One Day, One Job » Nebraska

Outward Bound

Willy Franzen — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:52:46 +0000

I went to small, private middle and high school. They were really big on outdoor education, so almost every year we took some kind of class trip to promote bonding and a kind of learning that can’t be done in the classroom. The trips were wonderful–even when 20 of us got lost in the woods with one teacher overnight. I was lucky to get these kind of experiences through my school, but if I hadn’t, there’s a good chance I would have done something like Outward Bound. They are “a non-profit educational organization and expedition school that serves people of all ages and backgrounds through active learning expeditions that inspire character development, self-discovery and service both in and out of the classroom.” Outward Bound is headquartered in Golden, CO (but operating across the country), and “was founded in 1941 in the tumultuous waters of the North Sea during World War II, to provide young sailors with the experiences and skills necessary to survive at sea.” They got their start in their current state in 1961.

Job Bound?

While Outward Bound may no longer be about teaching survival skills to people who are actually likely to use them, they still do some really important educational work. Outward Bound’s programs serve all kinds of people ranging from “at-risk youth” to corporate employees, and they stretch across all kind of activities including Canoeing, Rock Climbing, Dogsleeding, Mountaineering, Rock Climbing, and more. I know that Outward Bound has an extremely strong connection with alumni, and that speaks to how truly great their programming is. If you want to be part of the Outward Bound family, take a look at their Careers page. Right now they have some great opportunities for new and recent grads including:

Backpack/Canoe Instructor (Baltimore, MD)
Backpack/Canoe Instructor (Philadelphia, PA)
Canoe/At Risk Instructor (Ely, MN)
Backpack/Canoe/At Risk (Newry, ME)
Course Director (Omaha, NE)
Field Instructor (St. Paul, MN)
Insight Facilitator (Baltimore, MD)
Insight Instructor (St. Paul, MN)
Logistics Coordinator (Midpines, CA)
Logistics Coordinator (Newry, ME)
Logistics Coordinator (Wheeler’s Bay, ME)
Logistics Coordinator (Redmond, OR)
Logistics Coordinator (Moab, UT)
Mountain Instructor (Leadville, CO)
Mountain/Raft Instructor (Redmond, OR)
Program Manager (Omaha, NE)
River Instructor (Moab, UT)
Sailing Instructor (Wheeler’s Bay, ME)
Urban Center/Field Instructor (Omaha, NE)

If you love the outdoors and want to work in the non-profit world, it’d be hard to beat a job with Outward Bound.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you do Outward Bound?

Oriental Trading

Willy Franzen — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:25:58 +0000

It’s probably a little late to be planning a New Year’s Eve party, but I guess for a lot of people all it takes is a trip to the liquor store to prepare. But if you really want to do New Year’s Eve right, you need party hats, noisemakers, those popper thingies, and all kinds of other novelties. One of the best places to get those is Oriental Trading, an Omaha, NE based “direct merchant of value–priced party supplies, arts and crafts, toys and novelties, and a leading provider of school supplies and affordable home décor and giftware.” I remember getting their catalogs as a kid and thinking how awesome it would be to have not one stupid plastic toy, but a 1000-count tub of them. Oriental Trading has been around since 1932, and they’ve been able to stay competitive by quickly adapting to the changing ways people buy stuff.

A Favorable Trade

Oriental Trading may not sell high-end products like a lot of other long-lived mail order companies, but they’ve still “been recognized as one of the Top 50 Internet Retailers and one of the Top 50 Catalog Companies.” What I think is cooler is that The Omaha Chamber of Commerce named Oriental Trading as “one of Omaha’s Fastest Growing Companies three consecutive years.” I’m not sure how recently that was, but any time you can grow an already large, 80-year old company at an above average rate is impressive. If you’d like to help keep that growth going and you find that flipping through the Oriental Trading catalog is a good way to spend a few hours, then take a look at Oriental Trading’s Careers page. Right now they have some cool job opportunities for new or recent grads including Assistant Brand Merchant, Cost Analyst, Inventory Specialist, Payroll Specialist, Studio Sample Coordinator, and Senior Sales Assistant. Check out the job postings, and please forgive the HR people at Oriental Trading for using Comic Sans in their job postings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever looked through the Oriental Trading catalog?

