One Day, One Job » Missouri

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?

Mothers Against Drunk Driving

Willy Franzen — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 14:24:10 +0000

New Year’s Eve is a wonderful holiday for celebrating a great year past and the prospects of a great future. It’s a time that we spend with family and friends and think about how we can better ourselves. Yet for many alcohol plays a prominent role in the celebration, and the new year begins with a hangover. That’s not my style, but you’re free to have a great night however you want. Just make sure that your alcohol use doesn’t negatively affect anyone else. Most importantly, that means don’t drink and drive. That’s the message that Mothers Against Drunk Driving has been spreading since it was founded in 1980 by Candy Lightner “after her daughter, Cari, was killed by a repeat drunk driving offender.” Three decades later MADD, which has national offices in Irving, TX and Washington, DC and chapters all across the country, has made a lot of progress fighting drunk driving, but there’s a long way to go considering that there is an injury from an alcohol-related crash every minute.

Get MADD

MADD is best known for it’s work to stop drunk driving, but they also do a lot of work to prevent underage drinking and to provide victim services. The organization played an extremely prominent role in pushing for the .08 BAC limit in the U.S., and now they’re setting their sights on legislation that requires convicted drunk drivers to “blow before they go” by installing in car breathalyzers. Some criticize MADD for fudging their statistics and being part of the “alcohol prohibition lobby,” but they’re really just about saving lives. For 2012 their goal is to get U.S. drunk driving fatalities under 10,000. It’s hard to argue with that. If you like what MADD is doing, take a look at their Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for:

Court Monitoring Project Specialist (Chicago, IL)
Court Monitoring Project Specialist (St. Louis, MO)
Program Coordinator (San Diego, CA)
Program Coordinator (Los Angeles, CA)

All of these jobs require some prior experience, but they’re still worth checking out. Have a happy and safe new year!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Drive safely!

National Christmas Tree Association

Willy Franzen — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 14:29:34 +0000

It’s Christmas Eve! This was the first year that I’ve had a Christmas tree in my apartment in Chicago. Unfortunately, it isn’t a real tree. It isn’t even a decent fake tree. It’s a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. That’s a far cry from the Christmas trees that my family cuts down every year. There’s nothing better than a real tree–it looks great, smells great, and gets needles everywhere. I feel that everybody should have a real Christmas tree (even if they don’t celebrate Christmas), and so does the National Christmas Tree Association in Chesterfield, MO. They are a lobbying organization that “strives to be one voice representing Christmas Tree Professionals and promoting the use of Real Christmas Trees.” They have more than 5,000 members, and they’re constantly working to protect the interest of Christmas tree farmers by promoting the industry, lobbying the Federal government, and enabling knowledge sharing. It’s unclear whether they have any job opportunities, but you can Contact them if you’re truly interested. You may also want to look at our past Christmas Eve posts on The Elf on the Shelf, Caribou Coffee, and NORAD

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What kind of Christmas tree do you have?

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

Willy Franzen — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:01:25 +0000

Columbus Day isn’t much of a holiday anymore–it’s become yet another regular work and school day for many. It makes sense considering Christopher Columbus wasn’t really the guy that my 1st grade teacher taught me that he was. Still, I’m amazed by the feats of guys like Columbus (which is why I’ve written about Garmin and Facet Technology on past Columbus Days). Getting in a boat with an uncertain route to a far away destination still seems crazy to me, and these guys did it in a time when navigation equipment was quite basic. Their minds would be blown if they knew what kind of information the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (formerly the National Imagery and Mapping Agency) has. The agency is headquartered in Springfield, VA and has major facilities in St. Louis, MO (I learned about them from one of my awesome interns whose boyfriend works for the NGA). They are part of the Department of Defense, and they are tasked with providing “timely, relevant, and accurate geospatial intelligence in support of national security.”

Do You Have Geospatial Intelligence?

If you want an example of what the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency does, you’re not going to get a full answer because a lot of what they do is classified. However, they have been identified as playing a “critical role” in Operation Neptune’s Spear, which was the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. The agency’s employees operate in a number of areas including aeronautical analysis, cartography, geospatial analysis, imagery analysis, marine analysis, the physical sciences, geodesy, computer and telecommunication engineering, photogrammetry, and more. The NGA website is ok, but I highly recommend that you check out Wikipedia’s entry on the agency for a really good overview of the organization’s history and what it does.

If you like what you read, then you’ll want to take a look at the NGA’s Careers page. (Remember that we’re dealing with the federal government, so this isn’t going to be simple.) First, you’ll probably want to visit the Occupations page, where you’ll see that the NGA offers the following positions:

Accountants
Aeronautical Analyst
Bathymetrist
Contract Specialist
Counterintelligence Officers
Enterprise Account Managers
Geodetic Surveyors
Geospatial Data Stewards
Geospatial Intelligence Analysts
HD Consultants
Imagery Scientists
Imagery Intelligence Analysts
Information Assurance Officers
Maritime Analysts
Open Source Analysts
Police Officers
Political Geographers
Program Management Execution Officers
Project Scientists
Recruiters
Regional Geographers
Regional Source Analysts
Scientific and Technial Program Managers
Source Strategies Analysts
Systems Engineers

You won’t see most of these positions in the NGA’s Current Opportunities, so you may be better off meeting them at one of their On-Campus Recruiting Events or by reaching out to them at recruitment@nga.mil. You may also want to read through the NGA’s Recruitment FAQs and looking at their Application Process. It’s all complicated, but that’s to be expected with one of our country’s intelligence agencies.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you amazed by what the NGA does?

Russell Stover

Willy Franzen — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 11:15:58 +0000

I always like to tie in holidays to the companies that I feature, so when Easter comes around I usually go looking for candy companies. Last year I actually found a candy related non-profit in PMCA, but in previous years I’ve featured Jelly Belly and Just Born Quality Confections (Peeps!) on Good Friday. I’ve also used other holidays like Halloween and Valentine’s Day to look at even more candy companies including Mars, The Hershey Company, NECCO, Charles Chocolates, and Vosges. I guess you can tell that I have a sweet tooth. This year we’re going to take a look at Russell Stover, a Kansas City, MO based confectioner that also owns Whitman’s and Pangburn’s. They’re the nation’s third largest chocolate manufacturer behind Hershey’s and Mars, and they’re the leader when it comes to boxed chocolates.

Are You Sweet on These Jobs?

