One Day, One Job » photography

Drchrono

Willy Franzen — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:26:37 +0000

Reasoning Mind is an education focused non-profit that uses the web to teach kids math, and they’re hiring 30 new grads as Program Coordinators. Learn more about these amazing entry level opportunities.

The health care situation in the United States is a mess. It’s hard to disagree with that, but it’s easy to disagree about how we can fix it. I think that technology is a big part of the answer. I don’t mean medical technology (though that will certainly help)–I’m talking about administrative technology. I know it’s not nearly as exciting, but if doctors can run their practices more efficiently, they’ll be able to deliver better care at a lower costs. That’s a big deal. Drchrono is a Mountain View, CA based company that is using the power of the iPad to change how medical practices are run. They’ve developed a software-based patient care platform that does everything from patient check-in to managing electronic health records to billing. It may not sound like it’s going to turn around the health care situation, but it’s a start.

What’s App Doc?

While I have to guess that most people use their iPads for Angry Birds and not much else, it’s really cool to see how this device is enabling industry changing software to be built. The problem used to be finding a way to deliver the software. Apple solved it. Now it’s just about making the software work in the context of how most medical practices operate. That’s exactly what Drchrono is doing. You can read about the platform here, and you read about its benefits here. Another key to Drchrono’s success is that it helps physicians qualify for the HITECH Act, which offers “$44,000 or more in economic stimulus incentives for adopting a Certified EHR.” That’s a big incentive. If you’re excited about what Drchrono is doing, then take a look at their Jobs page. Right now they have quite a few opportunities posted including:

There are lots of cool jobs available, so take a look at the job descriptions and consider applying.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Drchrono?

Greatist

Willy Franzen — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:32:45 +0000

Behavioral change is hard. Really hard. Whether you’re trying to be more diligent about networking or trying to lose a few pounds, you have to understand your own psychological shortfalls. If you try to make 20 changes all at once, you are going to fail. That’s why I really like how Greatist approaches health and fitness. They are aiming to inspire “the world to make one healthier choice per week.” It doesn’t sound like much, but it really adds up. And once you’re committed to one healthy choice a week, it gets a heck of a lot easier to make another one… and another one. Greatist is based in New York, NY, and they pursue their mission by providing health and fitness related content on their website. There are a million other sites that do this, but Greatist has a unique approach, a targeted market of the “young, savvy, and social,” and drastically growing traffic. Those are all really good signs.

Are You the Greatist?

Here’s a brief video that will give you an overview of what Greatist is and how they’re different from other sites (e-mail readers may need to click though to the post):

If you’re looking for more, you can read Greatist’s Health and Fitness Manifesto. The problem I see for Greatist is that monetizing health and fitness traffic usually means you need to peddle scammy, infomercially type stuff–or at least accept advertising for it. It’s what sells. Greatist once again is taking a different approach. They plan on making money through their own products. Take a look at their Bootcamps page to get a sense for how they’re approaching this. If you dig it, head over to Greatist’s Jobs page. They’re currently looking for a Contributing Writer, a Staff Writer, a Contributing Photographer, a PR/Communicatons/Brand Champion, a Technical Leader, and a Lead Designer. Greatist’s founder is a recent grad, so don’t be afraid to apply for any of these positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you live a healthy lifestyle?

Kembrel

Willy Franzen — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:57:32 +0000

Kembrel is members-only, but you can get in using this link. They’ll even give you a VIP Card for free (worth $20) and $5 in store credit to get you started.

There’s a battle going on between traditional retailers and e-commerce companies. The former offers the opportunity to get your hands on the merchandise, but the latter usually offers better prices, better selection, and more convenience. This leads to a lot of people using retailers to check stuff out and then buying online. I want to see companies start merging those two business models, and that’s exactly what Kembrel is doing. They’re a Philadelphia, PA based “online club” that allows “students to access their favorite fashion, food, and fun for a fraction of the retail price.” The online flash sale strategy is being combined with retail stores (they recently opened their first in Philly) to build the brand and offer members the opportunity to actually interact with products.

Join the Club

I find it really interesting that Kembrel is so intently focused on the college market. Fashion, food, and fun are a lot easier to sell to people who are post-college and have an income. Still, college kids are fashion conscious and need a place to buy clothes, and I think a hybridized online/retail model is the best way to sell to them. If you’d like to be a part of growing this model, then you need to check out Kembrel’s Jobs page. They kind of have a trying too hard to appeal to college kids way of copywriting, but maybe that will appeal to you college kids. Here’s what their Jobs page says:

Working for Kembrel is basically like working for a golden sunset that occasionally rains candy and happy hour beers in the form of a pastel-colored rainbow and there’s a wind in the air that sounds softly like hip hop mixes and there are gentle ponies with glittering braids that leap across the waving fields of tall grass delivering trendy clothes and vanilla mint ice cream to all the cheerful workers typing giddily at their desks.

