One Day, One Job » travel

Fareportal

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

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

Fare Enough

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried any of Fareportal’s brands?

Royal Caribbean Cruises

Willy Franzen — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:54:31 +0000

I’ve never been on a cruise ship, and I’m not looking to change that any time soon. I realize that cruises are the ultimate vacation for some people, but they’re just not for me (especially after hearing about food poisoning outbreaks and the Costa Concordia disaster). Still, I respect the brilliance of the cruise ship. Travelers can sample a variety of destinations without having to think about logistics or anything else really. When you can combine hospitality, transportation, and gambling all in one, you have pretty good foundation for a business. The second largest cruise company in the world is Royal Caribbean Cruises, which is based in Miami, FL and owns the following cruise lines: Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Pullmantur Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises and CDF Croisières de France. Those all contribute to nearly $7 billion in annual revenue.

Go Cruisin’

There’s no doubt that the cruise business is extremely complicated. There are massive fixed costs (namely cruise ships), and there are also massive marginal costs (fuel, staff, etc). Then there’s the fact that the market for travel is extremely sensitive to economic conditions. That’s not to mention that cruise companies have to maintain massive boats while providing an amazing vacation experience for thousands of people at a time. There are plenty of businesses that I have no trouble wrapping my head around, but Royal Caribbean Cruises is not one of them. If this excites you, then you have to take a look at Royal Caribbean Cruises’ Careers page. From here you can check out shipboard jobs with specific lines, seasonal jobs, internships, and corporate jobs. We’ll focus on the latter, which are posted here. There are a few opportunities that look well suited for a new or recent grad including (I’d link to them but their ATS won’t let me):

Marketing Campaign Analyst
Cruise Rep (Wichita, KS)
Cruise Rep (Miramar, FL)
Cruise Rep (Springfield, OR)
Care Team Specialist
Financial Hotel Operations Analyst
Software Engineer
Accounts Payable Coordinator
Business Analyst
Transportation Coordinator
Casino Database Specialist
Administrative Temporary

Those jobs are just the tip of the iceberg (I shouldn’t say that when talking about cruise ships, should I?), so look through all of Royal Caribbean Cruises’ offerings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever been on a cruise?

Inspirato

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

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

Choose Your Destination

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

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Inspirato’s destinations would you chose?

Internet Brands

Willy Franzen — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:07:03 +0000

In case you missed our e-mail from last week, Kembrel loved the response from our post about them so they’re offering a free VIP card (usually 20 bucks) to all ODOJ readers and $5 in store credit. Sign up here.

On Monday we took a look at Vertive, a company that builds internet properties to help people save money. Today we’re going to look at a company with a similar model of building and buying websites, but a much broader approach. Internet Brands is based in El Segundo, CA and started as CarsDirect.com in 1998. It was a successful brand for them, but in 2005 they realized that the platform they had built could be applied to other verticals. Now Internet Brands operates more than 100 websites that reach over a billion visitors every year. Amazingly, they’ve been able to generate almost all of this traffic organically (without buying advertising). This is all because of the platform that they’ve developed and the ability to share resources across brands. Internet Brands is a case study of how economies of scale can work on the web.

Get Branded

The best way to get a better feel for Internet Brands is to explore their… brands. There are a lot of them, but they typically fit into one of nine verticals: Automotive, Careers, Health, Home, Legal, Licensing, Money, Shopping, and Travel. Chances are that most of the brands will be new to you, but I found a few that I was familiar with. Unlike Vertive, Internet Brands doesn’t shed much light on how they operate. Even the Internet Brands Careers page is filled with mostly generic stuff like “Do you have energy, drive and ambition?” and “Do you have a strong sense of where you are going and how to get there?” Would any job seeker answer no to those rhetorical questions? At least Internet Brands makes up for it with a ton of job postings. Here are the ones that look well suited for an entry level job seeker:

That’s a lot of jobs. Hopefully a few of them will catch your interest.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Internet Brands?

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?

Travelzoo

Willy Franzen — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:15:38 +0000

On Saturday I’m heading to Aruba for two weeks! (Don’t worry, you’ll still get your daily e-mails–even on Christmas Day.) I booked well in advance, so I got a decent fare, but it’s still about four times more expensive than traveling at a different time of year. If you want to travel during the holidays, you’re probably going to have to pay through the nose. Still, it’s worth looking for a deal, and there’s no better place to do that than Travelzoo. They’re a New York, NY based company (with 23 other offices all across the world) that has perfected the art of the travel deal. They don’t just go out and find low rates–they actually “research, evaluate, and test thousands of deals to find those with true value.” Although it’s not exactly the same, they kind of do for travel deals what I do for jobs: curate. Though they have 250 experts working on it, which is 249 more than we have.

