One Day, One Job » social networking

Grubwithus

Willy Franzen — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:00:58 +0000

Nearly 500,000 teaching jobs will be added in the next decade. If you’re considering a career in education, take a look at our guide to entry level teaching jobs.

Sharing a meal is a great way to get to know people. Eating provides enough of a distraction to cover up awkward pauses that might come up in other settings without completely killing the ability to have a conversation. Yet very rarely do people use eating as a way to meet new people. You either eat alone or you eat with people you already know. Grubwithus is a company that throws a little uncertainty into your dining experiences by pairing you with strangers who have common interests for a tasting menu at a local restaurant. Grubwithus is based out of Venice, CA, and they’ve built a ton of buzz. I know a bunch of people who have already tried it and had good experiences, and I’d totally host a One Day One Job/Internship focused Grubwithus meal in Chicago if there was enough interest (e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com).

Jobwithus

The idea of meeting strangers for dinner can be a little intimidating, but stepping out of your comfort zone is kind of the point. To get a better sense of how Grubwithus works, you should probably read through their FAQ and etiquette guidelines , and then watch this video (you may need to click through to view):

It’s a pretty simple idea, but I think it has the potential to be pretty powerful. I especially think it’s a good idea for job seekers to give Grubwithus a try. While it may not lead to a job–just getting out and interacting with new people is great practice for interviewing and networking. And if you want a job with Grubwithus, you should definitely give one of their meals a shot first. Then you can apply for one of the positions that looks well suited for new grads. These include:

There appear to be some great opportunities for techies and non-techies alike, so take a look at the jobs and give Grubwithus a try.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you try Grubwithus?

Heyzap

Willy Franzen — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:46:07 +0000

There’s one reason that I’m not a “social gamer.” If my friends found out how much time I spent playing games like Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds, I’d be totally embarrassed. If only we all could admit to each other that we’re compulsive gamers and start talking openly about it. That’s what Heyzap is all about. They’re a San Francisco, CA based “social discovery platform for mobile and online games and the largest social network for mobile gamers.” Through “check-in” functionality much like that of Foursquare they let you tell your friends what games you’re playing and show off to them about how skilled you are. Don’t you wish you had a similar social network for your job search? “Hey everyone! Look! I applied for this job and I got rejected in a record time! 2 minutes flat.”

Zap Your Way to the Top

Believe it or not, mobile and social gaming are serious business. There are millions of dollars being made, and Heyzap has positioned itself extremely well in the market. By being the place that gamers go to learn about new games, they are able to offer exceptional advertising opportunities to game developers. From what I’ve read, it looks like Heyzap works mostly on a CPI or “cost per install” model. That means that they only get compensated when people actually download the games that are being advertised. It puts everybody’s incentives in the right place. If you’re intrigued by what Heyzap is doing, you have to check out their Jobs page. They have a number of opportunities that are perfect for new grads including Community Manager, Mobile Games Sales/Business Development, Web Designer, Graphic Designer, Mobile Designer, Mobile (iOS/Android) Engineer, and Rails Software Engineer. Just make sure you do tell them how much time you spend playing games.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Heyzap?

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?

Zoosk

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

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

Social Dating?

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried Zoosk?

RadiumOne

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

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

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

A Social Target

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of what RadiumOne is doing?

Yammer

Willy Franzen — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 16:40:57 +0000

Communication in the workplace can be a major hassle, especially considering the fact that a lot of people who work together are doing so from different locations these days. E-mail was an amazing step forward, but it still has a ton of flaws. (I’m dying for an e-mail client that is built for how I think and work–nothing comes close.) Now that I’m starting to consider hiring interns or part-timers (more on that soon!), I need to come up with a way to communicate with them and manage projects. Social networks like Twitter and Facebook are on to something with their interfaces, but they are most certainly not for communicating about work. I’ve played around with the the WordPress P2 Theme, which turns blogging software into something Twitter-like, but I’m not completely sold on it. I’ve also heard some good things about San Francisco, CA based Yammer, which seems to be a pretty sweet solution. Yammer enables “people to create private enterprise social networks.” It’s more collaborative than e-mail, and it allows you to open up conversations to a wider audience without annoying them.

Communicate Your Skills

Most major companies have Intranets. They’re moderately useful, but they are often completely lifeless. Yammer brings life to internal networks. They’re already working with major clients like Deloitte, Groupon, PayPal, and lots of other big names. The product looks like it’s super simple to use, and it has a ton of useful features. What may be the coolest thing about Yammer is that you only need an e-mail address to set up your own network. I put in my e-mail, and in a matter of a few seconds I had my own Yammer network set up (but nobody to Yammer with). There’s still a lot of progress to be made in the area of communication in the workplace, but Yammer has taken some major leaps. If you like what they’re doing, take a look at their Jobs page. They have great some great opportunities for new grads including:

Implementation Engineer (San Francisco, CA)
Implementation Engineer (United Kingdom)
Android Developer (San Francisco, CA)
Data/Analytics Engineer (San Francisco, CA)
iPhone Developer (San Francisco, CA)
Tools Engineer (San Francisco, CA)
Web Software Engineer (San Francisco, CA)
Technical Recruiter (San Francisco, CA)
IT and Corporate Applications Support Engineer (San Francisco, CA)
Associate Product Manager (San Francisco, CA)
Associate Product Marketing Manager (San Francisco, CA)
Quantitative Product Analyst (San Francisco, CA)
UX/Information Architect (San Francisco, CA)
Enterprise Business Representative (San Francisco, CA)
International Enterprise Business Representative – Spanish or Korean Language (San Francisco, CA)
Technical Support Representative (San Francisco, CA)

While most of the options are tech oriented, there are a few at Yammer for the not-so-technical. They’re doing some really cool stuff, so give them a nice long look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used Yammer?

