One Day, One Job » quality assurance

AppSumo

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

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

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

Be a Sumo

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever bought something from AppSumo?

OpticsPlanet

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

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

Seeing Is Believing

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

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

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What would you get from OpticsPlanet?

Hotel Tonight

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

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

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

Job Today?

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite hotel?

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?

SendGrid

Willy Franzen — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:56:10 +0000

E-mail is supposed to be simple: you send a message and the recipient gets it nearly instantly. That’s the way it usually works for most people, but there are those rare instances where a message gets caught in a spam folder or bounces back to the sender. Those problems get much bigger when you start to send a lot of e-mail; in fact, I recently had to deal with an issue that resulted in some of our daily e-mails that were sent on a Friday being received the following Wednesday. Because I send nearly 400,000 e-mails a month, I use one of the top providers in the business, and this still happened. E-mail is a complicated beast, which is why companies that send multiple orders of magnitude more e-mail than I do need help to overcome the fact that “20% of emails sent by web applications either go missing or they get caught by spam filters.” SendGrid is a Boulder, CO based company that specializes in e-mail delivery. They’ve delivered more than 20 billion e-mails for clients that include Foursquare, SlideShare, and GetSatisfaction, so I think they must do a lot better than 80%.

Get in the Grid

While many e-mail providers focus almost entirely on newsletters and marketing-type e-mails, SendGrid can deliver pretty much any kind of e-mail it needs to. Businesses plug their web applications into SendGrid using APIs, and they can send to both individuals (think receipts, notifications, etc) or to a larger group. SendGrid runs the mail servers so that their clients don’t need an individual or team devoted to e-mail delivery. It’s a big win for businesses who need near flawless e-mail delivery but want to stay focused on doing the things that are core to their business. I know all of the e-mail technical talk can be a little overwhelming, but there’s a good mix of technical and non-technical jobs at SendGrid. Their Jobs page shows that they’re looking for an Account Receivables Specialist, a Technical Support Representative, a Quality Assurance Engineer (Anaheim, CA), Content Writer (Anaheim, CA) and a Web Engineer.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about SendGrid?

Cvent

Willy Franzen — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:30:27 +0000

Yesterday we told you about Blue Chip Career, so here’s another reminder to check them out. They offer personalized guidance from seasoned executives to help you overcome your biggest job search challenges. Get paired with one of their experts and receive the inside scoop on how to land the job of your dreams.

My girlfriend and I are having a housewarming/birthday party this weekend. We invited people by e-mail, and we’re keeping of track of who is coming through a Google doc. That’s about as simple as it gets in terms of using software for event management. I don’t think our solution would cut it for companies like Verizon, Yahoo!, Walmart, and Oracle. They need something a little more… industrial strength. That’s what Cvent offers. They’re a McLean, VA based company that offers comprehensive event, survey, and eMarketing software solutions–exactly what large companies need to make sure that every little detail is taken care of when they put on an event.

Have a Cventful Job Search

The best way to get a feel for the scale that Cvent operates on, you need to look at some of their key statistics. They were founded in 1999, and since then their software has managed more than 275,000 events, sent 850 million e-mail invitations, and managed 30 million event registrations and survey responses. You can learn more about what those solutions look like here. You may also want to dig into some of the Resources that they provide–it’ll give you a better sense of the kinds of problems that they solve for their clients. If you like what you see, then you’ll want to check out Cvent’s Careers page. You’ll see some great openings that seem suitable for new or recent grads including Blogger/Social Media Associate, Business Development Associate, Information Security Analyst, Mobile Application Developer, Product Consultant, Quality Engineer, Sales Associate, Software Engineer, Systems Analyst, Systems Programmer, Systems Support Engineer, and Technical Support Engineer. There are lots of options, so hopefully at least one will intrigue you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Cvent?

ngmoco

Willy Franzen — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:31:56 +0000

While I’m not a serious gamer, I definitely enjoy playing casual games on my iPhone and iPad. Although the App Store does offer recommendations, I find that it’s still hard to find good games. Instead I rely on getting recommendations from people I know–namely my girlfriend’s 10 year old sister. I watch what she’s playing, and if it looks fun, I buy the app. Then I can try to top her score and talk smack even though I can’t come close. Games are inherently social (even though gaming can become super anti-social), so it’s no surprise that gaming companies are bringing mobile and social gaming together. One of the big players in the industry is ngmoco. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and their name is pronounced “en-gee mo-ko” (apparently it’s an acronym for Next Generation Mobile Company). ngmoco is all about building a social entertainment company in a time when “there will be more iOS/Android devices shipped than PCs/notebooks.” It makes sense.

Be a Mofo!

I’ve heard of companies calling their employees ninjas, rockstars, geniuses, and a bunch of other endearing terms. Until I came across ngmoco, I’d never heard the term “mofo” used for an employee (at least one that was still employed by the company). But that’s exactly what ngmoco will call you if you work for them. There’s an explanation here, and I think you’ll like what they have to say. Now, ngmoco has an amazing Careers site, but before you jump into that, you should probably get familiar with their games and read through their blog. Then you can visit their Careers page and see how awesome they make working for them look. You can browse through all of the positions here, and you should not that there are plenty of jobs for both techies and non-techies. Here’s what seems most appropriate for new grads:

There appear to be some amazing opportunities at ngmoco, so you better act on them now. Otherwise, you’ll never be a mofo.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What games do you play?

Redbox

Willy Franzen — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:40:58 +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.

