One Day, One Job » education

buildOn

Willy Franzen — Sat, 19 May 2012 14:49:24 +0000

It’s easy to think of the developing world as having completely different problems from the ones we have in the U.S. But when you look more closely, you start to realize that the link between poverty and a lack of good education is consistent across the world–our inner cities and the developing world have similar problems that require similar solutions. buildOn is a non-profit organization based in Stamford, CT that aims to break “the cycle of poverty, illiteracy, and low expectations through service and education” by “putting youth in service and building schools in developing countries.” Most non-profits either focus on education abroad or domestically, buildOn is unique in that they believe that they can better solve both problems by working on them at the same time.

Build Something

You’ll probably want to start your research on buildOn by reading Founder Jim Ziolkowski’s story. After that you’ll want to dive into the “buildOn Is a Movement” video:

buildOn’s domestic programs are based in Chicago, IL; Detroit, MI; New York, NY; Oakland/San Francisco, CA; Philadelphia, PA; and Stamford, CT. The goal is to engage 100,000 U.S. based students every week by 2031. In the same time period, they want more than 1 million students to be attending schools built by buildOn. It sounds like an amazing movement, so if you want to get involved, head over to buildOn’s Careers page. Right now there are a few positions posted worth checking out:

Program Coordinator (San Francisco, CA)
Program Coordinator (Stamford, CT)
Program Coordinator (Philadelphia, PA)

These look like amazing job opportunities, so give them a close look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about buildOn?

Treehouse

Willy Franzen — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:38:42 +0000

What have you done in the past week to make yourself a better candidate for the jobs that you’re applying for? E-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com and tell me. Seriously. Developing new skills isn’t just about being better qualified for a job–it’s also about showing employers that you’re constantly trying to better yourself and willing to invest time and money to do so. Companies love people who show a desire to grow into new roles. Luckily, there are more and more companies that offer online education with the purpose of actually teaching you applicable skills, not giving you a worthless piece of paper. One of these companies is Treehouse, which is based in Orlando, FL. Their “goal is to teach Web Design, Web Development and iOS, to everyone in the World who wants to learn.”

Climb Up to the Treehouse

I know this isn’t reassuring, but the stats say that most grads take many months to land a job. That’s more than enough time to learn some extremely valuable technical skills with Treehouse. Think you can’t afford it? Think again. Treehouse costs $25 a month (and they had a student plan at $9 a month, though I don’t see it on their Plans page). If you can’t scrounge that together, you’re not trying hard enough (and even then Treehouse offers a lot of their video content for free). I’ve actually used Treehouse to improve my coding skills, and it’s fantastic. The content is top notch, but it’s the code challenges that really help you make the most of it. There’s a reason that people pay for Treehouse when there are decent alternatives out there for free. Just like you (hopefully), Treehouse wants to keep getting better, which is why they’re hiring. Not all of their roles are a great fit for a new grad, but some are. Here’s what they’re looking for:

Video Teacher
Content Expert
Sales Rep
Lead Generator
Video Pro
Audio Pro

Whether you’re a good fit for these jobs or not, Treehouse could completely change your job search, so check them out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you try Treehouse?

Queens Botanical Garden

Willy Franzen — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:35:13 +0000

Happy Mother’s Day! While the best gift that you could possibly give your mother is for you to get a job, flowers, brunch, or a card will have to do for now (not many people get hired over the weekend). I think flowers make a pretty awesome gift, but it sucks that they are eventually going to die. Why not give your mom a flower experience instead? Take her somewhere like the Queens Botanical Garden, which is a Flushing, NY based “urban oasis where people, plants and cultures are celebrated through inspiring gardens, innovative educational programs and demonstrations of environmental stewardship.” Could there be a better place to take your mother?

Treat Your Mom Like a Queen

The best way to learn about Queens Botanical Garden is to visit, obviously. If you can’t do that right away, you can read up on planning your visit or take a look at their gardens and collections. You may also want to learn more about their Programs and their Education & Cultural Research. If you love flowers and plants and like what you’ve read about the Queens Botanical Garden, then you have to take a look at their Jobs page. Right now they have a full-time Botanical Garden Aide position posted along with part-time Children’s Garden Program Coordinator and Children’s Garden Senior Assistant positions. Happy Mother’s Day!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you visited Queens Botanical Garden?

National Ability Center

Willy Franzen — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:33:18 +0000

I absolutely love playing sports and participating in other outdoor activities. Physical activities are great because they provide nearly immediate feedback. You have a great idea of how you’re performing and how hard you can push yourself. That’s why the National Ability Center in Park City, UT uses activities like “alpine and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, swimming, cycling, waterskiing, horseback riding, rafting,” and more to aid the “the development of lifetime skills for people of all ages and abilities.” By using specially designed equipment and well-trained instructors (many of whom are individuals with disabilities), The National Ability Center is able to bring these wonderful activities to people who may otherwise never have a chance to participate.

Discover Your Abilities

Last year the National Ability Center delivered lessons and outing to 15,545 individuals. The participants were able to “build self-esteem, confidence and physical development,” which are absolutely essential skills that can be taken back to everyday life. The National Ability delivers their programming with a number of core values in mind. These include Innovative, Integrity, Affordable, Caring, Inclusive, Empowerment, Quality, and Customer Service. The National Ability Center website is a bit hard to navigate, but they do provide a ton of information on their programming, so I highly recommend that you dive in and learn more. If you like what you see, then you can move on to their Jobs page where they have opportunities including Lead Program Staff, Program Staff, Public Relations Coordinator, Facilities and Capital Manager, and Events Coordinator. These look like amazing job opportunities, so don’t pass them up.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about National Ability Center?

Project Sunshine

Willy Franzen — Sat, 05 May 2012 15:42:25 +0000

There aren’t many things sadder than children suffering from medical problems. It’s completely heartbreaking for everyone involved. No matter what the situation, one of the most important things is to keep the kids and their families in a positive emotional state. That’s what Project Sunshine does. They’re a New York, NY based non-profit organization that “provides free educational, recreational, and social programs to children facing medical challenges and their families.” They work in more than 150 cities across the United States and also have “satellite sites” in Canada, China, Israel, Kenya and Puerto Rico. Through volunteers they’re able to serve more than 60,000 children and their families.

