Goods & Services, Energy & Industrials, Financial & Business Services, Healthcare, Legal, Economic, & Regulatory Affairs, Real Estate, and Technology, Media & Telecom as their main areas of focus. There’s a ton of information on the Gerson Lehrman Group, so you should really dig in and get to know the company in a little more depth. Then you can check out their Careers page and Job listings. Some examples of their entry level opportunities include: Business Development Associate (New York, NY), Event Coordinator (Austin, TX), Survey Associate (Austin, TX), Associate Copywriter (New York, NY), Associate (Dublin, Ireland), Recruiting Associate – Fluent Portuguese (Austin, TX), Member Solutions Associate – Fluent Portuguese (Austin, TX), and Front End Web Developer (New York, NY). However, you may want to pay most attention to their Associate and Associate – 2011 positions, which are both a two-year program for new/recent grads in Austin, TX.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Gerson Lehrman Group?

The Cadmus Group

Willy Franzen — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:02:31 +0000

I’m sure that you keep hearing about the green job revolution and how environmentalist ideals are actually going to start fueling economic growth (instead of hindering it), yet you’re probably wondering where all of these opportunities are. Most of the green entry level jobs that I come across are either in the non-profit or energy sectors. However, if you look a little more closely there are a lot more options—some of which have been around a lot longer than you would have expected. Take The Cadmus Group in Watertown, MA for example. They were founded in 1983 to “take advantage of a change in how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) procured contractor support,” and they’ve evolved into a leading environmental consulting firm. They’ve done this by gathering “the best minds across a variety of disciplines to help address the nation’s most pressing environmental, energy, and health challenges.

Cadmus Was a Phoenician Prince

The Cadmus Group works in a variety of areas that include Water, Energy Services, Social Marketing and Communications, Green Building, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability, Strategic Environmental Management, and International Development. There’s a lot there, but they’re a decent sized consulting firm, so it makes sense for them to cover a lot of service areas. To get specifics on the kind of work that they do in each of these areas you can look at this section on their website. You may also want to read through their blog, although it hasn’t been updated in quite a while. Although Cadmus doesn’t get specific about client projects on their website, they provide plenty of information for you to be able to figure out where you might fit in. Their Careers page says that they generally seek applicants with backgrounds in Engineering, Public Policy, Public Finance, Statistics, Economics, Ecological Modeling, Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment, Ecosystem Analysis, Media and Marketing, Public Relations. You can find their current openings listed here. In terms of entry level positions, you’ll want to look at the following jobs: Entry Level Communications Professional (Arlington, VA), Part-Time Computer Support Technician (Watertown, MA), Part-Time Environmental Research and Policy Analyst (Watertown, MA), Research Analyst (Arlington, VA), Research Analyst (Watertown, MA), Research Analyst – Energy Services (Watertown, MA), and Research Analyst/Analyst (Arlington, VA). And in addition the locations that I mentioned, they also have offices in Portland, OR; Boulder, CO; Salt Lake City, UT; Los Angeles, CA; Helena, MT; and Madison, WI.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about The Cadmus Group?

Rise Interactive

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

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

When Do You Rise?

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

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

The Pursuant Group

Willy Franzen — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:54:41 +0000

If you haven’t noticed already, I’m a big supporter of non-profits. Not only am I on the board of a budding non-profit that aims to improve education through athletics, but I also make sure that we only feature non-profit entry level jobs on weekends. Now, I always assumed that you couldn’t get rich in the non-profit world, but that’s not necessarily true. Take the The Pursuant Group for example. They are “a family of companies all with one common purpose, serving nonprofits and helping them achieve their greatest potential.” The Pursuant Group is based in Dallas, TX, and they made the Inc. 500 with 754% three-year growth to $12.8 million in annual revenue. Now making money from non-profits may seem like a bad thing at first, but it’s worth the cost—non-profits that hire The Pursuant Group’s companies operate more effectively and efficiently.

What Are You Pursuing?