There aren’t many companies that have as many loyal fans as Netflix. I swear that everybody loves them (check out jobs at Netflix). At least they did until yesterday when Netflix announced a change to their plans. They touted it as a good thing with their “lowest prices ever for unlimited DVDs,” but it really was a price increase for streaming subscribers. I guess yesterday was a good day for Redbox, which is based in Oakbrook Terrace, IL (with a major presence in Bellevue, WA). They operate more than 27,000 DVD and Blu-ray rental kiosks, or redboxes. Believe it or not, rentals aren’t dead, and Redbox has found a sweetspot between Blockbuster and Netflix. There’s definitely something I miss about the old school video rental shops–especially the pre-Blockbuster independent ones. But it’s mind blowing that Redbox is able to fit an entire video rental store in 12 square feet.

Think Inside the Redbox

Redbox has rented out more than 1 billion movies. Back in 2007 the kiosks were averaging nearly 50 rentals a day and almost $40,000 in annual revenue each. That’s pretty amazing considering Redbox kiosksi are typically just filling in empty space in high traffic buildings. Obviously a 12 square foot kiosk can’t offer much variety in terms of movies, but by stocking mostly new releases Redbox is able to stay relevant and serve a significant portion of the demand for in-home movie viewing. Now, we all know that streaming is the future, but there’s still a huge portion of the population that relies on hard media like DVDs and Blu-rays. It’ll be interesting to see how Redbox adapts moving forward, but for now I think they can still find opportunities for growth. If you like what Redbox is doing, you’ll want to take a look at their Jobs page. Unfortunately, it’s just a list of jobs, and there are a lot of them to browse through. Most are Field positions all across the country, but there are a few that seem better suited for recent grads. These include Service Representative – New Ventures (Hayward, CA), Sales & Use Tax Accountant (Oakbrook Terrace, IL), Machine Support Coordinator (Oakbrook Terrace, IL), Web Analyst/ eCommerce Analyst (Oakbrook Terrace, IL), Software Engineer (Oakbrook Terrace, IL), Service Representative – New Ventures (Fairfax, VA), Quality Engineer I (Kent, WA), and Business Analyst (Oakbrook Terrace, IL). There are a lot more mid-level options, so if you have some prior experience, be sure to check those out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Redbox?

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?

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?

Balihoo

Willy Franzen — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 16:27:53 +0000

Yesterday we talked about social media marketing. Today we’re going to dive into local business marketing. I’m far more excited by the latter–maybe it’s because there’s something that I love about small businesses or maybe it’s because the payoff from local marketing seems like it can come much more quickly. We’ve seen a variety of companies including Groupon, SinglePlatform, and BrandMuscle that have developed products and services to help local businesses market themselves, and today we’re going to look at a company that has taken a slightly different approach to local marketing. Balihoo is based in Boise, ID, and they are “the premier provider of Local Marketing Automation technology and services to national brands with local marketing needs.” In other words they help big companies with lots of locations tailor their marketing efforts to specific locales.

What’s the Balihoo About?

Much like Offerpop, whom we discussed yesterday, Balihoo offers integrated marketing solution through software-as-a-service. They’ve built a variety of tools that enable businesses to optimize their marketing and advertising for specific geographies. They’ve worked with major names like GEICO, Chevron, Quizno’s and Kohler and I’m sure that client list will keep growing as the need for local marketing services becomes more and more apparent. Overall their clients represent “more than 25,000 local affiliates and more than $180 billion in revenue,” so Balihoo has already grabbed a good sized chunk of the market. They’ve also made it easy for themselves by focusing on only selling their products to major enterprises with lots of locations. It has to be a lot easier than selling to individual small businesses. If you’re interested by what Balihoo is doing and intrigued by the lifestyle you could have living in Idaho (gotta love the outdoors), then check out Balihoo’s Jobs page. Right now they have a few opportunities for new or recent grads including Account Coordinator, Digital Marketing Specialist, and Software Quality Assurance Analyst. Before you apply be sure to check out their culture, Hiring FAQ, and Core Values.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Balihoo?

StubHub

Willy Franzen — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:52:08 +0000

It’s Opening Day! (Check out all of our baseball related jobs.) For me it’s like Christmas in April…or late March (it just doesn’t feel right when the season starts in March).I try to watch as many Yankees games as I possibly can, so my daily routine will have to change for the next 7 months. When I first moved to Chicago, I religiously used the MLB At Bat app on my iPhone to listen to games. Then I got DirecTV with MLB Extra Innings so that I could watch all of the games in HD. Now I’m using MLB.tv for viewing games on my phone, laptop, and television through an AppleTV (I’ve already watched quite a few spring training games). However, none of these compare to actually catching a game in person. Unfortunately, when the Yankees come to Chicago to play the Cubs at Wrigley this year, I’m going to be out of town. But last year when they came to play the White Sox, I was able to easily get tickets through StubHub. They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that is owned by eBay and enables people to buy and sell tickets to all sorts of events.

Your Ticket to a New Job

Buying tickets on the secondary market is scary for a lot of people. I had a surprisingly good experience with a drugged out scalper in Denver (for $10 I ended up in the 3rd row, but I figured there was at least a 50% chance the ticket was counterfeit) and a terrible experience with a seemingly reputable ticket broker (my Dad bought me playoff tickets for my 13th birthday and when we showed up at the stadium the broker didn’t have them). StubHub eliminates all of the uncertainty with their FanProtect Guarantee. Even better, you can often get your tickets delivered electronically. I’ve also found that if you wait until about 3 hours before a game, you can often get tickets for well below face value (but don’t wait too long because they close ticket sales 2 hours before the game). This means that if a friend bails at the last minute, you can e-mail or text another friend the ticket. StubHub has really helped push ticketing into the 21st century. StubHub is a “middleman” that provides a ton of extra value, which is why you might want to take a look at their Careers page.

