One Day, One Job » advertising

Laughlin Constable

Willy Franzen — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:47:48 +0000

We’re already working on new projects based on your feedback. If you want your voice heard, please take 3 minutes (seriously, it’s short) to complete our One Day, One Job survey.

Today’s company has nearly pushed me to plagiarism. I love their tagline so much that I want to steal it and make it my own. Instead of “Our business creates ideas. Our ideas create business.” I’d use “My job is to create ideas. My ideas create jobs.” Ok, it isn’t perfect yet, but I guess that’s why I need to stick to coming up with my own ideas. Laughlin Constable, owner of the slogan, is a Milwaukee, WI based creative agency with locations in Chicago and New York City. When you look at their client list, you won’t see the long list of huge brand names that hire some of the other agencies that we’ve featured. That’s because Laughlin Constable has a thing for the underdog—they “help brands challenge bigger brands.” For their clients execution isn’t enough. They need big ideas that can help to challenge the status quo.

Laughlin Your Way to a Job

Laughlin Constable takes a “full circle” approach to branding. They know that’s the only way to do it right. You can’t have one group doing PR, another focusing on advertising, and another on social media. Branding needs to be coherent and concerted. That’s why Laughlin Constable’s services include Advertising, Design, Digital, Media, PR, and Planning. Despite what I said about Laughlin Constable’s fondness for the underdog, they do actually work with some big names like McDonald’s, HBO (check out HBO’s jobs from yesterday), Kleenex, and Master Lock. To get a sense of what Laughlin Constable has done for these clients, you have to go no further than their Work page. So, what about jobs at Laughlin Constable? They actually don’t have any positions posted on their Jobs page, but they do have a Facebook page and a Twitter account dedicated to their “Cool Jobs.” This provides a perfect opportunity for you to reach out the people at Laughlin Constable and find a way in. It may not be as easy as applying to a job posting, but it looks like it’s worth it (you may want to look around LinkedIn to get a feel for what kind of entry level positions they have offered in the past).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Laughlin Constable?

Organic

Willy Franzen — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:04:24 +0000

I hope the title of today’s post didn’t make you hungry, because we’re not talking about jobs in organic food. Organic is a San Francisco based interactive marketing agency with a brand that has gained a lot of keyword competition over the past 16 years. Yes, people were eating organic back in 1994, but the word wasn’t nearly as common as it is today. Doing research on Organic is tough because the organic search results (excuse my SEO pun) have all kinds of other stuff in them (at least they own Organic.com). Either Google needs to get inside my head to discern my intent, or Organic is going to have to hope that artificial packaged, processed foods go back in vogue. Ok, enough of my ripping on their name—Organic was ranked by AdWeek as the #1 interactive agency in 2007. That fits in perfectly with my impression of Organic from browsing their website and looking at their work. In fact, I’m blown away by how good Organic’s website is. It’s easy to use, it’s full of information, and it’s gorgeously designed. Their corporate mantra is “Exceptional Experience,” and they certainly live up to it.

Live Organic

I’ve found that interactive agencies sometimes go too far with their websites. They get too fancy and end up making an unusable piece of garbage. The way Organic has built their website shows that they’re good at what they do. Beyond San Francisco Organic also has locations in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Toronto. The company’s clients include Bank of America, Jeep, Nike, Guitar Center, and plenty more. I could tell you more about Organic, but you’re much better off visiting their website, because it does a great job of telling their story. Organic even does a great job with their Careers site—they even make a usually crappy applicant tracking system look good. The interesting thing about Organic is that most of their 40 job openings are at pretty Senior levels. Their only real entry level job is Interactive Strategist (San Francisco). You might also want to check out Contributor Mktg Intelligence (Detroit), Associate Producer (San Francisco), Associate Delivery Management (San Francisco), and Recruiter (Toronto), but they all require some prior experience. You can apply online for any of these positions, and you can also submit a résumé for general consideration (this might be the best tactic, as they do list college recruiting as one of their sources). Finally, Organic seems to allow new grads in their paid internship program, so that might be another option.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Organic’s name?

Advertising Research Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:43:27 +0000

I’m always amazed with the diversity of the non-profits that I come across. Yes, there is a lot of redundancy in the non-profit world, but I swear that you can find an organization for every idea, interest group, and cause. Take Advertising Research Foundation for example. They are a New York City based organization that aims “to improve the practice of advertising, marketing and media research in pursuit of more effective marketing and advertising communications.” They bring together people from all areas of marketing to promote collaboration and the open exchange of ideas. The ARF (as they’re often called) spends significant resources on developing new research and publishing it in the Journal of Advertising Research. They also put on all kinds of events and run councils on a variety of different advertising niches.

ARF! ARF!

Advertising Research Foundation may not be out to save the world, but that doesn’t mean that their work isn’t important. They drive industry standards and work to push forward the quality of the art of advertising. The ARF’s members “include more than 400 advertisers, advertising agencies, associations, research firms and media companies,” so they really are representing the greater advertising community—not just a small subset of it. If you’re intrigued by what The ARF does, you should head over to their Jobs page. Right now there’s only one position posted that might be suitable for new or recent grads (and it’s a bit more advanced than entry level). They’re looking for a Membership Marketing & Research Project Manager. You can apply online, and you should also note that The ARF offers quite a few paid internships, so they do seem to put a high value on young talent.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Advertising Research Foundation’s FAQ

What have you heard about Advertising Research Foundation?

ING Direct

Willy Franzen — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:42:55 +0000

I’m a big proponent of making personal finance part of the job search. By managing your money wisely (even if you barely have any left), you’re creating a project for yourself that you can use to demonstrate to employers how you’ll be an effective employee. When I need information on personal finance, I always look to Ramit Sethi, the founder of a website called I Will Teach You To Be Rich and the author of a book by the same name (he also just launched a course on how to make money freelancing and he’s doing a free webinar tonight at 7 PM PST – affiliate links). One thing that he strongly recommends is using online banks that offer high interest rates and great easy to use features. One of these banks is ING Direct, which is headquartered in Wilmington, DE. While you may have noticed that most banks are on a real estate binge as they try to gain customers, ING Direct is doing the opposite. They operate almost entirely “in the cloud.” Since they “believe saving money should be as simple as having a cup of coffee,” they do have cafés in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Wilmington, Chicago, St. Cloud, and Honolulu where you can ” sip a latte, surf the Internet for free and talk to [them] about how [they] can help you Save Your Money.” And by keeping a low overhead, ING Direct is able to offer better interest rates and fewer fees, which gives them a huge advantage in winning over customers.

