One Day, One Job » defense

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Willy Franzen — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:01:25 +0000

Columbus Day isn’t much of a holiday anymore–it’s become yet another regular work and school day for many. It makes sense considering Christopher Columbus wasn’t really the guy that my 1st grade teacher taught me that he was. Still, I’m amazed by the feats of guys like Columbus (which is why I’ve written about Garmin and Facet Technology on past Columbus Days). Getting in a boat with an uncertain route to a far away destination still seems crazy to me, and these guys did it in a time when navigation equipment was quite basic. Their minds would be blown if they knew what kind of information the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (formerly the National Imagery and Mapping Agency) has. The agency is headquartered in Springfield, VA and has major facilities in St. Louis, MO (I learned about them from one of my awesome interns whose boyfriend works for the NGA). They are part of the Department of Defense, and they are tasked with providing “timely, relevant, and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security.”

Do You Have Geospatial Intelligence?

If you want an example of what the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency does, you’re not going to get a full answer because a lot of what they do is classified. However, they have been identified as playing a “critical role” in Operation Neptune’s Spear, which was the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. The agency’s employees operate in a number of areas including aeronautical analysis, cartography, geospatial analysis, imagery analysis, marine analysis, the physical sciences, geodesy, computer and telecommunication engineering, photogrammetry, and more. The NGA website is ok, but I highly recommend that you check out Wikipedia’s entry on the agency for a really good overview of the organization’s history and what it does.

If you like what you read, then you’ll want to take a look at the NGA’s Careers page. (Remember that we’re dealing with the federal government, so this isn’t going to be simple.) First, you’ll probably want to visit the Occupations page, where you’ll see that the NGA offers the following positions:

Accountants
Aeronautical Analyst
Bathymetrist
Contract Specialist
Counterintelligence Officers
Enterprise Account Managers
Geodetic Surveyors
Geospatial Data Stewards
Geospatial Intelligence Analysts
HD Consultants
Imagery Scientists
Imagery Intelligence Analysts
Information Assurance Officers
Maritime Analysts
Open Source Analysts
Police Officers
Political Geographers
Program Management Execution Officers
Project Scientists
Recruiters
Regional Geographers
Regional Source Analysts
Scientific and Technial Program Managers
Source Strategies Analysts
Systems Engineers

You won’t see most of these positions in the NGA’s Current Opportunities, so you may be better off meeting them at one of their On-Campus Recruiting Events or by reaching out to them at recruitment@nga.mil. You may also want to read through the NGA’s Recruitment FAQs and looking at their Application Process. It’s all complicated, but that’s to be expected with one of our country’s intelligence agencies.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you amazed by what the NGA does?

Institute for the Study of War

Willy Franzen — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 17:43:01 +0000

Despite the fact that most of us probably don’t even think about it on a daily basis, we are a country at war. Formally, the War in Afghanistan is the only current war that the United States is fighting since hostilities in Iraq officially ended on August 31, 2010; however, the reality is that we still are actively engaged in Iraq and Syria now too. Military policy continues to be an extremely important part of what our government does, and it’s essential that our leaders are well prepared to make important decisions regarding these conflicts. The Institute for the Study of War is a Washington, DC based non-profit organization that was founded in 2007 to do just that. The organization “produces strictly non-partisan, non-ideological, fact- based research” and aims “to promote an informed understanding of war and military affairs through comprehensive, independent, and accessible open-source research and analysis.”

Keep on Studying

The Institute for the Study of War has two main focuses: their Iraq Project and their Afghanistan Project. However, it does seem that the Institute for the Study of War may be expanding their focus. As new conflicts like the one in Libya emerge, I’m sure that they’ll be studying them and analyzing them. It’s all based on the premise that “a healthy democracy requires civilian leaders who are well versed in military affairs.” Apparently most American colleges and universities abandoned military studies during the Vietnam War, and there has a growing divide between our military and the civilians who control it. The Institute for the Study of War aims to close that gap. If studying war sounds interesting to you, check out The Institute’s Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Research Analyst for their Gulf Security Project. You must be able to read Farsi or Arabic, so if you can’t, you may wan to reach out to them about other opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about the Institute for the Study of War?