Take a Trip to the Zoo

Travelzoo’s site is about as basic looking as it gets. It’s simple, clean, and uncluttered. It may not look like the site of a publicly traded company, but it certainly stands out from other travel sites that seem to bombard you with useless offers. I guess that’s why they have 24 million members, though the fact that they require you to be a member to see their deals has to help with that too. Beyond travel, Travelzoo has also moved into entertainment deals and local deals, but travel is definitely their bread and butter. What’s so unique about Travelzoo’s model is that they’re not for sale. Yes, they accept payment from advertisers, but they only publish deals that they are confident will make their members happy. There’s no way to get on Travelzoo except offering a high quality deal. If you’re liking what Travelzoo is all about, then take a look at their Jobs page. They have a ton of openings, and a few look perfect for new or recent grads including: Associate Producer (Chicago, IL), Producer (Chicago, IL) Assistant Producer (Miami, FL), Producer (New York, NY), Assistant Producer – SuperSearch (San Francisco, CA), and Producer (Toronto, ON). Travelzoo’s Producers are “top-notch journalists whose commercial acumen would impress the Donald himself.” In other words they take on a role that includes researching, writing, producing, account managing, sales, and a lot more–they find the deals and get them live on the site. It sounds like an extremely cool role, so check all the positions out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used Travelzoo?

Hotel Tonight

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

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

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

Job Today?

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite hotel?

One Click Ventures

Willy Franzen — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:38:00 +0000

The thing that I love most about the Inc. 5000 is the diversity of the companies. While there are definitely some strong themes throughout the list, there are companies doing all kinds of things in all kinds of places–and succeeding. One of the biggest themes on the list is that online marketing is offering massive opportunity to new companies. One Click Ventures is a Greenwood, IN based company that is big on Internet marketing. Unlike many of the other companies on the list, they do the marketing for themselves, not for clients. One Click Ventures runs a number of e-commerce properties including ABC Neckties, Affordable Scarves, Handbag Heaven, Inexpensive Watches, Reading Glasses Shopper, TravelProducts.com, Socks4Life, and Sunglass Warehouse. Each of these sites is in a very competitive niche, so it should be no surprise that One Click Ventures claims to have a distinct competitive advantage with their “marketing engine” that “consists of a diverse team of subject matter experts, including SEO, PPC, email marketing, social media, affiliate marketing, conversion optimization and content development.”

One Click to a New Job

When I came across One Click Ventures, I knew their name sounded familiar. It was because one of my friends from Cornell works there now, and he just sent me an e-mail about some of their job openings. That coupled with One Click Ventures’ fast growth really got me interested. The Inc. 5000 has them at #542 with 619% three-year growth to $3.4 million in annual revenue. A big driver of that growth has been acquisitions. One Click Ventures finds online properties that they think can benefit significantly from their online marketing capabilities. In other words they’re able to significantly increase the value of a site just by acquiring it and getting it up and running in their system. It sounds fascinating, and I’ve heard great things from my friend. If you’re interested in what One Click Ventures is doing, head over to their Careers page and take a look at their open positions. Right now they’re looking for a Marketing and SEO Specialist, a Marketing Analyst, a Graphic Designer, and a Junior PHP Developer. If you’re interested, feel free to apply on your own or e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com and I’ll make an intro for you to my friend.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about One Click Ventures?

Ludus Tours

Willy Franzen — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 15:10:52 +0000

A few weeks ago I told you about a company called Sixthman that gets together groups of music fans and puts them on a cruise ship with their favorite artists. It’s a pretty cool idea that is making a bunch of money (even if it doesn’t sound like my kind of fun). Ludus Tours is another company that organizes group vacations, but they are focus on taking people to specific destinations for specific events. Their main focus is on sporting events like The Olympics, The World Cup, The Master’s, The Super Bowl, and other big events that are preceded with a “The.” However, they have branched out to do other types of trips like Oktoberfest in Munich, Carnaval in Rio, and The Running of the Bulls. They cover all the bases including travel, accommodations, tickets, and all of the other logistics involved with trips like these. San Diego, CA based Ludus Tours serves both individuals and groups, so you can book a tour for yourself or organize a group excursion. They must do a good job considering they’ve seen 1,253% three-year growth to $2.5 million in revenue.

Take a Tour

Part of what has made Ludus Tours successful is that they’ve developed partnerships with a ton of athletic governing bodies including USA Volleyball, USRowing, USA Wrestling, and lots more. Ludus Tours has also worked with some big name clients including Pepsi, Mercedes-Benz, ABC, IMG, and Octagon. Those last three should stand out, since they’re big names in sports–and they’re trusting Ludus Tours to make sure that their trips go on without a hitch. The best way to get a feel for the type of experience Ludus Tours offers is to go on one of their trips, but since you probably can’t do that right now, you should read through some of their testimonials. It should give you a better sense of how the business operates. If you like what you see, then head over to the Ludus Tours Jobs page. They have a number of positions posted. The best fit for a new grad is probably the PR Coordinator position (the linked job description is wrong), but they’re also looking for a Volleyball Account Manager, a Marketing Operations Manager, an Events Manager, and a Technology/IT Guru. Ludus Tours is also hiring London Tour Guides/London Event Staff for the 2012 Olympics, so that could be a cool opportunity as well.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

If money were no object, which big name sporting event would you go to?

Sixthman

Willy Franzen — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 16:19:01 +0000

As much as I love the Inc. 5000, there is one thing that bugs me. It seems that the large majority of companies on the list don’t even have Jobs pages. These are companies that are growing rapidly in terms of revenue and number of employees, yet they often lack even a single recruiting message on their own websites. If you follow these companies, you’ll see that they eventually get the picture and put up a Jobs page, but why wait? Sometimes you just need to find cool companies and pitch them on why you’d be a great addition to their team. Speaking of great additions to teams, let’s take a look at at a company called Sixthman. They’re an Atlanta, GA based company that “creates theme cruises with an emphasis on celebrating music and fan communities.” Neither cruises nor concerts are my thing, but if you like both, Sixthman is your dream come true.