Right now they’re hiring a Women’s Apparel Buyer, student photographers, and a bunch of interns. Take a look at the positions and see if any make sense for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Will you shop at Kembrel?

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?

Time Out

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

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

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

Take a Time Out from Your Job Search

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

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

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

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

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

National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency

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

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

Do You Have Geospatial Intelligence?

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

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

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you amazed by what the NGA does?

Chicago History Museum

Willy Franzen — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 17:20:57 +0000

I’m starting to get settled in my new place. After living in two moderately new high-rises in downtown Chicago, I’ve moved into a more historic building–it was built in 1921 and served as a Chinese consulate at some point. Now that I’m starting my fourth year living in the city, I feel that it’s only appropriate for me to start learning a little more about the city’s history. That’s why I should probably make a visit to the Chicago History Museum, which is just a mile down the street from me. Ironically, the museum, having been founded in 1856, “is the city’s oldest cultural institution,” though they pretty much had to start over after the Great Fire destroyed their building and most of their collection in 1871. Three years later there was another fire that destroyed most of what remained. Luckily, there haven’t been any more fires, so the Chicago History Museum has had a decent amount of time to build a new collection.

Make Your Job Search History

The Chicago History Museum’s collection focuses on eight specific areas: Architecture, Archives and Manuscripts (including Audio), Books and other Published Materials, Costumes and Textiles, Decorative and Industrial Arts, Fine Arts, and Prints and Photographs. The scope of these collections is limited to items related to Living in the Metropolitan Area, Working in the Metropolitan Area, Governing the Metropolitan Area, The Built Environment, and Individuals and Ideas. Apparently it all adds up to more than 22 million documents and artifacts. If you want to learn more about the specific collections, you should start here. And if you find that Chicago history speaks to you, then you’ll want to take a look at the Chicago History Museum’s Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Computer Support Technician and a Collection Manager – Costume and Textile (requires M. A. in Costume History, Museum Studies (Costume/Textile), or related field). If neither of those positions interest you, you could also consider volunteering.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you into your city’s history?

deviantART

Willy Franzen — Tue, 10 May 2011 10:44:41 +0000

Sometimes what you think is a niche community isn’t really “niche” at all. I’ve come across deviantART periodically while browsing the web, and I always thought how cool it was that there was a place online for artists to share their work. I had no idea that deviantART was a Top 100 website in terms of traffic and has “over 16 million registered members and over 145 million unique artist generated works of art.” I knew that it was a sizable community, but I had no idea that it was that sizable. While deviantART is a place for all kinds of art, there is definitely a focus on manga and digital art. Other categories include photography, traditional art, literature, Flash, filmmaking, and skins for applications. If it’s artsy, there’s a good chance that there’s a place for it on deviantART. The site was founded in 2000 in Hollywood, CA, and it’s unclear whether it was with the intention of building a business. Regardless, deviantART now appears to be a thriving business with a bunch of job openings.

Do You Deviate?

Whether it was back in 2000 when deviantART was launched or last week, we keep hearing about websites without business models. Social networks are especially notorious for being able to generate lots of users but little revenue. This doesn’t seem to be a problem for deviantART. They last took funding in 2007, and they still appear to be growing. Because the deviantART community is so focused, they’re a great market for advertisers. Additionally, deviantART offers premium memberships that offer extra benefits and provide another revenue stream. At the end of the day, deviantART is an extremely user-driven company that has grown because it listens to its community. If you want to dig deeper, check out deviantART’s About page. You can look at all of the deviantART profiles of their employees and see what kind of jobs people are working in at the company. If you like what you see, head over to the deviantART Jobs page. Right now they have a couple of positions that you should check out including Copyright & Etiquette Administrator, Online Marketing Merchandiser, and Web Application Developer. And if none of those look right, you can always try reaching out to them to see if there are other opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a deviantART member?

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

Willy Franzen — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:41:43 +0000

Ever consider a career in teaching? Here’s some info on how to get started.

There’s a long history of poking fun at Martha Stewart, and it started well before she went to prison. There’s just something funny about someone who takes perfection in domesticity as seriously as she does. My family even played an integral role in the satire of Martha with my little sister’s appearance in the parody magazine Martha Stuart’s Better Than You at Entertaining, which was a follow up to Is Martha Stuart Living? (here’s a picture my sister as young Martha Stewart in the parody). We can keep laughing at Martha Stewart, but she’ll always get the last laugh. She has an amazing track record of reaching the top in nearly everything that she has done–from babysitting for Mickey Mantle’s kids to starting a successful catering company in her basement to building a New York, NY based media empire in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. Martha Stewart is apparently now worth well over half a billion dollars, and has used her personal brand to build amazing print, television, online, and merchandise properties.

