One Day, One Job » transportation

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?

RaceTrac

Willy Franzen — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:58:16 +0000

I don’t know about you, but I love the smell of gasoline–at least in limited doses. Oddly enough, I absolutely hate the smell of coffee, so I’m not sure how I’d do if I had to work at a RaceTrac. They’re an Atlanta, GA based chain of more than 525 gas stations and convenience stores that stretch across twelve southeastern states. The odd thing about them is that their home page puts more emphasis on their coffee than on the gas. I guess gas is pretty much the same at every gas station, but good coffee will actually bring people through the doors. Besides the coffee RaceTrac differentiates itself with its size–their stores are typically over 5,000 square feet with more than 4,000 items and 20-24 pumps. If I owned a chain of gas stations, I’d probably use clean bathrooms as a point of differentiation. I think it would be a goldmine, but RaceTrac’s $8 billion in annual revenue makes them the third largest private company in Atlanta, so maybe coffee is the right choice.

Start Your Engine

As I mentioned before, RaceTrac’s home page doesn’t make it very clear that they’re a gas station, but there is a huge emphasis on different forms of transportation. They’re obviously trying to sell themselves as a part of an on the go lifestyle. This makes a lot of sense considering that it’s often the convenience items that drive the profits for retail gas stations. I’m sure there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on behind the scenes at RaceTrac, which is why you should check out their Careers page. They have page for Associate and Manager positions, but my guess is that you’ll be most interested in the positions at their Store Support Centers (Corporate). Right now they have some great opportunities for new or recent grads including:

Real Estate Analyst (Atlanta, GA)
Fuel Pricing Coordinator (Atlanta, GA)
Engineering Coordinator (Atlanta, GA)
Recruitment and Engagement Specialist (Atlanta, GA)
Recruitment and Engagement Specialist (Baton Rouge, LA)
HR Business Analyst (Atlanta, GA)
Software Developer (Atlanta, GA)

There are some really interesting look positions at RaceTrac, so check them out and see if any of them make sense for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever stopped at a RaceTrac?

Allegiant

Willy Franzen — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:52:56 +0000

I don’t mind flying; in fact, I kind of enjoy it–especially on smaller planes. Unfortunately, it’s not often that you can hop in a 6 seater and get a sweet view for the entire flight. Usually you are crammed into a 150-seater and spend most of the time looking at clouds. I guess most people are more comfortable with that, but not me. When I’m flying I’m not particularly brand conscious, so I mostly choose my airline by who has the cheapest fare. That means that I end up on flying all different airlines, but I’ve never flown Allegiant. They’re a low-cost carrier and travel company based in Enterprise, NV. They travel to 75 destinations with a fleet of 75 MD-83s and MD-87s. All of Allegiant’s routes begin or end in one of 9 hubs: Bellingham, WA; Los Angeles, CA; Las Vegas, NV; Phoenix, AZ; Myrtle Beach, SC; Orlando, FL; Tampa Bay, FL; Fort Myers, FL; and Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Show Your Allegiance

Allegiant doesn’t cover a ton of destinations, but if you want to fly to one of the 9 places mentioned above, there’s a good chance that they’ll be offering a good fare. Allegiant is extremely focused on profitably (unlike some other airlines), so they’re constantly tweaking their routes and leaving airports that don’t perform well for them. They’re also constantly finding new ways to generate ancillary revenue. The average Allegiant passenger will spend nearly an extra $35 over the price of his or her ticket. Some of this is for baggage fees and in-flight food, but Allegiant also makes money by selling other travel products and services through their website. They seem willing to try anything, and they even are toying with the idea of variable pricing based on fuel costs at the time of the flight. All of this makes Allegiant sound like an airline that might be a little annoying to fly, but would be really cool to work for. That’s why you should check out their Careers page. Right now they’re hiring a Component Repairs Analyst, an A/C Structures Engineer, a number of Customer Service/Ground Operations Agents (Medford, OR; South Bend, IN; Peoria, IL; Des Moines, IA; Fort Collins, CO; and Laredo, TX), a Financial Analyst, a Materials Coordinator, a Revenue Management Analyst, and a few other positions. Give all the jobs a look and see what looks best for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you flown Allegiant?

FlightAware

Willy Franzen — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 16:06:27 +0000

Whether you need something to wear for a job interview or a tropical vacation, Gilt is the place to get it at a good price. Here’s a link that will get you an additional 20% off.

In my previous life as the boyfriend of a management consultant, I would often spend my Thursday evenings using a flight tracking website to figure out when I’d be eating dinner. Those days are mostly over now that Amy is working at Groupon, but I had a bit of a flashback since she is traveling for work this week. My preferred flight tracking website is FlightAware, which tells me that she’s somewhere just south of the Great Salt Lake right now. I also know that she’s moving at 459 knots at an altitude of 35,000 feet. I can even see that the fares for her flight ranged from $50.03 to $3,365.92 with an average of $238.13. FlightAware is based in Houston, TX, and they provide “live flight data, airport information, weather maps, flight planning, and navigation charts, as well as aviation news and photos to over two million users a month.” I have no idea how they get all of their data, but it’s extremely useful and very easy to access.