Can You Be a Sixthman?

Sixthman was founded in 2001, so they are certainly a pioneer in the “music theme cruise movement.” Being a first mover is great, but what really makes Sixthman stand out is that they have worked “with entertainers such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, John Mayer, Kid Rock, KISS, Jillian Michaels, Barenaked Ladies, Sister Hazel, Lyle Lovett, Sarah McLachlan, Patty Griffin, Zac Brown Band, and 311, and brands such as VH1, TCM and Graceland.” Those are huge names–the kind that people might actually want to be trapped on a boat with. So far Sixthman has done more than 30 full-ship charters, and 60% of their guests return for another cruise. That’s unbelievable considering that a cruise is typically a high-ticket item. Who would have thought that combining to seemingly unrelated leisure industries would be so successful? If you like what Sixthman is doing, then you should think about a job with them. Despite their lack of a Jobs page (maybe it has something to do with outsourcing HR), they were “named one of Atlanta’s Best Places to Work in 2008 by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.” There is no guarantee that they’re hiring right now, but if you’re passionate about what they’re doing, you should definitely reach out to them and tell them why you think you should be part of their team.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you go on a Sixthman cruise?

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?

Curbed Network

Willy Franzen — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 15:43:46 +0000

There’s a lot more to getting a job than being able to provide for essential needs like food, clothing, and shelter, but that’s a pretty big part of it–especially when you’re just starting out. It won’t take a lot in terms of wages to be able to pay for your basic expenses, but chances are that you’ll want to enjoy what you eat, what you wear, and where you live. If you’re all about that, then you should be reading the blogs from Curbed Network. They provide essential reads on how to get maximum enjoyment out of your essential needs. They’re based in New York, NY, and they run the blogs Curbed (real estate), Eater (food), Racked (clothes, style, and fashion), and the completely non-essential Gridskipper (travel). They don’t have a blog about air yet, but I hear that’s coming. The Curbed Network properties are very clearly built for yuppies with disposable incomes (what we all aspire to be, right?). 87% of the Curbed Network audience has a college degree, and 46% of them have a household income over $100k. Those are great stats for selling ads, which is what a business like Curbed Network is built on.

Kick Yourself to the Curbed

The best way to get a better feel for Curbed Network is pretty obvious–start reading their blogs. You’ll also want to check out the About pages for Curbed, Eater, Racked, and Gridskipper. You’ll get a rundown of how their audiences differ, who their advertisers are, what’s being said about them, and more. If you really want to dig into the stats on the Curbed Network audience, take a look at the Curbed Network Media Kit. It’s intended for potential advertisers, but you should learn a ton about them. Two stats that really stood out to me were that they get over 2 million monthly unique visitors and have over 170,000 e-mail subscribers. That’s quite a reach. If you’re digging what Curbed Network is all about, visit their Jobs page, which is centralized for all of the properties. They have a bunch of cool positions posted right now including Account Executive, Marketing & Events Coordinator, Designer, and a number of Editorial positions. Remember that a lot of Curbed Network’s properties are focused on locales, so there are job opportunities in these locales in addition to the ones located in NYC.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read any of the Curbed Network blogs?

Tablet Hotels

Willy Franzen — Mon, 23 May 2011 15:59:38 +0000

Travel search engines are great. You can find the best rates for a place to stay in almost any location. The only problem is that the results can be a bit overwhelming. You have to do some serious research to make sure that the hotel that you picked isn’t a fleabag (or do we call them bedbug bags now?). And since it’s not uncommon to find a room in a luxury hotel for a price that is comparable to the price of a room in a lower tier chain, you might as well stay somewhere interesting and unique. So why not just limit your search to a curated list of luxury properties? That’s exactly what Tablet Hotels does. They’re a hotel booking site that offers access to great rates at a “tightly edited selection” of hotels. The company is located in New York, NY, and they’ve been around since 2000, so they’re experts when it comes to booking rooms at an affordable rate at some of the nicest hotels in the world.

Get Tabbed

Obviously the online travel booking business is extremely competitive, so Tablet Hotels can’t just stand out by having a small list of cool hotels that you can book. That’s just not enough. They’re doing a few things to make them stand out. The first is the Tablet Hotels Price Guarantee, which pretty much explains itself. The next is their review system, the Tablets Hotel Meter, which “is a running average of the ratings given to a hotel by registered Tablet Hotels users who have actually stayed at the hotel.” That means that nobody is gaming the reviews. Finally, there’s Tablet Guides and the other editorial content that Tablet Hotels puts out. By making the travel booking experience fun and interesting, Tablet Hotels ensures that customers keep coming back to them. I first heard about Tablet Hotels from a former reader who is now working there. She e-mailed me to tell me about a paid internship that they’re offering, but I noticed that the company’s Contact page mentions that you should contact them at jobs@tablethotels.com if you’re interested in a job. Since there aren’t any listings, you should use LinkedIn to figure out where you might fit in, and then pitch them on it.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used Tablet Hotels?

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?

