One Day, One Job » social media

Doximity

Willy Franzen — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:25:06 +0000

If you haven’t heard something about the Facebook IPO in the past few days, you must have had a really good weekend. What annoys me about successful startups is all the knockoff attempts. A lot of people think that a good idea is enough to build a business on, so they copy the successes and usually fail miserably despite having a “good idea.” A much better approach is to take inspiration from the big successes and apply what you learn to a more focused niche. Doximity has done exactly that–they’re a social network for doctors and healthcare professionals. The San Mateo, CA based company has picked a great market in that a big part of being a doctor is communicating with other doctors. It’s also a market with amazing monetization possibilities.

Increase Your Proximity to Doximity

Let’s be honest, most of the things that most of us do on social networks is pretty frivolous. Doximity avoids this problem by focusing on specific things that are important to healthcare professionals. They offer the typically features to allow people to connect socially and professionally, but they also make it easy to find contact information for other doctors’ offices, provide a free digital fax line, and offer opportunities for doctors to earn more money through “research, 2nd opinions, and medico legal consulting.” While you won’t be able to sign up for Doximity since you’re not a healthcare professional, you can tour their product. If you’re excited by what you see, then go take a look at Doximity’s Jobs page. Right now they’re hiring a Marketing Coordinator, an Automation Test Engineer – Quality Assurance, a Ruby on Rails Engineer, and User Experience Designer. Check these awesome jobs out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Doximity?

Fareportal

Willy Franzen — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:48:35 +0000

It’s supposed to be in the 80s and sunny all weekend here in Chicago. This is the weather that we wait all year for, yet I”m starting to think this may have been a good weekend to get out of town. Why? The NATO Summit is in Chicago this weekend, and so are the protesters. If I was going to get out of town, I might try one of the services offered by Fareportal to book something. They’re a New York, NY based company that has a “technology platform which enables millions of travelers to book a myriad of travel products from almost every corner of the world.” They operate a number of consumer brands including CheapOair (I’ve used them at least once), CheapOstay, HotelPricer, and Clubmiles. Fareportal also has travel trade brands including Fare Buzz, Travelong, Fareportal Media Group, and Dukes Court Travel.

Fare Enough

The easiest way to describe Fareportal is travel + technology. They are the “7th largest online travel group in the US” and the “4th largest online travel agency.” When you add it all up, they get more than 30 million travel searches every month. That’s pretty impressive for a company that is just 10 years old, but what’s next? Fareportal’s home page proclaims that they are “one of the fastest growing travel companies in the world,” so clearly what they’re doing now isn’t enough. That’s why Fareportal is hiring big time–you can see their full Careers page here or you can go straight to the job listings for their New York City headquarters. Here are the current postings that look well suited to a new or recent gard:

If you love travel and technology, then it would be hard to find a better place to work than Fareportal.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried any of Fareportal’s brands?

Shoptiques

Willy Franzen — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:40:55 +0000

I do as much of my shopping online as possible, but that’s because I don’t really enjoy shopping. It’s all about minimizing my time doing something that I don’t want to do. For some people online shopping is great for the opposite reason–it allows them to spend even more time shopping (at work, on the train, walking down the street, on the couch, etc.). The big problem with online shopping is that the experience feels a bit homogenized–you’re typically buying from major retailers or e-commerce companies. Shoptiques is a New York, NY based company that is trying to make online shopping better by bringing boutiques to the web. Why boutiques? Boutiques offer the ultimate shopping experience: “beautiful hard-to-find hand-picked fashion and knowledgeable advice from the owners who know so much about style and how to make you look beautiful.” Boutiques are anything but homogenized, but their business models don’t translate well to the web–at least they didn’t until Shoptiques came along.

Go Career Shopping

Shoptiques may seem like another e-commerce site on the front end, but once you start browsing through their selection, you’ll notice a difference. The bigger difference is behind the scenes. Shoptiques doesn’t hold inventory–they just facilitate the sale between you and the boutique that you’re buying from. When you order, Shoptiques e-mails the store with a prepaid shipping label. You pay Shoptiques, they pay the boutique after taking a fee, and the boutique ships your purchase. If you want more details, you can check out Shoptiques’ How It Works page. If you love boutiques and can’t wait to see more of them online, you have to take aloof at Shoptiques’ Careers page. Right now they have some great opportunities for new and recent grads including:

Social Media / Community Manager
Graphic Designer
Sales Representative
Customer Service

If you love shopping online and at boutiques, it would be hard to beat a job at Shoptiques.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you shop at boutiques?

Pop Labs

Willy Franzen — Mon, 07 May 2012 13:18:18 +0000

These days it seems that just about everyone claims to be an expert on things like social media and SEO, but very few people have a track record that shows a repeated ability to deliver results. Why is that? Because online marketing is really hard. We see stupid things go viral and think that anyone can do it, but we overlook the fact that getting someone to look at something is very different from getting someone to buy something. Pop Labs is an interactive marketing agency in Houston, TX that is known for getting results. I’m not just talking about for their clients either. Pop Labs nearly tripled their revenue between 2007 and 2010, which shows that what they’re doing works for them as well as for their clients.

Make It Pop

Pop Labs’ main focuses are SEO, Social Media, Conversion Optimization, and Advertising, but it’s really all about ROI. That’s why Pop Labs’ Case Stuides talk about numbers that can be directly tied to revenue. Pop Labs doesn’t have a long list of client names on their website (which is often how I judge big agencies), but that’s ok. It’s a lot harder to do good work for a “Consumer Services Retailer in Nevada” or a “National Marketing Information Provider,” than some big brand who already has resources that you can leverage. If you want to dig in and really learn about online marketing, then you should take a look at Pop Labs’ Jobs page. Right now they have some great positions for new or recent grads including:

Sales Executive
Business Development (San Francisco, CA)
Project Coordinator
Web Designer
Production Specialist
Marketing Specialist

These look like great opportunities to learn, so give them a good long look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Pop Labs?

