One Day, One Job » operations

Urban Outfitters

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

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

Get Urban Outfitted

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

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

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a hipster?

Proper Cloth

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

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

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

Get a Proper Job

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you bought any shirts from Proper Cloth?

BookRenter.com

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

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

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

The End of Rent Seeking

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your worst college textbook horror story?

W3i

Willy Franzen — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 16:19:57 +0000

Sponsored Job: PEAK6 is a Chicago, IL based proprietary trading firm that specializes in inventory and risk management, and they’re hiring a Junior Project Manager.

I recently discovered an awesome iPhone/iPad flight simulator/shooter game called MetalStorm: Wingman. It’s free, and it’s a lot of fun, but the publisher is constantly trying to eke revenue out of the game. There are ads, upsells to buy new planes and weapons, and suggestions of other apps to download. It’s that last one that caught my attention, and it led me to a company called W3i. They’re based in Sartell, MN, and they are in the business of “intelligently connecting people to apps.” They do this with both mobile and desktop apps, and they provide an opportunity for app developers to both expand the reach of their software and make money by promoting other apps.

Put the App in Apply

Believe it or not, W3i isn’t some startup. They’ve been in the business of promoting apps for over 10 years (and they’ve been profitable for most of the time!). That means that they’ve had to constantly adapt as the landscape of software downloading has changed. Some companies would get crushed by all of the changes in technology and app store rules (depending on Apple’s whims must be tough), but it sounds like W3i has responded by doubling sales since last year. If you want to really dig into what W3i does, you can read up on their offering for both desktop apps and mobile apps. You may also want to check out what they’ve done for some of their clients. If you like what you see, you’ll want to head over to W3i’s Careers page, which is beautifully done. You can learn about Life at W3i, browse careers by department, or head straight to a list of all of their current openings. The best positions for new grads include:

There are a ton of awesome opportunities at W3i, so hopefully one of them will be just what you’re looking for. If not, you can also apply for Future Opportunities. (I’m assuming that all of these positions are in the Sartell office because nothing states otherwise, but W3i also has offices in San Francisco, Berlin and Minneapolis.)

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What are your favorite apps?

ClearVision Optical

Willy Franzen — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 13:16:02 +0000

Apparently wearing glasses is cool again, especially if they’re what used to be considered dorky. I don’t get it. I’m a contact lens kind of guy. I wear my glasses right after I wake up and before I go to bed, but other than that I relish in the fact that we’ve developed tiny pieces of plastic that can make us see perfectly. You’d think technological breakthroughs like contact lenses and Lasik would be bad news for a businesses that was founded in 1949 to distribute fashionable eyewear, but you’d be wrong. ClearVision Optical was started by a Navy veteran to “serve the independent optometrist community” in Long Island, and it has grown into a “global enterprise, serving optical professionals throughout the U.S. and in 40 countries around the globe.” The Hauppauge, New York based company has been able to grow like this because of its devotion to strong customer service that is centered around helping clients build stronger practices.

Do You See What I See?

While ClearVision Optical mainly calls itself a distributor, they’re also in the business of designing and producing “premium eyewear and sunwear products.” One of ClearVision Optical’s main selling points is the brands they work with, which include BCBGMAXAZRIA, Izod, Cole Haan, Marc Ecko, Fisher-Price, and a bunch more. I’m not exactly sure what the relationships with these brands look like, but I do know that ClearVision Optical benefits significantly from being able to sell them all through a single rep. I found out about ClearVision Optical because one of their former interns and current employees e-mailed me to tell me how much she loved working for them (I will note that she now works in recruiting). After taking a look, I was really impressed with how the company has continued to balance growth with remaining family-run. It does look like a cool place to work, and it’s very clear that they put a lot of emphasis on developing talent. They are big on internships, and their Jobs page shows two positions that could be well suited to new grads: Customer Care Associate and Outside Sales Consultant – Designer Eyewear. Take a look, and see if ClearVision Optical might be just what you want to see.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you wear glasses?

Care.com

Willy Franzen — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 15:58:13 +0000

When you’re young your biggest responsibility is taking care of yourself. But eventually you get a dog, buy a house, have kids, and even have to start caring for your aging parents. As the responsibilities pile up, many people have to seek professional help to handle it all. I’m not talking about mental health professionals–I’m talking about babysitters, nannies, dog walkers, senior caregivers, and other people who can take on some of your daily responsibilities. Care.com is a Waltham, MA based company that makes “it easier for families to find reliable, trustworthy care for their loved ones.” Care.com does this by providing a closed community for matching up caregivers with people who are looking to hire them. By keeping the community closed, Care.com is able to ensure quality with features like background checks, reviews, and reference.

Show That You Care

The biggest impediment to finding a caregiver is trust. Whether you’re looking for someone to bring in your mail or babysit your first born, you don’t want to have any doubts about the person that you hire. Usually people use their real world social networks to find people for these jobs, but where do you go if you can’t find anyone you already know? Care.com wants to be that place. By combining an easy to use online experience with a team of experts, Care.com has positioned itself as the place to go to find caregivers or caregiving jobs. From what I can tell, Care.com is growing at a really good rate and they’re extremely well funded by venture capitalists. That must be why Care.com’s Jobs page has so many opportunities posted. The jobs that look like they might be good fits for new or recent grads include Data Analyst, E-mail Producer, Inside Sales Representative, Marketing Associate, Member Care Call Center Representative, Online Marketing Analyst, Operations Analyst, and Software Engineer. These look like really cool opportunities, so don’t pass them up.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you care for anyone?

Skullcandy

Willy Franzen — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:26:48 +0000

Yesterday we looked at Niner Bikes and how they’ve carved out a really nice niche in the outdoor action sports market by building mountain bikes with bigger wheel bases. Today we’re going to look at a company that has built a much bigger business in the same market by offering products that you may not initially associate with the market. Skullcandy is a Park City, UT based company that “markets high-end headphones, earphones, hands free devices, audio backpacks, MP3 players and other audio enabled lifestyle products.” They target consumers who associate with sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and mountain biking, so they’ve been able to build a really strong brand identity that has fueled some serious growth. Skullcandy was founded in 2003, and they made the Inc. 5000 this year with 354% three-year growth to $160.6 million in annual revenue. In fact, the growth has been so great that Skullcandy had an IPO earlier this year.