I have to admit that Russell Stover doesn’t always do it for me at Easter time. Their chocolate bunnies are pretty good, but I feel like I’m too old to be chomping on a chocolate bunny these days. I much prefer marshmallow and peanut butter eggs, and I think Hershey’s and Reese’s have Stover beat on the respective products. There must be a lot of people who disagree with me though, because Russell Stover candies seem to get a ton of shelf space. If you’re one of them, then maybe you’ll want to consider a career at Russell Stover. Their Jobs page offers some information, but it oddly doesn’t provide a listing of jobs. They do, however, invite interested applicants to apply to jobs@rstover.com. If you’d prefer to actually have a job to apply to, you can use our Indeed search function to get a better read on Russell Stover’s current job offerings. They’re a pretty big company, so there should be a relatively wide range of opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you enjoy Russell Stover candies?

Shecky’s

Willy Franzen — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 16:30:35 +0000

I like writing about companies that I find interesting, which isn’t hard because I have very broad interests. However, I occasionally come across a company that I know is interesting, but it just doesn’t resonate with me. That’s definitely the case with Shecky’s. They’re a New York, NY based company that makes it their “mission to create social experiences that empower and reward women to discover and socialize with their girlfriends.” I think you can understand why that doesn’t resonate with me, but you’ll impressed to learn that Shecky’s was actually founded in 1998 by a Wall Street executive named Chris Hoffman. Despite the potentially ambiguous first name, Chris is a man who is apparently very in touch with “what women want.” He started by publishing the 1st Shecky’s Bar, Club & Lounge Guide in 1998, and then moved on to hosting hosts the “1st Girls Night Out” in New York City in 2001. In 2002 Chris found Claudia Chan and made her president after merging her company into Shecky’s. The business has continued to grow with a focus on improving the interactions that women have with their girlfriends, and I’m sure having a woman at the helm who understands the market better than any man ever could is a big reason for that.

Who’s Shecky?

One of the biggest pieces of the Shecky’s business is Girls Night Out. They hold these events in cities across the country, and they provide an opportunity for women to “discover unique designers, sip our delectable drinks, and cap your night with some pretty pampering and glorious Goodie Bags.” It appears that Shecky’s has finally moved away from the guidebook business, and has instead decided to put far more focus on their digital properties. I’ll bet that is turning out to be a really smart move. With the events and the website, Shecky’s is a marketer’s dream. It should be no surprise that advertising and sponsorships are big parts of Shecky’s business. If Shecky’s resonates with you and you know the importance of having a strong group of girlfriends, then take a look at jobs at Shecky’s. Right now they’re looking for a Sales Account Executive and a Customer Service Rep. Additionally, they often hire freelancers for their events in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Hamptons, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Washington, DC. These positions include Photography, Event Staff, Writing/Reporting, and Administrative Assistant opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you familiar with Shecky’s?

Saint Louis Zoo

Willy Franzen — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 14:32:35 +0000

I’m in St. Louis for the weekend, mostly to watch my girlfriend’s little sister’s volleyball tournament, but I’m looking for other cool things to do since it’s my first time here. Yesterday I got to visit the Saint Louis Zoo, which is fantastic. (And I promise I didn’t act like this kid.) I got to see monkeys, giraffes, zebras, lions, penguins, gorillas, elephants, somali wild asses, and a whole range of other animals that I’d never even heard of before. I even got to see the mountain nyala that makes an appearance in the zoo’s logo. I was really impressed with the Saint Louis Zoo—it has a wonderful layout and an amazing collection of animals. The best part, though, was that we got to see feeding time for the grizzly bears. It may sound barbaric, but it was nothing of the sort. We watched as two of the laziest bears that I’ve ever seen would catch oranges in their mouths and then suck out the meat while leaving behind the rind. What made the experience even better was that it was free. Saint Louis Zoo is a “free zoo,” so all you have to pay for is parking.

Don’t Be a Somali Wild Ass

The Saint Louis Zoo got its start with the 1904 World’s Fair, but wasn’t officially started until 1910 that the Zoological Society of St. Louis was established. They eventually chose a site and started acquiring animals. It’s been a huge success, and I think that the Saint Louis Zoo is certainly achieving its mission to “conserve animals and their habitats through animal management, research, recreation, and educational programs that encourage the support and enrich the experience of the public.” You can learn a ton about the zoo by reading up on its history, so do that and then take a look at their Jobs page. They have a number of seasonal positions opening up for spring and summer, along with some great full-time positions. You’ll want to take an especially close look at the following jobs: Membership Assistant, Horticulture Gardener, Keeper – Children’s Zoo, Keeper- Great Apes, Keeper – Invertebrates, and Keeper – Sea Lion Show. It’s a great zoo, so if you don’t apply for a job, at least give it a visit.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you visited the Saint Louis Zoo?

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?

Build-A-Bear Workshop

Willy Franzen — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 16:44:06 +0000

Today the Fortune 100 Best Companies To Work For list came out. I’m not a huge fan of these lists, because they seem to be mostly driven by PR prowess. Still, they can be great tools to learn about new companies, which is why I’ve been running through the list to see which companies might appeal most to college students and grads. One that stood out right away was Build-A-Bear Workshop, which came in at #48 on the list. I’ve never built a bear, but I’ve walked by enough of their packed-with-kids stores to understand the brilliance of their business—they turn buying a stuffed animal into an activity. The company is headquartered in St. Louis, MO with stores across the country and a distribution center in Columbus, OH. Now, Build-A-Bear Workshop is really big on bear puns, so if you can’t deal with that, you better stop reading now.

Where Bearish Is a Good Thing

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Build-A-Bear Workshop, they’re a company that aims “to bring the Teddy Bear to life.” They do this by giving you the raw materials to build a stuffed animal that suits your personality. To start, you can choose from “30 varieties of stuffed animals including teddy bears, bunnies, dogs, kitties and more.” Then you can choose what sounds your animal makes, how “stuffed” you want him or her to be, what clothes your animal wears, and what his or her name will be. I’m not exactly sure how many different combinations there are, but they’re essentially infinite—just like the bear puns. Jobs are “op-bear-tunities,” employees “reach fur the stars,” and when employees work together they “collaBEARate.” If you dig the business and the puns, then head over to Build-A-Bear Workshop’s Careers page—you’ll see sections for jobs in Retail, Distribution, and at the World Bearquarters. While the first two offer great options, we’re going to focus on the latter.

