One Day, One Job » Louisiana

RaceTrac

Willy Franzen — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:58:16 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I love the smell of gasoline–at least in limited doses. Oddly enough, I absolutely hate the smell of coffee, so I’m not sure how I’d do if I had to work at a RaceTrac. They’re an Atlanta, GA based chain of more than 525 gas stations and convenience stores that stretch across twelve southeastern states. The odd thing about them is that their home page puts more emphasis on their coffee than on the gas. I guess gas is pretty much the same at every gas station, but good coffee will actually bring people through the doors. Besides the coffee RaceTrac differentiates itself with its size–their stores are typically over 5,000 square feet with more than 4,000 items and 20-24 pumps. If I owned a chain of gas stations, I’d probably use clean bathrooms as a point of differentiation. I think it would be a goldmine, but RaceTrac’s $8 billion in annual revenue makes them the third largest private company in Atlanta, so maybe coffee is the right choice.

Start Your Engine

As I mentioned before, RaceTrac’s home page doesn’t make it very clear that they’re a gas station, but there is a huge emphasis on different forms of transportation. They’re obviously trying to sell themselves as a part of an on the go lifestyle. This makes a lot of sense considering that it’s often the convenience items that drive the profits for retail gas stations. I’m sure there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on behind the scenes at RaceTrac, which is why you should check out their Careers page. They have page for Associate and Manager positions, but my guess is that you’ll be most interested in the positions at their Store Support Centers (Corporate). Right now they have some great opportunities for new or recent grads including:

Real Estate Analyst (Atlanta, GA)
Fuel Pricing Coordinator (Atlanta, GA)
Engineering Coordinator (Atlanta, GA)
Recruitment and Engagement Specialist (Atlanta, GA)
Recruitment and Engagement Specialist (Baton Rouge, LA)
HR Business Analyst (Atlanta, GA)
Software Developer (Atlanta, GA)

There are some really interesting look positions at RaceTrac, so check them out and see if any of them make sense for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever stopped at a RaceTrac?

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?

Volunteers of America

Willy Franzen — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 15:22:13 +0000

When you’re job searching, volunteering is a great way to both put your skills to use and develop new skills. There are countless non-profit organization that put volunteers to work in situations where they can really make a difference. One of our country’s largest volunteer organizations is Volunteers of America, which is a faith-based non-profit headquartered in Alexandria, VA. With their staff of 16,000 paid employees and 70,000 volunteers, they’re able to help “more than 2 million people in over 400 communities in 48 states.” Since the organization was founded in 1896, they “have supported and empowered America’s most vulnerable groups, including at-risk youth, the frail elderly, men and women returning from prison, homeless individuals and families, people with disabilities, and those recovering from addictions.” An organization that has been around as long as Volunteers of America has must adapt to changes over the years. While they continue to remain focused on providing neighborly aid to all people, it looks like Volunteers of America is putting more emphasis on helping the growing population of aging Americans.

Volunteer for a Job

Volunteers of America has a nice video on their About page that goes more in-depth in describing how they work and what they do. I’ve embedded it below (e-mail readers need to click through).

Volunteers of America also has this Overview sheet that provides some really specific information about the organization’s work. If you’re moved by their mission, then you’ll want to check out Volunteers of America’s job opportunities. They separate these into three groups: National Office, Nationwide, and Health Services. The Nationwide section actually has over 200 positions posted, along with 25 entry level opportunities, so it probably makes the most sense to check out. They have a wide range of opportunities, and they’re in a variety of locations, so you should be able to find something that piques your interest.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Volunteers of America?

Global Green USA

Willy Franzen — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 14:57:58 +0000

As far as I can tell, most of the non-profits that we’ve featured here have originated in the United States—even the ones that do most of their work internationally. Global Green USA is an exception. They are “the American Arm of Green Cross International (GCI), which was created by President Mikhail S. Gorbachev to foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future by reconnecting humanity with the environment.” Global Green USA is headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, and they also have offices in New Orleans, LA; Washington, DC; and New York, NY. Though they do work on some international issues with GCI, their domestic focus is on “fighting global climate change through [their] green affordable housing initiatives, National Green Schools Initiative, national and reginonal green building policies, advocacy and education.”