Get It Through Your Skull

Obviously a big part of Skullcandy’s brand is style–a really big part. Just look through their headphone selection. It seems that the focus is more about what your headphones say about you than what they actually sound like. There’s nothing wrong with that–it’s obviously working for Skullcandy. Oddly enough, finding information on Skullcandy the company isn’t all that easy. They don’t seem to have an About page, so their Wikipedia entry is worth looking at. You may also want to check out Skullcandy’s Investor Relations page, as it also has some really useful information. Unfortunately, the trend of not providing much information continues to Skullcandy’s Jobs page. They don’t post specific positions and only ask that you “submit a resume and cover letter to careers@skullcandy.com.” They are a publicly traded company with $160 million in revenue that has been growing at an insane rate. It’s time for them to get a little more serious about hiring people. If you’re into the intersection of action sports, music, and fashion, then Skullcandy would be a perfect fit, so don’t let their lack of job postings hold you back.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own any Skullcandy products?

Yeti Coolers

Willy Franzen — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:33:33 +0000

I spend a ton of time outdoors between fly fishing and playing beach volleyball. You’d think I’d have a cooler to take along with me, but I don’t. If I did, it’d have to be one of the models made by Yeti Coolers. They’re an Austin, TX based company that builds coolers that are more durable and keep things colder than any other coolers on the market. Yeti Coolers are built for tough conditions, which is why some of the biggest names in outdoors sports endorse them and the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee has deemed them Grizzly Proof. You may think it’s cooler overkill, but the market for high quality coolers seems to be extremely strong. That’s why Yeti Coolers made the Inc. 5000 with 613% three-year growth to $13 million in revenue.

These Jobs Do Exist

Yeti Coolers’ business seems pretty simple. They build a superior product and market it to a demographic that appreciates the kind of quality that Yeti Coolers offers. It’s obviously been a bit more complicated than that considering how quickly Yeti has been able to grow. I’m sure their engineering and manufacturing is pretty high tech, and I’m sure that going up against entrenched cooler manufacturers is a big challenge for a relative upstart. Still, you have to love that there’s still a ton of room for Yeti to grow in the market. If you want to be a part of that growth, then you should check out Yeti Coolers’s Careers page. While they don’t have any openings posted there, they do have an Application Page where you can apply for positions in Account Management, Accounting/Finance, Administrative, Cusomter Service, Human Resources, IT, Marketing, Operations, Order Processing, R&D / Product Development, Sales, and Warehouse. Hopefully your search for these jobs will be more fruitful than the search for the Abominable Snowman.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own a Yeti Cooler?

Mango Languages

Willy Franzen — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 15:54:59 +0000

I’ve come to accept that I’ll probably never learn a foreign language (maybe I’ll try a new computer programming language one day). I think my crazy high school French teacher ruined me, but I must admit that technology is making the idea of learning another language more and more attractive. The problem with most language learning software is that it can be really expensive? Mango Languages is a Farmington Hills, MI based company that has solved this problem for a lot of consumers. They provide online language learning services mostly to libraries, schools, government agencies, and corporations. That means that they get the guys with deep pockets to foot the bill for the people who are actually learning the new languages. It’s a smart approach that works considering that Mango Languages made the Inc. 5000 with 629% three-year revenue growth to $3.8 million in revenue.

Do You Like Mangoes?

Now anybody can go sign up for one of Mango Languages online courses (and the prices actually don’t look bad at all), but they’ve made a conscious decision to target multi-use accounts. That means their sales approach is likely different from other companies that offer similar products. Speaking of the product, you’ll probably want to check out what Mango Languages offers. You can read up on their methodology, check out some of their videos, and even do a free trial. That should answer all your questions, but if it doesn’t, you can take a look at the Mango Languages FAQs. If you’re digging the product, then you may want to consider working at Mango Languages. The video below is a quick intro to life at Mango Languages:

If that looks good to you, continue on to the Mango Languages Careers page. They have a bunch of job openings including Bilingual Project Coordinator, Help Desk Support, Human Resources Generalist, Integration Manager, Interactive Designer, Operations Coordinator, Sales Representative, Software Developer, and Web Developer. As you can see there are lots of options, so it’s pretty likely that one of them will be suitable if you’re a language lover.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What languages do you speak?

Ludus Tours

Willy Franzen — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:10:52 +0000

A few weeks ago I told you about a company called Sixthman that gets together groups of music fans and puts them on a cruise ship with their favorite artists. It’s a pretty cool idea that is making a bunch of money (even if it doesn’t sound like my kind of fun). Ludus Tours is another company that organizes group vacations, but they are focus on taking people to specific destinations for specific events. Their main focus is on sporting events like The Olympics, The World Cup, The Master’s, The Super Bowl, and other big events that are preceded with a “The.” However, they have branched out to do other types of trips like Oktoberfest in Munich, Carnaval in Rio, and The Running of the Bulls. They cover all the bases including travel, accommodations, tickets, and all of the other logistics involved with trips like these. San Diego, CA based Ludus Tours serves both individuals and groups, so you can book a tour for yourself or organize a group excursion. They must do a good job considering they’ve seen 1,253% three-year growth to $2.5 million in revenue.

Take a Tour

Part of what has made Ludus Tours successful is that they’ve developed partnerships with a ton of athletic governing bodies including USA Volleyball, USRowing, USA Wrestling, and lots more. Ludus Tours has also worked with some big name clients including Pepsi, Mercedes-Benz, ABC, IMG, and Octagon. Those last three should stand out, since they’re big names in sports–and they’re trusting Ludus Tours to make sure that their trips go on without a hitch. The best way to get a feel for the type of experience Ludus Tours offers is to go on one of their trips, but since you probably can’t do that right now, you should read through some of their testimonials. It should give you a better sense of how the business operates. If you like what you see, then head over to the Ludus Tours Jobs page. They have a number of positions posted. The best fit for a new grad is probably the PR Coordinator position (the linked job description is wrong), but they’re also looking for a Volleyball Account Manager, a Marketing Operations Manager, an Events Manager, and a Technology/IT Guru. Ludus Tours is also hiring London Tour Guides/London Event Staff for the 2012 Olympics, so that could be a cool opportunity as well.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

If money were no object, which big name sporting event would you go to?

