by Willy Franzen on July 1, 2009
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 is 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.”
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by Willy Franzen on June 26, 2009
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.
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by Willy Franzen on June 24, 2009
Jason Seiden and I often refer to the work that we’re doing with Found Your Career and other courses that we’re developing as career triage. It’s a practical, informal, and just-in-time approach that gives you what you need when you need it. I’m sure that Triage Consulting Group (which is based in both San Francisco and Atlanta) chose their name for a similar reason, although it might also have something to do with the fact that they’re “financial consultants to the healthcare industry.” The company was started to serve the needs of hospitals, and they do this through 10 services that drive 98% of their revenue: Payment Review, Workers’ Compensation Review, Contract Analyses and Negotiations, Litigation Support, Clinical Denials, Medicare Review, Revenue Cycle Consulting, Silent PPO Review, Capitation Risk Pool Audits, and Government Compliance Audits, including Medicaid and TRICARE.
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by Willy Franzen on June 23, 2009
When we were developing Found Your Career (our entry level job search prep course that we guarantee will help you get a job faster), we spent a lot of time figuring out how we were going to host all of the video content. Once your video hosting needs go beyond YouTube and the other free sites out there, things start getting a little complicated. Had we known about Ooyala, we might have tried using them to host our videos. They’re a Mountain View, CA based startup that provides “an end-to-end solution for content owners to transcode, manage, deliver, analyze, and monetize their video assets.”
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by Willy Franzen on June 22, 2009
All of the cool new websites are built on the Software as a Service model these days. How often do you actually go out and buy a box with software CDs/DVDs in it and install it on your computer? How often do you download something and install it on your computer? Probably not nearly as often as you use a website like Google Docs, Flickr, LinkedIn, or even Facebook. It makes so much more sense for the company to run the software and hold the data on their servers, while all that you have to do is login from an Internet enabled web browser. Project SaaSure is a San Francisco based startup that “was started on the premise that businesses need an easier, more cost-efective way to manage their web applications.”
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by Willy Franzen on June 20, 2009
As much as I should have a great appreciation for architecture because my father is an architect, but I must admit that I’m still not quite there yet. However, as a guy who occasionally builds websites, I fully appreciate “the practical problems of human interaction in the built environment.” That’s why I think that San Francisco based Public Architecture is a pretty cool non-profit. Their logo is their mission statement, and if the font is too small for you to read (ummm can we say problems of human interaction?), then here’s what they do: they put “the resources of architecture in the service of the public interest.” How do they do that? Through a method, a model, and motivation.
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by Willy Franzen on June 15, 2009
This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association and entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com.
“Leverage the power of traditional and digital media relations to elevate premium and emerging technology, health and science brands” – that’s what global public relations agency Racepoint Group works hard toward on a daily basis. While their worldwide headquarters is outside of Boston, Racepoint Group also has offices in San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; a European headquarters in London; and a global network of partners and affiliates spanning four continents.
Racepoint Group’s practice areas include corporate, crisis and issues management, employee relations, financial communications, government relations, marketing communications and public affairs, while their industry expertise includes technology, health and science, social commerce, mobile and energy. And while many agencies claim to be “award-winning,” Racepoint Group really means it. In 2008 alone, they won more than 20 industry awards.
Race to the Finish Line
If you want to be on the cutting edge of the public relations industry, definitely take a look at Racepoint Group. Each of their client campaigns reflect the increasing transformation of media from traditional print and broadcast channels to new digital spheres of influence – blogs, reputation aggregators, e-communities and social networks. And, they have their own proprietary tools to help execute and measure each one.
Racepoint Group is currently seeking an Account Coordinator in its Washington, DC office. Account Coordinators are critical team members who perform public relations tasks such as developing media lists, editorial calendars, speaking calendars, clip reports, briefing materials, draft press releases and press material development. To land this position, you’ll want to have several internships under your belt, strong writing and proofreading skills, and effective verbal and written communication skills.
Interested? Send your cover letter and résumé to HR@racepointgroup.com with the subject AC-Corp or submit your application online.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
Need help with your cover letter and résumé—or your entire job search? Heather offers low-cost coaching packages specifically for students and recent graduates seeking careers in public relations. Click here to learn more.