Show Your Awareness

FlightAware’s free offerings are pretty robust. They offer everything that a typical frequent flyer might want access to; however, they also offer commercial level services to aviation businesses like “corporate flight departments, airlines, charter operators, aircraft and engine manufacturers, airport operators, government,” and more. These expanded services include: “data analysis, trending, outsourcing of data processing, and finding the answer to tomorrow’s aviation optimization and reliability problems.” Their customers include Cessna, NetJets, and Lufthansa, so they’re dealing with the biggest names in the industry. FlightAware is a company entirely made up of aviation geeks–they won’t hire you if you don’t have a passion for flight and flying, and more than half of their “employees hold an FAA pilots certificate (ranging from student to ATP).” If you think you’d fit in, then take a look at FlightAware’s Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Customer Service Specialist, a Web/Front-End Software Developer, and a Systems Engineer. FlightAware looks like a pretty cool place to work, so check them out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use FlightAware?

New York Transit Museum

Willy Franzen — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:11:33 +0000

Transportation is essential to Thanksgiving as we know it. A large majority of our country’s population travels for the holiday, whether it’s a few miles or a few thousand miles. Sometimes it actually seems easier to travel across the country than it is to travel across town (can you say gridlock?), so it’s surprising that our country’s biggest city is actually pretty easy to get in to, out of, and around. For more than a century New York City has had an exceptional transit system, and its history is remembered and displayed at the New York Transit Museum. As far as I can tell, the museum is a non-profit that is directly tied to the MTA. It’s also “one of the city’s leading cultural institutions and the largest museum in the United States devoted to urban public transportation history.”

Making Moves

The Transit Museum is based in Brooklyn, but they also have an annex in Grand Central Station. Some of their major exhibits include Steel, Stone & Backbone: Building New York’s Subways 1900-1925, an exhibit on Fare Collection, and Moving the Millions: New York City’s Subways from its Origins to the Present. The museum has all of its info on one page, so that makes it easy to learn more about them without lots of clicking around. The only thing they don’t have is a Jobs page, which is instead hosted on Idealist. Right now they have two positions posted that seem suitable for new grads: Museum Interpreter – Education Department and Press/Media Coordinator. Both are part-time, but they could be good ways to get your foot in the door.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

New York Transit Museum’s Home Page
Jobs at New York Transit Museum (Idealist)

What’s your favorite mode of transportation?

Institute for Transportation and Development Policy

Willy Franzen — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 13:59:36 +0000

Yesterday I picked my parents up from the airport. Because of traffic, I ended up spending more time in the car to do a roundtrip of about 35 miles then than they spent on the plane flying from New York City to Chicago. It’s amazing how far we’ve come in terms of transportation over the course of human history, but we still have a long way to go. Society still has a ton to gain economically and environmentally through innovation in transportation. That’s why the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy exists. They’re a New York, NY based non-profit organization that “works with cities worldwide to bring about sustainable transport solutions that cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce poverty, and improve the quality of urban life.” They have offices in Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, so it’s clear that their mission is as much about international development as it is about transportation.

Transport Yourself

It’s easy to forget how much transportation affects nearly everything that we do. But when you see that ITDP’s six key issues are Climate Change, Urbanization, Poverty Alleviation, Road Safety, Health, and Air Pollution, you instantly realize just how many things are affected by transportation. ITDP’s biggest role is providing technical advice to cities on how they can improve themselves through transportation. To really get a sense of how ITDP is making the world a better place, you should read up on their work–they have some really interesting projects. If you’re excited about what you see, you should check out jobs at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. While they don’t have any positions that are perfectly suites for a new grad, it’s worth taking a look at the Administrative Assistant, Human Resources Associate, and Communications Officer (Guangzhou, China) positions. You could also try reaching out about an unlisted position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite mode of transportation?

Medallion Financial Group

Willy Franzen — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 16:54:15 +0000

Last night I read an article from The New York Times about how two New York City taxi cab medallions recently sold for $1 million each. These aren’t some weird collectors’ items–they are actual pieces of metal that are attached to the hood of a taxi cab and are required for the cab to be able to operate in a given city. It’s a relatively common system (you can read about it here), and it limits the number and ensures the quality of cabs in the city. In some cities, the medallions can be bought and sold, and the secondary market for them is getting extremely expensive. Because of this, most cabbies can’t own their own medallions–they usually have to lease them or work for a fleet that owns it own medallions. That’s where Medallion Financial Group comes in. They’re a New York, NY based financing company that specializes in Taxi Medallion and Commercial Lending.

