One Day, One Job » marketing

Wayfair

Willy Franzen — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:03:50 +0000

I’ve made a point of being more active in Cornell’s entrepreneurship community, so I like to think that I do a good job of keeping tabs on which other companies have been started by fellow alums. That’s why I was shocked to learn that the #2 online retailer of home furnishings and housewares was not only a company that I’d never heard of before, but a company founded by two Cornell grads. It’s called Wayfair–they’re based in Boston, MA and did $500 million in sales last year. The reason I hadn’t heard of them is that they were known as CSN Stores until last year (they were founded in 2002). CSN Stores was focused on building out 200+ product specific properties with generic domain names like Bedroomfurniture.com, Cookware.com, AirHockeyTables.com, and AllBarstools.com. Last year they decided to get serious about branding and started pulling all of their sites into the Wayfair brand.

Find Your Way

If you’d like to read a more in-depth version of the Wayfair story, check out this write up from GigaOm. It provides a lot of interesting details, but I actually think the Wayfair site is even better. Their About page is beautifully designed and packed with information, and the same can be said for the company’s Careers page. It’s also nice that they have a Campus Recruiting section that includes this video (you may need to click through to view it):

The campus recruiting page also includes four positions targeted towards 2012 grads: Business Analyst, Business Intelligence Analyst, Category Management Associate, and Software Engineer. Additionally, they have a ton of job postings for immediate hire:

Category Analyst / Entry Level Buyer (Sydney, Australia)
Jr. Designer/Web Production Artist
Customer Service Consultant (Sydney, Australia)
Bilingual Sales & Service Consultant (Galway, Ireland)
Customer Service Consultant (Ogden, UT)
Email Sales and Service Consultant (Ogden, UT)
Inbound Sales Consultant (Ogden, UT)
Sales Consultant (Ogden, UT)
Junior Web Operations Engineer
Software Engineer
Analyst, Email Marketing – Private Sale

There are a ton of great opportunities at Wayfair, which was named one of Glassdoor’s 2012 Best Places to Work, so browse through the postings and see if any of them are appropriate for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you purchased anything from Wayfair?

Urban Airship

Willy Franzen — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:41:44 +0000

I really like the idea of push notifications, but I find that they’re often inconsistent in terms of being delivered. I also hate it when apps try to trick me into accepting push notifications that I will find annoying. Still, it seems pretty clear that push notifications are going to become an increasingly important part of our life (as sad as that may sound). As more and more apps start pushing us information, more companies are going to need to solve the technical challenges associated with delivering push notifications. Urban Airship is a Portland, OR and San Francisco, CA based company that provides technology that powers “mobile engagement, monetization and reporting.” Beyond push notifications, they also do subscriptions, in-app purchasing, and reporting.

Push Your Luck

There’s no doubt that Urban Airship has developed a compelling line of products–just look at their list of customers. It’s loaded with big names like ESPN, Fox, Accenture, The White House, The New York Times, and plenty of others. There are also some great case studies on how clients have used Urban Airship’s technology to achieve business objectives. If you really want to dig into the nitty gritty of Urban Airship’s products, then you’ll want to take a look at their Resources page. Eventually you’ll want to head over to the Urban Airship Careers page to check out their opportunities. Right now they’re looking to fill a number of technical positions including Implementation Engineer (Portland, OR), Solutions Engineer (Portland, OR), API Engineer (Portland, OR or San Francisco, CA), JavaScript Engineer (Portland, OR), Messaging Engineer (Portland, OR), Systems Engineer (Portland, OR), and Engineer in Test (Portland, OR). They’re also looking for an Account Development Representative (Portland, OR), which looks like a great non-technical position for a new or recent grad.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you get push notifications?

Internet Brands

Willy Franzen — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:07:03 +0000

In case you missed our e-mail from last week, Kembrel loved the response from our post about them so they’re offering a free VIP card (usually 20 bucks) to all ODOJ readers and $5 in store credit. Sign up here.

On Monday we took a look at Vertive, a company that builds internet properties to help people save money. Today we’re going to look at a company with a similar model of building and buying websites, but a much broader approach. Internet Brands is based in El Segundo, CA and started as CarsDirect.com in 1998. It was a successful brand for them, but in 2005 they realized that the platform they had built could be applied to other verticals. Now Internet Brands operates more than 100 websites that reach over a billion visitors every year. Amazingly, they’ve been able to generate almost all of this traffic organically (without buying advertising). This is all because of the platform that they’ve developed and the ability to share resources across brands. Internet Brands is a case study of how economies of scale can work on the web.

Get Branded

The best way to get a better feel for Internet Brands is to explore their… brands. There are a lot of them, but they typically fit into one of nine verticals: Automotive, Careers, Health, Home, Legal, Licensing, Money, Shopping, and Travel. Chances are that most of the brands will be new to you, but I found a few that I was familiar with. Unlike Vertive, Internet Brands doesn’t shed much light on how they operate. Even the Internet Brands Careers page is filled with mostly generic stuff like “Do you have energy, drive and ambition?” and “Do you have a strong sense of where you are going and how to get there?” Would any job seeker answer no to those rhetorical questions? At least Internet Brands makes up for it with a ton of job postings. Here are the ones that look well suited for an entry level job seeker:

That’s a lot of jobs. Hopefully a few of them will catch your interest.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Internet Brands?

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?

HDIS

Willy Franzen — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:40:52 +0000

I last wet my pants in 2nd grade. I knew I had to go, and I was waiting outside the bathroom with my legs squeezed together. I didn’t want to break the rules and use the bathroom down the hall, so I waited… and waited… and waited. Eventually I couldn’t hold it any longer, and I went. I told my teacher, and she did a great job of keeping it discrete so none of the kids in my class found out. But it was still terribly humiliating. Looking back I can laugh about it–and I often do (I love bathroom humor!), but I know there are plenty of people for whom things like this aren’t funny anymore. Incontinence is an extremely common problem, yet it’s not one that many people talk about openly. That’s why HDIS has been able to build such a successful business. The Olivette, MO based company’s full name is Home Delivery Incontinence Supplices, and they’ve “specialized
in providing quality care to those who experience loss of bladder control” since 1986. You’ve probably seen their commercials on tv–especially if you watch shows geared towards an older audience.

At Your Discretion

At first it seemed odd to me that a company like HDIS would exist when you can buy the products that they sell from a retail store or even Amazon.com, but then I realized just how specialized they are. They put a huge emphasis on personalized care, while also ensuring that they are always discreet. When you combine this level of service with exceptional branding and targeted advertising, they’ve become the nation’s largest direct supplier of incontinent supplies. It also helps that their pricing seems to be quite competitive (I checked it against Amazon on a few products, which I though was going to haunt my Recently Viewed Items, but Amazon seems to know better). HDIS may not be a trendy startup or a huge brand name, but they’ve built a business on serving a group of people who have a very specific need. If you’d like to be a part of what HDIS is doing, check out their Careers page. Right now they have a few jobs that you may want to consider including Marketing Specialist, Telesales Representative, Medicare Billing Supervisor, Customer Care Representative, and Outreach Representative.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about HDIS?