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by Willy Franzen on June 9, 2009
Last week I told you about Sramana Mitra’s book Entrepreneur Journeys
and how it was loaded with cool companies that would be awesome to work for. One of those companies is HotChalk, an educational startup that provides online learning management systems for free. They enable teachers to bring their classrooms online in minutes without having to worry about administration approval or staying within a budget. HotChalk isn’t just tailored to teachers though; HotChalk also focuses on pleasing students, parents, school administrators, and tech coordinators. The simplicity of the whole thing has enabled HotChalk to gain a ton of marketshare—they have over 7 million monthly unique visitors and more than 375,000 teachers using the service. That’s what “free” will do for you.
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by Willy Franzen on June 6, 2009
Most scientific literature isn’t what I’d call an easy read, so I wouldn’t be surprised if most of you aren’t beating down the doors to get your hands on the newest research papers. Unless you are a big consumer of research literature, then you probably don’t care much about the openness of scientific and medical publishing, but you should. Open sharing of information can significantly promote innovation, and who can argue against wanting more advances in science and medicine? The Public Library of Science is all about open sharing, as they are a San Francisco, CA based “nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world’s scientific and medical literature a public resource.” They were founded in 2000, and since then they’ve been pushing for scientific and medical journals that “are immediately available online, with no charges for access and no restrictions on subsequent redistribution or use.”
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by Willy Franzen on June 4, 2009
I finally got around to reading a review copy of Sramana Mitra’s Entrepreneur Journeys
over the weekend, and it offered a pleasant surprise. Beyond providing an inside look at the lives of more than a dozen entrepreneurs, it also provided me with a number of ideas for companies to write about here. Today, we’re going to take a look at Adify. They’re a San Bruno, CA based company that helps media companies build vertical ad networks by combining “advanced ad serving and targeting technology together with an invaluable layer of expert human judgment and monitoring.” In other words, they make it technologically easy for content companies to monetize their websites.
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by Willy Franzen on June 1, 2009
This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association and entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com.
At McGrath/Power Public Relations, they recognize a clear, concise and compelling message is just the beginning of a client’s needs. Although McGrath/Power is a full-service firm located in San Jose, CA, they specialize in crisis management, investor relations and emerging media services. Their 12 practice areas include consumer brands, associations, consumer technology and much more. McGrath/Power also is the Silicon Valley partner of the Worldcom Public Relations group, the world’s largest network of independent public relations firms.
Want to be involved with an agency that gives something back? McGrath/Power supports the community through financial resources and professional abilities. They also encourage staff members to suggest causes or events they feel deserve the agency’s support.
Make Your Splash
Currently, McGrath/Power has an entry-level opening for an Account Coordinator. Candidates should have strong written and verbal communication skills, a results-oriented mentality, and the ability to multi-task and meet deadlines. The benefits package is pretty extensive—from health care plans to gym memberships.
Interested? Send your cover letter and résumé to hr@mcgrathpower.com. Lynne Hosack, Director of Finance and Operations, is in charge of recruitment for the agency.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
Need help with your cover letter and résumé—or your entire job search? Heather offers low-cost coaching packages specifically for students and recent graduates seeking careers in public relations. Click here to learn more.
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public relations
by Willy Franzen on May 29, 2009
We’re at a transitional point right now when it comes to television. In some ways it’s easy to watch the shows that we want to see by heading over to Hulu or some other Internet destination, but in many situations we’re still at the mercy of the television networks. We are not yet able to watch what we want to watch when we want to watch it no matter where we are, but that’s quickly changing. San Francisco’s Sling Media is one of the companies that is pushing that change. They’re behind a device, called a Slingbox, that you can hook up to your tv and cable box to watch and control your television from any Internet connected computer or smartphone.
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by Willy Franzen on May 28, 2009
I’ve already written posts on Activision (Guitar Hero), Harmonix (Rock Band), and Tapulous (Tap Tap Revenge), but can you ever really get enough of the music playing video game genre? Of course not! That’s why we’re looking at JamLegend today. How are they different from the other game makers that I just mentioned? First, JamLegend is free. Second, it offers more songs. Third, you can use your computer keyboard as a guitar. Fourth and most importantly, it’s social! You can play your friends, you can play the world, and you can even enter tournaments to win prizes. JamLegend isn’t just the name of the game, it’s also the name of the company, a small startup based out of San Francisco.