StubHub’s Jobs page dumps you into the eBay Careers site, which is a little annoying. It’s unclear whether eBay’s Campus Recruiting also covers StubHub, but you can just run a search with StubHub as the “subsidiary” to see all of the job postings at StubHub. Right now there are a few positions that seem suitable for new or recent grads including Seller Experience Associate and Sourcing Representative. (I can’t link directly to the postings because eBay uses BrassRing, which is another terrible Applicant Tracking System made by Kenexa.) The eBay Campus Recruiting page also mentions job opportunities in Information Security Engineering, Project Management, QA Engineering, Research, Software Engineering, Business Process Analysis, Business Development, and Trust and Marketing Management, but I don’t know how many (if any) of those titles would apply at StubHub.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

If you like what you see at StubHub, you may also want to check out jobs at SeatGeek.

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?

38 Studios

Willy Franzen — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 17:19:17 +0000

A few days ago I saw a retweet from Peter Gammons’ account about some job opportunities. That seemed a bit odd to me since Peter Gammons is a baseball reporter and analyst, and the jobs didn’t seem to have anything to do with baseball. I made a note of it and went back to what I was doing. Today I went to check out 38 Studios, and I realized that Gammons was retweeting Curt Schilling, the former Phillies and Diamondbacks pitcher (he may have also played for the evil Red Sox, which is probably why Gammons, the biggest Red Sox homer ever, was retweeting him). Anyway, Curt Schilling is the founder of 38 Studios, which is “an entertainment and IP creation company in development on a broad range of products, including online and console video games, toys, novels, comics, film, TV, and other forms of digital media.” I’m not sure how I’d describe the stuff that they’re putting out, but if I had to pick one word it would be fantasy. Like I said, nothing to do with baseball. 38 Studios was previously based in Boston, MA, but they’re in the process of moving to Providence, RI, and that’s where most of their jobs are now.

No Bloody Socks Here

38 Studios currently has two products: Copernicus and Kingdoms of Amalur. Both are games, but I assume that novels, comics, toys, etc. will be spun out of these games. Curt Schilling’s partners in 38 Studios are Todd McFarlane and R.A. Salvatore and the company bought out Big Huge Games, so they have a ton of creative firepower. If you want to learn more about 38 Studios, the best way to do that is to check out their products and get a feel for how they’re “combining the ages-old art of the story with 21st century interactive entertainment.” If you like what you see, then you’ll have to check out jobs at 38 Studios. Current opportunities that might be suitable for new grads include Administrative Assistant, Cinematics Illustrator, Content Designer, Front Desk Coordinator, Quality Assurance Tester (Baltimore, MD), Recruiting Coordinator, Software Engineer – Platform, Tools Software Engineer, and User Experience Designer. There’s lots of cool stuff here, so take a closer look. Also, this article mentions that they’re aiming to hire 280 people after they complete their move, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t see anything that suits you. There are more jobs coming soon.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you play any of 38 Studios’ games?

UrbanDaddy

Willy Franzen — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:45:08 +0000

You love free daily e-mails. Obviously. We’ve covered a lot of companies whose main products are daily e-mails, and not so surprisingly, most of the businesses are focused on helping you find new places to spend your money—these include DailyCandy, Thrillist, and TastingTable. Then there are the ones that make you smarter like The Daily Beast, DailyLit, and the one you’re reading right now (the one that is also trying to help you grow your bank account). UrbanDaddy definitely falls into the former category. They dub themselves “the free daily email devoted to bringing you the single thing you need to know every day about your city.” They’re based in New York, NY, but their daily editions cover Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, DC, Jetset, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, National, New York, San Francisco, and Ski & Board. Each edition covers topics like Nightlife, Food, Style, Gear, Leisure, and Weekends—all things that you should be withholding from yourself until you get a job (just kidding).

Who’s Your UrbanDaddy?

For all the hype that social media and social networking sites get, it’s amazing how many businesses are built on good, old-fashioned e-mail lists. UrbanDaddy has a cadre of writers who know the cities they cover and have an exceptional skill for uncovering what’s cool and new. If you live in a city covered by UrbanDaddy, you’ll never really have an excuse to be bored. They’re aiming to be that friend—the one “who knows everyone—the maitre d’s at all the right restaurants, the bouncers at all the right clubs, the addresses of all the great parties. And the kind of guy who lives to share the wealth.” They even have a Perks Program that gives subscribers exclusive access to special deals (hey, everyone has to jump on the Groupon bandwagon—it’s too profitable not to). If you are that friend, or you’ve played a supporting role to that friend, then you need to check out jobs at UrbanDaddy. They have a number of great opportunities posted right now, and a few look suitable for new or recent grads including Copy Editor, Los Angeles Editor, Senior Writer (yeah, I know it says Senior, but why not try to wow them), Quality Assurance Analyst, Advertising Sales Planner, Interactive Designer, and Senior LAMP/Front-End Engineer. Check out the job descriptions and sign up for UrbanDaddy’s daily e-mails to see if you’ll be a good fit.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you subscribe to UrbanDaddy?

Dropbox

Willy Franzen — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 14:00:41 +0000

Want to try Dropbox? You get 2 GB for free plus another 500 MB if you sign up with this link.