Coursekit

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

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

What’s in Your Kit?

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

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

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

Specialized

Willy Franzen — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:02:24 +0000

They say that you can’t forget how to ride a bike, but I’m giving it my best try. In elementary and early middle school I was constantly riding around town. I picked up inline skating for a year or two after that, and never got back on the bike. Now I tell people that I hate bike riding. I don’t actually hate it, but as I mentioned in my post on Niner Bikes, I love seeing people’s reactions to that statement. My twelve year old self would be disappointed that I don’t even own a bike, let alone a cool brand like a Cannondale or Specialized. Luckily for Specialized, they’ve been able to grow an impressive business without me as a customer. They’re based in Morgan Hill, CA, and from what I can gather their annual revenue is measured in hundreds of millions of dollars (but I can’t find a reliable source on that). That’s impressive considering that it all started in 1974 when founder Mike Sinyard sold his “old VW Microbus for $1,500 and used the money to fund a cycling trip through Europe.” That led to importing Italian bicycle parts into the United States, and a business was born.

Are Your Skills Specialized?

Specialized positioned itself at the high end from the start, and they’re still all about quality whether you’re talking about their Mountain, Road, Multi Use, or Kids bikes. Their vision is to be “the best cycling brand in the world,” and it seems that in many people’s eyes they’ve achieved that. It’s hard for me to really dig into Specialized since I’m no longer into bicycles, but I’m sure that those of you who are will find all of the information you need on their site. One thing I found frustrating about Specialized’s website is that you don’t find any background information on the company until you hit their Careers page. Luckily, there’s a ton of information there. There are videos, an About tab, a History tab, and obviously job postings. In fact, there are a lot of jobs posted, and some look great for new or recent grads including:

City & Globe Product Engineer
Credit Representative
Field Visual Merchandiser (Philadelphia, PA)
Field Visual Merchandiser
Jr International Trade Specialist (Salt Lake City, UT)
MTB Product Engineer
Social Media / Customer Service Specialist
Store Designer/BIM
The European Fitness / Mobility Graphic Designer (Switzerland)
Video Editor and Asset Manager

There are even more jobs that I didn’t cover, and there’s also a general job posting called Bike Shop Experience Wanted!. It mentions positions in sales, marketing, customer service, product, engineering, design, operations, and finance, so I’d apply to that position if you don’t see anything that matches up with your skills.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What kind of bike do you own?

Underground Elephant

Willy Franzen — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:42:53 +0000

Nearly 500,000 teaching jobs will be added in the next decade. If you’re considering a career in education, take a look at our guide to entry level teaching jobs.

Company names usually take one of two directions. They either explain exactly what the company does (i.e. Accuweather), or they tell you absolutely nothing about what the company does (i.e. Benzinga). There’s a third type that sounds totally random but actually has a significant meaning, and those tend to be my favorite. Underground Elephant is one of those names. The company is based in San Diego, CA, and they offer “a complete turnkey solution” for customer acquisition in “a wide range of vertical markets.” How is this relevant to their name? Underground Elephant plays a huge role in their clients’ businesses, yet their participation is essentially invisible to everyone but insiders.

The Elephant in the Room

If you’re not familiar with the performance marketing industry, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about. How can a company that delivers tons of customers to their clients do so without being noticed? Watch this video on Underground Elephant to get a better idea of how their business works.

While what Underground Elephant does a good job of keeping a low profile when working for clients, they haven’t been able to do the same in the San Diego media. Their CEO was named a Most Admired CEO Finalist for the third consecutive year by San Diego Business Journal, and they’re also one of San Diego’s fastest growing private companies. I guess an elephant can only hide underground so long. Now that you’ve found them, you need to take a look at their Careers page. Right now they have some great openings for new or recent grads including:

There are a ton of great entry level or near entry level job opportunities at Underground Elephant, so don’t look past them. Not only does Underground Elephant look like a really cool company to work for, but they’re based in San Diego.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard bout Underground Elephant?

Accuweather

Willy Franzen — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 17:06:13 +0000

We’re finally getting our first snow storm of the winter here in Chicago. I’m not traveling anywhere, I don’t have a commute, and I know well enough not to drive on Lakeshore Drive today (this is what happened last year), so I’m excited and watching the weather hoping for a lot of accumulation (even though there are no sledding hills nearby). I don’t have a favorite weather site, so I keep my eyes on a number of them including Accuweather. I guess it’s a bit of an understatement to call Accuweather a site–they’ve been around since 1962 and they call themselves “the World’s Weather Authority.” They’re based in State College, PA (with an office in New York, NY) where they’re stockpiling meteorologists there (the most in any location in the world). They need these weather guys and girls because they provide “products and services to more than 175,000 paying customers in media, business, government and institutions.”

Forecast Your Future

I love weather, so I think I’m thrilled by how much information and data is available the average person over the Internet. But I have to admit it’s a bit disappointing that weather predictions are so inaccurate–sometimes I think I can do a better job predicting weather by just looking at the radar. I’m thinking that Chicago is going to get more than the 4-8 inches that Accuweather is predicting right now, but you’d probably be better off going with their prediction. It is their business, and they are trusted by countless media sources. There’s not much more to say about Accuweather than they devote a ton of resources on the meteorology side–just take a look at the stats on their headquarters on their About page. It really is the ultimate weather tracking center. If you’d like to work there or at Accuweather’s Sales office in NYC, check out Accuweather’s Careers page. It takes too many clicks to get to their actual job listings, but once you’re there you’ll see a number of positions including:

Ad Sales Marketing Associate (New York, NY)
Mobile Applications Developer (State College, PA)
Account Executive – Advertising (New York, NY)
Staff Accountant – Payroll (State College, PA)
Staff Accountant (State College, PA)
Network Operations Center Technician (State College, PA)

Take a look at the jobs, and hope for a snow day!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How much snow are you expecting?

360i

Willy Franzen — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:11:38 +0000

I can’t tell you how many bad careers sites I’ve seen over the past 4+ years. Companies with beautiful, easy to use websites often have jobs pages that make you want to poke your eyes out. Even the simple ones that just have a few paragraphs about the company and a listing of jobs are disappointing. Why can’t companies actually put some effort into convincing you to work for them? 360i certainly puts in the effort. I recently landed on their newly relaunched careers page via a link from Twitter, and I was thoroughly impressed. 360i is a digital marketing agency, and it’s pretty clear that they’ve actually put some of their in-house talent to work on the 360i Careers page. It tells a story; it provides a great user experience; it introduces you to the company before throwing job postings at you; and it actually makes you want to work at 360i (they have offices in New York, NY; Atlanta, GA; Detroit, MI; San Francisco, CA; and Chicago, IL).. This should be expected, but instead it’s the exception.