The Pursuant Group consists of five companies: RSI, Ketchum, Pursuant Agency, Pursuant Sports, and Unifyer. RSI helps faith-based organizations improve stewardship. Ketchum works with non-profits to improve fundraising and development campaigns. Pursuant Agency offers “full-service fundraising programs.” PursuantSports “is the leader in innovative fundraising and online media solutions serving collegiate athletics, charitable sports foundations, and professional and amateur organizations.” And Unifyer is “a low-cost, social networking platform designed specifically to meet the unique needs of the nonprofit.” Yes, they do a lot of different things, but all of the Pursuant Group’s businesses tie together nicely. Now, it seems that each business does it’s own hiring, and only some of the businesses have Careers pages. The most promising positions for a new grad are at Pursuant Agency—they’re looking for an Inside Sales Associate and a Web Content Coordinator. However, if you are more interested in one of the other business, don’t be afraid to reach out to them and pitch yourself.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about The Pursuant Group?

Retail Solutions

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

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

What’s Your Solution?

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you still do a lot of retail shopping?

MCG

Willy Franzen — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 15:20:12 +0000

Did you know that you can get Amazon Prime for free if you’re a college student? That means unlimited, free two-day shipping on everything you buy.

For the past couple of months we’ve been including more numbers than usual in our daily posts—things like three-year growth rates and annual revenues. Since we’ve been looking mostly at companies on the Inc. 500, we figure that it’s useful information. If simple numbers like those intimidate you, then today’s company is definitely not for you. However, if your response to our daily posts is to seek out more numbers and dig into annual reports and other similar documents, then you’re in luck. MCG is a Providence, RI based company that does mathematical, statistical, and strategic consulting. Their motto is “Nothing is too complex.” The first person listed on their Management Team page is their Chief Analytics Officer, so that should tell you a lot about MCG’s focus. And I almost forgot—MCG has grown at an 834.4% rate over the past three years to $2.2 million in revenue (they were only founded in 2006).

Quantify Your Worth at MCG

I’m not sure which is more interesting, the areas that MCG works in or the clients who use them. Apparently, they break their business up into ten defined areas: Business Consulting, Business Planning and Valuation, Trading Systems, Government Procurement Consulting, Dissertation Assistance, Medical and Biostat Research, Equal Employment Advisory & Litigation Support, Casino Gaming and Sports Analysis, Market Research Services, and Risk Management. With all that expertise, it should be no surprise that their clients include Starbucks, ESPN, Nielsen, Teach for America, Visa, Harvard Medical School, and quite a few other huge names. If you graduated with a degree from a top program in theoretical or applied statistics, pure or applied mathematics, physics, economics and econometrics, psychometrics, engineering, or computer science, then you may want to consider a Career at MCG. They don’t list specific positions, but you can reach out to them about their opportunities at careers@mcg-site.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a quant?

Green Education Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 15:14:52 +0000

When I was in Kindergarten, I was given a tree seedling in a half milk carton. I was supposed to bring it home and plant it. I’m sure there was some other lesson that came with the seedling, but all I can remember is having my own tree and thinking it was cool. I went home and planted the tree in a marginal spot where it took way too long to grow. The tree even made the move when my parents bought a new house, but it only lasted a few months in its new spot. This tree was obviously part of my “green education,” and that was back in the early 90s. Obviously, the need for environmental education continues to grow, and the Green Education Foundation in Walpole, MA is aiming to fill the growing need. They are a “non-profit organization that provides environmental education resources for Pre K-12 classrooms and youth groups nationwide.” I don’t know if seedlings in milk cartons is still in, but I bet the Green Education Foundation has much more innovative ways of teaching now.

Greening Our Youth

The Green Education Foundation’s programs include National Green Week, Green Energy Challenge, Green Thumb Challenge, Green Schools Initiative, I Play Green, and I Ride Green. Each is targeted towards mobilizing students and getting them to focus on a different area of environmental responsibility. GEF also offers editorials on a variety of environmental issues, and they provide curriculums for all different age groups. If the GEF sounds like something that you want to get behind, then you should check out both their Careers page and their jobs on Idealist. Their current openings include Environmental Science/Green Buildings Course Consultant, Graphic Designer, and Environmental Science Textbook Writer (probably not entry level). Check them out and see what fits you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What kind of green education did you get?