Saving Towards a Career

It may be hard to imagine not needing a brick and mortar bank, but ING Direct makes it work. They have a huge ATM network, they’ll write and mail your checks for you, and they make transferring money between accounts simple. It’s the way that you’ll expect to bank in the future, but ING Direct is doing it now. ING Direct is owned by ING, the Dutch financial institution, but it seems that they act quite independently—they’re not like other banks. This is where banking is headed, so ING Direct should be the place to be if you want to work in “retail” banking. To get started, you need to check out ING Direct’s Jobs page. You’ll see that in addition to their Wilmington, DE location, they also have offices in St. Cloud, MN; Los Angeles, CA; and Seattle, WA. There are dozens of positions posted, and quite a few of them appear suitable for new grads. Most of these positions fall into one of three categories: Sales, Analyst, or IT/Software Development; however, there are a few exceptions like Interactive Advertising Designer and Card Dispute Associate. Unfortunately, ING Direct’s applicant tracking system is kind of terrible, so it makes it impossible for me to link to specific positions. You’ll have to browse through the listings yourself, and apply through their submission form.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you have an ING Direct account?

AD:60

Willy Franzen — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:55:44 +0000

I’m not sure if it’s a trend yet, but it seems that more and more creative/interactive agencies are moving away from client work and spending more time developing products. 37signals used to be a web design agency, and now they develop web-based applications that help people get things done. Brooklyn, NY based AD:60 appears to be taking a similar path. They’re still putting a strong emphasis on their client work, but they also seem to have a lot of interest in developing their own products. The agency’s offerings include Web Design, Website Development, Mobile Technology, Marketing & Advertising, and Consulting, while their current internal projects include MyBankTracker.com and BankTwitter.com.

You:60

AD:60’s name comes from the philosophy that you often only have 60 seconds of opportunity and that “the best ideas and concepts can be communicated through the rapid visual medium without compromising quality.” Although they don’t have a portfolio to show how they’ve expressed this philosophy for clients, you can see it in MyBankTracker and BankTwitter. I like BankTwitter because it’s such a simple concept: it pulls in tweets about the customer service at different banks. You can easily browse these tweets to see which bank will best fit your needs or how you can fix a problem that other people are having with your bank. MyBankTracker is a bit more complex, but it still shows how strong visuals make all the difference. The goal of the site is to provide an “interactive financial information hub featuring bank reviews, financial news feeds and consumer-driven financial help,” and it does just that. If you like what you see on both sites, you should take a look at this PDF that gives the full scoop on AD:60 (the PDF has already been updated to include an iPad in it!) and then
head over to their Jobs page. They’re mostly focused on recruiting Software Engineers and Designers, although I bet a new grad with a Marketing/Advertising/Communications background could sneak in with the right pitch. To apply for a position, reach out to them at jobs@ad60.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of MyBankTracker and BankTwitter?

Willy Franzen — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:39:19 +0000

A lot of people find it ironic that I put an end to my job search by starting a company that helps other people with their job searches. I’ll admit that it’s a bit odd, but it seems to be working out pretty well. Maybe you’ll do something similar by landing a job at a job-search focused company like Mountain View, CA based LinkedIn. There are plenty of other companies trying to build professional social networks and online résumé sites, but none of them seem to have any hope competing with LinkedIn. LinkedIn reached critical mass first, and that’s why they’re one of my favorite online job search tools. Not only do they allow you to visualize your own professional network to see whom you’re connected to, but they also let you browse through the networks of different companies to learn more about their organizational structure. Where else can you get access to the résumé of someone whose job you want to have five years down the road? LinkedIn is an amazing tool for smart job seekers, and it’s also an amazing business—they’ve been profitable for nearly three years (which is impressive for a startup of their size and scope).

Get LinkedIn

LinkedIn is obviously much more than a job search tool, but that’s its most common use for new and recent college graduates. If you’re not already on the site, you should sign up today. If you are, you should invest some time and effort into learning more about how to use the site—we have some great tutorials in our job search training course, Found Your Career. This goes doubly if you want to land a job at LinkedIn—I can’t imagine their hiring anyone who isn’t extremely familiar with their product. It wouldn’t make sense. Oddly enough, LinkedIn’s Careers site and Job Search function leave something to be desired. Maybe it’s because I expect theirs to be best of breed, but I’m disappointed. The Careers site provides all of the normal information that you’d expect, and the Job listings are just that—a list of jobs. They do allow a few ways to sort them, but they’re not very helpful. It’s actually better to use the general LinkedIn job search tool and specify that you’re looking for jobs at LinkedIn. It makes the results a little easier to sort through. None of LinkedIn’s current job postings are explicitly entry level (which I find a bit surprising), but they do have a number of positions on the Software Development side and Account Management/Advertising side that look like possibilities for recent grads with the right background. Since LinkedIn is all about networking, you may even want to skip the job postings, and just focus on using the site to connect with people at the company—that would show true knowledge of how their product works.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use LinkedIn?

Sportsman Channel

Willy Franzen — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:54:49 +0000

Check out this week’s sponsor, New York City Teaching Fellows. They’re seeking new grads with no prior teaching experience or background in education to help make a difference in NYC’s public schools.

Much to my girlfriend’s chagrin, I love watching fishing shows. I’d rather be out on the water, but when I’m trapped on the 30th floor in the middle of downtown Chicago and it’s -15 outside, there aren’t many other options. Unfortunately, ESPN has cut back on their fishing programming, and that doesn’t leave me with any other options on my cable package. If only we got Sportsman Channel, then I’d be much happier. They are “the only television network providing 100 percent hunting, shooting and fishing programming.” Unlike some other outdoor focused networks, they’re staying true to what they are instead of watering down their programming in hopes of better ratings. I haven’t had a chance to watch any of their programming, but I’m sure I’d like it. Sportsman Channel is based in New Berlin, WI, and they also have locations in New York, Denver, and Atlanta.

Tune In and Get Hooked

Sportsman Channel was launched in 2003, and they appear to be growing (they were purchased by a private equity firm that focuses on outdoor media in 2006). They have a huge market considering there are 82 million sportsmen in the United States, so you have to like their ability to grow a business based on targeted advertising. If you love the outdoors and want to work in tv or media, then it’d be hard to find a better place to work than Sportsman Channel. Their location in Wisconsin is prime for the outdoors lifestyle, and I’m sure that they promote such a lifestyle for their employees too. If you’re interested, you can check out Sportsman Channel’s Jobs page, although it doesn’t include any postings—just a Résumé Submission form. The company seems pretty small, so using LinkedIn to reach out to some people might be a worthwhile strategy.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you like to watch fishing shows?