Are You Globally Green?

The idea of a “sustainable and secure future” is something that everyone can get behind. Global Green USA’s main projects include Rebuilding New Orleans, Building Green Cities and Schools, Promoting Climate Change Policy, Encouraging Dialogue on Security, and Driving Clean Water Initiatives. As our environmental challenges continue to change, I’m sure that Global Green USA will adapt to address them. If you want to be part of a “sustainable and secure future,” then you should check out jobs at Global Green USA. Right now they’re looking for a Database & Development Associate, and they are also involved with the The Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellowship, which you can find out about here.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Global Green USA?

CLEAResult Consulting

Willy Franzen — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 15:59:24 +0000

Maybe you’ve jumped on the energy efficiency bandwagon. You changed out your lightbulbs, unplugged your chargers when you’re not using them, and opened the windows instead of using air conditioning. But let’s be real, individually you’re not going to save the world by yourself (but you might save a bunch of money). That doesn’t mean that there isn’t a lot of power in collective action, but energy efficiency measures are way more effective when they come from the top. That’s why Austin, TX based CLEAResult Consulting works with utility companies to maximize efficiency. They’re “an energy efficiency consulting firm with expertise in utility program design, development, implementation, and evaluation.” Apparently their programs are pretty successful considering that they were #144 on the Inc. 500 with 1860% three-year revenue growth to $21.6 million. Not only are they improving environmental outcomes, but they’re also saving businesses and consumers money.

CLEAResults for Your Job Search

The word on the street is that CLEAResult Consulting is going to keep growing at a crazy rate. They’ve signed a deal to triple the size of their headquarters by the end of the year, and they plan to double their staff by the end of next year. I guess all the buzz about green jobs isn’t a myth. A lot of what CLEAResult Consulting does is the development of programs for industrial, commercial, and residential energy customers that can be implemented through the utility provider. It’s a great distribution network for making meaningful change. If you’d like to be part of CLEAResult Consulting’s growing team, you should check out their Jobs page. They’re a little light on entry level opportunities right now, but still take a look and see what’s available (their should be more jobs coming soon). Beyond their headquarters in Austin, TX, there are also CLEAResult Consulting offices in Little Rock, AR; Reno, NV; Fairfax, VA; Irving, TX; Houston, TX; Oklahoma City, OK; New Orleans, LA; Detroit, MI; and Okemos, MI.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about CLEAResult Consulting?

Groupon

Willy Franzen — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:46:22 +0000

If you’re not already a Groupon member, here’s an invitation link.

In February of 2009, when I had only been in Chicago a few months, I got invited to an event for Chicago tech startups hosted by a local incubator named midVentures. I felt awkward when I walked in because I didn’t know a single person, but I quickly got to meeting people. One of the people I talked to was named Andrew Mason. He started a collective action site called The Point that allows you to put up money for big ideas with the qualification that you only have to pay if a certain threshold is met. That way you can put up money to build a collapsible dome over Chicago for the winter, but not have to worry about shelling out the cash unless the project is actually going to happen. At that point Andrew was working on an offshoot of The Point called Groupon. In some ways it was much like One Day, One Job. Instead of offering its readers a new job every day, it offered a deal. It was growing really fast, and he and I both knew that he was on to something pretty neat, but I don’t think either of us appreciated how big it could be at the time. Now, a year later, Groupon is valued at over $1 billion dollars. That would be nine zeroes if you ignored the fact that their actual valuation is around $1,350,000,000 (only 7 zeroes, ha!). The company is growing at an insane rate, and they always seem to be hiring. I’ve pinged Andrew and one of his recruiters a couple of times to let me know when they have positions to feature, but I get so many requests on Groupon that I’m just going to pull the trigger.

