One Day, One Job » journalism

Vox Media

Willy Franzen — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:17:07 +0000

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This weekend I spent an equal amount of time watching sports on tv and playing sports outside. That didn’t leave a lot of time to read about sports online, but I’ll guarantee you that a lot of sports sites saw a ton of traffic this weekend (and will continue to see it over the next few weeks). One of those sites is SB Nation, which is a site that is focused on “reinventing the media model with profitable, high-quality, innovative coverage from passionate, talented creators.” SB Nation used to be a company on its own, but it’s been so successful that a larger company called Vox Media has been built around it. They’re based in Washington, DC, and they also run The Verge, a technology news site, and will be launching a gaming focused site soon. Word is that they just closed a big round of funding, and the expectation is that they’ll use the cash to build out into more verticals.

Have a Voice

If you’re thinking that Vox Media’s approach looks similar to that of Gawker Media, you’re right. They’ve entered some of the same core verticals, and they’ve hired people from Gawker and other major online media companies to build out their properties. This is something that you see a lot in the industry. A company builds a platform that is very successful, and they replicated it over and over again. The SB Nation About page gives a really good run down on how this all works, so I highly recommend that you read through the whole thing. If you’re excited by the business model and love online content, then check out Vox Media’s Jobs page and The Verge’s Jobs page (there’s some overlap, and the SB Nation’s redirects to the Vox Media page). There are a number of positions worth considering for a new or recent grad including:

Designer (New York, NY)
Developer (Washington, DC)
Traffic Analyst (Washington, DC)
Business Editor – The Verge (New York, NY)
Designer – The Verge (New York, NY)
Laptop/Table Reviewer – The Verge (New York, NY)
Mobile Reviewer – The Verge (New York, NY)
Production Editor – The Verge (New York, NY)
Reporter/Editor – The Verge – East Coast (New York, NY)
Reporter/Editor – The Verge – West Coast (San Francisco, CA)

Vox Media offers an amazing opportunity to get into a rapidly growing industry. Take a look at these positions and see if any make sense for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Vox Media?

Entercom

Willy Franzen — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 17:29:17 +0000

The next car I get will definitely have some sort of iPhone integration. Right now I still rely on one of those tape to AUX thingies, which means that I usually just listen to the radio. I couldn’t find any good stats on the topic, but I have to think that listeners in cars are what’s keeping radio going. But according to Entercom, radio is still going strong. You would expect them to say that though, considering that they’re “one of the five largest radio broadcasting companies in the United States.” Entercom is headquartered in Bala Cynwyd, PA, but they operate more than “100 stations in 23 markets, including San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, Denver, Portland, Sacramento and Kansas City.”

Enter Entercom

While Entercom’s stock performance over the past ten years doesn’t paint a pretty picture for the future of radio, it’s hard to write off a business that reaches so many people. The best way to get a better understanding of Entercom’s business is to read up on their markets and the stations that serve them. To me the most noteworthy point is that Entercom stations are the broadcast partners of the Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics, Memphis Grizzlies, Oakland A’s, Kansas City Royals, New Orleans Saints, Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabres, and San Jose Sharks. Sports is huge, and online delivery of radio broadcasts is becoming a big deal (I love listening to baseball games on my iPhone). If you’re thinking about a career in radio, Entercom would be a great place to start. Their Jobs page shows a ton of positions in locations all across the country. Whether you’re interested in working in Sales/Account Management, On-Air, Promotions, Copywriting, Production, Journalism, Marketing, or something else, there’s probably something for you at Entercom or one of their stations.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite radio station?

Brafton

Willy Franzen — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:10:35 +0000

There’s a reason that web startups with no semblance of a business plan but heaps of traffic continue to get venture capital funding. Consistently driving high quality traffic to a web property is extremely difficult, and almost all businesses need attention to succeed. Quality content is the cornerstone of driving traffic (that’s why I looked for writers when I was hiring interns), and content generation is not a core competency for most businesses. It is for Brafton. They’re a Boston, MA based “online news and content agency that offers integrated content marketing services.” They don’t brag about who their clients are like some other types of agencies (you can request live client samples), which makes sense since clients typically want people to think the content is coming straight from them.

Be Content at Brafton

I doubt any writers from Brafton will be winning Pulitzer Prizes, but I’m sure that’s ok with them. Their goal is to help their clients reach more customers by developing content that grabs attention and performs well on search engines and in social media. Brafton has a section of their website that is devoted to their business model, so I highly recommend that you read through that–including their case study–so that you can get a better sense of how they operate. They also provide information on their different teams, so you’ll probably want to read up on Account Management, Content Writing, and Social and E-mail. If you’d like to join one of those teams, you’re in luck because Brafton’s Careers page shows a ton of entry level opportunities. These include:

Graphic Resource Coordinator (Boston, MA)
Blog and Content Writer (Boston, MA)
Market Research Executive (Boston, MA)
German News and Content Writer (Remote)
News and Content Writer (Chicago, IL)
Inside Sales Representative (Boston, MA)
News and Content Writer (Boston, MA)
Jr. Web Developer (Boston, MA)
Business Development Executive (Boston, MA)
Business Development Executive (Scottsdale, AZ)
Content Marketing Specialist (San Francisco, CA)

You won’t be writing the next great novel at Brafton, but I’m sure you’ll learn a ton about developing content for the Internet with a focus on ROI. That’s insanely valuable these days.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Brafton?

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?

Travelzoo

Willy Franzen — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:15:38 +0000

On Saturday I’m heading to Aruba for two weeks! (Don’t worry, you’ll still get your daily e-mails–even on Christmas Day.) I booked well in advance, so I got a decent fare, but it’s still about four times more expensive than traveling at a different time of year. If you want to travel during the holidays, you’re probably going to have to pay through the nose. Still, it’s worth looking for a deal, and there’s no better place to do that than Travelzoo. They’re a New York, NY based company (with 23 other offices all across the world) that has perfected the art of the travel deal. They don’t just go out and find low rates–they actually “research, evaluate, and test thousands of deals to find those with true value.” Although it’s not exactly the same, they kind of do for travel deals what I do for jobs: curate. Though they have 250 experts working on it, which is 249 more than we have.