I’m headed back to Connecticut this morning to be with my family for Thanksgiving. One of my pre-travel routines is to backup my laptop. I plug it in to the external hard drive, and let Apple’s Time Machine go to work. It’s pretty simple, but it feels a little bit outdated. I know that I can get a Time Capsule and automatically backup over WiFi, but what I really want to do is have a backup “in the cloud” that I can access from anywhere. That way if my desk catches on fire and both my laptop and external hard drive get toasted, I still all have all of my important files. I’m still waiting for Apple to offer a seamless solution, but until then I’ve decided (as of last night) to use Dropbox. So far I’m pretty impressed with the offering of the San Francisco, CA based company. They offer extremely affordable, easy to use technology that can sync your files across computers while also making it super easy to share files with people.

Put Your Résumé in Their Dropbox

Cloud storage is a rapidly growing industry, but the problem for most people is that it’s complicated. In fact, I’d bet most people don’t even know what “in the cloud” means (it means on remote servers instead of on your hard drive). Dropbox has found success by making the cloud trivial to use for just about anyone. You can sync your files automatically, and you can access them from anywhere. How sweet is that? If you love what Dropbox is doing, then you should check out their Jobs page. Right now they have quite a few jobs posted, and most of them require some pretty strong technical skills. These include API Engineer, Backend Engineer, Core Sync Engineer, Desktop GUI Engineer, Android Engineer, Growth Engineer, Quality Assurance Lead, and Web Engineer. And for the non-techies, there’s a sole posting right now: Office Administrative Assistant. But maybe they’ll have other opportunities available if you reach out to them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Dropbox?

Prometheus Research

Willy Franzen — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:46:50 +0000

A while back a friend from high school e-mailed me to tell me that she’s been following the site and that I should feature her employer. She claimed that it’s not just because they give her a new MacBook Pro every three years, but that has to be at least part of it. Since she loves her job, and she’s someone that I trust, we’re going to take a look at Prometheus Research today. They’re a New Haven, CT based company, and they develop “low-cost, easy-to-use, web-based data access integration tools” while also “offering research informatics services.” Prometheus Research’s clients are mainly “biomedical and scientific researchers, research institutions, and research funding organizations,” which means that they’re enabling really smart people to stay focused on what they do best—science—instead of wasting time with the complexities of other database systems.

Prometheus Is a Titan

What Prometheus Research is known best for is their HTSQL software. HTTP is the language that most of the web is run on—you use it every day. SQL is a database language, and it runs the back end of millions of websites—including this one. Prometheus Research’s HTSQL translates HTTP to SQL, so that researchers can easily manage their databases with simple web-based tools. The goal is to provide “quick collaboration, fast and agile information management, and secure access to their rich scientific data,” and that’s exactly what Prometheus Research has been doing for the last ten years. A big part of their continued success relies on having great people, which is why they offer cool jobs and great benefits. My friend came in as a Business Analyst right out of college, and that seems to be the best fit for recent grads who don’t have a significant technical background. It’s the job for “nerds who can talk to people.” Additionally, Prometheus Research has positions like PostgreSQL/Python Developer, QA and Documentation Automation Developer, and UI Developer which may appeal to those of you with a strong technical background. You can find all of the information on these jobs on Prometheus Research’s Careers page, so check it out and get on your way to getting a brand new MacBook Pro. You can thank me later.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Prometheus Research?

Clarisonic

Willy Franzen — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 15:53:52 +0000

I’m constantly amazed by the beauty/cosmetics/consumer products industries. They seem to be constantly coming out with new stuff, yet most of their product developments are just marketing fluff. Yes, some soaps are better for your skin than others, and some shampoos smell better than others, but I rarely get the sense that a new product actually does its job better than its predecessor. Still, we all have our brand preferences. For me, I find the best way to wash my face is with a simple bar of Dove soap, but if you take your face washing a little more seriously, you may want to check out Bellevue, WA based Clarisonic (their parent company is Pacific Bioscience Laboratories, but all of the branding seems to be focused on Clarisonic). They “develop and market products that use sonic frequency to cleanse skin and help reduce dry patches, blemishes, and wrinkles.” Now, sonic technology isn’t something that you’re going to find in a face wash, so maybe there’s something more to Clarisonic’s facial brush skin care system. I’ve never tried it, but if buying it only gets you to spend more time washing your face, it’s already done its job.

The Complexion of Your Career

Clarisonic is truly a standout on the Inc. 500. Their growth rate may only be 984% over the past three years (which is still ridiculously high), but their revenues have ballooned to $58.2 million. That’s significantly more than most of the other companies that we’ve looked at. Part of the reason for Clarisonic’s success has to be experience—their technology came from the same guy who invented the Sonicare line of oral hygiene products. Clearly Clarisonic has succeeded on both the product development and the marketing fronts. If you are a fanatic about your skin and want to help Clarisonic continue to grow, then you should check out their Jobs page. They have a number of openings and quite a few seem suitable for new or recent grads. These include Customer Service Representative, Logistics Coordinator, Product Development Marketing Assistant, Mechanical Design Engineer, Order/Data Entry Specialist, and Quality Engineer. There’s a great variety of options, so check them out and see what suits you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used any Clarisonic products?

The Visionaire Group

Willy Franzen — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:00:31 +0000

So, yesterday we looked at a creative/interactive agency called Modea. Apparently interactive media is a good place to be, because The Visionaire Group, which is based in Los Angeles, CA, also made the Inc. 500. They reached $5 million in annual revenue last year, and they’re doing it with “websites, banner advertising, and application development.” The Visionaire Group seems less focused on offering a full-range of services, and more focused on doing a few things well. Their website consists of only a home page, but it will give you an idea of what kind of work they do.

Are You a Visionaire?