Rays of Sunshine

Project Sunshine’s programs range from being purely focused on improving morale like Arts and Crafts to more specific programs targeted at things like Caregiver Wellness and living with HIV/AIDS. You can get a full rundown of Project Sunshine’s program offerings here. You may also want to spend some time looking through their Photo Gallery, as it will give you a closer look at the work that they do and how it affects the people they serve. If you like what Project Sunshine is all about, then you’ll want to take a look at their Careers page. You won’t see any jobs posted, but today they posted a Program Coordinator position on Idealist. It looks like a great fit for a new or recent grad, so check it out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about Project Sunshine?

Highlights

Willy Franzen — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:05:50 +0000

Yesterday I almost got highlighted. I was in a boat, on a river, fishing with my Dad and a guide. A thunderstorm came up behind us, and we decided to tuck the boat in a cove under a bunch of trees and take cover. It wasn’t the best spot, but there wasn’t anywhere else for us to go. When it started hailing, I got a little nervous. And then BANG! A bolt of lightning hit the water about three feet to my right. You and I are both lucky that you’re reading this today. This story has nothing to do with today’s company except for the fact that yesterday’s near death experience made me want to regress back to being a little kid–the kind that reads Highlights. If you’re not familiar, Highlights is a Columbus, OH company that develops products for children with a common theme: “Fun with a Purpose.” It’s all about “wholesome fun” that “is dedicated to helping children grow in basic skills and knowledge, in creativeness, in ability to think and reason, in sensitivity to others, in high ideals and worthy ways of living.”

Share Your Highlights

I definitely had a subscription to Highlights at some point in my life, but even after it lapsed I still picked up the magazines in places like doctor’s offices. You can get a feel for what Highlights looks like today by taking a look a their Favorite Characters and Features page. My favorites were always the What’s Wrong and Hidden Pictures. I truly hope that these somehow find their way into Highlights’ hiring process. It wouldn’t be right any other way. You may also want to check out Highlights’ State of the Kid 2011 Report. It will help you get in touch with today’s Highlights reader. If “Fun with a Purpose” describes your approach to life, then you have to take a look at Highlights’ Jobs page. There are a few positions worth taking a closer look at including:

Administrative Assistant – Accounting & Finance
Analyst – Campaign Management
Web Production Associate

Before you apply, you probably want to pick up a recent issue of Highlights and get reacquainted.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you read Highlights as a kid?

Instructure

Willy Franzen — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:20:32 +0000

When you’re a kid, you think that teachers have an easy job. They have good hours, lots of vacation with summers off, and they get to stand in front of a room and tell you what to do. As you get older, you start to realize that teaching also includes grading papers, planning lessons, communicating with parents, writing comments for report cards, and a whole lot more. A grade book just isn’t a good hub for managing all of this. Teachers need something industrial-strength, and that’s what Instructure provides with their Canvas Learning Management System. The Sandy, UT based company offers a suite of tools that enable teachers to spend way less time on administrative stuff, and more time teaching and working directly with students. They serve educators at all levels–from Kindergarten to some of the world’s top universities, which shows you just how flexible the Canvas platform is.

Follow Instructure

What do teachers want from a Learning Management System? Something that just works. Here’s Instructure’s video explanation of why the technology behind Canvas offers exactly that experience:

Go take a look at the product. You can sign up for an instant demo and get a feel for exactly how it works. There’s no better way to get to know a company than by using their product. If you like the feel of Canvas, then take a look at Instructure’s Careers page. Right now they have some great jobs for new or recent grads including:

UI/Web Designer
Database Admininstrator
Professional Services Software Engineer
Software Engineer
Marketing Web Developer
Marketing Writer
Search/Marketing Analyst

If you get excited about the nexus of education and technology, then a career with Instructure might be just what you’re looking for.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you have any experiences with Learning Management Systems?

Peer Health Exchange

Willy Franzen — Sat, 28 Apr 2012 12:54:44 +0000

When I was in 9th grade I had to take a Health class. One day our teacher had us write letters to our future selves. She told us that she’d send them to us when we graduated high school. I never saw that letter again. I guess I’ll never know how I’m stacking up against the expectations of my 14 year old self. While many lessons from health class seem trite at the time, they can have life-long beneficial effects. Unfortunately, many public schools can’t afford to offer health education. This is a big problem because “teenagers today are engaging in risky behavior at alarming rates, harming their bodies and their futures.” Peer Health Exchange is a San Francisco, CA based non-profit organization (but they’re working across the country) that fixes this problem by recruiting, selecting, and training “college student volunteers to teach high school students a comprehensive health curriculum.” My sister is one of these volunteers, and she’s had a wonderful experience so far (which is why she has been bugging me to feature PHE).

To Your Health

Peer Health Exchange explains the need for their services with some simple statistics:

One in four teenagers is a binge-drinker.

One in four teenagers smokes cigarettes.

One in three teen girls becomes pregnant.

One in five teenagers experiences violence in a relationship.

One in six teenagers is overweight or obese.

There are significant long-term consequences for our society associated with each of those stats. Peer Health Exchange offers a curriculum that leaves 96% of students saying that “they will use something they learned from PHE workshops to make a healthy decision in the future.” Although it’s hard to quantify what that actually means, it’s certainly a step in the right direction. If you’d like to get involved with Peer Health Exchange, check out their Jobs page. Right now they have quite a few positions avialable including:

Finance Analyst
Program Associate (Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; San Francisco, CA)
Program Associate (Washington, DC)

These are great opportunities to join an organization that is having a significant impact, so check them out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite memory from Health class?

Coursera

Willy Franzen — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 15:11:48 +0000

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You’re not going to like this. You’ve paid a lot of money for a fancy education, and now some of the best universities in the world are giving it away for free. You still have to pay to get the piece of paper, but if you’re just looking for the knowledge, then you need to check out Coursera. They’re a Mountain View, CA based startup that is “partnering with the top universities in the world to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free.” So far they’re working with Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan, and UPenn. It doesn’t get much better than that. What makes Coursera unique from things like MIT’s OpenCourseWare is that these classes are specifically created to be consumed online.