Education First

Willy Franzen — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:24:47 +0000

Though I wouldn’t call it a regret, there’s a part of me that wishes that I had taken the opportunity to study abroad during college. It would be nice to have learned a new language, experienced different cultures, and seen new geographies. Luckily, I have done a bit of traveling after college to help with the last two, but I’m not sure that I’ll ever pick up a new language. But if I do decided to pursue a more formal travel/study abroad experience, I could go through Education First. They’re an international company that offers “a range of educational programs from language training, educational travel, and academic degrees to cultural exchanges.” The company was founded in 1965 by Bertil Hult in Lund, Sweden, but they’re now headquartered in Luzern, Switzerland. They have locations all across the world (including the US), which makes sense since their business is all about breaking “down barriers in language, culture and geography” and helping “people of all ages and nationalities become citizens of the world.”

First Things First

I learned about Education First from a One Day, One Internship reader who unsubscribed because she landed an internship with them. That piqued my curiosity, so I started looking at Education First more closely. Apparently, they operate in more than 50 countries with 400 offices/schools–and that number is growing at a rate of about one new school/office every week. It looks like international education is a thriving business, and Education First is serving the market in a variety of ways. Their range of program offerings includes Language Schools, High School and University Education, Corporate Language Training, Cultural Exchange, Online Language Training, and Educational Tours. I can only graze the surface of what they do, so I strongly recommend that you take some time to read up on their history and browse their website to learn more. After that, you’ll want to check out their Careers site which has a ton of information about what it’s like to work for Education First. And if you want “to work in a dynamic, fast-paced and highly international environment,” then you can check out their current opportunities. There are a ton of positions posted across the world, but I’m just going to link to a sampling of the U.S. based entry level opportunities like Marketing Coordinator (Cambridge, MA), Tour Consultant (Cambridge, MA), Recruitment Coordinator (Los Angeles, CA), and Account Services Coordinator – Cultural Care Au Pair (Cambridge, MA). There are dozens of jobs available in a variety of locations–most in Sales, so give them all a good look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you done any Education First programs?

Rosen Hotels

Willy Franzen — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 15:00:09 +0000

Cornell students! I’m on campus right now for the Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration. I’ll be here through Monday, so e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com if you like to meet up and pick my brain about careers or entrepreneurship.

So far I’m loving being back in Ithaca to connect with fellow Cornell entrepreneurs. I’ve met a ton of great people and learned about some really cool things that other alumni are working on. Yesterday I got to watch the finalists in the Cornell Venture Challenge pitch their businesses to investors and sit in on a panel about social entrepreneurship, but the best part was actually the keynote. I almost skipped it because I usually find those kind of talks boring, but I wanted to learn about Cornell’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” Harris Rosen. He is the President & COO of Rosen Hotels, and he is a fascinating guy. He came from meager beginnings in New York City, and somehow made it to Cornell. After going through a few jobs, he bought “a bankrupt 256-room Quality Inn in Orlando in 1974.” His company now owns 7 successful hotels in Orlando, FL that combine for 6,300 rooms. It may not be a massive chain like Marriott, Hilton, or Hyatt, but the business that Harris Rosen has built is just as impressive, if not more so.

Take a Trip to Orlando

Harris Rosen could live happily owning a single hotel, and he’d actually prefer it that way. But he blames the “entrepreneurship gene” for pushing him to keep expanding. Still, he takes a reserved approach to growth. He never borrows money, and he always invests in himself. More importantly, he invests in his people and his community. He has been a pioneer in both health care and education, and he’s found a way to make both key aspects of growing his business and keeping it stable. I usually don’t like to focus on founders so much, but Harris is so impressive and so essential to the culture of Rosen Hotels, that you need to understand who he is to understand the company. Here’s a little bit more info on him. If you love Harris’ story and are excited about the hospitality industry, then you need to check out jobs at Rosen Hotels. I’m not going to go through the listings, but they have a ton of jobs available that could be suitable for a new or recent grad–these range from Assistant Junior Golf Pro to VIP Concierge. Browse through the listings and see what interests you. And if you get a job there, you can rest easy knowing that you’re working for someone who firmly believes in “doing the right thing.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you stayed at any Rosen Hotels?

UrbanDaddy

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

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

Who’s Your UrbanDaddy?

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you subscribe to UrbanDaddy?

The Wandering Scholar

Willy Franzen — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 14:28:37 +0000

I love seeing students pursue learning outside of the classroom. There’s only so much that you can be taught—eventually you need to go out and start experiencing things for yourself. One of the best ways to do this is to travel. Not only does it teach you street smarts, but it also provides a vast array of learning opportunities that you would never be exposed to sitting at home. Travel is becoming more and more common for college students, and even high schoolers are starting to see the world in an effort to enhance their learning. Unfortunately, international travel isn’t accessible to everyone. Even no frills travel is expensive, which is why The Wandering Scholar was started. They’re a relatively new New York, NY based non-profit organization that “makes international travel and learning opportunities accessible to low-income high school students.” It’s a really cool idea that I hope catches on, because everyone should have the opportunity to see and learn about other parts of the world.

Where Are You Wandering?