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by Willy Franzen on May 26, 2009
This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association and entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com.
When I was in college, I wanted nothing more than to work at Fleishman-Hillard. Renowned for their corporate culture, Fleishman-Hillard is headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., has 80 offices throughout the world, does business in more than 20 languages and has 29 practices areas. In 2008, the firm’s work and culture earned them the “Best Agency to Work For” by The Holmes Report. But their list of awards hardly stops there, including “103 Silver Anvil Awards, 90 CIPRA/SABRE Awards, and numerous other national and international awards.”
And Fleishman-Hillard doesn’t just win awards outside the organization, but also with its own employees. In 2007, 98 percent of Fleishman-Hillard employees called the firm an organization “of which they can be proud,” according to an employee satisfaction survey. Fleishman-Hillard rewards their employees in return, giving out two awards annually – the “team player” and John D. Graham – recognizing “individuals in various geographic regions for unparalleled commitment to the client, the agency and their team.” Managers also give awards at their discretion for “their heroic efforts.” I’ve known many individuals who’ve worked for Fleishman-Hillard over the years, including one of my college mentors, and I’ve heard nothing but good things.
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by Willy Franzen on May 14, 2009
Don’t get freaked out, but imagine an earthquake. Part of the building that you’re in collapses and you’re injured. There’s no way for you to get out, and there’s no safe way in for a rescue team. It’s too dangerous to send people in to get you out, but your injuries are life threatening. You need medical attention ASAP. Luckily, there’s a BEAR. No, not a trained wild animal (although that’s almost a good idea), but a “versatile, humanoid robot capable of lifting
and carrying humans and other items over 600 lbs.” This isn’t some fantasy. It’s a reality because of Vecna Technologies, a high-tech startup whose corporate mandate is “Better Technology, Better World.” They’re based in Greenbelt, MD, but they also have offices in Skyline, VA; Cambridge, MA; and Silicon Valley, CA. Robotics like those found in the BEAR is just one sliver of the things they’re doing to put technology to amazing uses.
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by Willy Franzen on May 11, 2009
Part of my daily routine is reading Greg Mankiw’s Economics Blog. When I saw his post announcing that the text book that he wrote will now be accompanied by an interactive learning tool, I was intrigued. I quickly read the Washington Post article that Dr. Mankiw linked to in the announcement to learn more about Aplia, the company that developed this educational tool. It turns out that Aplia, which is based in Belmont, CA, was developed by a Stanford economist named Paul Romer who was very successful in developing a theory to explain why different economies grow at different rates, but not so successful at engaging students. Since Dr. Romer is clearly a problem solver at heart, he developed a product (and company) called Applia that “offers high-quality, auto-graded assignments” and is “dedicated to improving learning by increasing student effort and engagement.”
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by Willy Franzen on May 9, 2009
Last May I told you about Street Squash and all the good they’re doing for inner-city youth in New York, and today I’m going to tell you about Surf City Squash, a squash related non-profit with some West Coast flare. They’re based out of San Diego, and they’re also a part of the National Urban Squash and Education Association (NUSEA) which includes Squash Busters (Boston, MA), City Squash (Bronx, NY), Squash Smarts (Philadelphia, PA), and MetroSquash (Chicago, IL). Surf City Squash was founded in 2006 because they “felt the time was right to bring a quality urban squash program to the west coast.”
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by Willy Franzen on May 8, 2009
The other night I went to a great event called Out of Work Chicago to watch Jason Seiden speak and to get familiar with job seekers who aren’t fresh out of college. It was a great event, and I definitely enjoyed it. I didn’t need a ticket because I came with one of the featured speakers, but the thought of registering hundreds of people for an event seems pretty intimidating to me. I don’t know if the guys at Out of Work Chicago use Eventbrite, but it looks like the perfect solution for registering and ticketing people at any size event. If your event is free, Eventbrite is free. If you’re charging, they take a 2.5% cut. That sounds like a pretty decent deal to me, considering it eliminates most of the headaches of event registration.