Stay the Coursera

On Coursera class size is only limited by demand. Coursera is designed to scale education to the point where hundreds of thousands of people can take the same course at the same time. Although there is some self-direction, the courses on Coursera are just like college course. They’re only given during a specific timeframe, and you get video lectures, course materials, homework, graded exercises, and even exams. It’s not intended to be casual learning. The one big question about Coursera is: What’s their business model? Despite their .org domain name, they are a for-profit company that just closed a $16 million round of venture capital funding. I’m not too worried as Coursera already has the platform and partnerships for success, but I’m certainly curious. If you want to be part of growing the business, take a look at Coursera’s Careers page. Right now they have some great opportunities for new or recent grads including:

Coursera has the potential really big, so grab this opportunity to get in while it’s still in its early stages.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which course on Coursera do you want to take?

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Willy Franzen — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 13:47:01 +0000

100 years ago today the Titanic sank. It wasn’t the world’s first transportation disaster, nor was it the last, but it’s the one that continues to captivate people. As a kid I was absolutely fascinated by the story of the Titanic–the unsinkable ship that sank. I had a few books on the topic that I read over and over again. I learned about Alvin, the deep sea submersible, and Jason Jr., the underwater robot, and how they were used to explore the Titanic once it was discovered in 1985 (by essentially dragging video cameras just above the ocean floor). The discovery and expeditions were partially done by teams from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which is a Woods Hole, MA based “non-profit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of all aspects of marine science and engineering and to the education of marine researchers.” If it has to do with ocean science and exploration, there’s an extremely good chance that the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution is on top of it.

Under the Sea!

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution focuses its research on a number of areas including Climate & Ocean, Coastal Science, Hazards, Ocean Chemistry, Ocean Circulation, Ocean Life, Ocean Resources & Policy, Polar Research, Pollution, Seafloor & Below, Tools & Technology, and Underwater Archaeology. They employ all kinds of scientists to work on a vast array of programs and projects. If you have any interest at all in oceanography, you need to take some to browse the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution website. It’s well designed and packed with information. After that, the next step is to check out their Jobs page. While they don’t have anything that is tailor made for a new grad, the Engineering Assistant positions are worth checking out. There’s also a Information Systems Associate II/III position that could be a fit. Finally, they have Scientist and Postdoc positions that might interest you if you’ve gone well beyond undergrad in terms of education.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you fascinated by the Titanic?

Inkling

Willy Franzen — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:22:38 +0000

Today’s kids better be smarter and taller than our generation. Why? iPads. They’re amazing educational tools, and now they’re replacing textbooks. That means that today’s students not only should learn more quickly, but they can carry around a single device that weighs less than a pound and a half instead of a 40+ pound backpack filled with textbooks (and finally get back to standing upright). Inkling is a company that is making this beautiful future happen more quickly. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and they’re building “a better textbook: one that [is] interactive and engaging, one that [takes] advantage of the opportunities afforded by new media like iPad.” They’re tearing away the assumptions that people make about books and moving in many different directions–literally. Even though Inkling calls what they do “interactive textbooks” to take advantage of familiar language, they really are building something completely new.

Do You Have an Inkling?

An earth shattering moment for me during high school was when I found online versions of some of the books I was reading in English class. I realized that I could now search these books for text, which made it infinitely easier to go back to specific passages I wanted to focus on while studying for a test. Inkling’s textbooks have search, and a whole lot more. You really need to check out their Features page and the videos on it to see how different the Inkling experience is from a dead tree book. If you want to dig deeper, you can go to the Inkling Store and download a free chapter from any of their books. I think you’ll be amazed. And if you are, then continue on to Inkling’s Jobs page. Right now they have some great positions for new or recent grads including Customer Support Analyst, Editorial Assistant, iOS Engineer, Javascript Engineer, and Platform Engineer – Cloud. These look like great opportunities, so check them out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used any iPad based textbooks?

50CAN

Willy Franzen — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 12:48:29 +0000

Reasoning Mind is an education focused non-profit that uses the web to teach kids math, and they’re hiring 30 new grads as Program Coordinators. Learn more about these amazing entry level opportunities.

I was really lucky in that my parents sent me to a top notch private school for 6th through 12th grade. I have no doubt that it had a significantly positive effect on my education. Why? Because it was a truly great school. Private schools obviously aren’t the only great schools (and plenty of private schools aren’t all that great), but there’s no doubt that many of our country’s public schools are underperforming. 50CAN is a New York, NY based non-profit organization that is pushing for education reform because they believe that “Great Schools Can Change Everything.” They don’t just mean test scores and individual outcomes. They mean our economy, our democracy, our dreams, our competitiveness, our health, our communities, and pretty much everything else. 50CAN is different from many of the education focused non-profits that you’re likely familiar with in that 50CAN is focused squarely on advocacy.

YouCAN

50CAN has a wonderful website. It’s beautiful, and it does a great job of conveying information in a simple way. I recommend that you start browsing it by reading their Why Schools? page. Next you’ll want to read through the 50CAN Model. You’ll get an in-depth look at how they’re going state by state to “build citizen movements to ensure that every child has access to a great public school.” If you want to see what kind of results this approach delivers, just check out 50CAN’s Case Studies. Hopefully as you check out these pages, you’ll be drawn into other parts of 50CAN’s website. There’s a lot more to learn about the organization. So far CAN is operating in Minnesota, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, and New York (North Carolina is coming soon). Obviously the goal is to reach all 50. If you want to be a part of 50CAN, check out their Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Government Relations Associate for RI-CAN (Providence, RI) and a New Site Development Manager (New York, NY). If neither of those positions look right for you, you can also sign up to bring 50CAN to your state.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you go to a great school?

Reasoning Mind

Willy Franzen — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 19:59:11 +0000

This is a sponsored post for Reasoning Mind. You can see our original editorial feature of Reasoning Mind here.

If 2,000 people share this job on Facebook by April 15th (be sure to use this link so it counts), a donor will give Reasoning Mind $10,000. Each share is worth $5, so by sharing, you’ll help your friends learn about an awesome job while helping kids learn math!

The education situation in America is dire. Our schools aren’t performing well compared to those in other nations–especially in math and science. It looks like we’re headed for a future where we’ll no longer be a world leader of industry and innovation. Or are we? I’m not so sure. What I’ve seen over the past few years in education technology gives me a lot of hope. One of the organizations on the leading edge of this phenomenon is Reasoning Mind. They’re a Houston, TX based non-profit that is working across the country and using web-based technology to move us towards “a day when children love their math class so much, they do math problems at home instead of playing video games.” They’ve already accomplished this goal with thousands of children, and they think that they can make it a reality across country inside of a decade. How would you like to be part of that?