Take a Trip to the Zoo

Travelzoo’s site is about as basic looking as it gets. It’s simple, clean, and uncluttered. It may not look like the site of a publicly traded company, but it certainly stands out from other travel sites that seem to bombard you with useless offers. I guess that’s why they have 24 million members, though the fact that they require you to be a member to see their deals has to help with that too. Beyond travel, Travelzoo has also moved into entertainment deals and local deals, but travel is definitely their bread and butter. What’s so unique about Travelzoo’s model is that they’re not for sale. Yes, they accept payment from advertisers, but they only publish deals that they are confident will make their members happy. There’s no way to get on Travelzoo except offering a high quality deal. If you’re liking what Travelzoo is all about, then take a look at their Jobs page. They have a ton of openings, and a few look perfect for new or recent grads including: Associate Producer (Chicago, IL), Producer (Chicago, IL) Assistant Producer (Miami, FL), Producer (New York, NY), Assistant Producer – SuperSearch (San Francisco, CA), and Producer (Toronto, ON). Travelzoo’s Producers are “top-notch journalists whose commercial acumen would impress the Donald himself.” In other words they take on a role that includes researching, writing, producing, account managing, sales, and a lot more–they find the deals and get them live on the site. It sounds like an extremely cool role, so check all the positions out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used Travelzoo?

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?

American Public Media

Willy Franzen — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:00:30 +0000

When I was in high school, my family carpooled with two other families. When my parents were driving, I got to sit in the front seat, which meant that I controlled the radio. My usual choice was HOT 97, New York City’s finest Hip Hop and R&B station. But when the other parents were driving, it was usually their choice, and more often than not the choice was the local NPR station (check out our post on jobs at National Public Radio). I can’t say that I learned to like it then, but I do find myself listening to public radio far more often than my high school self would have ever imagined. If you listen to NPR, there’s a good chance that you listen to something produced by American Public Media. They are a St. Paul, MN based non-profit organization that “is the largest owner and operator of public radio stations and a premier producer and distributor of public radio programming in the nation,” while also being “the largest producer and distributor of classical music programming in the United States.” So if you listen to NPR in Minnesota, Southern California, or South Florida, you probably listen to one of American Public Media 43 stations or 32 translators.

Listeners Like You

American Public Media reaches 16.5 million listeners every week, and are able to have such a wide reach not only because of their own network, but also because they have 20+ national programs that are broadcast across over 800 stations. These programs include A Prairie Home Companion, Marketplace, and Performance Today. American Public Media has a ton of information on their website, so I really recommend that you dig in and start to learn more about them. Their Organizational Structure page is probably the best place to start. Then you might want to check out their Accomplishments, their FAQs, and their programs. If you like what you see (or hear), then you’ll want to check out jobs at American Public Media. They have a bunch of openings, and a few seem well suited for new or recent grads including Associate Producer – The Madeleine Brand (Pasadena, CA), Django/Python Developer – Web & Apps (Pasadena, CA), Marketing Specialist (Los Angeles, CA), Newscaster/Weekend Fill-In (St. Paul, MN), and Web Developer (Los Angeles, CA). There are lots of options, so check them all out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you listen to an American Public Media station?

GigaOm

Willy Franzen — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 16:28:21 +0000

I’m a complete Apple fanboy. I have been since since I first touched an Apple IIe in 1990. Today is the keynote of Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference, so I’m all sorts of excited. I’ve come to accept that they almost certainly won’t be announcing the iPhone 5 today, but I’m still pumped to hear about all of the software stuff that they’ve been working on. This means that I’ve been anxiously (and irrationally) reading all of the major online tech sites so that I can uselessly speculate about what kind of cool things my phone will be able to do after the next software update. A lot of interesting businesses have been built in the tech news space, which is why we’ve already profiled companies like Engadget, Gawker (Gizmodo), TechCrunch, and gdgt. Today we’re going to look at GigaOm, a San Francisco, CA based company that does the whole tech news thing, but also has a research arm that is growing extremely quickly.

Ommmmmmmmmmmmmm

GigaOm was founded by Om Malik, a guy who “has more than 15 years of experience as a journalist covering technology and business news.” He helped launched Forbes.com as a Senior Editor back in the day, and he continues to lead the GigaOm Editorial Team. Despite doing a great job of covering tech news, GigaOm doesn’t appear to get anywhere near the traffic that some of the sites I mentioned earlier do. That would usually present a problem for a business that is built on covering news to attract eyeballs for advertising, but GigaOm has a slightly different model. They have a paid content section called GigaOm Pro that provides market research and analysis for a fee. This part of the business is doing really well, and must be a major reason for the $40 million valuation that GigaOm just got in their most recent round of investment ($6 million).

By building trust through their free content, GigaOm is able to generate leads for their paid section. It’s a smart idea, and it seems to be working really well. GigaOm intends to spend a big portion of that new capital on hiring to expand GigaOm Pro, so now is the time to start thinking about a career with them. Right now 10 of 41 GigaOm employees do research full-time. Maybe you can help be part of the expected growth in that number. The only position posted right now on the GigaOm Jobs page is for a Webmaster/ Jr. Developer, but that should change soon. You might as well just reach out to the folks at GigaOm now and let them know how you could help with the growth of GigaOm Pro. It’s worth a shot.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read GigaOm?

Metromix

Willy Franzen — Fri, 13 May 2011 11:22:43 +0000

My two biggest problems in life are figuring out what to wear and where to go. Since we covered the former yesterday, today it’s time to cover the latter. Ok, those aren’t really my two biggest problems in life, but I sometimes get frustrated that I live in a city the size of Chicago and feel like I can’t come up with a good idea of what I should do on a given weekend. There are a million opportunities out there, but figuring out what’s worth your time is difficult. That’s why Metromix was started as a joint-venture between newspaper behemoths Tribune Co. and Gannett Co. Metromix covers 60 different geographic areas (each individually) and offers a “guide to local restaurants, bars and clubs, events, concerts and movies.” While sites like Yelp have been built off the backs of their users, Metromix has an editorial staff generating content for each of their sites along with some user-generated content; however, smaller cities seem to get less original content. I must admit that Metromix isn’t my go to for what’s happening in Chicago, IL (which is where Metromix is located), but they seem to generate a ton of traffic and they have the resources of two major publishing/ad sales businesses behind them.

