One Day, One Job » business development

Brightcove

Willy Franzen — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:45:33 +0000

It took long enough, but Internet video is everywhere. Yes, we had online video 10 years ago, but now it actually looks good—and works. The main reason for this is that end users (you and me) finally have technology in their homes that can handle playing online video. This means high speed Internet connections and computers with enough processing power to not crash when a website uses a Flash video player. The issue for content creators is that delivering video still poses some challenges. Sure, I was able to produce an online job search training course that relied heavily on video with little trouble, but I wasn’t delivering video to thousands or even millions of people (I wish I had the problem). As your use base increases, the challenge of delivering video increase exponentially. Moreover, managing video content in an organized fashion is a completely different challenge than organizing text and images. Brightcove is a Cambridge, MA based company that provides an online video platform for many of the worlds biggest brands.

Are You Bright Enough?

I’ve probably said this before about other companies, but I’m not sure that I’ve seen a client list as impressive as Brightcove’s customer list. It includes names like The New York Times, Discovery Channel, Sony Music, U.S. Army, and Ticketmaster, so you know that Brightcove isn’t just some flash in the pan startup. They have top flight clients who are paying lots of money for the Brightcove platform. With that said, it will be interesting to see how online video delivery develops in the next 5 to 10 years and how Brightcove adapts to those changes. If you want to be a part of the future of online video, then you need to check out Brightcove’s Job listings. Most of their current openings are either experienced or internship positions, but there are a couple of jobs that seem suitable for new grads. These include Customer Solutions Specialist and Part-Time Training Operations Assistant. Brightcove also has a listing for applicants who can’t find a job posting that fits them. Whether you are looking for something in Software/Web Development, User Experience, Quality Assurance, Marketing, Sales, or Business Development, it’s probably worth reaching out to Brightcove to see if they might have something for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you seen websites that use Brightcove to deliver video?

ExactTarget

Willy Franzen — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:53:54 +0000

I think that e-mail is still the king of social media. We have all of these fancy social networking accounts, but they all send their notifications to our inboxes. If you want someone’s attention, e-mail is the way to go (assuming your message doesn’t look like spam). Heck, you’re probably reading this in your e-mail. That’s why e-mail marketing continues to be a rapidly growing industry. We’ve already taken a look at jobs with Constant Contact, Aweber, and e-Dialog, and now we’re going to look at an industrial strength e-mail marketing company, ExactTarget. They’re based in Indianapolis, and since 2000 they’ve been focused on “providing the most powerful on-demand software for email communications and finding the best and brightest marketers on the planet to revolutionize the way people think about email.”

Target Your Job Search Exactly

ExactTarget offers a wide array of e-mail Products, Services, and Solutions that are used by clients like CarMax, Expedia, The Home Depot, and other huge brands. If you’d like to join ExactTarget at the forefront of e-mail marketing, then you should check out their entry level Catapult Rotational Program. Here’s an introductory video on the program (e-mail readers click through to watch):

If you like what you just saw, then there are two tracks that you can take. The ExactTarget Business Track will allow you to gain experience across departments like Marketing, Accounting, Solutions Consulting (SolCon), Account Management, Deliverability Services, Strategic Services, Training, SMB/Renewals, Partnerships, Human Resources, and Sales, while the ExactTarget Technical Track will have you working in Solutions Consulting (SolCon), Customer Support, Integration, Product, Quality Assurance, Deliverability Services, Training, Implementation, Design and Deployment. You may be able to meet up with ExactTarget recruiters on your campus, but if they’re not recruiting at your school you can get the run down on how to apply for the program here. ExactTarget has done a fantastic job with their entry level recruiting program, and I bet that reflects how much they value young talent.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of the Catapult Rotational Program?

Smart Destinations

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

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

Take a Trip to Smart Destinations

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried using one of Smart Destinations’ products?

College Hunks Hauling Junk

Willy Franzen — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:52:17 +0000

Today is the last day to enter our Maghound Your Way to a New Job contest. With so few entries so far, there’s an excellent chance that you’ll win a one-year subscription to an awesome new magazine subscription service (3 monthly magazines for free!).

I’m still on my Inc. 5000 kick, and today we’re looking at a company whose name immediately caught my eye. They’re called College Hunks Hauling Junk, and that’s exactly what they are. Omar Soliman wanted to make some money during the summer, so he borrowed his mom’s cargo van to start hauling away people’s junk. He then entered his business plan in the Rothschild Entrepreneurship Competition and won the $10,000 first prize. He realized that he had a business that he could grow, and now College Hunks Hauling Junk is doing $2.9 million in revenue. Guess that’s why Omar and his co-founder Nick were named (also by Inc.) as Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30. College Hunks Hauling Junk is headquartered in Tampa, FL, but through expansion and franchising they now operate in Anne Arundel, MD; Baltimore/Howard County, MD; Chicago, IL; Cincinnati, OH; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Detroit, MI; Indianapolis, IN; Little Rock, AR; Los Angeles, CA; Louisville, KY; Orange County, CA; Orlando, FL; Phoenix, AZ; Raleigh-Durham, NC; Richmond, VA; San Francisco/San Jose, CA; Tampa Bay, FL; and Washington, DC Metro.

Are You Hunky Enough?

College Hunks Hauling Junk certainly has a provocative name, but that’s part of their success. Finding someone to haul away your junk isn’t that hard, but it’s really easy to go with the brand you recognize. College Hunks Hauling Junk is all about grabbing attention so that they’re the company that you choose when you need to get rid of some junk. It doesn’t hurt that they can call themselves green, as they recycle 60% of the junk that they collect. Now, College Hunks Hauling Junk obviously has plenty of jobs available. If you want to get in the business of hauling junk to pay your way through college, they can help, but they’re also a growing company with growing needs. They have a bunch of corporate job postings that consist solely of titles. Since they’re a college startup, it’s hard to say how much experience they’re looking for with each position, but you’ll have to apply to find out. The posted job titles include Truck Captain/ Wingman, VP – Franchise Development, Client Loyalty Associate (Inside Sales Rep), Operations Manager, VP – Marketing, VP – Public Relations, VP – Finance, VP – Business Development, and VP – Information Technology.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used College Hunks Hauling Junk?

Slickdeals

Willy Franzen — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:43:02 +0000

We all learn at an early age that we can’t have our cake and eat it too. Everything has a trade off. You can have money or you can have stuff. You can’t have both. Right? Wrong. Since 1999 Las Vegas based Slickdeals has been proving that you can have your cake and eat it too. Or as they put it, “Slickdeals.net is a free, user-driven deal sharing site with a mission to provide consumers an avenue to collaborate and share information in order to make the best shopping decisions.” That’s a fancy way of saying that they are a community of people who help each other find the best deals, so you can buy stuff and have some money left over. In fact, a lot of Slickdeals users find deals so good that they get paid to buy something (after rebate). Seriously. It’s all about free and open sharing of information, and it’s amazingly powerful. The amount of money that people have saved through Slickdeals has to be staggering.

Are You Slick Enough?

Slickdeals doesn’t have a monopoly on “community driven bargain hunting,” but their “thousands of free discounts, promo codes, reviews and price comparisons” have resulted in an insanely successful website and business. From what I can tell, most of Slickdeals’ revenue comes through advertising and affiliate links. They’ve found that giving away a lot of high quality free content can be very profitable. Maybe newspapers could learn a thing or two from Slickdeals. Even though Slickdeals is all about being cheap and frugal, they appear to be willing to spend some of their profits on hiring top talent. Their Jobs page shows a number of listings that include potential entry level positions like Creative Web Developer, Community Relations Manager, Business Development Manager, and Blog Columnist. The application instructions vary, so be sure to check out the specific postings for all of the details. And be sure to enjoy the “employee discount” that is being allowed to read Slickdeals at work.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used Slickdeals beore?