It’s hard to explain how The Visionaire Group and Modea are different in what they offer, but you just have to see it and get a feel for it. They certainly take different approaches. Since The Visionaire Group only has a home page, I don’t have a lot of background info on them, but they do proclaim that they are hiring and that you should reach out to them at jobs@tvgla.com. I did some looking on LinkedIn, and it looks like they have jobs on both the creative and the account side. You’ll have to figure out where you fit in and pitch it to them. It may not be comfortable, but it could be really rewarding.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

TheVisionaireGroup.com

What do you think of The Visionaire Group?

Modea

Willy Franzen — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 15:47:24 +0000

Believe it or not, after three years I’m still running a one-man show here at One Day, One Job/Internship. I do all the design, web development, marketing, business development, writing, SEO, and everything else that it takes to run the business. I can’t even imagine how nice it would be to have an agency or in-house team of specialists—you know, people who actually are experts in the given field—work on some of the stuff for me. Even though we’re profitable, I don’t think that’s going to happen any time soon. But if it was, I might consider using Modea. They are a Blacksburg, VA based “digital services agency” that creates “results-driven digital content and campaigns for a diverse group of recognizable consumer brands.” Ok, maybe One Day, One Job isn’t a recognizable consumer brand quite yet, but one day (one job). I’m still running through the Inc. 500, and Modea came in at #221 with 1335% three-year growth to $3.5 million in revenue.

Problem Solved. Interactively.

Modea is all about fusing technology with creativity to deliver results for their clients. They work with big names in a wide range of industries including Hasbro, Rackspace, Elle, T-Mobile, and Advanced Auto Parts. If you want to get a feel for what they do, you can take a look at Modea’s portfolio. It’s really good stuff. You can also read about what life at Modea is like, and if it resonates with you, then you should browse over their Jobs page. They have a ton of positions posted, and a few seem suited to new or recent grads. These include Associate Creative Developer, Associate Project Manager, Quality Assurance Engineer, Quality Assurance & Quality Control Analyst, .Net Developer, Copywriter, and Part Time IT Assistant. The best option, though, is to Choose Your Own Adventure. You have to love a company with a job posting like that one.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Modea?

Aprimo

Willy Franzen — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 13:57:35 +0000

A company’s marketing is usually done by one of two groups—an internal marketing team or an integrated marketing agency that is hired by the company. I’m sure there are some exceptions, but most brands fall into one of those two buckets; however, marketing software is carving out a growing piece of marketing budgets. Automation is a wonderful thing, and as marketing becomes more analytics and results based, automation gets easier. Agencies and marketing teams aren’t anywhere near being replaced by computers (but I guess it’s possible in the future), but software can really change how brands approach their marketing. Aprimo is an Indianapolis, IN based company that provides integrated marketing software. They serve both B2B and B2C clients with software that aids in areas including “campaign management, lead management, brand management, e-mail marketing, event management, performance management, social marketing, spend management, and workflow & project management.”

Primo Jobs

When I cover integrated marketing agencies, I usually take a look at their clients to see what kind of names they’re working with. When I did the same with Aprimo, I saw that their clients include Merrill Lynch, Warner Brothers, Bank of America, and quite a few other recognizable names. You can read through Aprimo’s success stories for both B2C clients and B2B Clients. I know that it’s hard to grasp exactly what Aprimo does, because their website is definitely focused towards potential clients, but looking through their B2C Solutions, B2B Solutions, and Services will definitely help you start to get a feel for what integrated marketing software does. Once you do that, you should check out Aprimo’s Careers page, where you’ll learn all about working at Aprimo and see that they’ve been named one of Indiana’s Best Places to Work. You can also take a look at Aprimo’s current openings, which include potentially entry level positions like Administrative Assistant- Legal and Business Operations, Quality Engineer – Aprimo Services (Raleigh, NC), Client Specialist (Birmingham, UK), and Customer Support Analyst. I’m actually surprised that they don’t have more geared towards new grads since they offer quite a few internships.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Aprimo?

HUGE

Willy Franzen — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 16:27:49 +0000

One part of my morning routine to get these posts out to you is looking for the company’s logo. Usually I just snag it off of the company’s home page and that’s it. Occasionally I need to find a different version of the logo because it may have a weird background, the word beta written across it, or it may just be too small. The latter was the case today; however, I wasn’t able to find a more reasonably sized logo despite the fact that the company designs logos—in addition to many other things—and is named HUGE. The irony. HUGE is a Brooklyn, NY based company with offices in Los Angeles, London, and Stockholm that “helps build digitally-driven businesses.” What does that mean? It means that they work with some of the biggest brands in the world in areas like strategic planning, user experience, creative, interactive marketing, technology, and emerging platforms. With approximately 225 employees HUGE has designed and developed online experiences that drive 150 million monthly unique visitors and $12.3 billion in revenue.

Are You HUGE?

HUGE must get their name from the reputations of their clients. You can be nothing but HUGE when you’re building web experiences for names like CNN, jetBlue, IKEA, About.com, and MasterCard. Huge offers a range of services that link strategy, design, technology, and interactive marketing within a defined process that is unique to HUGE. The process seems to be working, because HUGE is growing at a crazy rate—or at least their Jobs page seems to indicate they are. They have 60+ job postings, which will provide a HUGE jump in headcount if they’re all filled. Most of the jobs with HUGE seem to require some level of experience, but I’d encourage you to check out the following New York based positions: Content Strategist, Django Developer, PHP Developer, Interaction Designer, Web Developer, Associate Visual Designer, Copywriter, Client Side Developer, iPhone Developer, Production Designer, QA Analyst, and Visual Designer. And if you’re looking for opportunities in Los Angeles, then you should check out the following positions: Interaction Designer, Visual Designer, and Web Developer. And if you don’t see anything that fits you, but you still want to be HUGE, then they even have a link where you can apply for an unlisted position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about HUGE?