Hail a Job

Medallion Financials’ slogan is “In Niches There Are Riches.” It’s quite fitting considering the story of their Founder, Leon Murstein. In 1937 he was an immigrant who was driving cabs. He eventually saved up to buy his first medallion for $10. He got hooked and ended up buying 500 more. Now Medallion Financial is a publicly-traded company (their ticker symbol is TAXI) with a market cap just under $200 million (and they have over $1 billion in assets under management). If you really want to dig into the numbers, you can check out Medallion Financial’s Annual Reports. I think this business is absolutely fascinating, which is why I decided to do a writeup on Medallion Financial even though I can’t find any info on current job opportunities. My recommendation is that if you really like what they’re doing, check them out on LinkedIn, and then use their Contact page. It’s a long shot, but that’s what you have to do if you want to work at unique companies like Medallion Financial (note that Medallion Financial is not uniquely named, so there are some other companies with the same name). I do know that they’ve offered internships in the past, so entry level jobs really aren’t out of the question.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Had you noticed taxi medallions before?

evoJets

Willy Franzen — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:52:55 +0000

You have to love it when July 4th lines up on a Monday to make for a long weekend. It provides a great opportunity to get away, see friends or family, and enjoy our freedom. When I’m getting away, I prefer to do it via private jet. Unfortunately, I don’t have access to one, which is why I’m staying put in Chicago this weekend. But if I did want to spend every penny I have on a flight for the weekend, I’d totally try evoJets. They’re an Aspen, CO based company (though I see some indication that they’re actually based in New York, NY) that provides “on-demand private jet charter service.” That means that you don’t need to own a plane or a share of a plane. You can just call them up, and they’ll get you where you want to go. evoJets is another company that I learned about from Inc Magazine’s 30 Under 30. Both founders are 28, which seems too young to be flying on private jets, let alone running a company that provides access to them.

Jettison Your Job Search

According to the Inc. article, evoJets is still a really small company. They’re only expected to generate $1.8 million in revenue this year, but that’s a more than 50% increase over last year. (The revenue number only sounds small because we’re talking about private jets here.) Just to be clear, evoJets doesn’t own or operate any planes. They help you find “the right jet at the right time for the right price.” They have access to a network of more than 7,000 aircraft, so they work with the companies that own and operate those planes to make sure you can get where you want to be. They take on all of the administrative stuff that comes with booking a private jet, and get a fee for doing so. It’s a pretty smart business idea. Now, the evoJets website could probably use some work (it went down while I was writing thins), but that will come in time. The company only has 3.5 employees, but they are looking to grow. They invite people interested in working at evoJets to reach out to them at hr@evojets.com. What kind of jobs they might offer is unclear, but you have to think that two 28 year olds would be more than willing to take a chance on entry level talent. I should also note that I did find this posting for a paid Marketing & Sales Intern.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever flown on a private jet?

Transportation Alternatives

Willy Franzen — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 15:09:59 +0000

I must admit that I probably use my car more than I should to get around in Chicago. It’s often just so easy. I still walk and take public transportation when it makes the most sense, but I could definitely be convinced to do both of those things more often. That’s the job of Transportation Alternatives, although they do it in New York, NY. They’re a non-profit organization with a mission to “reclaim New York City’s streets from the automobile, and to advocate for bicycling, walking and public transit as the best transportation alternatives.” There are a ton of negative externalities with cars (pollution, danger to pedestrians, noise, etc.), and plenty of positive externalities (less congestion, healthier citizens, etc.) with alternative forms of transportation, so it makes sense for an organization like Transportation Alternatives to be so adamant about their position.

Transport Yourself

New York City has already made a ton of progress on the transportation front. Since 1973 there are five times more cyclists on the streets and there are half as many pedestrian fatalities, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement. Transportation Alternatives is all about the idea of “the livable street,” so they’re constantly “pushing city agencies and elected officials to introduce this innovation into the urban landscape.” To get a better sense for how Transportation Alternatives is approaching their mission, you should check out their Advocacy Campaigns and their Action Center. If you like what you see, then you’ll want to head over to the Transportation Alternatives Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a New York City Bicycling Ambassador Program – Lead Organizer, New York City Bicycling Ambassadors, and a Press Secretary. All of the positions look great, so if you’re all about alternative transportation, then check them out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite mode of transportation?

Better Place

Willy Franzen — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 16:08:32 +0000

Sponsored Job: Marathon Building Services is a Gaithersburg, MD based company that offers construction cleaning services. They’re currently looking for new and recent grads to join as Sales Representatives to help them grow their business. If you’re interested, send a résumé to Meredith Berlin at hr@movementtechnologies.com.

You’d be hard pressed to find anyone but an oil executive who isn’t excited at the prospect of electric cars. Yet, the only ones that I’ve seen on the road are from Tesla Motors, and those are few and far between. The problem is two-fold. First, the technology is just getting to the point where it’s actually reasonable to have an electric car as your everyday automobile. Second, the infrastructure for charging electric cars away from home is nearly non-existent. Better Place is a Palo Alto, CA based company that is working to change this. They “build and operate the infrastructure and systems to optimize energy access and use” for electric vehicles, so that they can achieve their mission of “accelerating the transition to sustainable transportation.” They have a long road ahead of them, but they’ve already made a big impact.

