One Day, One Job » Utah

National Ability Center

Willy Franzen — Sat, 12 May 2012 16:33:18 +0000

I absolutely love playing sports and participating in other outdoor activities. Physical activities are great because they provide nearly immediate feedback. You have a great idea of how you’re performing and how hard you can push yourself. That’s why the National Ability Center in Park City, UT uses activities like “alpine and cross-country skiing, snowboarding, swimming, cycling, waterskiing, horseback riding, rafting,” and more to aid the “the development of lifetime skills for people of all ages and abilities.” By using specially designed equipment and well-trained instructors (many of whom are individuals with disabilities), The National Ability Center is able to bring these wonderful activities to people who may otherwise never have a chance to participate.

Discover Your Abilities

Last year the National Ability Center delivered lessons and outing to 15,545 individuals. The participants were able to “build self-esteem, confidence and physical development,” which are absolutely essential skills that can be taken back to everyday life. The National Ability delivers their programming with a number of core values in mind. These include Innovative, Integrity, Affordable, Caring, Inclusive, Empowerment, Quality, and Customer Service. The National Ability Center website is a bit hard to navigate, but they do provide a ton of information on their programming, so I highly recommend that you dive in and learn more. If you like what you see, then you can move on to their Jobs page where they have opportunities including Lead Program Staff, Program Staff, Public Relations Coordinator, Facilities and Capital Manager, and Events Coordinator. These look like amazing job opportunities, so don’t pass them up.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about National Ability Center?

Chloe + Isabel

Willy Franzen — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:59:07 +0000

There are essentially two completely different jewelry businesses. There’s the high-end business that is centered around gold, platinum, diamonds, and other gemstones (I know all about that having recently bought an engagement ring). Then there’s the fashion focused business that is more about completing an outfit. The latter is where Chloe + Isabel is focusing. They are a New York, NY based startup that targets 18 to 28 year old women with jewelry in the $18 to $200 price range. That’s not all that unique. What is unique is that Chloe + Isabel is approaching this market by combining direct selling with web-based social technology. Essentially they’re bringing affiliate marketing to a group of people who may not even know what affiliate marketing is.

You + Chloe + Isabel

I tend to be skeptical of direct selling “opportunities,” but I know that they can be great for developing entrepreneurial skills. I think Chloe + Isabel really gets it right with their online platform. You don’t need to make an initial investment in inventory to sell for them–you can just use their “personalized online dashboard” to put together your “own boutique shopping experience.” To get a better sense of Chloe + Isabel’s style, I recommend that you take some time to browse their jewelry. Then you probably want to read up on their Merchandiser opportunity and watch this video about it:

Even if direct selling isn’t for you, it will help you better understand how the Chloe + Isabel works. Once you start to get it, you can take a look at Chloe + Isabel’s Jobs page, where they list their non direct selling opportunities including:

Customer Care Representative (San Francisco, CA)
Sales Development Manager (San Francisco Bay Area, Utah, Florida, Texas, and Michigan/Illinois)
Graphic Designer
Web Designer
Ruby Developer
User Interface Designer

Whether you’re interested in a full-time job or want to do some direct selling, Chloe + Isabel has some great opportunities for new and recent grads.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you purchased anything from Chloe + Isabel?

Instructure

Willy Franzen — Wed, 02 May 2012 14:20:32 +0000

When you’re a kid, you think that teachers have an easy job. They have good hours, lots of vacation with summers off, and they get to stand in front of a room and tell you what to do. As you get older, you start to realize that teaching also includes grading papers, planning lessons, communicating with parents, writing comments for report cards, and a whole lot more. A grade book just isn’t a good hub for managing all of this. Teachers need something industrial-strength, and that’s what Instructure provides with their Canvas Learning Management System. The Sandy, UT based company offers a suite of tools that enable teachers to spend way less time on administrative stuff, and more time teaching and working directly with students. They serve educators at all levels–from Kindergarten to some of the world’s top universities, which shows you just how flexible the Canvas platform is.

Follow Instructure

What do teachers want from a Learning Management System? Something that just works. Here’s Instructure’s video explanation of why the technology behind Canvas offers exactly that experience:

Go take a look at the product. You can sign up for an instant demo and get a feel for exactly how it works. There’s no better way to get to know a company than by using their product. If you like the feel of Canvas, then take a look at Instructure’s Careers page. Right now they have some great jobs for new or recent grads including:

UI/Web Designer
Database Admininstrator
Professional Services Software Engineer
Software Engineer
Marketing Web Developer
Marketing Writer
Search/Marketing Analyst

If you get excited about the nexus of education and technology, then a career with Instructure might be just what you’re looking for.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you have any experiences with Learning Management Systems?