Zoosk

Willy Franzen — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 15:55:08 +0000

Though I’ve never had the opportunity to try an online dating site, I do have some interest in the industry. First, I think that online dating and online job search have a lot in common. Second, a lot of online marketing innovation comes out of the online dating industry. Third, I have a good friend who has a side project in the online dating space, and I enjoy learning from him and helping him build the business. I guess that’s why I’d heard of Zoosk before. Or maybe it’s those commercials with a bunch of really good-looking people huddled around a computer having fun on a dating site. Either way, I didn’t really bother to take a closer look at San Francisco, CA based Zoosk until I got an e-mail from a reader who recently landed a job there. Now I realize that Zoosk has kind of come out of nowhere to be a massive force in online dating. They have millions of users (they’re apparently bigger than Match.com) and a revenue run rate that was pushing towards $100 million annually back in February.

Social Dating?

I have two hesitations about Zoosk. The first is that they chose to include “zoo” in the name of a dating site. The second is that they use the term “social dating.” Isn’t dating inherently social? Anyway, the concept behind Zoosk is that it’s built on apps that run on top of existing social networks like Facebook. I think there’s also some element of having your friends help you pick dates (that’s what the commercials insinuate), but I couldn’t find a good description of how that works. The business model is a freemium subscription model. You get limited access for free, and you need to pay up to actually interact with people and land dates. Plenty of people are paying up, and a lot seem to be getting their money’s worth–at least if you go by Zoosk’s Success Stories. They also seem to be a good place for job search success stories, as they’re growing very quickly. Zoosk has a wonderful Careers site that provides a lot of information on what it’s like to work for them. From there you can check out their open positions which include Marketing Associate, Freelance Videographer, and a number of Software Engineer positions. The reader who e-mailed me got a position in User Operations, so that could be an option to.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried Zoosk?

ReTargeter

Willy Franzen — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:12:15 +0000

Want to be part of the One Day, One Job/Internship team? Here’s your chance!

I’m about to head over to TechWeek to check out midVenturesLAUNCH. It’s an event for new startups to launch and release new products. I figure it’s a good scouting opportunity for finding companies to tell you about. As I was looking over the website for the event, I realized there were a bunch of sponsors that probably have job opportunities. One that caught my eye was ReTargeter, which is an online advertising company based in San Francisco, CA. Last week we looked at RadiumOne and their social targeting technology. Today we’re going to look at ReTargeter and their approach to targeting. Retargeting is all about showing ads to people who have already shown interest in something. I actually started seeing ads for TechWeek all over the Internet after I visited their site a few times. That’s retargeting. (We covered the topic previously in our post about FetchBack.)

ReTarget Your Job Search

ReTargeter says that their retargeting campaigns are 300% more effective than regular ad campaigns. I believe it. Though retargeting isn’t a replacement for traditional online advertising, it’s an excellent supplement. The best way to get a feel for what ReTargeter does is to read through their Case Studies. You’ll also want to check out their Product offerings. I could totally see a job seeker trying out retargeting. I’m not sure how cost-effective it would be, but imagine having a recruiter constantly see ads for hiring you after he or she visits your online resume. I’d love to see someone try it. It might even be a good way to convince the folks at ReTargeter to hire you. Right now their Jobs page shows that they’re looking to fill a number of positions that could be suitable for new or recent grads including Account Executive, Ad Operations Specialist, Front-end Developer, Back-end Engineer, Community Manager, Community Ninja, and Office Manager. Check them out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What ads get retargeted to you?

RadiumOne

Willy Franzen — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:36:37 +0000

In case you haven’t heard, we’re hiring! I’m looking for help in Writing/Editorial/Content Development, Marketing/Outreach/SEO, and Web Design/Development/User Experience. You can learn more here.

Sometimes when I’m watching television I get irritated by how stupid the ads are. Then I realize that the ads are targeted to the show, and it’s my fault for watching something idiotic. Ad targeting is getting better and better as advertisers gather more and more data on us, and this presents a great opportunity for us to learn about ourselves by observing which ads are targeted to us. The obvious next step in advertising is social, and RadiumOne is a San Francisco, CA based company that “is the first online ad network to leverage social data on the Web.” I know it’s a little creepy, but it’s the future. Brands want to be able to “identify users who are most likely to interact with their ads,” and that’s exactly the service that RadiumOne provides. I just hope the ads they serve me don’t tell me that I don’t have any friends.

A Social Target

Despite the fact that RadiumOne claims to be the first at what they’re doing, I’m sure you’ve heard the term social advertising before. It’s not really a new idea, but it’s an idea that is now ready for the mainstream. So what makes RadiumOne stand out? Results.(What else matters?) This TechCrunch article discusses how RadiumOne has significantly increased advertising ROI for clients. RadiumOne is able to do this because they have great data source. You may assume that they’re partnered with Facebook, but they actually gather data from partners like “niche social networks, blogs, URL shorteners, and media-sharing sites.” RadiumOne has built an entire social ad network parallel to traditional online ad network–they work with different publishers, they use different data, and they deliver different ads. It seems to be working for everyone. If you’re excited about the future of social advertising, check out RadiumOne’s Jobs page. They have a number of positions suitable for new grads including Technical Operations Analyst, Display Optimization Analyst, and Media – Account Manager. There are also a few positions that don’t have job descriptions, so you may want to look at those too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of what RadiumOne is doing?

Morningstar

Willy Franzen — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:01:41 +0000

Want to land a job and save the world at the same time? This week’s sponsor is Samaritan’s Purse, a non-profit organization with some amazing entry level career opportunities.

Sometimes during your job search a company name will keep popping up. You’ll ignore them because of assumptions that you’ve already made about them. Eventually you’ll give them a look, and you’ll realize that you didn’t know as much as you thought about them. That’s kind of how I’ve been with Morningstar. I knew of them well before I started this site. I have a friend who worked for them. They’re headquartered here in Chicago, IL, and they’re big supporters of the local startup and technology scene. They’re one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, and I’ve even had multiple people tell me to write about them. I guess it’s time to take a closer look at Morningstar, which is “a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.” They serve all investors from individuals to financial advisors to institutions, and they do so with a wide range of products that includes services, software, online publications, and print publications.

Good Morning!

Morningstar is a big company. They have thousands of employees, and work all across the world–26 countries to be exact. They provide “data on approximately 380,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 5 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets.” In other words, there are all kinds of job opportunities at Morningstar. Luckily, they do a great job with their Careers site. You should probably start with the Morningstar Story, and then read up on what it’s like to work at Morningstar (you may also want to check out their Employee Testimonials).