Unfortunately, Build-A-Bear Workshop uses a dropdown menu to display their job postings, so it’s kind of a pain to browse through them all. There’s also no way to link directly to the job postings, and the site is actually a bit light in terms of posted jobs right now, but they typically offer opportunities in the following areas: Accounting/Finance, Administrative, Call Center, Creative/Graphic Design, Facilities Management, Human Resources, International, Information Technology, Legal, Logistics, Merchandise Planning/Allocation, Marketing, Product Development, Public Relations, Purchasing, Store Operations, Strategic Planning, and Web / Interactive. Still, there area few postings that seem suitable for new or recent grads including First Impressions Bear/HR Assistant (Receptionist) – Human Resources, International Product Planning Bear – International, and Usability Anabearlyst (Analyst) – Web / Interactive. Build-A-Bear Workshop also allows you to apply for unlisted positions, so you have no excuse not to bear down and send in an application.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own a Build-A-Bear?

Dachis Group

Willy Franzen — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:52:18 +0000

Do you know what I hated most about college? Group projects. Even if I had a good group (and I usually had at least one slacker and one know it all), getting everyone together and communicating about who was doing what over the course of the project was a pain in the butt. Technology has come a long way in the five years since I graduated college, but I’m sure that group projects are still a pain. Now, imagine doing it in a corporate environment on a daily basis with some outdated technology platform that you’re required to use. There is some really cool stuff happening at the nexus of work, technology, and relationships, but most companies are missing out on the potential gains. Dachis Group is a company headquartered in Austin, TX that helps “businesses to create and capture value from emerging trends in technology, society and the workplace.” They do “social business design,” and they do it well.

It’s About Connections

Business is all about connections, whether it’s with your clients, co-workers, or strategic partners. Dachis Group “helps companies reinvent themselves into dynamic, socially calibrated organizations that gain constant value from their ecosystem of connections.” They seem to take a similar approach that of many management consulting firms, but Dachis Group’s focus is very specific. They work with names like ESPN, Coca-Cola, Foursquare, Intel, Sprint, and Yum! Brands. The idea of social business design is probably a new one for you, so you should definitely spend some time on the Dachis Group website looking at their Approach, Practice Areas, and Results. It’s pretty cutting edge stuff, so don’t worry if you don’t fully grasp it right away—I don’t fully get it yet. Anyway, if you’re intrigued by what Dachis Group is doing, you should check out their Jobs at Dachis Group“>Careers page. They don’t have much that is explicitly entry level (and their Jobs site is annoying to use), but positions like Social Business Consultant, Contract Designer (Indianapolis, IN/Portland, OR/St. Louis, MO), Interactive UI Engineer (London, UK), and Informational Designer (Portland, OR) are all worth at least looking at. The Social Business Consultant/Analyst position in Sydney, Australia actually looks like the best fit, but it’s, unfortunately, half a world away.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about social business design?

Environment America

Willy Franzen — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 16:44:36 +0000

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Now, I’m not one to worry much about Global Warming, especially when I’m enjoying a snap of 60-plus degree weather in Chicago in mid-November, but that doesn’t mean I’m not concerned about the environment. There’s no doubt that our way of life has numerous negative impacts on the natural world around us, and we’re not doing enough to minimize those impacts. Environment America is a nationwide, non-profit “federation of state-based, citizen-funded environmental advocacy organizations” that is headquartered in Washington, DC. Their strategy is focused on combining “independent research, practical ideas and tough-minded advocacy to overcome the opposition of powerful special interests and win real results for the environment.” (Yes, they’re another special interest that is fighting special interests.) They’ve been around for 30 years, and I’m sure that they’re going to keep on going as long as mankind is harming the environment.

Try a New Environment

While much of Environment America’s work is focused at the state level, some of of the broader initiatives that they’re currently working on are Repower America (Green Energy), Stopping Global Warming, Our Rivers, Lakes & Streams, and Stop Toxic Pollution. As you can see, Environment America spreads their work across a lot of issues, which means that they have a ton of different job opportunities. You can find the full rundown here. For students and recent grads, their Fellowship Program is probably the best fit (and I believe potential locations include Mobile, AL; Little Rock and Fayetville, AR; Phoenix, AZ; Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco and Santa Barbara, CA; Denver, CO; Hartford, CT; Washington, DC; Miami and Tallahassee, FL; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; Des Moines, IA; New Orleans, LA; Portland, ME; Baltimore, MD; Boston, MA; Ann Arbor, MI; Minneapolis, MN; St. Louis, MO; Gulfport, MS; Missoula, MT; Las Vegas, NV; Concord, NH; Trenton, NJ; Albuquerque, NM; Albany and New York, NY; Raleigh, NC; Columbus, OH; Portland, OR; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, PA; Providence, RI; Austin, TX; Richmond, VA; Seattle, WA; and Madison, WI), but you may also want to check out positions like Communication and Development – Grants Associate (Los Angeles, CA), Financial Assistant (Washington, DC), Executive Assistant (Boston, MA or Washington, DC), Communications Associate (Boston, MA or Philadelphia, PA), Web Associate (Boston, MA), and Online Organizing Software Developer (Denver, CO). There are all kinds of options, so give everything a good look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What environmental issues are you most concerned with?

Nestle Purina

Willy Franzen — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 18:37:26 +0000

This is a sponsored post for Nestle Purina.

Who else thinks there aren’t enough pets in college? I understand that college students are often stressed, busy, and living in places where animals aren’t permitted, but I’d like to see more pets on campus. My roommates and I had a cat, a bird, a hamster, and an occasionally visiting dog—all of which our landlord didn’t quite know about. We knew we weren’t supposed to have them, but the excitement that the animals constantly brought to the house made it well worth the risk of a $500 fine. I know a few people who decided to get a cat or dog after graduating from college, but most held back because they didn’t know if their work schedule would allow them to give their pets the care that they would need. This isn’t a problem at Nestle Purina, a St. Louis, MO based company (with dozens of other locations) that is a “leader in the pet products industry.” Not only do they offer a pet-friendly workplace, but they also offer a work environment where you’ll be “dedicated to improving the lives of cats and dogs through quality nutrition and care.” You’re probably familiar with a number of Nestle Purina’s brands including Pro Plan, Purina ONE, Dog Chow, Fancy Feast, Friskies, Beggin’ Strips and many more—and I hope your pets are too.