Undertone Networks

Willy Franzen — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:56:14 +0000

The future of marketing and media is getting more results based, and that trend is going to continue as tracking technology progresses. Some people think that means that branding campaigns are a dying breed, but the folks at Undertone Networks would strongly disagree. They are a New York City based online advertising network that is helping Fortune 500 companies move their branding campaigns online. The trouble with doing this is that controlling your brand online is much more difficult than controlling it on tv, radio, or in print. That’s why Undertone Networks has developed an ad network that offers “Fortune 500 marketers an ad network where they [can] confidently and safely market their products and services without having to compromise their brand.”

Undertones of Your Career

Undertone Networks is bringing the sophistication of online advertising to branding campaigns. I’m not sure that I’d call it results oriented, but measurement is key to the success of campaigns. Instead of focusing on directly attributing sales or actions to specific campaigns, Undertone Networks is more concerned about driving brand awareness by obsessing over the quality of the audience that sees the ads that they serve. By only working with huge brands and trusted websites, Undertone Networks is able to maintain an intense focus on targeting. If they can’t deliver the audience that they think they can, they’ll happily refund the advertiser’s money. To get a better sense of how Undertone Networks works, you should check out their case studies or this interview with Alan Schanzer, their Chief Strategy Officer.

If you do that and like what you see, then you’ll probably want to take a look at jobs at Undertone Networks. They’re an Inc. 5000 company and one of Crain’s Best Places to Work in NYC, so you know they’re the kind of place that you want to be. Undertone Networks has a number of open positions, and a few seem suitable for new or recent grads. These include QA Engineer (San Francisco), Media Buyer, Finance Coordinator, Flash Designer/Creative Services Manager, and QA Engineer. You can apply for any of these positions through Undertone Networks’ applicant tracking system.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Undertone Networks?

San Francisco Chronicle

Willy Franzen — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 16:12:19 +0000

Being a newspaper these days is tough. I’d imagine it’s especially tough in a place like San Francisco where people embrace new technologies so quickly. Although I’d also expect those early adopters to be just the types who are heavy users of newspapers. I’m not sure where that leaves the San Francisco Chronicle, but they do seem to have a strong history of adapting to changes in their business model. According to Wikipedia, they first went online with SFGate.com in 1994, and now they’re moving towards a focus on subscriptions instead of advertising to generate revenue. I’m not sure that’s going to work long term, but you have to like the flexibility that the San Francisco Chronicle has shown over the years. It’s no surprise that they remain one of the largest newspapers in the country.

Chronicle Your Job Search

One of the disappointing things about most newspapers and magazines is that they don’t provide much information about themselves on their websites. They publish plenty of content, but getting the inside scoop on the company is usually tough. The Chronicle follows this trend, although they do provide a very in-depth history page. One of the few other “meta” pages that the San Francisco Chronicle has is their Jobs page. They don’t have a ton of openings, but current listings include Online Client Services Coordinator (this is the most “entry level”), Inside Sales Account Executive, Account Executive – Retail Advertising, and Commission Only Account Executive. There aren’t any Editorial positions open right now, but The Chronicle does accept general résumé submissions here. They also list hr@sfchronicle.com as an e-mail address to send additional application materials to.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read the San Francisco Chronicle?

‘peeps creative

Willy Franzen — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:59:21 +0000

When it comes to company names, I’ve seen a lot of things—all lowercase, weird characters separating two names, all caps, odd uses of numbers, and much more; however, today I’ve come across a first. ‘peeps creative is a company whose name starts with an apostrophe (as you have probably already noticed). It’s pretty unusual, but I guess it’s the kind of thing that you should expect from a creative firm. ‘peeps creative is based in Akron, OH, and they “build meaningful and demonstrably profitable marketing initiatives in the digital and traditional spaces.” They’re all about innovation and spotting trends, as long as it helps them deliver “high-end brand experiences.”

Make a Peep

Being creative isn’t easy. You probably know that from the job search. It’s easy to get stuck in a rut and keep looking at the same job boards and applying for jobs at the same kinds of companies. Creative people often do have natural gifts, but a big reason for their ability to come up with new ideas is that they create an environment that breeds creativity. For ‘peeps creative that means using “methods including but not limited to high-minded concepting, creative direction, research, in-house photography, nurturing creative culture, sushi, mind-bending digital development, an almost debilitating attention to detail, content creation, nerf products, video games and real estate.” If that sounds like the perfect environment for you, then you should take a look at jobs at ‘peeps creative. Right now they’re looking for an Interactive Designer/Developer and a User Interface Designer/Developer; however, they’re always open to hearing from talented people who don’t fit into the posted positions too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about ‘peeps creative?

Bozell

Willy Franzen — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:59:11 +0000

Want a crappy job? You’re in luck. Today I came across WhatACrappyJob.com, which is actually the internship site for Bozell, a Omaha, NE based full-service public relations and advertising agency. There’s nothing extraordinarily special about the site beyond the domain name, but it’s well designed and informative, which is rare when it comes to Careers websites. I guess that’s what you should expect from the agency behind the “Got Milk?” mustache campaign and the “Pork. The Other White Meat.” slogan. Bozell’s history includes quite a few mergers, acquisitions, and buybacks. As of 2001 Bozell has moved away from Wall Street and returned to it roots as “an independent, client-focused, employee-owned agency.” They have an impressive portfolio of work and seem like a pretty cool place to work.

Got Bozell?

Going back to WhatACrappyJob.com, I have to admit that Bozell doesn’t have any entry level opportunities posted right now. However, I am inclined to think that a company that gives as much attention to their internship program as Bozell does must also do a significant amount of entry level hiring. Their internships are offered in Account Services, Art Direction/Design, Copywriting, Interactive, Media, Social Media, and Public Relations, so it would make sense that any entry level hiring that they do would be in those areas. It does seem that Bozell is open to accepting unsolicited résumés, as they post the e-mail address for their Managing Principal, Administration & Business Services on their Careers page. Her name is Robin Donovan, and you can reach out to her at rdonovan@bozell.com. You may also want to do a little LinkedIn research to get a better feel for the types of positions that Bozell ofers.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Bozell?

Big Ten Network

Willy Franzen — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:46:03 +0000

I love Ivy League sports. I really do. Although I think the league gets less respect than it deserves, I know that they’ll never be the Big Ten—even if a powerhouse like Cornell (hey, I’m biased) continues to excel at the national level in sports like Hockey, Lacrosse, Wrestling, and even Basketball. I didn’t realize how big Big Ten sports were until I walked around Chicago on a Saturday afternoon in the fall. The Ohio State bar is packed with Ohio State fans, and the Michigan bar is packed with Michigan fans. Everyone is dressed in their school’s colors—and these are people hundreds of miles away from their schools and many years away from graduation. I guess that’s why there’s the Chicago based Big Ten Network, a television station devoted to everything Big Ten. While I’m watching grainy online streaming video of Cornell Hockey with my laptop hooked up to my tv, Big Ten fans can watch their favorite team—often in HD.