Ancestry.com

Willy Franzen — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:01:11 +0000

Since we celebrated National Pancake Day yesterday, we’re not going to make a big deal about Leap Day, but if you’re looking for a leapy post, you may want to read our profiles on LeapFrog and TicketLeap. Instead of the calendar, we’re going to talk about family history. I’m lucky in that my family has done a great job of documenting our history. One of the best stories from my family’s past is about William Ker Muir (my Great Great Great Grandfather), who at 24 left his homeland of Scotland to take a job in Canada’s burgeoning railroad industry. Four years later in 1859, he was riding in the last seat of the last car on a train from Toronto to Hamilton. He heard a crash at the front of the train and jumped out the back door. He landed safely on the track as the Desjardins Bridge collapsed and the train fell into an icy gorge killing or injuring most of the passengers and crew. Without those quick reflexes, I wouldn’t be here. It’s stories like those that make investigating genealogy worthwhile, and if you’re going to do that, online tools like those provided by Provo, UT based Ancestry.com can be a huge help. It’s “the world’s largest online resource for family history, with more than 1.7 million paying subscribers around the world.”

Know Your History

Because of its name, you may think of Ancestry.com as some tech startup. While they have certainly taken their business in that direction (Software as a Service), they were actually founded in 1983 as Ancestry Publishing with a “focus on publishing genealogical book and magazine titles.” They’ve obviously used what they’ve learned by studying genealogy to help them adapt their business to changing times. Having been around for nearly three decades is a huge advantage for Ancestry.com in that they have compiled a ton of information (over 8 billion historical records), but what’s even more important is the network effect that they’ve created. As more and more users submit information to the site, it becomes more useful for everyone. This encourages more people to join, and the network effect keeps growing in a virtuous cycle. That’s why Ancestry.com has more than “31 million family trees and [has] added over 4 billion profiles.” They’re working on adding DNA tests, and I have to imagine that will be a huge step forward for the product. If you’re loving what Ancestry.com is all about, then head over to their Jobs page. Right now they have some great opportunities for new grads including:

Assistant Genealogist (Salt Lake City, UT)
Associate Software Engineer (Provo, UT or San Francisco, CA)
Document Preservation – Contractor (Swarthmore, PA)
Document Preservation – Contractor (Worcester, MA)
iOS Developer
Marketing Coordinator (Provo, UT or San Francisco, CA)
Inside Sales & Account Specialist (Salt Lake City, UT)
AppOps Engineer (Provo, UT)

If history is important to you, then a job with Ancestry.com might be just what you’re looking for.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried Ancestry.com?

Wayfair

Willy Franzen — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:03:50 +0000

I’ve made a point of being more active in Cornell’s entrepreneurship community, so I like to think that I do a good job of keeping tabs on which other companies have been started by fellow alums. That’s why I was shocked to learn that the #2 online retailer of home furnishings and housewares was not only a company that I’d never heard of before, but a company founded by two Cornell grads. It’s called Wayfair–they’re based in Boston, MA and did $500 million in sales last year. The reason I hadn’t heard of them is that they were known as CSN Stores until last year (they were founded in 2002). CSN Stores was focused on building out 200+ product specific properties with generic domain names like Bedroomfurniture.com, Cookware.com, AirHockeyTables.com, and AllBarstools.com. Last year they decided to get serious about branding and started pulling all of their sites into the Wayfair brand.

Find Your Way

If you’d like to read a more in-depth version of the Wayfair story, check out this write up from GigaOm. It provides a lot of interesting details, but I actually think the Wayfair site is even better. Their About page is beautifully designed and packed with information, and the same can be said for the company’s Careers page. It’s also nice that they have a Campus Recruiting section that includes this video (you may need to click through to view it):

The campus recruiting page also includes four positions targeted towards 2012 grads: Business Analyst, Business Intelligence Analyst, Category Management Associate, and Software Engineer. Additionally, they have a ton of job postings for immediate hire:

Category Analyst / Entry Level Buyer (Sydney, Australia)
Jr. Designer/Web Production Artist
Customer Service Consultant (Sydney, Australia)
Bilingual Sales & Service Consultant (Galway, Ireland)
Customer Service Consultant (Ogden, UT)
Email Sales and Service Consultant (Ogden, UT)
Inbound Sales Consultant (Ogden, UT)
Sales Consultant (Ogden, UT)
Junior Web Operations Engineer
Software Engineer
Analyst, Email Marketing – Private Sale

There are a ton of great opportunities at Wayfair, which was named one of Glassdoor’s 2012 Best Places to Work, so browse through the postings and see if any of them are appropriate for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you purchased anything from Wayfair?

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?

Outward Bound

Willy Franzen — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:52:46 +0000

I went to small, private middle and high school. They were really big on outdoor education, so almost every year we took some kind of class trip to promote bonding and a kind of learning that can’t be done in the classroom. The trips were wonderful–even when 20 of us got lost in the woods with one teacher overnight. I was lucky to get these kind of experiences through my school, but if I hadn’t, there’s a good chance I would have done something like Outward Bound. They are “a non-profit educational organization and expedition school that serves people of all ages and backgrounds through active learning expeditions that inspire character development, self-discovery and service both in and out of the classroom.” Outward Bound is headquartered in Golden, CO (but operating across the country), and “was founded in 1941 in the tumultuous waters of the North Sea during World War II, to provide young sailors with the experiences and skills necessary to survive at sea.” They got their start in their current state in 1961.