Cabela’s

Willy Franzen — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 16:57:28 +0000

Being a fly fisherman, I sometimes get frustrated with living in Chicago. Not only are there few opportunities to go fishing without a decent drive, but the winters are way too long (it’s supposed to be spring now, and it’s not). To get through the winter I’ll often visit fishing stores, look at websites, and read through catalogs. It’s not much, but it’s all I have. And Cabela’s provides all three options. The company is based in Sidney, NE, and they’re the “largest mail-order, retail and Internet outdoor outfitter in the world.” It all started in 1961 with a tiny classified ad that Dick Cabela placed in a newspaper because he wanted to sell some fishing flies that he purchased while visiting Chicago for a furniture show (since Nebraska is even less of a fly fishing destination than Chicago is). Despite a lackluster response to the original ad, Dick Cabela kept trying. The company grew organically, and now Cabela’s is dominating three major retail channels. The truly amazing part of the story is that Cabela’s has been able to maintain their commitment to customer service throughout all of the growth. I’m not a big customer (I try to support local shops), but I have quite a few friends who are extremely loyal Cabela’s customers because of the quality of products and service.

Outfitting Your Job Search

If you love the outdoors, you probably already know all about Cabela’s. Their stores are massive shrines to everything that is great about being an outdoorsman. They have fish tanks, taxidermy, indoor mountains, archery ranges, and, obviously, lots and lots of products that you can buy. According to Wikipedia, their store in Kansas City had 4 million customer visits in a single year, while the store in Hamburg, PA covers a quarter million square feet. Obviously, the ultimate Cabela’s experience requires visiting one of their stores, but their catalogs and website are pretty good proxies if you’re stuck at home. And if you are stuck at home, you might as well take a look at Cabela’s Careers site too. You can check out their testimonials and culture quiz, or you can just head straight for their job listings. We’re going to pass over all of the retail positions (there are a ton of them), and only look at corporate jobs that might be suitable for new or recent grads. These include (all positions in Sidney, NE unless otherwise noted):

Cabela’s has one of the worst applicant tracking systems that I’ve ever seen. It’s “Powered by Kenexa,” and it’s completely unusable. I slogged through it so you don’t have to, so the positions above should give you a good idea of what kind of entry level opportunities exist at Cabela’s. There are more entry level postings than just these, but I can only bang my head against a wall for so long.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you shop at Cabela’s?

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?

Election Systems & Software

Willy Franzen — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 13:43:54 +0000

Sponsored Job: Bluewolf is back because they love One Day, One Job readers! They’re a company that helps some of the world’s largest companies leverage technology for better business outcomes. Their Downtown San Francisco office is hiring accomplished grads from all majors for their Inside Sales Account Manager Training Program to call on C level executives for their IT Staffing and Managed Service offerings. If you’re high energy, dynamic, and have great interpersonal skills, check out the job description here (PDF file), and then apply here.

Happy Election Day! If you want my take on the political process, you should read my post from Election Day 2008 when I took a look at jobs at The Onion. Today we’re going to take a slightly more serious approach by focusing on Omaha, NE based Election Systems & Software. That means that we’re taking a break from the Inc. 500 today, but it makes sense. Election Systems & Software is the largest manufacturer of voting machines in the United States—they “serve four countries, 41 states with more than 4,000 election offices and three states for business services.” In other words, if you vote today, there’s a good chance that you’ll do it on an Election Systems & Software machine.

Elect to Get a Job

At first glance Election Systems & Software doesn’t seem like a very exciting company. They make boring machines with boring software that are only used once a year at best. But if you start to think about it, Election Systems & Software has been entrusted with maintaining our Democratic system. And technology is a big part of how voting works these days. Although it will always be more satisfying to vote the old fashioned way, we have to remember how much more efficient our voting systems have become with Products and Services like those developed by Election Systems & Software. By the end of tonight, we’ll know most of the winners and losers across the country. It didn’t used to be that way. If you’d like to be a part of the technological evolution of our electoral system, then you might want to take a look at the jobs at Election Systems & Software. Right now the only job suitable for a new grad is Office Administrator in Everett, WA, but I’m sure that you can put your enthusiasm for election day to work and reach out to them about other opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you vote today?

MITRE

Willy Franzen — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 12:28:19 +0000

Not many of the companies on Fast Company’s list of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” are non-profit, and not many non-profits generate over $1 billion in annual revenue, but MITRE fits both criteria. I know that many of you responded in our survey that you wanted to see fewer technical jobs, but I’ve also noticed that most of the non-profit jobs that we feature on weekends aren’t very technical. MITRE, which has headquarters in Bedford, MA and McLean, VA offers an exception. They are an “organization chartered to work in the public interest” through “expertise in systems engineering, information technology, operational concepts, and enterprise modernization.” They do this work through “four Federally Funded Research and Development Centers,” with one focused on the Department of Defense, one on the Federal Aviation Administration, one on the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, and one for the Department of Homeland Security.