Are You Living?

Whether or not you’re a Martha Stewart fan, you have to be impressed by what she’s done throughout her career. She’s had an amazing ability to stay relevant, and a lot of that has to do with her media strategy. She easily could have settled with a successful catering business, or a popular magazine, or having her own television show, but she didn’t. It seems that she is obsessed with using every channel possible to reach people with her “unique lifestyle content.” That’s what Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is all about. If you enjoy the Martha Stewart brand and want to work on the media or merchandise side, then you definitely need to take a look at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s Careers page. There are some great opportunities posted in their job listings, and a few seem suitable for new or recent grads including: Assistant Food Editor, PHP Application Developer – Internet Content Management Systems, Front-End Web Developer, Decorative Pillow and Bedding Accessory Designer, Executive Assistant, Freelance Recipe Taster, Retail Merchandising Assistant, Apparel Designer – Martha Stewart Pets and Quilt Designer. You can also apply for an unlisted position if you don’t see something that suits you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a Martha Stewart fan?

Central Intelligence Agency

Willy Franzen — Mon, 02 May 2011 15:52:33 +0000

I was a senior in high school on September 11, 2001. We were told what had happened during our morning announcements period, and a few of who had free periods after went to the beach across the street from our school’s campus. We knew that on a clear day you could usually see the Twin Towers from there, but all we could see was a plume of smoke. We listened on the radio and heard reports of the towers falling and rumors of other attacks in the works. I was deeply affected by what happened that day, and since then I have been waiting for our country to bring Osama bin Laden to justice. Yesterday, a group of NAVY SEALs did just that under the command of the Central Intelligence Agency, which is based in Washington, DC but operates all over the world. I am extremely grateful to all of those who were involved–especially for those who risked their lives to make us safer. It’s a reminder of how important it is for our government agencies to have top talent working for them. WIthout great people working at the CIA and in our armed forces, bin Laden would still be at large.

Share Your Intelligence

The Central Intelligence Agency “was created in 1947 with the signing of the National Security Act by President Harry S. Truman.” We often think of it as some super secret spy agency, and in some ways that what it is; however, there’s a lot more to the CIA. As the CIA’s About page mentions, the CIA is under the direction of the Director of Central Intelligence, and he or she is tasked with:

Collecting intelligence through human sources and by other appropriate means, except that he shall have no police, subpoena, or law enforcement powers or internal security functions;
Correlating and evaluating intelligence related to the national security and providing appropriate dissemination of such intelligence;
Providing overall direction for and coordination of the collection of national intelligence outside the United States through human sources by elements of the Intelligence Community authorized to undertake such collection and, in coordination with other departments, agencies, or elements of the United States Government which are authorized to undertake such collection, ensuring that the most effective use is made of resources and that appropriate account is taken of the risks to the United States and those involved in such collection; and
Performing such other functions and duties related to intelligence affecting the national security as the President or the Director of National Intelligence may direct.

The operation that occurred yesterday is an example of the CIA at its best (well maybe at their true best we never even hear about it). Obviously, we can’t know most of the details of the operation, but it appears that the processes that the CIA developed over the past 10 years finally led to this accomplishment of one of the major goals of the War on Terror. If you’re inspired by this success, then maybe you should consider a Career with the CIA. They are a major entry level employer, and the Agency offers a very wide range of employment opportunities. Jobs are offered in the following areas:

Accounting, Budget & Finance
Analysis
Clandestine Service
Contracts & Acquisitions
Cyber Security
Engineering
Facilities Services
Geography & Cartography
Graphics, Multimedia, Publications & Photography
Information Management
Information Technology
Investigations
Legal Services
Library Services
Logistics Services
Medical Services
Science, Technology & Weapons
Security
Support Services
Trades and Labor

The CIA is one of the few government agencies that makes it extremely easy to browse through their job opportunities, and you can do that here. Today is a good day to be an American and a good day to think about career opportunities that will allow you to serve your country.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What secrets do you know about the CIA?

Shecky’s

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

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

Who’s Shecky?

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you familiar with Shecky’s?

Corbis

Willy Franzen — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 16:37:26 +0000

Have you ever grabbed a photograph off the Internet for an assignment? I’ll bet most students have done this at some point. But how many actually think about whether or not they have the right to use that image? It may not seem important, but what if that photo is being published in a newspaper, magazine, or blog? The person who created the image needs to be compensated. The same can be said for other creative works like videos, illustrations, music, and more. The problem is that individual creators don’t want to spend their time selling their work and protecting their copyrights–they want to keep putting out more quality work. That’s why companies like Seattle, WA based Corbis exist. They buy and sell the rights for creative intellectual property. They have a massive catalog, so if you needed an image of fly fisherman with a mountain in the background at sunset, they have what you need. In other words they bring efficiency to a market that would otherwise be extremely fragmented and inefficient.