Get in the Mix

It’s kind of tough to get a full read on Metromix as a company. Once you’ve gone to one of their local sites, like the Austin, TX one you get redirected there whenever you try to go to Metromix.com. I guess this makes sense for a normal use case, but it means that you can’t really find any general information about Metromix beyond their Wikipedia page. The world of local publishing can often be a bit decentralized, and that certainly seems to be the case with Metromix. They don’t even make it easy to find where they’re headquartered (I had to check their LinkedIn company profile). If you start looking through their staff on LinkedIn, you see a lot of Chicago, but you also see a lot of other cities. My guess is that they hire a lot of freelancers to hone in on local markets. Metromix directs job seekers to their Careerbuilder page, which shows an even more decentralized approach to hiring. Most of the jobs that appear are posted from local tv stations or newspapers. I guess Metromix farms out some work like ad sales and marketing to other affiliated businesses. I don’t quite get it, but the opportunities are worth checking out, especially the Metromix Marketing & Promotion Coordinator position in Denver, CO and a couple of Account Management positions in Cincinnati, OH. If you’re looking for something else, you might find it difficult to track down the right person to contact, but it could be worth it.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Metromix?

StarChefs

Willy Franzen — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:28:48 +0000

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One of my favorite things about living in Chicago is that I am surrounded by some of the best restaurants in the world. Not only does that mean that I can treat myself to the occasional delicious meal, but I also have more celebrity chef sightings than the average person. Since most of you aren’t as cool as I am, you’ll need another way to get “a backstage pass to the celebrity chef world.” Luckily, there’s StarChefs, a magazine “for food and wine-savvy consumers and an essential information resource for aspiring professional chefs.” The New York, NY based publication has been around since 1995 and claims “monthly traffic of over 14.6 million hits” (or 30 million on another page). My analytics tell me that’s an overstatement (hits is an outdated measure that doesn’t really tell you anything), but they do have a sizable community that is extremely well targeted for advertising.

Are You a Star?

What impressed me most about StarChefs was the list of names on their Chef Advisory Board. There are a few that I can’t pronounce, but also a bunch that I recognized like Daniel Boulud, Marcus Samuelsson, Bobby Flay, and Todd English. Much of the content that StarChefs generates “is driven by in-person tastings and interviews across the world,” so they’re really focused on building a community resource where chefs and others in the food industry can learn from each other. Additionally, StarChefs runs StarChefs JobFinder, which is a job board in the food and hospitality space. This makes a ton of sense considering their position in the culinary community. There’s a ton of content on StarChefs.com, so you should really dig into it to get a better feel for the company. Once you do that, you can check out the StarChefs Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Print Designer and a Marketing Associate. Both jobs look like they could be good fits for new or recent grads, so give them a good look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read StarChefs?

Instructables

Willy Franzen — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 16:46:36 +0000

The other day I came across a video from a guy who built a remote control tri-copter strapped with fireworks to hunt hydrogen balloons. I love geeky projects like that—I just wish that I knew how to replicate them. Luckily, there’s a site built for exactly that (though they don’t have the exact how to video that I’m looking for). It’s called Instructables, and they offer a place “where passionate people share what they do and how they do it, and learn from and collaborate with others.” The company got its start at the MIT Media Lab, but has since moved to San Francisco, CA. Instructables covers a range of topics that includes Food, Health, Living, Outside, Play, Solar, Technology, and Workshop, which means that they have a place for basically any kind of how to.

How To Get a Job

Whether you want to share your expertise or learn from others, Instructables is the place to do it. You can learn how to make delicious cinnamon rolls or teach people how to make their own thongs (I’m not kidding). Maybe you want to build an awesome paper airplane or a retro phone charging station—either way Instructables can show you how. Not only do they have an amazing breadth of content, but it’s deep, useful content too. That’s probably why Instructables gets so much traffic. If you take a look at their media kit, you’ll get a rundown of what their audience looks like on paper and how they’ve leveraged this audience to work with some top quality advertisers. The only complaint that I have about Instructables is that they have a ton of ads—some of which are kind of scammy looking. But they also have some content built out of partnerships that is relevant and useful. Overall, it looks like Instructables is doing an excellent job of monetizing their massive trove of content (they also offer a premium membership), which is probably why they’re hiring. Right now they’re looking for an Online Editor and Sales Managers in New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco. The jobs look pretty cool, so maybe you should make an instuctable on how to get a job at Instructables.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have yo used Instructables?

JustSpotted

Willy Franzen — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 13:58:43 +0000

Yesterday I was playing beach volleyball when my girlfriend ran up to me as excited as could be. She had taken a walk and spotted a celebrity on the way. Ok, celebrity may be a bit of an overstatement, but Jill Zarin of Real Housewives of New York City is certainly famous. So, we grabbed our camera and tried and failed to get a good paparazzi shot. Back when I lived in Connecticut, a celebrity sighting beyond Paul Newman or Don Imus was pretty unusual for me; however, now that I live in downtown Chicago, I’m seeing famous people left and right. I see Oprah and Jesse Jackson at the gym. I’ve had breakfast next to Charles Oakley, seen Greg Olson out on the town, and dined at the same restaurant as Johnny Damon. Celebrity chefs like Rick Bayless and Graham Elliott have restaurants a few blocks from my apartment, and I’ve even seen the entire Chicago Blackhawks team with the Stanley Cup. If I wanted to share all of those sightings with you in real-time, I could do it on JustSpotted. It’s a celebrity-spotting site run by a San Francisco, CA startup called Scoopler.

Whom Have You Spotted?

Scoopler was originally a real-time search engine. Apparently, that idea didn’t pan out, but they pivoted and used their technology to develop JustSpotted. On the home page you can see where your favorite celebrities have been or who’s in your neighborhood. It’s a really cool idea, and it truly takes advantage of the power of mobile. I’m not sure what their business model is, but celebrity gossip sites are doing well monetizing their traffic, so I have to think that JustSpotted should do well if they can build a critical mass. Right now they’re looking for a Javascript / HTML / CSS Front-End Superstar and a Rock Star Software Developer, but they also have a Celebrity News Analyst Internship posted, so there is the potential for non-technical jobs too. You can find everything that you need to know about the positions on JustSpotted’s Jobs page.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Whom have you spotted?

StatSheet

Willy Franzen — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 17:18:24 +0000

Did your or a friend land a job through One Day, One Job? Let me know at willy@onedayonejob.com.

Maybe you haven’t noticed, but writing has become commoditized on the Internet. Good writing still stands out (which is why you’re reading this, right?), but when you’re looking for basic information, sometimes the stuff that Demand Media and other similar companies churn out is good enough. Now there are companies taking it to the next level. Narrative Science is one that we featured a while back, and today we’re going to take a look at Durham, NC based StatSheet. They have built “a collection of fan-centric, sports sites designed to give sports fans the information and analysis they want when and how they want it.” But there’s a twist. They have a dirty, little not-so-secret. Their “technology platform generates content automatically in real-time.” In other words, the computers are doing all of the reporting and content generation. That’s why StatSheet is able to have sites devoted to every single one of the 345 Division I college basketball teams.