Calling All Animal Lovers

If you’re wondering why there’s a Nestle in front of the Purina name, it’s because of a merger in 2001—they’re not making chocolate flavored dog food. Along with the Purina name, they’ve also held on to the company’s iconic checkerboard logo that you see above. What I like most about Nestle Purina is their commitment to recruiting top talent. For many companies a Jobs page is an afterthought, but Nestle Purina has an entire careers site at NestlePurinaCareers.com. The site provides extremely detailed information on their career opportunities and what it’s like to work for them, so you don’t have to wonder whether it makes sense for you to apply or not. The site include information on Locations, Culture & Benefits, Departments, Company History, and more, but the most important thing for you is their Step One Management Trainee Program. It’s an 18-24 month program that offers opportunities in Engineering (mechanical, industrial, chemical, and more), Food Science, Microbiology, Supply Chain, Occupational/Safety/Health, Packaging Engineering, Packaging Design, Engineering Technology, Human Resources, Information Systems, Computer Science, and Accounting. They even have podcasts that go into great depth about many of these opportunities, and you can also check out their Choosing Your Career Path page and their walk-through of the hiring process.

The Nestle Purina Management Trainee Program is offered in three locations: Jefferson, WI; Davenport, IA; and Bloomfield, MO. Once you’ve completed the program you can expect to relocate to any of Nestlé Purina’s 21 plant locations in the United States. As you can see, Nestle Purina pays a lot of attention to their college recruiting, which is why they were “named by Experience.com and Yahoo!HotJobs as one of the Best Places to Work for Recent Grads in 2010.” They’ve put together some great opportunities for when you graduate, so check them out and Apply for the Nestle Purina Management Trainee Program →.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have any questions about Nestle Purina? Ask them here and we’ll do our best to get you an answer.

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?

AEG

Willy Franzen — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 14:54:32 +0000

I swear that half of all college grads want to work in sports and entertainment. Unfortunately most of the job postings you’ll find in those industries are actually scam jobs. Getting a position at a legitimate sports and entertainment company is not easy, but with AEG you have a shot. They call themselves “one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world,” and although that sounds broad, it’s a good description. AEG operates in a number of business areas including Facilities, Sports (Teams and Events), Music (Events), and Merchandising. They own/control arenas like the STAPLES Center, Conseco Fieldhouse, and the Prudential Center, while also owning professional sports teams like the LA Kings and Los Angeles Galaxy (can you tell that AEG is based in Los Angeles?). They’ve also “promoted tours by artists including Britney Spears, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Christina Aguilera & Justin Timberlake, The Dixie Chicks, Yanni, Paul McCartney, Usher, Kanye West, Prince, Rod Stewart, Bon Jovi, Nickelback, and PopTarts Presents American Idol.” And that’s not even half of it. AEG is a major player in sports and entertainment, and a great place to start a career.

Join AEG’s Team

Describing AEG’s business in a few paragraphs isn’t easy, so I guess that the best way to put it is that if it has to do with sports or entertainment, they’re probably involved in some way. That means that AEG offers job opportunities in a wide variety of areas. They actually have a halfway decent job search function on their site, so you can narrow things down by AEG Company, Area of Interest, Location, or Facility. They have nearly 100 jobs posted (a lot of them are internships though), and they’re in locations all across the country. I’m not going to list entry level opportunities for you, so you’ll have to do the searching yourself, but you should note that AEG’s job offerings are typically in areas like Accounting & Finance, Administrative & Clerical, Box Office, Creative Services, Event Services, Facilities Operations, Guest Services, Merchandising & Retail, Player Operations, Real Estate, and Sales & Marketing. You can apply for any of the positions that you find through their online application process.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about AEG?

Hostess Brands

Willy Franzen — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:55:09 +0000

I’ve failed you. After two years of getting it right, I forgot to do a post for Pi Day yesterday. In 2008 we looked at jobs at Pi Media, and in 2009 we looked at jobs with The Mathematical Association of America. So, what does the guy who is late for the Pi Day party do when he was supposed to bring the pie? He obviously goes the Hostess Brands route—the cheapest and easiest way to get Fruit Pies at the last minute (I guess McDonald’s is your other option). It may not be like the pies that your grandma makes (my grandma makes an awesome Chocolate Dream Pie), but it gets the job done. And if you don’t like the Fruit Pies, you can rely on other favorites from the Irving, TX based baking company like Twinkies, Hostess Cupcakes, Sno Balls, Ding Dongs, HoHos, and even Wonder Bread for those of you who are lacking a sweet tooth.

Be Their Guest

From what I can tell, Hostess Brands (Hostess and Wonder Bread) is owned by a company called Interstate Bakeries, which is going through some financial problems, but with that said, it appears that Hostess Brands still has plenty of job opportunities. The company may not be seeing growth like some companies that take a healthier approach to food are seeing, but Hostess and Wonder Bread are still iconic American brands. If it sounds like a brand that you might want to be a part of, then you can check out Hostess Brands’ Jobs page. Their job postings are all over the place—both in terms of location and fields (the Hostess Brands Operations Center is based in Kansas City, MO). There don’t appear to be many corporate positions posted, but there are Sales and Business Development positions from all across the country. You can apply for any of the positions online, so grab a Twinkie and start browsing.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite Hostess Brands treat?

MMG Mardiks

Willy Franzen — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:01:57 +0000

Yesterday I mentioned that I hopped on a plane on Saturday. My destination was Aruba. I’m here now, and I’m enjoying 90 degree temperatures, lots of sunshine, beach volleyball, and hopefully some excellent fishing opportunities. It’s not hard to be convinced to head for a tropical destination in December, but choosing the right place can be a tough decision. That’s why it’s no big surprise that resorts and tourism boards invest a lot in public relations. Competition for tourist dollars is fierce, so firms like New York City based MMG Mardiks are often in high demand. They work with names like the Colorado Tourism Office, Sarasota and Her Islands, Hertz, Regent Hotels & Resorts, and The Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino (not where I’m staying). MMG Mardiks also has locations in Kansas City, Ft. Collins, St Louis, and South Florida, which probably allows them to better serve clients in various locations.

Travel Public Relations with MMG Mardiks

Travel public relations and communications seems like a pretty cool field, and MMG Mardiks does it all. They provide “expert strategic counsel in traditional and digital media relations, branding, event marketing and crisis communications.” If you’d like to get beyond the buzz words and see some actual work that MMG Mardiks has done, you need to look no further than their case studies. You’ll get a good feel for how they operate and what kind of placement they can achieve for their clients. If the idea of working in Travel PR excites you, then take a look at MMG Mardiks’ Jobs page. They don’t have any specific openings for new grads posted, but they do invite applicants to reach out by e-mailing a cover letter, résumé, and salary requirement to Carla Brown at cbrown@mmgworldwide.com. I’ve heard that their internship program is excellent with real work opportunities that lead to full-time employment and that the company employs a lot of people in their 20s. Additionally employees get to travel to great places relatively often, so maybe you’ll get to make a trip to Aruba too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of MMG Mardiks’ clients do you most want to visit?