Picture This

Corbis works through a number of different brands for different types of intellectual property. These include Corbis Images (images), Corbis Motion (motion/video content), Veer (photographs/illustrations/fonts), and GreenLight (music/video/film/tv/celebrities/iconic properties). Rights management may not seem all that exciting, but it’s pretty cool that Corbis is able to help creative professionals get their work out to people who can use it in new and interesting ways. I think best way to get a feel for Corbis is to browse the sites mentioned above so that you can get a feel for what kind of content they license and how the process works. Once you do that, then you can take a look at Corbis’ Jobs page. There are a number of positions worth taking a closer look at including Sales Representative (New York, NY), User Experience Designer (Seattle, WA), Sales Account Executive (Hong Kong), Designer (Calgary, Canada), and Account Executive (Hong Kong). They also have a few internships posted, so that may indicate other entry level opportunities in the future.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Corbis?

New York Daily News

Willy Franzen — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:38:18 +0000

I honestly can’t tell you when the last time that I picked up a newspaper was. It’s not that I’m sequestering myself from current events, it’s just that I do most of my media consumption online because it’s so easy. Obviously, attitudes like mine are causing a lot of distress in the newspaper industry, but I think there’s still a great business in delivering quality content. One area where online media kicks traditional media’s butt is in grabbing eyeballs. Sensationalism sells, and most newspapers still haven’t grasped that. However, tabloids, especially those based in New York, have always known how to get attention. That’s why there’s a good chance that I’ll pick up a copy of the New York Daily News if it’s sitting on a table at the coffee shop that my parents like to take me to back in Connecticut (where I’m headed this morning). It may not be the most reliable source for information or the most academic, but you have to love the fact that the New York Daily News understands the psychology of its readers and uses that knowledge to convince them to read. It doesn’t matter how great the writing is if nobody reads it.

Daily Jobs, Daily News

The New York Daily News was founded in 1919 and has had a tumultuous history and has nearly gone out of business multiple times. Today, however, they are the fifth most widely circulated newspaper in the United States, printing 535,059 issues on a daily basis. Up until 1991 the New York Daily News was owned and operated by the Tribune Company, but it is now owned by Mort Zuckerman. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find an About page for the Daily News, so I recommend that you check out its Wikipedia entry to get the full story. Along with having no About page, the Daily News also has a shoddy Jobs page, even if they say that its their “great employees” that make them “a great news organization.” They don’t actually list jobs, but they do mention that they typically hire in the areas of Advertising, Circulation, Marketing, Production, Technology, Finance, and Digital. I’m pretty sure that you can add Editorial and Writing to that list too, and probably Social Media too. They recommend that candidates reach out to them at resumes@nydailynews.com, and it looks like that may be worthwhile. A quick look at LinkedIn shows that a number of the Daily News’ most recent hires were at or near the entry level.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read the New York Daily News?

Converse

Willy Franzen — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:49:55 +0000

It’s been a long time since an airline has actually lost my bag never to be seen again. I think that I was about 6. Unfortunately it was the most awesome bag ever. It wasn’t very large and probably would have been carried on if it didn’t include one of my toy guns. It also had a bag of shark teeth that I collected from the beach, some clothes, various other toys, and a pair of Batman logo emblazoned Chuck Taylors. It was a devastating loss, and I’m still not quite over it. Now it’s been a long time since I’ve worn Converse shoes, but they certainly seem to be making a resurgence (or maybe they’re just always popular but in different subcultures). We’re lucky we still have North Andover, MA based Converse, because it seemed like they might go out of business until Nike swooshed in and bought them in 2003. If that hadn’t happened, I bet the market for second-hand pairs of Chucks would be insane—and then I’d really be missing those Batman All-Stars (even if they were a Size 1 or whatever).

Be an All-Star

I’ll bet that a big part of the reason that Converse struggled in the past was that the demand for their shoes seems to ebb and flow with our country’s cultural shifts. Converse shoes have been popular to basketball players, punk rockers, rappers, hipsters, greasers, and many other groups at varying times. That has to be really hard to plan for. I’d imagine that the influence of Nike has helped Converse run much more smoothly as a business. If anyone knows shoes, it’s Nike. Now that Converse seems to be back on the right track, you might want to check out their jobs. They don’t appear to have any clear cut entry level jobs posted, but of the 40 openings that they have right now, quite a few seem as though they could be suitable for new/recent grads. Unfortunately their applicant tracking system doesn’t let us link directly to the postings, but you’ll want to watch out for job titles like: Photographer, Footwear Designer, Retail Corporate Financial Analyst, Demand Planning Analyst, Accounts Payable Coordinator, Associate Menswear Designer – Knits (NYC), Assistant Womenswear Designer – Wovens (NYC), Assistant Designer – Womens RTW Apparel (NYC), and Accessories Designer (NYC). You can apply online, and if you land the job, I’m sure that you’ll never have to worry about buying shoes again.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do wear Converse All-Stars?