Central Intelligence Agency

Willy Franzen — Mon, 02 May 2011 15:52:33 +0000

I was a senior in high school on September 11, 2001. We were told what had happened during our morning announcements period, and a few of who had free periods after went to the beach across the street from our school’s campus. We knew that on a clear day you could usually see the Twin Towers from there, but all we could see was a plume of smoke. We listened on the radio and heard reports of the towers falling and rumors of other attacks in the works. I was deeply affected by what happened that day, and since then I have been waiting for our country to bring Osama bin Laden to justice. Yesterday, a group of NAVY SEALs did just that under the command of the Central Intelligence Agency, which is based in Washington, DC but operates all over the world. I am extremely grateful to all of those who were involved–especially for those who risked their lives to make us safer. It’s a reminder of how important it is for our government agencies to have top talent working for them. WIthout great people working at the CIA and in our armed forces, bin Laden would still be at large.

Share Your Intelligence

The Central Intelligence Agency “was created in 1947 with the signing of the National Security Act by President Harry S. Truman.” We often think of it as some super secret spy agency, and in some ways that what it is; however, there’s a lot more to the CIA. As the CIA’s About page mentions, the CIA is under the direction of the Director of Central Intelligence, and he or she is tasked with:

Collecting intelligence through human sources and by other appropriate means, except that he shall have no police, subpoena, or law enforcement powers or internal security functions;
Correlating and evaluating intelligence related to the national security and providing appropriate dissemination of such intelligence;
Providing overall direction for and coordination of the collection of national intelligence outside the United States through human sources by elements of the Intelligence Community authorized to undertake such collection and, in coordination with other departments, agencies, or elements of the United States Government which are authorized to undertake such collection, ensuring that the most effective use is made of resources and that appropriate account is taken of the risks to the United States and those involved in such collection; and
Performing such other functions and duties related to intelligence affecting the national security as the President or the Director of National Intelligence may direct.

The operation that occurred yesterday is an example of the CIA at its best (well maybe at their true best we never even hear about it). Obviously, we can’t know most of the details of the operation, but it appears that the processes that the CIA developed over the past 10 years finally led to this accomplishment of one of the major goals of the War on Terror. If you’re inspired by this success, then maybe you should consider a Career with the CIA. They are a major entry level employer, and the Agency offers a very wide range of employment opportunities. Jobs are offered in the following areas:

Accounting, Budget & Finance
Analysis
Clandestine Service
Contracts & Acquisitions
Cyber Security
Engineering
Facilities Services
Geography & Cartography
Graphics, Multimedia, Publications & Photography
Information Management
Information Technology
Investigations
Legal Services
Library Services
Logistics Services
Medical Services
Science, Technology & Weapons
Security
Support Services
Trades and Labor

The CIA is one of the few government agencies that makes it extremely easy to browse through their job opportunities, and you can do that here. Today is a good day to be an American and a good day to think about career opportunities that will allow you to serve your country.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What secrets do you know about the CIA?

Farsounder

Willy Franzen — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:50:55 +0000

I’m sure that you’ve all heard of sonar, but how many of you have actually used it? My first real experience with sonar was in college when I was part of a research team trying to find the Finger Lakes equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster. Ok, that’s an exaggeration. I was actually fishing on a friend’s boat, and he taught me how to use a sonar unit to catch Lake Trout. It’s pretty cool—you can actually watch your jig drop down to the bottom of the lake, and you can watch on the screen as little blobs of pixels occasionally chase it—these are fish. It’s half video game, half real life fishing. Obviously, there are far more serious and important uses of sonar, and that’s what Farsounder is all about. They’re a company based in Warwick, RI that “is one of the world leaders in the design, manufacture and marketing of 3D sonar systems for a variety of applications in the commercial, recreational, defense and homeland security markets, internationally as well as domestically.” Two-dimensions is great when you’re fishing, but if you’re navigating a large, expensive ship around underwater obstacles, three-dimensions is the way to go.

Add a New Dimension to Your Career

Farsounder has two key product lines: Navigation Sonars and Diver Detection Systems. Navigation Sonars are pretty self-explanatory—they help you see where you’re going from an underwater perspective. Diver Detection Systems are a bit different. They exist to detect threats while the ship is at anchor. Farsounder offers solutions that combine the two technologies, so ship crews can know what’s going on beneath the surface at all times. If you’re still not quite getting what Farsounder is all about (or you’re digging them and want to keep learning more), check out this PDF from NOAA on how Farsounder technology is used to protect whales from ship collisions—the leading cause of death of the northern right whale. If you want to save whales, protect ships, and work on really cool technology, check out Farsounder’s Jobs page. Right now they’re hiring Software Engineers, so check out the job description and see if it’s something that interests you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used sonar?