Lucky Brand

Willy Franzen — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:49:56 +0000

Next March I’m going to regret not saving this one for my St. Patrick’s Day holiday themed post, but today we’re going to take a look at Lucky Brand. They’re a clothing manufacturer and retailer that is “rooted in rock ‘n ‘roll with a signature sense of humor.” Their About page will tell you that they stand for “independent thinking, individual style and a feeling as authentic as love” and that they’re known for “great-fitting, vintage-inspired jeans;” however, I think it’s much simpler than that. One of their founders came up with the idea to put the phrase “Lucky You” behind the flies of every pair of pants that they made. It was an instant point of differentiation, and I think that it has a lot to do with why Lucky Brand is going strong 19 years after they started. It really is pure, politically incorrect genius. Lucky you…

Get Lucky

The best way to get a feel for Lucky Brand is to check out their clothes online or visit one of their retail stores. If you don’t get what the brand is about, you’re not going to get a job with them. I think that’s true of any brand, but it’s especially pertinent in industries like apparel where brand is everything. So, what about jobs at Lucky Brand? They have a ton of Store Management opportunities at their retail stores. This may not be exactly what you had in mind post-graduation (or maybe it is), but it kind of offers the opportunity to run your own business—at least that’s what the job description makes it sound like. They have openings for Retail Management in Ala Moana, HI; Miami, FL; Monterey, CA; Pittsburgh, PA; Tampa, FL; San Jose, CA; San Francisco, CA; Austin, TX; Waikiki, HI; Westlake, OH; Los Angeles, CA; Manhattan, NY; Las Vegas, NV; El Paso, TX; Aurora, IL; Chicago, IL; Pleasant Prairie; WI; Washington, DC; Philadelphia, PA; Bridgewater, NJ; Elizabeth, NJ; Seattle, WA; Wrentham, MA; Peabody, MA; Boston, MA; Houston, TX; Studio City, CA; St. Louis, MO; and quite a few more locations (although those jobs were posted in March and earlier). You can find all of those job postings on Lucky Brand’s Jobs site.

You also have the option of submitting a résumé for general consideration for corporate jobs in Vernon, CA. I think that this might be worthwhile because of what Lucky Brand has to say about their Internship Program:

The Lucky Brand Fall 2009 Internship Program is intended to help acclimate Junior and Senior level university/college students to our company culture, build on their creativity, and allow them the best opportunity to get to know Lucky Brand. This program is designed to identify, develop and potentially hire top entry level talent.

If they’re looking to hire top entry level talent, then why don’t they have any entry level jobs posted outside of retail? Maybe it’s just a season thing, or maybe they mostly like hiring past interns, but it’s worth investigating. Lucky Brand offers internships in Design, Human Resources, Wholesale Sales & Planning, Accessory Jewelry Design, Accessory Design, eCommerce, and Marketing, so those are areas where they might also have entry level jobs.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you consider yourself lucky?

Fleishman-Hillard

Willy Franzen — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:57:25 +0000

This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association and entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com.

When I was in college, I wanted nothing more than to work at Fleishman-Hillard. Renowned for their corporate culture, Fleishman-Hillard is headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., has 80 offices throughout the world, does business in more than 20 languages and has 29 practices areas. In 2008, the firm’s work and culture earned them the “Best Agency to Work For” by The Holmes Report. But their list of awards hardly stops there, including “103 Silver Anvil Awards, 90 CIPRA/SABRE Awards, and numerous other national and international awards.”

And Fleishman-Hillard doesn’t just win awards outside the organization, but also with its own employees. In 2007, 98 percent of Fleishman-Hillard employees called the firm an organization “of which they can be proud,” according to an employee satisfaction survey. Fleishman-Hillard rewards their employees in return, giving out two awards annually – the “team player” and John D. Graham – recognizing “individuals in various geographic regions for unparalleled commitment to the client, the agency and their team.” Managers also give awards at their discretion for “their heroic efforts.” I’ve known many individuals who’ve worked for Fleishman-Hillard over the years, including one of my college mentors, and I’ve heard nothing but good things.

Be Rewarded at an Award-Winning Agency

Fleishman-Hillard is currently seeking a Coordinator in its Boston office. (Fleishman-Hillard also has offices in Atlanta, GA; Austin, TX; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; Kansas City, MO; London, England; Los Angeles, CA; Melbourne, Australia; Miami, FL; Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN; Montreal, Canada; New York, NY; Potland, OR; Raleigh-Durham, NC; Sacramento, CA; San Antonio, TX; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; St. Louis, MO; Sydney, Australia; Toronto, Canada, and Washington, D.C.) This position is a mix of “traditional” and “new” public relations in a large agency setting. Beyond administrative and office duties, the Account Assistant also conducts media relations, media monitoring and reporting, research and other junior-level account activities. The best way to land this position is to have had a prior agency internship while in college, preferably with Fleishman-Hillard itself or another large agency.

Interested? Apply for the job online here. Even though the position is in Boston, much of the recruitment process originates in the St. Louis office. I recommend reading their blog, Stand Out, and the biographies of some of the folks in charge of talent development.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Need help with your cover letter and résumé—or your entire job search? Heather offers low-cost coaching packages specifically for students and recent graduates seeking careers in public relations. Click here to learn more.

Rawlings

Willy Franzen — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:29:08 +0000

It’s Opening Day! Although it may not be a real holiday to you, to those of us who who are die hard baseball fans it’s quite possibly the best day of the year (especially fans of perennial losers whose best record all season is 0-0). I already had my baseball fix this weekend, since I flew out to NYC to see the opening of the new Yankee Stadium in an exhibition game between the Yanks and the Cubs, but I am beyond excited to watch some games that actually count. With that in mind, we’re going to run with the baseball theme today. We’ve already covered jobs with Major League Baseball and its teams, so we’re going to look at St. Louis based Rawlings today. They were the manufacturer of my first ever baseball glove (which had a Jose Canseco facsimile signature on the palm), so I inevitably think of Rawlings when I think of baseball. Their posted job offerings are a bit sparse, but hopefully you’ll use the good vibes from Opening Day to inspire your job search. (Remember: These posts aren’t just about the companies that we feature. They’re also about bringing creativity to your job search.)