Offerpop

Willy Franzen — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:39:08 +0000

It seems as though every business has a Facebook page and a Twitter account these days. Everybody is excited about social media marketing, yet very few people know how to get it right. We have a Facebook page with 3,041 Likes, a Twitter account 3,888 followers, and a LinkedIn Group with 749 members, and I barely know what to do with them besides send out our daily updates (but you should still Like, Follow, and Join). Offerpop is a New York, NY based company that helps businesses use social media more effectively through a suite of tools and apps. They’ve only been around for about a year and a half, but they’ve already done some really cool stuff with some big name clients.

An Offer You Can’t Refuse

To get a sense for what Offerpop means when they talk about their “engaging, end-to-end, white label campaign tools for Facebook and Twitter,” you should take a look at both their Product page and their Case Studies. The range of apps that Offerpop already offers is pretty impressive, and all are focused on using social media to drive sales or other desired actions. Offerpop has worked with names like Tumi, Gilt City, Acura, Poker Stars, Girll Scouts, Bravo, Skype, Audi, Athleta, Samsung, Sara Lee, and American Eagle Outfitters, so you know that their product offerings must be generating a solid ROI. If you like what Offerpop is doing, you can head over to their Jobs page to learn more about their career opportunities. Right now they’re looking for a Sales Representative, a Social Marketing Consultant , and a Facebook and Twitter Developer. The first and the last are probably best suited to new or recent grads, but check out all of the job descriptions here.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you find social media marketing effective?

Gogobot

Willy Franzen — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:13:31 +0000

There’s a good chance that you’re going to spend some time traveling after you graduate. It’s a pretty common thing to do, especially when the job market isn’t completely rocking. (Just remember not to brag about it in your interviews–the guy who spends half of his 14 vacation days visiting his in-laws in Florida isn’t going to be too psyched about hearing every detail of your 3-month trek through Central America.) One of the best parts about traveling is planning: figuring out where to go, what to do, whom to see, and more. Many people rely on friends for recommendations, while many others scour the Internet for travel review sites. Gogobot is a Menlo Park, CA based company that is bringing those together. The people at Gogobot “believe passionately that planning your trips and sharing your travel experiences should be fun, easy and social.” I completely agree. My only issue is that I don’t like coming off as a braggart. Gogobot seems like the kind of place where it’s ok to show off a little when it comes to travel.

Gogo Get a Job

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch has called Gogobot “Yelp for travel” and “one of [his] favorite startups of 2010.” That’s pretty strong praise coming from someone whose job it is to critique startups. Until you actually start searching for travel reviews and information on destinations, you don’t realize how bad the websites that serve those purposes are. You never know if the review that you’re reading was written by the owner of the hotel or someone with totally poor taste. Gogobot is all about sharing experiences with your friends and other people who have built up trust by consistently posting quality content. No need to be skeptical of what you read online (unless you don’t trust a friend’s taste.) As Gogobot works to pull in data from other social networks like Facebook and Foursquare, their product is only to get more and more compelling. Gogobot already has done a great job developing a high quality user experience, and they’ve picked a market that is pretty easy to monetize. Now it’s all about growing and getting more and more people to participate on the site.

If you want to go along for the ride, check out Gogobot’s Jobs page. Right now they have a few senior level software development positions, and a paid Travel Writing and Editorial Internship. Neither is exactly what most new grads are looking for, but they’re still worth a look (especially the Internship since it’s $15/hour). You can also reach out them at jobs@gogobot.com and let them know where you think you’d be able to add something, even if there isn’t a relevant job posted. They’re still pretty early stage, so it’s well worth trying. (And don’t worry about going into great detail about your latest vacation if you do land an interview.)

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Where have you gone lately?

deviantART

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

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

Do You Deviate?

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a deviantART member?

Foursquare

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

Usually I try to tell you about jobs at cool startups before they get big, but I missed the boat with Foursquare, which is based in New York, NY. I guess I was too busy checking in everywhere to remember to look at their jobs. For a while I was really into the location-based social network. I used it to run into friends who were nearby, get free stuff from restaurants, and even meet some new people. Eventually, though, I got sick of telling my Foursquare friends and Twitter followers where I was no matter how boring the place might be. But for old time’s sake I’ll tell you where I am right now. I’m at Cool Beans in Bellefonte, PA. They don’t have any Foursquare specials, but they have free wi-fi and a nice atmosphere, which is exactly what I was looking for in a pitstop as I drive from Connecticut back to Chicago today. I doubt my check-in today will lead to my meeting someone interesting, but you never know.

Check-in at Foursquare

Since Foursquare really took off, they’ve seen competition from the likes of Facebook, Yelp, and Gowalla. Still, it seems like Foursquare has become the dominant player in location-based social networking. They’re still adding a ton of users, even if they’re losing some of the early adopters like me. My take is that there was a lot of value in the service early on, and there will be a lot of value when more of my friends join, but for now it’s in an awkward stage–at least for my use case. I fully expect Foursquare to get through this, and I’m certain that location-based social networking will be a very significant business. Not only can it be insanely useful for people who are out and about, but it has amazing potential for local marketing and advertising. Foursquare is the leader in a really exciting market space, and it’s going to be fascinating to see where they are in a few years. If you want to be part of that story, then you’ll want to take a look Jobs at Foursquare. Your best bet as a new grad is if you have Software Development skills (there are a number of relevant positions – this one in particular), since the posted positions in Marketing, Product Management, and Business Development all require at least a few years of experience. But if you’re convinced that you’d be a good fit even though there isn’t a position for you, you can apply for an unlisted position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Foursquare?

Involver

Willy Franzen — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 16:10:07 +0000

Sponsored Jobs: Love restaurants and looking for an entry level job? SinglePlatform has a ton of positions that are perfect for you. They’re our sponsor this week, and you can check out all of their positions here.