First Book

Willy Franzen — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:46:47 +0000

What was the first book that you ever read? Mine wasn’t actually a book—it was a Super Mario Bros. comic book. My parents had decided that it would be fun to take Amtrak to Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa instead of flying. And it actually was. I spent a lot of the time struggling through the comic book, and then I was suddenly reading. That wouldn’t have happened on a 3 hour flight. Do you have as vivid of a memory of reading your first book as I do? First Book hopes so. They’re a Washington, DC based non-profit that “provides new books to children in need addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy – access to books.” In 16 years they’ve provided more than 65 million books, so you have to call First Book a huge success.

Open a New Chapter with First Book

Considering the fact that you’re probably someone who enjoys reading (since that’s what One Day, One Job is all about), you have to have a strong understanding of how powerful reading skills can be. It all starts when you’re 5 or 6 with a single book, yet many kids just don’t have access to age appropriate books. First Book solves that problem. They also have an awesome way to market their story. By asking you “What book got you hooked?” they’re getting right at an emotional memory. You have to agree that “there are some stories no child should grow up without.” If First Book already has you reminiscing about your early days of reading, then you should check out their jobs. They have two Director level (not entry level) jobs posted on their Jobs page, but there’s also a Strategic Alliances Coordinator position posted on Idealist. It’s perfect for a new grad, so give it a look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What was your first book?

Vans

Willy Franzen — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 14:40:08 +0000

Yeserday we talked about jobs at Vann’s, which made me think that we should talk about with jobs at Vans today. The two companies don’t have much in common beyond being homophones of each other, so let’s start talking about shoes. Cypress, CA based Vans was founded in 1966 as the Van Doren Rubber Company. They started out by producing shoes for sports like baseball, basketball, and wrestling, but that didn’t end up working out too well for them; in fact, it led to bankruptcy. They eventually came out of bankruptcy, and then Sean Penn’s character wore a pair of Vans checkerboard slip-ons in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. That changed everything.

Jobs with Sole

Since then Vans has really embraced the skater culture that first embraced them. It’s pretty much become an essential part of their brand. They don’t offer a ton of information about their company (there isn’t even an about page), but I do know that they are part of a larger company called VF Corporation. Since there’s no quick and easy way to “get to know” Vans, you’ll have to do some browsing around their website to get a better feel for what they’re all about. You might also want to check out their LinkedIn Company Profile. Once you feel like you have a good idea of what Vans is all about, you can check out their Jobs page. They give you the option of checking out jobs at Corporate, Retail, or their Distribution Center. For our purposes we’re going to focus on Corporate, where they have a Corporate Trainee Program. It is “a one-year cross-functional developmental program for a recent college graduate with a business or art degree who seeks a broad experience in key areas of Vans.” It sounds awesome, and you can apply online. It seems like nearly any career path at Vans should start with this program.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you wear Vans?

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?

People Capital

Willy Franzen — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:49:13 +0000

I was lucky enough to graduate from college without having had to take out any student loans, but even if I had needed to take out a loan, at least it would have been before the “credit crunch.” These days it’s a lot harder for students to finance their educations than it was just a couple of years ago. Credit in general is extremely tight right now, and beyond that, lenders are being very picky about whom they lend to. For students with no credit history, getting a loan can be a big pain in the butt. People Capital is a New York City based startup that is aiming to change that through what they call a “peer-to-peer lending platform.” They’ve developed a Human Capital Score “to assess the creditworthiness of those just starting their credit histories,” and they’re now building out a network of borrowers and lenders to bring the idea to life. It’s kind of like Kiva for education, but with a for-profit incentive keeping things efficient.

Add Your Human Capital to People Capital

When People Capital’s idea catches on, it has the potential to completely change the lending industry—not just the student loan industry. We used to trust banks to make smart financial decisions, but those days are over. Now we can micro-manage our lending and borrowing through peer-to-peer lending. Borrowers can get lower rates based on information that goes beyond the traditional credit score, and lenders can make a profit while financing the educations of promising students. It’s hard to say whether people are ready for this kind of a business model yet, but if they are, People Capital is going to be growing at insane rate pretty soon (if they aren’t already).

If People Capital sounds like the kind of place that you want to start your career, then you should check out their job listings on Startuply. Right now they’re looking to hire people to help them with Business Development in Philanthropic/Endowment/Affinity Channels and in Capital Markets. You can apply for these positions online right now, and keep your eyes peeled for more new jobs as peer-to-peer education lending becomes all the rage in the world of microfinance.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about People Capital’s concept of peer-to-peer lending?

Topspin

Willy Franzen — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:29:26 +0000

We all have at least one friend who “has a band.” He’s the one that sends you a Facebook Event invitation for his “gigs” every other week. He’s also still on MySpace (because it’s awesome for bands, of course). It may just so happen that you friend is actually really good, but he’s still waiting for his big break. Regardless of your friend’s talent level, there’s a good chance that he’s struggling with marketing his band. (That’s why that big break hasn’t come yet.) Your friend may think that MySpace is advanced as band marketing gets, but it’s not. There’s a new game in town, and it’s called Topspin. They haven’t launched yet, but they’ve already put a lot of work into achieving their mission “to provide artists the tools they need to build successful businesses.”

Your Résumé Needs a Little Topspin

I know that’s it’s hard to get really excited about a company that doesn’t even have a public product yet, but sometimes you just have to trust the judgment of venture capitalists. You also have to like the fact that Berklee College of Music (one of the most prestigious music schools in the country) has teamed up with Topspin in an “exclusive partnership to develop online music courses designed to teach artists, managers and labels on effective use of the Topspin platform to market music and develop fan relationships.” That Topspin platform sounds a little mysterious, but as far as I can tell, it’s a web app that will allow bands to easily mange things like catalogs, connecting with fans, and generating demand for music.

Topspin has offices in Santa Monica and San Francisco, and they already have a sizable team. Their Jobs page says that they’re looking to add to the team, although it doesn’t get specific. If you have an interest in music, marketing, business, and technology, then you’d be hard pressed to find a better place to work than Topspin. You can apply by sending a personalized cover letter and a résumé to jobs@topspinmedia.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do any of you have friends whose bands are actually good?

CB Richard Ellis

Willy Franzen — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:55:21 +0000

Considering the fact that I drove by a house in Michigan that was on sale for $12,500 just a few days ago, it’s pretty obvious that the real estate market still has some rebounding to do. There has been a lot of hurt in the industry over the past couple years, but maybe things are looking up. A friend who works at CB Richard Ellis let me know about a position that they’re trying to fill, and after I checked their Careers page I saw that they’re hiring for more than 200 positions. Considering the fact that they just went through a round of layoffs at the end of last year, I’d say all those job postings is probably a good sign for where the company (and maybe the economy?) is going. If you have heard of CB Richard Ellis before, you should know that they’re headquartered in Los Angeles and they’re “the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm (in terms of 2008 revenue).” Clearly $12,500 houses aren’t a problem for them.

Be with CBRE

CB Richard Ellis is a huge company. Not only are they world’s revenue leader in commercial real estate, but they also happen to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000 employees and 300 offices. That makes finding an entry level job with them a little bit intimidating. It’s hard to know where to start, especially when they don’t have anything tailored to recent grads on their site. They do have a Career Paths section on their site, but it only allows you to self-select as Experience Professional or MBA. Neither of those pages offers much information that would be helpful to a recent grad. This means that we’re going to have to dive into the dreaded job search function to find entry level jobs at CBRE.