Reasons to Choose Reasoning Mind

Reasoning Mind does its amazing work through partnerships with schools. By combining online tools with the face-to-face instruction that great teachers provide, Reasoning Mind is able to create an environment where students get individualized attention that allows them to learn at a pace that is best for them. (If you’d like to take a closer look at how the software works, take a look at these awesome videos.)

For Reasoning Mind the key to student success is making sure that schools and teachers are fully equipped to make the most of the online tools. That’s why Reasoning Mind hires some of America’s brightest college graduates every year to join them as Program Coordinators. As a Reasoning Mind Program Coordinator, you’ll be responsible for bringing Reasoning Mind to approximately 1,000 students and their teachers. You can learn more about the position from these links:

Also be sure to to check out Reasoning Mind’s employee blog.

Meeting of the Minds

Reasoning Mind is currently looking to hire 30 new Program Coordinators to start in Summer 2012. The positions will be available across a number of of locations including Dallas, San Antonio, Houston, and Nashville (other cities depend on partnership agreements with schools). This is an amazing opportunity to have a meaningful impact on America’s education problem while gaining significant post-college work experience.

Apply for a Reasoning Mind Program Coordinator Position

Submit your resume and cover letter via the link above to receive the assignments. Complete the assignments by April 6th to hear back by May 25th or by May 4th to hear back by June 15th.

Applying involves completing written assignments that are meant to simulate the type of work that Program Coordinators do at Reasoning Mind. The goal is to help you get a better idea of whether you’ll find the work satisfying (and whether they’ll find your work satisfying), so don’t approach this like you approach other job applications. A résumé and cover letter isn’t enough to grab one of the 30 spots.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Reasoning Mind?

Constitutional Rights Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 15:14:59 +0000

Think back to your favorite 90s sitcom. Odds are that there was an episode where your favorite main character was bored to death by some teacher trying to teach him or her about the Constitution. Your favorite character was completely unengaged until some major life event (usually artificially created by the brilliant teacher) came up that made the Constitution super relevant. I can already picture the specific Boy Meets World and Saved by the Bell episodes. Since those tv shows don’t actually teach much about the Constitution, we need our kids to have similar real life experiences. That’s what Constitutional Rights Foundation provides. They’re a Los Angeles, CA based non-profit that aims “to instill in our nation’s youth a deeper understanding of citizenship through values expressed in our Constitution and its Bill of Rights and to educate young people to become active and responsible participants in our society.” This is really important stuff–we can’t just expect future generations to learn it from watching reruns on tv.

Be on the Rights Side

As we learned from tv, you can’t just teach kids that civic participation is important. You need to show them the why and how. That’s what Constitutional Rights Foundation’s Programs are all about. One of the cooler things that CRF does is the Expanding Horizons Internships program. It takes Los Angeles high school students and puts them to work on constitutionally relevant projects at the city’s “most prestigious law firms, corporations, and non-profit organizations.” This just one of many great programs, so I highly recommend that you browse through them all to get a more complete understanding of how CRF goes about pursuing its mission. If you’re a Constitution lover and you want to pass it along to a younger generation, check out Constitutional Rights Foundation’s jobs on Idealist. Right now they’re looking for an Administrative Assistant/Office Manager. It looks like it could be a great fit for a new or recent grad.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite Constitutional Amendment?

Bike New York

Willy Franzen — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 15:02:41 +0000

I played beach volleyball yesterday. On St. Patrick’s Day! And I was hot! No, I didn’t go on vacation. Chicago is having an amazing stretch of unseasonably warm weather. The best thing about it is that it gets people out doing what they love because they know that it still could snow again. For me it’s volleyball (or fishing if I can escape the city), but for others it may be running, playing with their dog, or riding a bike. Since I saw a ton of bikes yesterday, I thought it would be a good day to take a look at Bike New York. They’re a New York, NY based non-profit organization that aims to “promote and encourage bicycling and bicycle safety through education, public events, and collaboration with community and government organizations.” Biking is good for cities and good for people, so Bike New York isn’t just about biking for biking’s sake.

Pedal Faster

Bike New York has made a name for itself by “producing America’s largest cycling event, a 42-mile, traffic-free ride for some 32,000 cyclists known as the TD Bank Five Boro Bike Tour.” That will certainly get some attention, but it’s the day to day stuff where Bike New York really does its best work. Biker education is extremely important. Most people think that once they’ve learned to ride a bike they’ve learned everything they need to know. That may work for casual biking on a separate bike path, but if you’re going to bike through a major city like New York, you need to be better prepared. That’s why Bike New York offers classes like Savvy Cyclist: Traffic Skills 101, Winter Riding 101, and Bike Maintenance 101. This type of education directly saves lives (and by promoting biking it also saves lives by promoting healthier lifestyles and preventing pollution). If you love what Bike New York is doing, take a look at their Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Bike Safety School Assembly Instructor, Bike Fleet Manager, a Youth Program Bike Instructor, and a Freelance Class Captain. Take a look at these positions, and then go enjoy the beautiful weather.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about Bike New York?

Voxy

Willy Franzen — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:20:33 +0000

My last foreign language learning experience came in tenth grade French class. I found it mind numbingly boring even though we used French in Action, which was supposed to be a wonderful method for learning the language. If you can’t keep a student engaged, he or she will never learn the language. That’s why Voxy might be worth checking out for those of you who have had trouble learning languages through other methods. They’re based in New York, NY, and they offer “an exciting, award-winning way to learn a language from life.” How do they do this? They use web and mobile technologies to teach you a language while you’re doing things that you’d normally do–reading articles, playing games, or walking around your city. Not only does this make learning more fun, but it also makes it more useful. What you learn is based on the context of your life, so you’ll actually know why what you’re learning is useful.