These days it’s hard to find an advertisement where a brand isn’t encouraging you to Like them on Facebook or Follow them on Twitter. (And since I mentioned it, you should Like Us, Follow Me, and Join our LinkedIn Group.) I’m still not convinced that it’s a better idea to send traffic to your presence on someone else’s site than it is to send people to your own site, but everybody is doing it. And if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it right. Involver is a company that “provides marketers with everything they need to create rich experiences across the social web.” They’re based in San Francisco, CA, but they’re adding offices rapidly. So far they also have locations in New York, NY; Austin, TX; Los Angeles, CA; and Chicago, IL. To put it more simply, Involver has built a platform on top of the major social media platforms. By using Involver, you can more simply craft an exceptional user experience within the framework of sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Get Involved!

You know Involver is legit when you take a look at their success stories. They’ve already worked with names like The White House, Alicia Keys, Facebook, and Cisco. To get a fuller sense of the kind of work that Involver is doing for these clients, you need to take a look at their Applications. They’ve made it extremely simple to add high value functionality to a number of social media sites. They also have their Engagement Platform, which helps with managing the relationships that are forged through social media. It seems pretty certain that social media will continue to be a valuable marketing channel, but keeping up with all of the changes on the technology side is extremely difficult. Involver acts as an intermediary that simplifies the process of managing a presence. If you’re interested in the technology side of social media marketing, then you really should check out jobs at Involver. They have a number of opportunities including Interface Engineer (San Francisco, CA), Interface Engineer (Austin, TX), Sales Engineer (San Francisco, CA), Software Engineer (Austin, TX), Support Engineer (Austin, TX), Inside Sales Representative (New York, NY), and Inside Sales Representative (San Francisco, CA). You can also apply for an unlisted position if none of these seem like good fits for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Involver?

Bump Technologies

Willy Franzen — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:54:20 +0000

I’m on my way to Ithaca, NY today for the Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration (e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com if you’re a Cornell student who wants to meet up). I’ve never been before, but I’m really excited to get more involved with my alma mater’s entrepreneurship community. I’m looking forward to meeting new people and catching up with old friends, and if all goes as planned I’ll be exchanging a lot of contact information with people. This usually means exchanging business cards, which inevitably end up in a pile in my apartment. There’s a much better way to swap contact info, and I even have the app loaded on my iPhone (though I must admit that I rarely use it). It’s called Bump and it’s produced by Bump Technologies in Mountain View, CA. Their app is as simple as their name–all you have to do is open the app, bump your phones (softly so as not to damage them), and you’ll have traded info.

Bump Bump Bump

I really like Bump’s story. As they put it, there’s “a major problem with mobile phones: as powerful as they have become, they are still pretty useless for interacting in the real world, with real people, places, and things.” They set out to change that, and they have. I’m still not quite clear on what Bump’s business model is, but they’ve already built a product that millions of people use, and that’s a great start. Judging from the postings on their Jobs page, Bump is still extremely focused on improving their product. There aren’t really any businessy positions, but there are plenty of techie ones. These include Interaction Designer, Visual Designer, Algorithms Engineer, Android Developer, BlackBerry Developer, iOS Expert, Mobile Web Developer, Growth Analytics Engineer, and User Engagement Hacker. Bump looks like an amazing place to work, so be sure to check out all of their positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used Bump?

FanBridge

Willy Franzen — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:56:37 +0000

E-mails not giving you what you’re looking for? Check out our archives of 1,200+ entry level employers.

My first online business was a music fan site. It wasn’t a huge success, but it was nice to get the occasional $100-$200 check for advertising as a high schooler. Back then the Internet was still kind of new. Most artists had websites, but they were usually static and rarely updated. The best fans sites were better than the official sites. Most fan sites died off as musicians, sports teams, comedians, and other fan-worthy acts started to get more serious about interacting with fans online. However, fans aren’t just for mega stars who have huge budgets to pay agencies to take care of managing fan relationships. Anyone can have fans, but it’s hard to be fan-worthy if you spend all of your time managing fan relationships. FanBridge is a New York, NY based company that has built a platform for managing and leveraging fan lists. FanBridge makes keeping fans engaged easy so that their customers can keep doing what they do best–whether it’s playing music, making jokes, or baking cupcakes.

Cross This Bridge

You’re nothing without your fans. If you can’t get people to consume what you’re creating, you’re not going to eat. Artists of all kinds need to be more serious about mobilizing their fan bases so that producing art (whatever it is) can continue to be a viable business. FanBridge makes this easy by offering an affordable way to collect fans’ information, excite fans, and keep fans engaged. The FanBridge platform focuses on three mediums: e-mail, SMS, and social networks. They’re already managing over 100,000,000 fan relationships, and they’re constantly working on new ways to make managing these relationships easier. One of the key focuses of FanBridge is increasing “Fan Lifetime Value.” This may sound really transactional, but it’s really all about increasing the opportunity for mutually beneficial exchanges. If you dig the idea of FanBridge, then you should check out their Jobs page. Right now they have a few opportunities that seem perfect for new grads including Music Industry Relationship Builder (New York, NY), Client Service Representative (New York, NY or San Francisco, CA), UI/UX Designer (San Francisco, CA), and Web Developer (Buenos Aires or New York, NY or San Francisco, CA). If you’re a fan of fans, then FanBridge is the place to be.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Whom are you a fan of?