Altimeter Group

Willy Franzen — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:17:37 +0000

Happy Flag Day! I don’t have a post on America’s biggest flag manufacturer or anything, but I’m sure that you’re ok with that. A big part of my job is staying up on the newest technology, trends, and turns of events. It’s not that I’m doing anything earth shattering, but if I want to be able to tell you where the most exciting entry level opportunities are, I need to be one step ahead of the economy. I need to have a feel for where growth is going to come from before everyone else already knows about it. This keeps me interested, and it gives me a good excuse to be an early adopter of things like Twitter and Foursquare. As important as it is for me to be constantly aware of what’s new, it’s even more important for the folks at Altimeter Group, which is a San Mateo, CA based company that “provides thought leadership, research, and advisory on digital strategies, with a core focus on how companies can leverage disruptive technologies.” A lot of the top talent at Altimeter came from Forrester Research, so there are some similarities between the firms; however, Altimeter Group puts a much bigger focus on how companies should actually use technology (whereas Forrester issues reports about said technology).

Reach a New Altitude

When you’re searching for a job, it’s fun and easy to embrace new technologies. Nothing can disrupt you, because you’re flexible. But when you run a multi-million dollar business that has been around for a while, change can be scary. In a matter of months, your business model could be obsolete. Unfortunately for many people in business, there are plenty of things that take priority over staying current. They can’t do it on their own, so they hire help. That’s where the Altimeter Group comes in. Their “holistic approach to emerging technologies” helps their clients learn about and utilize new technologies in four areas: Leadership and Management, Customer Strategy, Enterprise Strategy, and Innovation and Design. These are traditional consulting areas, but the content that Altimeter Group covers is obviously non-traditional. If you’re an early adopter and want to help businesses overcome their fear of technology, then you should take a look at jobs at Altimeter Group. Right now they’re looking for an Entry Level Researcher. It’s a contract position that goes for three months with the opportunity to stay on permanently after. That shouldn’t really matter since by the time that you’re done with them, they’d be stupid not to keep you. The job descriptions does offer application instructions (and you should follow them), but I think that you’d be silly to ignore the accessibility of Altimeter Group’s leadership—they have contact info on the sidebar of every page on their site.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Altimeter Group?

Fahrenheit 212

Willy Franzen — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:50:02 +0000

I was flipping through the June issue of Fast Company to take a look at their list of The 100 Most Creative People in Business (Lady Gaga is #1) because I figured it would probably lead me towards some new companies to feature. Oddly enough, the profile in magazine that caught my attention first wasn’t even from the list. It was a short profile of Geoff Vuleta, the CEO of New York City based Fahrenheit 212. He’s building a new type of consulting firm—one where IDEO meets McKinsey. He thinks that most innovation firms ignore the fact that the products and ideas that they create need to make money, and he thinks that traditional consulting firms rarely have ideas good enough to serve the markets that they so easily identify. Fahrenheit 212 focuses on helping major companies find new areas for growth—areas that will provide in excess of $100 million in new revenue. But what might be the most unique thing about Fahrenheit 212 is their business model. They only get paid if their ideas work, as they “put up to two thirds of [their] fees at risk, subject to hitting agreed commercial milestones on the initiative.”

Get These Jobs Before They Boil Over

I usually look skeptically at people who say things like “I’m an idea person.” It’s very rare for someone to succeed on an idea alone. Geoff Vuleta is very much an idea man. He came from the advertising industry, and that’s one place where you can get by on ideas (after spending many years executing your way up the ladder). However, it isn’t Geoff’s ideas that scored Fahrenheit 212 clients like LG, Goldman Sachs, Starbucks, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and NBC Universal. It’s the fact that Geoff’s ideas are only executed on when there’s a real market opportunity. There are plenty of innovation firms churning out new ideas every day, and there are plenty of consulting firms getting paid big bucks to try to help corporations do what they’re already doing better. Fahrenheit 212 is combining those two approaches with the thought that 1 + 1 = 11 (here are some case studies). If you like the way that math looks, then you need to check out jobs at Fahrenheit 212. I’d imagine that most of Fahrenheit 212′s hiring is done above the entry level; however, their job postings seem to be more focused on talent than experience. Right now they’re looking to fill positions like Graphic Designer, Video Designer, Innovation Associate – Idea Development, and Innovation Associate – Commercial Strategy. You can reach out to them about any of the positions at careers@fahrenheit-212.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Fahrenheit 212′s approach?