Learn from Life

My one beef with Voxy is that their home page has a Get Started section with buttons that say “I Speak English,” “Hablo Español,” and “Eu Falo Português.” When I click the one that applies to me, the section just turns blank, so I can’t give Voxy try. Still, what I can see in their What Is Voxy? and How & Why It Works sections is impressive. When I see technology like what Voxy is offering, I can’t help but think that kids growing up today should be about 10x smarter than the generation before them (but then I remember all of the fun distractions that come with the same technology). If you’re loving what Voxy is doing, take a look at their Jobs page. They have a ton of opportunities posted, though they call most of them internships. I usually wouldn’t post these, but Voxy interns are “full-time, paid employees with mission critical responsibilities and roles.” These are perfect opportunities for new grads, and they include:

There’s a ton of entry level opportunity at Voxy, so take a look at these positions and figure out which of them make the most sense for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Will you try Voxy?

Chewonki Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 14:51:06 +0000

I’ve mentioned before that my middle and high school sent its classes on annual trips to promote bonding and discourage cliquiness. In 6th grade it was a Whale Watch, in 7th grade it was Camp Hi-Rock, and in 8th grade it was supposed to be Chewonki. We had been hearing about Chewonki from the older kids for years, but for some reason they changed it to Camp Sloane for our class. That ended up being a 1-year experiment after 20 members of my 8th grade class (including me) got lost in the woods overnight with one teacher. I thought it was fun, but some others (and their parents) weren’t so amused. Anyway, when I was looking for a non-profit to feature today, I came across the Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset, ME. The name is obviously familiar, even if I never got to go. The simplest way to describe Chewonki might be as a camp, but that doesn’t really do justice to the wide range of programs that they offer.

Appreciate the Natural World

Chewonki’s mission is to provide “educational experiences that foster an understanding, appreciation, and stewardship of the natural world and that emphasize the power of focused, collective effort.” They do this with a variety of programs that includes camps, wilderness trips, outdoor classrooms, and more. All together, they reach more than 40,000 young people every year. That’s a lot of people for anywhere, let alone coastal Maine. Since I sadly never got to visit Chewonki, I can’t tell you all about their campus and lands, but I’m sure they’re wonderful. If you’d like to spend time at Chewonki and you’re too old to be a camper, take a look at their Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a French Teacher, Teaching Fellows, a Health Center Assistant, Camp Counselors, Support Staff/Activity Leaders, Wilderness Trip Leaders, and Outdoor Classroom Instructor/Trip Leaders. A lot of these are seasonal positions, but there’s nothing wrong with that.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever been to Chewonki?

Results for Development Institute

Willy Franzen — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 16:46:47 +0000

The word “results” is extremely common in the business world, but you don’t hear it as much in the non-profit world. That is changing, but I still hear a lot of my friends griping about how ineffective the non-profits they’ve worked in have been. My guess (and hope) is that that’s not a problem at Results for Development Institute in Washington, DC considering that they have “results” in their name. They’re a non-profit organization that “delivers policy analysis, critical information, decision-making tools, and policy advice for governments, civil society organizations, and external funders to use to reduce poverty and accelerate social and economic progress in low and middle income countries.” It’s all about finding the levers that will deliver the highest impact and then finding the right way to pull them.

Deliver Results

Results for Development Institute focuses on three specific areas: Health, Transparency and Good Governance, and Education. They work in these areas across nearly every region of the world, and when they do, they take a five step approach: Knowledge Building, Strategic Advising, Capacity Building, Convening and Promoting Policy Dialogue, and Partnering with Southern Institutions. You can get a better feel for what this looks like by looking over Results for Development Institute’s Projects and Initiatives. Once you have a better feel for how Results for Development Institute works, then you should read through their 2010 Progress Report. It will give you a good sense for what kinds of results the Institute is delivering and how they’ve achieved them to date. If you’re impressed, then the next step is to look at Results for Development Institute’s Careers page. Right now they have a few positions that appear suitable for new or recent grads including Program Associate (2 openings) and Operations Program Associate. These look like great opportunities for someone interested in international development, so give them a look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Results for Development Institute?

Urban Sprouts

Willy Franzen — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:54:06 +0000

My parents are big gardeners, so when I go home in the summer there’s always something fresh to eat. I never appreciated this as a kid (except for the wild berries in the backyard), but now I think it’s pretty awesome. Gardening is not only a great source of healthy food, but it can also be an extraordinary education tool. That’s why Urban Sprouts, which is based in San Francisco, CA, is using gardening to grow “healthy schools and communities.” It started as “a doctoral thesis project conducted at Luther Burbank Middle School during the 2003-04 school year,” but it was so successful that the school begged them to continue and expand the program.

Sprout Your Career

Since it started, Urban Sprouts has served nearly 4,000 kids, while also getting their families involved. This is important because the kids that participate in Urban Sprouts programs stand to gain a lot. 60% come from low-income families, and “90% failed to reach physical fitness standards in 2006.” Now Urban Sprouts offers three distinct programs including School Gardens and Nutrition Education, Family Involvement Program, and Summer Sprouts Program. If you really want to learn more about these programs and how Urban Sprouts is delivering positive results, you should read the organization’s five year report. There’s a ton of information in there, and it’s a must read if you want to consider a job with Urban Sprouts. Right now they have a Garden Educator position posted on Idealist. It’s only part-time, but the pay looks to be pretty decent. Take a look and see if it’s something you can grow into.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you have a garden?

Madison Square Park Conservancy

Willy Franzen — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:30:09 +0000

I’m lucky to live smack dab between two parks. Though they’re both small but very lively–filled with dog walkers in the winter and everybody else when it gets a little bit nicer out. Park space really makes cities better, which is why managing and maintaing parks is an extremely important job. That’s exactly what the Madison Square Park Conservancy in New York, NY. Madison Square Park is owned by the city, but is managed by a partnership of the Department of Parks & Recreation and the Conservancy. It wasn’t all that long ago that the park “was neglected and crime-ridden.” After $6 million and a lot of work from caring people through the Campaign for the New Madison Square Park, it is now a place that people want to visit again with “lush and brilliant horticulture” and a variety of cultural programs.

A Walk in the Park

I don’t know that I’ve ever visited Madison Square Park, but I hope that if you live in NYC you have or will. It sounds like a great place with Art, Kids’ Programs, Music, Literary Programs, and all kinds of other things to do. There’s even free wi-fi, so it’s even a place you can get work done (or goof off). There’s also some great horticulture, so you can even just sit and appreciate the beauty. Madison Square Park really sounds like a wonderful place, and that’s mostly thanks to the Conservancy. If you’d like to help them continue to maintain and improve the park, then check out their jobs on Idealist. Right now they’re looking for a Playground Activities Assistant and an Art Development Associate. Both jobs look like good fits for new or recent grads, so check them out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you ever visit Madison Square Park?