Unfortunately, CBRE’s job search function doesn’t let us link to specific jobs, and there are 200+ jobs to wade through. CBRE does have jobs all across the country, so getting ultra-specific with your query still should turn up a few results that might interest you. CBRE’s job areas include Administrative/Operations, Business Development, Client Services, Commercial Real Estate, Executive Management, Facilities Management, Finance/Accounting, Human Resources, Legal, Marketing/PR/Communications, Project Management, Property Management, Purchasing/Procurement, Research Management, Risk Management, Sales/Brokerage, Technology, and Transaction Management, so there really is something for nearly everyone. There’s also the position that my friend told me about: Marketing Coordinator (.doc file) in Woodbury, NY. You can apply for this specific position by sending your cover letter and résumé to joscelyn.wippern@cbre.com. For other positions you can apply online through CBRE’s Applicant Tracking System, or you can apply through e-mail to cbreresume@cbre.com. If you still have questions about the CBRE hiring process you can check out their Careers FAQ.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about CBRE?

Wolfram Research

Willy Franzen — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:49:42 +0000

If you’re an Internet geek like me, then you’ve probably noticed all of the buzz around Wolfram|Alpha. Some have dubbed it a “Google killer,” but as far as I can tell, they’re way off the mark. They’re wrong because Wolfram|Alpha isn’t a search engine – it’s a knowledge engine. The goal is “to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone.” The concept is kind of hard to grasp until you try it, but once you see how it works, I think that you’ll be impressed. So, who is behind Wolfram|Alpha? Wolfram, of course! They’re based in Champaign, IL, and they’re “one of the world’s most respected software companies–as well as a powerhouse of scientific and technical innovation.” They’re the company behind Mathematica – a software package that excels in ” computation, modeling, simulation, visualization, development, documentation, and deployment.” I’ve never had the pleasure of using it, but I know math teachers who think it’s pretty awesome.

Join a Powerhouse

From what I can tell, Wolfram is about as academic as a company can get. They use their expertise in computer science to create amazing tools that help smart people do their jobs and research better. Yet, Wolfram’s ambitions go beyond that. This Wolfram|Alpha thing seems to be a well received attempt at going mainstream, and it’s only in its early stages. You have to love a company that is constantly working to make people smarter and more effective, which is why you should consider jobs with Wolfram Research. They don’t have specific job openings listed, but they are constantly looking for people in the following areas:

Algorithm Development
Software Engineering
Financial Engineering
Image and Signal Processing
Control Systems
Geospatial Information Systems
Instrument Control
Experimental Data Analysis
Statistics
User Interface Development
Applications Development
Software Quality Assurance
Technical Support
Technical Marketing
Business Development
Project Management
International Business Development
Special Projects
Mathematica Programming
Information Technology
Customer Relations
Educational Outreach
Technical Writing
Sales
Scientific Business Development
Technology Licensing

There’s a single online application form for all of these positions, and it’s really in-depth. So, if Wolfram Research already has you fascinated and “you’re clear-thinking, pragmatic, and energetic about getting things done well,” then go ahead and apply ASAP. Additionally, Wolfram Research has some Science and Technology R&D Fellowships that you may want to check out. Beyond Wolfram’s headquarters in Champaign, IL, they also have locations in Boston, MA; Oxford, United Kingdom; Paris, France; and Tokyo, Japan.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Wolfram|Alpha’s capabilities?

WeatherBill

Willy Franzen — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 14:22:23 +0000

A few years ago I had the idea of building a business that would allow people to financially hedge against bad weather. For instance, if you bought tickets to a sporting event above face value and were afraid that it might get rained out and leave you out a lot of money, you could buy a type of insurance that would pay you off if the weather caused the game to be cancelled. Apparently I wasn’t the only person to come up with this idea. WeatherBill is a San Francisco, CA based startup that is doing exactly that. Many think entrepreneurship is all about having a good idea, but it’s not. It’s about execution. WeatherBill is a perfect example of an awesome idea that is being executed well. The potential for this idea is absolutely unbelievable, and WeatherBill is already beginning to realize it. They don’t call what they offer “insurance” because there is no need for a claims process or a proof of loss. I guess you can call it a hedge, as it allows you to “get paid for weather that’s bad for business.”

Great Jobs Rain or Shine

Of all of the companies that I’ve featured here on One Day, One Job, WeatherBill has to be one of my favorites. I love that I can go straight to their website and get a quote on nearly any weather outcome. It’s dead simple, so if I decide to plan a weekend getaway for me and my girlfriend, I can protect myself against a washed out weekend. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg (not sure if you can hedge against those) when it comes to what WeatherBill does. They also offer the ability to resell their protection plans. They’ve already cut a deal with Priceline, to offer travel protection (like a Sunshine guaranteed vacation), and they have other industry solutions tailored to Travel, Agriculture, Events, Heating Fuels, Public Works, and Ski Resorts. The opportunities are endless. Here’s another example: a retail store can offer to make all holiday purchases free if it snows on Christmas Day. I think this is so cool!

What about jobs with WeatherBill? There are a couple of intriguing options. You can find all of the details on WeatherBill’s Careers page, but the two most suitable positions for new and recent grads are Quantitative Engineer and Business Development Associate. They do have some experience requirements, but I still think that they’re worth a look. I’m fascinated by their business, and if I didn’t already have a business, I’d probably be bending over backwards trying to find a way in. To apply for any of the jobs at WeatherBill, you need to visit a separate site. And no, I’m not going to guarantee the weather for you today, but it’s absolutely beautiful here in Chicago.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Will you give WeatherBill a try?

Rubicon Project

Willy Franzen — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:53:40 +0000

As far as I can tell, now is not a good time to be in Advertising. When the economy slows down, ad sales usually take a hit. I know that first hand, which is why we’ve moved towards offering useful products – like job seeker training – instead of selling ads to employers (remember: all of our daily posts are editorial). With that said, online advertising is still the future, and with the struggles that many publishers are facing, now is a perfect time for innovation. That’s what Rubicon Project is all about. They’re a Los Angeles, CA based startup that is “on a mission to automate the $65 billion global online advertising industry.” This means optimizing unfilled ad space through software. With 300+ ad networks to choose from, publishers just can’t possibly evaluate every ad network’s offers on their own. Rubicon Project can – in a matter of seconds – and then server the most profitable ad immediately.

Past the Point of No Return

According to Wikipedia “‘Crossing the Rubicon’ is a popular idiom meaning to pass a point of no return.” If you take a job with Rubicon Project, you will be past the point of no return towards a successful career in the advertising industry. To get a better sense of what Rubicon Project does, you should check out this video overview and then the rest of Rubicon Project’s videos. After that you can head over to Rubicon Project’s Jobs page. They have quite a few openings, and not all of them require a technical background. Opportunities that might appeal to new grads include Quality Assurance / Technical Support Engineer, Software Engineer, GUI Designer/Developer, Database Administrator, Stats Coordinator, Associate – Ad Network Alliances, Publisher Operations Coordinator/Analyst, Publisher Strategist, and Yield Management Specialist.

Rubicon Project has some interesting application questions because they get so many resumes. They include:

1. What are your three favorite restaurants in Los Angeles?
2. What’s one product (or gadget) you couldn’t live without and why?
3. What’s your idea of a fun night out?
4. How would you describe yourself?
5. Describe an innovative and original advertising idea.
6. What are your favorite websites?
7. And why not include an interesting bit of trivia about yourself.

You can send your answers to these questions to jobs@rubiconproject.com along with a cover letter and resume.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you noticed trouble finding jobs in Advertising lately?