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by Willy Franzen on May 1, 2009
My first experience with video chatting was with CU-SeeMe in an internet cafe in the mid 90s. It was insanely cool, but it was also terrible quality. Things have come a long way, and once again people are using video chat to meet random people online. I was a little creeped out when I first saw WooMe, but I think that I get it now (even if I’m still creeped out). It’s a website that allows you to meet new people through “60 second one-on-one online video sessions.” Basically, it’s speed dating on the web. I was almost too sketched out to cover them here, but I figured if TechCrunch didn’t rip on them too hard and they’re able to get $17 million in investment, there has to be the potential for a real business.
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by Willy Franzen on April 30, 2009
I’m not a wine drinker, but I am a sucker for a good PR stunt – especially when it’s related to jobs. I never covered “The Best Job in the World” (a job in Australia as an “island caretaker”), but I figured that you guys wouldn’t want to miss out on the chance to land “A Really Goode Job.” What am I talking about? Murphy-Goode Winery, which is based in Sonoma Wine Country, is looking for “someone (maybe you) who really knows how to use Web 2.0 and Facebook and blogs and social media and YouTube and all sorts of good stuff like that — to tell the world about our wines and the place where we live: the Sonoma County Wine Country.” I believe the official title for the job is Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent. Anyway, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime, and even if there’s a miniscule chance that you’ll be the one selected out of thousands to get the job, it’s worth a shot, right?
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by Willy Franzen on April 26, 2009
I don’t know where they were when I was looking for a math related non-profit for Pi Day, but I was excited to learn about Reasoning Mind through a Facebook message from George Khachatryan that asked me to help them get the word out about their entry level positions. We’ll get to those in a second, but first let’s talk about what Reasoning Mind is. It’s a Houston, TX based non-profit (with offices in Dallas, TX and Moscow too) that is offering “an engaging online community that develops students’ math knowledge and thinking skills” so that every child can receive “a first-rate math education.” They’re already working in quite a few schools in California, Texas, and Louisiana, and they also offer individual enrollment over the web. Reasoning Mind seems to be a family affair, as the President & CEO and the Vice President also happen to be Khachatryans.
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by Willy Franzen on April 24, 2009
When you don’t know how to do something (like find a job), what do you do? You probably head straight to Google and look for an online resource to tell you how to do what you want to do. It didn’t used to be that easy. You’d either have to ask someone, or buy a book (if you could figure out which book to buy), or figure it out yourself. Answering “how to” questions wasn’t easy, but now it is because of websites like New York City’s Howcast. Whether you head straight to Howcast or you find their answer to your question through Google, you’ll be delighted to find what they call “the best how to videos on the web.” Howcast covers nearly every topic you can imagine – from How to Adopt a Child to How to Psyche Out the Competition and – more relevant for our purposes – from How to Deal with a Smelly Coworker to How to Dress for a Job Interview. Each topic has both a video and a Wiki with written instructions, and the content is either user submitted or Howcast produced (it’s generally very high quality content). Oh yeah, and Howcast was named one of Time’s 50 Best Websites of 2008. That’s pretty cool.
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by Willy Franzen on April 23, 2009
I hate to do this to you, but today is going to be the third California based company in a row (this one’s in Torrance). There seem to be a lot of jobs out there, so if you want to live efficiently, maybe you should move out there… or you could just furnish your home with things from simplehuman. They “design housewares to make you more efficient at home — from a spoon rest on a utensil holder to a pedal that’ll outlast 50,000 steps, or a paper towel holder that won’t unravel and a dishrack that drains in different directions.” It’s all about wowing people with the mundane. Do you know anyone who loves his or her garbage can? Probably not, but simplehuman aims to change that. (In my college days the most efficient garbage can was the biggest one for two reasons, it had to be emptied the fewest times and you could toss things in from extremely far away.) Now, “efficient living” may have a different meaning to a college student, but simplehuman brings some class to that sense of efficiency. You’ll appreciate it once you get you’re out on your own and begin your journey towards yuppie-hood.