Macmillan

Willy Franzen — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:51:45 +0000

Want your job to fit like a pair of the world’s best fitting pants? Bonobos will give you both. They’re one of my favorite companies that I’ve profiled, and they’re hiring an entry level Associate E-Commerce Coordinator. If you apply for the job, be sure to tell them that I sent you (they know me!).

There are some industries where company histories gets really confusing. Mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcies, name changes, and all kinds of other events make it hard to truly understand what parts of the story are meaningful. I’ve found this especially prevalent with financial institutions, advertising agencies, and publishers. We’re going to talk about the latter today. Macmillan is the New York, NY based face of a “group of publishing companies in the United States held by Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck” (a German company). As I read through their history, I got a bit overwhelmed. It starts in 1843 with two Scottish brothers, and includes the story about a completely different publisher named Macmillan. While understanding Macmillan’s history is important, it’s far more important to understand their future, which might include you.

I’m a Mac

Macmillan’s business is separated into three broad categories: Trade, College & Academic, and Magazines & Journals. That covers a ton of ground, so it’s helpful to dive into the publishers that make up Macmillan and their imprints, which include Farrar Straus and Giroux, Henry Holt & Company, W.H. Freeman and Worth Publishers, Palgrave Macmillan, Bedford/St. Martin’s, Picador, Roaring Brook Press, St. Martin’s Press, Tor Books, and Macmillan Higher Education. You get more info on each of these individual publishers here. A lot of them have their own prints, which just tells you how broad Macmillan’s reach is. You’ll have to dive in and figure out which areas of their business are most interesting to you, then you can check out their job postings. Right now they have a ton of entry level jobs posted including:

Inside Sales Assistant – HPHLP (Hamilton, NJ)
Graphic Designer – Palgrave Macmillan
Marketing Assistant – Palgrave Macmillan
Marketing Assistant – W. H. Freeman & Worth
Administrative Assistant
Associate Media Editor – Bedford, Freeman & Worth
Media Producer – Bedford, Freeman & Worth (Boston, MA)
Marketing Assistant – Bedford St. Martins (Boston, MA)
Associate Media Editor – Statistics and Mathematics – W. H. Freeman & Worth
Digital Production Associate
Human Resources Coordinator
Enforcement Assistant
Email Marketing Specialist
Publicist
Editorial Assistant – W. H. Freeman & Worth
Editorial Assistant – W. H. Freeman & Worth (slightly different from above)
Publisher Specialist
Online Content Specialist – Bedford St. Martins (Boston, MA)
High School Sales Representative -HPHLP (Hamilton, NJ)
Digital Marketing Associate

As you can see there’s quite a range of job opportunities at Macmillan. Be sure to read the job descriptions, as many of the jobs focus on specific publishing niches. Having subject matter expertise in those areas will be a big help in landing the jobs.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Macmillan’s imprints is your favorite?

Common Sense Media

Willy Franzen — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:18:47 +0000

On Tuesday I mentioned that I saw Mrs. Doubtfire for the first time in many years. One of the fun things about watching movies and tv shows from your childhood is picking up on all of the things that went over your head when you were a kid. I love it when writers are able to please both the young and the old at the same time. However, it feels like entertainment is getting less and less subtle, which means that it keeps getting harder for parents to monitor what kids are watching. That’s why Common Sense Media, which is based in San Francisco, CA, exists. They’re a non-profit organization that “is dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology.”

Show Some Common Sense

I generally think that kids’ enhanced access to media is a good thing. Exploring the Internet as a pre-teen gave me the education that I needed to be a web entrepreneur later in life. But the Internet is a much scarier place than it was back then. Keeping your kids away from media sources isn’t the answer, but how can parents know what’s ok to show to what age children? Common Sense Media’s ratings and reviews are a good start. They are based on 10 Beliefs that start with a focus on “media sanity, not censorship.” These aren’t the essentially useless ratings that you see on tv now–these are in depth ratings that really dig into all of the issues covered by a given show, movie, game, website, or other media source. Common Sense Media is all about providing information that helps parents do their jobs better. If you’d like to be a part of that, check out Common Sense Media’s Jobs page. Right now the best fit for a new grad is probably the Office Assistant position, but you may also want to take a look at the Business Development Associate position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’d you watch as a kid that you probably shouldn’t have?

Boy Scouts of America

Willy Franzen — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:37:46 +0000

Despite my outdoorsiness, I was never a boy scout. I’ll admit that I was a little jealous of the other kids when they came into school with their uniforms covered in patches, but I’m sure I earned plenty of patches as a kid–even if I never actually got patches (now I can buy them from Best Made Company). Still, I have a ton of respect for Boy Scouts of America. They’re an organization that has lasted more than a century by staying focused on a core set of values. They believe “that helping youth is a key to building a more conscientious, responsible, and productive society,” and they’ve continuously adapted the way that they’ve helped you to keep current. Boy Scouts of America is headquartered in Irving, TX, but they operate (and have job opportunities) all across the country.

Always Be Prepared

The best way to get a sense of the scale that Boy Scouts of America operates on is to look at the numbers. In 2010 they had “more than 2.7 million youth members and more than 1.1 million volunteers.” Combined these people gave 28,335,249 hours worth of time with an estimated value of $605,240,919. Service is a huge part of scouting, but what I think is more impressive is how far reaching Boy Scouts of America has become. The organization’s goal is to build character, and the fact that 57.4% of astronauts were scouts and 206 members of the 112th Congress participated in Scouting indicates that they’ve done a good job. (Ok, the Congress one not so much). Still, Boy Scouts of America prepares kids for success. So as you prepare yourself for success, you may want to look to the Boy Scouts of America Careers page. They divide opportunities into a few different sections: National Office, Scout Camp, Supply, High Adventure Bases, and Regional Locations. While the National Office positions are probably most attractive, there aren’t any great fits for new grads at this point; however, the Regional Locations includes a ton of District Executive positions. The are clearly stated to be entry level positions, and they’re offered all across the country. The employer is the local council, so you have to do some legwork to find their contact information, but there are dozens of these opportunities. The other links above also lead to some interesting opportunities, so do some exploring and remember to always be prepared.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Were you a Boy Scout?