From there you will have two options. The first is to look at Morningstar’s Development Program, which is their formal entry level recruiting program. They’re actually having a Meet and Greet at their headquarters on August 4th for people interested in the program (you must register by e-mailing mdpresumes@morningstar.com before July 29th). The second option is to go straight to their Job postings. You can narrow it down to only Morningstar’s entry level listings, where you’ll see positions like Associate Municipal Credit Analyst, Data Analyst, Private Funds – Custom Software (Chicago, IL),
Data Management Analyst (Chicago, IL), Data Management Analyst (Oakland, MD), IFA Journalist (Australia), Investment Analyst – Morningstar Investment Management (Chicago, IL),
Operations Associate, Morningstar Investment Services (Chicago, IL), Product Consultant (United Kingdom), Product Consultant for Institutional Software (France), Product Support Specialist (Austin, TX), Quality Assurance Analyst – Custom Solutions (Chicago, IL), Research Analyst (Chicago, IL), and Sales Associate – Inside Sales (Chicago, IL). There’s a ton of opportunity at Morningstar, so don’t overlook them like I did.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What company have you been ignoring?

Savored

Willy Franzen — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:11:51 +0000

It’s funny how you hear about something for the first time, and soon after it seems to keep coming up over and over again. That’s how I feel about Savored. They’re based in New York, NY, and they were formerly known as VillageVines. They’re yet another deals site, but they’re standing out from a lot of the other “me toos” because of their creative approach–it’s OpenTable meets Groupon. Here’s how it works: You pay $10 for a reservation at one of Savored’s partner restaurants at a time they’re offering, and you get 30% automatically taken off your bill. That’s it. The focus isn’t so much on getting new customers into restaurants as much as it is on getting people to go to restaurants at times when business is typically slow. You can cancel the reservation up until two hours before, and you get a refund if your total savings are less than the $10 you paid for the reservation.

Unforgettable Working

A lot of people are down on the whole deal site phenomenon, but I think it will continue to be a strong market. Coupons and promotions have been around forever, and this is just the next stage. Offering discounts instead of spending money on marketing and advertising makes sense, and there are plenty of businesses with high fixed costs and low marginal costs that can benefit from filling in slow periods with lower margin customers. This is what Savored is all about. They just relaunched with the new name this week while also expanding into some new markets, but it seems that they already have a pretty killer lineup of restaurants participating. The business is built entirely on the $10 reservation fee, which makes it really easy on the restaurants. They just give you the discount, charge you as they normally would, and that’s that. If you like what Savored is doing, head over to their Jobs page. Right now they are hiring Sales Managers and Operations Managers. Despite the Manager titles, they don’t mention any experience requirements, so it’s definitely worth applying.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried Savored?

Urban Mapping

Willy Franzen — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 16:21:33 +0000

One of the most underrated trends in today’s wave of technology is the GPS-enabling of everything. I recently bought a waterproof digital camera with a GPS chip in it, and it has completely changed my perspective on taking photographs. I think that it’s so cool that I can visualize all of my photos across a map. As GPS shows up in more and more devices (it’s in pretty much every smartphone now), we’re going to see all kinds of cool applications come to fruition. Urban Mapping is a San Francisco, CA based company that plays a behind the scenes role in pushing forward mapping technology. As they put it, they provide “geographic data and services to businesses for bigger insights and better decisions.” Put more simply, Urban Mapping organizes all kinds of data around geography in a way that makes it easy to visualize and manipulate the data.

Where Are You Headed?

Urban Mapping’s flagship product is called Mapfluence, which is a “cloud-based mapping platform with thousands of content layers that can be visualized on maps, in tables and charts, or spatially analyzed to derive valuable location intelligence.” It has access to “more than 10,000 variables across dozens of data types, including demographics, educational performance, business analytics, religion, political affiliation, transportation infrastructure, weather, health and industry-specific data.” Just think how powerful that can be. With Mapfluence you could build an app that notifies you when you enter a sketchy neighborhood or helps you find parking spots. There are seemingly endless uses for the products and services that Urban Mapping offers. In addition to Mapfluence also offers a product called Urbanware and a number of Industry Solutions. If you’re excited about the future of mapping technology, take a look at Urban Mapping’s Jobs page. Right now they have a few positions that you might be interested in including Data Researcher, Python Engineer, Inside Sales Rep/Sales Ops, and Hacker in Residence. Some of the job postings appear to be a bit outdated, but don’t let that hold you back from applying. Good things happen to those who act.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you love maps?

Outbrain

Willy Franzen — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 16:32:11 +0000

When you’re in the online content business, much like any other business, your goal is to get people to consume more of what you’re producing. There are a number of reasons for that, but the biggest is that more pageviews mean more ad revenue. You obviously also want to help people solve problems, find interesting stuff, and have a reason to keep coming back to your site. That’s why Outbrain offers sites automated “related link widgets” to “increase recirculation & generate more revenue.” There’s a good chance that you’ve seen the New York, NY based company’s widgets across the web. They’re on sites like USA Today, Slate, iVillage, TMZ, Chicago Tribune, The Daily Beast, and lots of others. Honestly, I usually ignore those links, but they must get clicked on considering Outbrain has so many big name partners and $29 million in funding.

Are You Brainy Enough?

Outbrain breaks down what they do into two simple things:

Helping people discover great new content to read online
Helping web publishers and bloggers grow their business by doing right by their readers

It’s easy to see how they do the first by just looking at their widgets, but the second isn’t as clear. They charge publishers to put their links in the widgets to promote content, and then they pay publishers who get their readers to click on the widget links. It’s an interesting model since most people find content by actively searching for it on search engines. It’s not so easy to find content, when you don’t know you’re looking for it. Outbrain is all about recommending online content like Netflix recommends movies. That means contextualization, personalization, and collaborative filtering. If you like what Outbrain is doing, check out their Jobs page. Right now they have a few positions that are worth checking out for new or recent grads including Web Operations Engineer and Account Manager. There are a few other positions (also some in Boston, Israel, and the United Kingdom), but they seem to require more experience.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you click on Outbrain widget links?