Joby

Willy Franzen — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:31:23 +0000

Whenever I get a new Facebook friend, he or she usually tells me that I have way too many pictures of me fishing. Since I let go nearly all of the fish that I catch, I love snapping a quick picture before the release—it gives me bragging material. That’s why I consider it important to have a fishing buddy who also knows how to take a decent photo. The problem is that I still spend a lot of time fishing alone, and trying to take a self-picture with a fish in the other hand is extremely awkward. Luckily I discovered the Gorillapod, a small tripod that has flexible legs that wrap around nearly anything. It’s a fishing buddy that fits in vest’s pocket. The Gorillapod is made by Joby, a San Francisco based company, and it really is an ingenious product—it takes all of the hassle out of lugging around a tripod.

Putting the Job in Joby

Joby is still a relatively small company, but they’re expanding their products lines by filling new niches with the same idea and technology. They have a Gorillatorch, which is a handsfree flashlight, and a Gorillamobile, which will allow you to attach your iPhone to nearly anything. The former is perfect for working in dark places when you need both hands, while the latter will let you use your phone as an in-car navigation system. I’m not sure which market Joby will go after next, but it seems safe to say that they’re continuing to focus on growing their business. Their Jobs page doesn’t go into much detail about what type of positions they have available, but it does say this:

Joby is always in search of curious individuals who think differently and are willing to break boundaries and disrupt convention. If you are razor sharp, enthusiastic, entrepreneurial and fanatical about the consumer experience, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line at jobs@joby.com and let us know a little about what makes you tick and how you would contribute to Joby.

I did find one job posting that was listed as entry level on one job board, but the description says it requires 3-5 years of experience. You can find the full description here.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own a Gorillapod?

Engadget

Willy Franzen — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:49:21 +0000

I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep for the next five nights. I’m too excited for Apple’s January 27th event to announce their “latest creation.” Everybody is assuming that Apple (see Apple’s entry level jobs) is going to announce some sort of tablet computing device, but it’s hard to say whether anyone in the media actually has legitimate inside information on what this event is going to be about. Still, I love speculation, which is why I’ve been glued to Engadget for the past few weeks in hope of learning every little nugget information related to this tablet that I can. If you don’t already know, Engadget is “an online magazine (blog) focused on tech / gadget news and happenings in the world of consumer electronics.” They get millions of visitors to their site every month, and they’re actually owned by Aol. Their biggest competitor is probably Gizmodo (which is run by Gawker Media and was founded by Peter Rojas, the same guy who later founded Engadget), and the two sites appear to have very similar sized audiences. There’s also gdgt competing in the space, but they’re much smaller.

Calling All Gadget Geeks

If you love gadgets and are a great writer, there couldn’t be a better place for you to work than Engadget. The site covers everything from mobile phones to televisions and from cameras to mystery devices that are likely to be tablets. They even cover high-tech weapons. If it’s hardware (or really cool software), and it’s cool, Engadget will be all over it. Although I don’t subscribe vias RSS (they update way too often), I do visit the site often, and I recommend that you do to. It really is a great blog. Just yesterday Engadget published a blog post that said that they are hiring. They’re looking for:

Mobile editor – Part or full-time (freelance), must be based in New York City (or nearby).
HD editor – Part or full-time (freelance), must be based in New York City (or nearby).
Weekend editor – Part or full-time (freelance), must be based in New York City or the San Francisco area.
Cameras editor – Part or full-time (freelance), preferably based in New York City (or nearby).
West coast editor – Part time (freelance), based in San Francisco (or nearby).

They have a very specific application process, which makes sense since they are going to get bombarded with applications for these positions. Make sure that you follow the details closely, otherwise they’ll probably just ignore your application. These are some amazing opportunities, so act fast.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think Apple will be releasing?

International Center of Photography

Willy Franzen — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 13:10:55 +0000

I think that I take pretty decent photographs. I even won a fishing photography contest once—ok my friend submitted the picture that I took with his camera and took the prize for himself. My expertise may end with a point and shoot camera, but I’m ok with that. If I ever want to advance my skills, I’ll be sure to check out the International Center of Photography. They are a New York City based non-profit that runs “a world-class museum and school dedicated to exploring the possibilities of the photographic medium through dynamic exhibitions and educational programs.” They were founded in 1974 by photographer Cornell Capa, and since then they’ve been moving forward the art (and science) of photography.