Jump Associates

Willy Franzen — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:23:42 +0000

Imagine if you were expected to have your GPA increase 10% every semester. That’s like going from a C average to an A average over the course of 4 years in college. It’s been done, but it’s a rare feat. It’s also an impossible feat to show such continued improvement if you’re starting with a good GPA to begin with. These are the kinds of expectations that businesses constantly face. Not only do they need to deliver stellar performance, but they need to improve upon that performance every quarter. If a business isn’t delivering double (or triple) digit growth, they’re not even worth looking at for most investors. Creating such growth is a huge challenge, whether a business is an early stage startup or a mature firm that has been doing the same thing for decades. Jump Associates is a growth strategy firm that helps business overcome the challenge of constant improvement. That means that they “help courageous leaders create new businesses and reinvent existing ones through a hybrid approach integrating empathy, creativity and strategy.”

Give Your Career a Jump(start)

We first heard about Jump Associates on The Wall Street Journal’s List of Top Small Workplaces for 2008. The article noted that at Jump “every morning, all employees meet for a ’scrum’ — a short get-together where they’re briefed on company news, do yogalike exercises and then play a quick brain-rousing game that forces them to think on their feet.” Jump Associates also has a “no zinger” policy that prohibits saying nasty things about other employees. It sounds like an unbelievably unique workplace, and Jump Associates’ website definitely backs that up. All this positive energy goes towards helping clients accomplish growth by developing 6 channels – New Offerings, New Customers, New Markets, New Ventures, New Directions, and New Capabilities.

Ok, you’re sold. So how do you land a gig at Jump Associates? You have to go through their “Externship Program.” Although the term externship has a lot of meanings, this specific program is for people who have already graduated college and are looking for a permanent, full-time job. The program lasts 4 months, and the intent is that all participants will be taken on permanently. The reason that Jump Associates hires this way is because their culture is so unique, they need to go through a serious feeling out period so that both parties can determine whether the fit is right. Jump Associates goes into great detail about the program on their Careers page, so check that out if you’re interested. This isn’t by definition an entry level hiring program, but it certainly seems entry level friendly. Their major focuses are Social Research, Product Design and Business Strategy, so they want you to have a lot of depth in one of these areas and a strong interest in all three. They’re accepting applications for externships in their San Mateo, CA office now, so you can apply by sending a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and a portfolio/work sample (10 pages or less) to jumpjobs@jumpassociates.com with the subject line “JOB INQUIRY.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you heard anything about Jump Associates?

Zipcar

Willy Franzen — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 14:47:23 +0000

The great thing about living in downtown Chicago is that I’m constantly bombarded with new ideas for companies to feature here. In suburban Connecticut most of what I saw when I was driving around was trees. Here in Chicago there are few trees in sight, but plenty of businesses, billboards, and buses (with advertising on the side, of course). There are also plenty of taxes. Sales tax is 10.25% and the parking tax is 28%, but likely soon to be 33%. This is on top of already outrageous monthly parking fees, so it’s no wonder that there’s a Zipcar location just a hundred yards down the street from my building. Zipcars are kind of like rental cars, but better. They’re more affordable (I think, but I haven’t done the math), they’re intended for residents instead of travelers, they’re green, and you don’t need to be 25 to take them for a ride. It’s kind of like having a friend with a car except you have to pay that friend whenever you use his car.

Zipjobs

It’s probably no surprise to you that Zipcar is a growing business. They’ve located themselves in urban centers, college campuses, and other places where it’s a hassle (or absurd expense) to own a car. Although the marginal expense of driving a Zipcar is greater than owning a car, most people who live in cities don’t use their cars enough to justify the fixed costs of parking, insurance, and car payments. Zipcar’s business model is ingenious because it feels like a luxury, but it saves people money every month. That’s why we won’t be surprised to see Zipcar thrive even in a declining economy; in fact, they must be pretty confident about their future considering that their Jobs page shows more than 20 job openings.

Most of the jobs aren’t exactly what new college grads are typically looking for (they either require too much experience or are intended for people without college degrees), but there are still a few jobs that we think that you might want to consider. The most interesting job is the Business Development Manager (Universities) position, which looks like a perfect entry level opportunity for a new grad with some selling experience. There are also a number of software development positions with Zipcar. These include Database Administrator / Software Engineer, Software Engineer – Embedded Systems, Software Engineer – Web Applications. These jobs all require some previous software development experience (including internships), but they may still be worth looking at. They’re located in Cambridge, MA along with the Business Development position, and you can apply by e-mailing the addresses included at the bottom of the job descriptions (they vary depending on the positions). Zipcar also has some positions that are “entry level,” but not geared towards new college grads such as Fleet Associate, Campus Fleet Coordinator, Street Team Member / Promotional Rep, and Street Team Marketing Representative. These jobs vary by location, so head over to the Zipcar Jobs page to get more information.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used a Zipcar?

GoodGuide

Willy Franzen — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 13:56:54 +0000

Last week we featured FitBit, a company that was recently announced at the TechCrunch50. This week we’re looking at another startup that was announced at the conference. It’s called GoodGuide, and it’s aiming to be “the world’s largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental and social impacts of products and companies.” GoodGuide is pretty easy to use – you can input a product name to see all of the details of the product’s world impact, or you can look at a class of products to find the “goodest.” For instance you can look up Fantastik All Purpose Cleaner with Bleach specifically or you can just look at the ranking for household cleaners. It’s a great concept. They’re also apparently going to offer an iPhone application so that you can look up products as you shop for them in the grocery store; although, GoodGuide would probably prefer that you buy them online through their affiliate links.

GoodGuide. GoodJobs?

GoodGuide considers themselves a “for-benefit” company, which we understand to mean “we want to make money, but we want to do it with a social conscience” (our words, not theirs). We’re not exactly sure about their revenue model, but we’d imagine that it’s based on affiliate programs. When you read a review, it presents the option to buy the product on Amazon. They get a small cut of the sale, and they hopefully become rich while making the world a better place. This is just our take on a possible revenue model, we don’t know if that’s what will truly drive their business, but there are others who agree that GoodGuide’s product is “naturally monetizable.” That’s a good thing to know if you’re going to consider working at GoodGuide.

GoodGuide’s Jobs page doesn’t have a lot of information, but it does have specific listings of positions that they’re hiring for. These include VP of Engineering, Business Development, Developer, Systems Engineer, Release Project/Program Manager, Director of Content, Researcher, Health Scientist. It’s hard to tell which of these jobs would be appropriate for a new college grad, but we’ll go out on a limb and say that VP of Engineering, Release Project/Program Manager, and Director of Content are in no way entry level. The other jobs certainly have potential. You can apply by sending a cover letter and a resume in word or pdf format to jobs@goodguide.com. GoodGuide is another startup that makes it impossible to find a physical address on their website, but we were able to determine that they’re based in San Francisco, CA (big surprise, another startup in Northern California).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of GoodGuide? Will you use their product ratings to make purchasing decisions?

Fitbit

Willy Franzen — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 14:12:17 +0000

Have you ever tried using a pedometer? It’s a neat idea, but it’s not very useful to know how many steps you’ve taken. To get a sense of how many calories you’ve burned, you have to do some calculations, and it’s pretty likely that whatever you calculate will be far from accurate. As technology continues to improve, we’re going to see more and more devices that provide data about our every day lives. The pedometer was the start, but things are going to get better and better. Fitbit is an impressive next step (pun intended!). We found out about them from Lifehacker’s list of Top 10 Up and Coming Products, and we’re pretty impressed. Fitbit automatically tracks your fitness and your sleep and then uploads the data to your computer wirelessly. They’re a startup that just launched at the TechCrunch50 Conference this week, and now that they’re out of stealth mode they’re looking for new people to join their team.

Are You a Good Fit for Fitbit?

Fitbit (which is the device and the company name, we’re talking about the device now) is based on an accelerometer like you’d find in the Nintendo Wii controller. It’s able to measure all kinds of data about your movement during the day. It then sends this data wirelessly to your computer when ever you come within close enough range. Web based software on your computer makes sense of the data and gives you insights into how you’re doing in terms of fitness.

