One Day, One Job » investment

LearnVest

Willy Franzen — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:56:41 +0000

The best personal finance tip that I’ve ever heard comes from Ramit Sethi at I Will Teach You to Be Rich: earn more money. As a job seeker, that’s exactly what you’re trying to do. Oddly enough, a good way to earn more money might be going into the personal finance industry. There’s a ton of growth in the space, and one of the companies that caught my eye is LearnVest. It was started by Alexa von Tobel after realized that she graduated from Harvard and was going to work in finance without any idea of how to manage her own finances. Now they have $25 million in funding, an office in New York, NY, and a mission of helping women “live a richer life.” They do this by providing content, tools, and guidance on all types of personal finance topics.

Live a Richer Life

The personal finance market has a ton of monetization potential, which is why businesses like LearnVest are growing so quickly. What I like about LearnVest is that they’re not just selling advertising, but also providing products and services that they can sell to their users. I have to say that LearnVest has built a really solid suite of tools, content, and services in just a few years. I highly recommend that you start looking through the site to get a better feel of how their business works. It’s also worth looking at LearnVest’s Media Kit. It will give you really deep insight into the entire business. It’s essentially a cheat sheet for a job interview. And if you want to end up in an interview, then you should probably take a look at LearnVest’s Jobs page. Right now there are a few positions that you may want to take a look at: Advertising Operations Manager, Audience Development Associate, Front-End Engineer, Mobile Developer, and Web Developer PHP, WordPress, JQuery. Landing one of these jobs would be a great first step in getting your personal finances figured out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used LearnVest?

Wolverine Trading

Willy Franzen — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:32:44 +0000

When I was a kid, I had a huge baseball card collection (actually, I still have it). I never seriously collected any other sports cards, but I did have a phase where I collected a Marvel cards. I haven’t thought about those cards for years, but when I came across the name Wolverine Trading, they instantly jumped back in mind. Unfortunately, Wolverine Trading, which is based in Chicago, IL, doesn’t have anything to do with superheroes–though they may consider themselves financial superheroes. They are a “diversified financial institution specializing in proprietary trading, asset management, order execution services, and technology solutions.” Those are all just big words for making money by combining technology with knowledge of the financial markets.

Be a Glutton

Beyond being the name of a superhero, a wolverine is also a carnivorous mammal known for a gluttonous appetite and strength beyond its size (and the mascot of the University of Michigan). What a perfect name for a trading firm! Most trading firms keep what they actually do pretty close to the chest. If details about their internal operations leak out, then they lose their edge and ability to make money. Still, you can get a pretty good intro to Wolverine Trading from their Careers page. Beyond having their job postings, you can learn about their Culture, Benefits, Top 10 Reasons to Join Them, and FAQs on Trading and Technology. Once you read through all of those, you’ll either want to look at the College Recruiting page where they list a Rotational Trading Program and a Software Engineering Program. You can also check out their normal job postings for positions like Applications Developer, Trading Technical Support, Trading Associate (London), Software Engineer, Database Administrator, Junior Accountant, and Trading Assistant. There appears to be a lot of entry level opportunity at Wolverine Trading, so give them a really close look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Wolverine Trading?

Benzinga

Willy Franzen — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:20:45 +0000

I have a simple investment strategy: Buy AAPL. I’ve had a few other winners, but Apple is the reason that my portfolio is up over the past 5 years. I’m not much of a trader, so I typically buy a stock and hold it indefinitely. If I took a different approach to investing, I might want to spend time on Benzinga. It’s “an innovative news and analysis service that focuses on global markets” and is intended for developing “actionable trading ideas.” Benzinga has offices in Chicago, IL and Dover, DE, but it’s very clear from their Careers page that everything important happens in the Southfield, MI office… very clear. There’s something about Benzinga’s site that reminds me of a social gaming site, which I guess is appropriate since stock trading is the ultimate social game.

Zing!

Benzinga has its own editorial and research team, so they’re not just aggregating financial news and spitting it back to you. They actually focus on three key areas: real-time news, actionable trading ideas and insightful commentary.” It’s hard for me to judge how good the content is considering that I’m not a trader, but Benzinga seems to have generated a good amount of buzz in the finance community. I’m pretty sure that I had heard of Benzinga before, but yesterday someone from their team reached out to me to tell me about some of their positions for new grads. I took a look at their Careers page (which is all about Michigan), and saw some great entry level positions. Their current openings include:

Developer/Programmer Ninja
User Interface / User Experience Expert
News Desk
Talented Writers
Business Developer
Public Relations Guru

There are some great opportunities here to dive in deep early in your career. Take a look at the positions and see if Benzinga’s offer of Faygo (why not Vernors?), Bigby Coffee, Moosejaw tees, and U of M or MSU football tickets is enough to woo you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you checked out Benzinga?

YCharts

Willy Franzen — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:46:16 +0000

I had a prolonged job search after I graduated college. After a couple of months of browsing job boards, I realized that I needed to do more than just look at job postings. One of the things I did was decide to get serious about my finances. I got all of my money in one place, and I started investing. There were obvious benefits to doing this, but it also gave me something to talk about in job interviews to show my analytical skills (and to show that I’ve actually been doing something). My friend’s dad wrote a book called Rule #1 that explains a good methodology for picking individual stocks. I used that as my guide, and I used some online resources that it recommended of my research. I quickly found that I had to use multiple sites to get the kind of information I needed to make informed decisions. There was no one-stop shop for the figures that I needed, but now there is. It’s called YCharts, and it offers “the best charts on the web and objective, intuitive information about more than 5,000 stocks.” The company is headquartered in Chicago, IL, but all of the jobs that they’re filling are in New York, NY, which makes sense for an investment focused company.

Chart Your Progress

I spent a lot of time watching CNBC on Friday because I wanted to keep tabs on a certain IPO. I was shocked at how much factually incorrect garbage a lot of the guest analysts were spewing. They were saying things that could have been proven wrong with at two second Google search, yet there are people who make financial decisions on what these people say. If you want to make smart investment decisions, you need to base your actions on objective information. That’s what YCharts is all about, as this video explains:

If you’ve been thinking about investing your money, YCharts looks like a great resource for educating yourself. And if you’re interested in a career with a company that is using web technology to help investors, then YCharts could be a great fit. Right now their job postings only show one job suitable for a new or recent grad: Junior Web Developer. However, there will likely be other jobs in the future (some that don’t require tech skills, I’m sure), so you may want to try reaching out to them even if you’re not a Web Developer.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you do any investing?