Do a 360

I usually say that the most important thing that you can look at in terms of a digital marketing agency is their client list and portfolio, but there’s actually one thing that’s more important. It’s the company’s website. If they’re not doing what they do for clients for themselves, then there’s something wrong. 360i does great work for themselves, and they also serve Bravo, Coca-Cola, J. Crew, Mattel, Oreo, Ugg and a bunch of other huge brands. 360i has done some really great work for themselves and for their clients, which is probably why they’ve been named one of Advertising Age’s “Best Places to Work and one of Fast Company’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies.” If 360i sounds like the kind of place that you’d like to work, check out their Careers page first, and then dive into their job postings. Current openings include:

Ad Operations Digital Coordinator (New York, NY)
Community Manager (New York, NY)
Digital Media Planner Coordinator – SEM (Chicago, IL)
Marketing Designer (New York, NY)
Software Developer – UI and Back End (New York, NY)

If none of those positions seem like a good fit, take note that 360i categorizes their talent into: Insiders, Thinkers, Sharpshooters, Socializers, Makers, and Advisors. If you think you fit in one of those roles, don’t be afraid to submit a résumé for an unlisted position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard bout 360i?

The Nature Conservancy

Willy Franzen — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:50:09 +0000

Last night I started watching Planet Earth and ended up staying awake later than I intended. This morning the same channel was on, and I ended up watching documentaries on Yellowstone. There aren’t many things that I find more fascinating than nature, so it’s easy for me to get caught up in these kinds of shows. It’s also why I think the work of The Nature Conservancy is so important. They’re an international non-profit organization based in Arlington, VA that is “the leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people.” The Nature Conservancy was founded in 1951, and since then they have grown their membership to more than 1 million people. The organization’s huge size gives it a ton of power and has enabled it to do some really amazing work.

Nature Over Nurture

Everything that The Nature Conservancy does is rooted in science. They gather facts first, and then they take action on a local and a global scale. That’s why they’ve been able to protect “more than 119 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of rivers worldwide.” What strikes me most about The Nature Conservancy is that they take a “non-confrontational, pragmatic” approach that sets them apart from some other conservation organizations. This may occasionally limit their short-term effectiveness, but it ensures that in the long run The Nature Conservancy will have the respect and legitimacy to continue protecting ecologically important lands and waters. If you want to dig deeper into this topic, you should really check out The Nature Conservancy’s Why We’re An Effective Nonprofit page. There’s a ton more to check out on The Nature Conservancy’s website (like How They Work and Where They Work), but I’ll leave the rest of the research to you. If you like what the organization is all about, check out their Careers page. They have some great opportunities for new or recent grads including (sorry I can’t link to the postings, but it’s a bad applicant tracking system):

Burn Crew Technician (Glyndon, MN or Karlstad, MN or Center, ND or Clear Lake, SD)
Philanthropy Coordinator (San Francisco, CA)
Preserve Management Assistant – Prairie Forest Border Ecoregion (Cushing, MN)
Seasonal Field Representative (Keene Valley, NY)
Human Resources Coordinator (Austin, TX)
Stewardship Field Assistant (Brunswick, ME)
Prairie Recovery Specialist (Watson, MN)
Conservation Coordinator (Anchorage, AK)
Preserve Management / Bison Research Technician (Leola, SD)
Grassland Bird Technician (Minor, ND)
Digital Marketing Programmer Analyst (Arlington, VA)
Stewardship Assistant (Choteau, MT)
Communications Coordinator (Oklahoma City, OK)
Assistant Land Steward (Letts, IA)

If you love nature and want to work at a non-profit, it would be hard to beat a gig with The Nature Conservancy. So take a look at these positions, and see if any are a good fit.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about The Nature Conservancy?

Bluefin Labs

Willy Franzen — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:58:16 +0000

When I first learned about Google Trends, I was shocked to see how much Internet search traffic is driven by television. It’s pretty clear that browsing the web and watching the tube go hand in hand, which is great news for both marketers and tv content producers. Since its inception tv’s biggest problem has been that it is a one way medium with no real feedback loop. That’s changed, and Bluefin Labs “has accomplished a breakthrough in this field by applying cognitive science research combined with large scale computing techniques to successfully and automatically link TV to social media.” If all goes as planned, the Cambridge, MA will make traditional tv ratings obsolete. Who cares how many people are watching when you can know who’s watching and what they’re saying?

Hook a Bluefin

While there’s no doubt about what Bluefin Labs does, they don’t really emphasize their business on the website. You have to scroll down on their home page to learn that their “clients span TV networks, advertising agencies, and brand advertisers” and include AMC Networks, CBS, MTV Networks, Mars, PepsiCo, MediaCom, and lots more. The solution that they sell to these clients is called Bluefin Signals, and you can read about the science behind it here. If you want to get a very basic sense of the kind of data that Bluefin Labs offers, you can check out their sample dashboard. Last night’s hottest show was the Heat vs. Hawks game, which was closely followed up by Jersey Shore (I know which one I would have preferred to watch). I found out about Bluefin Labs from a reader who landed a job there recently. They don’t post specific positions on their Jobs page, but it mentions that they’re looking for people in the following areas:

Machine learning
Natural language processing
Computer vision
Social network analysis
Data analysis
Information visualization
Interaction design
Large scale data storage and analytics
Sales
Account management
Marketing
Product development

That covers a wide range of interests, so don’t be afraid to reach out to careers@bluefinlabs.com and apply for a position in one of those areas.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Bluefin Labs?

Lumosity

Willy Franzen — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 17:25:20 +0000

I don’t know about you, but some days I feel sharper than others. Whether I’m trying to spike a volleyball or write a piece of code for this site, I have my good days and my bad days. There are a ton of factors that can affect how you perform on a given task from day to day, and many of them are hard to control. But the best way to overcome these fluctuations is to improve your overall skill through practice. This is pretty straightforward when you’re talking about specific tasks, but what if you are just aiming to improve your mental sharpness? As I’ve learned from reading Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything memory is a skill that can be trained just like any other skill. That’s why I was intrigued when I saw a commercial for Lumosity. They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that has used cutting edge science to develop “the most effective online tool for cognitive enhancement.” I’m skeptical of a lot of the claims in favor of brain teaser games, but Lumosity has actually built their products based on research from top neuroscientists at places like Stanford, UCSF, Harvard, and Columbia. It’s hard to argue with that.