Catch an Entry Level Job with Rawlings

In case you’ve never heard of Rawlings before, they make equipment for Baseball, Softball, Basketball, Soccer, and Volleyball. At their heart, though, they’re a baseball company. They produce all kinds of fun stuff – gloves, bats, balls, batting gloves, uniforms, apparel, protective gear, batting gloves, and much more. Unfortunately, their website is entirely in Flash (is this getting more common?), so we can’t link to all of the specifics. If you’re a baseball player like me, you’ll probably get lost looking at all of the cool stuff that they make. I remember poring over baseball catalogs for hours to decide which new bat I was going to get when I was in high school. Anyway, Rawlings is mostly a manufacturer, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have interesting jobs for new college grads. Take a look at Rawlings’ Company Profile on LinkedIn, and you’ll see what kind of careers they typically offer. Right now, the only jobs they have posted are on Jarden’s Careers site (Jarden is Rawlings’ parent company), and they’re on the manufacturing side. If you don’t want to work on the line tanning gloves and dealing with chemicals, then do a little more research and see if you can find an in with Rawlings in another area of their business. You should also check out some of the links under the About Rawlings section on Rawlings’ home page – they have info on benefits and company kickball teams. Also, watch out for the blaring music that starts playing when you hit the home page. It’s pretty annoying.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Rawlings.com
Jarden.com (Rawlings’ Parent Company)
Jobs at Rawlings (Jarden’s Corporate Careers Site)
Rawlings’ Company Profile on LinkedIn

What other baseball related jobs have you come across? Whose signature was on your first baseball glove?

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?

U.S. Census Bureau

Willy Franzen — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:48:34 +0000

Every 10 years our country does a census to collect demographic data about our populous to drive public policy decisions. It’s an extremely big deal, and it temporarily creates 1.4 million jobs (according to government figures). But those aren’t typically the types of jobs that we talk about here, at least not the ones that send you door to door asking how many people live at a given residence. Luckily, the U.S. Census Bureau does a lot more than its once every ten years nationwide census. They are “the leading source of quality data about the nation’s people and economy,” so you’d be amazed by all of the things that they track. For instance, much of the economic data that you have been hearing about in the news lately – as in “Stocks plunge on weakened Monthly Retail Sales” – comes from the U.S. Census Bureau. If you’re fascinated by data or just love counting things, there aren’t many places that offer a more interesting work experience that the Census Bureau.

Everyone Counts at the U.S. Census Bureau

Ok, I’d like to go on about the cool things that the Census Bureau does, but we don’t really have time. Navigating the Census Bureau’s job offerings is kind of a hassle, so I want to make sure that you can find what you’re looking for. On their main Jobs page they have links to four sections – Headquarters Opportunities, 2010 Census Taker Opportunities, Regional Office Opportunities, and Student and Research Opportunities. You may be tempted to check out the Student Opportunities, but you actually want to check out either the Headquarters or Regional Office Opportunities. If you check out the Headquarters Opportunities, you’ll find job listings like Statistician / Analyst, Mathematical Statistician, Information Technology Specialist, Geographer, and Cartographer. These links will take you to more specific listings where you’ll find a link titled “How to Apply.” If you click that, you’ll find even more information and another link to the specific job descriptions on USAJobs.gov. You can also skip ahead and just search all of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 90 current openings. If you decide to check out the Regional Office Opportunities, you’ll just have to select a region, and you’ll be shown a list of opportunities. It’s a lot simpler.

As for locations:

The U.S. Census Bureau headquarters is located in Suitland, Maryland, just outside the District of Columbia.

The National Processing Center (NPC) is located in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The NPC also has two call centers located in Hagerstown, Maryland and Tucson, Arizona.

The Census Bureau has 12 Regional Offices located in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Seattle.

The Census Bureau has a ton of jobs, and there are a lot more coming. Many of these offer extremely interesting entry level work, but you’re going to have to show off your data parsing abilities to find and apply for the jobs – they don’t make the process easy at all.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you excited for the 2010 Census?

Hallmark

Willy Franzen — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 14:38:31 +0000

This morning I realized which company we should have featured to celebrate my birthday yesterday. Luckily, my birthday celebration is going to be a 2 week event that will culminate with our giving away an iPod Touch to one lucky reader who spreads the word about us to his or her friends. Although we announced the contest last night, we’re really kicking it off today, so I think that we should focus on my birthday again and talk about entry level jobs with Hallmark. Here’s how Hallmark describes itself:

Some companies make things. Good things, but, you know…things. Hallmark is another kind of company. We play a unique role in defining and expressing friendship and family and love – and we’ve done it for nearly 100 years.

I usually just shake a card to see if a check falls out – just kidding. I actually got a talking Hallmark card that couldn’t have been more perfect for me. My mom may have had to walk through the store opening every single card to find it, but she did. It has made me laugh over and over. You have to love Hallmark.

Apply by Greeting Card?

Hallmark is a family-owned company headquartered in Kansas City, MO, and they make more than greeting cards. Their other businesses include partyware, gifts, gift wrap, ornaments, decorative items, picture frames, albums, scrapbooks, e-cards, magazines, and cable television. They also own Crayola (which makes Silly Putty in addition to crayons), William Arthur, and a number of other subsidiaries. Hallmark is a major company with a significant college recruiting program. They have a section of their Careers site devoted to college students, but the navigation is extremely confusing. Their Working Here section consists of one paragraph, and links out to pages on Benefits, Culture, and Kansas City. There is also a Career FAQs section, which is actually very helpful.

Hallmark has a limited Campus Recruiting schedule, so unless you’re at one of the few schools that they visit, your best bet is to apply for a job online. The links to their actual job listings seem to break half of the time, but if you’re persistent, you can usually get it to work. You can either look at opportunities in Hallmark’s Creative Division or in their Corporate Headquarters, Operations, and Manufacturing Divisions. Hallmark’s Creative Division only has one job listing right now that looks to be entry level – Web Designer – but they seem very open to portfolio submissions. You can apply online and include your portfolio without picking a specific job, so that seems like the best way to try and get a creative job with Hallmark. The Corporate/Operations/Manufacturing job listings allow you to search for “College-Full Time,” so it’s easy to look up which entry level positions Hallmark is hiring for (we can’t link to them, because their applicant tracking system won’t let us). Right now there are 5 job titles posted – Job Planner, Accounting and Financial Analyst, Inventory Controller, IT Analyst, and Line Supervisor – and all of them are located in Kansas City. It seems likely that Hallmark has multiple openings for each of these positions. We don’t see any contact info, so it looks like you’ll have to apply for the jobs online, but if you can find an address, we think that it would be cool to apply by greeting card. Hallmark also has retail job opportunities, but we’re not going to get into those. Remember, with Hallmark if you get an interview, a thank you card is an absolute must. It’s their business!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s the best Hallmark card that you’ve ever seen?