Get Your Groupon

For those of you who don’t know what Groupon is, it’s pretty simple. Every day they offer a new deal from a local business—it’s essentially a heavily discounted gift certificate. The business gets new customers, you save money, and Groupon gets a big cut of the sale. That’s what is so impressive about Groupon. Their growth is based on real revenue. Most startups as early as Groupon are losing money, while Groupon would probably be less profitable if they had a money printing machine. They’re not hiring people on a hope and a dream. They’re hiring people because they’re leaving money on the table otherwise. This may make them sound like they’re all serious, but Groupon also happens to be one of the goofiest startups out there. Humor is a key part of the company, and that clearly comes from the top, as Andrew is a pretty goofy guy.

Another key to the company is sales. Groupon is all about helping local businesses reach customers, and that means that their sales force has to kick butt. That’s why you’ll notice that most of Groupon’s postings on their Jobs page are Account Executive positions. They have Inside Sales positions in Chicago, and Outside Sales positions all across the country including cities like Birmingham, AL; Boston, MA; Cincinnati, OH; Denver, CO; Honolulu, HI; Indianapolis, IN; Jacksonville, FL; Kansas City, KS; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; Minneapolis, MN; Nashville, TN; New Orlenas, LA; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Pittsburgh, PA; Portland, OR; Raleigh, NC; Sacramento, CA; San Diego, CA; San Franisco, CA; San Jose, CA; Seattle, WA; and St. Louis, MO. The Inside Sales positions seem better suited to new grads that the Outside Sales positions, but I bet that they’ll happy to talk to you if you’ve proved that you can sell. Groupon also has a variety of other positions that might interest new or recent grads like Copywriter, Factchecker, Reviews Researcher, Customer Service Representative, Recruiter, Loyalty Marketing Coordinator, SEM Specialist, Affiliate Manager, Front-end Developer, QA Engineer, Software Developer, User Experience Designer, and Visual/Graphic Designer. There are a ton of jobs, and I’m sure there will be plenty more in the near future. It may seem like you’re too late, but remember that Groupon hasn’t even been around for two years.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a Groupon member?

Trumpet

Willy Franzen — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 14:00:38 +0000

Today is my half birthday, which has nothing to do with trumpets or creative agencies, but I thought it was worth noting in case you want to buy me a present. Trumpet says “Don’t Advertise. Connect.” So that’s what I’m trying to do. Connect with me by buying me a gift. Anyway, Trumpet is a unique creative agency. They’re based in New Orleans, LA, and they typically work with startups, launches, and turnarounds. Since those are exactly the kinds of businesses that New Orleans needs right now, they’re a perfect fit for the city. Trumpet offers holistic strategy guidance that goes beyond advertising and touches on areas like “product development, social or digital strategy, publicity, events, design or sponsored content.” They really aim to touch all areas of the businesses that they work with.

Trumpet Your Abilities

If you want to take a closer look at Trumpet’s approach, all you need to do is look at their work. They’re another company that was named to Fast Company’s list of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies,” but it wasn’t just for their work as a creative agency. Since they work with so many startups, Trumpet has decided to raise $3 million in capital to invest and work with early-stage companies. They are now an agency with a spin off incubator. If you’re intrigued by the story and you like the work, then you’ll probably want to consider a career. They don’t have anything posted on their website, but I found this posting on Work NOLA. It says that they’re hiring mostly on a project basis, but that full-time isn’t out of the question. If you would describe yourself as any of the following, you should reach out to them:

digital artists
writers
designers
environmental design
product design/development
analytics/crm
art directors
public relations
social media
project managers
production supervisors
strategists
researchers
anthropologists

To apply, “email a cover letter summarizing what you bring to work everyday along with your resume to erin@trumpetgroup.com.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Trumpet?