MITRE

Willy Franzen — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 12:28:19 +0000

Not many of the companies on Fast Company’s list of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” are non-profit, and not many non-profits generate over $1 billion in annual revenue, but MITRE fits both criteria. I know that many of you responded in our survey that you wanted to see fewer technical jobs, but I’ve also noticed that most of the non-profit jobs that we feature on weekends aren’t very technical. MITRE, which has headquarters in Bedford, MA and McLean, VA offers an exception. They are an “organization chartered to work in the public interest” through “expertise in systems engineering, information technology, operational concepts, and enterprise modernization.” They do this work through “four Federally Funded Research and Development Centers,” with one focused on the Department of Defense, one on the Federal Aviation Administration, one on the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, and one for the Department of Homeland Security.

Give MITRE a Try

MITRE serves each of these groups by providing “a unique combination of broad operational knowledge and in-depth technical skills” while also developing new technology that can be transferred when appropriate. What is really astonishing about MITRE is its size. They have over 7,000 employees, and more than 65% of them hold an advanced degree. The organization is a hotbed for technical knowhow and creativity, and it’s great to know that they have thousands of talented people working to ensure the future of our country. On that note MITRE is constantly looking to hire smart people for both technical and non-technical positions. They have a very strong college recruiting program, which you can find out about here. There are nearly 400 positions posted right now on MITRE’s Jobs site, so browsing through everything may be a little tough. It maybe a little hard to sniff out which jobs are considered entry level, so you may want to reach out to Jessica Yu using MITRE’s employee directory to get your questions answered (or you can use the chat box on the Student Opportunities page during working hours).

Job categories at MITRE include: Acquisitions, Artificial Intelligence, Business Analysis & Administration, Communications, Computer Operations, Contracts/Subcontracts, Database Technology Software, Defense & Space Systems, Desktop Support, Digital/Microprocessor Hardware, Domain Operation Analyst, Economics/Business, Electromagnetic & Nuclear Effects, Facilities Engineering, Financial Analysis, General Accounting, General Systems Engineer, Graphics, Human Resources Generalist, Human Factors Engineer, Industrial Security, Information Security, Information Systems Engineer, Integrated Electronics, Legal, Multi-Disciplinary Systems Development, Networking & Distributed Systems, Physical Security, Procurement, Sensor Systems, Signal Processing Engineer, Software Applications Development & Software Systems, Special Security, System Administrator, Technical Project Support, Telecommunications Specialist, and Treasury & Risk Management. There are also a variety of locations beyond MITRE’s headquarters, so you’ll have plenty of options.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about MITRE?

Applied Physics Laboratory

Willy Franzen — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 15:44:51 +0000

This has nothing to do with physics, but yesterday was likely the greatest day in Cornell athletics history. I’m a happy guy. I’m also a guy who took AP Physics and found it extremely difficult. Despite the fact that our survival is based on having a basic understanding of physics (like knowing how a spear will fly when you throw it at a mammoth), most of us have basically no clue about the scientific side of physics. That’s not the case with the folks at The Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD. The APL is a division of Johns Hopkins University, and it’s “a not-for-profit center for engineering, research, and development.” The Laboratory’s work has a huge impact on the success of our nation—they work in areas like Air and Missile Defense, Homeland Protection, Biomedicine, and Civilian Space.

Apply Yourself at APL

To get a better feel for what The Applied Physics Laboratory does, you should take a look at some of their Sample Programs. It includes things like Space Threat Awareness and Characterization, Imaging Inside Buildings with Radar, and Effective Preparation of Biological Samples. If you pore over these case studies, you’ll start to realize just how important the field of applied physics really is. Another thing that The Applied Physics Laboratory is known for is hiring the best and the brightest. They have a significant College Recruiting program, and they do have a single posting on their site for technical entry level positions. It covers a number of different job functions including: Aerospace/Aeronautics, Communications Engineering, Controls Engineering, Defense Systems Test and Evaluation, Hardware Design, Information Systems/Security, Modeling and Simulation, Network/Communications Engineering, Signal Processing, Software Engineering, Space Physics, and System Engineering Analysis. They’re looking for candidates from all degree levels, and they seem to offer a great work environment. Their Careers page has a lot more information, so check it out for more details. And if you’re looking for a non-science position, you can keep your eye on all of the APL’s job listings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you see the Cornell game?