The Limited

Willy Franzen — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:43:42 +0000

I can’t tell you how many articles I’ve seen about dressing for interviews. Almost all of them can be summed up with three words: use common sense. If that’s not enough insight for you, how about this: look like you belong. There are way more important things to think about before your interview, but I do believe that most people perform better when they feel like they look good. If I had an interview coming up, my go to place to shop would be Bonobos. I’m not sure where I’d shop if I was female, but it looks like The Limited is a reasonable place to buy professional women’s clothing. The Limited is a Columbus, OH retailer of women’s clothing with a long and somewhat confusing history.

Know Your Limits

The Limited got its start with one store in 1963. As they added more stores, they became Limited Brands and went public in 1969. From there they went on an acquisition spree that included Victoria’s Secret, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Henri Bendel. They also added some new brands along the way, and they were all rolled up into Limited Brands. Abercrombie & Fitch was spun off in 1996 as its own publicly traded company, and then The Limited was sold off to a private equity firm in 2007. That means that The Limited, the flaship brand, is no longer part of Limited Brands. The Limited is its own company with one additional brand, eloquii by The Limited (plus size). The story behind The Limited is pretty confusing (I relied heavily on Wikipedia for it since The Limited’s own site doesn’t offer much information), so browsing through the products on their website might be the best way to get a feel for them. If you like what you see, then you’ll want to continue on to The Limited’s Careers page. Right now they have some interesting opportunities for new and recent grads including:

There are some great jobs here, so give them a close look. You can also check out their store level positions if that interests you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you shop at The Limited?

TrainSignal

Willy Franzen — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:39:54 +0000

SinglePlatform is hiring 50 new grads in New York City to help local businesses get discovered. Learn how you can be one of them.

What have you done to improve your skills since you started job searching? You better have an answer. If you’re the same candidate that you were 3/6/9/12 months ago, you’re not going to get hired. Self-improvement not only makes you immediately more employable, but it also signals to employers that you’re the kind of person that can grow in a company. There are plenty of ways to improve yourself as a candidate, but one of the easiest is computer training. In a short period of time you can significantly expand the number of jobs that you can apply for. TrainSignal is a Schaumburg, IL based company that offers video training for software from Microsoft, Cisco, Citrix, VMWare, CompTIA, and more. They provide both online video and physical media, and they serve both individuals and businesses of all sizes.

Send a Strong Signal

While I’ve never used TrainSignal, I have done a number of online video courses–mostly on software development topics. They’ve allowed me to do things that I otherwise would have had to pay people thousands of dollars to do. TrainSignal identifies 7 advantages that are unique to their training: Style, Content, Staff, Value, Curriculum, Effectiveness, and Confidence. All of those are important whether you’re investing in yourself or your employees. If you want to be part of a business that helps people improve themselves, take a look at TrainSignal’s Careers page. Right now they have a few positions that you may want to consider including:

They also have quite a few instructor positions, so if you’re a young technology expert, then you may want to check those out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What skills have you developed during your job search?

Earth Day Network

Willy Franzen — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 16:15:41 +0000

SinglePlatform is hiring 50 new grads in New York City to help local businesses get discovered. Learn how you can be one of them.

Earth Day is a contrived holiday. It was designed as a day of teach-ins across the country to educate students about environmental evils. April 22 was chosen as the date because it fit perfectly between spring break and final exams. If you want to maximize on-campus student activity, this is the time of year to do it. It’s worked. Earth Day now has more than 40 years of history behind it, and it continues to be a great way to rally people for environmental causes. Earth Day Network is a Washington, DC based non-profit organization that organizes Earth Day activities across the world while also focusing on environmental causes year round. In the past they’ve “executed successful environmental campaigns on issues ranging from climate change and drinking water to voter registration and saving the whale.”

Join the Network

Now that Earth Day Network is entering their slower period (I’m assuming their busy time is the months leading up to April 22nd), they can focus on their variety of programs. Right now some of their big projects are Greening Schools and Promoting Environmental Education, Accelerating the Global Green Economy, and A Billion Acts of Green. What I think is really cool about Earth Day Network is that they work at all levels: local, state, national, and global. Many organizations claim to do that, but not many have their own holiday that they can use to bring everything together. If you are a big fan of Earth Day, then take a look at Earth Day Network’s Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for an Online Engagement Manager. They say that they want someone with “2-3 years experience with digital advocacy and marketing,” but I think that there are plenty of recent grads who can fit that bill.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What are you doing for Earth Day?

Hatchlings

Willy Franzen — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 13:00:17 +0000

I love Easter. I get pretty amped about the candy, which is why in past years I’ve featured Just Born Quality Confections, Jelly Belly, Russell Stover, and the PMCA at Easter time (and Mars, The Hershey Company, NECCO, Charles Chocolates, and Vosges at other times of the year). But in my family it’s really all about the cash. We have an annual Easter Egg Hunt that is high stakes–elbows have been thrown. The eggs with candy are the duds. The heavy ones are ok because they have dollar coins. But the ones that you really want are light–they have bills in them. Over the past few years, I’ve been able to make Easter Egg Hunts pretty profitable, but it doesn’t come close to what Hatchlings has done. They run “the world’s largest egg hunt” via Facebook, and apparently the Des Moines, IA based company has been able to generate significant advertising revenue through their app.

Come Out of Your Shell

I found out about Hatchlings when I came across this blog post on Hacker News. It’s a plea from Hatchlings to get Google to reinstate their AdSense account. They got banned (and stiffed on ~$40,000) for no particular reason. Reading the post will give you some insight into how the business works, and so will this article. There isn’t much information on the company’s website, so you have to actually give their app a whirl to learn more. It’s nearly impossible to find Hatchlings’ Careers page but they mentioned in their blog post that they were hiring so I persevered and dug it up (like I will with Easter eggs on Sunday). Current openings include Server Wizard / Optimization Genie, Marketing Director, PHP Developer, and iOS Developer. They’ve had past openings for a UI/UX Designer and Community Manager, so there could be future opportunities in those areas.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Does your family have an Easter Egg Hunt?