Crain Communications

Willy Franzen — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:35:49 +0000

Now that I’ve lived in Chicago for three years, I’m starting to feel more like a part of the Chicago business community. And a big piece of being a part of a community is keeping up on your local news. I rely a lot of sources, but I’ve found that Crain’s Chicago Business consistently does great reporting on the Chicago business scene. Crain’s Chicago Business is published by Crain Communications, which is “one of the largest privately owned business publishers in the U.S., with more than 27 leading business, trade and consumer publications and related websites in North America, Europe and Asia.” Crain is headquartered in Detroit, MI, but their publications are headquartered in a variety of places. Crain was founded in 1916 by GD Crain Jr., and it remains a family owned business to this day despite a few bumps in the road that would be expected for any company in the publishing industry (like layoffs a couple of years ago).

Crain Your Neck

What I really like about Crain Communications is that their lineup of brands serves a lot of different interests. They cover broader business news in Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and New York, and they cover the Advertising and Media Industry with titles like Advertising Age and TelevisionWeek. They publish Waste & Recycling News, and they have 7 publications focused on the Plastics and Rubber industries. High quality publications that target specific niches are great for advertisers, which is why Crain has an advantage over more general business publications. If you’re digging Crain’s approach to niches and you like their “Readers First” mentality, then you should definitely give their Jobs page a look. Right now they have a variety of great opportunities for new or recent grads including:

Assistant Web Producer – Ad Age (New York, NY)
Digital Assistant Managing Editor – Investment News (New York, NY)
Digital Media Analyst – Pensions & Investments (New York, NY)
Digital Reporter – Ad Age (San Francisco, CA)
Editorial Assistant – Pensions & Investments (Chicago, IL)
Editorial Assistant – Business Insurance (Chicago, IL)
Freelance Reporter – Ad Age (Washington, DC)
Marketing Database Administrator (Detroit, MI)
Part-time Editorial Researcher – Tire Business (Akron, OH)
Research Analyst – Staffing Industry Analysts (Mountain View, CA)
Staff Reporter – Plastics News (Akron, OH)
Video Editor – Crain’s Chicago Business (Chicago, IL)
Web Developer – Ad Age (New York, NY)

There are all kinds of cool opportunities at Crain, so hopefully one of them will appeal to you. Ad Age may be a sexy name because you heard about it in Mad Men, but don’t overlook writing for Plastics News or Tire Business–sometimes things that seem mundane are actually pretty interesting.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read any of Crain’s publications?

Medallion Financial Group

Willy Franzen — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:54:15 +0000

Last night I read an article from The New York Times about how two New York City taxi cab medallions recently sold for $1 million each. These aren’t some weird collectors’ items–they are actual pieces of metal that are attached to the hood of a taxi cab and are required for the cab to be able to operate in a given city. It’s a relatively common system (you can read about it here), and it limits the number and ensures the quality of cabs in the city. In some cities, the medallions can be bought and sold, and the secondary market for them is getting extremely expensive. Because of this, most cabbies can’t own their own medallions–they usually have to lease them or work for a fleet that owns it own medallions. That’s where Medallion Financial Group comes in. They’re a New York, NY based financing company that specializes in Taxi Medallion and Commercial Lending.

Hail a Job

Medallion Financials’ slogan is “In Niches There Are Riches.” It’s quite fitting considering the story of their Founder, Leon Murstein. In 1937 he was an immigrant who was driving cabs. He eventually saved up to buy his first medallion for $10. He got hooked and ended up buying 500 more. Now Medallion Financial is a publicly-traded company (their ticker symbol is TAXI) with a market cap just under $200 million (and they have over $1 billion in assets under management). If you really want to dig into the numbers, you can check out Medallion Financial’s Annual Reports. I think this business is absolutely fascinating, which is why I decided to do a writeup on Medallion Financial even though I can’t find any info on current job opportunities. My recommendation is that if you really like what they’re doing, check them out on LinkedIn, and then use their Contact page. It’s a long shot, but that’s what you have to do if you want to work at unique companies like Medallion Financial (note that Medallion Financial is not uniquely named, so there are some other companies with the same name). I do know that they’ve offered internships in the past, so entry level jobs really aren’t out of the question.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Had you noticed taxi medallions before?

New Profit

Willy Franzen — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 15:57:53 +0000

Although getting money to fund a startup company isn’t what I called easy, there’s a pretty standard process for seeking investment. When it comes to starting up a non-profit, the process isn’t often so clear. This can make finding funding seem impossible. However, there are some smart people who have taken the venture capital model and adjusted it for the non-profit world. One of these organizations is New Profit, which is based in Cambridge, MA. They were founded in 1998 and they focus “on supporting innovative social entrepreneurs who have brought a pathbreaking, big idea to life in an innovative organization.” They do this through their philanthropy fund, which has funded a ton of non-profit organizations. (I’m having trouble determining whether New Profit is actually a non-profit, but philanthropy funds usually are.)

Make a New Profit

While New Profit does a lot of work behind the scenes, they’re really all about their portfolio organizations. You can take a look at both their current investments and their past investments. We’ve covered quite a few of the organizations that they’ve funded including Freelancers Union, Kickstart, Right To Play, and a few others. You’ll also want to read up on New Profit’s Model and Plan For Impact. If you like what you see, then you’ll want to take a look at New Profit’s Jobs page. Their offerings are a bit limited right now–there are two postings you might want to look at: Communications Fellow (which is really an internship) and a Staff Accountant (which requires a few years of experience). The other option is to check out jobs at New Profit’s portfolio organizations. You should be able to find some pretty interesting options.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of New Profit?

Morningstar

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

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

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

Good Morning!

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What company have you been ignoring?

Kickstarter

Willy Franzen — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 16:11:24 +0000

I’m not sure how many of you have been with us long enough to remember, but 2.5 years ago Jason Seiden and I put together a job search prep course called Found Your Career. We did it for two reasons. First, we saw a need. Most entry level job seekers need some serious help. Second, Jason was looking for a way to productize his content, and I was looking for a way to develop new revenue streams (since selling advertising to employers in the middle of a recession is kind of hard). We tested the waters with some introductory content and got a good response, so we went all out and developed an awesome course for job seekers. We charged $152 for the course, and it actually sold pretty well in its first week. It did ok over the next month or so. Then the sales dried up. We learned the hard way that selling products to entry level job seekers is really tough, which is why we’ve finally decided to make Found Your Career free–you can find all of the lessons here. If I were to do it all over again, I would have used Kickstarter to build support for the project before actually building the course. Kickstarter is a platform for funding creative projects. They’re based in New York, NY, and they’re making all kinds of awesome things happen by matching up creative people with customer/funders.