Yankee Group

Willy Franzen — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:00:58 +0000

It’s funny how when a company gets on my radar, I often start hearing about them from multiple directions. It’s kind of like how when you learn the meaning of a word that you’d never heard of before, and then you notice it regularly frequently in daily conversation. It may be a coincidence, but it almost seems as though the word has finally achieved a certain level of inertia that it didn’t have before. Anyway, this seems to be the case with Boston, MA based Yankee Group. I had taken note of an internship with them a few days ago, and then a couple days later I came across this article about how the iPad is the fastest product to ever ramp to $1 billion in sales. You should read the article, it’s a decent introduction to the kind of stuff that Yankee Group focuses on. They call themselves “the global connectivity experts,” which in layman’s terms means that they’re a independent research and consulting firm that focuses on communications technology.

Be a Yankee

Now it may seem strange that a company located in Boston has chosen to use the name Yankee Group, but I’m hoping that it’s a secret call for help from a Yankee fan who is trapped in Sawx Nation. Yankee Group’s big focus right now is on the Anywhere Revolution, which is a reference to “the convergence of three vital technological developments–digital communications, broadband Internet access and ubiquitous wireless networks.” This convergence is the focus of much of Yankee Group’s consulting and research work. If you’re fascinated by communications technology, then Yankee Group would be a great place to work. They did go through some substantial layoffs in late 2008 and early 2009, but their Careers page seems to show that they’re back to hiring. Most of their positions are targeted towards more experienced professionals, but there is one opening for a Telecommunications Research Associate that might be suitable for a new or recent grad. Take a look and see if it’s a good fit for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Yankee Group?

The Advisory Board Company

Willy Franzen — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:54:31 +0000

Consultants are typically seen as hired mercenaries. Sometimes they get a bad rap, but at least they’re compensated well for it. I have to think that those who work at The Advisory Board Company have at least a somewhat better reputation since their company’s clients are all mission driven. What does mission driven mean? Well, most of The Advisory Board Company’s clients are in the healthcare industry (think hospitals and health systems, not insurance providers), but they’ve recently moved into working with universities too. I hadn’t heard of The Advisory Board Company until a One Day, One Job reader e-mailed me (you can reach me at willy@onedayonejob.com if you want to share a tip or success story) to tell me that he recently received a job offer from them. Apparently they do a ton of entry level hiring, and they’re continuing to grow well beyond the 5 employees that they started with in 1979. Since then they’ve grown to more than 1,000 employes, and they’ve served “more than 2,800 leading healthcare and higher education organizations.” Additionally, they’ve grown beyond their corporate headquarters in Washington, DC to having offices in Chicago, IL; San Francisco, CA; Austin, TX; Portland, OR; Nashville, TN; London, UK; and Chennai, India.

Join The Board

Introducing The Advisory Board Company as a consulting firm wasn’t fully accurate. They actually operate quite differently from most consulting practices. Instead of serving clients on an engagement basis, they do most of their work as a membership organization. Hospitals or universities can become The Advisory Board Company members and gain access to the company’s different offerings, which include things like Strategy Research, Clinical Research, Leadership Development, Business Intelligence Analytics, and more. They also provide Management and Consulting services, but it seems that those aren’t the main focus. Still, if you’d consider a career in consulting, The Advisory Board Company could be a nice alternative. Their Careers page goes into a lot of detail about the company’s culture and benefits, and obviously it also has the job listings. Right now there are just over 40 jobs posted, and I’ve picked out the following as being ideal for new grads: Account Management Associate, Syndicated Research Analyst, Business Intelligence Marketing Coordinator, Marketing Associate, Paralegal, Partner Services Associate, Recruiting Coordinator, Higher Education Research Associate, and User Support Specialist. From what I can tell, all of these positions are located in DC, but the company does seem to offer some location flexibility and opportunities to work from home. The Advisory Board Company does a really nice job with job descriptions, so you shouldn’t have trouble deciding whether these jobs are a good fit for you or not.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about The Advisory Board Company?