HealthCorps

Willy Franzen — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:33:44 +0000

If you’ve been job searching for a while, there’s a good chance that you’ve picked up a daytime tv habit. That’s not the most productive thing to do with your time, but at least you know who Dr. Oz is. If you don’t know, he’s a heart surgeon who was made famous by his appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show. He now has his own show, but he also started a non-profit with his wife called HealthCorps. It’s based in New York, NY, and it’s aimed at “fighting the obesity and mental resilience crisis by getting American students and communities across the country to take charge of their health.” The organization was founded in 2003 and already has its peer mentoring programs in 54 high schools across 13 states. By the end of the year they expect to impact more than 100,000 students, and by 2015 they want to be in 100 high schools across all 50 states.

Join the Corps

The way HealthCorps structures their programs makes so much sense that I’m surprised more non-profits don’t have a similar structure. The base of their programs is focused on in-school programs targeted directly at changing student behavior. The next level is community outreach programs focused on getting more people involved beyond just the students. Finally, they do advocacy work at the national, state, and city levels. To get a deeper feeling for how HealthCorps does its work, watch this video (e-mail readers may need to click through):

If you like what you see, then you should probably check out HealthCorps’ jobs on Idealist. There are a ton of internships posted, but the only full-time job is for a Junior Accounting Analyst. Oddly enough, one of HealthCorps’ main ways of doing work is through their Coordinator position. It’s essentially a mentor for healthy living. You have to know to look for it, but there’s also a place to apply to be a HealthCorps Coordinator. I almost missed it, so they should probably do a better job of promoting it.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of HealthCorps?

CampInteractive

Willy Franzen — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:55:22 +0000

Last weekend we took a look at Outward Bound and their amazing outdoor programming. Today we’re going to look at an organization with a similar approach, but a much tighter focus. It’s called CampInteractive, and they introduce “the creative power of technology and the inspiration of the outdoors to underprivileged inner-city youth.” They’re based in New York, NY, but they often venture well outside of the city limits. The combination of nature and technology seems like a bit of an odd one, but CampInteractive is making it work. They realize that inner-city youth often lack both technical and leadership skills, so they’ve built programs to address both, albeit in different ways.

Go to Camp

Although CampInteractive may sound like a sleep away camp where you adventure outdoors during the day and type away on a keyboard at night, that’s not really what it is at all. If you read up on their programs, you’ll see that they operate year round with a variety of offerings. The summer program gets the longest description, as it includes a ” journey into environments such as Vermont, New Jersey, South Dakota and Colorado for 5-30 day hiking, camping, rock climbing, and canoeing experiences” followed by “a two-week intensive information technology and digital design program hosted at the CI Tech & Trek Center in the Bronx.” My guess is that leading with the outdoor adventure probably opens the kids up to be much better learners during the tech program. If you’re a nerd who loves the outdoors, then a job with CampInteractive might be a great opportunity. Right now their Jobs page shows that they’re looking for a Development Associate. Take a look at the job description and see if it makes sense for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about CampInteractive?

Coursekit

Willy Franzen — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:42:34 +0000

I’ve been a devoted Apple fanboy since 1990, yet I didn’t watch the liveblogs for their Education Event yesterday. It’s hard to get excited about digital textbooks when you never intend to read a textbook again, but I have to say that I’m looking forward to seeing how much technology will change the ways that future generations learn. Apple pushed a lot of people forward yesterday, but there’s a lot more to education than the content. Communication between teachers and students is essential, and technology can play an amazing role in this relationship. Coursekit is a New York, NY based company that offers “instructors and students amazingly designed tools to manage their courses – calendaring, file management” while making “it unbelievably easy to interact with one another.” It may kill a lot of your excuses for why you didn’t do your homework, but I think that the benefits are pretty obvious.

What’s in Your Kit?

From what I can tell, Coursekit is currently focused on the college market. That probably makes sense, especially considering how terrible the Blackboard experience is for most students. To get a feel for what Coursekit looks like, check out this video (you may have to click through to see it):

There are already professors at top schools using Coursekit, so check out the company’s Case Studies to get a better feel for how the software fits into the education environment. The remaining question is how does Coursekit make money? The short answer is that they don’t–they’re still running on investor cash. As their FAQ explains, the platform is intended to always be free. How they monetize the platform is yet to be determined. If that doesn’t scare you off, then you may want to take a look at Coursekit’s Careers page. They have a number of opportunities that look great for a new or recent grad including:

If you want to help continue the convergence of technology and education, then it would be hard to find a better place to do it than Coursekit.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Were you frustrated by your professors’ lack of tech savvy?

Outward Bound

Willy Franzen — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:52:46 +0000

I went to small, private middle and high school. They were really big on outdoor education, so almost every year we took some kind of class trip to promote bonding and a kind of learning that can’t be done in the classroom. The trips were wonderful–even when 20 of us got lost in the woods with one teacher overnight. I was lucky to get these kind of experiences through my school, but if I hadn’t, there’s a good chance I would have done something like Outward Bound. They are “a non-profit educational organization and expedition school that serves people of all ages and backgrounds through active learning expeditions that inspire character development, self-discovery and service both in and out of the classroom.” Outward Bound is headquartered in Golden, CO (but operating across the country), and “was founded in 1941 in the tumultuous waters of the North Sea during World War II, to provide young sailors with the experiences and skills necessary to survive at sea.” They got their start in their current state in 1961.

Job Bound?