Mimeo.com

Willy Franzen — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:41:39 +0000

My mom is a graphic designer, so many of my childhood memories consist of me sitting in the car fighting with my sister while my mom went into the print shop to drop something off or pick something up. Today’s version of me probably has it a lot easier because leaving your kids in the car is generally frowned upon, and brick and mortar print shops are a dying breed. Today, if you have a serious print job, you’re probably going to use an online printer who can do your job and ship it to you more quickly and more cheaply than the local print shop can. We’ve already looked at one company like this, VistaPrint, and today we’re going to look at Mimeo.com. They’re located in New York, NY; Newark, NJ; Memphis, TN; and Hayward, CA, and they call themselves “the innovator of online, on-demand document printing and distribution.” They were founded in 1998, and since then they’ve been focused on developing web-based technology to make online printing even easier than walking into a print shop.

Put the Me in Mimeo.com

You can get pretty much anything printed by Mimeo.com: presentations, manuals, brochures, booklets, flyers & sell sheets, posters, newsletters, postcards, and whatever else you may want to print. They must do a good job, because they’ve received a number of accolades ranging from being named to the Inc. 5000 to having their front end applications “judged to be ‘best’ in the industry 2 years in a row by the PIA, the largest print and graphics trade organization in the world.” Mimeo.com has also enlisted some major partners to share technology and make the company’s offerings even better. Mimeo.com seems to keep growing, and that’s why they have a ton of job openings posted right now. If you check out their Jobs page, you’ll see a bunch of positions suitable for new or recent grads including Account Administration Analyst (Memphis, TN), Account Executive (New York, NY), Front End Developer (New York, NY), Industrial Engineer (Mephis, TN), Lead Acquisition Specialist (New York, NY), Operations Leadership Program Associate (Memphis, TN), Quality Auditor Associate (Newark, NJ), Shipping Associate (Newark, NJ), and Solutions Advisor (Memphis, TN). Most of these positions have multiple openings, so there are a ton of jobs available.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever ordered anything from Mimeo.com?

TrialPay

Willy Franzen — Fri, 27 May 2011 16:30:53 +0000

Marketing used to be simple. You buy a few ads, maybe offer a coupon or two, and people would buy your product (ok, it wasn’t that simple, but it was close). The company that provided the audience–the tv station, newspaper, magazine, or billboard owner–earned most of the marketing spend. That model is changing, and consumers are getting an increasing share of the pie. Groupon really revolutionized the model by convincing tons of business owners to spend their advertising dollars on subsidizing a customer’s (hopefully first) purchase. TrialPay is a Mountain View, CA based company that is using a similar philosophy, but with a very different implementation (Groupon is actually one of their customers). As they put it, they offer “the leading transactional advertising platform that serves thousands of name-brand companies.” They’re kind of like the impulse buy aisle at the supermarket. They already know that you’re going to make one transaction, so they offer you another while your credit card is already out.

Try TrialPay Out

TrialPay works with four core constituents: Game Developers, Software Publishers, Online Services, and Consumer Brands. It’s a little hard to understand exactly how their programs work until you see them in action. For instance, DealSpot makes offers to online gamers where they get rewarded with extra in-game currency when they make a purchase. And Transactional Ads are a way for consumers to get free stuff by signing up for another offer. I really encourage you to dig in and look at all of TrialPay’s offerings. You’ll see that their philosophy is all about making the right offer at the right time. Through the power of the Internet, they’re able to target advertising to you when you’re most likely to respond to it. It’s really cool, and a little bit scary. If you’re excited about what TrialPay is doing, check out their Jobs page. They have a bunch of opportunities posted, and a few seem like good fits for new or recent grads including: Business Development Associate, Scalability Engineer, Software Engineer, Marketing Coordinator, User Operations Analyst, and User Operations Specialist. They also allow you to apply for an unlisted position, so you have no excuse not to reach out to them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried any TrialPay promotions?

YuMe

Willy Franzen — Fri, 20 May 2011 14:26:48 +0000

Who would have thought that video advertising would be the new thing? It’s only been around for more than 50 years. But as consumption of video moves from watching what is broadcasted over air/cable/satellite to watching what you want when you want to over the Internet, advertising has to change with it. People will click away from a website in an instant if they’re annoyed by the ads, while tv viewers are much slower to change the channel (even if it’s one of those commercials where the volume is twice as high). Yet, there’s so much more potential online–you can actually get someone to take an action by clicking on the ad. Television doesn’t offer that. YuMe is a Redwood City, CA based company that was founded in 2004 to encourage the growth of online video content by making it easy to monetize. The founders recognized “that the nascent broadband video sector was going to need a strong ad model and technology platform to generate revenue,” so they built it.

You at YuMe

If you’re like me, you probably hate online video ads. There are ones that slow down your Hulu viewing There are ones that automatically run for 30 seconds before you watch a 15 second video of some guy getting hit in the crotch. There are even ones that cover an entire page and start playing as soon as you open a new web page. You can get as annoyed with online video ads as you want, but they’re the cost of watching free content. YuMe has built an exceptional platform for both advertisers and publishers, and that’s why they’re serving “millions of in-stream video ads per day” and working with top publishers like MSN, Hearst, and Fox News. If you’re fascinated by how advertising is fueling the growth of online video, then you should definitely check out YuMe’s Jobs page. While most of their jobs require some level of prior experience, you should still check out the following positions: Business Operations Analyst, Sales Development Account Executive (Redwood City and New York), Sales Planner (Chicago and New York), Support Engineer – Mobile, and Technical Support Engineer. You may also want to check out some of the internships they have listed, because a few seem to be tailored to grads. And if nothing looks like great fits for you, they also welcome applications for unlisted positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How do you feel about online video ads?

Weight Watchers

Willy Franzen — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:53:50 +0000

A little known fact about me is that I earned “The Speed Limit” as a nickname during my Senior year of high school. It wasn’t because I drove slowly; it was because I somehow managed to lose 55 pounds between the end of Junior year and the beginning of Senior year. I still don’t know how it happened–I wasn’t even trying to lose weight–but it did (I’ve since gained much of it back, but part of that is because I don’t have the body of a scrawny 17-year old anymore). Apparently, there’s some mysterious weight loss secret out there that I used, but don’t know about. Unfortunately, weight loss isn’t usually that easy, and for most people it’s a huge struggle. I’m a big proponent of “the slow-carb diet” and other methods from Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Body, but it’s all about finding what works for you. For many it’s Weight Watchers. The New York, NY based company was started in Queens during the early 1960s by Jean Nidetch who “began inviting friends into her Queens home once a week to discuss how best to lose weight.” Now more than a million people across the world go to Weight Watchers meetings every week.