Reasoning Mind

Willy Franzen — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:56:59 +0000

I don’t know where they were when I was looking for a math related non-profit for Pi Day, but I was excited to learn about Reasoning Mind through a Facebook message from George Khachatryan that asked me to help them get the word out about their entry level positions. We’ll get to those in a second, but first let’s talk about what Reasoning Mind is. It’s a Houston, TX based non-profit (with offices in Dallas, TX and Moscow too) that is offering “an engaging online community that develops students’ math knowledge and thinking skills” so that every child can receive “a first-rate math education.” They’re already working in quite a few schools in California, Texas, and Louisiana, and they also offer individual enrollment over the web. Reasoning Mind seems to be a family affair, as the President & CEO and the Vice President also happen to be Khachatryans.

Reasoning Jobs

Reasoning Mind wants you to “imagine a day when children love their math class so much, they do math problems at home instead of playing video games.” That’s a lofty goal, but they’ve created what they call RM City to make it happen. It looks like an awesome web interface that might remind kids of Club Penguin or Webkinz World. I wish I had RM City when I was a kid. So, what about their jobs? According to George, they’re looking to fill 30 Program Coordinator positions across the country. Most positions are expected to be in cities across Texas, but that may change depending on where Reasoning Mind is able to initiate new partnerships. The job posting is fantastic, and it even has a picture of the hiring manager – Steve Gaudino – and his title at the top, so you know whom you’re going to be working for. I’ve never seen that before, and I love it.

Program Coordinators are responsible for supporting around 1,000 students and their teachers who are using the Reasoning Mind program by “visiting schools, meeting with teachers to provide training and support, monitoring the progress of students, and working with principals and other school staff.” It sounds like an awesome job, so check out the job description and apply (the application form is on the job description page) by May 1st if you’d like to start in July. You can also apply at the end of August or end of November for a later start date.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of RM City?

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?

National Audubon Society

Willy Franzen — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:28:48 +0000

John James Audubon painted birds. His seminal work, Birds of America, was a collection of 435 life-size prints. To this day, when you hear the name Audubon, you think of birds. Interestingly enough, John James Audubon had no direct involvement with the founding of the National Audubon Society. Audubon’s widow, Lucy, tutored a man named George Bird Grinnell and some of Audubon’s love of birds must have rubbed off, as Grinnell was one of the Audubon Society’s founders. To this day, the Audubon Society persists in its mission “to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.” The Audubon Society works to achieve this mission through a national network of community-based nature centers and chapters and scientific, educational, and advocacy programs.

These Jobs Are for the Birds

The National Audubon Society has a long list of current job openings in locations all across the country. We scanned over them, and identified all the jobs that don’t list experience requirements for you. The Audubon does a very good job of identifying their desired experience level for each position, so you should be pretty confident that these jobs can be considered entry-level.

There are also quite a few jobs listed that require 2 to 3 years of experience. These may be worth a look, since many of them seem like they could be filled by competent new college grads, but we’ll let you go find them on Audubon’s Jobs page. We should also warn you that one job listing says that the start date is in 2006. We hope that this is a result of a careless copy-paste job, but we have no way of knowing how recently all of these jobs were posted. We couldn’t find much information on what it’s like to work for Audubon, but it probably varies widely depending on location. If you’re a birder, and you’re looking for non-profit work, figure out which of the above jobs you like the best and send your cover letter and resume to HumanResources@audubon.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite bird? We like birds of prey like hawks, eagles, and falcons.

Arena Football League Teams

Willy Franzen — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:00:54 +0000

Do you know how to make any sport better? Just put the word “arena” in front of it! Arena Soccer, arena badminton, arena fishing, arena skydiving… you get the point. Putting “arena” in front of a sport’s name is only second to putting “extreme” in front of it. Well one of the sports that actually works (not necessarily better) in an arena is football. The Arena Football League is putting out a product that is exciting to watch and offers an option for the football junkies who are bored to tears in the offseason. Getting a job in sports can be tough, and getting a job with a team in a major sports league can be near impossible. Sometimes looking to the secondary leagues (sorry AFL) can offer great options.