Because there is more to The Wandering Scholar than just enabling students to travel, their programs include Travel Mentors, Pre-Departure Planning, Documentation Projects, Trip Log and Blogging, Post-trip Workshop and Presentation of Learning, and Peer to Peer Recruitment. They really want to enable students to make the most out of travel experiences that could be once-in-a-lifetime. Now, The Wandering Scholar is an upstart with a super small staff, so landing a job with them right now might not be realistic. However, if you’re moved by their mission, then you need to reach out to them and see how you can fit in. They have positions for both Mentors and Interns right now, and it’s certainly possible that they’ll be growing their team in the near future.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of The Wandering Scholar?

L.L. Bean

Willy Franzen — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:20:43 +0000

August is typically a big vacation month, so it can sometimes be hard to reach the people you want to reach in your job search. If you’re taking a vacation yourself, you may want to thing about the brands that you associate with vacation. For me, it’s often L.L. Bean because I end up spending most of my time enjoying the outdoors—and that usually includes some of their gear. They’ve been “a trusted source for quality apparel, reliable outdoor equipment and expert advice for more than 95 years.” It all started with one man named Leon Leonwood Bean and some cold wet feet. He decided to combine the comfort of leather boots with the durability and functionality of rubber work boots. He then obtained the mailing list for Maine hunting license holders and sent them a three-page flyer about his new boots. L.L. guaranteed that people would be satisfied with his boots, and he had to eat his words. Of the first 100 pairs that he sold, 90 were returned for defects. that would put a lot of people out of business, but not L.L. Bean, which continues to be located in Freeport, ME to this day.

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Today L.L. Bean still offers their same satisfaction guarantee, and they continue to put a huge emphasis on customer service (places like this are usually awesome to work for). L.L. Bean now has 4,600 employees year-round, and that number spikes to 9,000 during the holidays. I guess that’s when L.L. Bean does a good portion of their $1.5 billion in annual sales. They also have a flagship store without locks on its doors—it’s open 24/7/365. It also comes with a “trout pond, a coffee shop, café and 3,500- gallon fish tank.” I’d imagine that the headquarters has some pretty cool stuff too—I know that the Orvis headquarters does. If you’re excited about Bean Boots, dog beds, outdoor apparel, tents, sleeping bags, and everything of the sort, then you’ll want to check out LLBeanCareers.com. It offers information on careers on Retail, Corporate, and Season opportunities. We’ll focus on the Corporate opportunities which include potentially entry level positions like Programmer/Analyst, Page Production Specialist, Associate Marketing Analyst – E-Commerce/Web Analytics, Assistant Merchandiser – Kid’s Category, and Assistant Merchandiser – Footwear & Travel.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own anything from L.L. Bean?

Development Counsellors International

Willy Franzen — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 15:46:06 +0000

Been anywhere interesting this summer? I’ve already been to San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Napa, Denver, Northern Michigan, Boston, and I’ll be visiting Lake Tahoe, Colorado Springs, Northern Quebec, Connecticut, and New York City before the summer is over. Oddly enough, none of those destinations have been my choice. It’s always been someone else who has planned the trip. I guess that makes me useless for Development Counsellors International, a New York City based PR and Marketing firm that is “the leader in marketing places.” They obviously want to reach the decision makers, since they’re the people who drive economic development by choosing places to visit, invest in, or live in. If it has to do with economic development or tourism marketing, then it’s DCI’s specialty.

Where Are You Going?

Development Counsellors International’s clients range from cities to states to regions to countries. They’ve worked with 40 of the 50 states and countries including Wales, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Flanders, Luxembourg, Chile, Costa Rica, Australia, New Zealand, and plenty more. To get a feel for the kind of work that DCI does, you should take a look at their Case Studies. You’ll see projects ranging from working with the Costa Rican Trade and Investment Board to working with Invest in Spain. If you love travel or foreign cultures, it’d be hard to find a better employer than DCI. If you take a look at their Jobs page, you’ll see an Account Executive position that requires a couple of years of experience. They actually have Account Coordinator positions that appear to be a bit more geared towards the entry level, but there are no postings for them right now. You’ll have to inquire with DCI about them if you’re interested, or you could try applying for the Account Executive position if you already have a little bit of experience.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of DCI’s clients is your favorite place to visit?

NileGuide

Willy Franzen — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 14:51:24 +0000

Do you know what’s an awesome thing to do after you graduate? Travel. Do you know what isn’t an awesome thing to tell employers that you’ve been doing since you graduated? Traveling. Think about it from the interviewer’s perspective for a minute. You’ve been in a job for three years, and you just got a promotion. You’re interviewing new grads to fill your old job. You get 10 days of vacation a year (after another promotion you’ll get 15). You use 4 to visit your parents during the holidays. You have to take 3 days for various weddings throughout the year. You use one for a sick day, and that leaves you with 2 glorious days to actually do what you want. Now some spoiled brat is telling you about he or she spent three months on a beach in Thailand after graduation. Most employers won’t be spiteful enough to punish you for taking some time to relax, but telling them about your globetrotting isn’t going to help make them like you more (and being liked is the most important thing that you can do to get hired). Luckily, there are some employers who don’t have a problem with travel. Take NileGuide for example. They’re a San Francisco based startup (with a lot of funding) that “helps travelers discover and connect to the most satisfying and relevant travel experiences.”