Rosetta

Willy Franzen — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:31:08 +0000

I got a tip on this one from a fellow Cornellian (which is cool because a few of my friends from Cornell work at Rosetta). If you ever find a company that you think that we should feature, e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com. We feature a lot of interactive marketing agencies because they’re usually pretty big on hiring young talent whether it be at the intern or entry level. Rosetta stands out because of their size and sophistication—they almost seem more like a consulting firm than a marketing agency, at least in the way that they present themselves. For instance, they recently become a “top ten interactive agency” by means of an acquisition. That seems so different from the image that most agencies try to portray, but it’s working. Through “dedication to client work within Consumer Products & Retail, Healthcare, Financial Services, Consumer Technology & Media, B2B, and Travel & Hospitality industries” Rosetta “has created enduring partnerships with [their] clients including Scholastic, Coach, Borders, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Nationwide, Marriott and Microsoft.” Those are huge names, so you know Rosetta, which is headquartered in Princeton with offices in New York, Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, and Denver, is capable of delivering results.

Relationships Matter

One of Rosetta’s key offerings is their suite of Relationship Marketing Services, which are focused on helping clients segment customers and offer “intelligent, personalized interactions across all online and offline channels.” This is just one part of the story, though. To get the full story on Rosetta’s offerings, you should take a look at this diagram. It shows how Rosetta walks clients through the marketing process—from creating the top-level strategy to using analytics to measure results. This means it’s not surprising that Rosetta’s job offerings are as varied as their service offerings—their Careers page is titled “Graphic Design Careers, SEO Jobs, and Financial Services Consulting Opportunities at Rosetta.”

As I mentioned in the beginning of the post, Rosetta seems to have a strong connection with Cornell (and probably quite a few other colleges) based on campus recruiting. Interestingly enough, Rosetta doesn’t really have a campus recruiting page—just a profile of a new grad who went to work for them. From there you can find their job search function, which is pretty terrible. It does appear to let you search for specifically entry level positions; however, there are at least 3 different queries that you can use, and they all seem to deliver different results. Your best bet is to look at their full list of job openings, or to look for positions like Recent Graduate Business Associate, Recent Graduate Technology Associate, Associate Consultant, Account Executive, Technology Associate, User Interface/Rich Media Developer, Recent Graduate Business Analyst, and quite a few others. The way that Rosetta lists their jobs is really a mess, so you need to take note that different jobs with the same title may be in different practice areas. Additionally, single job postings may be for multiple locations. They do have some nice pages on their Careers site like Meet Our People and Fun at Rosetta, but the whole thing is disorganized. I expect a lot better from a top ten agency. You can apply online for any of these positions, so forgive Rosetta for the lack of usability on their Careers site and see if you can help them move further up the top ten.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Were you looking Rosetta Stone’s jobs?

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?

ExactTarget

Willy Franzen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:53:54 +0000

I think that e-mail is still the king of social media. We have all of these fancy social networking accounts, but they all send their notifications to our inboxes. If you want someone’s attention, e-mail is the way to go (assuming your message doesn’t look like spam). Heck, you’re probably reading this in your e-mail. That’s why e-mail marketing continues to be a rapidly growing industry. We’ve already taken a look at jobs with Constant Contact, Aweber, and e-Dialog, and now we’re going to look at an industrial strength e-mail marketing company, ExactTarget. They’re based in Indianapolis, and since 2000 they’ve been focused on “providing the most powerful on-demand software for email communications and finding the best and brightest marketers on the planet to revolutionize the way people think about email.”

Target Your Job Search Exactly

ExactTarget offers a wide array of e-mail Products, Services, and Solutions that are used by clients like CarMax, Expedia, The Home Depot, and other huge brands. If you’d like to join ExactTarget at the forefront of e-mail marketing, then you should check out their entry level Catapult Rotational Program. Here’s an introductory video on the program (e-mail readers click through to watch):

If you like what you just saw, then there are two tracks that you can take. The ExactTarget Business Track will allow you to gain experience across departments like Marketing, Accounting, Solutions Consulting (SolCon), Account Management, Deliverability Services, Strategic Services, Training, SMB/Renewals, Partnerships, Human Resources, and Sales, while the ExactTarget Technical Track will have you working in Solutions Consulting (SolCon), Customer Support, Integration, Product, Quality Assurance, Deliverability Services, Training, Implementation, Design and Deployment. You may be able to meet up with ExactTarget recruiters on your campus, but if they’re not recruiting at your school you can get the run down on how to apply for the program here. ExactTarget has done a fantastic job with their entry level recruiting program, and I bet that reflects how much they value young talent.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of the Catapult Rotational Program?