Better Jobs

When we think about fueling our cars, we automatically think of gas stations. Many assume that charging an electric vehicle will be similar, but that’s not necessarily true. Better Place is working on all of the potential options for battery charging. These include home charging stations, battery exchange, and charging networks. Because electricity can be transported so easily, the need for a gas station like system will probably fade. (The only question is where we’ll stop for bathroom breaks and Doritos.) Better Place is working on all fronts to make electric vehicles “affordable to buy, easy to use, and amazing to own.” Beyond charging solutions they’re also developing driver services and network software that will deliver increasing benefits as more people go electric. Better Place is even working with international standardization bodies to ensure that market fragmentation doesn’t slow the adoption of electric vehicles. If you want to be part of the transition to sustainable transportation, then it’s time to take a look at Better Place’s jobs. At first look it seems that their positions are either internships or require too much experience, but the Knowledge Management Associate Internship actually looks more like an entry level job. The descriptions for the year-long Market Development and Product Strategy positions also look pretty serious, so maybe you could take one of them and turn it into a full-time job.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Better Place?

Coyote Logistics

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

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

Howl for a Job

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Coyote Logistics?

American Greetings

Willy Franzen — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 16:36:40 +0000

I can’t remember the last time that I bought a greeting card, but I can remember the last time that I was part of the purchasing process. A good friend of mine was getting married, and he needed a card for his soon to be wife. Because of the dearth of cards for brides from their grooms, I made it my job to suggest alternatives. Trying to convince a stressed out groom to give his new wife a condolences card probably isn’t the nicest thing to do, but it’s certainly entertaining. Yes, greeting cards can be funny, but there’s more to them than that. That’s why American Greetings calls themselves the “leading manufacturer of innovative social expression products that assist consumers in enhancing their relationships.” The Cleveland, OH based company is the largest publicly-traded greeting card company in the world, and their brands include American Greetings, Carlton Cards, Gibson, Recycled Paper Greetings, and Papyrus along with a number of other paper products and online brands.

A Job for Every Occasion

Greeting cards may seem like a niche business, but American Greetings is a very large company with near $1.7 billion in annual revenue and 18,000 employees according to Wikipedia. The company was started in 1906 by a Polish immigrant named Jacob Sapirstein, and it’s been able to stick around through constant innovation. They’ve developed toy brands like Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears and digital properties like Webshots and Blue Mountain. If it can somehow be worked into “social expressions products,” then they’re on it. American Greetings seems to keep on growing, and that means lots of hiring. Their Careers page takes a little bit of navigating, but half a dozen clicks later you’ll find their job listings. There are a ton of jobs posted, but you should look out for the following opportunities: Artist Coordinator (Chicago, IL), Assistant Product Development Manager – Papyrus/Recycled Greetings (Fairfield, CA), Assistant Art Director (Cleveland, OH), Brand Analyst – Papyrus, Graphic Designer (Cleveland, OH), Graphic Line Designer – Derivative Planning (Cleveland, OH), Graphic Coordinator (Cleveland, OH), Marketing Product Assistant (Cleveland, OH), Merchandiser (Nationwide), Order Filler (Cleveland, OH), Programmer Analyst (Bardstown, KY), Receptionist – Papyrus/Recycled Greetings (Chicago, IL), Sourcing Coordinator (Cleveland, OH), and Supply Chain Leadership Rotation Program Associate (Cleveland, OH). That Leadership Rotation Program is the most intriguing, and makes me wonder if they have any other similar programs in different areas.

American Greetings’ Careers page also mentions the following business departments: Accounting, Business Intelligence, Creative, Communications, Engineering, Entertainment, Finance, Human Resources, Interactive, Information Technology, International Operations, Legal, Management, Manufacturing and Distribution, Marketing, Retail Merchandising, Sales, Supply Chain Management, Transportation/Logistics, and Writer/Editor. So if you are interested in any of those areas but don’t see a job that fits you, you might want to keep checking in (or apply for an unlisted position).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s the last greeting card that you sent?

Uber

Willy Franzen — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:34:02 +0000

In Chicago getting a cab is easy. If you stand on the street looking even somewhat confused, taxi drivers will start honking at you to see if you need a ride. If you have luggage with you, they’ll nearly run you over trying to ensure that another cab doesn’t get the $42 fare to O’Hare. Apparently it’s not so easy in other cities. I’ve heard that it can be especially tough in San Francisco, CA, which is why Uber (formerly UberCab) is making so much noise. They offer a simple, relatively affordable black car service that harnesses the power of the mobile Internet. With a simple text message or touch of a button in an iPhone or Android app, you can have Uber schedule a car to come pick you up. You’ll get an estimated arrival time (usually within 5-10 minutes), and when they get there, you just hop in. Once you’re at your destination, you hop out and say thank you. They already have your credit card from when you signed up, so payment is covered and tip is included. It’s certainly a luxury, but it’s a luxury done right.