Job Bound?

While Outward Bound may no longer be about teaching survival skills to people who are actually likely to use them, they still do some really important educational work. Outward Bound’s programs serve all kinds of people ranging from “at-risk youth” to corporate employees, and they stretch across all kind of activities including Canoeing, Rock Climbing, Dogsleeding, Mountaineering, Rock Climbing, and more. I know that Outward Bound has an extremely strong connection with alumni, and that speaks to how truly great their programming is. If you want to be part of the Outward Bound family, take a look at their Careers page. Right now they have some great opportunities for new and recent grads including:

Backpack/Canoe Instructor (Baltimore, MD)
Backpack/Canoe Instructor (Philadelphia, PA)
Canoe/At Risk Instructor (Ely, MN)
Backpack/Canoe/At Risk (Newry, ME)
Course Director (Omaha, NE)
Field Instructor (St. Paul, MN)
Insight Facilitator (Baltimore, MD)
Insight Instructor (St. Paul, MN)
Logistics Coordinator (Midpines, CA)
Logistics Coordinator (Newry, ME)
Logistics Coordinator (Wheeler’s Bay, ME)
Logistics Coordinator (Redmond, OR)
Logistics Coordinator (Moab, UT)
Mountain Instructor (Leadville, CO)
Mountain/Raft Instructor (Redmond, OR)
Program Manager (Omaha, NE)
River Instructor (Moab, UT)
Sailing Instructor (Wheeler’s Bay, ME)
Urban Center/Field Instructor (Omaha, NE)

If you love the outdoors and want to work in the non-profit world, it’d be hard to beat a job with Outward Bound.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you do Outward Bound?

Skullcandy

Willy Franzen — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 16:26:48 +0000

Yesterday we looked at Niner Bikes and how they’ve carved out a really nice niche in the outdoor action sports market by building mountain bikes with bigger wheel bases. Today we’re going to look at a company that has built a much bigger business in the same market by offering products that you may not initially associate with the market. Skullcandy is a Park City, UT based company that “markets high-end headphones, earphones, hands free devices, audio backpacks, MP3 players and other audio enabled lifestyle products.” They target consumers who associate with sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and mountain biking, so they’ve been able to build a really strong brand identity that has fueled some serious growth. Skullcandy was founded in 2003, and they made the Inc. 5000 this year with 354% three-year growth to $160.6 million in annual revenue. In fact, the growth has been so great that Skullcandy had an IPO earlier this year.

Get It Through Your Skull

Obviously a big part of Skullcandy’s brand is style–a really big part. Just look through their headphone selection. It seems that the focus is more about what your headphones say about you than what they actually sound like. There’s nothing wrong with that–it’s obviously working for Skullcandy. Oddly enough, finding information on Skullcandy the company isn’t all that easy. They don’t seem to have an About page, so their Wikipedia entry is worth looking at. You may also want to check out Skullcandy’s Investor Relations page, as it also has some really useful information. Unfortunately, the trend of not providing much information continues to Skullcandy’s Jobs page. They don’t post specific positions and only ask that you “submit a resume and cover letter to careers@skullcandy.com.” They are a publicly traded company with $160 million in revenue that has been growing at an insane rate. It’s time for them to get a little more serious about hiring people. If you’re into the intersection of action sports, music, and fashion, then Skullcandy would be a perfect fit, so don’t let their lack of job postings hold you back.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own any Skullcandy products?

Volunteers of America

Willy Franzen — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 15:22:13 +0000

When you’re job searching, volunteering is a great way to both put your skills to use and develop new skills. There are countless non-profit organization that put volunteers to work in situations where they can really make a difference. One of our country’s largest volunteer organizations is Volunteers of America, which is a faith-based non-profit headquartered in Alexandria, VA. With their staff of 16,000 paid employees and 70,000 volunteers, they’re able to help “more than 2 million people in over 400 communities in 48 states.” Since the organization was founded in 1896, they “have supported and empowered America’s most vulnerable groups, including at-risk youth, the frail elderly, men and women returning from prison, homeless individuals and families, people with disabilities, and those recovering from addictions.” An organization that has been around as long as Volunteers of America has must adapt to changes over the years. While they continue to remain focused on providing neighborly aid to all people, it looks like Volunteers of America is putting more emphasis on helping the growing population of aging Americans.

Volunteer for a Job

Volunteers of America has a nice video on their About page that goes more in-depth in describing how they work and what they do. I’ve embedded it below (e-mail readers need to click through).

Volunteers of America also has this Overview sheet that provides some really specific information about the organization’s work. If you’re moved by their mission, then you’ll want to check out Volunteers of America’s job opportunities. They separate these into three groups: National Office, Nationwide, and Health Services. The Nationwide section actually has over 200 positions posted, along with 25 entry level opportunities, so it probably makes the most sense to check out. They have a wide range of opportunities, and they’re in a variety of locations, so you should be able to find something that piques your interest.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Volunteers of America?