Give Your Career a Kickstart

Let’s say Kickstarter was around when Jason and I were coming up with the idea of Found Your Career. We could have posted our project on the site with a specific fundraising goal. Let’s say $10,000. We’d offer details about the project, and we’d offer rewards for certain levels of pledges. Maybe $30 would get you access to the course. $50 would get you the course and a signed copy of Jason’s book. $100 would get you a half hour phone call with me or Jason. $2,000 and we’d fly you out to Chicago and spend the day with you developing a job search plan. The project would run for a set amount of time, and if we reached our goal, everyone who pledged would get charged and get their rewards. If we didn’t reach our goal, nobody would get charged and we’d can the project. The best way to get a feel for this is to take a look at some real projects. For instance Minimal Inc. raised nearly $1,000,000 for their iPod Nano watch, EFFALO is trying to raise $5,000 to build software to help people make geodesic structures, and Nathan Bergey has already raised enough to fund his project of building lamps that light up when the International Space Station is in your view. You really should spend some time browsing Kickstarter and maybe even try funding a few projects that interest you.

The range of projects on Kickstarter is pretty amazing. At least for now, they limit projects to “the creative fields of Art, Comics, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film, Food, Games, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology, and Theater,” but you can find a way to fit almost anything into one of those categories. Since there’s so much potential for abuse on a platform like Kickstarter, they have some pretty strict guidelines and a seemingly exhaustive FAQ. I’m completely amazed by what Kickstarter already is, and I can’t wait to see it keep growing. If you’d like to be part of that growth and you love the idea of helping make creative projects happen, you have to take a look at Kickstarter’s Jobs page. Right now they have two positions posted–Designer and Office Manager. Both look like they could be great fits for new or recent grads, so check them out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used Kickstarter?

AlphaMetrix

Willy Franzen — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:19:02 +0000

Sometimes you have to feel bad for ridiculously rich people. They’re investing millions of dollars with hedge funds, and they don’t have access to the kind of tools that I have access to in my Scottrade account. Ok, you don’t have to feel bad for them, but you have to agree that it’s weird that individuals who have the most invested have the least transparency into what they’ve invested in and how its doing on a day to day basis. AlphaMetrix is a Chicago, IL based company that aims to solve this problem by “connecting highly qualified investors with fund managers.” They do this through a software platform that enables investors to look at detailed information on a hedge fund’s holdings. This allows investors to make more informed decisions, and it allows hedge fund managers to better communicate what they’re doing with the money that they manage to investors.

An Alpha Opportunity

I found out about AlphaMetrix from Crain’s Fast Fifty for 2011. It’s an annual feature that covers the 50 fastest growing companies in the Chicago area. AlphaMetrix came in at #1 on the list with 8,030.4% five-year growth to $41.7 million in revenue. They have “more than 21,000 institutional and high-net-worth investors as clients” and they service more than $6.3 billion in assets. You can read the full writeup from Crain’s here. It seems like a really interesting business, which is why you’ll want to check out AlphaMetrix’s Jobs page. They don’t list specific opportunities, but they encourage interested applicants to contact them. You can use LinkedIn to get a feel for what type of positions they might have available–my guess is that they’ll be Research/Analyst type positions, at least at the entry level. They have additional offices in New York, NY; Columbus, OH and the Cayman Islands, so there could be options there too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about AlphaMetrix?

The Receivables Exchange

Willy Franzen — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:24:20 +0000

Ever curious about the business behind One Day, One Job and One Day, One Internship? Read this interview I did with The Startup Foundry.

I’ve never taken an Accounting class, but I do run a business, so I guess that means that I have at least a small understanding of how it all works. I may have never formally learned what “accounts receivable” means, but I certainly know it in practice. Right now there are 7 businesses that owe me money for advertising. It’s an asset, but it’s not quite as valuable as actually having the money in the bank. Luckily, this is a relatively cheap business to run, so cash flow is never an issue. For many other types of businesses, cash is essential. The 30/45/60 days that they give debtors to pay invoices can be extremely costly (in terms of risk and the time-value of money) because it limits the businesses’ ability to make short-term investments like buying products wholesale to sell retail, paying for advertising, or making payroll. The Receivables Exchange is a company based in New Orleans, LA (headquarters) and New York, NY that fixes this problem. They allow business to auction off their accounts receivable for cash. Businesses obviously have to pay a premium for the cash that they get, but it allows them to make short-term investments that should easily cover the costs of financing.

Jobs Receivable

I must admit that the first thing that I noticed about The Receivables Exchange is that their domain name is ReceivablesXchange.com. I guess they don’t want anyone to think that their name is Receivable Sex Change. That would make sense, since they’re actually doing something really important for small and medium business owners. Here’s how the whole thing works. Basically, institutional investors (buyers) can “post profiles indicating their preferences and proactively browse and search for auctions of interest to them.” Business owners (sellers) can post as many accounts receivable as they like, and they can set “the duration of the auction, the minimum advance amount, and the maximum fee they will pay.” The investors bid, and the first one to meet the seller’s terms wins. If nobody meets the terms, then the best bid at the end of the auction wins. It’s a simple idea, but all of the value is in how The Receivables Exchange has implemented it.

If you’re looking for a more in-depth look at how The Receivables Exchange works, you can take a look at their FAQ along with their case studies. Once you have a pretty good grasp on the business, then you’ll want to head over to The Receivable Exchange’s Careers page, especially if you share their vision of being “the most trusted capital market in the world for small and mid-sized businesses.” Right now The Receivables Exchange is looking for a Client Services Associate (New Orleans), a Receivables Advisor (Independent/Nationwide), and an Assistant to the CEO (New York City). They also offer a variety of internships (in areas including Corporate Finance, Human Capital/Corporate Culture/Human Resources, Product Management, Institutional Sales, Corporate Operations, Information Systems, Operations, and Marketing), so there’s certainly a chance for more opportunities geared towards recent grads.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of The Receivables Exchange?

Sandbox Industries

Willy Franzen — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 17:51:25 +0000

99% of the graduating classes from 2004-2010 at MATCH Public Charter School in Boston, MA were accepted to four-year colleges. That’s an astounding result considering most students were performing well below grade level when they started at the school. Find out how you can be part of these success stories as a teacher or tutor.