GiftRocket

Willy Franzen — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 15:59:00 +0000

Whether you’re giving or receiving, there’s nothing better than a unique, well thought out gift. Gift cards have a reputation for being the antithesis of that. But let’s be honest, it’s often better to be able to buy what you want than to be in a situation where you’re repeating the name of the gift just given to you (Seinfeld pointed this out, and it’s so true). GiftRocket is a San Francisco, CA based company that has made the gift card more flexible while also making it more personal. I know that seems impossible, but here’s how it works. When you buy someone a gift on GiftRocket, you can choose from a massive number of merchants. You can pick a specific one like your favorite neighborhood pizza joint, or you can leave it up to your recipient to choose where he or she wants to spend the money.

Rock It at GiftRocket

The best part about GiftRocket is that there are no gift cards. You don’t need to actually go somewhere to buy one or wait to have it shipped to you. Everything happens online. It’s the ultimate tool for the last-minute gift give–and even then you can still show a lot of thought. What’s even better is that there’s no risk of expiration or having a partial gift card that’s hard to spend after an initial purchase. How is that? GiftRocket gift certificates aren’t really gift certificates. When the recipient redeems them, they get real money to spend via bank transfer, PayPal, or a check. It’s a little weird, but it’s really not any weirder than a gift certificate when you think about it. Right now it seems the only value that GiftRocket adds is the delivery mechanism. They charge $1 plus 5% of the gift amount for that, and it’s basically just an online notification and the money transfer. PayPal alone can do that a lot cheaper, but GiftRocket makes the idea of essentially giving cash a bit more palatable. If you’re interested in how GiftRocket’s business model is going to continue to evolve, you should check out their Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Community Manager–it’s a great opportunity for a new or recent grad, so check it out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you try GiftRocket?

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?

Voxy

Willy Franzen — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 16:20:33 +0000

My last foreign language learning experience came in tenth grade French class. I found it mind numbingly boring even though we used French in Action, which was supposed to be a wonderful method for learning the language. If you can’t keep a student engaged, he or she will never learn the language. That’s why Voxy might be worth checking out for those of you who have had trouble learning languages through other methods. They’re based in New York, NY, and they offer “an exciting, award-winning way to learn a language from life.” How do they do this? They use web and mobile technologies to teach you a language while you’re doing things that you’d normally do–reading articles, playing games, or walking around your city. Not only does this make learning more fun, but it also makes it more useful. What you learn is based on the context of your life, so you’ll actually know why what you’re learning is useful.

Learn from Life

My one beef with Voxy is that their home page has a Get Started section with buttons that say “I Speak English,” “Hablo Español,” and “Eu Falo Português.” When I click the one that applies to me, the section just turns blank, so I can’t give Voxy try. Still, what I can see in their What Is Voxy? and How & Why It Works sections is impressive. When I see technology like what Voxy is offering, I can’t help but think that kids growing up today should be about 10x smarter than the generation before them (but then I remember all of the fun distractions that come with the same technology). If you’re loving what Voxy is doing, take a look at their Jobs page. They have a ton of opportunities posted, though they call most of them internships. I usually wouldn’t post these, but Voxy interns are “full-time, paid employees with mission critical responsibilities and roles.” These are perfect opportunities for new grads, and they include:

There’s a ton of entry level opportunity at Voxy, so take a look at these positions and figure out which of them make the most sense for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Will you try Voxy?

Buzz Referrals

Willy Franzen — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 17:38:30 +0000

Everybody wants their stuff to go viral on the Internet. The problem is that it’s way easier to do with funny pictures than it is with useful things like articles and products. If you can’t get the natural word of mouth flowing, you need to incentivize (bribe) people to spread the word. I’m sure that you’ve participated in some sort of referral program before (I love Gilt’s program), and hopefully earned some sort of reward. I’ve seen so many companies use referral bonuses to accelerate their growth, and it’s often amazingly effective. Surprisingly, most of these businesses build their own technology for referrals. Why do that when you can pay Chicago, IL based Buzz Referrals to do it for you? They’ve developed a platform that easily plugs into an existing site and creates “referral programs and buzz worthy promotions that drive new customer acquisition and increase engagement.” (Would any of you participate in an ODOJ referral program?)

Generate a Buzz

If you want to get a better feel for what Buzz Referrals offers, you should read their How It Works and FAQ pages. They’ll give you a better sense of how the product actually works. I was reminded of Buzz Referrals when I was writing about SitterCity yesterday (they use it to get new customers), but I’m sure I heard about them before considering they were part of Excelerate Labs’ Class of 2011 (it’s a Chicago startup incubator). This is all relevant because Buzz Referrals just raised $600k to grow their business. That may not sound a lot when you hear about companies closing rounds of funding in the double digit millions, but it should be enough to help Buzz Referrals get their product out to many more customers. And that’s exactly what their Jobs page shows they’re looking to spend money on. Right now they’re hiring an Inside Sales Representative, a Marketing Coordinator, and UX Designer. All of the positions look like they could be great for a new or recent grad, so check them out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How many friends have you referred to One Day One Job?

HealthTap

Willy Franzen — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:23:46 +0000

Admit it! You’ve used the Internet to self-diagnose a medical problem, and you probably used WebMD. For some of you it was to convince yourself that you’re not going to die tomorrow, and for some of you it was probably the opposite. It’s great having access to so much information, but it’s kind of dangerous when you a) can’t verify its accuracy and b) have no idea how to use it properly. Running to the doctor for every little issue is ridiculous, so there needs to be a better way to get medical information online. Luckily my little sister (who is awesome because she went to art school and then decided she wanted to go to med school, so she’s doing a postbac now) let me know about HealthTap. They’re a Palo Alto, CA based company that provides “free online and mobile answers from thousands of the best physicians in the U.S.” It’s kind of like Yahoo! Answers for medicine, but the people responding to your questions aren’t complete morons.