Lumos!

People who compete in memory competitions often train in basements with ear plugs and blinders on. That’s what you have to do if you want to memorize the order of a deck of cards in under a minute. But what if you just want to use your downtime to have fun and improve mental performance a little bit? That’s what Lumosity offers. You can play their brain games on your computer or any mobile device. The exercises will help you sharpen memory, focus attention, reach peak performance, and enhance creativity. Lumosity tracks your progress and tailors your training to suit your cognitive goals. They have a ton of success stories, so it seems that a lot of people are finding the games useful. I’m not sure Lumosity accomplishments would be very helpful on your résumé, but maybe their games could help you remember names and more effectively answer questions in interviews. That would be cool–especially if you were interviewing with Lumosity. If that sounds like something that you’d want to do, then take a look at Lumosity’s Jobs page. Right now they have a number of positions posted that might interest you including Customer Care Representative, UI/UX Designer, Interactive Designer, Front-End Engineer, iOS Engineer, Software Engineer, and Technical Support Engineer. If none of those opportunities catch your eye, don’t be afraid to reach to jobs@lumoslabs.com about opportunities on the Marketing or Research side.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried Lumosity?

PUMA

Willy Franzen — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 18:25:19 +0000

I’ve always wanted to see a mountain lion in the wild–as long as it’s not stalking and about to eat me. They’re amazingly strong, athletic animals, and they have a serious mythology surrounding them. That’s why they’re called by so many names including panther, catamount, ghost cat, painter, and PUMA. It’s an appropriate name for a “sportlifestyle” company that “designs and develops footwear, apparel and accessories.” By bringing together sports and fashion, they’ve built an iconic brand that is known all over the world. What I find odd about PUMA is that they were founded in Germany in 1948 and are based in Herzogenaurach, Germany (with their USA headquarters is in Westford, MA). I find that strange because pumas are very much American cats, but I guess plenty of American companies use foreign animals in their branding.

Get Ready to Pounce

In addition to their eponymous brand, PUMA also owns Cobra Golf and Tretorn (a Swedish rubber tire company that used to make a lot of products for tennis and now is more boot focused). I actually don’t own anything from PUMA and I don’t play golf, but my Tretorn flip flops and boots are awesome. The best way for you to get familiar with PUMA is go to PUMA.com and start browsing their products. They go in a variety of directions with their “sport lifestyle” focus, but their two main product areas remain apparel and footwear. If you love the PUMA brand, then you need to check out PUMA’s Jobs page. It’s a bit difficult to browse through their listings (and their Entry Level Positions page is a dead end), but if you do you’ll see some great opportunities for new or recent grads including: Running Tech Rep (Atlanta, GA), Facilities Coordinator (Westford, MA), Accounts Receivable Representative – Cobra Puma Golf (Carlsbad, CA), Credit Analyst (Westford, MA), Credit Analyst (Carlsbad, CA), Assistant Developer Footwear – Lifestyle (Westford, MA), Junior Designer – Brand Marketing (Westford, MA), Junior Brand Strategist – Brand Communications (Westford, MA), and a number of other positions. So start stalking PUMA and see where it leads you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own anything from PUMA?

WhaleShark Media

Willy Franzen — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:54:41 +0000

You probably should have already purchased and given all your gifts for the holiday season, but if you haven’t, it’s a wonderful time to get deals. Retailers are eager to grab a few more dollars from all of the people returning ugly sweaters and books they’ll never read, so they’re offering deals. And if you’re looking for deals, you’ll likely end up on some WhaleShark Media properties. They’re an Austin, TX based company that runs “the world’s leading marketplace for coupons and deals.” Their sites include RetailMeNot.com (one of my favorites), Deals.com, CheapStingyBargains.com, CouponShare.com, and a lot of others. I’m not exactly sure what separates these sites from each other, but they seem to do really well in search rankings and that is why they reach more than 265 million visitors every year.

A Whale of a Deal

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not brand loyal to RetailMeNot.com, but whenever I search for coupon codes, it seems one of their pages pops up. I can’t tell you how much money I have saved by taking 15 seconds to search for a coupon code when I’m making a purchase. This behavior is getting more and more common, and that bodes well for WhaleShark Media’s business model. If you’d like to learn more about that model and see how a profitable coupon business is built, check out WhaleShark Media’s Jobs page. Right now there are a number of opportunities or new and recent grads including:

Part-time Business Intelligence Analyst
Associate Software Engineer
Merchandiser – Deals2Buy.com
Accounts Coordinator
UX Designer
Visual Designer

There are a number of other interesting looking positions, but they all require more experience, so take a look at these and see if any of them make sense.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use coupons?

IMMCO Diagnostics

Willy Franzen — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 13:43:16 +0000

Yesterday, I was watching a tv news segment on holiday etiquette, and a viewer e-mailed in a question about how to deal with throwing a party when nearly every guest has submitted “dietary restrictions.” The “expert” responded that the host should just serve what she wants to serve considering that none of her friends are likely at risk for starvation. My guess is that a lot of the guests don’t really have dietary restrictions but dietary preferences; however, there seems to be an increasing number of people whose health is significantly affected by eating certain things. A lot of these reactions are caused by autoimmune diseases, which are caused by “an overactive immune response of the body against substances and tissues normally present in the body.” I’m not sure if autoimmune diseases are becoming more prevalent or if they’re just getting more attention, but IMMCO Diagnostics based in Buffalo, NY has built its business on battling autoimmune diseases. They incorporate “innovative medical devices, diagnostic laboratory testing expertise and pioneering research for a comprehensive solution to autoimmune disease diagnostics.”

A Diagnosis for Your Job Search

One might think that IMMCO Diagnostics would be a relatively new company as the awareness surrounding autoimmune diseases has exploded, but they’ve actually been working in the field since 1971. I wish I could really dig into what they do, but autoimmune diagnostics comes with a lot of big words that I don’t understand. If your medical/scientific vocabulary is a bit bigger than mine, you may want to look over IMMCO Diagnostics’ Products to get a better feel for what they’re working on. If you want to work to help people overcome autoimmune diseases, check out IMMCO Diagnostics’ Jobs page. Right now they have two positions that may interest you: Research Associate/Technician and Marketing Assistant. Check them both out and see if they’re worth applying for.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about IMMCO Diagnostics?

AppSumo

Willy Franzen — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:05:26 +0000

Want to give AppSumo a try? Be sure to use this link to sign up.