Levy Restaurants

Willy Franzen — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 15:50:27 +0000

Yesterday I told you how my move to Chicago has extended my baseball watching season, but I’m not sure that I mentioned that I have tickets to today’s Cubs game! I’m pretty excited about it, although I’m not excited about the fact that it might get into the 40s tonight during the game. October baseball is not for fair weather fans – the types who might prefer a catered event at the stadium to a real baseball game. Whether you’re a fair weather fan, an insanely devoted fan who just wants to be as close to your team’s stadium as possible at all time, or even if you just enjoy fine dining, a job with Levy Restaurants might be something worth thinking about. They’re a company that is all about hospitality and dining experience, and they happen to do catering/events at some pretty amazing venues – Wrigley and U.S. Cellular Field included.

The Levy Difference

A caterer doesn’t get the right to cater at top flight sports venues with out offering a fantastic experience. Levy Restaurants attributes their success to what they call “The Levy Difference.” There happens to be a video on their website with the same name, so we’re going to recommend that you watch that before you dig deeper into internships with Levy Restaurants.

Now that you’ve watched the movie, let’s take a look at Levy Restaurants’ entry level job offerings. Their job descriptions don’t offer a lot of detail, but we’re pretty sure that a number of their jobs can be considered entry level. If you look at all of their current job openings, you’ll see quite a few Assistant Director of Operations positions (Conseco Field House – Indianapolis, IN; Live Nokia Theater – Los Angeles, CA; Qwest Field – Seattle, WA; Sprint Center – Kansas City, MO; and STAPLES Center – Los Angeles, CA). Any job title that includes “assistant” has a pretty good chance of being a well suited to new college grads. There are also an Accounting position at Lambeau Field (Green Bay, WI) and a Marketing Coordinator position at Chase Field (Phonenix, AZ) that may be worth looking at. Finally, there are a number of jobs as Sous Chef (many locations). These require significant culinary knowledge, but may be considered entry level for you if you just graduated from culinary school. Levy Restaurants is based out of Chicago, IL, but has locations all across the country, so be sure to check out their list of venues to see where they might be hiring in the future. They don’t provide an HR contact or an e-mail address, so the only way to find out more information about jobs with Levy Restaurants is to apply online directly from the job descriptions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever experienced the Levy Difference? What’s it like?

Major League Baseball

Willy Franzen — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:51:01 +0000

I never thought that moving to Chicago would prolong the baseball season for me. Living in the New York City area gave me 13 straight years of October baseball, and now that I’ve left, both Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium will remain empty for the rest of the fall before they eventually face demolition. It’s lucky for me that I’m now living in a new city that happens to have two teams that are still in it. I get a 14th straight year of local baseball in October! Playoff baseball is by far the most exciting baseball of the year, but it also means that season will soon be over. Those of you who are baseball fans know how long the winter seems when there is only hot stove chatter to keep you entertained while you wait for pitchers and catchers to report to Spring Training. While you’re still excited about baseball, you should start thinking about how you can land a job with Major League Baseball. Jobs with the MLB are in hot demand, so it’s a smart move to get familiar with their hiring process as soon as you can.

Take Me Out to an Entry Level Job

As far as we can tell, there are 2 ways to get jobs in Major League Baseball – there are jobs with MLB.com and jobs with specific MLB teams. There also seem to be jobs directly with the league (I have a friend on Facebook who is a member of the Major League Baseball network), but I’m not sure how you can go about finding them online. Here’s a rundown of the two types of jobs that we’ve found and how you can apply for them.

MLB.com Jobs

MLB.com is part of MLB Advanced Media, which is a separate arm of Major League Baseball. They run all 30 team websites and allegedly have editorial independence from the league. Their focus is entirely on multimedia and production, but they offer all kinds of jobs. Right now, the only openings that may be suited to new college grads (and are still a stretch) are in Database Marketing and Marketing Production. MLB.com offers internships in Finance, Marketing, Club Marketing, E-Commerce, Legal, Technology, Sponsorship, Design, and Public Relations, so there are a number of areas in which jobs with MLB.com can pop up periodically. These jobs are located in New York City, and you can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to jlc@mlb.com.

Jobs with MLB Teams

There’s a separate site where you can search for jobs with all of the Major League Baseball teams. This is where the MLB follows the lead of other major sports leagues do and uses TeamWorkOnline to post their jobs. Right now there are listings from most of the teams (although only some are entry level), but this will probably change over time, as different teams have different hiring schedules. If you’re waiting to hear about jobs with a specific team, you can sign up for Job Notification e-mails or you can subscribe to the MLB Teams Jobs RSS Feed. There is an online application process for jobs with MLB teams, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to navigate.

The TeamWorkOnline site also lists some jobs with MLB Networks, so it’s possible that this is where they post opportunities with the league as they become available. We’re not sure about this, but we can’t find anywhere else that MLB jobs are posted. If you know anything about Major League Baseball’s hiring process, we’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Who do you think is going to win the World Series?

Stetson

Willy Franzen — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:06:32 +0000

Happy Labor Day! We’re certainly enjoying the holiday weekend, and we hope that you are too. It’s ok to take a break from your job search, but if you won’t allow yourself to take some time off, we’ve got some homework for you today. We’ll get to that in a second. Now, you probably know that it’s frowned upon to wear white after Labor Day, but did you know that cowboys and other lovers of Country/Western culture are expected to switch from straw hats to felt hats after Labor Day? Although fashion tenets such as no white after Labor Day seem to be fading away to some extent, we’ll bet that the cowboys still abide. Stetson is the company when it comes to cowboys hats; in fact, just as the Kleenex trademark is used to describe for all tissues, the Stetson brand name is often used to describe all cowboys hats.

Do Stetson Hats Make Themselves?

When it comes to jobs at Stetson, we can’t find a sliver of information. It begs the question, do Stetson hats make themselves? We believe that Stetson is located in St. Joseph, Missouri, but they also seem to have an address in Texas. Their website also says that they have a showroom in New York City, but we also found an article from 1992 that says that the showroom was shut down. Finally, we also found a lead that Stetson may have been purchased at some point by R.H.E., Inc., which is the manufacturer of the famous Resistol hat. We can’t find anything on their jobs either, but we hope that we’ve provided enough clues to get you intrigued and start searching. If you can find something on jobs with Stetson, please share with us in the comments. Remember, you can always cold call an employer and ask about working for them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you know to switch from straw hat to felt hat after Labor Day?