Uber Jobs

A lot of people hate “middle men,” but Uber is kind of making the middle man awesome again. They don’t own the cars or employ the drivers, they just act as an intermediary between drivers and customers. Rarely will a driver of a black car be busy all day–there will often be downtime. Uber fills in the downtime by offering these drivers jobs through a mobile app. Only drivers who maintain a certain level of customer satisfaction (Uber has a rating system) can continue to be part of Uber’s network. The pricing seems to be about double what I’d pay for a cab here in Chicago, but their flat rates to and from SFO and OAK look pretty decent. Uber only operates in San Francisco right now, but they’re expanding to New York City very soon. I love companies like Uber because they’re half web startup and half old school business. (Bonobos is another company that fits that profile.) If you’re excited about what Uber is doing, then you should head over to their Jobs page. Right now they have two entry level positions: Customer Support Associate and Engineer/Developer. There may be more jobs on the way as Uber expands, so keep an eye on them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used Uber?

Farsounder

Willy Franzen — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:50:55 +0000

I’m sure that you’ve all heard of sonar, but how many of you have actually used it? My first real experience with sonar was in college when I was part of a research team trying to find the Finger Lakes equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster. Ok, that’s an exaggeration. I was actually fishing on a friend’s boat, and he taught me how to use a sonar unit to catch Lake Trout. It’s pretty cool—you can actually watch your jig drop down to the bottom of the lake, and you can watch on the screen as little blobs of pixels occasionally chase it—these are fish. It’s half video game, half real life fishing. Obviously, there are far more serious and important uses of sonar, and that’s what Farsounder is all about. They’re a company based in Warwick, RI that “is one of the world leaders in the design, manufacture and marketing of 3D sonar systems for a variety of applications in the commercial, recreational, defense and homeland security markets, internationally as well as domestically.” Two-dimensions is great when you’re fishing, but if you’re navigating a large, expensive ship around underwater obstacles, three-dimensions is the way to go.

Add a New Dimension to Your Career

Farsounder has two key product lines: Navigation Sonars and Diver Detection Systems. Navigation Sonars are pretty self-explanatory—they help you see where you’re going from an underwater perspective. Diver Detection Systems are a bit different. They exist to detect threats while the ship is at anchor. Farsounder offers solutions that combine the two technologies, so ship crews can know what’s going on beneath the surface at all times. If you’re still not quite getting what Farsounder is all about (or you’re digging them and want to keep learning more), check out this PDF from NOAA on how Farsounder technology is used to protect whales from ship collisions—the leading cause of death of the northern right whale. If you want to save whales, protect ships, and work on really cool technology, check out Farsounder’s Jobs page. Right now they’re hiring Software Engineers, so check out the job description and see if it’s something that interests you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used sonar?

Frontier Airlines

Willy Franzen — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 15:36:55 +0000

I just spent a wonderful Memorial Day weekend in Denver, CO, and now I’m sitting in the airport waiting for my flight back. I walked in to see a huge line for people checking bags, and I got a little discouraged. Luckily, I thought fast and checked in on my phone and went right to the bag drop area (with a short stop to fix a server problem that caused the site to be down earlier this morning) where there was no line. At some point during that process, I managed to get upgraded to a seat with more legroom. That also allowed me to check my bag for free and get the word “Plus” stamped on my boarding pass. I don’t know why Frontier Airlines is treating me so well since I booked the flight on a discount site, which usually means that I get stuck with a middle seat. Since Frontier is treating me so well for no good reason, I thought that I might as well see what kind of jobs they have. It’s my first time flying Frontier, probably because I usually travel east of the Mississippi (and they fly mostly west of it as they’re currently headquartered in Denver, but allegedly moving to Indianapolis, IN), but I figure that you gotta love an airline that has a different wild animal on the tail of each of its aircraft. Frontier also apparently offers in-flight television in the seat backs, so maybe I’ll get some good daytime tv watching in during my flight.

A New Frontier

Despite the fact that Frontier Airlines is new to me, they happen to be the fastest growing major airline in the United States. They seem to keep adding new routes, and it looks like they take a very customer-friendly approach to flying. That seems to be the winning approach these days, as I try avoid the larger carriers if I can. My guess is that airlines that are nice to fly are also nice to work at. So far everyone that I’ve encountered with Frontier has been extremely pleasant, but that could just be a Denver thing. Anyway, if you want to consider a career with Frontier, you should check out their Jobs page. There are way too many jobs to list, but they have plenty of opportunities for new grads in a variety of locations. Browse through them and see what catches your eye.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you flown Frontier?