Since I moved to Chicago in October of 2008, I’ve been getting more and more involved with the local startup scene. I’ve met a lot of cool people ranging from founders of some of the city’s most successful startups to the awesome people at Jelly Chicago (it’s a co-working group, and you should join us). One of the better events that I’ve been to was midVentures Launch. I even got to introduce myself to the guy who makes me feel bad every time I go to the gym because he a) always seems to be there no matter when I go b) is always doing ridiculously difficult workouts. That may seem completely irrelevant, but it turns out that he’s a Project Manager at Sandbox Industries, which is a Chicago, IL based venture capital firm. They have three distinct areas of focus: their incubator, the Sandbox Venture Fund, and the BlueCross BlueShield Venture Fund. As I was doing my daily browsing for interesting opportunities, I came across some postings from Sandbox Industries, so I figured that it was time to take a closer look at them.

Play in the Sandbox

From what I’ve seen, Sandbox Industries is extremely hands-on with their portfolio companies, so they’re not just looking to make smart investments. Sandbox Industries devotes significant resources towards ensuring that the companies in their portfolio become successful. They do this by “combining creativity with world-renowned managerial experience and an eite network of business contacts, resources, and expertise.” The best way to get a feel for Sandbox Industries’ investing philosophy is to take a look at their portfolio. Some of the standouts include: Marbles, a store that helps you improve brain fitness; FeeFighters, a company that helps other businesses lower payment fees; Phreesia, the national leader in patient check-in; and BookYap, a book discovery site. The investments may seem all over the place, but they’re actually based on a strict set of principles. If you’re intrigued by the world of venture capital, but you’re more interested in building businesses than buying pieces of businesses, then Sandbox Industries might be the place for you. Their Careers page shows that they’re looking for a Junior Ruby on Rails Developer, but I also found internships in Social Media Marketing and Content Writing. Looking at Sandbox Industries’ Team page might also help you identify other potential opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Sandbox Industries’ startups is most interesting to you?

FactSet Research Systems

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

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

Get Your FactSet

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about FactSet?

MCG

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

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

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

Quantify Your Worth at MCG

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a quant?

SecondMarket

Willy Franzen — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 15:55:56 +0000

Liquidity can be a big issue in college. Your parents gave you money for food, but it’s all in the form of “meals” at the dining hall. As far as I know, there’s no market for converting these meals into cash, so you’re stuck on campus with the same slop that you’ve been eating daily for past 7 weeks. In the real world, liquidity can be a much bigger issue. There are plenty of people who are millionaires on paper but can’t pay their bills because all of the assets they hold are illiquid or hard to sell quickly. SecondMarket is a New York City and Palo Alto, CA based company that provides the largest secondary market for illiquid assets. In other words they help buyers find sellers and sellers find buyers for a variety of financial products. It’s not like eBay where you can turn Pez dispensers into cash—it’s for serious financial instruments that just don’t have thriving markets like publicly traded stocks do. SecondMarket is yet another Inc. 500 company—they came in at #270 with 1,156% three-year growth to $35 million in annual revenue.

First Job, SecondMarket

If you’re still not quite sure what liquidity means, take a look at the Wikipedia entry on market liquidity. It should clear things up. SecondMarket allows for the trading of many different types of assets including asset-backed securities, auction-rate securities, bankruptcy claims, collateralized debt obligations, limited partnership interests, private company stock, residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities, restricted securities and block trades in public companies, and whole loans. A lot of those words are probably unfamiliar, so if you want an intro that goes beyond Wikipedia, I strongly recommend reading The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis. I’m just about halfway through it (on the new Kindle that I got for my birthday!), and the book has really opened my eyes to what happens in many of those markets and how it led to the recent financial crisis. If you find this kind of stuff fascinating, then a job at SecondMarket might be perfect for you. They have a number of opportunities that seem well suited for new grads including Accounting Associate, Front Desk/Office Administrator, Java Front End Engineer, and Data Architect/Database Developer. I also did a little poking around LinkedIn, and it looks like there are also opportunities like Business Analyst and Marketing Designer; however, they don’t seem to be hiring for them right now. If you don’t see something that fits you, I’d definitely reach out to the folks at SecondMarket and see if there are any other opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever traded something on a secondary market?

Root Capital

Willy Franzen — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 17:46:08 +0000

Are you a current college senior who loves animals? Check out entry level opportunities with Nestle Purina for an awesome way to spend your time after graduation.

Up to this point I’ve been able to build my business with only my own investment and a little from my family. I don’t know if I’ll ever take outside capital, but I do know that most businesses require some form of investment to get off the ground. In the United States getting capital is pretty easy—there are both equity and debt options to fund your business. In developing nations, capital isn’t nearly as free flowing—mostly because the investments are far too risky. The microfinance movement has helped, but many upstarts are too big for the kind of capital that they offer. Root Capital is a Boston, MA based non-profit that has created “a new class of capital sitting between microcredit and commercial lending, enabling rural communities to unlock wealth and build sustainable livelihoods.” They seem to be modeled after for-profit investment firms, but there investments are obviously done with a very different focus.

The Root of Your Job Search

Since it was founded, Root Capital has “provided more than $200 million in credit to 282 small and growing businesses in 30 countries in Latin America and Africa with a 99% repayment rate from [their] borrowers and a 100% repayment rate to [their] investors.” Those are some amazing results from an investment standpoint, and they look even better when you consider how the investments have helped push forward the development of rural communities. If you look at where Root Capital works, you’ll see that they’re financing ecotourism businesses in Belize, coffee businesses in El Salvador, apparel businesses in Liberia, mango businesses in Burkina Fasao, and lots more. If you’re excited about international development, but also like the free market approach to investment, then you should check out Root Capital’s Jobs page. Right now they have a few opportunities that seem like good fits for new grads including Investor Relations Associate, Finance and Operations Assistant, Financial Analysis Fellow, and a couple of positions that are posted in Spanish that I can’t understand. The deadlines have passed for a few of these positions, but they were accepting applications on a rolling basis and haven’t taken the job postings down yet, so it’s worth a shot anyway.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Root Capital?

Lattice Engines

Willy Franzen — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:43:43 +0000

When you think of optimizing your investments, you probably think about asset allocation, picking the right stocks, getting a better interest rate, and other things related to your personal finances. But what about spending $27 on a job search course that will help you get a job and start making money faster? Let’s say that you’re going to make $800 a week (that’s a pretty decent entry level salary). The things that you learn in the course help you get a job two weeks earlier than you would have otherwise. You just turned $27 into $1600. You couldn’t have done that in the stock market, but how do you know that your investment will pan out? You can’t. You have to take a risk. At worst, you spent $27. But what if you’re a huge business? You can’t just make guesses—you need to know that your maximizing your return on investment. That’s why huge companies like Microsoft, Novell, and EMC use Lattice Engines. They’re a San Mateo, CA based company (with offices in New York City and Boston) that “provides analytic solutions that help customers maximize their return on sales and marketing investments.”