Give MITRE a Try

MITRE serves each of these groups by providing “a unique combination of broad operational knowledge and in-depth technical skills” while also developing new technology that can be transferred when appropriate. What is really astonishing about MITRE is its size. They have over 7,000 employees, and more than 65% of them hold an advanced degree. The organization is a hotbed for technical knowhow and creativity, and it’s great to know that they have thousands of talented people working to ensure the future of our country. On that note MITRE is constantly looking to hire smart people for both technical and non-technical positions. They have a very strong college recruiting program, which you can find out about here. There are nearly 400 positions posted right now on MITRE’s Jobs site, so browsing through everything may be a little tough. It maybe a little hard to sniff out which jobs are considered entry level, so you may want to reach out to Jessica Yu using MITRE’s employee directory to get your questions answered (or you can use the chat box on the Student Opportunities page during working hours).

Job categories at MITRE include: Acquisitions, Artificial Intelligence, Business Analysis & Administration, Communications, Computer Operations, Contracts/Subcontracts, Database Technology Software, Defense & Space Systems, Desktop Support, Digital/Microprocessor Hardware, Domain Operation Analyst, Economics/Business, Electromagnetic & Nuclear Effects, Facilities Engineering, Financial Analysis, General Accounting, General Systems Engineer, Graphics, Human Resources Generalist, Human Factors Engineer, Industrial Security, Information Security, Information Systems Engineer, Integrated Electronics, Legal, Multi-Disciplinary Systems Development, Networking & Distributed Systems, Physical Security, Procurement, Sensor Systems, Signal Processing Engineer, Software Applications Development & Software Systems, Special Security, System Administrator, Technical Project Support, Telecommunications Specialist, and Treasury & Risk Management. There are also a variety of locations beyond MITRE’s headquarters, so you’ll have plenty of options.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about MITRE?

Bozell

Willy Franzen — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:59:11 +0000

Want a crappy job? You’re in luck. Today I came across WhatACrappyJob.com, which is actually the internship site for Bozell, a Omaha, NE based full-service public relations and advertising agency. There’s nothing extraordinarily special about the site beyond the domain name, but it’s well designed and informative, which is rare when it comes to Careers websites. I guess that’s what you should expect from the agency behind the “Got Milk?” mustache campaign and the “Pork. The Other White Meat.” slogan. Bozell’s history includes quite a few mergers, acquisitions, and buybacks. As of 2001 Bozell has moved away from Wall Street and returned to it roots as “an independent, client-focused, employee-owned agency.” They have an impressive portfolio of work and seem like a pretty cool place to work.

Got Bozell?

Going back to WhatACrappyJob.com, I have to admit that Bozell doesn’t have any entry level opportunities posted right now. However, I am inclined to think that a company that gives as much attention to their internship program as Bozell does must also do a significant amount of entry level hiring. Their internships are offered in Account Services, Art Direction/Design, Copywriting, Interactive, Media, Social Media, and Public Relations, so it would make sense that any entry level hiring that they do would be in those areas. It does seem that Bozell is open to accepting unsolicited résumés, as they post the e-mail address for their Managing Principal, Administration & Business Services on their Careers page. Her name is Robin Donovan, and you can reach out to her at rdonovan@bozell.com. You may also want to do a little LinkedIn research to get a better feel for the types of positions that Bozell ofers.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Bozell?

The Knot

Willy Franzen — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:49:01 +0000

As a new or upcoming college grad who is looking for a job, you’re entering a new lifestage. Unfortunately, it’s not a lifestage that The Knot can help you with. They’re a “lifestage media company,” but they focus on major life events related to growing your family – engagements, weddings, and births of first children. These things may seem far off to you, but within a couple years of graduating (if not sooner) you’ll have friends who are getting married and having kids. Eventually you’ll probably do the same, and when you do, there’s a good chance that you’ll come across one or many of The Knot’s media properties. They have a flagship website at TheKnot.com in addition to books, magazines, and tv programs (see all of their brands). People can get pretty crazed when they’re about to enter a new lifestage, which is why The Knot has been so successful in providing media that makes it all a little easier. Too bad they don’t have anything for the job search, but at least we do.