What Story Does Your StatSheet Tell

For me, running a web business is all about generating quality content, even if I can’t do it on a huge scale. There are thousands of jobs sites with millions of low quality postings. I want to stand out by doing something different. In sports journalism, it’s almost the opposite. There’s tons and tons of quality content—but only for the top teams. I mean, until last year my college basketball team, Cornell, barely got any coverage beyond the Cornell Daily Sun, which isn’t even published on the weekends when the team plays. StatSheet offers fans like me instant coverage of their team with a dedicated site.

Each site will include data driven insights, compelling narratives, game previews, game recaps and over twenty additional article categories, as well as photo and video highlights. In addition, each site will be accompanied by its own Twitter account, Facebook fan page and mobile application.

These sites are built on 500 million stats, and consist of more than 1 million pages. This shouldn’t be a surprise considering StatSheet churns out more than 10,000 articles per month. This means that StatSheet has an amazing amount of search engine indexable content that they can slap ads on. It’s a pretty powerful business model. It’s also a scary one for journalists and writers. Nobody wants to be replaced by a computer, but that’s where the future is heading. You can fight it, or you can join in and check out jobs at StatSheet. Oddly enough, the one group that they’re looking for right now is Sports Writers. I’d imagine that they’d also love to hear from you if you can help out on the Software/Web Development, Marketing/SEO, or Business Development side. It looks like a really fun place to work for sports lovers, and you can reach out to them at robbie@statsheet.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of StatSheet?

NileGuide

Willy Franzen — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:51:24 +0000

Do you know what’s an awesome thing to do after you graduate? Travel. Do you know what isn’t an awesome thing to tell employers that you’ve been doing since you graduated? Traveling. Think about it from the interviewer’s perspective for a minute. You’ve been in a job for three years, and you just got a promotion. You’re interviewing new grads to fill your old job. You get 10 days of vacation a year (after another promotion you’ll get 15). You use 4 to visit your parents during the holidays. You have to take 3 days for various weddings throughout the year. You use one for a sick day, and that leaves you with 2 glorious days to actually do what you want. Now some spoiled brat is telling you about he or she spent three months on a beach in Thailand after graduation. Most employers won’t be spiteful enough to punish you for taking some time to relax, but telling them about your globetrotting isn’t going to help make them like you more (and being liked is the most important thing that you can do to get hired). Luckily, there are some employers who don’t have a problem with travel. Take NileGuide for example. They’re a San Francisco based startup (with a lot of funding) that “helps travelers discover and connect to the most satisfying and relevant travel experiences.”

Go Where You Want

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t travel after college. I’m just saying that you have to be careful about how you present that experience to employers. I definitely sabotaged myself during the job search process when I told employers about going to Costa Rica to fly fish for sailfish. Had I told the folks at NileGuide about it, they would have encouraged me to share that experience with their readers by doing a writeup on it. NileGuide wants to be the premier online destination for people who are planning trips, so they combine “expansive, curated travel content with sophisticated preference filtering and organizational tools as well as timely advice and insights from local experts.” As far as I can tell, the entire site is free, which means that NileGuide’s business model is built on advertising (travel is a great ad market) and partnerships. This means that they constantly need fresh content to drive more traffic, which is why they seem to always be hiring Local Experts. These are freelance travel writing positions that may not offer the security of a full-time job, but they allow you to make a living (if your writing drives traffic) doing something pretty awesome. The jobs are dependent on your living somewhere travel worthy, since the whole point is that you’re a “Local Expert.” Check out the job posting for all of the details.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used NileGuide?

Aol

Willy Franzen — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 13:00:24 +0000

Everybody acts like social media and social networking is a new development, but it really isn’t. Even 15 years ago there was a web service that enabled you to create profiles, connect with friends, engage with communities, and communicate instantly or asynchronously. It was called Aol, and there’s a good chance that you used it. I feel bad for Aol. They had it all. They were the behemoth of the social web before anyone knew what the social web was, but they were too big and not agile enough. They continued to act like an ISP, and their market share eroded as people transitioned to high-speed connections. Today most people think of Aol as irrelevant, but the NYC based company is doing their best to make a comeback. The good news is that they aren’t living in the past. They’re not trying to win at social networking or being an ISP—they’ve repositioned. They now describe themselves as “a leading-edge web services company, with an offering of premium and niche content sites, world-class tools and platforms.” The focus is on content, and in some ways that’s what Aol was always about—making great content easy to access for the masses. The tough thing for Aol is that they’re already a huge company, so they’re going to have to swing for the fences if they want their new business model to work.

You’ve Got Mail!

The only reason that I actually decided to feature Aol today was because they have an amazing internship contest going on right now. It’s focused on their new Lifestream service which aggregates all of your social profiles in one place (apparently Aol hasn’t completely given up on social networking, but I think that they probably should). It’s not your typical internship, so it might even be a temporary replacement for an entry level job. It’s paid, you get direct access to Aol’s CEO Tim Armstrong, and you get some serious responsibility. Oh yeah, and the most important thing is that your main duty is to live an awesome life and share it through Lifestream. The only downside is that only one person can get it. You can find all of the details here. After looking at that opportunity, I decided to hit up Aol’s Career site and look through their job openings. I was shocked to see that Aol currently has 749 vacancies! Obviously I don’t have 3 days to browse through all of those jobs and pick out the entry level jobs for you, but you should note that they have all kinds of opportunities ranging from Software/Web Development to Journalism/Editorial/Writing to Advertising to Sales. Aol is making a huge play to be relevant again, and if they’re going to do it, they need top talent. You’ll probably have to narrow down your searches to make Aol’s job listings a bit more manageable, but you should be able to find something that suits your interests—they even have opportunities all across the country.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about the new Aol?

Prime Publishing

Willy Franzen — Wed, 26 May 2010 14:54:15 +0000

Earlier this week we took a look at F+W Media, a company that is aggressively targeting niche media markets with books, magazines, trade shows, and digital products. Today we’re going to look at a company that is attacking similar niches, but strictly on the digital side. Prime Publishing is a Northbrook, IL based company that is, as they put it, “building the premiere woman’s lifestyle site on the Web.” I’m not sure I’d go that far, since businesses like DailyCandy and Gilt Groupe seem to be building pretty strong cases for themselves in that regard. Prime Publishing seems to be taking approach more like that of Demand Media. However, that doesn’t mean that Prime Publishing’s business isn’t interesting—”premiere” is just the wrong word. It’s quite obvious to me that their goal is to build easily monetizable digital properties, not to build an overarching woman’s lifestyle brand. When you take a look at their sites, you’ll see what I mean.