Arena Entry-Level Job Hunting

If you need an introduction to the Arena Football League, the Wikipedia page is probably a good place to start. You can also check out ArenaBowl.com. The Arena Football League is yet another sports league that uses TeamWork Online to manage its job postings. We like the way TeamWork Online does things, so it should be pretty easy for you to get the scoop on entry-level jobs with a variety of Arena Football League Teams.

One nice feature of searching for jobs with secondary sports league teams is that they often offer locations beyond the major cities that have NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL franchises. Almost all of the entry-level job opportunities with Arena Football League teams have something to do with ticket sales, so if you aren’t good at selling, you may want to sign up for their job notifications and wait for new opportunities to crop up.

Current opportunities with AFL Teams include: Ticket Services Coordinator – San Jose SaberCats (San Jose, CA), Ticket Account Executive – Amarillo Dusters (Amarillo, TX), Inside Sales Representative – Los Angeles Avengers (Los Angeles, CA), Account Executive – Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings (Bossier City, LA), Account Executive – Lubbock Renegades (Lubbock, TX), Ticket Sales Account Executive – Utah Blaze (Salt Lake City, UT), and Communications Manager – Columbus Destroyers (Columbus, OH). The Communications Manager position is the only non-sales position, but it seems to require more experience than the typical new college graduate would have (although the description sounds well suited to an entry-level hire).

Applying online through the TeamWork Online site is easy, so start looking over the jobs with Arena Football League Teams and see if any interest you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you an Arena Football fan?

Shriners Hospitals for Children

Willy Franzen — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:37:00 +0000

We hope you had a safe 4th of July. Unfortunately, every year some people don’t. Fireworks are a lot of fun, but they can result in some really nasty burns and injuries. Since we encouraged you to blow stuff up yesterday, we thought we’d counter that by featuring a non-profit organization that helps children who endure severe burns. The Shriners Hospitals for Children do exactly that. Who are Shriners? They wear funny hats. They drive little cars in parades. They’re Freemasons. And most importantly, they help kids through their hospitals. That’s going to be our focus today, since new college grads probably aren’t too interested in being part of a fraternal organization that seems like it probably has an average age north of 60. Then again, you probably got all hot and bothered about your college’s greek organizations and secret societies.

What Do Red Fezzes Have to Do with Burn Treatment?

So a group of Freemasons decided to start a non-religious fraternal organization for fun and fellowship based on a Middle Eastern theme, what the heck does that have to do with kids and burns? Somewhere along the way the guys in the organization decided to do some serious philanthropy, so they started Shriners Hospitals for Children which “is a one-of-a-kind international health care system of 22 hospitals dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing specialty pediatric care, innovative research and outstanding teaching programs.” Their three focuses are orthopedic care, burn care, and spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Over Shriners Hospitals for Childrens’ 86 years, they have provided free medical care to more than 865,000 children. Wow.

Do I Have to Wear a Funny Hat to Work There?

We don’t think wearing a red fez is a required part of the dress code, but we can’t make any promises. Shriners Hospitals for Children is headquartered in Tampa, FL and has hospitals in Boston, Canada, Chicago, Cincinnati, Erie, Galveston, Greenville, Honolulu, Houston, Salt Lake City, Lexington, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Northern California, Philadelphia, Portland, Shreveport, Spokane, Springfield, St Louis, Tampa, and Twin Cities. They have jobs available in just about every field imaginable, especially in medical related areas. Quite a few of these jobs are appropriate for entry-level candidates, but we’re not going to go through each of them. Shriners Hospitals for Children has a lot of job openings, and they do a nice job of organizing their Job Opportunities. Although their Careers site isn’t flashy, it should be easy to navigate. If helping children who are enduring seemingly unthinkable medical conditions is something that you could devote your life to (and you’re not going to Med school), there are few better places to begin a career then one of the Shriners Hospitals for Children.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever seen the Shriners drive their little cars around?