Network Yourself in the Big Ten

The Big Ten Network was launched just over 2 years ago as “a joint venture between subsidiaries of the Big Ten Conference and Fox Cable Networks,” and it’s allowed the Big Ten to gain significant control and leverage in terms of media distribution. Not only do they now have more control over their advertising revenue (they prohibit alcohol and gambling ads), but they also get to bring more attention to Women’s sports and sports other than basketball and football. As they put it:

Eleven schools, 252 varsity teams, one great network to cover it all. Welcome to the Big Ten Network, your ultimate source for Big Ten sports, featuring the games, passion and tradition of the nation’s foremost athletic conference.

Obviously the Big Ten is the first to make a move like this, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see more and more athletic conferences take more control over the moneymaker that is televised college sports. If you’d like to get on board and be part of the Big Ten Network, you need to check out their Careers page—or you can just skip ahead to the Fox job search function where the Big Ten Network’s jobs are listed. If you select Big Ten Network as the company, you’ll see all of the job openings that they have available. Right now there’s only one non-internship position, but it’s perfect for a new grad—Integrated Sales Associate (Advertising and Marketing). You can apply online for the job, and you should keep your eye out for more job postings from the Big Ten Network.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your team?

EatingWell Media Group

Willy Franzen — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:55:39 +0000

Although we don’t have a Veterans Day themed post for today, we hope that you’ll celebrate by thanking a Vet and possibly checking out our post from last year on jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Earlier this week we took a look at Seed Media Group, a relatively new company that is finding success in an otherwise declining industry by focusing on a specific niche. Another company that is taking a similar approach is EatingWell Media Group, which is based in Charlotte, VT (near Burlington). They are “a fast-growing, independent communications company producing an award-winning national consumer magazine, high-quality food and nutrition-related books, a content-rich website, e-mail newsletters, and serving content to strategic partners with other electronic media.” It’s all about healthy eating without sacrificing the enjoyment of food. Some people think that those two things are mutually exclusive, but EatingWell Media Group has built its business on delivering content that proves otherwise.

EatingWell, WorkingWell

EatingWell has grown to reach millions of people through a variety of channels because they are very much a trusted source for health conscious people. The reason for this is that they have been able to combine science based nutrition with the artistry that is essential to creating delicious recipes. They’re a relatively small company, but they do appear to be a growing. A quick look at their Jobs page shows that they are hiring for a number of positions. These openings include Drupal Developer and Linux Administrator positions along with Advertising Services Manager and Freelance PHP Developer. There doesn’t appear to be anything on the Editorial side at the moment, but they do offer internships that are more closely tied to the content side. You can apply for any of these jobs by sending a cover letter and résumé to jobs@eatingwell.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you eat well?

Scripps Networks

Willy Franzen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:39:04 +0000

If you haven’t checked out our post on Personal Finance and the Job Search, do that now. We’ve just added a special one day offer to get our job search training course Found Your Career for free.

Exactly a month ago we featured Charm City Cakes of Food Network fame, even though they’re not hiring. It was my birthday (so today is my 1/12 birthday!), and I wanted to talk about what to do when a company has zero interest in hiring anyone. If that post didn’t work for you, we have another way to get closer to the Ace of Cakes—working for Scripps Networks. They’re the parent company behind tv networks that include HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living, and GAC. Unlike Charm City Cakes, Scripps Networks is openly hiring, and a number of their positions seem perfect for new college grads. If your tv is often tuned into one of those stations, then you need to see what Scripps Networks has to offer.

Get a Job in Lifestyle Media

Scripps Networks is all about lifestyle media. You probably could have gathered that yourself from their logo, or from the list of their TV networks. They are a part of the much larger E.W. Scripps Company, which operates in all types of media—newspapers, television, licensing, and spelling bees. Additionally, Scripps Networks is investing a lot in expanding into online media, which obviously makes a lot of sense. While I’ve heard a lot about declining ad sales on television, it seems that Scripps Networks must be doing well. They have a ton of jobs posted, and although their job search function is a bit messed up, you can just click search without entering anything and browse through the openings. You’ll find positions like Ad Sales Assistant (3 positions all in New York City), Ad Sales Marketing Coordinator (NYC), Ad Sales Planner (NYC), SEO/SEM Analyst (Los Angeles), International Business Analyst (NYC), Closed Caption Formatter (Knoxville, TN), Office Coordinator (NYC), Online Marketing Specialist (London, UK), Program Planning Assistant (NYC), Public Relations Coordinator (NYC), Quality Assurance Analyst (Knoxville, TN), and Sales Coordinator (NYC). Lots of jobs, so head over to Scripps Networks’ job search page and start browsing—you can apply online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which is your favorite of Scripps Networks’ channels?

The Boston Globe

Willy Franzen — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 14:48:50 +0000

It feels pretty good to be talking about a Boston based newspaper today knowing that they have to report on another trip to the World Series for the Yankees; although, I’m sure they’d much rather be publishing stories on what Dustin Pedroia and Jonathan Papelbon are doing during their offseason (possibly watching the World Series from their couches). Now that I’ve gotten in my dig at Red Sox fans, we can take a look at The Boston Globe, Boston’s most widely read newspaper. The paper is owned by the New York Times and has an excellent web presence at Boston.com. Much like other newspapers the Globe has had significant financial struggles, and The New York Times even threatened to shut the paper down if the paper’s union didn’t accept major concessions. Apparently those problems have been worked out, and The Boston Globe is now on more stable ground. At least that’s what the fact that they’re hiring would indicate.

Navigate The Globe

When it comes to newspapers and magazines, there’s no better way to get to know them than to read them. Luckily, you can do that online at Boston.com, which is a good example of how newspapers should use the web. I’m especially impressed with their Big Picture photoblog, which is constantly getting voted up on social media news sites. Since you’re going to have to start reading The Boston Globe to get a feel for them, let’s jump right to their jobs. If you take a look at their Job postings, you’ll see that there are only a few openings; however, a number of those jobs seem perfect for new grads. These include positions in Outbound Sales, Web Programming/Development, Technical Production, and Online Advertising Traffic Coordination. Most of the job postings don’t appear to be very fresh, but they’re still posted, so apply online and see what happens.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read The Boston Globe?we

Delivery Agent

Willy Franzen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:28:05 +0000

Product placement started out as a secret. Companies realized that they could pay to get their products featured in books, television shows, and movies, so they did. And we, the viewers, assumed that these products were included for editorial reasons. At some point we got smart and realized what was going on. It didn’t really change much, but we became a little more skeptical. Now product placement is assumed. If someone is promoting something, you take for granted that they’re getting paid for it. Delivery Agent is a San Franciso based company that realized this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They’re taking product placement to the next level with a level of integration that we’ve never seen before. They call this “shopping-enabled entertainment.” When you see Dwight Schrute wearing a great looking shirt on The Office—ok, bad example—when you see a beautiful necklace on Gossip Girl, you can go to the show’s website and check out the “Seen On” section for more information how to buy the necklace. There’s also SeenON.com, which aggregates the information from all of Delivery Agent’s clients and makes it easy to “shop by show” or “shop by celeb.”