The Cadmus Group

Willy Franzen — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:02:31 +0000

I’m sure that you keep hearing about the green job revolution and how environmentalist ideals are actually going to start fueling economic growth (instead of hindering it), yet you’re probably wondering where all of these opportunities are. Most of the green entry level jobs that I come across are either in the non-profit or energy sectors. However, if you look a little more closely there are a lot more options—some of which have been around a lot longer than you would have expected. Take The Cadmus Group in Watertown, MA for example. They were founded in 1983 to “take advantage of a change in how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) procured contractor support,” and they’ve evolved into a leading environmental consulting firm. They’ve done this by gathering “the best minds across a variety of disciplines to help address the nation’s most pressing environmental, energy, and health challenges.

Cadmus Was a Phoenician Prince

The Cadmus Group works in a variety of areas that include Water, Energy Services, Social Marketing and Communications, Green Building, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability, Strategic Environmental Management, and International Development. There’s a lot there, but they’re a decent sized consulting firm, so it makes sense for them to cover a lot of service areas. To get specifics on the kind of work that they do in each of these areas you can look at this section on their website. You may also want to read through their blog, although it hasn’t been updated in quite a while. Although Cadmus doesn’t get specific about client projects on their website, they provide plenty of information for you to be able to figure out where you might fit in. Their Careers page says that they generally seek applicants with backgrounds in Engineering, Public Policy, Public Finance, Statistics, Economics, Ecological Modeling, Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment, Ecosystem Analysis, Media and Marketing, Public Relations. You can find their current openings listed here. In terms of entry level positions, you’ll want to look at the following jobs: Entry Level Communications Professional (Arlington, VA), Part-Time Computer Support Technician (Watertown, MA), Part-Time Environmental Research and Policy Analyst (Watertown, MA), Research Analyst (Arlington, VA), Research Analyst (Watertown, MA), Research Analyst – Energy Services (Watertown, MA), and Research Analyst/Analyst (Arlington, VA). And in addition the locations that I mentioned, they also have offices in Portland, OR; Boulder, CO; Salt Lake City, UT; Los Angeles, CA; Helena, MT; and Madison, WI.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about The Cadmus Group?

AtTask

Willy Franzen — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:04:27 +0000

Today is One Day, One Job’s 3rd Anniversary! We’re celebrating by launching a Success Stories section. If you have a success story or just want to send along some feedback, e-mail me today at willy@onedayonejob.com.

It’s been fun running through the Inc. 500 in search of companies with entry level opportunities, but the time has come to move on. I’m sure that I’ll eventually revisit a number of the companies that seemed cool but didn’t appear to have the right opportunities when I looked at them; however, we’re going to give this “series” a fitting finish by looking at #500 AtTask. They’re an Orem, UT based company that “develops project and portfolio management software that increases efficiency for businesses of all sizes.” They’ve seen 604% growth over the past three years, which puts them at $19 million in revenue for last year. Online collaboration is a huge and growing area, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see AtTask continue to put up exceptional growth rates.

Task Yourself with Finding a Job

If you take a look at the AtTask Overview, you’ll get a rundown of all of the things that AtTask does. It’s an impressive list, and it shows why so many businesses have chosen to use AtTask’s software. Their client list includes names like Apple, Adobe, and Amazon, and that’s just the A’s. Do you really need to look any further? If you’re interested in helping people use technology to work together more effectively, then you’ll want to consider a Career at AtTask. Right now they have a number of opportunities posted, and these include potentially entry level positions like Technical Support Representative, Web UI Developer, and Inside Account Executive. They’re also open to applications for unlisted positions, so keep that in mind while you’re dreaming of skiing on your lunch break.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use project management software?

Neutron Interactive

Willy Franzen — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:51:46 +0000

Believe it or not, we’ve actually covered a fair number of entry level employers in Utah, but I think today’s company might have the most personality of them so far. Neutron Interactive is a Salt Lake City based interactive agency that is taking online business to the next level. Neutron Interactive is an Inc 500 company that has grown 812% over the past three years. Their annual revenue was $9.5 million last year, so they’re quite big when compared to many of the other interactive agencies that also made the list.

What Do You Know About Neutrons?

Unfortunately, Neutron Interactive doesn’t seem to show off any of their work on their website, but they do have a list of things that they do “ridiculously well,” which include: Affiliate Marketing, Banner/Media Marketing, Social Media, Creative, Email Marketing, Recruitment Marketing, Internet Marketing, Interactive PR, Leads & Lead Scoring, PPC Management, Product Development, Proprietary Technology, Search Engine Optimization, Web Analytics, Web Design & Consultation, and Conversion Optimization. Neutron Interactive is also big on showing off their culture and their team. That means that you can get a good, inside look at what it might be like to work there just by browsing their website. If you’re excited about what you see, you’ll obviously want to check out the Neutron Interactive Jobs page. They have 7 positions posted right now, and a few seem well suited for new or recent grads. These include Junior Software Developer and The Ultimate Marketing Specialist. The other positions require a little bit more experience, but you may want to check them out too. They also offer the option to submit a general job application.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Neutron Interactive?