Go Where You Want

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t travel after college. I’m just saying that you have to be careful about how you present that experience to employers. I definitely sabotaged myself during the job search process when I told employers about going to Costa Rica to fly fish for sailfish. Had I told the folks at NileGuide about it, they would have encouraged me to share that experience with their readers by doing a writeup on it. NileGuide wants to be the premier online destination for people who are planning trips, so they combine “expansive, curated travel content with sophisticated preference filtering and organizational tools as well as timely advice and insights from local experts.” As far as I can tell, the entire site is free, which means that NileGuide’s business model is built on advertising (travel is a great ad market) and partnerships. This means that they constantly need fresh content to drive more traffic, which is why they seem to always be hiring Local Experts. These are freelance travel writing positions that may not offer the security of a full-time job, but they allow you to make a living (if your writing drives traffic) doing something pretty awesome. The jobs are dependent on your living somewhere travel worthy, since the whole point is that you’re a “Local Expert.” Check out the job posting for all of the details.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used NileGuide?

The Balsams

Willy Franzen — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 15:27:21 +0000

One of my least favorite things about the “real world” is that summer doesn’t automatically mean vacation. Unless you’ve gone into teaching, you’re expected to keep showing up for work every day like it’s the middle of February—even if it’s totally beautiful out. The good thing is that “real world” summer usually lasts from May through early October (at least here in Chicago). Even though you have to keep going to work, your summer isn’t regimented by school’s start and end dates. Anyway, we all know that summer is really all about vacation, and for many that means hitting up a resort like The Balsams in Dixville Notch, NH. In the summer you can play golf or tennis, go kayaking or mountain biking, take a hike, or just relax. In the winter there’s skiing, sleigh rides, snowshoeing, snow mobile races, and I’m sure fireplaces to warm up near. It’s an old school New England inn with modern luxuries and fine dining. I’ve never been there, but I know the style—and I like it.

Take a Trip to The Balsams

Hopefully you’re not mad at me for getting you all excited about the prospect of a luxury vacation when you are freaking about graduating without a job and trying desperately to avoid a permanent vacation of prolonged unemployment. Obviously, the reason that I’m telling you all about The Balsams is that they have job opportunities; in fact, they have a job/internship opportunity that lets you enjoy all of the luxuries of a vacation at The Balsams while getting paid to do it. They’re looking for an “Inn-Bedded Resorter” to live The Balsams life for a summer and report on it. For 2 months you’ll get $2,500, a room in the hotel, 3 meals a day, and free reign of the resort. Your job will be to liveblog/tweet/facebook your life with a variety of technological and social media tools at your disposal. How can you not get excited about a job application that asks you about your proficiency in areas like Fly Fishing, Dancing, Alpine Skiing, Making Cocktails, and Bird Watching? It’s pretty much the ultimate opportunity for someone interested in PR and Social Media. However, if you’re more into the Hospitality Management side, there are plenty of other opportunities available at The Balsams. You just need to check their for all of the info and the application. There’s even a Culinary Apprenticeship Program. If you have vacation on your mind, check out The Balsams and see how you can find a way to stay with them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever stayed at The Balsams?

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?

Rosetta

Willy Franzen — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:31:08 +0000

I got a tip on this one from a fellow Cornellian (which is cool because a few of my friends from Cornell work at Rosetta). If you ever find a company that you think that we should feature, e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com. We feature a lot of interactive marketing agencies because they’re usually pretty big on hiring young talent whether it be at the intern or entry level. Rosetta stands out because of their size and sophistication—they almost seem more like a consulting firm than a marketing agency, at least in the way that they present themselves. For instance, they recently become a “top ten interactive agency” by means of an acquisition. That seems so different from the image that most agencies try to portray, but it’s working. Through “dedication to client work within Consumer Products & Retail, Healthcare, Financial Services, Consumer Technology & Media, B2B, and Travel & Hospitality industries” Rosetta “has created enduring partnerships with [their] clients including Scholastic, Coach, Borders, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Nationwide, Marriott and Microsoft.” Those are huge names, so you know Rosetta, which is headquartered in Princeton with offices in New York, Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, and Denver, is capable of delivering results.

Relationships Matter

One of Rosetta’s key offerings is their suite of Relationship Marketing Services, which are focused on helping clients segment customers and offer “intelligent, personalized interactions across all online and offline channels.” This is just one part of the story, though. To get the full story on Rosetta’s offerings, you should take a look at this diagram. It shows how Rosetta walks clients through the marketing process—from creating the top-level strategy to using analytics to measure results. This means it’s not surprising that Rosetta’s job offerings are as varied as their service offerings—their Careers page is titled “Graphic Design Careers, SEO Jobs, and Financial Services Consulting Opportunities at Rosetta.”

As I mentioned in the beginning of the post, Rosetta seems to have a strong connection with Cornell (and probably quite a few other colleges) based on campus recruiting. Interestingly enough, Rosetta doesn’t really have a campus recruiting page—just a profile of a new grad who went to work for them. From there you can find their job search function, which is pretty terrible. It does appear to let you search for specifically entry level positions; however, there are at least 3 different queries that you can use, and they all seem to deliver different results. Your best bet is to look at their full list of job openings, or to look for positions like Recent Graduate Business Associate, Recent Graduate Technology Associate, Associate Consultant, Account Executive, Technology Associate, User Interface/Rich Media Developer, Recent Graduate Business Analyst, and quite a few others. The way that Rosetta lists their jobs is really a mess, so you need to take note that different jobs with the same title may be in different practice areas. Additionally, single job postings may be for multiple locations. They do have some nice pages on their Careers site like Meet Our People and Fun at Rosetta, but the whole thing is disorganized. I expect a lot better from a top ten agency. You can apply online for any of these positions, so forgive Rosetta for the lack of usability on their Careers site and see if you can help them move further up the top ten.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Were you looking Rosetta Stone’s jobs?