Get Tapped

There’s no doubt that there’s a demand for free medical advice online. But would doctors actually be willing to answer questions for free? HealthTap has proven that the answer is a resounding yes. Humans want to share their knowledge–just look at the endless reviews on sites like Yelp and Amazon–but professionals are usually more hesitant to give away their expertise for free. That’s why HealthTap sweetens the deal for docs. Their software helps “physicians better serve existing patients, find new ones, and build their reputation by demonstrating their expertise online.” If you were looking for a dermatologist, wouldn’t you consider the one who gave you great answers to your questions about a rash on HealthTap? I would (if I had a rash). Beyond helping doctors reach new people, HealthTap also provides a platform for doctors to provide something like a FAQ. That means that they spend less time answering the same simple questions over and over.

If you’re interested in the intersection of health care and technology, then a job at HealthTap would be an awesome fit. Here’s their video on why you should work for them:

The available positions most suitable for new or recent grads at HealthTap are pretty technical right now as they include Frontend Software Engineer, Backend Software Engineer, Mobile App Developer, and IT and Operations Engineer. The Interactive Writer / Copy Writer / Editor position looks pretty cool, but it seems like they want pretty significant experience. If you’re not a techie, you may want to try reaching out to jobs@healthtap.com to see if there’s any way you could fit in.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you use HealthTap?

CoverHound

Willy Franzen — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:00:42 +0000

I have to admit that I’m feeling a little left out these days. There’s something that I’ve never done that it seems like other Americans are doing a lot of. I’m constantly seeing advertisements for it–on tv, on the web, on billboards, and even on banners pulled behind planes during the summer. I know it’s embarrassing, but I’ve never purchased car insurance. These poor companies have spent so much money trying to reach me, and I haven’t even looked into buying what they’re hawking. But if I was, I might try using CoverHound (if their service was available in Illinois). They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that is building the “technology and brand behind the future of insurance comparison shopping.” Why let commercials about cavemen, a guy with a deep voice, or “doing the right thing” sway you when you can base your decision on real data?

Got It Covered?

Considering that CoverHound’s comparison platform isn’t available in their home zip code, I’m going to guess that it’s not available anywhere yet. That means you can’t get hands-on experience with their software yet, but you can learn more about their services here. You can also read their info for agents if you want to get a sense for how they’ll be making their money. Since that’s pretty much all the information that’s available on their website, you should probably cheek out their press coverage too. I usually don’t profile companies that haven’t launched their product yet, but a guy from CoverHound has been hounding me to do a write up, so I figured I’d throw him a bone. Right now their Jobs page shows that they’re looking for a Software Engineer. They’re also looking for interns in social media, business development, analytics, engineering, community/customer management, and content creation, so if you’re looking for a job in one of those areas, it’s definitely worth reaching out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What insurance commercials do you find most annoying?

Batter Blaster

Willy Franzen — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 17:45:06 +0000

Apparently IHOP has declared it National Pancake Day. (Shouldn’t the company formerly known as The International House of Pancakes call it International Pancake Day?) I tried checking out their website to look for interesting opportunities, but it’s getting slammed from all of the holiday related traffic and the site is inaccessible. I’m not kidding. Free pancakes do that to people. Since I’m a fan of making my own pancakes, I decided to celebrate a corporation’s self-created, self-serving holiday by spotlighting one of their competitors. Since I’ve already featured King Arthur Flour, my favorite source of raw materials for pancakes, I thought it would be fun to take a look at Austin, TX based Batter Blaster in celebration of such an important holiday. In case you’re the type who hasn’t been exposed to the finer things in life, Batter Blaster is essentially a whipped cream can that releases pancake or waffle batter. It sounds completely ridiculous, and then you try it. It’s so easy and mess-free, but what’s in it. Then you look at the label and the ingredients are organic. Genius.

Have a Blast

I’ll warn you ahead of time, Batter Blaster doesn’t have any current jobs posted. So why am I telling you about them? Because if you’re only applying to companies with jobs posted, you’re selling yourself short. Batter Blaster has a great story (seriously, read it) and is making millions in revenue. Two years ago they only had 16 employees. It could be the perfect place for a hard working new grad to show his or her hustle and start an amazing career. They also may not be hiring. But when you see something cool, whether it’s Batter Blaster on the supermarket shelves, a new website that your friends are talking about, or a really catchy tv commercial, use it as a jumping off point for your job search. Identify who’s behind it, and then do your best to figure out how the business works. If you think there’s something meaningful you can add (read: you can make them more money), then reach out to them. You have nothing to lose. Now I know I said there aren’t any current jobs posted at Batter Blaster, but I did come across this posting for a Brand AmBLASTador from Fall 2010. It may be outdated, but it will give you an idea of what they’re looking for and how they operate.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried Batter Blaster?

GREE

Willy Franzen — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 17:29:06 +0000

There’s no doubt that Japanese companies have been and continue to be leaders in the gaming industry. Nintendo, Sega, and Sony are some of the names that you’re most likely to recognize, but it’s very clear that the old guard of gaming is facing stiff competition from upstarts like Zynga and ngmoco that are focusing on mobile and social gaming. While Japan has historically been big on console gaming, they’re not missing out on this trend. GREE is a Japanese that is fervently entering the U.S. market in order to grow a business that generated $1.7 billion in revenue last year. GREE is unique in that their U.S. based branding has been more about hiring than games. They’ve opened a San Francisco, CA office that they’re promoting heavily with billboards, referral bonuses, and even Google AdWords campaigns. They also acquired a company called OpenFeint to speed along the growth.