Here’s a video with Fitbit founder James Park that will give you all the details about what Fitbit does:

There’s still a lot more that we’d like to know about the Fitbit, and we’ll probably have to wait until closer to December, when they officially release the product, to get all of the details. So what about jobs with Fitbit? There’s not a lot of info, but their About page says that they’re looking for talented people in software, hardware, marketing and business development. Early stage startups can be very entry level friendly, so this could be a really great chance to get in early on something big. We don’t know if Fitbit’s team is any bigger than their two founders right now, but you might as well consider joining them.

We can’t for the life of us figure out where Fitbit is actually located (edit: we’re now pretty sure that they’re based out of San Francisco, CA), but if you’re moved (pun intended, again!) by their product, reach out to them at jobs@fitbit.com. They’ll probably be thrilled to hear from you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Fitbit.com
About Fitbit (Job contact info here too)
Fitbit’s FAQ

Speaking of cool gadgets, we won the iPod touch in The Talent Buzz’s guest blogging contest with this guest post on using Twitter for networking. That means that we’ll be giving away an iPod touch in the coming weeks. We’re still figuring out what kind of contest we want to run, but we’re open to suggestions in the comments section or via e-mail at info@onedayonejob.com.

Bazaarvoice

Willy Franzen — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:12:25 +0000

Shopping is supposed to be social. When you were a teenager, you probably liked to hit the mall with friends. Now, you probably lie in bed late at night surfing web sites looking for cool stuff to buy. It’s just not the same. You need social proof to back up your buying decisions. You want to hear what other people think. You want reviews, stories, and answers to questions that you may have about a product or service. Bazaarvoice is a software as a service provider that promotes social commerce by connecting customers to each other. They get their name from the word “bazaar, ” which “symbolizes the beginning of commerce – the initial marketplaces… lively centers of town, buzzing with neighbors, friends and merchants all sharing opinions and building a vibrant community.” That’s what Bazaarvoice is trying to recreate online for their clients.

Bazaar Entry Level Jobs

Bazaarvoice has a number of platforms that they use to promote social commerce. These include Ratings & Reviews, Ask & Answer, Stories, SyndicateVoice, BrandVoice, and the SearchVoice Microsite. Take a look at each of these – you’ll get a much better idea of how a company that uses Bazaarvoice has a huge advantage when it comes to getting consumers engaged online. They have an amazing client list, so if you want to see Bazaarvoice’s software in action, just visiting one of their clients’ sites.

In the interest of full disclosure, Bazaarvoice is offering a referral bonus for all of their jobs and we’d be happy to receive a check from them. With that said, we think that they have some great product offerings, an amazing careers site, cool corporate culture, and jobs that look really exciting – that’s why we’re featuring them. We’ve identified a ton of jobs that look well suited for new college grads on Bazaarvoice’s Jobs site (which is seriously one of the top 10 of companies that we’ve featured). Before you look at the specific jobs, you should check out all of the media that they offer – YouTube videos, Flickr photos, a blog, and lots of text on what it’s like to work for them. They’ve been voted one of Austin’s Best Places to Work, and the image that they put forward on their site certainly backs that up.

Bazaarvoice has all kinds of jobs for people with all types of academic and experiential backgrounds. Not all of the jobs listed below are explicitly entry-level, but they all seem within reason for smart, high performing new college grads. Bazaarvoice is based in Austin, TX, and that’s where most of their jobs are located. These include:

Business Analyst
Client Marketing Analyst
Front End Web Developer
Online Community Manager
Operations Database Analyst
Training Team Lead
Web Support Engineer
Software Developer
Web Designer
Associate Product Manager
Market Development Associate
Content Analyst (Work from Home)
Content Analyst Foreign Language (Work from Home)

Bazaarvoice also has a number of international job opportunities that seem to be entry-level.

Implementation Project Manager (London, UK)
Online Community Manager (London, UK)
Market Development Associate (London, UK)
Market Development Associate (EU – Germany, Netherlands, France)

To apply for a job at Bazaarvoice, all you need to do is click the links above and apply through their website. They’re doing a ton of hiring, so they must be experiencing some serious growth. Check them out if you want to be part of making commerce social again.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Bazaarvoice’s services? Would you like to see more e-commerce sites hire them?b

Menlo Innovations

Willy Franzen — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:30:55 +0000

A company’s home page should make it instantly clear what the company is about. For many companies this is not the case. There’s all kinds of fluff that fails to give potential customers a proper brand introduction. Menlo Innovations doesn’t make this mistake. Their home page introduces a problem: “In 2004, the U.S. wasted over $55 billion on failed and poorly run software projects.” Then it identifies the cause: “These failures can be traced to a lack of understanding of the business issues being addressed and the wrong implementation methodologies being used.” Finally the home page poses their solution:

Menlo Innovations applies High-Tech Anthropology® to help our clients fully understand their business problems and opportunities. If the solution requires software, Menlo either develops the software within our Menlo Software Factory or The Menlo Institute trains your staff to use proven methodologies to develop the software themselves.

It’s clear. It’s concise, and it gets to the point. There’s no misunderstanding about what The Menlo Institute does.

A Seriously Cool Place to Work

We first came across Menlo Innovations when we were reading about 10 Seeeeeriously Cool Workplaces. We were impressed by their “software factory” setup, so we just had to check and see if they have any entry-level opportunities. What we found is that Menlo Innovation’s job postings are almost as cool and unique as their office space (which you can get a tour of). Menlo’s current openings include a short, entertaining description and then a list of “Recommended Reading.” We’ve never seen anything like it before, but being book nuts, we love it.

Menlo Innovations appears to have two types of job opportunities listed on their site, all of which are located in Ann Arbor, MI. First, there are specific job listings. Menlo is looking for a Project Manager / Camp Counselor / Customer Service Representative, a User Experience Designer / High Tech Anthropologist® / Empath, a Software developer / Perpetual Student / Mentor, and a Quality Assurance Specialist / Experiment Designer / Enabler. Second, Menlo is also always looking to hear from talented Software Developers, Business Analysts, Project Managers, and Quality Assurance Pros to work on a contract basis. Menlo’s Careers page includes a note that says, “At this time Menlo is only accepting resumes for contract positions.” We’re not sure if this also applies to the specific jobs that they have listed, but it doesn’t matter, you just want to get your foot in the door of their exceptionally cool office.

There’s no mention of required experience in any of the job descriptions, and it seems like Menlo Innovations is the type of place that focuses on talent over experience. It’s hard to tell which of these jobs are best suited for someone who is considered entry-level, but if you’re a new college grad who has the talent, we’ll bet that Menlo Innovations will give you a shot. You can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to Carol Sheridan, Software Factory Floor Manager at careers@menloinnovations.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Trivia Fact: Menlo Innovations is so named as a hat tip to Thomas Edison.

National Public Radio

Willy Franzen — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 13:07:46 +0000

A child’s first sign of teenage (pre-teenage?) rebellion often begins at the radio dial. The parent’s up-to-this-point unchallenged decision of what to listen to while in the car is called into question, and all hell breaks loose. If there are multiple kids in the family (or even just in the car), the negotiation can quickly becom more heated than a multi-lateral peace process in a war-torn nation. The parent will fight hard to maintain his or her right to National Public Radio, but the kid will persist in his or her challenge to hear something that feeds a suddenly “eclectic” taste in music. Often the parents cede this battle in hopes of winning in the future (bad idea!), which results in the parent’s driving the kids around the mini-van listening to rap music that would be a lot more offensive if the parent knew what some of the words meant. Eventually the rebellious tykes will grow up and realize that they too want to be more cultured, and they slowly, but surely come around to listening to NPR. Or maybe some kids just never speak up. They like NPR from the start. Maybe those are the ones who end up taking entry-level jobs at NPR.