Active Transportation Alliance

Willy Franzen — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:44:58 +0000

It may seem counterintuitive, but people who live in cities are typically much more active than their rural and suburban counterparts—at least when it comes to transportation. I always associate activities like walking and bike riding with open space and the great outdoors, but urban centers are actually much more inviting for self powered transportation. Here’s an example: my parents live 1.2 miles from a great restaurant, yet we’d never walk there—it’s too dangerous. There are no sidewalks, and the cars on the road usually drive well over the 30 MPH speed limit. However, in Chicago, where I live, I’d easily walk 1.2 miles to go out to dinner. There are sidewalks, crosswalks, and plenty of streetlights to keep me safe. With that said, there are quite a few ways that Chicago can improve the city for active transportation, and that’s why the non-profit organization Active Transportation Alliance exists.

Be an Active Job Seeker

It’s hard to argue with the fact that walking and biking are often superior to driving. Not only do you get some exercise, but you also generate less pollution and noise. You’re also constantly interacting with people and adding to the sense of neighborhood. Still, driving can be pretty tempting—as long as you can find somewhere to park. That’s why the Active Transportation Alliance “works to improve conditions for bicycling, walking and transit and engage people in healthy and active ways to get around.” Nobody likes walking down a poorly lit street at night or riding a bike on a road where the area near the curbs is riddled with potholes. Walkers and bikers need advocates, and in Chicago they have the Active Transportation Alliance exists. If you want to help lead “the charge for a transportation culture that values safety, health, sustainability and choice,” then you should check out jobs at the Active Transportation Alliance. Right now they’re looking for Program Assistant for their Pedestrian Program, and it looks like a great opportunity for a new grad. Check out the job listings for details on how to apply.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your preferred mode of transportation?

Southwest Airlines

Willy Franzen — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 14:08:56 +0000

Periodically the news is riddled with stories about how the airlines are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. Lately the focus of doom and gloom commentary has shifted to finance and insurance companies, but that doesn’t mean that the airlines are doing any better. There’s one company that is seemingly never in the conversation about struggling airlines – Southwest Airlines. If you’ve ever flown Southwest, you probably know why. They do things differently, and it makes flyers happy. Even though it seems like almost no one can succeed flying commercial routes, Southwest continues to impress. A One Day, One Internship reader tipped us off to some amazing internship opportunities at Southwest Airlines, so we thought that we’d look at their entry level jobs today too. Air travel isn’t going anywhere – it’s too important to us, so don’t write off an entire industry because the other losers can’t get their acts together.

Future Booking at Southwest

Honestly, I’ve never heard of a company cited in more case studies than Southwest is. When I was studying Human Resources in college, I swear that I heard about Southwest’s corporate culture every week. It must make the CEOs of other airlines sick to their stomachs. Just look at the honors Southwest has received recently:

Ranked 12th on Fortune’s “Most Admired” list in 2007
Made Forbes “Platinum List” in 2007
Ranked by Business Week as one of the top “50 Best Places to Launch a Career”
“Most Admired Companies Among Women” by Professional Womens Magazine in 2006
“100 Best Corporate Citizens” by Business Ethics magazine for eight years in a row
“Corporate 100” by HISPANIC magazine since 2000
Included in the “Top 100 Most Innovative Technology Organizations” by InformationWeek in July 2007

And in case you aren’t already dreaming about working for Southwest, you should know that they offer “FREE UNLIMITED space-available travel anywhere Southwest Airlines flies” in addition to a laundry list of other benefits or “freedoms,” as they like to call them. To get a sense of what kind of jobs are available at Southwest Airlines, you should first look at their position profiles. These will give you a brief overview of each type of job that Southwest offers, so when you look at their actual job listings you will have a good understanding of what you’re looking at. Their Careers site is exceedingly simple, and really easy to navigate. It’s also loaded with information. We love (LUV) it.

Of the 39 non-internship job openings that we’ve identified on Southwest’s site, here are some that might be a good fit for a new college grad.

There are certainly more jobs to look at, some with slightly higher experience requirements. Most of the jobs are located at Southwest’s Dallas, TX headquarters (Ramp Agent openings are in Denver, Philadelphia, and Baltimore). Applying online for any of these jobs should be quite easy, so get to it!

Southwest Airlines also offers an RSS feed and e-mail alerts to notify you of new job postings, so if you don’t see anything that you like right now, you can sign up to be notified of future opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you flown Southwest? Did you LUV it?

Exponent

Willy Franzen — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 12:00:28 +0000

Imagine getting a job as a MythBuster, except instead of debunking urban legend, you’re investigating real life problems that plague businesses and sometimes hurt people. That’s what you could be doing at Exponent. Founded in 1967 by five Ph.D.-level researchers, Exponent was originally known as Failure Analysis Associates. They started out in the energy industry studying stress and fracture mechanics, but very quickly they were “investigating and analyzing accidents and failures of all kinds.” They eventually became The Failure Group, and were listed on the NASDAQ with the ticker FAIL. In 1998 they realized that they had outgrown their name, and changed again to Exponent, because it means “one who expounds or interprets.” We don’t usually get so deep into how a company chooses it’s name, but with the popularity of the FAIL meme (see also: FAIL Blog), we thought that you might be amused.