The Hotlist

Willy Franzen — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 16:44:57 +0000

What are you up to this weekend? I know that it’s getting to be that time where professors cram in mid-terms (or prelims as we called them at Cornell) before Spring Break, but that’s no excuse to stay in the library all weekend. You need to get out and have some fun, and that means knowing where to go. Finding a good time on a college campus usually isn’t too hard, but once you move into the real world going out and organizing friends can get really frustrating. You’d think that Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and other social networking sites would make it easier to meet up with friends and find cool events/places, but they haven’t really done that yet. That’s where The Hotlist steps in. They’re a New York City based startup that has developed “a social discovery engine that enables you to view what’s happening today, tomorrow and throughout the week among your Facebook friends and the entire world!” The Hotlist was name one of the Top 100 Web Sites of 2010 by PCMag.com, and they’ve received a ton of other press mentions. But it’s really up to you to judge how hot The Hotlist is.

Are You on The Hotlist?

The point of The Hotlist is to show you where your friends are, where they’ve been, and where they will be. In addition to friends, you can also see where crowds are forming. Maybe it’s that new French restaurant that opened two weeks ago or a dive bar that has been discovered by yuppies. Wherever there’s social network action, The Hotlist will find it. One of the coolest features is called Girls/Guys. It tells you the gender breakdown at a given place, which is valuable information for a lot of people. If you’re all about combining your online social persona with your real-life social persona, then The Hotlist is for you. The business behind the site still isn’t apparent, but it’s pretty clear that there’s a ton of advertising potential. If you’re excited about The Hotlist, then check out their Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Community Manager, a Data Engineer, a MySQL Database Engineer, a Software Engineer, and a Backend Engineer. They make working with them sound pretty sweet, so check out the jobs.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use The Hotlist?

ZoomInfo

Willy Franzen — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:50:22 +0000

MATCH Public Charter School is our sponsor this week. They’re hiring tons of new grads to help them close the “Achievement Gap.” Find out more here.

Tracking people down isn’t all that hard anymore. If you want to find someone, there’s a really good chance that a simple Google search will give you a good enough lead to find some contact information. You should know all about this if you’re going about your job search properly. If you haven’t tracked down someone at a company that you want to work for and offered to buy him or her lunch, then what are you wasting your time doing? You should be able to get by with free tools, but sometimes you need something a little more powerful. ZoomInfo is a Waltham, MA based company that offers “continuously updated, multi-sourced, highly relevant business information and unrivalled tools to quickly pinpoint contacts and accelerate success.” ZoomInfo’s database “spans five million businesses and 50 million employees,” so if you’re looking for a company or a person, there’s a good chance that they have info on them.

Do You Zoom?

Your biggest question is probably Who Uses ZoomInfo? All kinds of people. You could use it for your job search. A sales or business development professional could use it to find prospects. A recruiter can use it to find people for jobs. And a writer can use ZoomInfo for fact checking. The use cases are pretty much endless. The business behind ZoomInfo is pretty simple–they sell a variety of products that are centered on offering access to their database. They certainly have a lot of competition from free sites like Google, LinkedIn, and even Twitter and Facebook, but as long as they can find and organize data that isn’t easy to find, then they’re going to have a solid business. If you’d like to be a part of what ZoomInfo is doing, you should check out their Careers page. Right now they’re looking for a Marketing Associate, a Software Engineer, and a Research Engineer. They also have a posting for General Rock Stars, so you can tell them exactly where you think that you’d fit in even if there isn’t a job posted for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used ZoomInfo?

Clickable

Willy Franzen — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 16:50:39 +0000

Good news! We’re switching e-mail providers today. We have a sponsored e-mail (with awesome opportunities) coming later today, and that should come from our new provider, Aweber (check out their jobs). You probably won’t notice any changes right away (forgive us if we run into any glitches), but it’s going to help us offer you a much better e-mail experience in the long run.

A couple of weeks ago I got an e-mail from a high school friend saying that she’s collecting “class notes” for our school’s newsletter. She didn’t suppress the recipient list, so it’s been a big reply all fest (luckily my graduating class was only 46). It’s truly interesting to see where all of my friends and what they’re doing 9 years after graduating high school. Beyond that, it’s a great source of new ideas for companies to feature. One of my friends is currently working at Clickable, a New York, NY based company that offers a “live Web platform to make online advertising Simple, Sophisticated and Profitable.” Chances are that you’ve never dabbled in online advertising (though maybe you should), but I can assure you that it gets complex very quickly–especially when you are running ads through platforms like Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, and Microsoft AdCenter. Clickable offers a software solution that makes everything way simpler.

Are You Clickable?

Simplicity is great, but it’s not the only reason that some of the country’s best known venture capitalists have put $20.5 million into the company since it was founded in 2006. Advertising is all about return on investment, and small changes in how you run your ad campaign can mean the difference between making lots of money and losing lots of money. Clickable gives advertisers all of the tools they need to make the most of their online ad spend. The best way to get a feel for Clickable’s Solutions and how they offer value to clients is to browse through the company’s Case Studies. Then you’ll start to get an understanding for how their technology helps with both social advertising and search advertising. If you like what you see, then you’ll want to check out Careers at Clickable. Right now, they’re looking for an Account Associate, a Junior Web Designer, and a Sales Development Associate. My friend is really enjoying his time there, so check them out and maybe you’ll get to know him.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Clickable?

Klout

Willy Franzen — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 16:16:37 +0000

Sponsored Job: Interested in the intersection of health care and online social media? PatientsLikeMe is hiring a Community Manager, and they’d love to hire another One Day, One Job reader. Apply here.

Even though I’m an active participant in a number of social media communities, I realize that the whole thing can be a bit… self-congratulatory. There’s no better example of how self-involved social media users can get than sites that let them show off how influential they are. Yes, all of your online relationships can be boiled down into a simple numerical score—and you can use that score to show people how cool you are. It seem so pointless, but it’s not. Think about how Google works. They rank sites based on a mix of influence (incoming links) and relevance. The problem with that model is that the Internet is becoming less site focused and more people focused. That’s why Klout is a business worth keeping an eye on. They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that aims to “help every individual understand and leverage their influence.” I think that’s understating what they do—understanding and measuring people’s influence has quite a few different use cases.