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?

Yelp

Willy Franzen — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 13:18:42 +0000

My Dad and I are now 2 days into our weeklong fishing trip. The first day was spent driving from Fairfield, CT to Ann Arbor, MI, where we stopped to spend the night. We ended up grabbing a late dinner at a pizza place that wasn’t very good. Pizza should always be at the very least very good, so that was quite a disappointment – especially considering Ann Arbor is a college town with an amazing number of restaurants. Had I been smart enough to pull up Yelp.com on my phone (they have a mobile site), I would have seen that our choice of a restaurant only had 3.5 stars on 3 ratings, and that 2 of the high ratings were for convenience or low price. Lesson learned. Luckily we redeemed ourselves with an awesome brunch at a place one of my Dad’s high school buddies recommended – it has 4.5 stars and is ranked the 2nd best Ann Arbor restaurant on Yelp.

Yelp Me Find a Place to Eat

Yelp isn’t just about food, it’s about local reviews (and the people who post the reviews). As Russell Simmons (no, not that one, their CTO) says, “We built this site expecting to find all these really cool local business, and what we really found were these really cool local people.” Maybe some of Ann Arbor’s really cool local people could have helped us find a motel room that was a bit more affordable than the jacuzzi suite, as it was the “only room left in town” because of something about a NASCAR weekend – our motel choice has 2.5 stars on Yelp. Yelp could have made our stay in Ann Arbor a lot nicer, and it certainly has the ability to be a great tool in any traveler’s repertoire.

Here’s the Yelp documentary below (here’s a link). E-mail and RSS feed readers will need to click through, and if it doesn’t work, we’re sorry. This is the only format Yelp offered the video in.

Working at Yelp

Considering how fun Yelp’s product is, working for them has to be pretty cool too. They’re a growing company, and that means entry-level hiring. Yelp’s Jobs page lists these positions in their San Francisco office: Account Executive (Local Sales), Product Manager (Tools and Support Infrastructure), Software Engineer, and Desktop Support Technician. There are also looking for Marketing Assistants (aka “Scouts”) in Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville, Raleigh-Durham or St. Louis. These are part-time, hourly jobs, but they look pretty cool – might even be a good fit for a current college student. The e-mail addresses that you should send a resume and cover letter to are different for each job, so be sure to check out Yelp’s fantastic jobs page for those details. You may also want to take a look at the Yelp Blog or Flickr account for a deeper look at what it’s like to work at Yelp.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

When could Yelp have saved you from a not so great restaurant? Tell us about it.

woot!

Willy Franzen — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 13:00:11 +0000

When I was a kid in elementary school, our teacher asked us to have a book at our desk to read during short periods of downtime. If a lesson finished a little early and she couldn’t think of something to do with a class of fourth graders, we picked up our books and started reading. Most kids had fun story books to read, but for some reason (probably because it was already in my desk and I didn’t feel like finding another book) my book was a pocket dictionary. While other kids were reading about the adventures of some imaginary character, I was looking up words to craft my comebacks when I was inevitably made fun of. I wish the word w00t had existed back then, not because it would have been particularly useful in my fourth grade reading level verbal counterattacks, but because I think my classmates would have realized that reading a dictionary can’t be all bad if you can find words like w00t.

w00t, alternately spelled woot or woot! and never capitalized, was selected as the 2007 Word of the Year by Merriam-Webster. Beyond being a great word, woot! is also an online retailer that sells only one item each day – just like we only post one job a day, and Merriam-Webster has a word of the day. Speaking of fun things to do on the Merriam-Webster website, try typing in curse words, clicking on the little speaker icon, and listening to the computer generated voice say the bad word as it is meant to be pronounced. Sorry, I’ll focus. So, woot! is a business based entirely on selling one item a day (typically the items are refurbished, overstock, or just need to be liquidated), which is actually a fascinating concept. Back in 2004, the New York Times wrote an article on woot! because of woot!’s amazing ability to sell out of an item in hours, when it would take a traditional retailer months to get rid of the same item. Basically, woot! sells crap at a great price in a fun way, and it works.

Speaking of crap. woot! occasionally sells what is called a “bag of crap,” although it may be identified as a boring office career, bodacious orange cooler, or bandolier of carrots – you get the idea. A bag of crap can be ordered for 3 bucks + 5 bucks for shipping. That gets you one bag, three craps. Often, the bag of crap has the most worthless items you could possibly imagine an inventory liquidator sending you; however, the rare bag of crap will contain some insane item like a huge television or a Nintendo Wii. Obviously, the bags of crap sell out in minutes and bring woot!’s server to a fast, painless death – like being run over, backed up over, and then run over again. Bags of crap are often found during woot! offs, when woot! decides to sell more than one item per day and lists a new item instantly after the previous item sells out.

As weird as woot! may sound, it’s become really popular. They have shirt.woot, wine.woot, and sellout.woot as offshoots of the original woot!. In fact, woot! has become more of a community than an online retailer. Yes, there are woot! fanatics, and they’ve created a woot! Wikipedia entry that can give you the complete rundown on the woot! culture.

So, obviously there’s a reason that we’re talking about woot!. They’re hiring. They reminded us in a recent blog post, and that little announcement in our RSS reader was enough to get us to give them a look. woot! as a company has a great sense of humor, so if you’re not funny, get funny, or don’t apply. They also don’t seem like the hand-holding type, so if you want to be coddled through the application process (or when you buy an item online), woot! is not the right company for you. They are pretty clear that customer service isn’t their strongpoint, and we’ll make the guess that HR isn’t either. With that said, their job descriptions (and product descriptions) are funnier than that kid that you went to middle school with who was convinced he was going to become a comedian, but has since fallen off the face of the Earth. It’s definitely worth a look, if only for entertainment purposes. woot! wants local candidates only for their positions, but if you’re open to living in Dallas, Texas, then give it a go anyways. Open positions include Accounting/Administrative/Executive Assistant, Programmer (St. Louis, MO or Dallas, TX), Shirt.woot Production Admin, Member Services Representative, and a Wholesale Sales Representative (Inside Sales Rep). It’s amazing what a little humor does for a job description.

Now go find a way to work the word “w00t” into your resume. We’d prefer it in the exclamatory sense, but prior work experience will suffice.

Note: On April 24th we revisited entry-level jobs at woot!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

woot! We just felt like saying it one more time.