Lattice Work

I won’t even pretend that what Lattice Engines does isn’t complicated. As they put it, their solutions “combine advanced optimization techniques, and predictive analytics built on a very flexible data integration platform.” You know they’re doing some heavy data lifting when Microsoft hires them to help. By combining internal data with external data sources, Lattice Engines is able to identify opportunities for growth, and sometimes that can mean a 5-15% revenue increase. That may not sound like a lot when you realize that Lattice Engines has increased revenue by 2,114.9% over the past three years (which puts them at #120 on the Inc. 500), but it really is a big number when you consider how mature the businesses of some of Lattice Engines’ clients are. Judging from Lattice Engines’ Jobs page, they’re looking for extremely smart, quantitatively minded people. Their current job opportunities include Software Engineer, Analytics Engineer, Business Analyst, and Applications Engineer. You can contact them about those positions or an unlisted one at hiring@lattice-engines.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about Lattice Engines?

Ceres

Willy Franzen — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:53:39 +0000

Since I’m too young to remember it, I’m sure that many of you are too. In 1989 “a major environmental disaster shook public confidence in corporate America—the Exxon-Valdez oil spill.” It made the environmental costs of business finally feel real to many people, and it resulted in the founding of a non-profit organization called Ceres. They are “a national network of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups” that work “with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change.” With the BP oil spill among other environmental crises, it’s quite clear that Ceres has lots more work to do after 20 years of operations. Still, Ceres, which is based in Boston, MA, has accomplished quite a bit in their mission to “integrate sustainability into capital markets.” They launched both the Global Reporting Initiative, which is “now the de-facto international standard used by over 1300 companies for corporate reporting on environmental, social and economic performance,” and the Investor Network on Climate Risk, which is “a group of more than 70 leading institutional investors with collective assets of more than $7 trillion.” They’re obviously a major player in sustainability, and they’re taking the right approach by working with businesses instead of fighting them.

Get Ceres About Your Job Search

One of the key ideas behind Ceres is their ten principles. It’s a code of corporate environmental conduct that has been adopted by more than 50 companies (13 of which are in the Fortune 500). These principles include: Protection of the biosphere; Sustainable use of natural resources; Reduction and disposal of wastes; Energy conservation; Risk reduction; Safe products and services; Environmental restoration; Informing the public; Management commitment; and Audits and reports. Interestingly enough, many of these principles mirror general good business practices. By endorsing or adopting these principles, a company can “actively commit to an ongoing process of continuous improvement, dialogue and comprehensive, systematic public reporting.” If you like this approach, then you should check out jobs at Ceres. The only position that really seems suitable for a new grad is actually posted on Idealist, and it’s for a Corporate Programs Associate. It looks like a great position, so give it a look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about Ceres?

Lowercase Capital

Willy Franzen — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 15:49:25 +0000

I was considering writing about McDonnell Douglas after having my apartment building buzzed by F-18s all day yesterday (they’re practicing for the Chicago Air and Water Show), but I had a friend send me a link to a posting that was way too cool to pass up. It’s from the venture capital industry, which is notoriously hard to break into. Lowercase Capital is a new Angel Fund that was launched in June by Chris Sacca, who was formerly the Head of Special Initiatives at Google. I’ve spoken with a few venture capital companies who were interested in my business, and most seemed buttoned up (at least compared to the startups that they invest in). This is definitely not the case with Lowercase Capital, unless you mean buttoned up with a Bolo tie. Yes, Lowercase Capital has a Western theme, which is fitting because they’re located in Truckee, CA (I was in Truckee two days ago, and it’s awesome). It almost seems gimmicky, but the whole thing really speaks to how Chris is trying to change the way venture capital works with Lowercase.

Giddy Up

Before he started Lowercase Capital, Chris Sacca was an individual angel investor. He put his own money to work helping startups get off the ground. Now, he’s doing the same thing, but on a larger scale and with $8.5 million in his fund. The fund is extremely hands on, so they do a lot more than just write checks. You’ll want to browse around the Lowercase Capital site to a get a better feel for who they are and what they do, but at first you might find it confusing. Outfit is their About page, while Posse is a list of their portfolio companies. Prospecting gives you info on how to pitch them, and Cables is their blog. Most importantly, Ranchhands is what they call their Jobs page, and right now they’re looking for a Cowpoke/Intern. I wouldn’t usually post about an internship here, but it is paid, and it’s one of the best opportunities that you’ll have to break into the VC world since they don’t do much entry level hiring. The description takes the Western metaphors to a whole new level, so you’ll probably have to read the posting a few times to be able to process it all. The position comes with a ton of flexibility, so you’ll have the chance to make of it what you want. If you’re interested, check out the job description and apply to thisjobhasmynameonit@lowercasellc.com. Oh yeah, and apparently you can do the job from anywhere.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Lowercase Capital’s western theme?

Financial Engines

Willy Franzen — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:52:21 +0000

Believe it or not, I started thinking about retirement right after I graduated college. No, I didn’t win the lottery or have a big entrepreneurial success. I started investing and contributing to my IRA. It was a good way to stay productive and get ready to be an adult. If you start thinking about retirement in your early or mid 20s, you’re likely going to be in great shape 40 years down the line. Unfortunately, many people don’t plan that far ahead, so they end up needing help much later in life—and often they don’t have access to good advice once they realize that they need it. Financial Engines is trying to change that. It all started with Bill Sharpe, who won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. By combining “Bill’s pioneering investment methodology with proprietary technology” Fiancial Engines is able “to provide all investors with cost-effective, expert advice and management—the kind previously available only to the world’s largest institutional investors.” Financial Engines, which is based in Palo Alto, CA with offices in Boston, MA and Phoenix, AZ, partners with both retirement plan providers and large employers to offer their services and change the way that people get retirement help.

Start Your Financial Engines

In doing my research on Financial Engines, I came across an excellent writeup about the company on Seeking Alpha. It goes into a ton of detail about the business, and it’s definitely worth a read. The general gist of it is that Financial Engines automates a lot of retirement advising through software as a service. Face to face advising often isn’t economical, and sometimes it’s not even better than what a computer can spit out. Financial Engines took the brilliance of Bill Sharpe, and put it into their computer models—so Financial Engines clients really do get the best. If you’re intrigued by what Financial Engines is doing, you should check out their Careers page. Nothing screams entry level on their job postings, but there is the option to apply for an unlisted position. They offer a number of internships, so it’s not like they aren’t interested in young talent.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Financial Engines?