Jobs to Watch Out For

The Weight Watchers business is based on providing “information, knowledge, tools and motivation to help you make the decisions that are right for you about nutrition and exercise.” Everybody knows that the science of weight loss is easy. If you’re burning more calories that you take in (or at least absorb), you will lose weight. Putting that scientific fact to work is what’s so difficult. Weight Watchers is really about overcoming the psychological obstacles that prevent people from losing weight. The meetings are one way that they help people achieve this, and their Points systems is another. By simplifying healthy eating into an almost game-like system, Weight Watchers makes it easier for people to make the right decisions. In a way, weight loss is a lot like the job search in that you almost have to trick people into doing the right things because they’ll rarely do what you tell them to do. Anyway, the weight loss industry is about as competitive as it gets, but Weight Watchers seems to continue to do well. They’re expanding their online presence, and they also seem to be hiring some new people. You can learn more on their Jobs page, where you’ll see positions like Administrative Assistant (Jericho, NY), CHAMP Reconciliation Specialist (Jericho, NY), Part-Time Collections Clerk, Corporate Sales Operations Coordinator, Field Coordinator, Program Innovation Developer, and Tally Clerk.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever tried Weight Watchers?

33Across

Willy Franzen — Tue, 03 May 2011 16:13:26 +0000

One of my favorite daily activities during college was doing the crossword puzzle in The Cornell Daily Sun. It was a nice diversion during lunch (or an especially boring class). One of the best things that you can do while working on a crossword puzzle is to get one of the large horizontal words in the middle of the puzzle. These words are often 32 or 33 across, which is where 33Across got their name. They’re a company that “uses social graph data to dramatically improve online marketing” and “unlock the puzzle of social connections.” In other words, they have built a platform that targets advertising to people whose online connections already use the products or services that are being advertised. 33Across is based in New York, NY, and they have another major office in Sunnyvale, CA. Social advertising really is a lot like 33 across on a crossword puzzle–it’s really tough to solve, but when you do it opens a world of opportunities.

Here’s a Clue

Word of mouth marketing has always been the holy grail of marketers. If you can get people to tell their friends about your product or service, you win. It seems like every “social advertising” company is trying to figure out how to influence and promote more word of mouth. 33Across has taken a different approach to merging advertising with the data in social graphs. They do a great job of explaining how their “SocialDNA” Platform works on their website, so here’s what they have to say:

In order to deliver relevant ads, we have developed technology which tries to predict what consumers might be interested in based on anonymous data collected from various web sites. Specifically, our technology focuses on social interaction data. How does this work? One example is that when two people post a comment on the same photo on a social network site, our technology might assume that these people are part of the same social circle, and therefore may have similar interests. Then, if one of those people clicks on an ad for running shoes (for example), our technology might deliver the same ad to the other person.

Even though it all feels a little creepy, I love how the science of online advertising is advancing these days. If I’m going to have to look at ads, they might as well be relevant to me. If you’re good at solving crosswords and interested in the connection between advertising and technology, then you should check out jobs at 33Across. They have a couple of options for new or recent grads right now including Campaign Analyst (New York, NY) and Assistant Operations Analyst (New York, NY). And for those with a little more experience, they’re also looking for a Junior Financial Analyst (New York, NY) and R&D Engineer/Scientist (Sunnyvale, CA). 33Across looks like a really cool company, so read up on them and see if they’re a place you might wan to start your career.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you do crosswords?

Jaguar Land Rover

Willy Franzen — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:22:39 +0000

After driving for nearly 14 hours to get from Connecticut back to Chicago yesterday, I fell asleep well before my usual bedtime. As a result, I woke up extra early today–but not quite early enough to watch the Royal Wedding. Lucky for me, my girlfriend decided to DVR it. Despite my pretending to be disgruntled at having to watch a wedding on television, I actually found the whole thing to be somewhat interesting. I was especially intrigued by the fact that the whole thing kind of became a British car show. There were a bunch of Bentleys, a few Rolls Royces, and a Jaguar that carried Carole and James Middleton. Oddly enough, none of these car companies are still British owned. Bentley is owned by Volkswagen, Rolls-Royce Motors is owned by BMW (and the original Rolls-Royce company isn’t in the automobile business anymore), and Jaguar was owned by Ford and is now owned by an Indian company called Tata. Still, the Brits seem to be especially proud of their car brands, and that includes Jaguar Land Rover, which is based in Gaydon, UK but they also have a reasonable presence in the United States out of Mahwah, NJ.

Hear Jaguar Roar

We all know Jaguar as a luxury automobile brand, and that’s exactly what they are. Jaguar probably doesn’t have the most youthful image, but that makes sense since most people can’t afford fancy cars until later in life. Jaguar actually got its start as the Swallow Sidecar Company, which made sidecars for motorcycles, but they eventually moved on to manufacturing automobiles and changed their name after World War II. The company is now obviously very international; however, most of their operations still occur in the United Kingdom and they’re still very much a British company. Beyond the cameo in the Royal Wedding, Jaguar manufactures cars for the British Prime Minister and “holds Royal Warrants from HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Charles.” Jaguar doesn’t offer much information about their company or their careers on their website, but you can check out their jobs here. I got excited because they have a bunch of Analyst positions, but those all require 5 years of experience. The one seemingly entry level position that they have right now is Land Rover Parts Operations Coordinator. You can check that out, or wait to see what other positions they might post in the near future. And don’t be afraid to use the Royal Wedding for other job search ideas.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you watch the Royal Wedding?

Rosen Hotels

Willy Franzen — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:00:09 +0000

Cornell students! I’m on campus right now for the Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration. I’ll be here through Monday, so e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com if you like to meet up and pick my brain about careers or entrepreneurship.

So far I’m loving being back in Ithaca to connect with fellow Cornell entrepreneurs. I’ve met a ton of great people and learned about some really cool things that other alumni are working on. Yesterday I got to watch the finalists in the Cornell Venture Challenge pitch their businesses to investors and sit in on a panel about social entrepreneurship, but the best part was actually the keynote. I almost skipped it because I usually find those kind of talks boring, but I wanted to learn about Cornell’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” Harris Rosen. He is the President & COO of Rosen Hotels, and he is a fascinating guy. He came from meager beginnings in New York City, and somehow made it to Cornell. After going through a few jobs, he bought “a bankrupt 256-room Quality Inn in Orlando in 1974.” His company now owns 7 successful hotels in Orlando, FL that combine for 6,300 rooms. It may not be a massive chain like Marriott, Hilton, or Hyatt, but the business that Harris Rosen has built is just as impressive, if not more so.