While Outward Bound may no longer be about teaching survival skills to people who are actually likely to use them, they still do some really important educational work. Outward Bound’s programs serve all kinds of people ranging from “at-risk youth” to corporate employees, and they stretch across all kind of activities including Canoeing, Rock Climbing, Dogsleeding, Mountaineering, Rock Climbing, and more. I know that Outward Bound has an extremely strong connection with alumni, and that speaks to how truly great their programming is. If you want to be part of the Outward Bound family, take a look at their Careers page. Right now they have some great opportunities for new and recent grads including:

Backpack/Canoe Instructor (Baltimore, MD)
Backpack/Canoe Instructor (Philadelphia, PA)
Canoe/At Risk Instructor (Ely, MN)
Backpack/Canoe/At Risk (Newry, ME)
Course Director (Omaha, NE)
Field Instructor (St. Paul, MN)
Insight Facilitator (Baltimore, MD)
Insight Instructor (St. Paul, MN)
Logistics Coordinator (Midpines, CA)
Logistics Coordinator (Newry, ME)
Logistics Coordinator (Wheeler’s Bay, ME)
Logistics Coordinator (Redmond, OR)
Logistics Coordinator (Moab, UT)
Mountain Instructor (Leadville, CO)
Mountain/Raft Instructor (Redmond, OR)
Program Manager (Omaha, NE)
River Instructor (Moab, UT)
Sailing Instructor (Wheeler’s Bay, ME)
Urban Center/Field Instructor (Omaha, NE)

If you love the outdoors and want to work in the non-profit world, it’d be hard to beat a job with Outward Bound.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you do Outward Bound?

Super Sprowtz

Willy Franzen — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:01:09 +0000

Earlier this week I was catching up with Jason Seiden. We covered a ton of topics, but one thing that we kept coming back to is how frustrating it can be to work in the careers space. Why? Because, as Jason said, “Truly valuable career advice is like vegetables–you can’t give it away.” This is so true. You can try to force things on people, but you won’t get anywhere unless they want what you’re selling. Super Sprowtz is a company that is trying to change the way people–namely children–think about vegetables. They’re based in New York, NY, and they’ve seen how powerful cartoon characters can be in affecting children’s food choices, so they’ve developed a cast of “vegetable super heroes” to “entertain and educate children about healthy eating habits.” I started out thinking this was pretty weird, but I’m kind of warming to the idea.

How Super Are You?

When I first discovered Super Sprowtz, I assumed that they were a non-profit. Who would build a business on trying to get kids to eat vegetables? Even agricultural lobbies realize that they’re better off focusing on selling veggies to adults. But then you realize that Super Sprowtz’s customers aren’t children, but people who have children’s best interest at heart. Super Sprowtz develops DVDs, books, plush toys, apparel, and an interactive platform to sell to parents, teachers, nutritionists, and other concerned adults. Parents aren’t ever going to stop trying to get their kids to eat vegetables, so why not make an investment in products that are going to make their attempts more successful? There’s certainly a market for Super Sprowtz’s products, and it will be interesting to see how big it is. If you’d like to work directly with super heroes, check out Super Sprowtz’s jobs on Startuply. Right now they have mostly internships, but there is one Administrative Assistant position that looks interesting. Check it out, and don’t forget to bring along a bag of carrots if you get the interview.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your take on Super Sprowtz?

Martha’s Vineyard Museum

Willy Franzen — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:28:28 +0000

I spent at least a week every summer on Nantucket until I was 18. It was also a great time, and it’s where I have some of my fondest childhood memories. Oddly enough, I’ve only stepped foot on Martha’s Vineyard once. I was flying from Nantucket and the plane stopped on the Vineyard. I got out for some fresh air (it was a tiny plane) and got right back on. That means that I’ve never visited the Martha’s Vineyard Museum in Edgartown, MA, but I’m sure it has a lot in common with the museums that I’ve visited on Nantucket. The museum is “dedicated to furthering an interest in, experience of, and appreciation for the history and culture of the Island and its environs.” That’s exactly what you’d expect, and they do this with exhibitions, collaboritive educational programs, scholarly research, archival collections, and community outreach.

Island Time

The Martha’s Vineyard Museum was originally founded in 1922 as the Dukes County Historical Society. They changed the name in 1996 to the Martha’s Vineyard Historical Society, and again in 2006 to its current name. The museum’s current exhibitions include We Are Marching Along (the island’s role in the Civil War) and Out of the Depths: Martha’s Vineyard’s Shipwrecks. There are also plenty of permanent exhibits that educate on the island’s history from colonial times to modern day. If you want a quick intro to some of the history that museum covers, you should check out its Martha’s Vineyard FAQs. If you find island life intriguing and want to help tell the story of Martha’s Vineyard, look no further than the Martha’s Vineyard Museum’s Jobs page. Right now there’s only one 20-hour per week position as an Oral History Assistant, but I’m sure that you could fill the rest of your time on such an interesting island.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you been to Martha’s Vineyard?

Crayola

Willy Franzen — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:37:40 +0000

I took a Career Development course in college. It was 2 credits pass-fail and met twice a week for half the semester. I figured that it was a good way to fill out my schedule, but it ended up being “the hardest class I took in college.” I wish I could say it was because it was so intellectually demanding, but it was actually because the work was so tedious and mind-numbing. To pass the class we had to submit a four-inch thick portfolio of all of our homework and reading notes (yes, reading notes in college). The class was entirely process-oriented and taught me nothing relevant to actually getting a job. The lowest point was when the class met in a special room and the professor asked us to close our eyes and envision our future lives as she played some weird new age music. She then handed out blank pieces of paper and small packs of Crayola crayons. She asked us to draw the future we envisioned. I AM NOT KIDDING (and the drawings went in our portfolio). What a waste of good crayons. Crayola is based in Easton, PA, and they were founded in 1885 as Binney & Smith, an industrial pigment supplier. They quickly got into pencils, chalk, and crayons, which built them into one of the most recognizable brands in America.

Picture Your Future at Crayola

Crayola has 99% brand recognition in the U.S., and the scent of their crayons is said to be the 18th most recognizable scent behind coffee and peanut butter. It’s unfortunate that I now tie that smell to such an infuriating educational experience, especially considering that Crayola is all “about helping parents and educators raise creative and inspired children, who we believe will one day lead the world.” Crayola has obviously expanded well beyond selling just crayons, pencils, markers, and chalk, but the business remains about giving kids the ability to express their creativity in any way they want. Even with the continued focus on simplicity, Crayola was able to reach $700 million in sales in 2010. That’s impressive. If you want to be part of the Crayola story, check out their Jobs page. Right now they have a few positions that you may want to consider including The Crayola Store – Retail Associate, The Crayola Experience – Associate, International Business Analyst, and Supply Chain Planner. Check them out and see if any of the positions might be in the picture you drew of your future.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite Crayola memory?