Prime or Choice?

Prime Publishing’s web properties include FaveCrafts.com, RecipeLion.com, AllFreeCrochet.com, FaveDiets.com, and quite a few more. If you visit each one, you’ll see that Prime Publishing has a formula for building profitable sites. They may not be taking an artistic approach, but it appears that they know how to make money from content (and that’s a REALLY important thing to learn these days). It’s the web version of direct marketing. I must admit that I was nervous about featuring Prime Publishing because their website looks similar to those of some entry level scam companies. It’s also a bit alarming that they don’t list the names of any of their employees or leadership on the site. With that said, I used LinkedIn to do some additional research and everything appears to check out. The jobs at Prime Publishing aren’t the glamorous Journalism jobs that you might have been dreaming about as a kid, but you will learn a hell of a lot from them about the intersection of marketing and content. Right now Prime Publishing’s Jobs page shows that they’re looking for both entry level and experienced Editors, so check out the job description and get ready to learn fast.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Prime Publishing’s business model?

Narrative Science

Willy Franzen — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:45:41 +0000

This one is going to scare the crap out of some of you. If you’re pursuing a career in journalism, writing, blogging, editorial, or a similar area, you might want to start looking over your shoulder. The computers are coming. We’ve already heard about companies like Demand Media churning out tons of content with cheap labor, but now Narrative Science thinks that they can do it with no labor (except the programmers who write the software). They’re a five-month old company based in Evanston, IL, and to be honest, beyond that, I don’t know much. I first heard about them from this article in BusinessWeek, and I knew that I had to share the story with all of you. Right now, Narrative Science is focused on the field of sports. More specifically, they’re turning box scores into short news stories. I’m sure some journalists are up in arms about this, but the truth is that if you can be replaced by a computer, then it’s your own damn fault.

Be Part of the Narrative

Now, Narrative Science probably may never be used to write a recap of a Yankees game. The major names in sports are going to continue to have beat writers covering them for a long time, but the Big Ten Network is already using Narrative Science to cover college baseball. No, it’s not a substitute for having a real journalist there, but it’s way cheaper. And that means that Narrative Science can cover events that normally wouldn’t be covered because of economics (they’re planning on tackling financial, medical, and survey data after sports). Maybe this idea will flop, and journalists will beat the computers, but I wouldn’t bet against Narrative Science. And that’s why I’m talking about them. Even though they don’t even have an About page (let alone a Jobs page), they’re the kind of company that you need to watch out for. Getting in with them early could be life changing, so reach out to them at info@narrativescience.com and tell them why you want to join their team. They may not be looking to hire anyone right now, but there’s only one way to find out for sure.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

NarrativeScience.com

Do you think Narrative Science has a bright future?

Everett Daily Herald

Willy Franzen — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:57:28 +0000

Since I moved to Chicago a year and a half ago, I don’t think I’ve picked up a newspaper more than a handful of times. However, when I lived in Connecticut I was often reading both the daily regional local newspaper and the bi-weekly super local newspaper for my town. It was always fun to see which of the kids from my elementary school class got arrested in a given week (don’t act like you don’t read the Police Reports first). I often forget how many local newspapers are out there and how many jobs they provide. It may be an industry in flux (or on its way out depending on how you look at it), but it’s still a great place to start your career. This morning I noticed that Twitter was abuzz with word of a paid internship with the Everett Daily Herald (that’s Everett, WA), so I figured I’d take a look and see if there were any jobs open too.

Go Local

The Everett Daily Herald published its first issue on February 11, 1901. They launched their online edition, HeraldNet, on January 5, 1997. They are the news source for Snohomish county, and they obviously have been for a long time. They may be owned by The Washington Post Company, but they’re still all about local news. Hopefully local newspapers like The Daily Herald will keep on trucking, because local news is really important, yet there aren’t many other outlets that cover it. It’s a good sign that The Daily Herald started online so early (and seems to have done it right), because I know a lot of local newspaper still haven’t figured out how to effectively deliver news on the Internet. If you like what you see with The Everett Daily Herald, you should check out their Jobs page. They have three positions posted right now, and two of them seem right for new grads: Account Executive and Info Systems Analyst. The third might be worth a look if you always idolized the guys in the movie Newsies.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read a local newspaper?

Inc.

Willy Franzen — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:11:28 +0000

I don’t read a lot of magazines. Why be forced to read a certain set of articles when you can have the Internet bring you only the best? I make an exception for a few magazines, and Inc. is one of them. It’s a fantastic resource for small business owners, and it also has to be the best magazine for job seekers out there. That may seem surprising considering that Inc. doesn’t typically focus on career issues, but when you look at their content, you’ll see why. The Inc. 5000, the magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest growing privately held companies in the country, is my undisputed favorite resource for finding exciting, under the radar companies that might be hiring. I’m also a big fan of their annual feature on America’s Coolest Internships. Since I find Inc. so helpful for job seekers, I logically wondered whether Inc., which is based in New York City, has any jobs. The answer isn’t clear, but we’ll use this post to help you walk through what to do when a company that you want to work for doesn’t appear to be hiring.

Get Inc.

Usually I’d tell you more about Inc., but I think you can figure it out for yourself. Go grab their latest issue or browse around Inc.com. You’ll get a feel for who they are and what they’re about pretty quickly. So what about jobs with Inc? They don’t have a Careers page. There’s nothing on their About page. Nothing on their Contact page either. Even being a Google Ninja (here’s my article on using Google for the job search) doesn’t turn up anything helpful. Maybe it’s on purpose. Maybe Inc. isn’t hiring, and they don’t want to be bothered by lots of applicants. But if you really want to work for a company, you shouldn’t give up that easily. Try looking for the company’s LinkedIn profile—here’s Inc.’s LinkedIn Company Profile. It may not have job postings, but it will tell you exactly what you want to know—what kind of positions the company has and how much experience it takes to get a given position. It will also enable you to reach out to people who may be able to help you find information on job opportunities. You can take this kind of networking to other sites, but it’s hard to beat LinkedIn for this kind of stuff.