Working at NPR

If you don’t know, National Public Radio “is an internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming.” They’re non-profit too! Since most people who will end up working for NPR, probably listen to NPR, we’re going to jump right into the jobs. NPR offers something called a Kroc Fellowship, which was “established to identify and develop a new generation of extraordinary journalists for the public radio system.” Typically 3 fellows are selected each year, and they get “rigorous, hands-on training in every aspect of public radio journalism — writing, reporting, producing and editing, for both radio and the Web.” The fellowships start in August, but applications happen almost a year in advance, so this is something to look at for next year. Getting into this program is a long shot, but it is well worth a try if you want to be a journalist. Here are all the details.

NPR also offers regular, non-fellowship jobs for new college graduates. We ran over their list of available jobs to see what would be appropriate for our readers. Although the only clearly defined entry-level position at NPR is as a Staff Tax Accountant, we took a long, hard look at the job titles and descriptions and found quite a few opportunities that look to be well suited to new college grads. These include Marketing Manager; Consumer Products, Web Metrics Analyst, Business Development Analyst, Marketing Specialist, IT Staff Technologist, and Research Analyst. There are also a number of software/tech jobs that have experience requirements that would probably scare off most entry-level candidates, but might still be worth a look. You can find these and all of NPR’s current openings on the NPR Jobs page. NPR is located in Washington, DC, and so are all of the jobs we mentioned. Applying online looks to be straightforward, so get to it!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you listen to NPR?

Great Place to Work Institute

Willy Franzen — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:09:27 +0000

We’ve said before that using magazine lists to find a job can be extremely helpful in terms of idea generation. Today we’re going to talk about the company that is behind two of the most helpful magazine lists for job searchers. The Great Place to Work Institute is responsible for compiling Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For and HR Magazine’s Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America. After more than 20 years of research, the Institute has found that “trust between managers and employees is the primary defining characteristic of the best workplaces.” If you’re looking for a job where you can trust your manager, why not consider the company that is known for identifying great places to work?

It’s a… Great Place to Work

We don’t know for sure that the Great Place to Work Institute is in fact a great place to work, but it would be a sad state of affairs if it wasn’t. The Institute identifies 5 dimensions of a great place to work: credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie. They also have an entire section of their website devoted to identifying what makes a great place to work. Additional emphasis is put on the fact that companies that are identified as great places to work see better business and financial outcomes. That’s probably why the Institute includes a graph that shows the 100 Best Places to Work have doubled the S&P 500’s performance between 1998 and 2007.

We can’t guarantee that the Institute practices what they preach, but it would be hard to believe if they didn’t. That’s why an entry-level job at the Great Place to Work Institute would be an awesome opportunity. There are 3 positions that look like they have the potential to be good fits for new college grads, although there are some mild experience requirements. In Wilmington, DE they’re looking for a Business Development Associate, and in San Francisco they’re looking for a Best Companies Project Coordinator and a Software Engineer. If you’re interested, the Institute asks that you please forward resume and cover letter (stating salary expectations and where
job posting was found) to jobs@greatplacetowork.com. The job postings are a quite long winded, but they get the point across. There’s also some interesting footer information on the postings. For instance, you can see who last edited it and how long they spent editing it. Not sure how useful this information will be to your job search, but make of it what you will.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

The banks of the Au Sable River in Michigan sure are a great place to work, but can someone please tell the rain to stop. It’s hard to fish with the water at record flows.

Gallup

Willy Franzen — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:31:31 +0000

We don’t like politics. We’re already sick of this election. We don’t care who made a verbal gaffe yesterday. And we certainly don’t understand how double-digit leads in the polls can evaporate and reappear based on a few words here or a few words there. We just don’t care (don’t confuse that with not caring about the direction of our country), but a lot of people do care. They want constant information, not only about what’s happening, but also how the American people are reacting to breaking news. The media provides the news on the mud slinging, but someone has to keep the pulse of the nation. Much of that responsibility falls on pollsters like Gallup. You can be sure that you’ll be hearing that name a lot over the next 6 months.

9 out of 10 Pollsters Agree

Gallup is studies how people behave and leverages what they learn to help businesses be better at what they do. They’ve collected the best minds in management, economics, psychology, and sociology to help them provide customers with “measurement tools, coursework, and strategic advisory services.” Polling is an essential part of Gallup’s business and reputation, and this is most evident in the political arena; however, their business goes far beyond letting the world know how voters react when they find that their favorite candidate picks his or her nose. Whether at the world, national, local, and organizational, Gallup knows how to measure human sentiment and turn the results into action for their clients. This is the basis of the consulting services that they offer, which include Strengths-Based Development, Talent Management, Developing Great Managers, Workplace and Employee Engagement, Customer Engagement, Executive Performance Coaching, Sales Force Effectiveness, Performance Strategy, Performance Reward and Compensation, Succession Management, Performance Evaluation and Development, Brand Management, and Marketing Research

Measuring Employee Engagement at Home and Abroad

The thing that jumped out at us from Gallup’s core business was Employee Engagement. If a company is going to pride themselves on measuring how employees feel, they better be doing a great job of engaging their own employees. Gallup probably would have liked to cite themselves, but instead they had to go to the Vault to brag that they rank “#1 for corporate culture and work-life balance, and as #2 for overall quality of life” in a survey of consultants from top firms. Heck, Gallup probably would have given themselves their Great Workplace Award, if it wouldn’t look like a conflict of interest. Either way, Gallup is focused on treating their talent well, and that means that you should be looking at some really strong internships.

We Love Their Careers Site, But…

Gallup’s overall website and Careers site in particular are really nice. They look good, they’re easy to navigate, and are extremely informative (they’re even nice enough to be upfront and tell international students that they’re out of luck when it comes to sponsorship – most companies ignore the fact completely). They even have a well thought out Campus Recruiting page. The site is really approachable, and it’s easy to get a sense of the types of opportunities Gallup offers and what it’s like to work for them.

Unfortunately Gallup fails to segue from this elegant portrayal of information to their job listings. The only option is to use their Job search, which leaves job seekers confused about what opportunities to search for. Gallup says that they are working on a new campus recruiting site, which hopefully will address this problem. Otherwise, we think that they’ve done a great job of presenting themselves online, so we hope that they don’t change too much.

Survey Says That I Can’t Find a Job

How do you find entry-level jobs at Gallup? We’re not quite sure what the most reliable way is. There are 167 openings right now, and that’s too many for us to wade through and pick out which ones are entry-level. Your best bet is to focus your search terms on your areas of interest, with a concentration on Accounting, Administrative Services, Business Development/Sales, Information Technology, Data Production, and Document Services, because these are areas that Gallup identifies as having the most opportunities for undergraduates. It’s really too bad that they don’t identify their entry-level positions more easily, as it’s even pretty easy to find internships at Gallup. We do know that most opportunities at Gallup are located in Omaha or Lincoln, NE, so keep that in mind when you’re searching their jobs site. They do offer many opportunities for new college grads, you just have to find them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you find a better way to identify entry-level jobs at Gallup? Share it with us by leaving a comment.

Fox News

Willy Franzen — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:00:09 +0000

We report, you decide. The #1 name in cable news. For those who aren’t familiar with these slogans, we’re talking about Fox News. We know people tend to love or hate Fox, often dependent on political views. We’re not trying to get involved in any controversy, we’re just trying to tell you where great opportunities for new college grads are. To this date our post on entry-level jobs at CNN has been our most popular. Obviously there are a lot of people interested in journalism, television, and production, and Fox News has a multitude of entry-level opportunities in these fields.