Become an Agent of Delivery

Delivery Agent is killing it right now. They currently monetize 90% of the Nielsen Primetime Top 50 Shows, and they just closed a $25 million round of financing. Their “Seen On” service is what has been driving most of the attention publicly, but they’re also doing some pretty cool stuff behind the scenes—they’re pushing to convince companies whose products are featured on tv to buy supporting advertising during the show. It’s a brilliant idea. The best part is that they’re already working with the most impressive names in entertainment, which is the biggest challenge a company like this has to overcome. When you can list ABC, CBS, NBC, MTV, FOX, and many more as partners, you’re in a great place to grow your business.

Even cooler is the fact that Delivery Agent has taken product placement and made it more results based than it has ever been before. They’ve also made everyone better off. Viewers can find the products they want. Media companies can more easily monetize their content. And companies with products increase their sales. I’m extremely high on Delivery Agent, and I strongly recommend that you check out their Jobs page. Right now they have quite a few jobs posted, but only a couple are suitable for new grads. These include E-mail Marketing Coordinator and M-Comm Site & Smart Phone App Developer (Contract). You can apply online, so get to it.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you buy anything through Delivery Agent’s “Seen On” service?

The Daily Beast

Willy Franzen — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:51:28 +0000

Once you start interviewing for jobs, you realize how important it is to stay well informed. Whether it’s staying up on the industry that you want to work in or just keeping up with current events, you need to be able to speak (somewhat) intelligently about a wide range of topics. Chit chat and small talk play a big part in the impression that you make, so don’t try to use the fact that you “live in a bubble” at college to explain away your ignorance. Instead, you should subscribe to the The Daily Beast. It’s a cheat sheet for current events that covers a wide array of topics. Some would call it a news aggregator, but they like calling what they do “curating.” The site was created by Tina Brown, who was formerly the editor at Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. The Daily Beast, which is based out of New York City, launched just over a year ago, and has been able to garner a huge amount of traffic pretty quickly. I guess it might have something to do with their IAC backing.

Beast on These Jobs

The way we consume news is changing, and The Daily Beast is a perfect example of how smart startups can create growth in what many people deem to be a dying industry. I could go into more detail about what The Daily Beast covers, but you’re better off just checking it out for yourself. After you give it a look, be sure to read their About page, which is really a Q & A with Tina Brown, the company’s founder. It will give you a lot of insight into what the company is all about. It’s an extremely entertaining Q&A, so I’m sure that you’ll like what you see. If that’s the case, then you’ll probably want to check out jobs at The Daily Beast. Their job listings are mixed in with the job postings from other IAC companies, but it’s a pretty easy list to scan through. (It’s pretty obvious that The Daily Beast is growing well judging by how much hiring they’re doing.) You’ll see a number of intriguing entry level positions including Business Analytics Manager, Graphic Designer, Assistant Video News Editor (West Hollywood, CA), Editorial Assistant, Social Media Associate, Sales Partnership Associate, Traffic Coordinator, and Web Developer. You can apply online for any of these positions, and be sure to read The Daily Beast before your interview.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read The Daily Beast?

Classified Ventures

Willy Franzen — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 14:33:00 +0000

I remember being in middle school and deciding that I wanted a drum set. I already had a snare drum, but I knew that a full set would be much cooler. My mom bought me a copy of the Bargain News, a local paper full of classified ads, and helped me pore over the listings in search of a drum set. That’s certainly a relic of the past, but classified ads are far from dead. They’ve just moved online. You’re probably most familiar with Craigslist, and maybe you’ve considered using Facebook Marketplace or something like that. What you probably didn’t realize is that there is still a huge business behind classified ads. Take Chicago based Classified Ventures for instance. They’re another Inc. 5000 company, and they’ve increased their revenue from $146.7 million to $297.5 million over the past three years. They’ve done this with four distinct businesses: Apartments.com, Cars.com, HomeGain.com, and HomeFinder.com. You’ve probably noticed at least one of those sites before, which is exactly what they’re looking for.

Get Classified

Whether you’re looking for a car, an apartment, or a home, Classified Ventures is going to do its best to grab your attention and show you some ads. Since classified ads are the kind of ads that people actually seek out, Classified Ventures’ main focus is on driving traffic. As long as they can keep linking up more buyers and sellers, their business is going to grow. They’re already a pretty good sized company with “offices in Chicago, IL, Emeryville, CA, Santa Monica, CA and Austin, TX, and over 1,100 employees in 37 states,” but they’re not stopping there—their Jobs page shows 33 current openings. You might want to consider the following positions: Product Specialist – Cars.com (Chicago, IL), Ad Trafficker – Cars.com (Chicago, IL), Dealer Experience Advocate – Cars.com (Chicago, IL), Software Engineer – ApartmentHomeLiving (Austin, TX), Software Quality Assurance Analyst – HomeFinder.com (Chicago, IL), Inside Sales Manager SBU – Cars.com (Chicago, IL), Freelance Web Designer – Cars.com (Santa Monica, CA), Account Receivables Analyst – Corporate Services (Chicago, IL), Account Manager – Apartments.com (Chicago, IL), and Technical Web Producer – Apartments.com (Chicago, IL). You can apply online directly from the job descriptions, so see which of these jobs suits you best—no need to scan the classifieds.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used classified ads in your job search?

Shedd Aquarium

Willy Franzen — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:13:34 +0000

My parents are in town for the weekend, and I’ve been thinking of fun things to do with them around Chicago. One place that came to mind is Shedd Aquarium. I don’t think that we’ll end up getting a chance to make it there this weekend, but it was certainly a good thought. And once I thought about it, I realized that they’re probably hiring. Shedd Aquarium is much like other aquariums now, but it really stood out when it was opened in the 1930s. The aquarium was founded by John G. Shedd, retired president of Marshall Field & Company, and financed by him with $3 million in gifts. The goal was to bring Chicago up to par with other “cosmopolitan” cities that had aquariums, and by the end of the project Chicago’s aquarium “housed the greatest variety of sea life under one roof.” It also happened to be “the first inland aquarium with a permanent saltwater collection,” which meant that they had to ship millions of gallons of seawater from Florida on trains to provide a proper habitat for the sea life.