They’re Huge in Japan

While I love it when companies put a big emphasis on employment branding and recruiting, I’m a little annoyed by how difficult it is to dig into GREE’s business. Their website’s header includes some cool looking game characters, but there’s absolutely no information available about the company’s games. All the site really says is that their goal ” is to make mobile social gaming meaningful by building the best mobile social gaming ecosystem for users and developers worldwide.” The only tidbits of information come from GREE’s News page which mentions that they’re teaming up with Ubisoft for a new Assassin’s Creed mobile game and working with Gameloft on a “Gang Domination” game. You can also head over to OpenFeint’s site to learn more about their games. If you like what you see, then you’ll be thrilled about how many positions are posted on GREE’s Careers Page. Here are the jobs that seem best suited for new or recent grads:

Art, 2D Game Artist
Junior Web/Graphic Designera
UI/UX Designer, Mobile Games
Business Operations Associate
Strategy Associate
Android Engineer
IT Service Delivery Specialist
Software Engineer – Front End
Software Engineer, Game Backend
Software Engineer, Mobile Device Porting
Software Engineer, Mobile Games
Software Engineer, Mobile Integration
Software Engineer, Platform
Web Developer
Recruiting Coordinator
Junior Copywriter
Marketing Coordinator, Platform
Bilingual Executive Assistant (Japanese)
Customer & Community Specialist
Game Integration Engineer
Production Coordinator/Assistant
Executive Assistant

Like I said, GREE is extremely serious about expansion in the U.S., and that’s why they’re hiring so many people right now. There are a lot of jobs to wade through, but the variety of options is pretty wide.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you play any GREE games?

Inspirato

Willy Franzen — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 15:48:21 +0000

Mid-February is a great time for a vacation. It’s typically still really cold, but it’s late enough in the winter that you can reasonably expect that it might feel like spring when you get back home. Unfortunately, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, but if I was, I’d really like to use Inspirato. It’s a super high-end vacation club that offers members access to amazing residences in fantastic locations. The company is based in Denver, CO, but they have long-term leases on properties in places like St. Barts, Paris, Patagonia, Jackson Hole, Kenya, and Tuscany. For a meager $15,000 initiation fee and a $2,500 annual fee, you can access any of these properties. You still have to pay a nightly rate, but it’s well below what’d you pay if you were renting a similar property on your own (the average nightly rate is $650).

Choose Your Destination

I know this will shock you, but Inspirato’s initiation fee is way below most vacation clubs–like an order of magnitude. It’s still not a possibility for most people, but they’ve significantly expanded the market for these types of services, and that has allowed them to grow extremely quickly. They’re targeting people with net worths in the $800,000 to $10 million range–so it’s super rich, not super super rich people. Inspirato already has more than $50 million in funding, which means that they should be able to add more and more great destinations. Their membership has grown to over 1,200, and they expect sales to increase significantly in 2012. All those stats came from this WSJ article on Inspirato, which does a great job of explaining how the business works. If you aspire to one day be a member of Inspirato, you might want to start by working for them. They use Facebook for their Careers page, which is annoying because it breaks the back button. However, there are some great positions worth checking out including:

Technical Business Analyst
Social Media Coordinator
Business Intelligence & Database Support Specialist
Destination Concierge, Vail and Beaver Creek
Graphic Designer
Sales Analyst
Web Designer
Destination Concierge – South Beach, FL

These positions tend to have higher experience requirements than jobs I usually write about, but Inspirato looks awesome, so it’s worth taking a look at these positions and trying to figure out how you can fit in.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Inspirato’s destinations would you chose?

LearnVest

Willy Franzen — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:56:41 +0000

The best personal finance tip that I’ve ever heard comes from Ramit Sethi at I Will Teach You to Be Rich: earn more money. As a job seeker, that’s exactly what you’re trying to do. Oddly enough, a good way to earn more money might be going into the personal finance industry. There’s a ton of growth in the space, and one of the companies that caught my eye is LearnVest. It was started by Alexa von Tobel after realized that she graduated from Harvard and was going to work in finance without any idea of how to manage her own finances. Now they have $25 million in funding, an office in New York, NY, and a mission of helping women “live a richer life.” They do this by providing content, tools, and guidance on all types of personal finance topics.

Live a Richer Life

The personal finance market has a ton of monetization potential, which is why businesses like LearnVest are growing so quickly. What I like about LearnVest is that they’re not just selling advertising, but also providing products and services that they can sell to their users. I have to say that LearnVest has built a really solid suite of tools, content, and services in just a few years. I highly recommend that you start looking through the site to get a better feel of how their business works. It’s also worth looking at LearnVest’s Media Kit. It will give you really deep insight into the entire business. It’s essentially a cheat sheet for a job interview. And if you want to end up in an interview, then you should probably take a look at LearnVest’s Jobs page. Right now there are a few positions that you may want to take a look at: Advertising Operations Manager, Audience Development Associate, Front-End Engineer, Mobile Developer, and Web Developer PHP, WordPress, JQuery. Landing one of these jobs would be a great first step in getting your personal finances figured out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used LearnVest?

The Marketing Arm

Willy Franzen — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:23:26 +0000

Although I only took one marketing class in college, I’ve really learned to love the field of marketing as I’ve built this business. There are so many different approaches, but the core of every valid one is having a great product. (I’m right in the thick of developing a new version of the site that you’re going to love.) Once you have a great product, there are a lot of different ways to spread the word. For the The Marketing Arm, a Dallas, TX based agency, the focus is on promotions. As they put it, they “help brands connect with those consumers by providing insight-driven ideas across nine emotional platforms: TV, film, music, gaming, celebrities, causes, multicultural, sports, and motorsports.” It’s all about creating an incentive to experience the brand, and then providing an exceptional experience when that happens.