Picture a Job at ICP

The International Center of Photography has a wide range of offerings. They run a museum, offer continuing education courses, provide great online resources, and even offer a Master’s program. Beyond that, they seem to be eminently conscious of how they can help other causes whether it’s bringing attention “humanitarian documentary work” or organizing “award-winning youth education initiatives.” If you love photography, but want to do more than just take pictures, then the ICP is a perfect place for you. You should check out their Jobs page, where you’ll find a few positions posted. These include Billing Clerk/Administrative Assistant, Exhibition Technician, and Photo Lab Assistant. You can apply for any of these positions by sending a cover letter, résumé, and salary requirements to jobs@icp.org. Maybe including some of your photography along might help (might not).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever visited the ICP’s museum?

20×200

Willy Franzen — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:00:56 +0000

Since we’re going to talk about art today, I have to give my little sister a shout out for her Vernissage benefitting Artists for Charity tomorrow. If you’re in the Fairfield, CT area and enjoy art, you need to check it out. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not all that into art. With a painter for a sister, a graphic designer for a mom, and an architect for a dad, I’m the black sheep of my family. Designing this site is about as far as my artistic talent goes. With that said, when you combine art with a cool web based business idea, my ears perk up. That’s exactly what happened when I saw a friend post an article about 20×200 (a part of Jen Bekman Projects) on Facebook. 20×200 is an online art and photography gallery based out of New York City, and they just closed a first round of $800,00 in venture capital funding. Now, you don’t typically see art galleries getting VC funding, but you also don’t typically see art galleries using the power of the Internet to make affordable art available to the masses either.

20×200 ≫ 4,000

The idea behind 20×200 is based on a pretty simple formula: (limited editions x low prices) + the internet = art for everyone. It all started with limited edition runs of 200 pieces sold at $20, and now 20×200 offers more sizes at more prices. Still, the goal remains to keep art affordable so that it becomes more accessible. It’s a brilliant idea because it takes advantage of exactly what the Internet is best at doing—making inefficient markets more efficient. Matching artists with buyers is tough work, and brick and mortar galleries just aren’t big enough to do the job well. 20×200 matches these people up easily. That’s why investors saw potential in them, and now 20×200 has some cash to spend. Judging by their Jobs page, it looks like hiring is one way that they plan on spending that money. Despite their artsy fartsiness, 20×200 is most focused on hiring techies right now—they’re looking for a System Admin and a Web Developer. I’m sure that there will be more jobs in the near future, and some of them will be a bit closer to the art side of things. For now, check out these jobs and consider reaching out to 20×200 to see if they’ll consider hiring you for an unlisted position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you buy anything on 20×200?

Sling Media

Willy Franzen — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:07:23 +0000

We’re at a transitional point right now when it comes to television. In some ways it’s easy to watch the shows that we want to see by heading over to Hulu or some other Internet destination, but in many situations we’re still at the mercy of the television networks. We are not yet able to watch what we want to watch when we want to watch it no matter where we are, but that’s quickly changing. San Francisco’s Sling Media is one of the companies that is pushing that change. They’re behind a device, called a Slingbox, that you can hook up to your tv and cable box to watch and control your television from any Internet connected computer or smartphone.

Sling Your Career Forward

The opportunities for use are endless, but here’s one example. I love the Yankees, but in Chicago they’re rarely televised. I can set up a Slingbox in my parents’ house in Connecticut, that will let me watch all of the Yankees games (and whatever other local channels that I want) right on my computer at no cost beyond the hardware investment. It’s a pretty sweet technology, and I can even control a DVR to record the game if I’m not going to be near a computer to watch it. (The other option is to watch it on my iPhone under the table at dinner.) Most of what Sling Media is about right now is the Slingbox, but the company’s main focus is letting you control how you consume media. If that sounds like something that you’d like to be a part of, then you should check out their Jobs page. Current openings that may be suitable for new or recent grads include Sling Retail Sales Associate (San Francisco/Los Angeles), Ad Operations Trafficker/Coordinator (New York City), and Video and Photo Associate (New York City). They also have a bunch of Software Development jobs, but they all appear to have pretty hefty experience requirements. To apply for any of the jobs with Sling Media, send a cover letter and resume to jobs@slingmedia.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use a Slingbox.

POLITICO

Willy Franzen — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:31:10 +0000

I think that I’ve said it before here – I don’t like politics. I’m not talking about interpersonal politics, I mean government politics. I quickly get frustrated by the ineptitude of our elected officials (and often the media that covers them) and start yelling at the tv. I used to be what people call a “politics junkie,” but I just got sick of it. That was before political blogging took off (I’m not old!), but if I hadn’t tired of politics at a young age, I’m sure that I’d be an avid reader of POLITICO. Wikipedia says that POLITICO is “a political journalism organization based in Washington, D.C., that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio.” They apparently have a newspaper that is circulated on Capitol Hill and a number of partnerships with major media outlets, but their website seems to have the widest reach.