Shedd Your Job Search Worries

To this day, I still find it extremely impressive that an aquarium in Chicago can have whales and dolphins. The idea of a Beluga Whale in the heart of the midwest blows my mind. Although now the aquarium is more focused on education than on bringing up Chicago’s status, it’s still a great tourist attraction and a wonderful resource for the city. I’d imagine that Shedd Aquarium is very much like other aquariums in its mission and values, which means that they’ll have similar jobs. Right now they have a number of jobs posted, and a few look like possibilities for new grads. These include Membership Coordinator, Administrative Assistant (President’s Office), Brand Traffic Assistant, and Media Coordinator. You can apply by sending a cover letter and résumé to jobs@sheddaquarium.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever been to Shedd Aquarium?

Tennis Channel

Willy Franzen — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:07:02 +0000

Judging by what people are watching on the televisions on the cardio machines at my health club, there’s a lot of excitement about the US open right now—and we haven’t even reached the exciting part yet. There’s a decent amount of television coverage of the Open on ESPN2 (check out ESPN’s entry level jobs), but if you really want to watch a lot of tennis you need to watch the Tennis Channel. They’re a tv network that is based in Santa Monica, CA (with locations in Atlanta and New York City), and they’re “the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to the professional sport and passionate lifestyle of tennis.” Tennis Channel obviously isn’t for everyone, but that’s what niche media is all about. They own the tennis market.

Game, Set, Job

While niche networks usually don’t get coverage rights to the biggest events, in tennis there are so many matches during the course of a tournament that there’s no way that major networks could show all of the tennis. That’s why Tennis Channel has telecast rights to the Grand Slam Tournaments US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open) and the Australian Open. Beyond tournaments their content consists of “one-on-one interviews, game analysis and skills instruction” with personalities like “John McEnroe, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, James Blake, Andy Roddick, and Serena and Venus Williams.” If you’re interested in television and love tennis, there couldn’t be a better place to be. If you want to make that happen, check out Tennis Channel’s Jobs page. Right now they have a Traffic/Ad Sales Coordinator position in Santa Monica, CA available that looks pretty well suited to new grads. You can apply by sending a cover letter, résumé, salary history and salary requirements to HRrecruiter@tennischannel.com with “Ad Sales Coordinator” in the subject line. That’s all they have no, but keep your eyes peeled for new postings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you going to watch the US Open?

Professional Sports Publications

Willy Franzen — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:49:07 +0000

If you haven’t already entered out Back to School, Back to Work Contest, make sure that you do before Friday. You could win two HP laptops and a Timbuk2 bag!

Be sure to scroll down for an addendum to this post.

Programs! GET YA PROGRAMS HERE! You can’t go to a major sporting event without hearing that ring across the crowd. I’m not typically one to buy a program, especially now that I can look up anything important (like up to the minute stats) on my phone, but I realize that for a lot of people it’s about having the memento. New York City’s Professional Sports Publications and University Sports Publications (different names but essentially the same company) are in the business of publishing these mementos. They are respectively the leading publisher of professional souvenir magazines and yearbooks and college souvenir magazines and yearbooks. PSP Sports is also the publisher of the official NBA magazine HOOP.

Take Home a Souvenir from PSP or USP

PSP Sports and USP Sports have pretty simple business models. They publish lots of different magazines for specific teams, and they sell targeted, local advertising in these magazines. In fact, you could argue that they are more a local advertising company than a publishing company. And that’s where their entry level jobs seem to be focused. Take this Craigslist posting for an Inside Sales Representative. They very clearly are looking for new college grads to fill this positions, and they apparently pay $50,000 base salary plus commission and health insurance. That sounds way too good to be true, but the only negative thing that I can find about PSP Sports is this post from a disgruntled employee (have to take those with a grain of salt). Selling advertising isn’t glamorous, but it can definitely pay, so give it a look. I haven’t found any information on other positions with either company (for instance on the Editorial or Publishing side), but you can inquire about job opportunities by sending a cover letter and résumé to dgerschw@pspsports.com or dgerschwer@university publications.com (obviously the same guy).

Addendum:

I had some initial concerns about PSP and USP Sports before posting about them, but I spent about an hour researching them and couldn’t find anything substantive. Only minutes after our daily e-mail sent out, I received a note from a loyal reader who told me that she had friends who worked there and had bad experiences. That led me to this link and this video:

This is a perfect lesson on how careful you need to be during your job search. Always respect your intuition. I apologize for not having done more due diligence, but I hope that we can all learn from this. I can’t say definitively that these companies should be avoided, but be sure to do your research!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you buy programs at sporting events?

R/GA

Willy Franzen — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:52:52 +0000

It’s hard to imagine that a film production company could morph into “a holistic interactive agency built for a digital world;” however, that’s exactly what New York City’s R/GA has done. Now, film production and advertising aren’t all that different, but it’s still a big psychological leap from one to the other. Moreover, not many companies are willing to take a huge risk and move where innovation takes them. R/GA embraces change. They’re also really freakin’ good at what they do. Their clients include Nike, Verizon, IBM, Target, Bank of America, and a bunch of other extremely well known companies. They also have the best corporate website built in Flash that I’ve ever seen. Everything about it works—I can actually give you links to specific pages. Beyond that, the site does a fantastic job of presenting R/GA’s brand. It’s packed with information and has fantastic videos (they obviously haven’t abandoned film production completely).

Enroll at R/GA University

Everything that I’ve come across related to R/GA has impressed me. Their website. Their client list. Their portfolio. And even their Jobs page (powered by Jobvite—ok, I can’t link directly to the jobs, but the site is still very easy to use). Oh yeah, and don’t forget R/GA University. It’s R/GA’s take on continuing education for employees, and it includes six pillars: Professional Development, Industry Trends, Leadership Development, Inside R/GA, R/GA and You, and Work + Life Balance. They “believe that the broad base of courses piques curiosity and encourages people to try new things. And ultimately makes people more well rounded and better at their jobs.” You have to like the sound of that. Anyway, R/GA has more than 25 job openings, and a number of them seem suitable for new college grads. Entry level positions include: Junior Designer (London, UK), Associate Desktop Support Administrator (New York, NY), Junior Copywriter (New York, NY), Junior Open Standards Developer (New York, NY). They also have a San Francisco office, but no entry level positions posted there. You can apply for any of these jobs online, or you can post a résumé for an unlisted position to any of their departments.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you impressed with R/GA?

Sony Pictures

Willy Franzen — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 14:00:22 +0000

I’ve never really understood the idea of the “Summer Blockbuster.” Why would you want to sit inside and watch a movie when it’s nice and hot outside? I guess sometimes it gets too hot, and sometimes it rains, but I’d rather be outside. If you disagree with me, then you’re probably a big fan of Culver City, CA’s Sony Pictures. They’re in the business of producing, marketing, and distributing entertainment, and you’re probably familiar with some of their recent an upcoming releases like: Julie and Julia, Angels & Demons, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. They’re also responsible for Seinfeld. Since I’m not much of a movie buff, I don’t know if anyone actually cares what production house puts out a movie, but I do know that Sony Pictures’ end products seem to pretty darn good—they even made my favorite movie (about the outdoors, obviously), A River Runs Through It.