Arm Yourself

Promotions is an area of marketing that I’m not all that familiar with in terms of execution, but I’ve certainly been lured in by my share of promotions. Here are some of the areas of promotions that The Marketing Arm focuses on:

Sweepstakes, games and contests
Frequency, loyalty, and reward programs
Discount offers
Partner marketing
Consumer, employee and business-to-business
Premiums and gifts-with-purchase
Design, collateral, and POS
Interactive (Web and wireless)

If you want to see what these look like in action, just head over to The Marketing Arm’s Case Studies. They have some in-depth stories on what they’ve done for different brands and what kind of results they’ve garnered. If you’re excited about what you see, then you’ll want to take a look at The Marketing Arm’s Jobs page. Right now they have a few opportunities that look exciting for new or recent grads including:

There are some excellent opportunities here, so promote yourself to The Marketing Arm and see what happens.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What kind of promotions are your favorite?

Loosecubes

Willy Franzen — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:54:05 +0000

The last time that I worked in an office was when I was an intern at Orvis. Since then I’ve had to learn how to get things done at home, and I’ve gotten pretty good at it. Still, I try to force myself to work out of the house at least once a week. I usually do this through Jelly Chicago, a co-working group that meets every Wednesday, but I also occasionally work at a coffee shop or my gym’s quiet room. Sometimes a change of scenery really helps my productivity–and if it doesn’t do that, sometimes it spurs my creativity. If I was looking for another place to work for the day, I’d probably go to Loosecubes (the site, not their office which is based in Brooklyn, NY and hosts co-workers). It’s a “community marketplace for workspace” that connects “people who have great workspace with people who need it.” Their listings stretch across 620 cities and 72 countries, so there’s a pretty good chance that you’ll be able to find something near you.

Do You Have a Few Cubes Loose?

Loosecubes makes their money by taking a 10% cut of the fees that co-working spaces collect, which seems like an ok business model, but I wonder if they’ll find a better way to monetize their marketplace in the future. I imagine that the idea of co-working may seem weird to someone who’s been in the corporate world for a while, but it’s probably pretty natural for most college students who are used to studying in libraries, lounges, cafes, and even outside. Here’s how co-working through Loosecubes works along with more info on why you might want to cowork or why a company might want to host co-workers. I think that co-working is an amazing option for job seekers. It’s well worth paying the daily fee to get out of the house and into a productive atmosphere that is filled with people who are working on exciting stuff. If you play it right, it could easily lead to a job–especially if you want a job at the company that is hosting. And since Loosecubes is both actively hiring and hosting co-workers, you’re in a perfect situation. Right now they’re looking for a Commander Awesome (Community Coordinator), an iOS Developer, a Product Designer, and a Software Developer. You can apply for the jobs online, but I think that you’d be much better off signing up for a day in their office and starting a few conversations. And don’t worry about having to stay in their office once you get hired–they even provide a monthly travel budget so that you can try working from new places.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you co-work?

Brafton

Willy Franzen — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:10:35 +0000

There’s a reason that web startups with no semblance of a business plan but heaps of traffic continue to get venture capital funding. Consistently driving high quality traffic to a web property is extremely difficult, and almost all businesses need attention to succeed. Quality content is the cornerstone of driving traffic (that’s why I looked for writers when I was hiring interns), and content generation is not a core competency for most businesses. It is for Brafton. They’re a Boston, MA based “online news and content agency that offers integrated content marketing services.” They don’t brag about who their clients are like some other types of agencies (you can request live client samples), which makes sense since clients typically want people to think the content is coming straight from them.

Be Content at Brafton

I doubt any writers from Brafton will be winning Pulitzer Prizes, but I’m sure that’s ok with them. Their goal is to help their clients reach more customers by developing content that grabs attention and performs well on search engines and in social media. Brafton has a section of their website that is devoted to their business model, so I highly recommend that you read through that–including their case study–so that you can get a better sense of how they operate. They also provide information on their different teams, so you’ll probably want to read up on Account Management, Content Writing, and Social and E-mail. If you’d like to join one of those teams, you’re in luck because Brafton’s Careers page shows a ton of entry level opportunities. These include:

Graphic Resource Coordinator (Boston, MA)
Blog and Content Writer (Boston, MA)
Market Research Executive (Boston, MA)
German News and Content Writer (Remote)
News and Content Writer (Chicago, IL)
Inside Sales Representative (Boston, MA)
News and Content Writer (Boston, MA)
Jr. Web Developer (Boston, MA)
Business Development Executive (Boston, MA)
Business Development Executive (Scottsdale, AZ)
Content Marketing Specialist (San Francisco, CA)

You won’t be writing the next great novel at Brafton, but I’m sure you’ll learn a ton about developing content for the Internet with a focus on ROI. That’s insanely valuable these days.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Brafton?

mcgarrybowen

Willy Franzen — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:11:56 +0000

I really enjoyed watching football last night. I’m not a huge football fan, but those were both great games. I’m also happy to see that advertisers are gearing up for the Super Bowl. They’re breaking out new commercials and actually trying to get viewers’ attention. That means it must be an extremely busy time of the year for an advertising agency like mcgarrybowen. They’re based in New York, NY and Chicago, IL, and they work with big names like Burker King, Chase, Disney, Kraft, Marriott, Reebok, Sears, Verizon, and plenty of others. They also recently landed the Bud Light account, and they’re expected to do some Super Bowl work for them. What a surprise! Bud Light will be advertising during the Super Bowl.

A Better mcJob

Though I don’t typically keep up on the latest happenings in the ad agency world, my research tells me that mcgarrybowen is so hot right now. They’ve been picking up huge accounts left and right, and that led to their being named Agency of the Year on AdvertisingAge‘s Agency A-List. All these new accounts mean lots of new jobs. Just look at mcgarrybowen’s Chicago office that grew from 16 employees when it opened in 2009 to more than 200 now. The folks at mcgarrybowen would probably attribute this success to the fact that they’re “built differently, on the simple premise that clients deserve better.” I’ll take a wager that it also has something to do with their work. If you love the agency’s work and agree with the premise that clients deserve better, then you should visit mcgarrybowen’s Careers page. Right now they have a few openings worth checking out including Digital Account Executive (New York, NY) and Social Media Specialist with PR experience (New York, NY). If mcgarrybowen keeps winning accounts, expect even more jobs to get posted. You can even anticipate this by submitting a general application here

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you like mcgarrybowen’s work?