Failures Need Not Apply

Despite their fascination with failure, Exponent has a staff of nearly 800 people with backgrounds in over 90 scientific and engineering disciplines. In other words, people who work at Exponent deal with failure often, but they try to keep it at an arm’s length. Are you still not sure what we mean by failure? Here are some examples of projects that Exponent has worked on: investigating defects in automatic revolving doors; determining the path and altitude of Delta flight 191 which crashed and killed 134 people; recreation of the accident that killed James Dean for an NBC series, and testing the Suzuki Samurai for rollover vulnerabilities. There are many more projects that Exponent has worked on, and you can view multimedia presentations on many of them in the Exponent Multimedia Archive. We could keep writing about Exponent’s work for hours – it’s that interesting – but they have a plethora of entry-level job opportunities that we need to talk about.

Entry-Level Jobs to the Xth Power

Exponent’s web site is about as entry-level friendly as we’ve seen, although they could do a better job of making sure that new college grads can navigate to the right jobs. When you visit Exponent’s Careers Page, you’ll notice that they’ve prominently linked to their University Recruiting page. Their approach to University Recruiting on the web is really cool, but it’s not intuitive. There’s a text box that allows you to enter in your school name to search for current alumni from your school and to learn about upcoming recruiting events on your campus. There’s also a list of the 20 schools from which they employ the most alums. For instance, take a look at Cornell’s page (I’m not biased or anything – GO BIG RED!). It’s a really cool way to engage students, but it only works if the students go to a school that Exponent has a page for. A lot of students probably end up on the University Recruiting page and don’t know what to do next.

This is where a little searching helps. If you visit Exponent’s How to Apply page, you’ll see information for entry-level candidates. Here they direct you to contact their College Recruiter, Jenny Irwin, at jirwin@exponent.com or to take a look at their entry-level job listings (these are opportunities specifically for new grads). Here you’ll find a ton of fascinating jobs in a variety of locations. We will warn you, however, that seemingly all of the entry-level jobs currently listed with Exponent require some sort of advanced degree (MS or PhD). Since so many Engineers seem to stick around and get a Masters, we thought it would still be appropriate to feature Exponent’s jobs today.

Some of the most recent listings on Exponent’s site include Engineers, Vehicle Engineering (Menlo Park, CA and Natick, MA); Scientists, Public Health & Industrial (Menlo Park, CA; Bellevue, WA; Wood Dale, IL; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Oakland, CA; Irvine, CA; Philadelphia, PA; Alexandria, VA; and Washington, DC); and Engineers, Technology Development (Menlo Park, CA; San Diego, CA; and Washington, DC). There are many more opportunities listed on their site, and you can apply online through their applicant tracking system. If you want to work for Exponent but are just finishing up undergrad, then you better start thinking about graduate school.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you feel like your entry-level job search is a failure of such grand proportion that Exponent may have to investigate what happened? Subscribe to One Day, One Job (it’s free), and make sure that doesn’t happen.

uShip

Willy Franzen — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:00:49 +0000

Once when I was in college, my roommates and I got together and decided to ship a mini donkey to our next door neighbors whom we didn’t get along with. We thought that it would be the prank of the century. Then we asked ourselves, how the heck do you ship a donkey? Ok, that wasn’t a true story, but it’s still presents an important question. How do you ship a miniature donkey? As far as we know, UPS, the USPS, DHL, and Fedex don’t ship donkeys. uShip, on the other hand, provides a shipping market place where anyone can find a way to ship a mini donkey. With uShip, anyone can sign up, list an item to ship, receive bids, select a winning bid, and ship nearly anything nearly anywhere. You can even sleep easy knowing that the guy who is transporting your prized donkey has been moving livestock across the country and getting great feedback on uShip for years. uShip calls themselves “the online shipping marketplace,” and their raving fans seem to agree.

uShip, uWork

Had enough about the donkey? We thought so. uShip’s business is pretty simple, but it’s also pretty darn smart. Traditional mail and parcel carriers leave a lot of customers unserved. These people who have unusual things to ship often are left with no idea what to do. uShip takes the guessing game out of shipping. By allowing shippers to bid on jobs, uShip removes the burden of logistics from the person shipping stuff and puts it on the shippers. uShip typically offers jobs in a number of business areas; however, they only have one opportunity right now for new college grads. Since they list their departments (Business Development; Community, Trust, and Safety; Corporate; Development; Marketing; Product Strategy and Development; and Strategy, Reporting, and Analytics), uShip seems like they might be open to getting cold called about positions. The one entry-level job that they do have listed is Strategy, Reporting, & Analytics Associate, which requires some specific knowledge, but should be a good fit for a lot of new grads. uShip is located in Austin, TX, and you can apply for a job with them by a cover letter and resume to jobs@uship.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s the weirdest thing that you’ve ever shipped?