Fox News doesn’t appear to have a careers site, they just have a page (in the same format as their news stories) with a list of job openings and descriptions. Opportunities are divided into three sections: FoxNews.com, Fox News Channel, and Fox News Radio. The job descriptions are short, clear, and to the point. They don’t do a great job of selling the reader on working for Fox News, but they get the point across about who should apply. In regards to the jobs that are appropriate for new college grads, they explicitly state what kind of experience they want. Many of the jobs require a Bachelor’s Degree and internship experience. That’s what we’re talking about!

Here are the jobs that we think you should take a closer look at:

FoxNews.com: Web Producer – Viewer Services, Web Show Page Producer, Senior Web Designer, Account Coordinator – Digital Media Sales, Ad Traffic Coordinator, Quality Assurance Analyst (User Feedback)

Fox News Channel: Junior Payroll Coordinator, Junior Accountant, Junior Financial Analyst, Newsgathering Producer – Business News, Digital Business Development Coordinator – Internet, Freelance Crawl Writer, Freelance Researcher – Part-Time, Freelance Camera Operator

Fox News Radio: Overnight Production Assistant – Fox News Radio

After you take a look at the job descriptions, you can apply by sending a resume and cover letter to:

FOX News Channel
Dept. of Human Resources
1211 Avenue of the Americas
2nd floor
New York, NY 10036

Fax: 212-301-8588
Email: Resumes@FOXNews.com

We would like to see more career related information than just job listings, but we’re impressed that Fox News has so many jobs at the entry-level and that they’re so straightforward about what experience is needed for each job.

Note: On April 24th we revisited entry-level jobs at Fox News.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What are your favorite posts on One Day, One Job? What would you like to see more of?

Ask Sunday

Willy Franzen — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:00:31 +0000

Life is filled with things you don’t want to do. As a college student, you probably have a lot of free time but still avoid mundane tasks (like laundry) until the last possible minute. At some point in your life those daily tasks pile up enough to keep you from being able to do what you want to do with your life. Some things like brushing your teeth and showering are absolutely unavoidable, but others you can pay someone to do. You can hire a cleaning lady, send your laundry out, and buy prepared foods, but that can become expensive. There are other daily tasks that you need done, but that can be done from anywhere. Ask Sunday is a service that allows you to send those tasks overseas for a really cheap price ($29 for 30 monthly 20-minutes tasks). So for less than you probably spend on booze in a weekend, you can have your own virtual assistant.

Still, it seems kind of ridiculous for a college student to be outsourcing his or her life – and maybe it is. So who uses personal outsourcing besides really important people with big titles and a six-figure income?

There’s a guy named Tim Ferriss who wrote an entire book about putting time before money called The 4-Hour Workweek. He discovered personal outsourcing and leveraged it to start living his dream life. Whether or not you are the type of person who wants to work a four hour work week, you should check out his book because of the productivity tips it offers – many of which focus on outsourcing the mundane tasks in your life. You can also read Tim’s blog which has some seriously high quality posts.

Tim Ferriss isn’t the only person using virtual assistants either. Ask Sunday’s growing user base has garnered a lot of press including their being featured by CNN and named one of Time Magazine’s 10 Best Websites of 2007. There is also a growing number of similar companies offering a wide range of outsourcing services – including one that has been forced to stop taking new clients because of insane growth.

Ask Sunday is currently hiring for three positions: Project Agents (US, India, and Philippines), Corporate Development Managers for their Request Business (US, UK, Canada), and Corporate Development Managers for their Projects Business (US, UK, Canada). Their job listings leave a lot to be desired, so we’re not sure which of these are most appropriate for entry-level applicants. In fact, there is no information beyond the title and an extremely short blurb about what the job entails. They don’t even get specific with the locations of the jobs.

The best plan of action is to send an e-mail to careers@asksunday.com and request some information, because we couldn’t find anything more. We think Ask Sunday’s service looks really cool, and we’re definitely going to try it out, but we’d like to see considerably more information on their Careers page. We typically stay away from companies with lousy Careers pages, but we think that the personal outsourcing industry (and Ask Sunday in particular) is something that you need to know about – whether you want to work in the industry or use it to increase your productivity.

Note: On April 23rd we revisited entry-level jobs at Ask Sunday.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Yesterday we published a post on using RSS Feeds to put your job search on auto-pilot. Would you take it to the next step and use a service like Ask Sunday to manage your job search, apply for jobs, and even schedule interviews?

BasePoint Analytics

Willy Franzen — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 13:00:21 +0000

Did you want to be a detective growing up? Were you inspired by Inspector Gadget (ok, he was a buffoon, but his niece Penny was a hell of a sleuth)? Did you play with Spy Tech toys? Do you watch CSI Miami and think that you should have followed your childhood dreams? There’s something really cool about solving mysteries. What’s even cooler is solving them before they happen. The police usually can’t do that, because of those pesky civil liberties; however, BasePoint Analytics, located in Carlsbad, CA, is a company that prevents fraud before it happens. Through the scientific method they have developed a number of products and services that allows banks and mortgage lenders to identify fraud before they get burned by falsified applications. BasePoint’s tools enable financial institutions to accept well-qualified applicants more quickly, while giving further scrutiny to applications that are flagged by BasePoint Analytics’ models.

There’s a lot of technology and a lot of great ideas behind BasePoint Analytic’s solutions – certainly more than we can fully grasp. Much of the basis for BasePoint’s leadership in fraud prevention services comes from the experience of their professional staff. This is a company that may not do a lot of entry-level hiring, but is still worth a closer look and more research. Even if you can’t land a job with BasePoint as a Fraud Scientist or Consultant, your research may lead you to other fraud prevention jobs that will satiate your passion for solving mysteries.

BasePoint Analytics doesn’t appear to list job openings on their site, and we’re not even sure that they hire at the entry-level; however, we are really impressed by what they do. It’s possible have a job where you do cool detective-like work without attending the Police Academy. We do know that areas for which BasePoint Analytics hires include Fraud Management, Business Development, Relationship Management, Technical Integration, and Marketing. If you want more information on career opportunities at BasePoint Analytics, you can visit their careers page (which is pretty sparse) or e-mail them at careers@basepointanalytics.com.

Note: On April 23rd we revisited entry-level jobs at BasePoint Analytics.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s the best mystery you’ve ever solved? Leave a comment and tell us.

Calvert Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 13:00:58 +0000

If you’re a college Senior, it’s time to get your life together. You need to find a job, start managing your personal finances, and think about giving back to society. The Calvert Foundation can help you accomplish all three of these goals. They offer investment opportunities. All Calvert investments are focused on community improvement. And most importantly, Calvert is hiring.

The Calvert Foundation, a 3 time winner of the social capitalist award from Fast Company, is a non-profit organization located in Bethedsa, MD that offers financial products and services that channel flexible, affordable capital to underserved communities. That means that they take money from investors to help other non-profits fund community investments with a focus on Affordable Housing, Community Facilities, Microcredit, Small Business, and Social Innovations.

For instance, you could purchase a Calvert Community Investment Note with your choice of an interest rate between 0% and 3%. This is a rate that is substantially lower than something like a Money Market Account, but the payoff goes far beyond the interest earned on your investment. You can use Calvert’s Social Return on Investment Calculator to see what the full impact of an investment could be. Beyond their calculator, you can take a look at real life stories from people who have benefited from Calvert investments by searching through their investment profiles. Jobs are added, houses are built, organizations are founded, and businesses are started because of individuals who invest through the Calvert Foundation.