Enter a New Lifestage with The Knot

Whatever lifestage you’re entering, The Knot has something for you. We’re going to focus on the getting a job lifestage. The Knot is based out of New York City with a number of other work locations. They’ve done a really nice job with their Jobs page, and they’ve managed to keep it simple and straightforward. You can browse jobs, read employee testimonials, and check out the benefits without getting confused (or at least you should be able to). They have quite a few jobs listed that appear to be suitable for new grads (the company must be growing pretty well), and they include Accounting Specialist (Omaha, NE), Front End Web Developer (New York, NY), MS SQL Developer (New York, NY), and Software Engineer – Sitecore CMS (New York, NY). There are a number of less techie jobs available, but they require a bit more experience than most new grads have. You can apply for any job at The Knot or even an unlisted position by sending a cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to jobs@theknot.com. Be sure to indicate the title of the job in the subject line or put “general candidacy” to be considered for future positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you familiar with any of The Knot’s brands?

SPARTA

Willy Franzen — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:57:37 +0000

Usually when I’m looking at the job requirements to determine whether a position is suitable for new college grads, I’m looking at things like education, experience, skills, and job functions. It’s not often that I’m thinking about security clearance, but at today’s company, SPARTA, it’s essential for most of their positions. (Now, don’t worry if you don’t already have Top Secret Clearance, they still might have jobs for you as long as you didn’t get into too much trouble during your college years or before.) The reason that there’s all this talk about clearance is that SPARTA is a company whose “core business areas include strategic defense and offense systems, tactical weapons systems, and space systems” and whose “major intelligence credentials include intelligence production, computer network operations, and information assurance.”

This Is SPARTA

If you’ve spent your time in college attending peace protests, then SPARTA probably isn’t for you, but if you have a hard science or engineering background that you’d like to put to practical use, then you’ll be fascinated by the job titles that SPARTA is hiring for. Current openings include Weapons Effects Analyst, Cyberspace Analyst, and WMD Engineer (don’t worry, this job is about “supporting national efforts in developing, integrating and synchronizing capabilities to combat weapons of mass destruction”). These aren’t SPARTA’s entry level jobs, but they demonstrate what kind of projects the company is working on. They have more than 100 jobs listed right now, and quite a few of the opportunities actually are entry level. These include Integration Engineer, Software Engineer, Systems Engineer, and Linux/Unix Software Engineer. These are the only jobs that are identified as entry level, but you should definitely check out the rest of their job listings. You can apply online, and SPARTA has locations that include Arlington, VA; Aurora, CO; Bel Air, MD; Bellevue, NE; Billerica, MA; Centreville, VA; Colorado Springs, CO; Columbia, MD; El Segundo, CA; Huntsville, AL; Laguna Hills, CA; Lake Forest, CA; Nashua, NH; Newport News, VA; Orlando, FL; San Diego, CA; and Sunnyvale, CA.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you fascinated by SPARTA’s job titles?

ShoeMoney Media Group

Willy Franzen — Fri, 09 May 2008 13:35:21 +0000

Jeremy Schoemaker is ShoeMoney. ShoeMoney is probably best known for his picture of the check. Using AdSense, Google’s advertising platform for web publishers, he made $132,994.97 in one month. Since then, he’s had amazing success with marketing ringtones through affiliate deals and a project called AuctionAds, which allows web publishers to market eBay auctions on their sites. There are a lot of web startups that seem glamorous because of their big ideas, but they often lack profitability and end up in the deadpool. ShoeMoney Media Group ignores the glitz and goes where the money is. They follow 3 core principles: embrace new trends and look for opportunities to exploit them; focus on what you know; and small changes can equal big revenue. There is an absolutely insane amount of information about ShoeMoney on the web, so get researching. Google ShoeMoney, visit ShoeMoney’s blog, and read his hilarious, but honest post about his 10 worst money making ideas. There’s also a short BusinessWeek article about ShoeMoney that you should read. It focuses on how he makes money online teaching other people how to make money online.

ShoeMoney is Hiring

Score another one for Twitter! That’s where we first heard about today’s job opportunities. Yesterday, ShoeMoney announced on Twitter and later on his blog that he is hiring for a few different positions. Today we’re writing about it. We’ve been following ShoeMoney for a long time, because he is one of the best minds in the online marketing world. We have no interest in ever selling ringtones here on One Day, One Job, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t learn a lot from how ShoeMoney Media Group operates. They’re a very small company in terms of head count, but they’re bringing in serious revenue. They just signed a new lease on a 2,000 sq foot office that has 7 offices, 1 bathroom, and 1 kitchen, so you won’t be sitting in some guy’s basement or anything like that. Still, this isn’t your typical entry-level opportunity, but if we always wrote about those, we’d be boring.