Transportation Learning Center

Willy Franzen — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:18:31 +0000

Last month we wrote about the National Association of Railroad Passengers on One Day, One Internship. They are a non-profit organization that is all about promoting the growth of transportation by rail. Today we’re going to look at jobs at the Transportation Learning Center, which is a non-profit organization that promotes all kinds of public transportation. There seems to some overlap between the objectives of these organizations, although NARP appears to be passenger driven (no pun intended), while the Transportation Learning Center’s agenda seems to be driven by transportation workers (once again, no pun intended).

I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad…

The Transportation Learning Center is committed to maintaining and growing public transportation’s role in our everyday lives. They do so by building “labor-management training partnerships that improve organizational performance; expand workforce knowledge, skills, and abilities; and promote career advancement.” This seems like a good way of achieving their goals, since public transportation is surprisingly labor intensive. It may seem like the train drives itself, but there are plenty of people behind the scenes who are making sure that you can snooze every morning while you are on your way to your first entry-level job.

The Transportation Learning Center pursues its mission through a number of programs and publications. Their programs include the Transit Training Career Ladder Partnerships, the National Standards for Training (surprising fact: elevators and escalators are considered public transportation in this training program), and the National Framework for Apprenticeship. The Transportation Learning Center doesn’t just do these programs because they think they’re good; they back them up with studies. The organization puts out a number of publications that evaluate the effectiveness of labor-management training partnerships.

So what kind of jobs does the Transportation Learning Center offer? Right now they’re looking for an Office / Program Assistant. This is a clear cut entry-level position for a new college graduate. There will be a lot of administrative work in this job, but there will also be opportunities to do research and communications. This looks to be a great opportunity to get a foot in the door for someone who is fascinated by transportation and labor-management relationships. The job will almost certainly grow as you prove yourself. The Transportation Learning Center is located in Silver Spring, MD and you can apply by sending a resume, cover letter, and salary expectations to info@transportcenter.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you planning on using public transportation once you get your first job?

jetBlue Airways

Willy Franzen — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 13:00:19 +0000

Well, we made it back home from vacation, but not without 3 hours of sitting on the runway due to Curacao’s random decision to close their airspace. Our pilot told us that we had to file a flight plan through Venezuelan airspace instead, and Venezuela’s being run by an unfriendly dictator didn’t make that the easiest – or fastest – process. By the time our new flight plan was filed, Curacao had lifted the flight ban and we finally went on our merry way. As painful as it was to be on the runway for 3 hours, jetBlue made it pretty bearable. They gave us drinks and snacks, although they did plead with us to take it easy, as they were running out and did not have catering services at this airport. Of course the request to back off the goodies created a run on the galley, but the flight attendants were still able to do a full snack and beverage service in-flight despite the excessive pre-flight demand. It was also nice to have the most legroom in coach and a little tv in the seatbacks in front of us. Another One Day, One Jobber flew a different airline out of the same airport at the same time and had a much more miserable experience – no food, no movies, and too much air conditioning with no blankets. jetBlue has been ranked by Conde Nast Traveler as America’s Best Domestic Airline for 6 straight years now, and their unparalleled devotion to customer service is the reason.

We think the best place to find an entry-level job is at a company that does something you can be passionate about. The company you choose to work for should offer a product or service that you love, work towards a goal you admire, or be at the forefront of a field that you find fascinating. It is impossible to perform excellent customer service without extremely happy employees. We love the flying experience that jetBlue offers, and that’s why we think they might be a great place to work after you graduate college. They even offer a Customer Bill of Rights that ensures fair treatment and compensation for bad service when it happens. No other airlines can pull off this kind of guarantee with their pissed off flight attendants and incompetent ticketing agents. We’re not sure which came first, great customer service or great places to work, but we do know that the two are consistently linked.

As for finding a job at jetBlue, you’re going to have to go through their search page, which is unfortunate. A search only interface is a pet peeve of ours. We prefer it when jobs are listed in an organized format that is accessible to job searchers and search engines like Google. The good thing about JetBlue’s search interface is that it lets you specify your search to only entry-level jobs. We also recommend looking at jobs at the Professional level (2 to 5 years experience) because some of these seem to be a better fit for top college grads. We wish there was a descriptive term in recruiting that differentiates between entry-level jobs requiring little education and those that require a college degree (if you can think of one, leave it in the comments and maybe we’ll start using it).

We are consistently impressed with the attitudes of jetBlue crewmembers (what they call all of their employees). With a focus on a strong service culture and excellent benefits (we can’t find information on flying benefits for crewmembers, but we’re sure they exist), it’s not a surprise that jetBlue is succeeding because of its people. Although the only information about on-campus recruiting by jetBlue that we were able to find is that they went to a career fair at Harvard in 2005 and have had some sort of training partnership with NYU, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t looking to hire new grads.

Note: On April 23rd we revisited entry-level jobs at jetBlue Airways.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have any good flying stories from your Winter Break? Share them with us in the comments.