Coursekit

Willy Franzen — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:42:34 +0000

I’ve been a devoted Apple fanboy since 1990, yet I didn’t watch the liveblogs for their Education Event yesterday. It’s hard to get excited about digital textbooks when you never intend to read a textbook again, but I have to say that I’m looking forward to seeing how much technology will change the ways that future generations learn. Apple pushed a lot of people forward yesterday, but there’s a lot more to education than the content. Communication between teachers and students is essential, and technology can play an amazing role in this relationship. Coursekit is a New York, NY based company that offers “instructors and students amazingly designed tools to manage their courses – calendaring, file management” while making “it unbelievably easy to interact with one another.” It may kill a lot of your excuses for why you didn’t do your homework, but I think that the benefits are pretty obvious.

What’s in Your Kit?

From what I can tell, Coursekit is currently focused on the college market. That probably makes sense, especially considering how terrible the Blackboard experience is for most students. To get a feel for what Coursekit looks like, check out this video (you may have to click through to see it):

There are already professors at top schools using Coursekit, so check out the company’s Case Studies to get a better feel for how the software fits into the education environment. The remaining question is how does Coursekit make money? The short answer is that they don’t–they’re still running on investor cash. As their FAQ explains, the platform is intended to always be free. How they monetize the platform is yet to be determined. If that doesn’t scare you off, then you may want to take a look at Coursekit’s Careers page. They have a number of opportunities that look great for a new or recent grad including:

If you want to help continue the convergence of technology and education, then it would be hard to find a better place to do it than Coursekit.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Were you frustrated by your professors’ lack of tech savvy?

Specialized

Willy Franzen — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:02:24 +0000

They say that you can’t forget how to ride a bike, but I’m giving it my best try. In elementary and early middle school I was constantly riding around town. I picked up inline skating for a year or two after that, and never got back on the bike. Now I tell people that I hate bike riding. I don’t actually hate it, but as I mentioned in my post on Niner Bikes, I love seeing people’s reactions to that statement. My twelve year old self would be disappointed that I don’t even own a bike, let alone a cool brand like a Cannondale or Specialized. Luckily for Specialized, they’ve been able to grow an impressive business without me as a customer. They’re based in Morgan Hill, CA, and from what I can gather their annual revenue is measured in hundreds of millions of dollars (but I can’t find a reliable source on that). That’s impressive considering that it all started in 1974 when founder Mike Sinyard sold his “old VW Microbus for $1,500 and used the money to fund a cycling trip through Europe.” That led to importing Italian bicycle parts into the United States, and a business was born.

Are Your Skills Specialized?

Specialized positioned itself at the high end from the start, and they’re still all about quality whether you’re talking about their Mountain, Road, Multi Use, or Kids bikes. Their vision is to be “the best cycling brand in the world,” and it seems that in many people’s eyes they’ve achieved that. It’s hard for me to really dig into Specialized since I’m no longer into bicycles, but I’m sure that those of you who are will find all of the information you need on their site. One thing I found frustrating about Specialized’s website is that you don’t find any background information on the company until you hit their Careers page. Luckily, there’s a ton of information there. There are videos, an About tab, a History tab, and obviously job postings. In fact, there are a lot of jobs posted, and some look great for new or recent grads including:

City & Globe Product Engineer
Credit Representative
Field Visual Merchandiser (Philadelphia, PA)
Field Visual Merchandiser
Jr International Trade Specialist (Salt Lake City, UT)
MTB Product Engineer
Social Media / Customer Service Specialist
Store Designer/BIM
The European Fitness / Mobility Graphic Designer (Switzerland)
Video Editor and Asset Manager

There are even more jobs that I didn’t cover, and there’s also a general job posting called Bike Shop Experience Wanted!. It mentions positions in sales, marketing, customer service, product, engineering, design, operations, and finance, so I’d apply to that position if you don’t see anything that matches up with your skills.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What kind of bike do you own?

360i

Willy Franzen — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:11:38 +0000

I can’t tell you how many bad careers sites I’ve seen over the past 4+ years. Companies with beautiful, easy to use websites often have jobs pages that make you want to poke your eyes out. Even the simple ones that just have a few paragraphs about the company and a listing of jobs are disappointing. Why can’t companies actually put some effort into convincing you to work for them? 360i certainly puts in the effort. I recently landed on their newly relaunched careers page via a link from Twitter, and I was thoroughly impressed. 360i is a digital marketing agency, and it’s pretty clear that they’ve actually put some of their in-house talent to work on the 360i Careers page. It tells a story; it provides a great user experience; it introduces you to the company before throwing job postings at you; and it actually makes you want to work at 360i (they have offices in New York, NY; Atlanta, GA; Detroit, MI; San Francisco, CA; and Chicago, IL).. This should be expected, but instead it’s the exception.

Do a 360

I usually say that the most important thing that you can look at in terms of a digital marketing agency is their client list and portfolio, but there’s actually one thing that’s more important. It’s the company’s website. If they’re not doing what they do for clients for themselves, then there’s something wrong. 360i does great work for themselves, and they also serve Bravo, Coca-Cola, J. Crew, Mattel, Oreo, Ugg and a bunch of other huge brands. 360i has done some really great work for themselves and for their clients, which is probably why they’ve been named one of Advertising Age’s “Best Places to Work and one of Fast Company’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies.” If 360i sounds like the kind of place that you’d like to work, check out their Careers page first, and then dive into their job postings. Current openings include:

Ad Operations Digital Coordinator (New York, NY)
Community Manager (New York, NY)
Digital Media Planner Coordinator – SEM (Chicago, IL)
Marketing Designer (New York, NY)
Software Developer – UI and Back End (New York, NY)

If none of those positions seem like a good fit, take note that 360i categorizes their talent into: Insiders, Thinkers, Sharpshooters, Socializers, Makers, and Advisors. If you think you fit in one of those roles, don’t be afraid to submit a résumé for an unlisted position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard bout 360i?