I know that a lot of people are getting sick of daily deal sites, but I’m a huge Groupon fan (maybe because my fiancée works there); however, I must admit that the daily deal e-mail that I’m most excited for every day comes from AppSumo. They’re an Austin, TX based company that offers amazing bargains on software, online courses, and other tools that are extremely useful for entrepreneurs, web professionals, job seekers, and anyone who wants to use technology to a fuller extent. I’ve used AppSumo to buy things from Udemy (a PHP course), Tout (an e-mail management tool), StickerMule (awesome custom One Day One Job stickers), and a bunch of other cool companies. Each purchase has been valuable for building my business, and they’ve all come at unbelievably low prices.

Be a Sumo

AppSumo was founded by Noah Kagan just oner a year and a half ago. He’s a guy that I’ve had a chance to hang out with, and he’s super smart and extremely interesting. That’s why it’s no surprise that he’s built the company to more than half a million customers in that time. Unfortunately, you can’t get the AppSumo story for free on their website. Noah is a smart businessman, so he charges $79 for the behind the scenes story and charges $500 for an hour of one-on-one time (those are discounted prices). If I were you, I’d buy both of them and use them to try to land a job with AppSumo. They have a “For any reason anytime before you die” 100% money-back guarantee, so if you don’t get hired, you can totally get your money back. You can see all of AppSumo’s current and past openings on their Jobs page, so check that out. Right now they’re looking for a Python Developer and two Business Development Sumos, but they’ve had past jobs in Marketing, Design, Customer Support, Quality Assurance, Copywriting, and Taco Eating.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever bought something from AppSumo?

Captains of Industry

Willy Franzen — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:01:19 +0000

I went on a guided fishing trip this morning. The weather was pretty terrible, and the catching was nonexistent. As we were driving back to the hotel, the guide told us about a boat that recently sank and how the captain was the first one to abandon ship. That’s certainly not captain-like behavior, and it’s the opposite of what you’d expect from Captains of Industry, a Boston, MA based marketing and advertising agency that was started by an ad guy and a filmmaker. They excel at developing ” strategy-driven creative in all media – from websites to corporate videos to literature systems – that tells [their customers' stories] in unforgettable ways.”

Aye Aye Captain

Captains of Industry got its start as a freelance writing service in 1992, but it evolved into something much bigger when its founder started sharing office space with a filmmaker in 1996. They decided to work together and quickly began producing some pretty cool stuff. You can check out their latest work here. Their clients include Bose, First Wind, Akamai, Re/Max, and a bunch of other big names. If you want to get an even better feel for Captains of Industry, you should read their manifesto. You may also want to take note of some things that Captains are (we already know that they shouldn’t abandon ship):

/ Captains are storytellers

/ Captains take pride in our craft

/ Captains take ownership

/ Captains passionately want the client to succeed

/ Captains are driven to change the world

/ Captains never take themselves too seriously

/ Captains never quit

If you think that you have what it takes to be a Captain, then take a look at Captains of Industry’s Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for full-timers in Account Management and SEO and freelance Graphic Designers, Web Designers, Copywriters, Technical Writers, Illustrators, Producers, Web/Flash Programmers, and Art Directors. Additionally, you can also apply for future openings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Captains of Industry?

QuinStreet

Willy Franzen — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:03:36 +0000

In March of 2009 I got an e-mail that looked a lot like the spam you typically see when you’re a webmaster with a publicly listed e-mail address. When someone refers to my site as onedayonejob.com, it gives me the hint that the e-mail was probably automated and that I should send it to my Junk folder. But I was still intrigued by the following sentence: “I am reaching out to see if you will be interested in selling your site and would like to discuss potential acquisition opportunities with us,” so I followed up. Over the next few months I traded e-mails with a guy who works at QuinStreet about potentially selling the site, but we never even made it to the offer stage. The reason that the Foster City, CA based company was interested in One Day One Job is that they’re one of the leaders in vertical marketing and online media. They have tons of online properties, and they use them to market and generate leads for other businesses. They’ve been at it since 1999, so they’ve been around the block a time or two.

Take a Ride Down QuinStreet

QuinStreet’s main areas of focus are in Education and Financial Services (two extremely lucrative markets for lead generation), but they also work in Home Services, B2B, Medicine/Health, and Premium Brand Advertising. You won’t see QuinStreet promote their properties on their home page like some other online media companies do, and you won’t get too many details about what they actually do. Online lead generation is extremely competitive, so secrecy is really important. They do have a What We Do, but it’s extremely limited in its explanation of QuinStreet’s business (you’ll find a little more on their How We Do It page). If you really want to learn more about QuinStreet’s business, their Investor Relations site is probably the place to go. What might even give you a better sense of what they’re working is their Jobs page. By investigating the positions they’re hiring for, I’ll bet you’ll get even more insight into the business. You’ll also see some great opportunities for new or recent grads including:

Employee Benefits and Compliance Assistant
Client Strategy & Development Associate
Data Services Associate (Reno, NV)
Inside Sales Rep
Inside Sales Rep – Home Services (Portland, OR)
Jr. Java Developer
Jr. Vertical Manager (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Jr. Web Producer (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Marketing Analyst
PPC Media Associate
SEM/PPC Media Associate (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Media Associate
Media Associate – Home Services
PHP Developer
Vertical Manager – Online Marketing
Web Designer

If you’re interested in online marketing, QuinStreet would be a great place to learn, so give these positions a look and see what appeals to you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about QuinStreet?

OpticsPlanet

Willy Franzen — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:25:36 +0000

When I was a kid, I had eyes like a hawk. At my best I had 20/12 vision. Then in high school things started getting blurry, and I eventually had to get contact lenses. Luckily, humans have spent a ton of time and energy in developing technology that helps us see better. Whether you want to see something really small, far away, or in the dark, there’s optical equipment that can help you out. The thing is that microscopes, binoculars, night vision goggles, and even glasses aren’t something that you buy casually–you want to buy from someone who knows his or her stuff. OpticsPlanet is a Northbrook, IL based company that employs a whole bunch of those people. They are “one of the world’s leading online retailers of a wide selection of sport optics, tactical and military gear, scientific products, hunting gear, professional grade products and eyewear.” I get excited when I get a new contact lens prescription, so I bet getting to play with some of OptcisPlanet’s offerings would make me giddy.

Seeing Is Believing

When you end up on OpticsPlanet.com, it looks like a pretty generic e-commerce site. I would have never guessed that they generated $82.6 million last year, but thats’ what the numbers from the Inc. 5000 say. They’ve also been growing at a 113% rate over the past three-years, so they must be gaining a significant share in the optics market. I found a video on their About page that gives a pretty good intro to the company, so check it out below:

If you like what you see in the video and you also like the fact that OpticsPlanet was named one of “The Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces,” then you have to take a look at their Careers page. Right now they have some great opportunities for new or recent grads including:

User Interface Designer
Communications Designer
Content Project Manager
Junior Web Developer / JavaScript
Accounts Payable Specialist
Call Center Quality Assurance
Risk Management – Order Review Agent
Search Engine Optimization Specialist
Pay Per Click Marketing Specialist
Online Marketing Specialist
Copywriter
Vendor Services Account Coordinator

There are all kinds of opportunities at OpticsPlanet, so take a really close look and see if you like what you see.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What would you get from OpticsPlanet?