Use Your Klout

The best way to get a feel for how Klout works is to either plug in your social media profiles or take a look at how mine stacks up. There’s definitely some interesting information there, but what really interests me is how it could be used at scale. For instance, look at Klout’s ranking of the Most Influential Colleges on Twitter. Maybe it won’t help you decide where to go to college, but it provides interesting information nonetheless. Businesses can use Klout to identify influential customers and prospects and get involved in conversations about their products, and that’s just scratching the surface. With Google using social media activity as a ranking mechanism and Twitter slowly rolling out more advertising options, measuring influence is going to be really important moving forward. If you’d like to get involved, check out Jobs at Klout. Right now they’re looking for a Web Developer, a Research Engineer, and a Frontend Engineer. It’s all techie stuff right now, but there’s certainly the potential for other types of positions in the future (they’ve had Marketing interns, so that might be an area to think about).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How much Klout do you have?

Wikia

Willy Franzen — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:49:35 +0000

Yesterday our e-mail provider failed to send out our daily e-mail about Organic Motion. You can find that post here. We’re working on changing providers to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

If you’re not spending at least 15 minutes a week reading Wikipedia articles, you’re selling yourself short. As a job seeker you need to be constantly learning about new stuff. Wikipedia is an amazing, free resource for learning about general concepts, but what if you are seeking more specific knowledge? The Wiki format is great, but that’s not what Wikipedia is about. Luckily, there are all kinds of Wiki-powered communities that cover niche topics “ranging from video games, TV shows and movies to food, fashion, and environmental sustainability.” Wikia is a San Francisco, CA based company that provides the platform for many of these Wiki-based communities. The company was founded by Jimmy Wales, who also founded Wikipedia (he’s the creepy guy who stares at you and asks for donations on all of their pages). Both sites use very similar technology, but Wikia is a place for more focused communities that may or may not have a commercial purpose.

Wiki Wiki

There are a ton of cool communities built on Wikia, many of them are officially sanctioned. For instance in TV shows there are Mad Men and NCIS, in movies there are Harry Potter and Avatar, and in games there are Call of Duty and World of Warcraft. To get a feel for it, you should browse around Wikia—they do a great job of spotlighting their top wikis. The video below will give you a quick overview of how Wikia works (e-mail readers should click through).

Now, you’re probably wondering how Wikia makes money. It’s a combination of advertising and “partner programs.” You can get a look behind the curtains by looking at Wikia’s Media Kit. The network of Wikia sites gets a ton of traffic, and they must be monetizing it well. Wikia doesn’t appear to have received any new funding in over 4 years, yet their Jobs page shows quite a few openings. The ones that seem most suitable for new or recent grads include UI Designer, Junior Designer, Sales/Sponsored Links Coordinator, Online Advertising Account Executive, Community Manager, German Gaming Helper, German Entertainment Helper, and Italian Speaking Helpers. There’s a good mix of opportunities, so check them out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a member of any Wikia communities?

The Taunton Press

Willy Franzen — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:58:06 +0000

The world of publishing is a pretty crazy place right now. We hear about prestigious brand names struggling to stay afloat, while relative newcomers like Demand Media are IPO-ing. One of the key takeaways from all of the turmoil is that advertisers want results. That means that publishers need to be able to deliver targeted audiences that will respond to ads, whether it be through traditional outlets like magazines and newspapers or online. The Taunton Press is a publisher that has understood this for a long time. They’re based in Newtown, CT (a lovely town where I’ve done a lot of fishing), and they publish magazines, websites, and books for people who have a passion for creative activities. Their titles include Fine Woodworking, Fine Homebuilding, Fine Cooking, Fine Gardening, Threads, and more. Most of the publications come in both magazine form and an online version, so readers can consume the content however they feel comfortable.

The Finer Things

The Taunton Press reminds me a lot of Prime Publishing, another company that has found success by publishing content for niche markets. The Taunton Press seems a bit more brand focused, which is explained best by a quote on their About page:

We don’t run advertising that isn’t directly related to the subject matter of our magazines. We believe our ad pages serve as another vehicle for passing on educational information. It means our magazines might cost a little more at the newsstand. But it also means every page will be worth the price.

I love that! Advertising doesn’t have to be a bad thing. I often say that you can tell how intelligent your media consumption habits are by looking at the advertising that is targeted to you. If you’re seeing a lot of Shake Weight commercials, you might want to start worrying. Whether you have a specific interest in the topical areas that The Taunton Press covers or you are generally interested in media and publishing, The Taunton Press looks like a great place to start a career. Check out their Careers page and their job listings. Right now they have a couple of positions that might be suitable for a new grad: Assistant Editor – Threads Magazine and Chef’s Assistant. They also offer internships in Editorial, Media Sales, Publishing, and Web Publishing, so there’s the potential for more entry level opportunities in the future.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read any of The Taunton Press’ publications?

Hunch

Willy Franzen — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 16:55:18 +0000

Social networks are great. They help us maintain relationships more easily, while also introducing us to new people. The cool thing is that we’ve just scratched the surface with social networking. There’s a lot more value to come, and one of the things that I’m most excited about is social recommendations. Whether I’m looking for a restaurant, hotel, pair of shoes, or car, I want to be able to leverage the collective knowledge of my friends. Hunch is a New York City based startup that is doing exactly that. They’re “personalizing the Internet” by building “a ‘taste graph’ of the entire web, connecting every person on the web with their affinity for anything, from books to electronic gadgets to fashion or vacation spots.” They leverage the information that you’ve already added to your social profiles on Twitter and Facebook, and they also ask you a number of seemingly irrlevant questions to get a feel for what you might like.

Do You Have a Hunch?