OpenView Venture Partners

Willy Franzen — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:38:41 +0000

I love featuring startups here. They offer so many exciting opportunities for new grads, and they’re often representative of the future of our economy. The problem with startups is that they often have trouble generating enough profits to grow quickly in their early and middle stages. That’s why I usually make it a point to mention how much funding a given startup has—so you’ll know that the company is financially sound enough to actually pay your paycheck. The amount of funding a company has can only tell you so much, but if an investor is willing to put up millions of dollars for some equity in the company, at least you know that you’re not the only one putting a lot of trust in the company’s future. Typically these investors are venture capital funds like Boston, MA based OpenView Venture Partners. They are “an expansion stage venture capital fund, with a focus on high-growth software, internet, and technology-enabled companies.” Expansion stage means that they typically make moderate sized investments (think $4 million to $11 million) in companies that have already established themselves as viable businesses (but need outside money to speed up growth).

Take an OpenView Towards Venture Capital

I’ve mentioned before that venture capital can be an extremely difficult field to get into, but it’s certainly one of the most exciting things that you can do right out of college. One of the cool things about OpenView Venture Partners is that they don’t just focus on making capital investments. They also invest significantly in adding value to their portfolio companies by giving them access to the firm’s resources and talent. If you take a look at OpenView Venture Partner’s portfolio, you probably won’t see many familiar names, but don’t let that dissuade you from getting excited about them (the only one I recommend is ExactTarget). As I prove every day, there are so many amazing companies that you’ve never heard of. If you’d like to consider working at OpenView Venture Partners, you should check out their Jobs page. They’re looking for a Market Research Analyst, and they’re open to hiring a new grad, but you’ll need a really strong résumé.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about the companies in OpenView Venture Partners’ portfolio?

Union Square Ventures

Willy Franzen — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:07:08 +0000

It’s hard to go a week on One Day, One Job without seeing me mention some company’s venture capital financing. I’m sure that some of you have no idea what I’m talking about, so here’s how it works. Venture capital firms provide investment in (typically early stage) companies to help them grow more quickly. They get a piece of the company, and they provide cash to help the company do things like hire people, buy more servers, or get office space. It’s the reason that you see companies that may not be profitable (yet) spending money. We feature a lot of venture funded companies here, and a number of them including 10gen, Etsy, Meetup, Pinch Media, Twitter, and Zynga are portfolio companies of New York City’s Union Square Ventures. Without money from Union Square these companies may not have been able to add jobs and end up featured here on One Day, One Job. Typically Venture Capital is an extremely difficult field to break into, but I just got word that Union Square Ventures is hiring, and I figured I’d share it with you ASAP.

Pursue a New Venture

Union Square Ventures was founded by Fred Wilson, Brad Burnham and Albert Wenger. All of them are accessible through social media, which makes sense since Union Square Ventures is a major player in the Web 2.0 space. If you know anything about the portfolio companies that I mentioned in the first paragraph, you know that Union Square Ventures has an amazing track record. What makes it even more amazing is that they’re doing it in New York City and not the Bay Area (I think this is the only time that NYC is ever considered an underdog). If you want to know more about USV, you should check out their Our Focus page which links to posts from their blog that go into detail about how they work. Their latest job posting is also in the form of a blog post, and you can find it here. There are actually two jobs, but the entry level job is Investment Analyst, and it requires a ton of quantitative ability. This is an amazing opportunity, and the competition is going to be extremely fierce. My buddy Charlie O’Donnell was an Analyst at USV, and it’s helped him do some pretty cool things. If you want to be the the next Charlie, check out the blog post for all of the details.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of USV’s portfolio companies is your favorite?

Jump Trading

Willy Franzen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:54:32 +0000

Yesterday I was talking to a friend who is convinced that everyone in Chicago is a consultant. I know a lot of consultants here, but my take is a little different. I’m pretty sure that every guy that I’ve met here who is between the ages of 23 and 32 is a “trader.” They never tell you what they trade unless you ask—it almost seems like they’re being evasive. Maybe it’s all about creating a mystique about being a trader. Anyway, one of my “trader” friends happens to work at Jump Trading (he likes it), a high-frequency trading shop based here in Chicago. From what I can tell on their website, Jump Trading is less concerned with what they’re trading and more concerned with how they’re trading. They put a huge emphasis on technology, and they’re trying to take advantage of the fact that “the world financial markets are becoming faster, more complex, and more automated every day.”

Jump at the Opportunity

While Jump Trading’s website doesn’t go into too much detail about what exactly they do, you can find a little more about them in this Forbes article (even if it is nearly 4 years old). My key takeaway from the article is that Jump Trading is a “proprietary firm,” which means that they trade the company’s (or the founders’) money, not the money of clients. Most of what you’ll find about Jump Trading on their website is related to recruiting. They rely heavily on entry level talent, which is why College Recruiting is one of the main sections of the site. They do have a general Jobs page, but your best bet is to consider the two positions listed on their College Recruiting page—Algorithmic Trader and Software Engineer. Jump Trading only recruits at six campuses—Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Illinois, and Berkeley—so if you don’t attend one of those schools (where you should apply through Career Services), you’ll have to use their general résumé submission form. As you can tell by the schools that Jump Trading recruits from, they’re highly selective, although they don’t require prior knowledge of trading or finance to land a job with them. You just need to be really smart. Jump Trading does most of their campus recruiting in February, so now is probably the perfect time to apply for one of their jobs.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Jump Trading?

eRealInvestor

Willy Franzen — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:11:36 +0000

This morning I was reading a New York Times article about how some of the “super rich” are being hit hardest (at least in terms of total dollars lost) by this recession. A lot of this has to do with heavy investments in real estate. As we all know, real estate has not been the place to be lately. The good news about the bad real estate market is that it’s leading to all kinds of innovation. There are a ton of cool real estate startups, and I just came across another one called eRealInvestor. They’re based in San Francisco, and they offer a suite of tools that allow those who still have it in them to invest in real estate to be much smarter about it. Since I’m not a real estate investor, I don’t fully understand what all of the tools do. However, it’s hard to argue with a data based approach to buying and selling real estate.

eRealJobs

Since most new college grads don’t have the cash to start investing in real estate, they usually have to work their way into the world of real estate in a different way. A job at a company like eRealInvestor that is bringing innovation to the industry is a great way to do that. Their Jobs page doesn’t show much in the way of entry level jobs, but their postings on Startuply do. Current opportunities include Online Marketing Expert, Flash Developer, and Sales Executive. I’m sure they also have some Web Development positions available—even if the ones that are posted are a bit more senior. You can apply online, so get ready to invest yourself in real estate investment.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you think investing in real estate is a good idea?