Be a POLITICO

I wish that I could tell you more about POLITICO, but their About page consists of a list of names with links to bios. Much like a newspaper (which I guess is what they are), there’s very little meta-information and a whole bunch of content. That makes finding detailed information about what it’s like to work for POLITICO kind of difficult. All you can go by is their Jobs page, which has quite a few positions posted. It’s hard to discern which are most appropriate for new college grads, but we think that you might want to give the following positions a look: Designer, Web Producer, White House Reporter, Life Reporter, Photographer, Video Producer, and Media and Special Projects Assistant. The job descriptions are really sparse, so you may end up applying for a position that you’re not qualified for, but what do you have to lose? Also, make note of the dates that many of these jobs were posted – they’re all over the place. Some postings are 7 months old, and others are much more recent. I can’t say for sure that POLITICO is still hiring for these positions, but you should definitely give applying a shot by sending a resume and cover letter to employment@politico.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read POLITICO?

Zappos.com

Willy Franzen — Thu, 29 May 2008 13:21:35 +0000

Most people like shoes. They protect your feet, offer support, and keep you warm. Some people love shoes – love them to the point that their loved ones (not the shoes) are likely worried about them. Oddly enough, the people who deeply love shoes often seem most interested in shoes that barely protect their feet, offer little support, and provide little or no warmth. We don’t really get that. Zappos.com puts these people to shame. As a company they have a shoe obsession that is far worse than that of the most Sex and the City addicted, Daily Candy reading, New York City fashionista. Why do we say that? Because Zappos.com is obsessed with everything shoes, not just the shoes of some designer whose name you’re supposed to know.

A Shoe-in for Best Customer Service

If you asked someone at Zappos what they love more, shoes or customer service, they’d probably have a hard time coming up with an answer. That’s because the Zappos equation is something like Amazing Selection of Shoes + Unparalleled Customer Service = Profit. It seems to be working, as they’re on their way to selling $1 billion in shoes this year. That’s only 2.5% of the US shoe market, but they’ve done it in 9 years. Their growth rate is excellent, and that’s why they’re doing a ton of hiring, as you’ll soon see.

The fact that customers have a year to return any shoes that they purchased from Zappos (and get the shipping paid for) is impressive, but what really knocks our socks off is the way that Zappos trains their employees. Every new hire, no matter what they were hired for, spends 4 weeks in intense Customer Loyalty training answering phones in the Zappos call center. About a week into the training period Zappos offers their new hires an incentive – a $1,000 incentive – to quit. Yes, they bribe their newly recruited people to take their first week’s salary plus a cool $1,000 and run (hat tip to What Would Dad Say although it seems like he got a few things wrong judging from the Harvard Business Review article on Zappos’ HR practices that he linked to as the original source). Zappos figures that if someone values $1,000 now more than a future career at Zappos, they’re not the right type of person for the job. It may sound like an expensive proposition, but it’s a lot less expensive than hiring someone who is not fully committed to the company’s customer service principles.

Working at Zappos: Deal or No Deal?

Considering many people choose not to take the deal and stay with Zappos after the first week, it’s obvious that the company is offering a unique and exciting work experience. If you still need more convincing, you can read employee perspectives in the Inside Zappos Blog, look at photos and videos from Zappos’ Halloween 2007, watch Zappos YouTube videos, keep up with Zappos Employee Tweets on Twitter, follow the Zappos CEO’s Twitter account, or just look at cute pictures of the pets of Zappos customers.

Now that you’re totally convinced (if you’re not, the links at the end of the post will give you even more opportunities to research Zappos), here are the jobs at Zappos that we think might be considered entry-level or appropriate for a new college grad. In Henderson, NV you could get offered $1,000 to quit being a Financial Analytics Manager, Editing Assistant (labeled as Intern, but looks to be an entry-level job from the description), Front-End Developer, User Interface Designer, Web Content Strategist, Web Designer, Recruiting Assistant, Merchandise Planning Analyst, Merchandise Planning Coordinator, Merchandising Assistant – Clothing and Toys, Merchandising Assistant – Performance Bags, Merchandising Assistant – Private Label, Merchandising Assistant, Designer Footwear, Project Manager, Performance QA Engineer, QA Engineer, or a Software Engineer. In Shepherdsville, KY they’ll offer you $1,000 to quit being a Recruiting Assistant, Photographer Assistant, or Software Engineer. You can find more detailed information about each of these positions on Zappos’ Jobs page. Although their site is a bit cluttered looking, they do a great job of getting across information about each job. Our only complaint is that some of the items in the descriptions are a bit redundant, which can be confusing – especially in terms of what experience is required for each job.