Hotel Tonight

Willy Franzen — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 18:03:26 +0000

Want to try Hotel Tonight? Use this link to get $25 off your first booking.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I either book hotel rooms way in advance or the day of. When I reserve a room in advance, I’m usually looking for more than just a place to sleep. Price is still important, but it’s not the most important thing. But when I need a room for tonight, I want a place that meets my minimum standards for the lowest price. As long as I can get a good night’s sleep without being bitten by bedbugs or woken up by a domestic dispute, I’m happy. It’s the latter situation that can be frustrating for bargain hunters. You know that the hotel is at 12% capacity, but they still won’t give you anything better than the AAA rate. As long as they can cover the cost of cleaning the room, they should be willing to take you. Hotel Tonight is a San Francisco, CA based company that is making it easy to get rooms for up to 70% off at the last-minute.

Job Today?

At least for now, Hotel Tonight is completely app based. You can’t even search for a hotel on their website. They want you to whip out your phone (Android or iPhone) when you need a room and book from there. Every day they launch new deals at noon local time, so that’s the best time to check the app (some stuff does sell out). I spent a little time playing around with the app, and the deals look good, but they’re not mind blowing. If you stay somewhere expensive you can save a few hundred bucks, but a more basic hotel room might only come with $10-$20 in savings. Still, Hotel Tonight will help you find a good deal with almost no hassle, and it provides a great yield management tool for hotel owners. If you’re interested in the intersection of technology and hospitality management, then take a look at Hotel Tonight’s Jobs page. Right now they have some great opportunities available including:

Take a look at the jobs. Hopefully one of them will be a good fit.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite hotel?

Urban Outfitters

Willy Franzen — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:28:02 +0000

I’m a strong believer in the theory of hipster relativity. If someone has more interesting facial hair than you, wears more plaid than you, or has thicker rimmed glasses than you, then he’s probably a hipster… at least to you. I’m pretty far up the chain (though I do have an affinity for plaid), which means that a whole lot of 20-somethings look like hipsters to me. The only thing I don’t get is where they get all of their cool hipster gear. I often walk by Urban Outfitters, and occasionally step inside. The store is packed with people and filled with what I consider to be hipster merchandise. This confuses me, because I know that no true hipster would shop somewhere so mainstream. I mean, Urban Outfitters, which is based in Philadelphia, PA, is publicly traded, has nearly 200 locations, and also owns Anthropologie, Free People, BHLDN, and Terrain. I guess the only loophole for a hipster shopping at Urban Outfitters is if you liked corporations before they were cool.

Get Urban Outfitted

Despite my sarcasm, I actually think that Urban Outfitters is an amazing company. They started as a single store in Philly in 1970, and they have grown the brand and the business to an amazing level. Urban Outfitters may be a corporation with a $4 billion market cap, but they offer a distinctly different feel from many other retailers in the fashion industry. I think the paragraph on Urban Outfitter’s About page really says its all:

Our established ability to understand our customers and connect with them on an emotional level. The reason for this success is that our brands — Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain and BHLDN — are both compelling and distinct. Each brand chooses a particular customer segment, and once chosen, sets out to create sustainable points of distinction with that segment. In the retail brands we design innovative stores that resonate with the target audience; offer an eclectic mix of merchandise in which hard and soft goods are cross merchandised; and construct unique product displays that incorporate found objects into creative selling vignettes. The emphasis is on creativity. Our goal is to offer a product assortment and an environment so compelling and distinctive that the customer feels an empathetic connection to the brand and is persuaded to buy.

If that sounds like a company that you want to be a part of, then check out Urban Outfitters Careers page. You’ll probably get overwhelmed if you look at all of their posted jobs (there are 100s of positions), so I recommend using some of the search criteria they offer to narrow down your search. For instance you can look at positions at their Home Office or in their Anthropologie Retail Stores. I’m not going to list all of the positions that make sense for new or recent grads, bot here are some that caught my eye:

This is just a small sampling of the jobs available at Urban Outfitters, so dig in and see what positions might be out there for you. Judging from that last posting, they must do some campus recruiting too–so that’s something to look into. Finally, Urban Outfiters has a Twitter account for job postings, so you may want to follow that.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a hipster?

Best Made Company

Willy Franzen — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:53:56 +0000

Last night as I was falling asleep, I kept thinking about chopping wood. It’s something that I really enjoy doing because it’s mentally relaxing, yet physically exhausting. Then I started thinking about these awesome axes that I saw on Gilt Groupe and how I wish I had bought one, but I realized that the fact that I live in downtown Chicago means that I’d be more likely to use the ax for home defense than for chopping wood. This morning I decided to look those axes up, and I ended up on the Best Made Company site. They’re a New York, NY based company that “is dedicated to equipping customers with quality tools and dependable information that they can use and pass down for generations.”

Tools to Empower & Inspire

The best way that I’ve come up with to describe Best Made Company is as a curator. They don’t appear to actually do the manufacturing, but they find amazing vendors and either buy from them or partner with them for a custom run of products. Their current collection includes steel cups, hunting knives, first aid kits, books, maps, and all kinds of other stuff that I want in addition to their unbelievably awesome collection of axes. If you’re loving Best Made Company’s stuff as much as I am, then you should take a look at their Jobs page. Its name is a bit deceptive in that it only includes internships (unpaid and in Workshop, Projects, and Community), but I think it’s worth reaching out to Best Made Company and inquiring about full-time positions. You may also want to read up on their Outposts, as they have a team of “Guides” who report back on topics like Urban Expeditions, River Rafting, Fly Fishing, Field Photography, Cycle Touring, Wandering, Food & Foraging, Urban Homesteading, Cartography, and Aviation.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you bought anything from Best Made Company?

Gorilla

Willy Franzen — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:09:04 +0000

Imagine that it’s 1994 and you’ve just started a CD-ROM production company. You’re doing really well because of all of the excitement about a storage medium that hold 600 times more data than the floppy disk. How much courage would it take to abandon what you were doing and start working on something new? Probably more than I have, but that’s exactly what Gorilla did. The Chicago, IL based company saw what was happening on the web and decided to jump in. Today Gorilla is a “web design, development and marketing firm” that focuses on e-commerce. They’re “striving to be the go-to ecommerce agency for mid-size businesses,” and they’re well on their way with clients including Bonobos, INC., Sub-Zero/Wolf, and lots of other big names.