Ball Aerospace

Willy Franzen — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:23:55 +0000

Now, I’m not a rocket scientist, but there’s a chance that you are—or want to be. If that’s the case, then you need to check out Ball Aerospace. And even if your pursuit of rocket science ended with building model rockets as a kid, you still might want to take a look. I first came across Ball Aerospace while reading an article about the 20-foot tall, 130 pound rocket that their interns launched 4,000 feet into the sky. That puts my childhood rocket launches to shame—which it should considering the fact that Ball Aerospace “is a leader in design, development and manufacture of innovative aerospace systems.” They develop things like “spacecraft, instruments and sensors, RF and microwave technologies, data exploitation solutions and a variety of advanced aerospace technologies and products that enable exciting missions,” so a 20-foot tall rocket is child’s—er—intern’s play for Ball Aerospace, which is located in Boulder, CO; Dayton, OH; and Albuquerque, NM.

Get on the Ball and Launch Your Career

Ball Aerospace has been around since 1956. They work with both defense and civilian government agencies and commercial customers too. To last that long in such a rapidly advancing industry, Ball Aerospace has to be constantly innovating, and to do that requires great people. Which is why Ball Aerospace is extremely aggressive about college recruiting. They’re looking for the best minds in aerospace, and they’re trying to get them while they’re young. There’s an entire College Relations section on their Careers site. They visit a select number of campuses, but most students will have to interact with them online. You can start by browsing their Job listings; however, I think that reaching out to collegerelations@ball.com to get a feel for the kinds of opportunities that are available at Ball Aerospace might be a better bet. That e-mail address is not meant for résumé submission, so keep that in mind.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you play with model rockets as a kid?

SPARTA

Willy Franzen — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:57:37 +0000

Usually when I’m looking at the job requirements to determine whether a position is suitable for new college grads, I’m looking at things like education, experience, skills, and job functions. It’s not often that I’m thinking about security clearance, but at today’s company, SPARTA, it’s essential for most of their positions. (Now, don’t worry if you don’t already have Top Secret Clearance, they still might have jobs for you as long as you didn’t get into too much trouble during your college years or before.) The reason that there’s all this talk about clearance is that SPARTA is a company whose “core business areas include strategic defense and offense systems, tactical weapons systems, and space systems” and whose “major intelligence credentials include intelligence production, computer network operations, and information assurance.”

This Is SPARTA

If you’ve spent your time in college attending peace protests, then SPARTA probably isn’t for you, but if you have a hard science or engineering background that you’d like to put to practical use, then you’ll be fascinated by the job titles that SPARTA is hiring for. Current openings include Weapons Effects Analyst, Cyberspace Analyst, and WMD Engineer (don’t worry, this job is about “supporting national efforts in developing, integrating and synchronizing capabilities to combat weapons of mass destruction”). These aren’t SPARTA’s entry level jobs, but they demonstrate what kind of projects the company is working on. They have more than 100 jobs listed right now, and quite a few of the opportunities actually are entry level. These include Integration Engineer, Software Engineer, Systems Engineer, and Linux/Unix Software Engineer. These are the only jobs that are identified as entry level, but you should definitely check out the rest of their job listings. You can apply online, and SPARTA has locations that include Arlington, VA; Aurora, CO; Bel Air, MD; Bellevue, NE; Billerica, MA; Centreville, VA; Colorado Springs, CO; Columbia, MD; El Segundo, CA; Huntsville, AL; Laguna Hills, CA; Lake Forest, CA; Nashua, NH; Newport News, VA; Orlando, FL; San Diego, CA; and Sunnyvale, CA.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you fascinated by SPARTA’s job titles?

Battelle Memorial Institute

Willy Franzen — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:55:03 +0000

We’re always on the look out for different kinds of non-profit jobs to feature on weekends, and today we’ve certainly found some. Battelle Memorial Institute is a Columbus, OH based organization that looks very much like a business – their tagline is even “the business of innovation” – but they are actually “organized for charitable, scientific, and educational purposes.” They have 5 main areas of focus – Energy, Health & Life Sciences, National Security & Defense, Laboratory Management, and Community & Education – which means that they do all kinds of things to further their vision of building “long-term relationships with their clients by anticipating their needs and delivering economically and socially valuable science and technology.”