SwarmBuilder

Willy Franzen — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 15:45:08 +0000

I’m big on brand advocacy. I’m not just constantly plugging brands like Bonobos, Gilt Groupe, and Groupon because they have awesome referral programs (which they do). I plug them because I’ve always had great experiences with them, and I know that they’re perfect for recent grads who are in the job market. Word of mouth marketing works well enough when it happens organically, but it really takes off when you give it a little push (like a referral program). SwarmBuilder is a Salt Lake City, UT based company that works “with Brands, Retailers and Member Organizations to build audiences of sales influencers and convert them into active armies of engaged Brand Advocates.” SwarmBuilder does this with three platforms: 3point5.com (for retail sales professionals), Promotive.com (for Pros, “Bros” and other VIPs), and BrandRiot.com (for vocal web collaborators). Each of these platforms enables its targeted audience to connect with brands and learn about their products while being incentivized to spread the word.

Join the Swarm

SwarmBuilder was started by outdoor enthusiasts (which is partly why they’re located in Utah), so a lot of their clients are brands that I’m quite familiar with. These include Bass Pro Shops, The North Face, L.L. Bean, New Balance, Clif Bar, and plenty of other familiar names. By focusing on growing their business in an area they know, SwarmBuilder was able to come in at #100 on the Inc. 500 with 2,481.3% three-year growth to $10.8 million in revenue. I know that it’s hard to grasp how exactly SwarmBuilder’s solutions work, but if you browse around their website you’ll start to get a feel for it. Then you can check out SwarmBuilder’s Careers page, where you’ll find posting for jobs like Member Services Representative, Graphic/Flash Designer, and Manufacturer Services & Account Coordinator. They all seem like positions that could be suitable for a new or recent grad.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What brands do you advocate for?

Ceteris

Willy Franzen — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:19:06 +0000

The way that large corporations operate often boggles my mind. Take for example my friend who worked in the internal consulting division of a massive, well-known company. Despite being owned and operated by the company, his division had to bid against outside consulting firms for projects. There was a good reason for this (it forced the internal consulting division to watch its back), but it still seems a bit ridiculous. Another example of this kind of thinking is transfer pricing (don’t worry, I had to look it up too). It’s the “pricing of contributions (assets, tangible and intangible, services, and funds) transferred within an organization.” At first it may seem that since all of the money is going to the same place pricing things that are transferred within an organization doesn’t really matter. Unfortunately, that would cause all of the accountants in an organization (and the IRS too) to have a fit. So how do companies price these transfers? There’s no external market to set the price, and trying to do it internally can get really messy. That’s when companies bring in Ceteris a “global independent consulting firm specializing in transfer pricing, intellectual property and valuation services” that is headquartered in Chicago.

Transfer Yourself to Ceteris

For most new grads, grasping exactly what Ceteris does is pretty hard. The best way to get a feel for the kinds of projects that they work on is to take a look at examples of their work. It turns out that this stuff is pretty fascinating—at least to me. If you agree, you’ll want to check out Ceteris’ Jobs page along with their Campus Recruiting page. Although they don’t explicitly post job opportunities and they don’t have any campus events coming up, they say that they’re looking to hear from outstanding undergraduates with a background in Economics, Business, Accounting, Finance, Statistics, or Mathematics. They provide a decent amount of information about what it’s like at Ceteris including employee profiles, and they invite interested applicants to send a résumé and cover letter to careers@ceterisgroup.com. The company has only been around since 2003, but they’ve already expanded to 13 locations: Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Calgary, AB; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Libertyville, IL; Los Angeles, CA; Mexico City, Mexico; New York, NY; Salt Lake City, UT; Toronto, ON; Washington, DC; and Auckland, New Zealand. It’s not clear which offices have entry level opportunities, but their Locations page does allow you to contact the head of each office if you’re so inclined.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Ceteris?

Scottrade

Willy Franzen — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:58:44 +0000

After I graduated from college, I decided to take a responsible approach to my personal finances (I wish I had taken the same approach to my job search, but I didn’t, which is why I’m here teaching you how not to be a loser like I was). It took me a while to get my act together, but once I did I started investing in the stock market through Scottrade, an online discount brokerage company that is headquartered in St. Louis, MO. (And before I go on with more information about Scottrade’s jobs, I need to give Ramit Sethi’s book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, a plug because it just came out and is the best personal finance resource for young people that I’ve come across.) So, Scottrade allows me to buy and sell stocks at 7 bucks a pop. They also have a solid web interface that gives you access to all kinds of information, and they have 399 branches with helpful employees to answer you questions and get your accounts opened. If you’re interested in opening an account with Scottrade, let me know at willy@onedayonejob.com and I can give you a link that gets us both free trades. If you’re interested in working for Scottrade, keep reading, duh!

Trade Up to an Entry Level Job with Scottrade

Now, you may be thinking, “Ummm… Willy, the stock market sucks right now, why would I want to get involved with that business?” There are quite a few reasons. First of all, Scottrade is growing at an excellent rate, which is why they were included in the Inc. 5000. Second of all, they’re not one of these big banks that is on the edge of failure. They’re a discount brokerage that focuses on customer satisfaction, not playing with money in risky ways. Third of all, they’ve been named one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. Oh yeah, and the 4th reason is that they are hiring at the entry level. They do some college recruiting, but they also post plenty of positions on their Jobs site.