People Capital

Willy Franzen — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:49:13 +0000

I was lucky enough to graduate from college without having had to take out any student loans, but even if I had needed to take out a loan, at least it would have been before the “credit crunch.” These days it’s a lot harder for students to finance their educations than it was just a couple of years ago. Credit in general is extremely tight right now, and beyond that, lenders are being very picky about whom they lend to. For students with no credit history, getting a loan can be a big pain in the butt. People Capital is a New York City based startup that is aiming to change that through what they call a “peer-to-peer lending platform.” They’ve developed a Human Capital Score “to assess the creditworthiness of those just starting their credit histories,” and they’re now building out a network of borrowers and lenders to bring the idea to life. It’s kind of like Kiva for education, but with a for-profit incentive keeping things efficient.

Add Your Human Capital to People Capital

When People Capital’s idea catches on, it has the potential to completely change the lending industry—not just the student loan industry. We used to trust banks to make smart financial decisions, but those days are over. Now we can micro-manage our lending and borrowing through peer-to-peer lending. Borrowers can get lower rates based on information that goes beyond the traditional credit score, and lenders can make a profit while financing the educations of promising students. It’s hard to say whether people are ready for this kind of a business model yet, but if they are, People Capital is going to be growing at insane rate pretty soon (if they aren’t already).

If People Capital sounds like the kind of place that you want to start your career, then you should check out their job listings on Startuply. Right now they’re looking to hire people to help them with Business Development in Philanthropic/Endowment/Affinity Channels and in Capital Markets. You can apply for these positions online right now, and keep your eyes peeled for more new jobs as peer-to-peer education lending becomes all the rage in the world of microfinance.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about People Capital’s concept of peer-to-peer lending?

Wayne Hummer Wealth Management

Willy Franzen — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:03:39 +0000

Let’s be honest, as a new or recent college grad, you probably don’t have much wealth to manage. That’s why you’re looking for a job – so that you’ll be rich one day and have somebody else look after your finances. Wait! So, if wealthy people don’t manage their own money, then who does? Wealth management companies, of course. That means that you can get a job managing wealth without having any wealth of your own to manage. Ok, this is starting to sound like some too good to be true scam – my bad. Seriously, though, if you’re smart, have the drive, and are interested in all things financial, a career in wealth management could be worth a shot. Wealth managment is actually a pretty cool field – it pulls from a variety of disciplines that include banking, estate planning, tax advisory, investment management, legal advisory, and, of course, financial planning. If that sounds like something that you might like to do after graduation, then you should check out Wayne Hummer Wealth Management, a Chicago based firm that was founded in 1931.

Manage Your Way to Wealth

It’s hard to differentiate between wealth management firms when you don’t have much inside information to go on, so let’s jump right into entry level jobs with Wayne Hummer Wealth Management. Their Careers page includes a link to a PDF on their Wealth Manager Training and Development Program, which is targeted towards new grads. There’s a ton of information on what the program entails and what areas you’ll “rotate” into. There’s no need for me to repeat it, so check out their Training and Development Program, and if you like what you see, you can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to careers@whummer.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Wayne Hummer Wealth Management?

Wikinvest

Willy Franzen — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:38:50 +0000

Who would have thought that you could build a whole startup off of a Wiki? I mean, I know that Wikipedia is wildly successful, but they’re run by a non-profit called the Wikimedia Foundation. Building a real business off of that same idea almost sounds too easy, but that didn’t stop the founders of San Francisco based Wikinvest from trying it. It all started when two Harvard students were day trading in their dorm rooms during the height of the Internet bubble. They were making money, so they thought they were smart investors. When the bubble burst, they realized that they weren’t nearly as smart as they thought they were. As they tried to educate themselves, they noticed that most financial websites leave a lot to be desired (kind of how I noticed that most job search sites leave a lot to be desired). Instead of building a team of salaried experts, the guys who started Wikinvest decided to crowdsource their content through a Wiki. So far it seems to be working well for them – they raised $2.5 million in a first round (although that was 18 months ago).

Wikinvest in Yourself

Some challenge that Wikinvest is inherently flawed because anyone can submit information. You’d think the pump-and-dumpers would be all over it, but the site still appears to be loaded with quality content (and not rife with spam). There’s also the question of why you would want to share good investing information publicly instead of keeping it for yourself and making lots of money. I certainly see the validity in those arguments, but I think that they miss the point of Wikinvest. The point is to learn key concepts and basic information that will allow you to understand more in-depth information that might not be found on the site. For instance, you can’t invest in Corn if you don’t understand the basic concepts behind Corn Prices. Since all new grads should be investing (even if it’s a small amount), Wikinvest is a great resource, but it’s also a place to consider employment. Despite their investment background, most of their jobs are actually on the software/web side. Their Jobs page shows a number of positions that seem geared towards new grads – Software Developer, Web Developer, User Interface Architect, and Flex/Flash Developer. You can apply for any of these jobs by sending a cover letter and resume to jobs@wikinvest.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you using Wikinvest to help you plan for your future?

Scottrade

Willy Franzen — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:58:44 +0000

After I graduated from college, I decided to take a responsible approach to my personal finances (I wish I had taken the same approach to my job search, but I didn’t, which is why I’m here teaching you how not to be a loser like I was). It took me a while to get my act together, but once I did I started investing in the stock market through Scottrade, an online discount brokerage company that is headquartered in St. Louis, MO. (And before I go on with more information about Scottrade’s jobs, I need to give Ramit Sethi’s book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, a plug because it just came out and is the best personal finance resource for young people that I’ve come across.) So, Scottrade allows me to buy and sell stocks at 7 bucks a pop. They also have a solid web interface that gives you access to all kinds of information, and they have 399 branches with helpful employees to answer you questions and get your accounts opened. If you’re interested in opening an account with Scottrade, let me know at willy@onedayonejob.com and I can give you a link that gets us both free trades. If you’re interested in working for Scottrade, keep reading, duh!

Trade Up to an Entry Level Job with Scottrade

Now, you may be thinking, “Ummm… Willy, the stock market sucks right now, why would I want to get involved with that business?” There are quite a few reasons. First of all, Scottrade is growing at an excellent rate, which is why they were included in the Inc. 5000. Second of all, they’re not one of these big banks that is on the edge of failure. They’re a discount brokerage that focuses on customer satisfaction, not playing with money in risky ways. Third of all, they’ve been named one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. Oh yeah, and the 4th reason is that they are hiring at the entry level. They do some college recruiting, but they also post plenty of positions on their Jobs site.