Advanced BioHealing

Willy Franzen — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 16:16:28 +0000

Last week a friend was telling me that his wife, who is in her residency, was going to have to work in the ER on the Fourth of July. I have to imagine that’s one of the most active nights of the year with injuries from fireworks, barbecues, and gunshots (especially in Chicago). All you need is a little imagination to come up with some nasty scenarios that would have ruined your holiday and left you with a permanent injury like my friend who passed out at a barbecue and now has perfect grill marks on his forearm—yes, that means he put his arm down twice. Usually these types of injuries aren’t funny, and they can be extremely traumatic with lasting consequences. Luckily, we’re entering an age of regenerative medicine in which injuries may not be so permanent. Advanced BioHealing is a La Jolla, CA based company that “develops and commercializes living cell therapies that repair damaged human tissue and enable the body to heal itself.” Their current product is called Dermagraft, and it’s a “a bio-engineered skin substitute that assists in restoring damaged tissue and supports the body’s natural healing process.” Right now it’s FDA approved to treat diabetic foot ulcers, but it appears that Advanced BioHealing also has a product called TransCyte that might be used to treat the kind of burns that fireworks or barbecues could cause.

Can You Regenerate?

Now, my medical knowledge is pretty much limited to what I make up, so I’m not the guy to tell you all about Advanced BioHealing. You’ll have to head over to their website and delve into their Corporate Info, Product Details, and Press Releases. Once you get a feel for how Advanced BioHealing works and operates, then you can check out their Careers page. They have a ton of jobs posted, and plenty of them seem suitable for new grads with the right backgrounds. These positions include Manufacturing Associate, Shipping and Receiving Associate, Quality Control Microbiologist, Reimbursement Manager, Research Associate, and a number of Sales positions in various locations. You can check out the job descriptions to get a better feel for what they’re looking for since some of the jobs require specific educational backgrounds.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about Advanced BioHealing?

Groupon

Willy Franzen — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:46:22 +0000

If you’re not already a Groupon member, here’s an invitation link.

In February of 2009, when I had only been in Chicago a few months, I got invited to an event for Chicago tech startups hosted by a local incubator named midVentures. I felt awkward when I walked in because I didn’t know a single person, but I quickly got to meeting people. One of the people I talked to was named Andrew Mason. He started a collective action site called The Point that allows you to put up money for big ideas with the qualification that you only have to pay if a certain threshold is met. That way you can put up money to build a collapsible dome over Chicago for the winter, but not have to worry about shelling out the cash unless the project is actually going to happen. At that point Andrew was working on an offshoot of The Point called Groupon. In some ways it was much like One Day, One Job. Instead of offering its readers a new job every day, it offered a deal. It was growing really fast, and he and I both knew that he was on to something pretty neat, but I don’t think either of us appreciated how big it could be at the time. Now, a year later, Groupon is valued at over $1 billion dollars. That would be nine zeroes if you ignored the fact that their actual valuation is around $1,350,000,000 (only 7 zeroes, ha!). The company is growing at an insane rate, and they always seem to be hiring. I’ve pinged Andrew and one of his recruiters a couple of times to let me know when they have positions to feature, but I get so many requests on Groupon that I’m just going to pull the trigger.

Get Your Groupon

For those of you who don’t know what Groupon is, it’s pretty simple. Every day they offer a new deal from a local business—it’s essentially a heavily discounted gift certificate. The business gets new customers, you save money, and Groupon gets a big cut of the sale. That’s what is so impressive about Groupon. Their growth is based on real revenue. Most startups as early as Groupon are losing money, while Groupon would probably be less profitable if they had a money printing machine. They’re not hiring people on a hope and a dream. They’re hiring people because they’re leaving money on the table otherwise. This may make them sound like they’re all serious, but Groupon also happens to be one of the goofiest startups out there. Humor is a key part of the company, and that clearly comes from the top, as Andrew is a pretty goofy guy.

Another key to the company is sales. Groupon is all about helping local businesses reach customers, and that means that their sales force has to kick butt. That’s why you’ll notice that most of Groupon’s postings on their Jobs page are Account Executive positions. They have Inside Sales positions in Chicago, and Outside Sales positions all across the country including cities like Birmingham, AL; Boston, MA; Cincinnati, OH; Denver, CO; Honolulu, HI; Indianapolis, IN; Jacksonville, FL; Kansas City, KS; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; Minneapolis, MN; Nashville, TN; New Orlenas, LA; Philadelphia, PA; Phoenix, AZ; Pittsburgh, PA; Portland, OR; Raleigh, NC; Sacramento, CA; San Diego, CA; San Franisco, CA; San Jose, CA; Seattle, WA; and St. Louis, MO. The Inside Sales positions seem better suited to new grads that the Outside Sales positions, but I bet that they’ll happy to talk to you if you’ve proved that you can sell. Groupon also has a variety of other positions that might interest new or recent grads like Copywriter, Factchecker, Reviews Researcher, Customer Service Representative, Recruiter, Loyalty Marketing Coordinator, SEM Specialist, Affiliate Manager, Front-end Developer, QA Engineer, Software Developer, User Experience Designer, and Visual/Graphic Designer. There are a ton of jobs, and I’m sure there will be plenty more in the near future. It may seem like you’re too late, but remember that Groupon hasn’t even been around for two years.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a Groupon member?