You should also note that Inc. has a parent company named Mansueto Ventures (which also owns Fast Company). Mansueto Ventures does have a Careers page, and it includes this e-mail address for inquiries: hr@mansueto.com. You can try reaching out there too. I can’t promise any jobs, but if you want to work at a magazine that seems to keep its job opportunities secret and you can’t network your way in, this is the way to go.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read Inc.?

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Willy Franzen — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 16:17:55 +0000

One of the cool things about doing what I do is that I get a lot of interview requests from media outlets. At least once a week I’m talking to someone who is writing about entry level employment or internships. What’s even cooler is when someone writes about me, and doesn’t even interview me. I’ll suddenly see a Google Alert pop up for my name or brand name, and I’ll click the link to see who’s talking about me. One of the most exciting mentions came from the journal Science and their Science Careers Blog. In case you didn’t know, Science, the Science Careers Blog, and many other publications and newsletters are published by The American Association for the Advancement of Science. The AAAS is a Washington, DC based “non-profit organization dedicated to advancing science around the world by serving as an educator, leader, spokesperson and professional association.” They work in areas likescience policy, international programs, and science education, and

Are You Advancing Science?

Now, the AAAS mission statement includes a lot of bullet points, but I thought that it was worth including them all here since it will give you a much better feel for what the AAAS is trying to accomplish. Their goals are to:

Enhance communication among scientists, engineers, and the public;

Promote and defend the integrity of science and its use;

Strengthen support for the science and technology enterprise;

Provide a voice for science on societal issues;

Promote the responsible use of science in public policy;

Strengthen and diversify the science and technology workforce;

Foster education in science and technology for everyone;

Increase public engagement with science and technology; and

Advance international cooperation in science.

If you want a broader look at the kind of work that the AAAS does, you can check out their Programs page. It has links to pretty much everything that they do. Now, if you’re a scientist (amateur or professional), the AAAS could be a pretty cool place to start your career. They don’t have a ton of jobs posted, but there area few that might be of interest to new college grads. The AAAS provides a ton of links to Career resources including their Science Careers website on their initial Career Center page, but you can find their actual job postings here. The only position that really looks suitable for a new grad is Production Specialist, but you might as well look at the others too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read Science?

The LTV Group

Willy Franzen — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 15:56:23 +0000

It shouldn’t be a surprise that we haven’t covered many entry level jobs in real estate over the past couple years. Demand for real estate is way down, and the demand for new college grads in real estate businesses is miniscule. Luckily, there have been a few bright spots during the recession. Some real estate based startups have been able to gain market share from struggling competitors, and the demand for real estate based content has remained strong. I think it’s safe to say that media coverage of the real estate and mortgage markets has only increased over the past few years. The LTV Group, a Dallas, TX based “end-to-end communications firm spanning publishing and creative services,” has taken advantage of the growth in market for real estate related for information. The company consists of three subsidiaries, HousingWire, REOInsider, and LTV Creative. The latter is a full-service marketing communications firm, while the other two are magazines and websites that put LTV Creative to work.

Join the Group

From what I can tell, The LTV Group decided to create some clients for itself. I’m not exactly sure how a marketing agency came to launch two real estate related publications, but it seems to make sense. My guess is that they did a lot of work for clients in real estate, and when that work started drying up, they put their resources to use to build HousingWire and REOInsider. Both are publications that provide news and commentary on housing, mortgages, and other real estate related topics. HousingWire actually hosts it’s own job board, and on there you’ll find a recently posted position for a HousingWire Reporter. It does require some prior journalism experience, but it looks like it could be a pretty good fit for some new grads. You’ll find the application instructions on the job posting.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you want to go into real estate and change your mind?

ProPublica

Willy Franzen — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 13:00:28 +0000

We often put journalism on a pedestal. We trust our for-profit news outlets to cover everything important, but how do we know that they’re doing a good job? In an age where making money from news is getting harder and harder, it’s obvious that many media outlets have resorted to covering what drives eyeballs instead of what’s important. This isn’t really a new development, but it seems to be getting worse. Investigative journalism is dying a slow, painful death, and sensationalist, opinion-based journalism is taking over. Clearly that’s where the money is, so if we want to hear about stories with “moral force,” we’re going to have to look somewhere else. ProPublica is “an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest” based in Manhattan. They realize that investigative reporting has become a luxury that many newspapers can’t afford, so they’ve taken it upon themselves to save the art. They haven’t been around 2 years yet, and they already have ” a newsroom of 32 working journalists, all of them dedicated to investigative reporting on stories with significant potential for major impact.”

Are You ProPublica?

As cool as the idea behind ProPublica is, it still makes me wonder whether there could be a better for-profit alternative. I think that market forces play an important role in promoting quality, and I wonder how ProPublica will emulate the motivation that a need for profitability drives. I guess it all comes down to the quality of ProPublica’s people, and it sounds as though they have an amazing team of talented news people. Additionally, ProPublica has worked hard to ensure that their “model assures an unusually high level of accountability for a non-profit.” To me, the coolest thing about ProPublica is that they give their journalism away for free—not just to the masses via the Internet—but to other traditional news organization on an exclusive basis. If you’re impressed by how ProPublica works, and you’d like to be involved, check out their Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for two investigative reporters. They’d love to have people who have “focused on energy and environment, education or immigration,” but they’re open to applicants from any background. You’ll obviously need some strong journalistic experience, so hopefully you’ve been writing for that college newspaper. To apply, send a résumé and cover letter to reportingjobs@propublica.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you get your news from ProPublica?

The Economist

Willy Franzen — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:00:13 +0000

I’ll admit it, I don’t read The Economist regularly, but plenty of my friends do—mostly the smart ones. It’s a magazine (they call themselves a newspaper, but you’d likely identify it as a magazine) that stands apart from other periodicals in a variety of ways. It’s not the topics that they cover—they offer both news coverage and analysis and opinion on business and politics—it’s more the way that they cover those topics. The most interesting thing about The Economist is the fact that all of their articles are written anonymously. It’s about “a belief that what is written is more important than who writes it,” but you have to like the fact that anonymity allows the writers the freedom that they need to address topics in the ways that they should be addressed. The Economist is all about free trade and free markets, yet it “considers itself the enemy of privilege, pomposity and predictability.” The Economist is based in London, but they are very much an international business and magazine.