A Battelle You Can Win

The Battelle Memorial Institute is named for Ohio industrialist Gordon Battelle. He “did not live to see his vision realized, but believed in it so strongly that others continue to make it a reality” through the gifts taht he left in his will. It all started with “a few machine shops and foundries,” but Battelle now “oversees 20,000 staff members and conducts $3.9 billion in annual research and development.” They work with all kinds of clients including federeral, state, and local government agencies; large corporations; private sector customers; and other partners. It’s still hard to put a finger on exactly what they do, but taking a look at their job listings will give you a more specific idea of the types of projects that they work on. You can search their jobs here, and you’ll notice that they have 127 open positions as of today. Since there are so many jobs and they are so background specific, we’re going to leave finding the jobs up to you today. Their job listings should be pretty easy to scan, and they vary widely in location. Battelle is hiring in locations all across the country, and you can apply for the jobs online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about Battelle?

ATA Engineering

Willy Franzen — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:36:04 +0000

If you’ve read our article on 9 Magazine Lists That Will Find You a Job, you know that we’re always looking for new lists of great companies who might be hiring new grads. We recently came across the Wall Street Journal’s Top Small Workplaces 2008, so of course we’re going to poach from it to bring you more companies with great entry level job opportunities. The list is alphabetical, and we didn’t even have to go past A because ATA Engineering Inc. looks like an awesome place to work, they appear to hire a lot of new college grads, and this is just one of many awards that they’ve won. They’re an employee-owned engineering consulting firm, and they specialize in the areas of Spacecraft, Launch Vehicles, Entertainment, Electronics, Airframes, and Software. ATA Engineering is all about teamwork, and their compensation plans and hiring processes reflect that. They only thing that they don’t do for their employees is give them an iPod on hire, but if you win our contest, you’ll already have one.

Alphabetically the Best Small Workplace for 2008

ATA Engineering’s Jobs page starts with a question: “Are there really career opportunities with a company that designs, analyzes, and tests amusement park rides, aircraft, launch vehicles, satellites, consumer electronics, sports equipment and more?” Obviously the answer is yes, and ATA Engineering really does all of those things. They don’t specifically have job listings for new college grads, but they have quite a few jobs posted that only list academic requirements. These jobs include: Dynamic Test Engineer, Analysis-Driven Design Engineer, Engineering Applications Software Development Engineer, Thermal Analysis Engineer, and Structural Analysis Engineer. All of the positions that ATA Engineering is hiring new grads for require an Engineering background, but they do occasionally have positions in Administration and Business (we don’t know if they’re ever entry level though). ATA Engineering is looking for the best of the best, so you better have excelled in college if you’re going to apply for one of their jobs. ATA Engineering is headquartered in San Diego, but they also have regional offices in Los Angeles, Denver, Albuquerque, and Northern Virginia. All of the jobs that we listed above appear to be based out of San Diego, except the Software Development position which can be in San Diego, Denver, or Northern Virginia.

To apply for a job with ATA Engineering, you should send your cover letter and resume to careers@ata-e.com. Since many of their contracts require access to government, defense, and classified information, they’re not able to consider applications from people unless they are a US citizen or possess a US permanent resident alien visa (green card). Also, if you do land an interview, be sure to be nice to everyone. ATA Engineering’s hiring process is team oriented, and a single employee has the power to veto any hire.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have any insight on what it’s really like to work at ATA Engineering? Please share it with us in the comments.

Rolls-Royce

Willy Franzen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:18:34 +0000

Let’s be honest – the closest that you’ve ever come to a Rolls-Royce was when you were watching MTV Cribs and saw one in a rapper/athlete/actor’s garage. I’ve seen some college students with some really nice cars, but never a Rolls. With that said, you can finally get close to Rolls-Royce through the college recruiting process. In fact, your lack of familiarity with Rolls-Royce automobiles won’t even matter, because Rolls-Royce plc (the company that we’re talking about today) doesn’t even make cars anymore. That business was sold to BMW in 1998. Rolls-Royce focuses on four global markets – Civil Aerospace, Defense Aerospace, Marine, and Energy – and two vital teams – Services and Research & Development. Although that may not be consistent with the brand image that you’ve associated with Rolls-Royce for a long time, you’re going to have to get used to it – especially if Rolls-Royce sounds like a company that you’d want to work for.