Take a Trip to Orlando

Harris Rosen could live happily owning a single hotel, and he’d actually prefer it that way. But he blames the “entrepreneurship gene” for pushing him to keep expanding. Still, he takes a reserved approach to growth. He never borrows money, and he always invests in himself. More importantly, he invests in his people and his community. He has been a pioneer in both health care and education, and he’s found a way to make both key aspects of growing his business and keeping it stable. I usually don’t like to focus on founders so much, but Harris is so impressive and so essential to the culture of Rosen Hotels, that you need to understand who he is to understand the company. Here’s a little bit more info on him. If you love Harris’ story and are excited about the hospitality industry, then you need to check out jobs at Rosen Hotels. I’m not going to go through the listings, but they have a ton of jobs available that could be suitable for a new or recent grad–these range from Assistant Junior Golf Pro to VIP Concierge. Browse through the listings and see what interests you. And if you get a job there, you can rest easy knowing that you’re working for someone who firmly believes in “doing the right thing.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you stayed at any Rosen Hotels?

Warby Parker

Willy Franzen — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:16:56 +0000

Have an interview you’re worried about? Want the inside scoop on an industry or a company? Thinking of grad school? Get the advice you need from Evisors. Hundreds of former employees and interviewers with experience at 500+ companies and top schools to help you land your dream job! You can even get free advice sessions here.

When I was growing up, getting glasses was a death sentence–a one way ticket to nerd-dom. Every kid dreaded the day that the school nurse conducted eye tests. Luckily, my eyes didn’t go bad until my Junior year of high school, so I pretty much went straight to contact lenses. Now it seems that people want eyeglasses, even if they have perfect eyesight. Instead of trying to downplay the fact that they’re wearing glasses, people are buying stylish frames that make a statement. The problem is that glasses are expensive and kind of a pain in the butt to buy. Warby Parker is a New York, NY based company that is trying to change that. As they put it, “by circumventing traditional channels and engaging with our customers directly through our website, Warby Parker is able to provide higher-quality, better looking prescription eyewear for under $100.”

It’s the Way You Frame Things

What’s really cool about Warby Parker is that they’ve taken a page of out the TOMS Shoes playbook. For every pair of glasses that Warby Parker sells, they deliver another pair for someone in need. (I think that this is actually a subversive ploy to spread hipsterdom.) It’s really a simple business. Make great glasses, and keep them cheap by selling them directly online. If you’re dying for more info, you can read up on How Warby Parker Does It along with info on their Design, Materials and Assembly. The only kink in the model is that most people want to try a few pairs of glasses on before they buy them. Warby Parker has this figured out with their Home Try-On Program–you get 5 pairs in the mail and you send back the ones you don’t like (with free shipping both ways). If you like what you see through Warby Parker’s lenses, then you’ll want to consider a job with them. They don’t have a Careers page, but they have a few positions posted on Startuply including Retail Associate and Operations Associate (they also reached out to us to tell us about their exciting growth and plans to hire new grads). Both look like great opportunities for new or recent grads, so give them a good look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you wear glasses?

Threadless

Willy Franzen — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:22:57 +0000

If you’re like me and wear t-shirts sometimes, then you know the value of a good one. Despite the fact that I have dozens of t-shirts in my dresser drawers, I wear the same few over and over again. My favorite is a Cornell Athletics t-shirt that has seen better days, but for many of you it might be a shirt from Threadless. They’re a brand/company of skinnyCorp that uses community-inspired designs to make awesome t-shirts. It’s hard to explain exactly what skinnyCorp is, but they’re all about using technology to facilitate collaboration within creative communities. Threadless is by far skinnyCorp’s most successful project (others include Threadless Kids, Naked & Angry, I Park Like An Idiot, and ExtraTasty). The company was founded in 2000 in Chicago, IL, and they also have an office in Boulder, CO. They’ve done a lot in that time, including being named “the most innovative small company in America” by Inc. Magazine.

New Job, New Threads

Have you seen the Seinfeld episode where both Jerry and Elaine are waiting out the relationship of a couple they’re friends with? I feel that way about Threadless. I’ve been watching their Jobs page forever, and I’ve never seen anything even remotely relevant to new grads (I’m not sure if I’ve even seen anything posted before today). I found this extremely frustrating since they make a point of bragging about their being named #8 on a list of the “50 most Gen-Y friendly companies in the Chicagoland area.” It’s hard to be “Gen-Y friendly” if you don’t have jobs for them. Threadless still doesn’t have anything entry level post , but there is an internship in Operations along with a Senior Developer position. Since I’m sick of waiting, I decided to look at skinnyCorp’s LinkedIn profile, which shows their new hires. I see titles like Accounting Coordinator, Junior Copywriter, and Consultant. I never saw these jobs posted, so I either overlooked them–or they never got posted. A lot of jobs get filled before they’re posted, so maybe you should consider applying before the jobs get posted. And if that doesn’t work out, you can also try to make a living submitting designs. They do pay selected designers “handsomely.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own any Threadless shirts?

Coyote Logistics

Willy Franzen — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 16:39:16 +0000

Did you know that there’s a wild coyote population that lives in downtown Chicago? I’ve heard plenty about suburban coyotes (my dog was attacked by one a while back), but you don’t hear much about urban coyotes. I even saw one running through the streets once, but I assumed it was someone’s German Shepherd that got loose until I learned about Chi-town’s coyotes and their affinity for eating vermin. Anyway, there are also coyotes on the North Shore–Lake Forest, IL to be specific, but I’m not talking about wild dogs. I’m talking about Coyote Logistics, a logistics firm that was referred to me by a reader and that came in at #6 on the Inc. 500 last year with 13,847% three-year growth to $249.8 million in revenue. Since many of you probably know less about logistics than you do about urban coyotes (now that I’ve told you all about them), I’m going to enlighten you with a definition straight from Wikipedia. Logistics is “the management of the flow of goods and services between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet the requirements of customers,” and it “involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and occasionally security.”