Put the Free Market to Work

I can’t imagine that you could take a job with The Economist without being an avid reader. If you’re already one, then I’m sure that you’re chopping at the bit to see what kind of jobs they have available, and if you aren’t, then you better go pick up a copy or start browsing their website. You’re certain to find yourself challenged in a way that you never have been before. Not only does The Economist’s approach make them stand out editorially, but it also makes them stand out as a business. While many huge names in the print media are struggling—the New York Times is a perfect example, The Economist continues to thrive and grow. This article from PaidContent.org goes into more detail about The Economist’s economic successes, which are even more impressive considering that their parent company (half owner) Financial Times is struggling. So what about those jobs? The Economist has job offerings all across the world, but we’re going to focus on their US based opportunities, which are mostly located in New York City. Potential entry level opportunities include UI Developer, Account Executive – EIU Enterprise Subscription Sales (Chicago, IL), Distribution Customer Service Analyst, Integrated Marketing Coordinator, and Drupal Developer. All of the jobs look really interesting, and you can apply by using the HR contact info on The Economist’s site. If you’re looking for a job on the editorial side, I’m sure that you have your work cut out for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read The Economist?

Demand Media

Willy Franzen — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:39:28 +0000

I’m sure that you’ve heard a lot in the news about how traditional media companies are having trouble taking their business models online. You may be under the impression that making money from web content is near impossible, but there’s a dirty little secret: it’s not. While companies like the New York Times stick to editorial integrity and chasing Pulitzers, there are companies out there that craft their content with the sole purpose of making money. A perfect example is Santa Monica, CA based Demand Media. They’ve secured more than $355 million in venture capital funding, grown annual revenue to more than $200 million annually, and reached a valuation north of $1 billion all by taking an ROI based approach to content development. How does that work? Demand Media has developed an algorithm that helps them find profitable topics. By using data from Google AdWords, they’re able to estimate the demand for a given piece of content (example: an article and video on how to tie your shoes) along with the revenue that the yet to be developed piece of content could be expected to make given a certain number of pageviews.

Demand a Job

This may sound unsavory to some of the writers out there, but I’d imagine the business students are in awe. Demand Media delivers their content through a number of web properties, and some of these include eHow, Cracked, and Livestrong.com. In addition to distributing profitable content across their web properties, Demand Media also licenses some of the social media tools that they’ve developed internally to other businesses. One of the amazing things that I learned about Demand Media while researching them is that they publish approximately 4,000 articles and videos every day. Demand Media is YouTube’s largest contributor, and the number of pageviews that they’re driving across their network is staggering. They’re able to develop so much content through an army of freelancers who work through a site called Demand Studios. If you’re a Writer, Filmmaker, or Copy Editor, that’s the first option for getting a “job” (it’s only freelance, and the rates are kind of low) through Demand Media. Your second option is to check out Demand Media’s Corporate Job offerings. They have a number of positions that seem suitable for new grads including HR Coordinator (Bellevue, WA), QA Engineer (Austin, TX), Marketing Associate (Bellevue, WA), QA Engineer (Santa Monica, CA), Algorithm Scientist (Austin, TX – PhDs only), Account Manager (Bellevue, WA), and Web Developer/Graphic Designer (Austin, TX). You can apply online for any of these positions, but before you do, take an hour to learn more about Demand Media—there’s a ton of information available about them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Demand Media’s business model?

San Francisco Chronicle

Willy Franzen — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:12:19 +0000

Being a newspaper these days is tough. I’d imagine it’s especially tough in a place like San Francisco where people embrace new technologies so quickly. Although I’d also expect those early adopters to be just the types who are heavy users of newspapers. I’m not sure where that leaves the San Francisco Chronicle, but they do seem to have a strong history of adapting to changes in their business model. According to Wikipedia, they first went online with SFGate.com in 1994, and now they’re moving towards a focus on subscriptions instead of advertising to generate revenue. I’m not sure that’s going to work long term, but you have to like the flexibility that the San Francisco Chronicle has shown over the years. It’s no surprise that they remain one of the largest newspapers in the country.

Chronicle Your Job Search

One of the disappointing things about most newspapers and magazines is that they don’t provide much information about themselves on their websites. They publish plenty of content, but getting the inside scoop on the company is usually tough. The Chronicle follows this trend, although they do provide a very in-depth history page. One of the few other “meta” pages that the San Francisco Chronicle has is their Jobs page. They don’t have a ton of openings, but current listings include Online Client Services Coordinator (this is the most “entry level”), Inside Sales Account Executive, Account Executive – Retail Advertising, and Commission Only Account Executive. There aren’t any Editorial positions open right now, but The Chronicle does accept general résumé submissions here. They also list hr@sfchronicle.com as an e-mail address to send additional application materials to.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read the San Francisco Chronicle?

Roubini Global Economics

Willy Franzen — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:55:33 +0000

Remember that time that you predicted the walk off home run during the baseball game or the fact that your friend would get back together with his girlfriend for the 7th time? Of course you do. It was proof of your psychic abilities. Remember the time that you made a similar prediction but were wrong? Of course not. When you only count your wins and not your losses, it’s easy to have a perfect record. Politicians take advantage of this all the time. The truth is that there aren’t a lot of people out there who are good at predicting things, whether it’s weather, the economy, sports, or any number of other things. Nouriel Roubini may be an exception. He could be insanely “lucky” with the fact that his descriptions and predictions of the current financial crisis were dead on, but you have to give him credit for the amount of detail included in his predictions, like when he said “the United States was likely to face a once-in-a-lifetime housing bust, an oil shock, sharply declining consumer confidence and, ultimately, a deep recession.” He’s very obviously a brilliant guy, and he’s also the founder of New York City based Roubini Global Economics, a company that provides “a uniquely tailored look at the logic of the global economy” for its clients.

Working for “Dr. Doom”

Nouriel Roubini has been dubbed “Dr. Doom” by some because of his dour predictions, but you have to imagine that the demand for his company’s services is extremely high regardless of his scary nickname. Now, don’t get confused. Roubini Global Economics isn’t about looking into a crystal ball or just making predictions, it’s about taking a scientific approach to economic analysis. Here’s what the Roubini Global Economics website has to say about The RGE Approach:

Our analytical approach demands a constant probing of the important questions facing the global economy. When considered and debated, these questions lead to breakthrough economic analysis. Each question is formulated from a constellation of topic and region-specific information sources and augmented with opinion from RGE analysts and expert contributors. Together, these elements help you command the fundamentals and identify opportunities and risks throughout the world.