Think High Tech Engineering, Not Luxury

As a “high technology engineering company,” Rolls-Royce is obviously always looking for top engineering talent, but they also need talent in other business areas. They rely heavily on college recruiting to fill these needs, and now is the time to get involved in the recruiting process. In fact, Rolls-Royce is already more than halfway through their campus recruiting schedule. They still have a few campuses to visit, but most of you are going to have to initiate the process online. Before we get into how you do that, let’s see what kind of entry level job opportunities Rolls-Royce offers.

Rolls-Royce has two entry level programs for new graduates – Leadership Development and Professional Excellence. To figure out which of the programs is right for you, you can look at the descriptions that we just linked to you, but you should probably first take Rolls-Royce’s Which Programme (they’re British) assessment. From here, you will hopefully find that your program of choice is open in your area of interest. Rolls-Royce provides a grid that shows which programs they offer in which areas by location (US, UK, and Germany). For the 2008-2009 recruiting season they are looking for people in Customer Management, Engineering, Finance, and Human Resources for the Leadership Development program and Engineering, Supply Chain Planning and Control, and Project Management for the Professional Excellence program. There’s actually a third program called Controls Fast Track for Engineering grads who are interested in becoming a Controls Engineer, but this only seems to be available in the UK.

Getting in the (RR)ecruiting Process

First of all, Rolls-Royce’s Careers site is filled with information. It’s a huge improvement from their old site, and should answer almost every question that you’ll have. The only problem is that it seems to make the assumption that you’ll be making your first contact with Rolls-Royce through campus recruiting. They don’t clearly state how applicants from schools that they don’t visit should apply. There is an online job application process that you can use; however, the Student and Graduate Programmes section only links to internships. The Other Job Opportunities section seems more promising in terms of listings, but it has a note that says “If you are a college student and you are interested in a co-op, intern, leadership program or entry level position, please click here to apply.” Unfortunately, the “click here” links to a page that redirects to Rolls-Royce’s main Careers site. This is a pretty big screw up considering that Rolls-Royce works so hard to sell college students on its jobs. We think that your best bet is to e-mail collegerecruiting@rolls-royce.com and ask them how you should apply (you may even want to include your cover letter and resume). If you figure out what works, please share it with the rest of our readers in the comments.

From what we understand, the Rolls-Royce recruiting process closes in December, so you still have time. They have 64 facilities in 26 states, and we’re not sure where they locate most of their entry-level hires, so that’s another question that you may want to direct towards collegerecruiting@rolls-royce.com. You’ve probably noticed that we’ve focused almost entirely on jobs in the US, but Rolls-Royce also offers opportunities for new grads in Germany and the UK. If those are something that you’re interested in, you can find all of the corresponding information on their Careers site.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you know that Rolls-Royce wasn’t in the automobile business anymore?

BAE Systems

Willy Franzen — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 13:00:51 +0000

BAE Systems is a global defence (they’re British) and aerospace company. They are quite huge, employing close to 100,000 people across the world, which means that they do an enormous amount of entry-level hiring. BAE Systems operates in a wide range of businesses – from land armaments to regional aircraft, from military air solutions to communications and electronic warfare systems. Their timeline of milestones will give you a better idea of the specifics of what they do. BAE Systems is probably not the best fit if you participated in a peace protest during college, but if you want to be in the industry that is pushing the bounds of engineering, it’s hard to overlook defense.

When we first took a look at BAE Systems, the link to their Careers page was broken and took us to their news page. That was enough for us to pass them up and say that we’d come back later. Well, it’s later, and BAE Systems has fixed their little linking problem. Now, we can see that they have quite an impressive Careers section on their website. It is full of information, and even has a special section for college career opportunities.

If you’re interested in a career at BAE Systems, take a look at the list of entry-level jobs that they typically offer to new grads and their schedule of on-campus recruiting events. BAE Systems has done a great job of upgrading their Career site from nonexistent (or at least not linked to) to having more information than we can digest. We especially applaud them for having a special section for college students.

If BAE Systems isn’t coming to your campus, then search their open positions for college students and apply online. Their website has more information than you could ever digest in one sitting, so start clicking around and find a great job in engineering. Doing the research is easy on this one.

Note: On April 24th we revisited entry-level jobs at BAE Systems.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever heard of BAE Systems? How can companies that don’t sell products that college students use do a better job of employment branding?

NORAD

Willy Franzen — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 13:00:12 +0000

Merry Christmas Eve from the One Day, One Job Team! We’re taking a little time off to celebrate the holiday, but that doesn’t mean we are going to stop giving you job ideas every day.