Right now, ShoeMoney is looking for a LAMPP (Linux/Apache/MySql/PHP/Perl) Programmer and a Web/Graphic Designer. He’s not overly concerned about education or work experience, he just wants someone with the right attitude and the right skills. On Twitter Shoemoney said the following about the jobs:

“We are looking for very passionate people that have no life. We can find people with talent who work 9-5 anywhere.”
“We offer hands on experience with some very cool web projects and from a financial standpoint nobody has ever asked me for a raise in 4 yrs.”
“People who do well are extremely well compensated some have made over 7 figures.”
“Everyone who has become a full time employee is still with us.”

The jobs with ShoeMoney Media Group are located in Lincoln, Nebraska, and it’s essential that you be able to live there. You can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to jobs@shoemoney.com. Odds are that the competition for the positions will be fierce, so you need to blow ShoeMoeny away with your first impression.

In addition Shoemoney is hiring Freelance Contributors for his most recent project, Fighters.com, which is a Mixed Martial Arts site. The work requires a presence in Las Vegas, NV and is paid per contribution. You can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to jobs@fighters.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of ShoeMoney and the jobs he’s offering? Let us know in the comments.

Gallup

Willy Franzen — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:31:31 +0000

We don’t like politics. We’re already sick of this election. We don’t care who made a verbal gaffe yesterday. And we certainly don’t understand how double-digit leads in the polls can evaporate and reappear based on a few words here or a few words there. We just don’t care (don’t confuse that with not caring about the direction of our country), but a lot of people do care. They want constant information, not only about what’s happening, but also how the American people are reacting to breaking news. The media provides the news on the mud slinging, but someone has to keep the pulse of the nation. Much of that responsibility falls on pollsters like Gallup. You can be sure that you’ll be hearing that name a lot over the next 6 months.

9 out of 10 Pollsters Agree

Gallup is studies how people behave and leverages what they learn to help businesses be better at what they do. They’ve collected the best minds in management, economics, psychology, and sociology to help them provide customers with “measurement tools, coursework, and strategic advisory services.” Polling is an essential part of Gallup’s business and reputation, and this is most evident in the political arena; however, their business goes far beyond letting the world know how voters react when they find that their favorite candidate picks his or her nose. Whether at the world, national, local, and organizational, Gallup knows how to measure human sentiment and turn the results into action for their clients. This is the basis of the consulting services that they offer, which include Strengths-Based Development, Talent Management, Developing Great Managers, Workplace and Employee Engagement, Customer Engagement, Executive Performance Coaching, Sales Force Effectiveness, Performance Strategy, Performance Reward and Compensation, Succession Management, Performance Evaluation and Development, Brand Management, and Marketing Research

Measuring Employee Engagement at Home and Abroad

The thing that jumped out at us from Gallup’s core business was Employee Engagement. If a company is going to pride themselves on measuring how employees feel, they better be doing a great job of engaging their own employees. Gallup probably would have liked to cite themselves, but instead they had to go to the Vault to brag that they rank “#1 for corporate culture and work-life balance, and as #2 for overall quality of life” in a survey of consultants from top firms. Heck, Gallup probably would have given themselves their Great Workplace Award, if it wouldn’t look like a conflict of interest. Either way, Gallup is focused on treating their talent well, and that means that you should be looking at some really strong internships.

We Love Their Careers Site, But…

Gallup’s overall website and Careers site in particular are really nice. They look good, they’re easy to navigate, and are extremely informative (they’re even nice enough to be upfront and tell international students that they’re out of luck when it comes to sponsorship – most companies ignore the fact completely). They even have a well thought out Campus Recruiting page. The site is really approachable, and it’s easy to get a sense of the types of opportunities Gallup offers and what it’s like to work for them.

Unfortunately Gallup fails to segue from this elegant portrayal of information to their job listings. The only option is to use their Job search, which leaves job seekers confused about what opportunities to search for. Gallup says that they are working on a new campus recruiting site, which hopefully will address this problem. Otherwise, we think that they’ve done a great job of presenting themselves online, so we hope that they don’t change too much.

Survey Says That I Can’t Find a Job

How do you find entry-level jobs at Gallup? We’re not quite sure what the most reliable way is. There are 167 openings right now, and that’s too many for us to wade through and pick out which ones are entry-level. Your best bet is to focus your search terms on your areas of interest, with a concentration on Accounting, Administrative Services, Business Development/Sales, Information Technology, Data Production, and Document Services, because these are areas that Gallup identifies as having the most opportunities for undergraduates. It’s really too bad that they don’t identify their entry-level positions more easily, as it’s even pretty easy to find internships at Gallup. We do know that most opportunities at Gallup are located in Omaha or Lincoln, NE, so keep that in mind when you’re searching their jobs site. They do offer many opportunities for new college grads, you just have to find them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you find a better way to identify entry-level jobs at Gallup? Share it with us by leaving a comment.