Now go get researching so that you can say, “I turned down $1,000 to quit my new job after a week.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Zappos.com
Jobs at Zappos
About Zappos
Zappos Blogs
Zappos on Twitter
Zappos’ Core Values
Zappos on YouTube

Get our daily jobs in your e-mail for free. Sign up now and don’t miss another day.

Pi Media

Willy Franzen — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 12:00:37 +0000

We couldn’t resist ourselves. We’re math nerds (who have a fondness for offbeat holidays), and we love Pi Day. For those of you who don’t get it, March fourteenth or 3/14 represents the first 3 digits of pi. That means that at 1:59:26, the date and time will represent 8 digits of pi. How do we celebrate Pi Day besides coming up with a pi-related job for you? We take recommendations from PiDay.org and eat pies and other circularly shaped delicacies while reciting as many digits of pi as we can from memory. Hey, we never claimed to be cool. We went back and forth about what kind of job to feature, and even asked a math teacher for recommendations. We found a company called Pi Media that we just couldn’t pass up, so there won’t be any jobs in math, private investigation, or baking today. Sorry.

We don’t usually feature companies from outside the United States, but it’s an international holiday, and we owe it to our Canadian readers anyway. Pi Media is a Toronto, Canada based content creation company – North America’s largest in fact. What is content creation? It’s building the pieces of an effective marketing/advertising campaign. A big portion of this is photography, but there are also design and strategic aspects of the business. The Pi Media website is a bit jargon heavy, so it is hard for us to get a clear view of where their expertise actually lies. We really just like them because of their name. We were able to find this web page that takes an inside look at Pi Media’s photography studio. Hopefully it will give you a better sense of what working at Pi Media entails.

As for jobs, Pi Media doesn’t have specific listings; however, their Careers page talks about looking for creative individuals with an entrepreneurial spirit. They accept resumes at hr@pimedia.com, so send away.

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Think that you could have found a better Pi Day themed job? Tell us about it in the comments. Or better yet, write up your own post, send it to us, and if we like it, we’ll publish it.

Associated Press

Willy Franzen — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:00:27 +0000

On Tuesday we talked about becoming a blogger and sneaking into the journalism profession through the back door, but today we’re going to talk about the “legit route.” The Associated Press is world’s largest and oldest news-gathering organization, and for that reason it’s probably one of the most respected names in journalism.

Technically, the AP is a not-for-profit cooperative. So, you might be saying, “stick these guys with the other non-profits on the weekends!” Since the cooperative is owned by the contributing newspapers, radio stations, and television stations, we think we’ve put the AP and its entry-level jobs in the right place.

Basically, the AP is the news. Go pick up a newspaper and see how many times they get the byline. So if you want to get into any type of journalism, there is no better place that the Associated Press. Wikipedia does a much better job of telling the AP’s history, so we’ll send you there for that and get right down to jobs.

We love-love-love the way the Associated Press’ jobs landing page (before you get on their careers site) breaks down their opportunities. For Students… For Word People… For Picture People… For Graphics People… For Radio People… For Television People… For Online People… For Technology People… For Sales People… For Administrative People… Each has a description about the opportunities for the specified types of people. It manages to be extremely inviting to all job seekers, while at the same time delivering a tailored message to 10 different audiences (but seriously, who considers himself administrative?). The one unfortunate thing is that these descriptions don’t have a link to a page with specific opportunities for each. That would be an absolutely killer implementation. AP are you listening?

From the landing page, we headed to the AP’s main careers site, which struck fear in our hearts. After such a welcoming intro, we were faced with the ugliness of having to register to search their job opportunities… or so we thought. We actually found a tiny little link that will allow you to search jobs - there’s no need to register unless you want to apply. From there you can show all jobs and be on your merry way…

Or you can just go straight to the entry-level friendly jobs that we hand picked for our wonderful, soon to be college graduate readers. If you’re into Technology, take a look at the openings for Business Product Analyst, Order Processing Specialist, Taxonomy Developer, and Tier 1 Product Support Specialist. For techies with great communications skills, there’s a job as the Intranet Manager. And the future journalists in the group will be happy to see jobs such as APTN Newsperson, Online Video Network Product Specialist, and Medical/Science Writer. These jobs are in a variety of big city locations, but the majority are in New York City.

We have a feeling that many of the more news-y jobs at the Associated Press are actually at the local bureaus. So, if you’ve figured out where you want to live after graduation, you can use the AP contact page to inquire about job opportunities at any of the local bureaus. If you can’t figure out where you want to live, why not try contacting them all? Report back in the comments section about which bureaus have entry-level openings and help your fellow job searchers.

Note: On April 23rd we revisited entry-level jobs at the Associated Press.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think is the better way into journalism? A first job at the Associated Press? Blogging on your own? Or a combination of the two?