Every time this year, the North American Aerospace Defense Command begins tracking Santa Claus on his amazing route across the world bringing presents to good boys and girls. Typically, NORAD is responsible for ensuring that our country remains safe, but Santa’s annual feat is just so incredible that they have to pay it attention. How could you ignore a man who is able to deliver a child’s toys once every two to three-thousandths of a second?

In case you don’t already know what NORAD is, it’s a coalition between American and Canadian forces that watches the North American skies for threats. Their headquarters is built into Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado in a way that makes it almost indestructible. From here, they basically track all airspace over North America and whatever goes through it, whether it’s commercial planes, Santa’s sleigh, or ballistic missiles (let’s hope that never happens). If you want to learn more about what NORAD does, check out the Wikipedia entry.

Ok, so we don’t have the inside track on entry-level jobs at NORAD because they’re pretty secretive about what they do (being located inside a mountain and all). In fact, you need to me in the military to work at NORAD – your best bet is to enlist in the Air Force, although other military branches can also be assigned to NORAD. So if your dream is to track Santa on his way to bringing kids presents, take a look at some of the NORAD leaders’ biographies to get a better sense of what it takes to work inside Cheyenne Mountain.

Tomorrow we’ll have another short, Christmas themed post, and then on Wednesday it’s back to in-depth posts about great entry-level jobs.

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

Insitu

Willy Franzen — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 14:00:59 +0000

Not too long ago, the only unmanned aerial vehicles were planes flown by women. Now we live in a world where planes can fly themselves. We thought we were pretty high-tech when we set up a blog, coded our own template, and figured out how to optimize our site for Google; however, the companies that design, develop, and produce autonomous aircraft put us to absolute shame.

Insitu is one of those companies. They build UAVs that have amazing reconnaissance, communications relay, and geophysical surveying capabilities. Most of their work has been with the military so far, but Insitu is operating in an infant industry with an amazing potential for growth. In fact, over the last 3 years Insitu’s revenue has grown by 1,702.4% to $50 million annually. This performance has put them on Inc. Magazine’s List of the 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies in 2006 and 2007. Insitu CEO Steve Sliwa was also named CEO of the Year for 2007 by Seattle Business Monthly. Clearly this company is taking off. We’d tell you more about what they do, but the business of autonomous aircraft is way over our head.

On that note, let’s take a look at the jobs Insitu is offering. Most of their job descriptions contain words, terms, and abbreviations that we don’t really understand. Usually we’d complain about this, but for these types of jobs it makes sense for them to be explicit about the skills needed for the job. We did our best to find jobs that might be appropriate for a recent college graduate since Insitu does not have an entry-level hiring program. With the amazing accomplishments that some college students have achieved (the DARPA challenge contestants for instance), we think that it’s quite possible to have the equivalent of 2 years of relevant experience by graduation day. Individuals with a military background will be particularly well equipped for jobs at Insitu. Here’s a quick run down of the jobs we think might be attainable right out of college: Electronic Technician (Software Team), Software Engineer, Flight Test Engineer, and Field Systems Representative. Those who are seriously interested in working at Insitu might be better off looking over Insitu’s job openings themselves.

Beyond the cool factor of what Insitu does, we’re also impressed with their corporate culture. They describe themselves as “a lifestyle company with innovative and creative employees who pour as much into their personal lives as they do into their work at the office.” Insitu has a “business comfortable” dress code and is dog friendly. There is also a heavy emphasis on “Living in the Gorge” – meaning the Columbia River gorge, which offers extraordinary outdoor opportunities. You can go kite surfing, mountain climbing, steelhead fishing, or snowboarding with just a short drive. There is even a list of nearby activities on the Insitu website. The way Insitu treats its people has to be part of their amazing success.

So if we’ve piqued your interest, start researching! Don’t put your job search on autopilot, leave the autonomous systems to Insitu.

Note: On April 22nd we revisited entry-level jobs at Insitu.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

If you’re the type of person who could work at Insitu, you probably aren’t interested in the Nintendo Wii that we’re giving away. What’s exciting about a video game when you can help create a plane that flies itself? Those Wii remotes that interpret your motions so that playing Wii Tennis is like playing real tennis just don’t seem that special compared to an unmanned aircraft.

Leave a comment and tell us why you don’t want a Wii.