One Day, One Job » ecommerce

Lulu

Willy Franzen — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 15:56:17 +0000

I realize that a lot of you are looking for something specific. You’re want a certain type of job at a certain type of company in a certain type of industry in a certain geographic location. I know that on most days the company that I write about won’t check all of your boxes. Instead of closing out the e-mail when you see something that doesn’t fit your criteria, use our daily write ups as a jumping off point–something to get you thinking in new directions in your job search. For instance, last week I wrote about Author Solutions. In doing research on them, I came across a few of their competitors. One that stood out was Lulu (not to be confused with lululemon). They’re a Raleigh, NC based company that has built an open publishing platform “that empowers more creators to sell more content to more readers more profitably than ever before.” It’s different from AuthorHouse in that Lulu doesn’t charge any upfront fees–they only get a cut when you make sales.

Are You a Lulu?

What’s a lulu? According to Lulu’s About page the “dictionary defines a lulu as a remarkable person, object or idea.” Lulu chose the name because they aim “to help remarkable people create and share their remarkable ideas with the world.” They’ve been doing it since 2002, and it’s working. Just look at their Success Stories. They best way to get to know Lulu is to play around with their platform. Browse the books that they sell while also walking through their demo. It’ll show you just how easy it is to use Lulu to publish your works–you can even have them put your book on Amazon or create an ebook version. If you like what Lulu is doing, take a look at their Jobs page. Right now they have a few options for new or recent grads including Customer Voice Associate, Product Manager – eCommerce, and UI Designer/Developer. Be a lulu!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever bought a book published by Lulu?

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?

Harvard Business Publishing

Willy Franzen — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:56:14 +0000

Ok, so it’s not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of non-profits; however, Harvard Business Publishing is “a not-for-profit, wholly-owned subsidiary of Harvard University.” Since Harvard University is also a non-profit, that should make Harvard Business Publishing doubly a non-profit, although I think non-profit status is like multiplying by zero – it only really matters the first time you do it. To get a real answer to that question or any business question, we may have to refer to one of the products put out by Harvard Business Publishing. They have 6 main product areas which include Harvard Business Review, Harvard Business School Cases, Harvard Business Press, Newsletters, Conferences, and Corporate Learning. I’ve had plenty of experience with the first three, and I think that Harvard Business Publishing typically puts out a great product. It’s hard to get a Business education without reading a lot of material from them.

Grade Inflation Does Not Lead to Pay Inflation

Ok, so I had to take a jab at Harvard. As a Cornell Hockey fan, it’s required of me. Despite the fact that I’ve snuck fish into hockey games to throw at Harvard players, I really only have good things to say about the jobs with Harvard Business Publishing. I honestly don’t know if the salaries that they pay are as inflated as the grades that they give (ok, I’m done, I know that HBP has little to do with the University), but I do know that they have some extremely interesting looking jobs. Unfortunately, almost all of the jobs with Harvard Business Publishing are mid-level or higher. There’s only one job that appears to be intended for new college grads – Marketing Programs Associate. It looks like the job requires a lot of web savviness, as the main responsibility is to “optimize the overall performance and merchandising of [Harvard Business Publishing's] website.” It sounds great. The job is located in Watertown, MA and you can apply online directly from the job description. If you’d love to work for Harvard Business Publishing but aren’t yet a web marketing star, then keep your eye on HBP’s Jobs page.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you had much experience with Harvard Business Publishing’s products?

Williams-Sonoma

Willy Franzen — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 15:40:04 +0000

Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, I have cooking on my mind. I’m trying to make sure that I have everything that I need, because Thanksgiving Day always comes with some essential ingredient or cooking implement missing. A run to the store for an ingredient usually isn’t a problem, but a meat thermometer or baster can be a little tougher to find. That’s why you might want to make a day before Thanksgiving stop by Williams-Sonoma, and while you’re at it, you might want to think about what kind of jobs they offer. In case you’re not familiar with Williams-Sonoma, they’re “the premier specialty retailer of home furnishings in the United States.” Their brands include Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, PB Teen, Williams-Sonoma Home, and West Elm, and they “cover every room in the house: from the kitchen to the living room, bedroom, home office, and even the hall closet.” Williams-Sonoma, the brand, is best known for kitchen wares, which is why I associate them with Thanksgiving.

Furnish Your Home and Your Career

Finding great companies to work for is all about having an “always looking” mentality, so use the holidays and everything that goes with them for idea generation. Williams-Sonoma popped into my head while I was thinking about cooking, so I checked to see if they have jobs for new grads. They do! Williams-Sonoma is based out of San Francisco, and their Careers site is easy enough to navigate. I just sorted through their Corporate jobs (if you want to work in retail, you can search for those on your own), and found four jobs that might be considered entry level. Unfortunately William-Sonoma’s Careers site doesn’t allow us to link directly to jobs, so you’ll have to look out for these titles: Associate Ecommerce Analyst, Direct Marketing; Statistical Modeling Analyst, Direct Marketing; Associate Website Merchandiser – PBTeen; and Packaging Designer. All of these jobs look really cool, and it should be easy to apply for them online. If you don’t see anything that interests you, Williams-Sonoma also accepts resumes for unlisted positions, so don’t be afraid to try “cold calling.” We’ve also seen some mention of campus recruiting by Williams-Sonoma; however, it seems to be mostly targeted towards MBA students.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How are you using the holidays to generate job search ideas?