Jobs at Scottrade’s St. Louis headquarters that might interest new grads include IT Web Architect, Business Analyst, Business Analyst Specialist, and quite a few more – especially in the IT/Software Development Areas. Additionally Scottrade has jobs at its brokerages across the country. The Stockbroker position seems most appropriate for new grads, and you can do it almost anywhere – St. Louis, MO; Richmond, VA; Miami, FL; Oakland, CA; Greenville, SC; Albany, NY; Aventura, FL; Bloomington, IL; Boca Raton, FL; Castro Valley, CA; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Lafayette, LA; Midvale, UT; Ocala, FL; Parsippany, NJ; Redding, CA; San Antonio, TX; Santa Rosa, CA; Scottsdale, AZ; St. Cloud, MN; Yoba Linda, CA; Redding, CA, and probably a lot more places in the future.

You can apply for all of the jobs online on Scottrade’s Jobs site.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you invest? Do you use Scottrade?

Omniture

Willy Franzen — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 15:53:47 +0000

Maybe it’ll sound sad to you, but web analytics are a big part of my life. When your job is running websites, it’s often the best feed back that you can get. I have to admit that it makes me feel better about myself when I get more visitors, more subscribers, and more comments. And I really like it when people sign up to learn more about a job search training course that I’m releasing in the next few days. I’d imagine that employees at large corporations aren’t nearly as emotionally tied to web analytics as I am, but maybe they are – they often hold titles like Web Analytics Manager. While I’m happy with the information that Google Analytics provides me, many companies have much greater needs when it comes to tracking users on their websites. That’s why the big boys like Apple, Adobe, NBC, Chevrolet, Gap, Neiman Marcus, The New York Times, PayPal and Target use Omniture, a Utah based web analytics company. If those names trust Omniture for analytics, then you can be pretty sure that Omniture is the best out there.

Analyze This

If you don’t know a lot about web analytics, then maybe you should. Not only is it going to be essential for many jobs in the future, but it’s also good to know how much websites actually know about you (it’s kind of scary). A company that uses web analytics properly can significantly improve their bottom-line by constantly adjusting to the continuous flow of feedback that they’re getting. Companies can now adjust their marketing and advertising campaigns within the course of a day and know what’s working and what isn’t. In the days before the Internet, adjustments were often made over the course of months or even years. I find web analytics absolutely fascinating, and if you do too, then a career with Omniture might be something worth considering. Job (unless otherwise noted, jobs are located in Orem, UT) at Omniture that appear to be suitable for new college grads include: Search Engine Optimization Consultant, Administrative Assistant, Web Analytics Consultant (Dulles, VA), Business Consultant/Analyst, Software Engineer, Financial Analyst (San Francisco, CA), Accountant, Network Operations Center Technician/Linux Administrator, Optimization Specialist – Client Services, Professional Services Engineer, and Technical Support Consultant. Some of these jobs are listed at multiple levels, so even though the description may look more tailored to a Senior level person, there may be a corresponding Junior position. You can apply for all of these jobs directly from the job descriptions, and you may also want to check out Omniture’s Open Positions to see all of their jobs including International positions. Omniture has a great website (big surprise there), so it shouldn’t be hard for you to find all of the information that you need to make an informed decision about working for them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you fascinated by web analytics?

Chill

Willy Franzen — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:50:49 +0000

With the first day of fall just two days a way, you can definitely feel a chill in the air (at least if you’re in the Northeast like me). The leaves are already starting to change colors, and before you know it there will be snow on the ground. For many this is a depressing picture, but for those of you who love snowboarding, the coming of winter is filled with excitement. Snowboarding is all about seeing hope in the desolate bleakness of winter, and that’s the kind of attitude that Chill is looking for in Local Coordinators. The Chill program is a nonprofit learn–to-snowboard program for underserved youth run by Burton Snowboards.

Can I Chill?

Beyond sounding like a lot of fun, the Chill program seems to be doing a lot to enact positive change in the lives of young people.

From the Chill website:

Every year, we take over 100 youth from each of our sites to the slopes. We provide them with everything they need to learn to ride: lift tickets, lessons, transportation, and head-to-toe gear. Snowboarding is fun and a great activity for the youth we serve, but it takes several lessons and plenty of hard work to learn. We use board sports to motivate youth to accomplish goals they never thought they could, while teaching them some of the most important lessons in life about patience, persistence, responsibility, courage, respect, and pride. With positive adult role models, engaging activities, and incredible mountain environments we build self confidence and raise self esteem.

This is a truly unique

Am I Chill Enough?