A Smarter Species of E-Commerce

I’m most familiar with Gorilla’s work on Bonobos’ recently relaunched site. It’s fantastic, though it did have a bit of a hiccup due to yesterdays Cyber Monday sales. It offers an excellent user experience, and it definitely makes me want to buy more stuff. If you want to take a look at some of Gorilla’s other work, you should probably delve into their Case Studies. You’ll also want to look over Gorilla’s Services, as they offer a ton of solutions in Design, Development, and Strategy. If you’re impressed by their work and think that you could add value in some of the areas that they work in, then you should check out Gorilla’s Jobs page. Right now they have a few positions that you should check out including Business Analyst, Front-End Web Developer, and PHP Developer. If none of those positions seem suitable for you, you can also reach out to them at careers@gorillachicago.com to see if there are any other opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Gorilla?

O’Reilly Media

Willy Franzen — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:26:08 +0000

Is it just me or are Black Friday and Cyber Monday pretty much the same these days? Online retailers have big Black Friday sales and brick and mortar brands are offering tons of Cyber Monday deals online. Still, I figured it was worth browsing Cyber Monday deals to see if I could find some cool job opportunities. I lucked out as a deal for 60% off e-books from O’Reilly Media popped up in my Twitter feed almost immediately. This deal is doubly relevant for job seekers because in addition to having some cool jobs, O’Reilly Media is a Sebastopol, CA based company that “spreads the knowledge of innovators through its books, online services, magazines, research, and conferences.” In other words, they provide educational tools that can make you far more employable.

Oh, Really?

While I’ve never owned an O’Reilly book or attended one of their conferences, I know that they have an amazing reputation in the innovation community. O’Reilly Media was started by Tim O’Reilly in 1978 as “a technical writing and consulting company,” but in 1984 they started “retaining rights to manuals” they created and began offering them to the public. The business continued to grow, and now they’re at the point where they’re covering nearly everything important that relates to the web and technology in one way or another. You could spend hours just trying to figure out all of the topics the they cover, and I strongly recommend that you do that if you’re considering a job with O’Reilly Media. Right now they have a couple of positions that look like they might interest new or recent grads including Publishing Technology Engineer, Web Producer, and Sales & Marketing Coordinator. They also take on people for freelance work, so that may be another way to get your foot in the door.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own any books published by O’Reilly Media?

Proper Cloth

Willy Franzen — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:18:54 +0000

Want to try Proper Cloth? Use this link to get $25 off your first shirt. It’d probably help to have a shirt that fits when you’re interviewing.

I’m a big guy at 6’3. I typically enjoy the benefits of being tall, but there are disadvantages like having to knee myself in the face on airplanes and not being able to hear a single word that anyone under 5’8 says in a loud room. I’m not so tall that I need to shop at specialty stores for clothes, but I’m just at the point where clothes off the rack don’t fit all that well. I fixed my pants problem with Bonobos, but I have a ton of shirts (button downs, t-shirts, sweaters, and more) that fit beautifully until I start actually moving around–then they somehow bare my midriff like I’m a teenage girl. Nobody needs to see that, which is why I should probably start buying custom shirts from a place like Proper Cloth. They’re a New York, NY based company that makes it “super easy to buy stylish, quality dress shirts that fit.” I haven’t tried them yet, but it’s probably about time that I go custom.

Get a Proper Job

Proper Cloth has been around since 2008, but it seems that they’ve recently become more serious about growth. Maybe it’s because GQ named them “our new favorite online shirt maker.” Or maybe it’s because of their Perfect Fit Guarantee. They work with you to get the exact fit you want on your first shirt. After that they save your measurements so that all other shirts fit just as well. You really should read up on the guarantee, because it’s core to the business. Then you should take a look at Proper Cloth’s shirt designs to get a better sense of what they offer. But don’t be dismayed if you don’t like anything that they have to offer, as Proper Cloth allows you to design your own shirt. I wonder if they’ll let you design your own job? I don’t have any answers on that right now, but I did find their job postings on Startuply. Right now they’re looking for a User Interface Designer/Graphic Artist, a Customer Service and Operations Lead, and an Analytical Marketing Engineer. All of the positions look well suited to a new college grad, so check them out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you bought any shirts from Proper Cloth?

BookRenter.com

Willy Franzen — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 17:38:14 +0000

We’ll be wrapping up our survey soon, so speak now and help shape the future of ODOJ.

I’m convinced that textbook publishers are just really expensive money launderers. You spend an outrageous amount of money on some book that you probably won’t even open, and at the end of the semester you sell it back for 15% of what you paid for it. Your money is clean and you’re slightly more educated, yet there’s this sinking feeling that you’ve been had. Academic publishers have built monopolies title by title, and they’ve reaped the rewards for decades. It’s finally coming to an end. There are now open-source publishers like Flat World Knowledge and textbook rental services like Chegg and BookRenter.com that are digging into the publishers’ profits. Today we’re going to focus on San Mateo, CA based BookRenter.com which was founded in 2006 “to make education more affordable for everyone.” From what I can tell, they were the first textbook rental service, and they’ve been growing big time since they launched.

The End of Rent Seeking

You could make a pretty strong argument that textbook publishers are just rent seekers. They use their connections to professors to charge above market prices. Oddly enough, it’s the rental business that might just put an end to their monopoly power; though, I do wonder whether a move to digital publishing will tip the scales back towards the publishers. Anyway, BookRenter.com has built a remarkable business by making a capital investment in tons of textbooks and building out the logistics to get the books quickly to and from students. Now BookRenter.com just needs to get more and more students to try renting. That should be easy considering that they can easily save an average student more than $500 a year. If you’re liking what BookRenter.com is all about, then take a look at their Jobs page. They have a ton of open positions including:

There are all kinds of great options at BookRenter.com, so join their team and help put textbook publishers in their place.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your worst college textbook horror story?

BeachMint

Willy Franzen — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 16:37:43 +0000

So far our survey says that you find the job search frustrating. Tell us more so that we can help.

Back in June we told you about Birchbox, a company that offers a subscription to customized beauty product samples for $10 a month. It’s an interesting model, and it seems to be working out extremely well for them. BeachMint is a “social commerce” startup with a similar subscription model, but a very different approach. They’re a Santa Monica, CA based company with four brands: JewelMint.com, BeautyMint.com, StyleMint.com, and ShoeMint.com. I think you can guess what each offers a subscription to. When you sign up they give you a quiz to get a sense of what you like and what you don’t like, and then they start making new recommendations for you every month. It’s a little weird in that it’s structured like a subscription, but you don’t have to buy every month (but it sounds like it’s more of a monthly opt-out than opt-in). I kind of wish they stayed true to their name and would send me to a different beach every month.