Altman Vilandrie & Company

Willy Franzen — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:38:57 +0000

We’re just getting into the thick of campus recruiting season now, and that means that the most ambitious college seniors should be in full job search mode (so get to that career fair ASAP!). I know that it seems kind of ridiculous, but there are a lot of companies that are done with their hiring for next year by early January. These are usually some of the most selective companies out there, so if you’re looking or a prestigious job, you better get moving. Altman Vilandrie & Company is one of those companies that is already recruiting. They’re a Boston based boutique consulting firm that “focuses exclusively on the communications, media, and related technology and investor sectors.” As they put it, they’re “a unique, pure play communications and media strategy consulting group.” They won’t have the broad range of clients of a larger firm, but the projects that they work on are still going to be quite variable.

Get Your Consult On

Getting a job in consulting isn’t easy. If you haven’t already made the decision to aim for a career in consulting, then you have a lot of catching up to do. You should spend some serious time investigating the industry and getting familiar with all of the major players. It wouldn’t hurt to practice your case interview skills either. Landing an entry level jobs job in consulting is a seriously intense process, and I’d imagine that holds true at Altman Vilandrie too. Considering that they only do campus recruiting at Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, MIT, and Wellesley, you can see the kind of talent they’re looking for. With that said, they are open to hearing from students at other schools. You’re probably going to have to blow them away to even get looked at, but it’s worth reaching out to them in hopes of an Analyst position.

They do a great job of describing what life at Altman Vilandrie is like on their Culture page, so be sure to give that a good look before applying. Despite Altman Vilandrie’s focus on Media and Communications, I’d imagine that they worry more about talent than industry knowledge when it comes to entry level recruiting. If you think that you have what it takes and Altman VIlandrie isn’t visiting your campus (or you missed them), reach out to them at recruiting@altvil.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about Altman Vilandrie & Company?

Revel Consulting

Willy Franzen — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:51:40 +0000

When I was a freshman at Cornell, a bunch of my friends decided to form a group called the Red Revelers. We would go to sporting events and act rowdy. We had t-shirts and everything. I guess that’s why Revel Consulting caught my eye when I was browsing through the Inc. 5000 (expect to be hearing a lot about that list in the next few weeks—it’s my favorite resource for finding cool companies). They’re a Kirkland, WA based consulting firm that has expertise in Product Management, Program & Project Management, Change Management, Process Engineering, Sales and Marketing Management, Strategy Development & Measurement, and Cloud Computing. They’re also the 34th fastest growing private company in the United States. Beyond an awesome growth rate, they were also “named to the list of 100 Best Companies to Work For by Seattle Business magazine based on job satisfaction, work environment, and professional growth opportunities.”

Revel in Consulting

The problem with consulting companies is that most people don’t know what they do. Sometimes even the consultants can’t tell you exactly what they do. Part of the reason for that is that consulting is a very flexible field—at least in terms of subject matter. It’s often more about the process than the specifics of the project. Revel Consulting seems to have a good mix of specific areas of expertise—Cloud Computing for example—and more general practice areas such as Program & Project Management. You can’t even take a look at Revel Consulting’s portfolio or client list, because consulting firms usually try to keep that stuff under wraps. What you can look at is the fact that they went from less than $400k in revenue to $13.2 million in revenue in just three years. That tells you that Revel is a place that you want to be. Revel’s Careers page has information on Culture, Consultant Experiences, and Campus Recruiting. The latter focuses mostly on internships, but that’s ok because Revel has one application form for all jobs. They’ll take a look at you and figure out where you’ll fit in best—no need to apply for a specific position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Revel Consulting?