NASA

Willy Franzen — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:00:21 +0000

Typically young children are quite realistic about their career aspirations. They want to be firefighters, policemen, and teachers – professions that are in constant, steady demand. The more ambitious children might want a job as a doctor or veterinarian – still steady, but requiring a significant investment in education. It almost seems that as children we’re more realistic about life and careers than we are when we reach adulthood – except those kids who wanted to be astronauts. Since the beginning of the space program, there have only been 321 astronauts selected. Ever. There’s no surefire (or easy) way to become an astronaut – pilots, schoolteachers, doctors, scientist, and engineers have all been astronauts – but if selection as an astronaut is one of your life goals, you need to start preparing now. If you’re not ready for the commitment that it takes to be an astronaut, there are still plenty of entry-level jobs at NASA that will enable you to have a meaningful impact on the space program and NASA’s other endeavors.

NASA is a large government agency with many entry-level jobs, so instead of identifying each job opening, we’re going to guide you through how to their jobs website and help you find the information that you need before you decide to apply for a job. Usually, we complain that companies shortchange job searchers in terms of career related information on their website, but with NASA the problem is one of too much information. Maybe it’s a test to weed out candidates who can’t deal with navigating through complex situations, but we were a bit overwhelmed by NASA’s jobs site. Before you jump in and start looking around the site, you might want to read NASA’s Applicant Guide. It’s audaciously long, but it covers everything you need to know to get a job at NASA. If we left you to navigate the site, it would probably take you quite a while to find the guide, but we think it’s important to reward our loyal readers with shortcuts straight to meaningful content (if you like shortcuts, subscribe to One Day, One Job).

If you read our post about entry-level jobs at the US Forest Service, then you’re aware of the fact that all jobs with the United States government are posted on USAjobs.gov. Since NASA does not accept applications for unspecified positions, you must go through this site and search specifically for NASA jobs. We couldn’t find any information on an application process tailored specifically to entry-level candidates (probably because there isn’t one); however, there is a guide for college students who are seeking employment. There are also lists of occupation types, applicable entry-level pay ranges, and NASA locations to help you determine which jobs you should apply for. NASA also offers a FAQ for students. Like we said, there’s a ton of information.

In addition to NASA’s jobs site, there are a few other sites that are worth mentioning. First is NASA People, which is a site that appears to be targeted towards current NASA employees. It covers almost any question that you could have about what it’s like to work at NASA, so serious job searchers should spend some time browsing this site. Second is the annual ranking of Best Places to Work in the Federal Government, which ranks NASA at fourth. This gives in-depth statistics about what kinds of people are more likely to be happy working at NASA (most employees), and what types of people are less likely to be happy at NASA. It also breaks down the rankings into a number of factors that may or may not be important to you.

Finally, there is this Wired article that details the struggles that NASA is having connecting with young people. The problem is pretty obvious. The space race to put the first man on the moon created an amazing amount of interest in NASA for our parents’ generation, but we have been given technology like the Internet to explore the world that we live in. Many young people don’t see the point in exploring space, when there is so much to discover right at our fingertips. The article includes a presentation that was given to NASA management by some of NASA’s younger employees on how to improve engagement with Generation-Y/Millennials/whatever you want to call us by emphasizing NASA’s continued relevance to the issues that concern our generation. Even people who are not interested in jobs at NASA would do well to read this article as it brings up a lot of important questions about NASA, science, and the workplace. The Wired article ends by pointing to OpenNASA.com, which is a blog by NASA employees. It’s excellent, and as authentic of a resource as you’ll find on what working at NASA is like – especially for someone who is not far removed from college. Although the blog is unofficial, it’s the type of resource that every company could use to improve their recruiting practices.

If you want an entry-level job at NASA, you’ve got a lot of research to do. Get moving!

Note: On April 25th we revisited entry-level jobs at NASA.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Want an internship at NASA? They have a lot of them, and we’re talking about them at One Day, One Internship.