I spent 5-10 minutes on Hunch this morning, and I have to say that I was impressed. Of the five tv shows that it recommended, I watch four regularly—Seinfeld, The Office, MythBusters, and Mad Men. They’re all pretty popular shows, so maybe it’s not all that astounding to recommend them, but I’m excited to keep playing with Hunch. What really gets me excited, though, is the economic potential in Hunch. If it can be an effective guide for purchasing decisions, then the people behind Hunch are going to make a lot of money. We all know how hard it is to find new things that we like. Hunch is trying to solve that problem without requiring a ton of users’ time by forcing them to input lots of data. If you like what you see at Hunch, you should check out their Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Software Developer and paid Marketing/Content/Business Development interns. Those internships may indicate future job openings, so don’t overlook them. And while you’re checking out Hunch, be sure to recommend One Day, One Job.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried Hunch?

Dachis Group

Willy Franzen — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:52:18 +0000

Do you know what I hated most about college? Group projects. Even if I had a good group (and I usually had at least one slacker and one know it all), getting everyone together and communicating about who was doing what over the course of the project was a pain in the butt. Technology has come a long way in the five years since I graduated college, but I’m sure that group projects are still a pain. Now, imagine doing it in a corporate environment on a daily basis with some outdated technology platform that you’re required to use. There is some really cool stuff happening at the nexus of work, technology, and relationships, but most companies are missing out on the potential gains. Dachis Group is a company headquartered in Austin, TX that helps “businesses to create and capture value from emerging trends in technology, society and the workplace.” They do “social business design,” and they do it well.

It’s About Connections

Business is all about connections, whether it’s with your clients, co-workers, or strategic partners. Dachis Group “helps companies reinvent themselves into dynamic, socially calibrated organizations that gain constant value from their ecosystem of connections.” They seem to take a similar approach that of many management consulting firms, but Dachis Group’s focus is very specific. They work with names like ESPN, Coca-Cola, Foursquare, Intel, Sprint, and Yum! Brands. The idea of social business design is probably a new one for you, so you should definitely spend some time on the Dachis Group website looking at their Approach, Practice Areas, and Results. It’s pretty cutting edge stuff, so don’t worry if you don’t fully grasp it right away—I don’t fully get it yet. Anyway, if you’re intrigued by what Dachis Group is doing, you should check out their Jobs at Dachis Group“>Careers page. They don’t have much that is explicitly entry level (and their Jobs site is annoying to use), but positions like Social Business Consultant, Contract Designer (Indianapolis, IN/Portland, OR/St. Louis, MO), Interactive UI Engineer (London, UK), and Informational Designer (Portland, OR) are all worth at least looking at. The Social Business Consultant/Analyst position in Sydney, Australia actually looks like the best fit, but it’s, unfortunately, half a world away.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about social business design?

Wetpaint

Willy Franzen — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:49:53 +0000

I don’t know how many of you are data nerds like me, but I love checking out Google Trends to see what people are searching for. One of the things that I often notice is how much search traffic (especially in the evening) is driven by television. It seems as though everybody is watching tv with a laptop/iPad/iPhone within reach. That’s why Wetpaint, formerly a company that enabled people to make their own wikis, has adapted their proprietary publishing platform “to produce premium branded media destinations featuring professionally authored content” focused on television and fashion. Wetpaint, which is based in Seattle, WA, intends to move into other niches as they grow, but for now they’re extremely television focused. And they’re pretty confident that they can develop, deliver, and monetize this content much more effectively than “traditional web publishers.”

Not Like Watching Paint Dry

I knew the name Wetpaint sounded familiar, but when I landed on their homepage it didn’t feel right. I did a little investigating and learned that they made a major pivot away from their original business model. Wikis weren’t working, so they cleaned shop and leveraged the technology that they had created to take another stab at web publishing. It’s hard to say how successful the change has been, but their traffic does seem to be coming back after a pretty big dip. The best way for you to get familiar with Wetpaint is to browse their site and experience some of their content.

If you like what you see, then you’ll want to check out their Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for Java and Ruby Software Engineers in addition to a Social Media Manager and an Editor II. The Software Engineer positions could be a good fit for a new or recent grad, but the latter two positions require a good amount of prior work experience. Why am I mentioning them? Well, the Editor II listing mentions that one of its responsibilities includes managing Associate Editors, Interns, and Writers. I think you can read between the lines. And if you’d like to write/blog for Wetpaint, they also have opportunities to do that (but I don’t think they’re full time).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you checked out Wetpaint?

BlogHer

Willy Franzen — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 16:48:11 +0000

Yesterday we took a look at a performance marketing firm called Prospectiv that specializes in helping brands reach women online. Today we’re going to continue with the female focus and take a look at BlogHer, a Belmont, CA based community and media company for women. In fact, they’re the “largest community of women who blog” with more than 23 million unique visitors per month. The company was founded in 2005, and since then its vision has been to “create opportunities for women who blog to gain exposure, education, community and economic empowerment.” Believe it or not, blogging is a big business, and BlogHer is leveraging the size of its community to create amazing opportunities for all of its members.

BlogYou

There are a number of pieces that make up the BlogHer business. One of the big pieces is their conference business which brings together the BlogHer community in real life. In fact, they put on the world’s largest conference for women in social media. In addition to the conferences, BlogHer also runs BlogHer.com, a content site, and the BlogHer Publishing Network, which is made up of 2,500 blogs. All of this adds up to a lot of pull with advertisers who want to reach women, which is why BlogHer is venture funded and has grown to more than 40 employees. They’re adding to that number, and you can learn more about those opportunities on BlogHer’s Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a hybrid Sales Operations Analyst/Sales Planner in their New York City office. It’s a contract position, and it does require some prior experience, but it looks like it could be a great fit for a new or recent grad.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read any BlogHer network blogs?