While heavily focused on Economics, Roubini Global Economics is also pretty focused on being a web media company. Their major website used to be RGEMonitor.com, but it appears that they’re making the move to a new site on Roubini.com over the next few weeks. Both sites have job listings (on Roubini.com and on RGEMonitor.com), and there appear to be some opportunities for new grads. All of the job postings for Economic Analysts appear to require a PhD in Econ, but positions like Editor/Web Producer (London), Web Developer (New York), and Account Manager (multiple openings in New York and London) are worth checking out depending on your background and relevant experience. None of the jobs are explicitly entry level, but Roubini Global Economics puts a heavy focus on interns, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they have some entry level positions that aren’t currently posted on their site.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Roubini’s predictions?

NESN

Willy Franzen — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:50:18 +0000

As a Yankees fan I am obliged to hate anything and everything related to the Red Sox—and even Boston sports in general. That’s why it pains me to cover NESN (New England Sports Network) today. They’re one of the most successful regional sports networks (RSNs) in the country ratings-wise (#1 for 6 straight years), and they do it in the 7th biggest media market. NESN is jointly owned by the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins, whom they cover along with the Celtics, Patriots, and plenty of local college teams. They were launched in 1984, which makes Watertown, MA based NESN one of the oldest RSNs in the country, and they now reach more than 4 million homes. I still don’t understand why anyone would want to watch Boston sports on tv.

Monster Opportunities

Obviously I think that jobs at the Yes Network are way cooler, but I do have to admit that working at NESN would be pretty sweet. There probably couldn’t be a better place for a Boston sports fan (must… hold… back… joke…) with an interest in television than NESN. They have a “40,000 square foot state-of–the art facility” and they do a ton of broadcasting in HD. The only thing they were short on this year was October programming. If you’re interested in NESN, you should check out their Jobs page. Current opportunities include Tape Room Technician – Operations and Graphics Operator – Programming & Production, while they also accept applications for future opportunities. I hope that you’ll check out NESN, so that you can help broadcast another Red Sox collapse next fall.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you watch NESN?

Seed Media Group

Willy Franzen — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:50:00 +0000

The magazine business is dying, right? A lot of people seem to think so, and for the most part I agree with them; however, we seem to be seeing a new breed of magazines cropping up. They’re web integrated, extremely well designed, and laser focused on a specific audience. They still sell advertising, but they offer advertisers access to a well-defined audience that general interest magazines can’t compete with. The company behind one of these magazines (Seed Magazine) is Seed Media Group. They’re based out of New York City, and they are a media and technology company built on the premise that science is culture. They’ve been offering a new take on science since 2005, and it seems to be working with them.

Seeding Your Career

Beyond Seed Magazine, Seed Media Group also runs ScienceBlogs.com. It’s a substantial web property, and it falls right in line with Seed Media Group’s belief that:

Science is transforming our global culture and conversation unlike ever before, shaping markets, informing policy, inspiring the arts and deepening our understanding of who we are, where we come from and where we’re heading.

It’s hard to say whether Seed Media Group and similar companies will be able to save the magazine industry, or if their success is just a temporary thing, but you have to like the fact that they’re more focused on a topic than the specific type of media that they deliver to their readers. If you’re intrigued by Seed Media Group, I recommend that you check out their websites listed below and pick up a copy of the magazine. That way you can get to know them and better understand if they might be somewhere you want to work. According to their company LinkedIn profile, they’re growing into a pretty sizable company. Although their Jobs page currently has just intern positions, they do encourage you to send a cover letter and résumé to careers@seedmediagroup.com for unlisted positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read Seed Magazine or ScienceBlogs.com?

The Wrap

Willy Franzen — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:45:19 +0000

I’m going to be brutally honest with this one. When I landed on the The Wrap’s Home page, I immediately clicked the back button. I thought that I had landed on one of those Google Money Maker scam pages (it’s all because of the font choice). After processing what I had seen, I decided to take a second look. Despite their poor design choices, The Wrap is a legitimate site—if a site that covers entertainment industry analysis and breaking hollywood news can be considered legitimate (I kid). Now, The Wrap shouldn’t be confused with gossip sites like TMZ or Perez Hilton, this is actually an industry focused site that does primary source reporting. They’re venture funded and quite obviously located in Los Angeles. I don’t know a lot about the entertainment industry and how it’s covered by the press, but it looks like The Wrap is growing a solid audience with their web-based content.

Get Wrapped Up In It

Whether or not a job in entertainment journalism sounds interesting to you, you need to be reading The Wrap if you have any interest in the entertainment industry whatsoever. On the other hand, if you’re looking for an entry level journalism job covering Hollywood news, you’re in serious luck. The only job posted on The Wrap’s Jobs page is Entry-Level Reporter. They want someone with writing/reporting experience and a good business sense. The position starts as a contract job with the opportunity to join the staff full-time. It’s the perfect opportunity for a new journalism grad to prove his or her worth by diving into some real work. If you’re interested, send a résumé and clips to info@thewrap.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read The Wrap?

The Boston Globe

Willy Franzen — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:48:50 +0000

It feels pretty good to be talking about a Boston based newspaper today knowing that they have to report on another trip to the World Series for the Yankees; although, I’m sure they’d much rather be publishing stories on what Dustin Pedroia and Jonathan Papelbon are doing during their offseason (possibly watching the World Series from their couches). Now that I’ve gotten in my dig at Red Sox fans, we can take a look at The Boston Globe, Boston’s most widely read newspaper. The paper is owned by the New York Times and has an excellent web presence at Boston.com. Much like other newspapers the Globe has had significant financial struggles, and The New York Times even threatened to shut the paper down if the paper’s union didn’t accept major concessions. Apparently those problems have been worked out, and The Boston Globe is now on more stable ground. At least that’s what the fact that they’re hiring would indicate.

Navigate The Globe

When it comes to newspapers and magazines, there’s no better way to get to know them than to read them. Luckily, you can do that online at Boston.com, which is a good example of how newspapers should use the web. I’m especially impressed with their Big Picture photoblog, which is constantly getting voted up on social media news sites. Since you’re going to have to start reading The Boston Globe to get a feel for them, let’s jump right to their jobs. If you take a look at their Job postings, you’ll see that there are only a few openings; however, a number of those jobs seem perfect for new grads. These include positions in Outbound Sales, Web Programming/Development, Technical Production, and Online Advertising Traffic Coordination. Most of the job postings don’t appear to be very fresh, but they’re still posted, so apply online and see what happens.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read The Boston Globe?we