Picture Yourself at Sony Pictures

Sony Pictures is obviously part of Sony, but there are also a number of distinct businesses within Sony Pictures. There is the Motion Picture Group, which has multiple labels including Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, and Sony Pictures Classics. Then there’s Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, which brings feature films along with tv episodes right into your home. You also have Sony Pictures Television, which is actually responsible for those tv episodes and other tv programming, and Sony Pictures Digital Productions, which does visual effects and animation. If you’d like to work in any of these businesses or the Corporate arm of Sony Pictures, then you’ll need to head over to SonyPictures.com. It’s not a particularly great Careers site, but it gets the job done. From there you can check out all of their posted jobs, where you’ll see entry level opportunities like Financial Analyst, Global Ad Sales & Digital Media Coordinator, Marketing Assistant, Fitness Assistant, and Data Security Administrator. You can apply for any of the jobs with Sony Pictures online, and although nothing appears to be directly related to movie production, I’d bet that those jobs don’t just pop up on their job board all of the time (read: try networking).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite movie to come out of Sony Pictures?

Erwin-Penland

Willy Franzen — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:15:03 +0000

We’ve featured quite a few integrated integrated marketing agencies in the past, but I’m not sure that we’ve ever actually talked about what integrated marketing is. According to Wikipedia (original reference has a dead link), integrated marketing communications is “a planning process designed to assure that all brand contacts received by a customer or prospect for a product, service, or organization are relevant to that person and consistent over time.” That sounds desirable, but how do you accomplish that? You either do it all yourself, or you hire an agency that does it all. It’s really hard to to accomplish integrated marketing when you have one agency doing PR, another doing TV ads, and another doing interactive. Greenville, SC based Erwin-Penland is an agency that does it all—interactive, public relations, direct mail, event planning, advertising, strategic planning, and media—and they don’t farm any of it out to freelancers or other agencies.

Take a Trip to Erwin-Penland

The cool thing is that Erwin-Penland takes an integrated approach to branding themselves and their jobs. They have a gorgeous website, and they make it very easy to understand what they’re all about. Unfortunately, I can’t embed the video from Erwin-Penland’s About page because that’s the perfect way to show you what they’re all about, so I’m going to encourage you to go watch it now. It makes the company look like a really fun place to work. So does the fact that Erwin-Penland divides their workforce into client teams, not departments. That should make for a very different work experience than most other agencies offer.

If that sounds like something that you’d enjoy, then you need to check out Jobs at Erwin-Penland. Right now there are quite a few opportunities posted, and there’s also a Twitter account for EPJobs (in fact they just announced 7 new hires this week—what recession?). The job openings that seem most suitable for new grads are Junior Account Executive and Junior Copywriter; however, you may also want to check out Traffic Manager, Graphic Designer, Planner, Billing Coordinator, and Technical Support Analyst. Additionally, Erwin-Penland encourages new grads to apply for their paid internships. There’s a résumé submission form on each job description page, so find the right job for you and apply today.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Erwin-Penland?

Moroch

Willy Franzen — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:22:49 +0000

Sometimes I don’t completely get advertising. Take McDonald’s for example. How many people in the US have never heard of McDonald’s? Not many. So what’s the point in advertising? Maybe you can convince some more people to come in to buy off of the Dollar Menu or get more kids to beg their parents to buy them a happy meal, but it seems like McDonald’s would be just fine without any advertising at all. That’s something that the folks at Dallas’ Moroch will disagree with strongly because they are an ad agency that happens to do a lot of work with McDonald’s. And since Moroch’s About page says that they’re really all about helping their clients make more money (usually through advertising), I’m going to take a wager that all of the Mickey D’s advertising that you see has a significant effect on the bottom line. Beyond McDonald’s, Moroch also works with huge brands like Verizon, Walt Disney Pictures, Monster (yuck), and Make-A-Wish. That may sound cushy, but that means that there’s always a constant pressure to deliver spectacular results.

Your (Personal) Brand Wins

If you’re looking to learn a lot about the Advertising industry, Moroch looks like a fantastic place to do that. I wish that I could intersperse links throughout this post, but Moroch uses Flash for their website. That means that we can’t link directly to the pages, so you’ll have to do some browsing to read case studies, check out their client list, read their story, and see where they have offices. The good news is that we can link to their Jobs page (even if it is a kind of crappy Applicant Tracking System). There you’ll see some interesting opportunities that are suitable for new college grads. There’s a McDonald’s Account Coordinator in Sacramento, CA along with opportunities to submit a creative portfolio (Copywriters, Art Directors, Creative Directors and the like) or to submit a general résumé (Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations) to the Dallas, TX office. Moroch looks like a pretty cool place to work, so give it a shot.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you think McDonald’s advertising is effective?

Kontera

Willy Franzen — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 13:05:59 +0000

One thing that I’ve learned as I’ve become more familiar with the world of online marketing is that some of the most annoying tactics are some of the biggest money makers. In online marketing everything is about results. If you’re making money, you’re succeeding—even if the large majority of people hate the way you’re doing it. Kontera is a perfect example of this. They’re a San Francisco based online advertising company that “delivers the most relevant In-Text Advertising & Related Information solutions online.” What that means is that webmasters can insert Kontera’s code on their site, and it will automatically create links from the text on their web pages to targeted advertisements. I’m sure that you’ve seen it on the web before, and it probably annoyed you. Still, it works. Kontera is growing at a great rate, and they just secured $15.5 million in additional funding in a round led by one of the most prestigious venture capital firms in the world, Sequoia Capital.

Insert Yourself at Kontera

Considering that Kontera just secured a big round of funding in a down economy, they must be growing at a pretty good rate. I guess their technology that predicts user intent using semantic analysis must be pretty good. Usually more funding means more jobs, so don’t be surprised to see increased hiring at Kontera in the future. Right now their Jobs page shows 8 job openings, but only one specifically for a recent grad—Software Developer. There’s also a Ruby Developer position that might be suitable, and you should also note the fact that one of their Spring interns has just been hired as a Business Development Coordinator, so there are certainly entry level opportunities at Kontera outside of software development.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Kontera’s advertising?