Wagstaff Worldwide

Willy Franzen — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:00:39 +0000

This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association and entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com.

Interested in wine and travel? Then Wagstaff Worldwide might be the public relations agency for you! Located in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City, Wagstaff specializes in media relations but does offer other services such as creating customized public relations plans, setting up and executing social media strategies, event planning, tourism marketing, and editorial and copywriting expertise. Their clients include restaurants, hotels, international travel organizations, design agencies, wine and spirits, lounges and spas—and their client list is huge!

Cultivate Your Career with Top Tastemakers

Now, I realize that Wagstaff is “worldwide,” but their team isn’t really that large, and they have quite a few junior-level staff members. The company is currently seeking an Account Coordinator for its Los Angeles office. Candidates are expected to possess “excellent writing, presentation and sales skills, relevant experience in the hospitality, journalism and/or public relations industries and an outgoing personality.” Interested? Submit your cover letter, résumé and salary history to president Mary Wagstaff at mary@wagstaffworldwide.com. You might also consider following the LA office on Twitter. If you’re interested in working at one of the other offices, you should keep your eyes peeled for new job postings or use Wagstaff Worldwide’s Contact page to find the right people to reach out to.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Wagstaff Worldwide?

MMG Mardiks

Willy Franzen — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:01:57 +0000

Yesterday I mentioned that I hopped on a plane on Saturday. My destination was Aruba. I’m here now, and I’m enjoying 90 degree temperatures, lots of sunshine, beach volleyball, and hopefully some excellent fishing opportunities. It’s not hard to be convinced to head for a tropical destination in December, but choosing the right place can be a tough decision. That’s why it’s no big surprise that resorts and tourism boards invest a lot in public relations. Competition for tourist dollars is fierce, so firms like New York City based MMG Mardiks are often in high demand. They work with names like the Colorado Tourism Office, Sarasota and Her Islands, Hertz, Regent Hotels & Resorts, and The Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino (not where I’m staying). MMG Mardiks also has locations in Kansas City, Ft. Collins, St Louis, and South Florida, which probably allows them to better serve clients in various locations.

Travel Public Relations with MMG Mardiks

Travel public relations and communications seems like a pretty cool field, and MMG Mardiks does it all. They provide “expert strategic counsel in traditional and digital media relations, branding, event marketing and crisis communications.” If you’d like to get beyond the buzz words and see some actual work that MMG Mardiks has done, you need to look no further than their case studies. You’ll get a good feel for how they operate and what kind of placement they can achieve for their clients. If the idea of working in Travel PR excites you, then take a look at MMG Mardiks’ Jobs page. They don’t have any specific openings for new grads posted, but they do invite applicants to reach out by e-mailing a cover letter, résumé, and salary requirement to Carla Brown at cbrown@mmgworldwide.com. I’ve heard that their internship program is excellent with real work opportunities that lead to full-time employment and that the company employs a lot of people in their 20s. Additionally employees get to travel to great places relatively often, so maybe you’ll get to make a trip to Aruba too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of MMG Mardiks’ clients do you most want to visit?

Orbitz Worldwide

Willy Franzen — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:55:09 +0000

Happy Friday the 13th! If you let your belief in bad luck and superstition affect you on a daily basis, then you’re setting yourself back in the job search. It really won’t do you any good. With that said, there are millions of people who suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia—the fear of Friday the 13th. One of the biggest symptoms of this phobia is an unwillingness to travel on Friday the 13th. There’s some debate as to whether this actually has a significant effect on the travel industry, but I’ve heard that you can get pretty good deals when the 13th day of a month falls on a Friday. Since I’m not a big fan of superstition—especially when it comes to the job search—we’re going to fly in the face of paraskevidekatriaphobia and take a look at jobs with Orbitz Worldwide. If you don’t already know, they’re a Chicago based online travel company. In late 1999 they were formed through a partnership between 5 major airlines—Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, and American—to compete with Expedia and Travelocity.

Send Your Career into Orbitz

Although I couldn’t tell you what differentiates Orbitz from the plethora of other travel sites out there, I do know that I’ve used them before and would use them again. Their brands beyond Orbitz include niche plays like CheapTickets, eBookers, HotelClub, RatesToGo, Away.com, Asia-Hotels, and Orbitz for Business. Over the past decade Orbitz Worldwide has gone through a number of ownership changes, and now they’ve finally settled as publicly traded company. They have about 1,500 employees according to their LinkedIn profile, and their Job listings show that they have quite a few open positions. Unfortunately, Orbitz’s Applicant Tracking System is a total mess. It’s difficult to navigate, it’s ugly, and it also requires a session ID, which means that I can’t link you to specific job postings. Their Careers page does mention a Management Training and Development program, but doesn’t go into detail. They do have positions posted like Web/SEO Analyst (Sydney, Australia), Fraud Analyst (Chicago, IL), Search Marketing Analyst (Sydney, Australia), Air Strategy Analyst (Chicago, IL), and quite a few more. The ATS is scarier than any Friday the 13th horror movie, so I’m going to let you use your luck to find the rest of their positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you travel on Friday the 13th?