Bluefin Labs

Willy Franzen — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:58:16 +0000

When I first learned about Google Trends, I was shocked to see how much Internet search traffic is driven by television. It’s pretty clear that browsing the web and watching the tube go hand in hand, which is great news for both marketers and tv content producers. Since its inception tv’s biggest problem has been that it is a one way medium with no real feedback loop. That’s changed, and Bluefin Labs “has accomplished a breakthrough in this field by applying cognitive science research combined with large scale computing techniques to successfully and automatically link TV to social media.” If all goes as planned, the Cambridge, MA will make traditional tv ratings obsolete. Who cares how many people are watching when you can know who’s watching and what they’re saying?

Hook a Bluefin

While there’s no doubt about what Bluefin Labs does, they don’t really emphasize their business on the website. You have to scroll down on their home page to learn that their “clients span TV networks, advertising agencies, and brand advertisers” and include AMC Networks, CBS, MTV Networks, Mars, PepsiCo, MediaCom, and lots more. The solution that they sell to these clients is called Bluefin Signals, and you can read about the science behind it here. If you want to get a very basic sense of the kind of data that Bluefin Labs offers, you can check out their sample dashboard. Last night’s hottest show was the Heat vs. Hawks game, which was closely followed up by Jersey Shore (I know which one I would have preferred to watch). I found out about Bluefin Labs from a reader who landed a job there recently. They don’t post specific positions on their Jobs page, but it mentions that they’re looking for people in the following areas:

Machine learning
Natural language processing
Computer vision
Social network analysis
Data analysis
Information visualization
Interaction design
Large scale data storage and analytics
Sales
Account management
Marketing
Product development

That covers a wide range of interests, so don’t be afraid to reach out to careers@bluefinlabs.com and apply for a position in one of those areas.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Bluefin Labs?

QuinStreet

Willy Franzen — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:03:36 +0000

In March of 2009 I got an e-mail that looked a lot like the spam you typically see when you’re a webmaster with a publicly listed e-mail address. When someone refers to my site as onedayonejob.com, it gives me the hint that the e-mail was probably automated and that I should send it to my Junk folder. But I was still intrigued by the following sentence: “I am reaching out to see if you will be interested in selling your site and would like to discuss potential acquisition opportunities with us,” so I followed up. Over the next few months I traded e-mails with a guy who works at QuinStreet about potentially selling the site, but we never even made it to the offer stage. The reason that the Foster City, CA based company was interested in One Day One Job is that they’re one of the leaders in vertical marketing and online media. They have tons of online properties, and they use them to market and generate leads for other businesses. They’ve been at it since 1999, so they’ve been around the block a time or two.

Take a Ride Down QuinStreet

QuinStreet’s main areas of focus are in Education and Financial Services (two extremely lucrative markets for lead generation), but they also work in Home Services, B2B, Medicine/Health, and Premium Brand Advertising. You won’t see QuinStreet promote their properties on their home page like some other online media companies do, and you won’t get too many details about what they actually do. Online lead generation is extremely competitive, so secrecy is really important. They do have a What We Do, but it’s extremely limited in its explanation of QuinStreet’s business (you’ll find a little more on their How We Do It page). If you really want to learn more about QuinStreet’s business, their Investor Relations site is probably the place to go. What might even give you a better sense of what they’re working is their Jobs page. By investigating the positions they’re hiring for, I’ll bet you’ll get even more insight into the business. You’ll also see some great opportunities for new or recent grads including:

Employee Benefits and Compliance Assistant
Client Strategy & Development Associate
Data Services Associate (Reno, NV)
Inside Sales Rep
Inside Sales Rep – Home Services (Portland, OR)
Jr. Java Developer
Jr. Vertical Manager (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Jr. Web Producer (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Marketing Analyst
PPC Media Associate
SEM/PPC Media Associate (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
Media Associate
Media Associate – Home Services
PHP Developer
Vertical Manager – Online Marketing
Web Designer

If you’re interested in online marketing, QuinStreet would be a great place to learn, so give these positions a look and see what appeals to you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about QuinStreet?

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?

Best Made Company

Willy Franzen — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:53:56 +0000

Last night as I was falling asleep, I kept thinking about chopping wood. It’s something that I really enjoy doing because it’s mentally relaxing, yet physically exhausting. Then I started thinking about these awesome axes that I saw on Gilt Groupe and how I wish I had bought one, but I realized that the fact that I live in downtown Chicago means that I’d be more likely to use the ax for home defense than for chopping wood. This morning I decided to look those axes up, and I ended up on the Best Made Company site. They’re a New York, NY based company that “is dedicated to equipping customers with quality tools and dependable information that they can use and pass down for generations.”

Tools to Empower & Inspire

The best way that I’ve come up with to describe Best Made Company is as a curator. They don’t appear to actually do the manufacturing, but they find amazing vendors and either buy from them or partner with them for a custom run of products. Their current collection includes steel cups, hunting knives, first aid kits, books, maps, and all kinds of other stuff that I want in addition to their unbelievably awesome collection of axes. If you’re loving Best Made Company’s stuff as much as I am, then you should take a look at their Jobs page. Its name is a bit deceptive in that it only includes internships (unpaid and in Workshop, Projects, and Community), but I think it’s worth reaching out to Best Made Company and inquiring about full-time positions. You may also want to read up on their Outposts, as they have a team of “Guides” who report back on topics like Urban Expeditions, River Rafting, Fly Fishing, Field Photography, Cycle Touring, Wandering, Food & Foraging, Urban Homesteading, Cartography, and Aviation.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you bought anything from Best Made Company?

BookRenter.com

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

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

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

The End of Rent Seeking

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your worst college textbook horror story?