GrubHub.com

Willy Franzen — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:32:26 +0000

I’m one of those people who has trouble deciding what to eat. I know it’s annoying, and I know that it reflects poorly on my character. I’m that friend that nobody likes to have, but I’m working hard to get better. It’s not easy. I don’t have a problem with normal decision making, but when it comes to food I shut down. Luckily there are serviced like GrubHub.com that make my life (and the lives of my friends) easier. They’re an online menu repository for every restaurant that delivers in your area. They started in Chicago, which is where they’re headquartered, and they also serve San Francisco, Boston, Washington DC, New York, and Philadelphia. Not only do they give you all of the information that you need to make an informed ordering decision, but they also let you place your order online so that you can avoid that dreaded phone call to order food. Deciding what to eat has never been so easy—unless, of course, you’re paralyzed by choice.

Grubby Jobs

It’s amazing that ordering food online still isn’t ubiquitous. GrubHub is doing their best to change this, but developing relationships with every restaurant that delivers in an area takes a lot of time. Hopefully one day GrubHub will have the entire country covered, but they have a long way to go before that happens. Now, I’m not an unabashed GrubHub fan. It’s an extremely useful service, but there’s a ton of room for improvement—especially when it comes to restaurant discovery. If you know what you want, ordering is easy, but if you’re like me and can’t decide, it’s tough to get a good view of all of the dining options. I think that CampusFood.com (they don’t appear to be hiring anyone) does a better job in terms of usability while offering a nearly identical service. Maybe GrubHub should focus on helping me find a meal instead of asking me to share their site with friends as soon as I land on their home page.

Now that my complaints are out of the way (hopefully someone from GrubHub is reading), lets take a look at GrubHub’s jobs. They’re a small company with only about 30 employees, but they do appear to be growing. Right now they’re looking for an Advertising Sales Executive in New York City. It’s a job that will require a lot of cold calling, but it offers the opportunity to play a big part in moving GrubHub forward as a business. It’s the only job posted, but you can always try reaching out to GrubHub to see if they have anything else available in Chicago or one of the other cities in which they operate. To apply for the Advertising Sales Executive position, send an e-mail to sales@grubhub.com with your resume and cover letter.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ordered through GrubHub before?

Mochi Media

Willy Franzen — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:30:49 +0000

Have you ever tried mochi? It’s delicious, right? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, mochi is “a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape.” Ok, so that doesn’t make it sound good, but when it comes filled with ice cream it’s extraordinary. Now, I’m not sure why Mochi Media chose to name their company after a delicious Japanese treat, but it seems to be working for them. They’re a San Francisco based company that happens to run the largest ad network for online Flash games—they reach over 100 million gamers.

Try Some Mochi

There’s no dispute that Flash games are fun, but they often seem like time wasters. I try to avoid these types of games, because if I start playing one, it usually ends up 3 hours later and I still can’t beat it. I’m sure you’ve had similar experiences. Because of the nature of Flash games, I’d imagine that they’re pretty hard to monetize; however, Mochi Media seems to have figured it out. They’re enabling game developers to actually make money off of something that the developers used to do just for fun. Additionally, Mochi Media is also building a pretty solid business off of their network of free games. If you want to work somewhere where getting caught playing games on your work computer isn’t going to result in your getting fired, then you should check out jobs at Mochi Media on Startuply. Right now they have two design positions posted—one in CSS/XHTML Design and one in UI/Visual Design. Mochi Media used to have their own Careers page, but it doesn’t seem to be active since they redesigned their site. You’ll need a strong portfolio to land one of these jobs, so be sure to include a link when you apply online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever tried mochi?

Justin.tv

Willy Franzen — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:39:41 +0000

You know about YouTube. You’ve known about YouTube for years. It’s the place to go for online video. There are some competitors that offer some pretty great services, but YouTube is still the default. Now, what if you want to watch live video? Or what if you want to broadcast live video? The Bay Area’s Justin.tv beats out YouTube when it comes to live stuff. You can watch white labrador retriever puppies, live soccer, or some kid in your dorm’s lifestream. The options are pretty much endless. You may ask why anyone would want to sit on a computer and watch puppies, but you’d miss the obvious answer – they’re cute. Actually, there’s an audience for just about anything these days. Justin.tv taps into that. Live video on the Internet isn’t new. There were people doing it in 1996, but the technology now makes doing it much more worthwhile. The question of whether the actual content being broadcast is worthwhile is up to you.

Webcast Your Career

Justin.tv started with Justin Kan, a guy who decided to broadcast his life 24/7. A lot has changed since then, but you can still watch the Justin.tv office live. Now “Justin.tv is the largest online community for people to broadcast, watch and interact around live video [w]ith more than 41 million unique visitors per month and 428,000 channels broadcasting live video.” That’s crazy! But Justin.tv isn’t just about people broadcasting their lives. There are all kinds of cool content, and there’s some really cool technology behind the platform.

Justin.tv’s live video platform scales to support massive audiences by measuring demand in real-time and intelligently replicating streams to additional servers to meet that demand. Constructed by a team of MIT and Yale graduates, the Justin.tv platform pushes more than 177 Gbps of video at peak usage – the equivalent of 16,946 standard DVDs per hour.

Justin.tv is doing cool things, which is why it’s no big surprise that they’re offering some pretty cool jobs. If you check out their Jobs page, you’ll see that they have a number of opportunities that should appeal to recent grads. These include Ad Integration Engineer, Software Engineer, and Flash Developer. All of these jobs require pretty strong technical skills, and the job descriptions are pretty descriptive, so make sure that you really show off when you apply to jobs@justin.tv.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used Justin.tv?

Travers Collins & Company

Willy Franzen — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:46:00 +0000

“Go Local” is a pretty common buzz phrase these days. You’re supposed to eat local, shop local, and even study local. To some people this is a new idea, but businesses like Travers Collins & Company have been focusing on working locally for a long time (in their case since 1995). They saw a void in the Buffalo, NY area when it came to advertising, public relations, interactive and investor relations, so they filled it. Judging from the number of times “Buffalo” shows up on their client list, that seems to have been a smart move. They’re now “one of Buffalo-Niagara’s largest locally owned and operated integrated marketing communications firms,” as they have more than 40 employees.

Buffalocal

It’s always hard to differentiate between marketing communications firms, as they all kind of look alike. The easiest way to get a quick read on whether one of these companies is right for you is to take a look at their portfolio. It also can’t hurt that the “Buffalo-based agency won 24 of 63 Excalibur awards, which were presented by the Buffalo/Niagara chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.” If you like what you see, you’ll want to check out Travers Collins’ Jobs page. They don’t have specific listings, but they do have an open call for applicants as well as internship listings with points of contact in Public Relations, Advertising Account Management, Investor Relations, and Creative (there’s also a contact for Interactive on their Contact page). I’d imagine that those might be the same people that you want to talk to about entry level jobs; however, they list employment@traverscollins.com as the best way to apply for a job.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you know anything about Travers Collins & Company?