Smart Destinations

Willy Franzen — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 14:45:42 +0000

Let’s say that you wanted to come visit me in Chicago. You’re not afraid to do touristy things, because you’re willing to accept the fact that you are a tourist. You’re going to visit the Art Institute, the Hancock Observatory, the Museum of Science and Industry, and the Sears (now Willis) Tower. Then you want to take a ride on the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel followed by an Architecture Boat Tour. That’s a lot of separate admission fees (and an exhausting day). With a Go Chicago Card from Boston, MA based Smart Destinations, you can pay once and do all these things and more. The card will even get you a discount on your Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza. Smart Destinations offers the same service in quite a few other cities, and it seems to be pretty popular. While the Travel industry is struggling with the economy, Smart Destinations has managed 424.7% revenue growth over the past 3 years and #652 on the Inc. 5000.

Take a Trip to Smart Destinations

What Smart Destinations is doing isn’t all that complex, but it’s really… err… smart. By developing relationships with all of these individual destinations and trading lead generation for a substantial discount, Smart Destinations is able to make everyone happy while hauling in the cash. Or at least that’s what their 94% customer satisfaction rate seems to say. It’s a very cool business that has the potential for a lot more growth. If you’d like to be a part of that growth, you should consider Jobs at Smart Destinations. They don’t list specific opportunities, but if you use our “Do I Know Anyone at Smart Destinations?” feature below, you should be able to get an idea of what types of entry level jobs they have. I’d imagine Sales, Marketing, Engineering/Software Development, and Business Development are some of the most likely areas. You can reach out to Smart Destinations at careers@smartdestinations.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried using one of Smart Destinations’ products?

Kayak

Willy Franzen — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:32:15 +0000

Last week we took a look at Priceline’s Jobs, and since travel is always fun, we’re going to check out Kayak today. They’re a travel search engine that was started by founders of Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia who decided to partner up into a “travel dream team” and build a “better online travel experience.” Unlike most travel sites, Kayak doesn’t sell anything to travelers. They’re an aggregator just like Google that scours the web for the best travel deals and returns them to you. What Kayak does sell is advertising. Just like how Google has “Sponsored Results,” Kayak integrates advertising with its search results. You can try to describe the business model with fancy words, but it’s really all about lead generation. Kayak, like Priceline, is based out of Norwalk, CT, which I find pretty intriguing. I wonder if there’s any particular reason that it’s beneficial for an online travel company to located in Norwalk.

Hop in the Kayak

After spending some time checking Kayak out, it seems to me that their big thing is simplicity. Using their search engine is pretty darn simple, and it also shows in how they express their corporate identity. For instance, Kayak’s About page isn’t particularly short, but it does a fantastic job of explaining who they are and what they do in plain English. I also really like what they’ve done with their Team page. This simplicity continues into Kayak’s Jobs page, which consists of a few bullet points on why you should work at Kayak in addition to a simple list of jobs. The job descriptions are also straightforward and get to the point. They have a number of Sales positions available; however, they seem to require a decent amount of experience. What intrigued me were the SEO Product Manager/Analytics Researcher (Concord, MA) and Search Marketing Analyst (France). These aren’t straight up entry level jobs, but if you’ve spent your college years learning (most likely self taught) about search and online marketing, then you might be the perfect fit. You can apply for all of Kayak’s jobs by e-mail, but the address depends on which position you’re apply for, so check out the individual job descriptions for more details.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Kayak to find travel deals?

Priceline.com

Willy Franzen — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:39:36 +0000

My first introduction to William Shatner was watching Rescue 911. Little did I know that his body of work extended far beyond narrating a show about real life heroes. I imagine today’s children will have an equally narrow view of William Shatner’s career, as they’ll know him as “Priceline Negotiator.” (Can you read those words without hearing the corresponding tune? I can’t.) Anyway, the whole idea behind William Shatner’s newest role – besides his doing the commercials in return for stock – is that Priceline.com will negotiate the best deals on travel-related items like hotels, car rentals, and airline tickets. They also have a “name your own price” model that used to be the core of their business, but now Priceline has widened its focus to discount travel in general.

Entry Level Job Negotiator

Don’t you wish you had someone like William Shatner to negotiate your entry level job for you too? Ok, that’d be a little weird. Sometimes learning negotiating skills is better than having someone do the dirty work for you. I think that I’m glad that the way we find jobs online is different from the way that we find travel deals online. With that said, you can go to the same place for both if you’re interested in a job in travel or e-commerce. Priceline.com has a number of jobs that seem like they might be well suited to new or recent college grads. In their Grand Rapids, MI office there are jobs for a Japanese Translator and Customer Service Executives, while at their Norwalk, CT headquarters they’re looking for an Associate Regional Revenue Manager – Hotels. You can figure out how to apply from the job descriptions that I’ve just linked to. Priceline.com doesn’t have an About page, so there’s not a ton of information about who they are and what they’re about as a company, so you might want to do a little Googling to get more info.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Priceline.com to book your travel?