Now that you understand what Calvert does, let’s talk about their entry-level jobs. Calvert is currently hiring for two positions that we think have great potential for recent college graduates. The first is a Business Development Officer, which is basically a sales position. Calvert is looking for someone who is knowledgeable about financial products and services and has excellent telephone sales skills and experience. The second position is a Portfolio Servicing Associate, who is responsible for being the main point of contact between current borrowers and the foundation. This person should be a Microsoft Office whiz, a great communicator, and preferably have had a background in business, finance, or accounting. There isn’t a lot of information about working at Calvert on the web, but you might want to send them an e-mail and ask some questions. The e-mail address listed for applications is jobs@calvertfoundation.org.

Microfinance is growing rapidly as a part of our economy. The Calvert Foundation is offering great opportunities at the entry-level to be a part of an organization that is taking a free market approach to making the world a better place.

Note: On April 26th we revisited entry-level jobs at the Calvert Foundation.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Even if you’re broke this holiday season, you won’t need a microfinance loan to buy someone special (or yourself) a gift. That’s because we’re giving away a Nintendo Wii!

IDEO

Willy Franzen — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:00:50 +0000

Are you fascinated by innovation? Do you run out to the store when BusinessWeek publishes their issue on the 50 Most Innovative Companies? (Blatant Self-Promotion: Read our new article on how magazine lists can help you find a job.) Almost all of the companies on BusinesWeek’s list are companies that deal directly with consumers, whether they provide products or services, but IDEO is different. They serve businesses by helping them innovate through design. You’ve probably bought many products that IDEO has had a hand in, but you likely attributed the innovations in the product to the manufacturer. Think again.

IDEO is truly a different kind of company, and we don’t feel we can do it justice with just a little blurb. For an introduction to IDEO, read this BusinesWeek feature article on IDEO from 2004. After you get through that, visit the IDEO home page and poke around for a while to get a better feel for the company. Be sure to look at their locations, their portfolio, and their about page. Each of these pages has a multitude of links for you to visit with engaging text and photographs. You may also want to check out how IDEO is working to build a better bicycle or what life looks like through the eyes of an IDEO consulting design engineer. IDEO truly is a fascinating company with amazing ideas; we could read about them all day.

As for jobs, IDEO’s actual Careers page does not have a lot of information. Hopefully browsing around IDEO’s home page will give you a pretty good sense of what it’s like to work at IDEO. Many of the positions that are listed on their Careers page require 1-3 years of experience, but especially in the design industry, it’s possible that you have developed significant relevant experience while in college. These are the positions that we think may be worth a shot for someone who is about to graduate.

Palo Alto
Web Developer
Junior Interaction Designer
Key Client Coordinator

San Francisco
Entry Level Desktop Support

Boston
Business Development Coordinator

Chicago
Entry Level Desktop Support
Recruiting Coordinator

Shanghai
Renderer (Dead Link)

IDEO is currently transitioning to a new online applicant tracking system, so there may be some confusion on their careers site. In the past they’ve welcomed applications for unlisted positions, but we don’t see that on their site anymore. It’s probably still worth a try.

We think getting a job at IDEO is probably a long shot, especially for someone fresh out of college, but if you love innovation in design, a career at IDEO is something to aspire towards. Why not try now and see what happens?

Note: On April 21st we revisited entry-level jobs at IDEO.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about IDEO and its innovative ideas? Tell us in the comments section.

WET Design

Willy Franzen — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 12:00:12 +0000

As Derek Zoolander once said, “Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty.” That should mean that WET Design employees work with beauty every day. Wet Design, located in Sun Valley, CA, specializes in the development and design of water features for architecture, landscape, and urban design. Water is a pretty versatile medium. Nature has done a hell of a job with it. Niagara Falls, Old Faithful, and the Pacific Ocean are all awe inspiring. WET Design hasn’t done too bad itself with the Bellagio, the Wynn Macau, and apparently the fountain scene from Blank Check.

WET Design is the industry leader in creating water-based environments and experiences, and they are looking for top performers to join their team. Unfortunately, WET Design’s website is a little hard to navigate and is lacking significant information about jobs at WET Design; however, we know they are recruiting at the entry-level because we spoke with one of their recruiters at the Cornell University Career Fair. Beyond jobs with WET Design, it appears that they are also hiring at WET Labs (an R&D facility to support their design projects) and WET Care (which maintains their installations). A list of current opportunities at WET Design can be found on their Careers Page or below:

Architect
Purchasing Director
Project Coordinator
Field Technician
Project Engineer
Computer Technician
Project Manager
Network Administrator
CAD for Archictecture
Consumer Product Engineer
CAD for Mechanical Engineering
Product Designer
Piping Designer
Mechanical Designer
Business Development
Product Engineer
PR Manager
R&D Technician
Film Designer
WET Care Technician
3D Animator
Graphic Designer Machinist
Electrical Technician

We’re not quite sure which of these are appropriate for a new graduate, but Wet Design accepts applications for unlisted positions as well. If you have a background in engineering or design, you should be just what they’re looking for. Start researching, and see what else you can find out about careers at WET Design or bite the bullet and send your resume to careers@wetdesign.com.

Note: On April 21st we revisited entry-level jobs at Wet Design.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

The Wet Design Home Page
The Wet Design Careers Page
Wet Design Employment Application (for candidates who have an interview scheduled)
Wet Design’s Portfolio
Photos of Wet Design Employees
Questions & Answers About Wet Design
Wet Design’s Philosophy

If you’ve got the scoop on WET Design, leave a comment. We’re especially interested in what their bathrooms look like.

WildCharge

Willy Franzen — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 12:00:49 +0000

You woke up this morning, ran out the door, and grabbed a coffee on your way to an 8:00 AM lecture. No time for breakfast. This isn’t right. College seniors aren’t supposed to have early classes, but somehow you got stuck with an unfulfilled requirement and a mandatory attendance policy. After class you have to meet with your advisor to talk about your thesis and how you don’t have one. Then it’s lunch with your friend who just endured a serious break up. Finally, you can settle down for 6 hours in the library studying for your mid-term tomorrow. After about 2 hours of productivity, and 4 hours of procrastination, you run off to your intramural water polo match. Your team wins, but you swallow about a half gallon of water. So you shiver your way back (wet hair sucks in the winter) to the library and eventually settle down and get some studying done. It’s been a long day. You get back to your apartment, drop your bag on the floor, throw your cell phone on your side table, and hop into bed. Crap. You have a phone interview tomorrow for a job you don’t really want, but your cell phone’s battery will probably die even before the alarm wakes you up in the morning. You have to get out of your warm bed (why are your roommates too cheap to turn up the heat?), reach behind your side table, and plug in your phone. After everything you did today, for some reason this task seems impossible.

WildCharge is a company that has created a product that eliminates the tedious task of having to plug in your cell phone or iPod. They have designed a set of charging pads and adapters that allows you to charge your devices by simply placing them on the pad. So when you get home after a long day, just toss your phone and iPod on the same charging pad (no need for multiple chargers) and rest easy knowing that you will have a full charge when you wake up in the morning.

Now, WildCharge does not explicitly say on their website that their jobs are entry-level, but they don’t say they’re looking for people with lots of experiences either. They are currently hiring Mechanical Engineers, Electrical Engineers, and Program Managers in the Boulder, CO area. They are also looking for Product Managers and Business Development Managers in Scottsdale, AZ and other places.

In fact, that’s all the career information WildCharge offers. So start investigating. We normally wouldn’t write about a company that doesn’t even have a Careers page, but this product was too cool (it was even featured in Time Magazines’ Best Inventions of the Year) to ignore. We’re sure there are a ton of engineers out there who would love to join the WildCharge team.

You can send a resume or questions to jobs@wildcharge.com.

Note: On April 21st we revisited entry-level jobs at WildCharge.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Let us know in the comments if you find out any more information about working at WildCharge.