Fatwallet

Willy Franzen — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 14:04:22 +0000

It’s 8 AM on Black Friday, and I haven’t bought anything yet. I guess that I’m more interested in Cyber Monday when I can find great deals online. On previous Black Fridays we’ve taken a look at jobs with companies like Amazon.com (should have saved it for Cyber Monday), Ernst & Young (because today is when companies are finally “in the black”), and Visa (since you’ll probably be swiping yours like crazy today). I wish I had been able to feature Slickdeals on a previous Black Friday, but they had some cool opportunities in August of 2009, so I jumped the gun. Today, our focus is going to be on Rockton, IL based Fatwallet, which is a very similar site to Slickdeals—both focus on saving you money when you shop. Fatwallet puts a pretty big emphasis on Black Friday Deals, but what makes the site great is that they help shoppers find amazing deals every day.

How Fat Is Your Wallet?

One of the coolest things about Fatwallet is the story behind the company. It all started with a $100 investment by a guy who saw a need. Now they have 52 employees and a really serious business. Below is a video on how Fatwallet came to be (e-mail readers should click through):

Fatwallet makes most of its money through affiliate marketing. That means that when people find deals (which are sourced by the community) on Fatwallet and buy from online retailers, Fatwallet gets a commission on the sale. Fatwallet could have stopped there, but instead they decided to make their deals just a little sweeter. They instituted a program called Cash Back that gives their users money back if they make a purchase at certain retailers. Fatwallet has built a truly incredible business out of nothing, and they’ve done it by constantly watching out for the consumer. If you like Fatwallet’s story, then you’ll want to check out their Jobs page. Though they don’t have any open positions posted right now, they have a General Submission form that will allow you to tell them exactly where you think that you’d fit in. Give it a shot, and then go find some deals.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Fatwallet?

1000Memories

Willy Franzen — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:54:13 +0000

The job search is all about your future, so it’s not really something that you want to associate with death. Still, you can find opportunity in even the saddest situations, and that’s exactly what 1000Memories has done. They’re a San Francisco, CA based startup that offers an online “place to remember loved ones.” They’ve built a truly impressive platform for doing so, and they’re offering it for free. Their business model doesn’t appear to have been hammered out completely yet, but it seems that they’re leaning towards a freemium/upsell model. The site was created by three friends who had lost loved ones, so they are their users and they’re fully committed to building “a better way to bring people together and build something special in their [loved ones'] memory.”

What Will You Remember?

To see what 1000Memories is all about, you can take a look at an example site. It includes places for family members and friends to register, leave notes, post photos, share stories, and even start projects (with the ability to take donations on the site). 1000Memories has really delivered an amazing user experience—one that can do justice to the memories of loved ones who have passed away. If you’re as passionate about proper remembrance as 1000Memories’ founders, than you should check out the company’s Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Web Engineer and a Designer/Front-End Engineer. Both positions are technical, but I imagine 1000Memories could offer more non-technical positions (i.e. Marketing, Business Development, Community Management, or Customer Support) in the future. It might even be worth reaching out to them now about how you could help.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you use 1000Memories to remember a lost loved one?

Tagged

Willy Franzen — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:17:35 +0000

Because my business is almost entirely online, I’m always meeting new people through e-mail and social networks. Eventually, I end up meeting many of these people in real life. I guess that’s becoming more and more normal, but I know that plenty of people are still weirded out by people who meet online. Not the people who use Tagged, which is “social network where the focus is on meeting new people.” The company is based in San Francisco, CA, and they made the Inc. 500 with 637% three-year growth and $22.7 million in revenue. It may not be Facebook, but Tagged has 100 million users and gets 4 million daily unique visitors. By offering features like “social games, friend suggestions, browsing profiles, group interests and much more,” Tagged has created a unique online environment for making new friends. It seems to be paying off for them.

Get Tagged

Tagged was started by two best friends who met in 7th grade, and I imagine it’s created lots of new friendships since it launched in 2004. The company has been profitable since 2007, and it probably has to do with their decision to stand out by focusing on introducing new people. To learn more about the business, watch this video interview with Tagged co-founder Greg Tseng (e-mail readers need to click through to see the video).

I should also note that Tagged has a separate corporate site at About-Tagged.com, and it’s truly outstanding—filled with information and beautifully design. If you like what you see at Tagged, you’ll probably also like what you see on their Jobs page. They have a ton of positions posted, and may are suitable for new or recent grads. These include Associate Product Manager, Junior Game Designer, Office/Facilities Assistant, Customer Service Representative, Interaction/Visual Designer, Software Engineer, and Entry Level Systems Administrator. Check out the positions, and if you like what you see, you can meet some new people at Tagged.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Tagged?

The Pursuant Group

Willy Franzen — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:54:41 +0000

If you haven’t noticed already, I’m a big supporter of non-profits. Not only am I on the board of a budding non-profit that aims to improve education through athletics, but I also make sure that we only feature non-profit entry level jobs on weekends. Now, I always assumed that you couldn’t get rich in the non-profit world, but that’s not necessarily true. Take the The Pursuant Group for example. They are “a family of companies all with one common purpose, serving nonprofits and helping them achieve their greatest potential.” The Pursuant Group is based in Dallas, TX, and they made the Inc. 500 with 754% three-year growth to $12.8 million in annual revenue. Now making money from non-profits may seem like a bad thing at first, but it’s worth the cost—non-profits that hire The Pursuant Group’s companies operate more effectively and efficiently.

What Are You Pursuing?