Making a Mint

BeachMint is still a very young company, but they’ve raised a ton of money (nearly $40 million) and had some great early successes (apparently BeautyMint got 500,000 visitors in its first day). A big part of BeachMint’s strategy and a likely reason for their rapid growth is that they’ve aligned with some big name celebrities like Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Jessica Simpson, Rachel Bilson, and Kate Bosworth. I’m sure they had to spend a lot of their funding on getting those names to sign, but it seems to be paying off with huge growth now. I’ll admit that I find BeachMint’s model a little confusing, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping people from signing up.

If you’re intrigued by what BeachMint is doing, then you should take a look at their Jobs page. There are a ton of jobs posted though most of them are either tech (Web/Software/Mobile Development) or Mint Brand Ambassador Manager / Independent Sales and Promotions Coordinator positions. The latter are available all across the country, and seem to be heavily commission based. The job best suited for our readership is probably the Merchandising / Design Assistant, which unfortunately is only part-time right now. Additionally, there’s the option to apply for future opportunities, and I also found a Customer Care Associate position and an Executive Assistant/Office Manager position on Startuply. I also found a Content Department Coordinator posting from a couple of months ago. It seems that BeachMint might be a bit disjointed in posting jobs, so don’t be afraid to apply for future opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried any of BeachMint’s offerings?

Time Out

Willy Franzen — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:15:42 +0000

We want to do even more to help you land a job. Take our survey and let us know how we can better serve you as we start our fifth year.

One of my favorite things about living in Chicago is the restaurants. There are so many great places to eat, and there are new ones opening constantly. It’s a lot of fun, but it can be overwhelming if you try to keep up with it. That’s why I rely on Time Out Chicago to keep me up to date with what’s going on in Chi-town, whether it’s restaurant openings, cultural events, or things to do. I guess I’m lucky that Time Out chose to cover Chicago, considering that the London, UK based publishing company typically focuses on major international destinations like Bangkok, Barcelona, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo, and Venice for their guides and magazines. As far as I can tell, Boston, MA; Chicago, IL, and New York, NY are the only U.S. cities to get weekly magazines, though a few other like Las Vegas and San Francisco do get their own travel guides. I must say that Time Out’s online presence is quite disjointed, so there’s a chance that there are locations in the U.S. where they might be hiring and I just missed them.

Take a Time Out from Your Job Search

It seems as though the U.S. based Time Outs operate somewhat independently from the parent company. You’ll probably want to bounce around TimeOut.com, NewYork.TimeOut.com, TimeOutChicago.com, and TimeOutBoston.com to get a sense of all of the different sub-brands. You may also want to take a look at Time Out’s Wikipedia entry to get a fuller sense of the business. But really you should focus on digging into Time Out’s content (a lot of which they publish online) and getting a feel for how they cover different locales. Then you’ll want to read up on the specific Time Out that catches your interest and take a look at their jobs (all of the Time Outs seem to hire independently from each other). In the Worldwide office based in London they have a few job openings and also offer what they call work experience. You can use the links below to find the Jobs pages for Boston, Chicago, and New York, and you’ll see that they have a number of interesting opportunities including:

SEO Master (New York, NY)
Copy Editor (New York, NY)
Ad Operations Specialist (New York, NY)
PHP Symfony Web Application Developer (New York, NY)
Account Manager (Chicago, IL)

They’re also big on internships, so if you want to get a position on the editorial side it would probably benefit you to start as an intern. (I have a friend who did exactly that at Time Out Chicago). Here’s a list of all of the internships that they offer:

Photo Intern (Boston, MA)
Editorial Intern Intern (Boston, MA)
Art & Design Intern (Chicago, IL)
Editorial Intern (Chicago, IL)
Online Photography Intern (Chicago, IL)
Online Production Intern (Chicago, IL)
Photography Intern (Chicago, IL)
Web Intern (Chicago, IL)
Admin/Human Resources Intern (New York, NY)
Advertising Intern (New York, NY)
Art – Magazine Design Intern (New York, NY)
Audience Development Intern (New York, NY)
Editorial Intern (New York, NY)
Editorial – Visual Arts Intern (New York, NY)
Editorial – Food & Drink Intern (New York, NY)
Public Relations Intern (New York, NY)
Editorial – Music Intern (New York, NY)
Editorial – Online Intern (New York, NY)
Editorial – Shopping & Style Intern (New York, NY)
Marketing & Events Intern (New York, NY)
Online Production Intern (New York, NY)
Photo Intern (New York, NY)
Editorial – Film Intern (New York, NY)
Special Projects Intern (New York, NY)
TONY Kids Intern (New York, NY)
TONY Kids Photo Intern (New York, NY)

They’re all unpaid, but they could be a good way to get a foot in the door.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own any Time Out guides or subscribe to any of their magazines?

Brunner

Willy Franzen — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:42:55 +0000

We want to do even more to help you land a job. Take our survey and let us know how we can better serve you as we start our fifth year.

Every day within a few minutes of when I press send to deliver our daily e-mails, I get at least a few out of office replies. The names start to become familiar, as it’s often the same people–most of them work in career services. Lately, I’ve been noticing out of office replies from someone with a brunnerworks.com e-mail address. I didn’t make much of it until I went through some results from our survey and noticed someone recommended Brunner as a company that we should feature. I took a look at the Pittsburgh, PA and Atlanta, GA advertising agency and quickly agreed. Brunner’s tagline is “Ideas for a Smarter, Faster World,” and they seem to be living up to that with a Top 75 ranking among U.S. based ad agencies.

It’s Funner at Brunner

Brunner does work in a variety of areas including Insight and Startegy, Creative, Digital, Communications Planning, Media Planning and Buying, Mobile, Public Relations, Social Media, Shopper Marketing, One-to-One, and Measurement and Analytics. And they do it for big names like Heinz, Bob Evans, GNC, GlaxoSmithKline, Zippo, and Huffy. You can take a look at their work to get a better sense of their approaches to different kinds of campaigns. I really like the print campaign they did for Case Knives, but I’m sure you’ll have your own favorite. Brunner also has a great People section on their website, so you can get to know more about some of the folks behind the work.

If you’re digging what Brunner is all about, then you’ll want to take a look at their Careers page. They currently have a few opportunities that could be suitable for new or recent grads including Interactive Designer, Interactive Media Planner/Buyer, and User Experience Designer in Pittsburgh. There’s also an Interactive Media Planner/Buyer position in Atlanta. Additionally, Brunner encourages job seekers to apply to future openings or to apply for freelance work. There’s also an internship program and a Career contact on their Contact page, so you have a number of options if you’re trying to get in at Brunner.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Brunner?