Chill is currently looking for 2 Local Coordinators at 13 of their sites. That’s a lot of entry level jobs. These aren’t permanent, full-time positions, but they are a perfect way to transition from the student life to the working life. They’re looking for college graduates who have at least 3 years of snowboarding experience along with experience working with kids. Chill’s sites include Baltimore, Boston, Burlington, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, Prince George, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington D.C. The program runs from November through the end of March. You can find the job description for the Chicago Coordinator here (.doc) and the Chill Fact Sheet here (.doc). The pay scales, dates and hours very depending on location, so you’ll have to e-mail Jason Hirsch for more details. He’s also the person that you should apply to, so when you’re ready, send your cover letter and resume to jasonh@chill.org. The application deadline for the Chicago position is October 6th, but we’re not sure if the deadlines for other sites will vary as well. Your best bet is to apply as soon as possible.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you snowboard?

Arena Football League Teams

Willy Franzen — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:00:54 +0000

Do you know how to make any sport better? Just put the word “arena” in front of it! Arena Soccer, arena badminton, arena fishing, arena skydiving… you get the point. Putting “arena” in front of a sport’s name is only second to putting “extreme” in front of it. Well one of the sports that actually works (not necessarily better) in an arena is football. The Arena Football League is putting out a product that is exciting to watch and offers an option for the football junkies who are bored to tears in the offseason. Getting a job in sports can be tough, and getting a job with a team in a major sports league can be near impossible. Sometimes looking to the secondary leagues (sorry AFL) can offer great options.

Arena Entry-Level Job Hunting

If you need an introduction to the Arena Football League, the Wikipedia page is probably a good place to start. You can also check out ArenaBowl.com. The Arena Football League is yet another sports league that uses TeamWork Online to manage its job postings. We like the way TeamWork Online does things, so it should be pretty easy for you to get the scoop on entry-level jobs with a variety of Arena Football League Teams.

One nice feature of searching for jobs with secondary sports league teams is that they often offer locations beyond the major cities that have NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL franchises. Almost all of the entry-level job opportunities with Arena Football League teams have something to do with ticket sales, so if you aren’t good at selling, you may want to sign up for their job notifications and wait for new opportunities to crop up.

Current opportunities with AFL Teams include: Ticket Services Coordinator – San Jose SaberCats (San Jose, CA), Ticket Account Executive – Amarillo Dusters (Amarillo, TX), Inside Sales Representative – Los Angeles Avengers (Los Angeles, CA), Account Executive – Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings (Bossier City, LA), Account Executive – Lubbock Renegades (Lubbock, TX), Ticket Sales Account Executive – Utah Blaze (Salt Lake City, UT), and Communications Manager – Columbus Destroyers (Columbus, OH). The Communications Manager position is the only non-sales position, but it seems to require more experience than the typical new college graduate would have (although the description sounds well suited to an entry-level hire).

Applying online through the TeamWork Online site is easy, so start looking over the jobs with Arena Football League Teams and see if any interest you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you an Arena Football fan?

Shriners Hospitals for Children

Willy Franzen — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:37:00 +0000

We hope you had a safe 4th of July. Unfortunately, every year some people don’t. Fireworks are a lot of fun, but they can result in some really nasty burns and injuries. Since we encouraged you to blow stuff up yesterday, we thought we’d counter that by featuring a non-profit organization that helps children who endure severe burns. The Shriners Hospitals for Children do exactly that. Who are Shriners? They wear funny hats. They drive little cars in parades. They’re Freemasons. And most importantly, they help kids through their hospitals. That’s going to be our focus today, since new college grads probably aren’t too interested in being part of a fraternal organization that seems like it probably has an average age north of 60. Then again, you probably got all hot and bothered about your college’s greek organizations and secret societies.

What Do Red Fezzes Have to Do with Burn Treatment?

So a group of Freemasons decided to start a non-religious fraternal organization for fun and fellowship based on a Middle Eastern theme, what the heck does that have to do with kids and burns? Somewhere along the way the guys in the organization decided to do some serious philanthropy, so they started Shriners Hospitals for Children which “is a one-of-a-kind international health care system of 22 hospitals dedicated to improving the lives of children by providing specialty pediatric care, innovative research and outstanding teaching programs.” Their three focuses are orthopedic care, burn care, and spinal cord injury rehabilitation. Over Shriners Hospitals for Childrens’ 86 years, they have provided free medical care to more than 865,000 children. Wow.

Do I Have to Wear a Funny Hat to Work There?

We don’t think wearing a red fez is a required part of the dress code, but we can’t make any promises. Shriners Hospitals for Children is headquartered in Tampa, FL and has hospitals in Boston, Canada, Chicago, Cincinnati, Erie, Galveston, Greenville, Honolulu, Houston, Salt Lake City, Lexington, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Northern California, Philadelphia, Portland, Shreveport, Spokane, Springfield, St Louis, Tampa, and Twin Cities. They have jobs available in just about every field imaginable, especially in medical related areas. Quite a few of these jobs are appropriate for entry-level candidates, but we’re not going to go through each of them. Shriners Hospitals for Children has a lot of job openings, and they do a nice job of organizing their Job Opportunities. Although their Careers site isn’t flashy, it should be easy to navigate. If helping children who are enduring seemingly unthinkable medical conditions is something that you could devote your life to (and you’re not going to Med school), there are few better places to begin a career then one of the Shriners Hospitals for Children.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever seen the Shriners drive their little cars around?