Jobs at Scottrade’s St. Louis headquarters that might interest new grads include IT Web Architect, Business Analyst, Business Analyst Specialist, and quite a few more – especially in the IT/Software Development Areas. Additionally Scottrade has jobs at its brokerages across the country. The Stockbroker position seems most appropriate for new grads, and you can do it almost anywhere – St. Louis, MO; Richmond, VA; Miami, FL; Oakland, CA; Greenville, SC; Albany, NY; Aventura, FL; Bloomington, IL; Boca Raton, FL; Castro Valley, CA; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Lafayette, LA; Midvale, UT; Ocala, FL; Parsippany, NJ; Redding, CA; San Antonio, TX; Santa Rosa, CA; Scottsdale, AZ; St. Cloud, MN; Yoba Linda, CA; Redding, CA, and probably a lot more places in the future.

You can apply for all of the jobs online on Scottrade’s Jobs site.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you invest? Do you use Scottrade?

Bridgewater Associates

Willy Franzen — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:30:39 +0000

Every day I take it upon myself to tell thousands of new college grads about exciting entry-level jobs. You’d think I’d pay enough attention to notice a company that does a ton of college recruiting, has a great work culture for young people, and is right in my “backyard.” Apparently I don’t. I came across a job listing for Bridgewater Associates and was intrigued because they are located in Westport, CT – the town where I went to high school. I figured I must have heard of them at some point and since forgotten about them. My curiosity continued, and I checked out their location on Google Maps. Then I saw this photo tagged for their location, and it hit me. This company is located on the banks of one of my favorite trout streams! Any good job searcher should know to never ignore the opportunities that are right under your nose. So, right off the bat, we know that Bridgewater’s people get to work in a beautiful location and have a great way to spend their lunch breaks if they’re interested in piscatorial pursuits.

Pure Alpha

I’m sure that my anecdote has left you wondering what exactly Bridgewater does. They currently manage “$140 billion in global investments for a wide array of institutional clients, including foreign governments and central banks, corporate and public pension funds.” Many would call them a hedge fund (although they don’t seem to be too keen on that terminology). The company is based on a strategy called “Pure Alpha,” which is based on separating “value-added return from active management” from “return from passively holding a portfolio” to create optimal portfolios for each. They’ve beaten global markets for 15 years, so it is apparently working for them.

Alpha Entry-Level Jobs

Bridgewater Associates appears to be making a lot of money, and it seems like they’re looking to spend that money by hiring new people. Their Job Bank has a variety of opportunities, many of which are targeted at new college grads. Their College Recruiting page shows 3 young people – one in a hoodie, another with her feet up on the desk, and another sitting on the desk – and mentions 4 positions that are typically geared towards the entry-level. These are Management Associate, Investment Associate, Operations Associate, and Portfolio Accountant. These are general job descriptions and not specific listings, but they offer great insight into what you’d be doing in one of these jobs.

Bridgewater is all about being different. They appear to be very relaxed with flex-time and casual dress, and they seem to do anything to encourage the free flow of ideas. They’re not offering your typical finance jobs. They seem to be extremely friendly to young people, and have one of the best online entry-level recruiting presences we’ve seen. They are located in Westport, CT, which is certainly not a hotspot for social opportunities (I can vouch personally for that), but New York City is just an hour train ride away.

Browsing Bridgewater Associates’ job listings is a different experience than what you’d typically be accustomed to. In some ways it’s really helpful, and in others it’s a little irritating. They ask you to pick from 14 areas and then view jobs by area. There’s no way to view all openings at once. Since multiple areas may interest the same candidates (especially entry-level candidates who may not have a clear idea of what they want to do), it would be a lot more convenient to find just entry-level positions listed somewhere on their College Recruiting page. Not all of the jobs geared towards new grads are finance heavy – there are also entry-level opportunities in support roles. Applying online looks easy, and you can apply for multiple positions with one application. If you doubt that your major will be a good fit for a particular job, just take a look at Bridgwater’s Employee Profiles. You can view them by Job Title or Major, which will show you that there’s even a place at Bridgewater for History and Chemistry majors.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Seriously considering a job at Bridgewater Associates and want to know more about the area? Leave a comment, and I’ll answer any questions that you may have.

Carnegie Corporation of New York

Willy Franzen — Sat, 24 May 2008 12:43:50 +0000

Although giving away money isn’t usually the first thing on people’s lists of things to do if they ever get rich, people who actually are rich seem to enjoy donating what they have. Since you’re reading a site about entry-level jobs, we’re going to guess that you don’t have vast financial resources to donate to charity. Still, it would be fun to give someone else’s money, now wouldn’t it? That’s what the Carnegie Corporation of New York does. The corporation was founded my Andrew Carnegie, himself, in 1911 with a $135 million. Since then the goal has been to put the money to use in ways that “promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding” for perpetuity. What is perpetuity? It’s forever. For many new college grads, making money last forever means until the next paycheck. At the Carnegie Corporation, they really mean forever. Their endowment was worth approximately $3.0 billion last year, and with a giving rate of “5.5 percent of the average market value of the endowment during the prior 12 quarters,” it’s not getting any smaller.

Free Money?

Yes! For philanthropic organizations that do extraordinary things in the areas of promoting international peace and advancing education. No, you can’t start some fake non-profit and start getting money. You can, however, work for the Carnegie Corporation and eventually help lead the direction in which Andrew Carnegie’s fortune is spent. Here’s the list of the most recent grants given by the Carnegie Corporation and here are all of the lists. The entire Carnegie Corporation website is extremely interesting and filled with information about the organization. If you find the amount of information a bit overwhelming, you can also look at Carnegie for Kids which really simplifies things. Don’t be ashamed about reading the version for kids, it’s actually really good.

Working for Carnegie

The Carnegie Corporation currently has three job openings. One is definitely entry-level, and another could probably be seen as such for the right person. They are looking for an Investment Information Coordinator and an Administrative/Research Assistant for their Scholars Program. The Investment Information Coordinator position is perfect for a new college grad who is looking for a non-profit job with a focus on philanthropy and endowments. The compensation for the job also appears to be excellent, especially for a non-profit job. You can apply for either position by sending a cover letter, résumé, at least two professional references by May 30, 2008 to: hr@carnegie.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Congratulations to all of our readers who are graduating this weekend or who have already graduated. To those of you who have another week or two, good luck!