The Pursuant Group consists of five companies: RSI, Ketchum, Pursuant Agency, Pursuant Sports, and Unifyer. RSI helps faith-based organizations improve stewardship. Ketchum works with non-profits to improve fundraising and development campaigns. Pursuant Agency offers “full-service fundraising programs.” PursuantSports “is the leader in innovative fundraising and online media solutions serving collegiate athletics, charitable sports foundations, and professional and amateur organizations.” And Unifyer is “a low-cost, social networking platform designed specifically to meet the unique needs of the nonprofit.” Yes, they do a lot of different things, but all of the Pursuant Group’s businesses tie together nicely. Now, it seems that each business does it’s own hiring, and only some of the businesses have Careers pages. The most promising positions for a new grad are at Pursuant Agency—they’re looking for an Inside Sales Associate and a Web Content Coordinator. However, if you are more interested in one of the other business, don’t be afraid to reach out to them and pitch yourself.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about The Pursuant Group?

StumbleUpon

Willy Franzen — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 12:52:18 +0000

Back in the early days of the Internet—when I was a teenage webmaster—one of the best ways to get people to your site was through things called webrings. You and other webmasters who had similar sites would agree to send each other traffic through a simple interface that each webmaster posted on his or her site. Browser who used the webring would get a random walk across a small corner of the Internet. As the Internet has evolved and Google has gotten really good at giving us what we’re looking for, randomness has fallen out of the online experience. StumbleUpon is a San Francisco based company that is bringing randomness back. They’re a social network and “discovery engine that finds the best of the web, recommended just for you.” When you click the “Stumble” button, you’ll never quite know where you’re going to end up, but it will be relevant to your interests and recommended by the greater StumbleUpon audience.

Stumble Your Way to a Job

Job searching is actually a lot like using StumbleUpon. You often find yourself wandering around the Internet hoping that you happen upon something interesting. That’s probably not the best approach when you’re trying to get something done, but if you’re feeling short on creativity, it can really help. As I’ve wandered my way through the Inc. 500, I’ve noticed more familiar names than I’ve seen in past years. More and more web startups are becoming real businesses, and that means extreme revenue growth like StumbleUpon’s 2036% three-year growth to $5.9 million. StumbleUpon is actually a familiar name, as they were one of the biggest traffic sources to One Day, One Job when it first launched. StumbleUpon can send massive amounts of web traffic, and that’s how they make money. Some of the sites that they recommend are sponsored, so webmasters can use StumbleUpon as a cheap source of traffic. If you are a proponent of randomness on the web, you should check out StumbleUpon’s Jobs. Their current offerings that might be suitable for new grads include Business Intelligence Analyst, Front End Developer, Research Engineer, and Visual & Interactive Designer. Check them out and see if you like what you StumbleUpon—if you don’t, you can always submit a general application.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use StumbleUpon?

SCVNGR

Willy Franzen — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 14:52:17 +0000

I’m a big fan of location based networks. I’ve been using Foursquare since last July, but I have to admit that I’m getting a little bored of it. Facebook Places seems somewhat interesting, but it’s more because most of your friends already have accounts. If I’m going to be motivated to keep checking into places, I need an incentive. Foursquare occasionally gets me something for free, but the gaming element of the service seems like an afterthought. That’s why I was excited to check out SCVNGR when a reader recommended them as a company to feature. They’re based in Boston, MA, and their focus is on getting people to do challenges at specific places and share what they’ve done with friends. Their go to example is making tin-foil origami out of the wrapper from a burrito place and then uploading a picture of it, but I’ll bet that it can get way more interesting than that. For instance, anyone can build a set of challenges and treks with rewards on SCVNGR—I could take the Cornell Daily Sun’s list of 161 Things Every Cornellian Should Do and turn it into a SCVNGR trek. Maybe I could even team up with a sponsor to reward people who knock off certain items on the list. SCVNGR seems like a really fun way to learn about cool things to do and then share what you’re doing with friends. I can definitely see this taking off—maybe I’ll make a trek for getting a job.

SCVNG for a Job

SCVNGR is certainly in its early stages, but they’re already working with big names like The Smithsonian, The New England Patriots, and Princeton University. You can see a full list of their clients here. They’re funded by some really well respected names, including Google Ventures, so you know that they’re serious about location based gaming. They have a small team of only about 20 60 people so far, but they’re already looking to add to it. If you check out their Rockstars page, you’ll see short profiles of all of their employees along with job postings for positions in Software Development and Sales. I can’t imagine what kind of challenges are included in their hiring process, but hopefully their app is at least part of it. That’d be pretty cool.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use SCVNGR?

Ustream

Willy Franzen — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 13:00:49 +0000

I’ve never done a live video event for job seekers, though I’ve seen a lot of others in the career space do them. I figure that the video content that Jason Seiden and I put together for Found Your Career is way better than anything that I can do on the spot. However, if you think that a live Q&A or something would be valuable, you should definitely let me know via e-mail at willy@onedayonejob.com. Since you’re probably going to bombard me with e-mails, I’ll probably have to sign up for Ustream, “the leading live interactive broadcast platform.” Ustream, which is based in San Francisco, was founded to enable soldiers stationed abroad to connect more efficiently with their families. The technology required for doing that has plenty of other capabilities, which is why Ustream can be used to broadcast nearly anything—from political debates to sporting events and from move premieres to interactive games. Shoot, Chad Ochocinco says, “Ustream is big for me. It allows me to have a voice.” And

Uhired

Ustream gets over 50 million monthly unique viewers, so they must be doing something right. I haven’t quite nailed down how their business model works, but it seems to be a freemium model. Anyone can use Ustream for free, but if you want extra features you have to pay. There’s also advertising embedded in video streams. Ustream has a huge amount of investment, so they do have some flexibility when it comes to getting to profitability. Remember, delivering online video still isn’t a simple task, so it can be pretty expensive. If you want to add to Ustream’s expenses by joining their payroll, then you’ll need to check out their Jobs page. They have a number of positions available, and I recommend that you check out the following as they’re the most likely to be suitable for a new or recent grad: Content Monitoring Representative, VIP Technical Support Specialist, Office Manager/Administrative Assistant, and Data Analyst. Some of those positions require a few years of experience, but they’re still worth checking out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Usteam?