Quantcast

Willy Franzen — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:00:25 +0000

Lately I’ve been getting a number of e-mails from concerned job seekers (you can reach me at willy@onedayonejob.com). They seem to be worried about the “One Day, One Job Effect.” In other words, they think that they have no chance at landing a job with the companies we profile because the companies get flooded with résumés as soon as we post about them. First of all, that’s silly to worry about. Just apply and do your best and don’t worry about the competition. Second, as much as I’d like to be true, we’re not quite there yet. One Day, One Job has thousands of readers every day, but most people don’t apply for most jobs. I’m not going to give you the actual stats, but luckily there are tools that allow you to see how much traffic a given website gets. One of those is Quantcast, which is headquartered in San Francisco with another office in New York City. Their estimated data isn’t the best—their estimate for One Day, One Job is off by more than a factor of three—but their data on larger sites and on sites that have agreed to share their numbers is insanely useful.

Get Quantified

Obviously webmasters don’t need to get data on their own sites from Quantcast, but there are plenty of good uses for Quantcast data. You can use it for competitive analysis, ad planning, research, or showing potential advertisers the demographics and size of your audience (without giving away all of your secrets). Quantcast offers a basic free service that anyone can use, but the real business is in selling subscription access to their huge amounts of data. Apparently Quantcast is “used by 9 of the top 10 media agencies,” so they already have the big name clients. As the web becomes more and more mainstream as a media channel, Quantcast is going to have the opportunity to grow and grow. Right now their Jobs page shows a number of opportunities including a few that seem well suited to new grads like: Inside Sales Account Executive, Data Pipeline Developer, Data Production Developer, QA Engineer, and Sales Engineer – Publisher Development. For now everything seems to be pretty technical except the Account Executive position, but if you have what it takes, go ahead and apply online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used Quantcast?

Hyland Software

Willy Franzen — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 16:43:52 +0000

I’ve been running a business for almost three years now, and I don’t think that I have a single paper document that I couldn’t throw out tomorrow. Everything is on my computer. It may be a mess of e-mails, Word files, PDFs, and Excel sheets, but it’s all here on my hard drive (and backed up too). Luckily my company isn’t very document intensive, but plenty of businesses and organizations like banks, hospitals, and government offices are overloaded with documents. They need a way to manage them, and Hyland Software offers a software product called OnBase to do just that. The company is based in Westlake, OH, and they are in the business of content management systems (although not the kind that run websites). I got the tip on Hyland from a reader who works in Career Services, and she said that although they have a Midwest headquarters, they have taken on a West Coast attitude.

Head for Hyland

Hyland Software’s story is pretty cool, and it explains why Hyland Software has been able to maintain a unique culture for all of these years. Here it is:

Packy Hyland, Jr., visited a bank in Wisconsin one day in 1991 to learn about what kind of records management technology the bank was looking for. The bank’s president asked Packy his opinion of a competitor’s product.

“I could write it better and cheaper,” Packy told the president while the competitor looked on in shock. The president (not knowing that Packy had never written a line of computer code in his life) gave Packy two weeks to come up with what he promised – a better and cheaper solution. Packy then left the bank and went straight to the library to get some books on computer programming.

Packy delivered what he promised. It’s his gritty resolve that defines how we continue to approach our work. Some may call us stubborn and persistent, but that scrappy, smart and dedicated attitude is what drives us to succeed and keeps our clients happy.

It’s a really cool story, but it doesn’t quite explain why they have slides (ones you go down, not PowerPoint) in their office. I’ll leave it up to you guys to answer that mystery. And to do that, you’ll probably need to land a job with Hyland Software. If you head over to their Jobs site, you’ll see that their Careers branding is very different from their corporate branding. It makes sense—finance, healthcare, and government entities want boring software that does it’s job. They don’t care about slides—they may even be scared of slides. But to build boring software that works really well, you need an exciting environment to attract great people. That’s why Hyland Software’s Jobs page looks different. If you take a look at Hyland Software’s Job openings, you’ll see a number of opportunities that are appropriate for someone at the entry level. These include: Technical Writer, Junior Developer, Junior Solution Developer, Quality Assurance Associate, Technical Support Analyst, Healthcare Business Analyst, Enterprise Solution Specialist, Junior API Analyst, and a few others. Most of the positions require some sort of technical background, but there are a few options for those of you who are a little less tech savvy. You can apply for all of these positions online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of slides in the office?

General Mills

Willy Franzen — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:51:47 +0000

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! In past years we’ve looked at Shamrock Boats and Luck Stone to celebrate the holiday, but today we’re going to take a look at jobs with Minneapolis, MN based General Mills because there’s no more authentic Irish breakfast than Lucky Charms. Now, it’s been a while since I last had a bowl of everybody’s favorite marshmallow-filled cereal—ok, it’s been a month—but it feels like it’s been much longer. Beyond Lucky Charms, General Mills’ brands include Cheerios, Pillsbury, Gushers, Haagen-Dazs, Betty Crocker, Cascadian Farm, and many more names that you’ll recognize from the center aisles in the grocery store. Most of them may have nothing to do with St. Patrick’s Day, but add some green food coloring if that’s what you’re really concerned about.

Work at the Mills

There’s not much more to say about General Mills. Their focus is on their 100+ brands, and that’s what makes them the world’s 6th largest food company. They hold the No. 1 or No. 2 position in nearly every category that they compete in, and their products are so ubiquitous that the average U.S. grocery shopper places at least one General Mills product in his or her cart every time he or she shops. Because General Mills is such a large company, they have a very strong Campus Recruiting Program. Unfortunately, their Campus Events Calendar indicates that most of their recruiting has passed. Typically they place new grads into the following areas:

Because the Campus Recruiting season has passed for General Mills, your best bet is to use their job search function to look for positions. There are certainly entry level positions available, so give it a look and hope for some St. Patrick’s day luck when you apply.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite General Mills brand?