Echo Global Logistics

Willy Franzen — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:52:13 +0000

This is what we like to see! One of our readers contacted us earlier this week to tell us about a company that he is interning for this summer. He’s been a Fan of One Day, One Job for quite a while, so he knows the drill around here. He says he’s really enjoying working for Echo Global Logistics, and that we should do a post about their entry-level jobs. There’s nothing like a firsthand recommendation from a loyal reader, so lets figure out what Logistics actually means and how it might be an interesting industry to consider in your job search.

Echoooooooooooooooooo

Echo Global Logistics is “a leading provider of technology enabled business process outsourcing, serving the transportation and logistics needs of our clients.” What does that mean? Echo actually has a great graphic on their website that explains what logistics is about. Here it is:

As you can see, there is a whole lot of shipping going on. Echo doesn’t do the shipping, but they help other companies find the right shipper. It’s not always as easy as using UPS or FedEx. It sounds like a pretty simple business, but it obviously comes with its complexities. That’s why companies hire Echo to do the logistics for them.

Working at Echo

Now that you know what logistics is, let’s talk about why Echo is probably a great company to work for. We all know that readers of One Day, One Job are extremely intelligent, savvy, and perceptive. If another reader recommends a company, you should listen! Here are some of the points our reader made in the e-mail to us: Echo was named one of Chicago’s 101 Best and Brightest Companies to Work For, they’re doing a lot of entry-level hiring, they have an awesome Careers page, and they’re a young company that has grown to 500 employees and 1,000 clients since they were started in 2005. Most important, our reader really enjoys working there.

That’s what he said, here’s what we found. Echo’s Careers site is truly phenomenal. In terms of content, it has everything that you could ever want from a company that you are researching. There are actually two Careers sites, one for new grads, and another for experience hires. How cool is that? Echo includes information such as life at echo, a day in the life of an entry-level employee, a tour of their office, and overviews of the company’s departments. There’s a lot more information that you’ll find easily by browsing Echo’s site. Our only complaint is that the site is mostly Flash based, which looks great, but hurts their search engine optimization. Using Google to find jobs with Echo won’t be very successful. Still, the Careers site is top notch.

What Kind of Jobs Are There in Logistics?

Our other slight complaint is that Echo doesn’t make it clear which job opportunities are available for new grads at the entry-level. Their Job Openings page is the same for experienced and entry-level job searchers. Our reader told us that they’re hiring new grads in all of their departments, but we only see a few jobs listed that are appropriate for new grads. These include Business Development Representative – Inside Sales, Account Executive (Park City, UT or Rancho Palos Verdes, CA), and .Net Developer. We imagine that there are more opportunities available, so we hope someone from Echo will stop in and leave a comment advising new grads on how to apply for jobs that aren’t listed on the site (like the ones that we heard about from our reader in Finance, IT, HR, Sales, and, of course, Logistics). Since Echo is headquartered in Chicago, IL, we’d imagine that most of their entry-level jobs would be located there.

Despite our nitpicking, we think that Echo looks like a great place to start your career after college. Their online presence is phenomenal, and that always impresses us. Now that you know what Logistics is, take a look and see if Echo has anything that interests you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you know of a company that we should feature? Send an e-mail to info@onedayonejob.com and tell us about it.

Keystone Strategy

Willy Franzen — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:17:52 +0000

You’re sitting in class listening to your professor go on and on about how he’s so much smarter than the CEO of some company and how if he was in charge he’d do this and that, when you say to the kid sitting next to you, “If he’s so smart, why is he standing here lecturing instead of making bank in an executive level job at some company?” That’s a really good question. College professors are supposed to be the best minds in their respective fields, but they often eschew a big pay day for the safety of academia – hey, the hours are great. The folks at Keystone Strategy consider this a waste of resources, so they’ve put some of the top professors from Harvard Business School to work as expert advisors for their consulting firm.

Despite the Name, They’re Not Located in Pennsylvania

We’re not sure where the name came from, but Keystone Strategy is headquartered in San Francisco with additional offices in Boston and Salt Lake City. They are an international strategy consulting firm that specializes in Aerospace, Biotech and Pharmaceuticals, and Technology. Their Job Openings page doesn’t specifically identify positions that are available, but it does have a long list of requirements for applicants. We have seen job postings for Analyst and Consultant positions at Keystone, but we’re not sure which of these are geared towards new grads at the entry-level. Their standards are extremely high, but there’s barely a mention of prior work experience. It seems like they’re more interested in getting the smartest people they can. Our favorite of their 6 qualifications that applicants should cover in their cover letters is “The Pittsburgh Airport Test: Something that gives us confidence that we wouldn’t hate being stuck with you in the Pittsburgh airport for more than six hours.” Yes, they have specific requirements for cover letters, so make sure you read them over before you send your resume to careers@keystonestrategy.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Sorry for the short post today, but I’m getting on a boat to float down the river. Happy job searching!