Howl for a Job

Logistics never seems to get a lot of buzz, but I’m constantly impressed by the rapid success that companies like Coyote Logistics are seeing. I don’t care what business you’re in–if you can grow your revenue by nearly 140 times in three years, there’s something exciting about what you’re doing. What I find even more exciting is that much of Coyote Logistics’ growth is fueled by the work of recent college graduates. The company does a ton of campus recruiting in the midwest, and they’ve built a reputation as a great place to work. The Chicago Tribune named them one of the Top Chicago Workplaces, and a big reason for that is because CEO Jeff Silver works in “the trenches” with his employees. It also helps that Coyote Logistics offers “a work hard/play hard atmosphere and the opportunity to earn six-figure incomes.” If you want to be part of Coyote Logistics and their continued growth (and eventual move downtown to become urban coyotes), then you should check out their Jobs page. Right now they’re recruiting new grads for their Account Management Training Program. It looks like a really cool opportunity, so check it out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Coyote Logistics?

WePay

Willy Franzen — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:17:15 +0000

Like us on Facebook and follow me on Twitter. Better yet, tell two friends about us today.

You know what’s a pain in the butt? Collecting money from people. Maybe you’re the captain of your intramural team and need to collect entry fees from your teammates (my volleyball league starts on Sunday!) or your group of friends want to do the “pitch in” and buy The Drake a big-screen tv (yes, that’s a Seinfeld reference). Maybe you want to easily collect donations or collect money from your 9 deadbeat roommates who never pay the cable bill. (Or maybe you’re collecting money for an NCAA Tournament bracket that may or may not be violating gambling laws.) You can collect cash, checks, or try to use PayPal. No matter what you do, it’s probably going to be frustrating. WePay is a Palo Alto, CA based company that wants to change that. They’ve built the “best way to collect money from other people.” Their site allows you to “send bills, sell tickets, and accept donations” while easily tracking payments and managing money. It’s essentially a group bank account (you can even get a debit card for it)

I Pay, You Pay, We All Pay on WePay

This is where I announce that I’m now going to start using WePay to charge you for these daily e-mails. Just kidding (but if you feel like paying, I can definitely set up a WePay account). I’m a prankster, just like the team at WePay, except they’re way better than me at pulling gags. Like the time that they dropped $100 bills frozen in a 600 pound ice block in front of PayPal’s developer conference. Why would they do such a thing? To take a jab at PayPal for constantly freezing people’s accounts. WePay is extremely focused on making group payments simple and pain-free. They know that they face stiff competition from entrenched competitors that have more reputability (which is important when it’s money related), so they’re constantly working to generate awareness about how much better their product is. If you’re a fan of what WePay is doing, then you’ll want to give their Jobs page a look. They’re currently hiring a Designer, an Operations Associate, a Web Developer, and Campus Champions. The company is strongly focused on the college market because group payments are pretty common for twenty-somethings, so it’d be a great place to start your career after graduation.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used WePay for any group payments?

One Kings Lane

Willy Franzen — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 16:01:50 +0000

Want to sign up for One Kings Lane? Here’s an invite.

I was way ahead of the game when I told you about Gilt Groupe three years ago (it’s still where I get most of my non Bonobos clothes). Back then it was still unclear whether online sample sales would be successful–now there’s no question. Daily deals are as hot as can be, and One Kings Lane was founded in 2009 to offer the “world’s top home decor brands and designers at up to 70% off retail.” They’re headquartered in San Francisco, CA, but they also have large presences in New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA. One Kings Lane has found an extremely lucrative niche, and now they’re focused on growing their user base and continuing to deliver amazing deals on high-end products. The business model is proven, but One Kings Lane is facing stiff competition–especially from Gilt Home.

Sample These Jobs

The One Kings Lane website doesn’t show you much unless you’re a member (you can sign up here). That’s by design. Even though anyone can sign up, they want their sales to feel exclusive. They not only want you to get excited about the massive discount that you’re about to get, but they want you to feel like you’re an insider who deserves to get such a discount. The psychology works. The company increased sales 500% from 2009 to 2010, and it looks like that growth is continuing. Just look at One Kings Lane’s Jobs page. They have a ton of openings, which is a prime indicator of a company that is doing well. Right now a number of those openings seem suitable for new or recent grads including Assistant Buyer (Los Angeles), Customer Support Specialist (San Francisco), Event Product Specialist (New York), Junior QA Engineer (San Francisco), Logistics Coordinator (San Francisco), Merchandise Assistant (New York), Merchandise Assistant (Los Angeles), and Web/Mobile User Experience Designer (San Francisco). One Kings Lane looks like an awesome company to work for if you’re interested in home decor, so give these jobs a closer look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you signed up for One Kings Lane?

The Giving Back Fund

Willy Franzen — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 12:57:39 +0000

There’s no doubt that our country and world are better off because of the work of philanthropists. It’s especially impressive to watch what Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are doing with their billions of dollars through the Gates Foundation. Unfortunately, philanthropists, like money, don’t grow on trees. Since waiting for generous people to get rich could take a while, it’s a lot easier to try convincing people who are already rich to be more generous. That’s exactly what The Giving Back Fund, which is based in Los Angeles, CA, does. They are a non-profit organization that envisions “a society in which becoming a successful philanthropist is as valued and desirable a goal as success in athletics, business, entertainment, or any other field.”

What Are You Giving Back?

It shouldn’t be a surprise that philanthropy is hard for a lot of people. Giving away money is a completely unnatural act. The Giving Back Fund has a tough challenge in fighting human nature, but they’ve developed a great approach. They’ve focused on cultivating “a new group of philanthropists within the entertainment and sports industries, with a particular emphasis on groups often underrepresented in traditional philanthropy such as people of color, women, and youth.” These people have the money to give, they just need to see the value in giving it. Because new stars are often image conscious, The Giving Back Fund plays up the publicity benefits of being a philanthropist. That’s why they launched The Giving Back 30, a list of the top 30 celebrities in terms of dollars donated to charity. Oprah consistently tops the list, and I’d say she’s a pretty good role model for aspiring superstars. The Giving Back Fund also offers Philanthropic Consulting to help new philanthropists work through the hard decisions like how much to give and whom to give to. I like the idea behind The Giving Back Fund, because it’s focused on big wins. By getting big names to give big money, they’re creating a culture of philanthropy that will hopefully become self-perpetuating. If you’d like to be a part of what The Giving Back Fund, then you should check out the “Bookkeeper Plus” position posted on their Jobs page. It’s not a perfect fit for a new grad, but if you have some accounting know how and want to dig in deep with the every day operations of a non-profit organization, this could be the perfect opportunity.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you give to charity?