Riot Games

Willy Franzen — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:56:51 +0000

Apparently my parents and sister have engaged in a never-ending series of online Scrabble games played via iPhone. I’m with my parents in Florida right now, and every five minutes they’re bugging each other to make the next move. It’s crazy. Free online gaming has hit the masses, and it isn’t pretty. There are tons of new online gaming companies, and while some are focusing on bringing new gamers to the market, others are more focused on gaining ground with serious gamers. Culver City, CA based Riot Games is a perfect example of the latter. They are behind League of Legends, a free online role-playing game that is set in an imaginative world. The game has been downloaded more than a million times, and Riot Games has received $20 million in venture capital investment based on the game. $8 million of that investment came from a Chinese gaming company that has a huge user base, so this is very much an international play.

Incite a Riot

The interesting thing about Riot Games and League of Legends is that the game is essentially console quality. It’s the type of game that serious gamer would pay to play, but it’s free. Riot Games’ business model is more akin to that of Zynga than that of Blizzard. What that means is that Riot Games makes League of Legends free to play, but they charge for in-game item purchases. It seems like a smart idea, and if it works, they’re going to have a huge leg up on the game makers who charge an upfront cost for their games. With all of the recent investment, Riot Games is growing its headcount rapidly. A quick look at their Jobs page will show you that they have nearly two dozen full-time openings. Not all of them are geared towards entry level candidates, but enough are. Riot Games’ current openings are in Art, Programming, Design, Production, QA Operations, Customer Service, and Web, so check them out and see if you find something that fits your interests. If you do, you can apply e-mail and hopefully land a job where you’ll enjoy perks like ninja nerf gun battles, full expense trips to the bathroom, and stock advice.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you played League of Legends?

Demand Media

Willy Franzen — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:39:28 +0000

I’m sure that you’ve heard a lot in the news about how traditional media companies are having trouble taking their business models online. You may be under the impression that making money from web content is near impossible, but there’s a dirty little secret: it’s not. While companies like the New York Times stick to editorial integrity and chasing Pulitzers, there are companies out there that craft their content with the sole purpose of making money. A perfect example is Santa Monica, CA based Demand Media. They’ve secured more than $355 million in venture capital funding, grown annual revenue to more than $200 million annually, and reached a valuation north of $1 billion all by taking an ROI based approach to content development. How does that work? Demand Media has developed an algorithm that helps them find profitable topics. By using data from Google AdWords, they’re able to estimate the demand for a given piece of content (example: an article and video on how to tie your shoes) along with the revenue that the yet to be developed piece of content could be expected to make given a certain number of pageviews.

Demand a Job

This may sound unsavory to some of the writers out there, but I’d imagine the business students are in awe. Demand Media delivers their content through a number of web properties, and some of these include eHow, Cracked, and Livestrong.com. In addition to distributing profitable content across their web properties, Demand Media also licenses some of the social media tools that they’ve developed internally to other businesses. One of the amazing things that I learned about Demand Media while researching them is that they publish approximately 4,000 articles and videos every day. Demand Media is YouTube’s largest contributor, and the number of pageviews that they’re driving across their network is staggering. They’re able to develop so much content through an army of freelancers who work through a site called Demand Studios. If you’re a Writer, Filmmaker, or Copy Editor, that’s the first option for getting a “job” (it’s only freelance, and the rates are kind of low) through Demand Media. Your second option is to check out Demand Media’s Corporate Job offerings. They have a number of positions that seem suitable for new grads including HR Coordinator (Bellevue, WA), QA Engineer (Austin, TX), Marketing Associate (Bellevue, WA), QA Engineer (Santa Monica, CA), Algorithm Scientist (Austin, TX – PhDs only), Account Manager (Bellevue, WA), and Web Developer/Graphic Designer (Austin, TX). You can apply online for any of these positions, but before you do, take an hour to learn more about Demand Media—there’s a ton of information available about them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Demand Media’s business model?

MyPunchbowl

Willy Franzen — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:51:33 +0000

I love Groundhog Day. I’ve always intended to have an annual party in celebration of the holiday, but I’m not one for throwing early morning parties (and who wants to celebrate after the fact if Phil sees his shadow?). In past years I’ve featured the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and NOAA in honor of Phil. Additionally I’ve featured companies like WeatherBill and The Weather Channel already, so I thought it was going to be hard to find another relevant company. Then I came across this blog post that told me that MyPunchbowl is “an official partner of the Groundhog Day festivities.” Problem solved! MyPunchbowl is a “free online invitations and party planning” startup based in Framingham, MA. They offer the perfect services for planning that Groundhog Day party that I’ll probably never have. They also do Ecards, and I’ve put one together for you that you can find below.

Bring the Party to Your Job Search

There are a lot of online invitation sites, but MyPunchbowl is unique in that they offer “start to finish party planning.” This includes bringing “your party to life with ideas, invitations, favors, gift registries, photo/video sharing, and more.” It may sound like a silly idea, but it makes a lot of sense—enough sense that the company has venture capital backing it. MyPunchbowl has really brought Web 2.0 to party planning, and they’re doing an awesome job with it. The user experience on their site looks phenomenal, and they have great integration with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

If you’re a party lover, and you like the way that MyPunchbowl is doing things, then you should check out jobs at MyPunchbowl. They have a number of open positions that include a couple that seem perfect for new grads—Product Specialist and Inside Sales Rep. One of the key requirements for applying for a job at MyPunchbowl is to have a user account, so be sure that you’re really familiar with how to use the site before applying. Maybe you can use it as an excuse to throw a party.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Will you use MyPunchbowl to plan your next party?