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by Willy Franzen on April 22, 2009
I wasn’t going to write an Earth Day post today, because I hate the environment. (That’s not true, it’s just what I tell Green Peace people who harass me as I walk down the street. The real reason was that I was going to do Administrative Assistants’ Day instead.) However, I came across San Francisco based New Leaf Paper, which couldn’t be a more fitting company to feature on Earth Day. According to their web site, they lead “the paper industry in the development and distribution of environmentally superior printing and office papers.” It’s kind of like Dunder Mifflin gone green and moved to California (there’s an idea for the Michael Scott Paper Company!). If you’re surprised that a paper company can offer both quality and affordability while being eco-friendly, then you should check out New Leaf’s Eco Audit. I don’t know what to make of all those numbers, but hopefully you will. At the very least it sounds phenomenal that they saved 118 Trees, 5,551 Pounds of solid waste, 50,178 Gallons of water, 84 Million Btu of energy, and more.
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by Willy Franzen on April 21, 2009
Who would have thought that you could build a whole startup off of a Wiki? I mean, I know that Wikipedia is wildly successful, but they’re run by a non-profit called the Wikimedia Foundation. Building a real business off of that same idea almost sounds too easy, but that didn’t stop the founders of San Francisco based Wikinvest from trying it. It all started when two Harvard students were day trading in their dorm rooms during the height of the Internet bubble. They were making money, so they thought they were smart investors. When the bubble burst, they realized that they weren’t nearly as smart as they thought they were. As they tried to educate themselves, they noticed that most financial websites leave a lot to be desired (kind of how I noticed that most job search sites leave a lot to be desired). Instead of building a team of salaried experts, the guys who started Wikinvest decided to crowdsource their content through a Wiki. So far it seems to be working well for them – they raised $2.5 million in a first round (although that was 18 months ago).
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by Willy Franzen on April 19, 2009
The world of non-profits is built on fundraising. Organizations big and small take money from donors and put it to use how they see fit. The system works, but it leaves a lot to be desired. What if you want to know where your money is going and whom it is helping? What if you want to decide where your money goes? You often can’t. With San Francisco based Kiva you can. You can loan money directly to the working poor. And if you make a wise investment and the person you loan money to succeeds, you’ll get your money back and get to loan it again. You can lend money to a man who runs a food market in Togo or a woman who sells traditional coats in Tajikistan. The choice is yours. Kiva is all about “connect[ing] people through lending for the sake of alleviating poverty.” It’s a really simple idea that couldn’t have taken hold before the Internet. Now it’s changing the way that we think about giving through microfinance and microfunding.
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by Willy Franzen on April 18, 2009
A week ago I reminisced about my early interest in science as I told you about jobs with the Museum of Science, Boston. As a young kid, I always felt secure in loving science and never worried too much about what other kids thought. Maybe it was because it was ok for boys to like science? Or because the exposure to science that I had was designed for boys? I don’t know. What I do know is that females are largely underrepresented in careers in science, engineering, and technology. Techbridge is an Oakland, CA based non-profit that is “encouraging girls in science, technology, and engineering careers” by developing and implementing a science education program just for girls. The program has been around for 9 years, and it seems to be working well.
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by Willy Franzen on April 17, 2009
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.”
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by Willy Franzen on April 15, 2009
One of the cool things about all of the social technologies that we have these days is that it removes a lot of social inefficiency. What do I mean by social inefficiency? How about the fact that you’re sitting in an airport waiting for a delayed flight even though your friend is 3 gates away and you have no idea. You’re probably not going to call that friend randomly, but a Facebook or Twitter update might alert you to the fact that you have someone to hang out with for the next hour or two. There are a million examples like this, and Raptr, a Mountain View, CA based startup, has created some technology to address one inefficiency in particular – gaming alone. Ok, so they’re not going to invite your friends over to play video games with you, but they will allow you to find out which of your friends are playing what video games when, so that you can link up and play together. Social gaming is huge, but it’s happening mostly on non-gaming platforms like Facebook. Raptr is trying to bring this technology to more traditional gaming systems and aggregate your information across the social networks that you already use.
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by Willy Franzen on April 12, 2009
Happy Easter! Last year we took a look at jobs with Easter Seals to celebrate, and this year we’re going to have even more fun with the holiday theme. I’m a big fan of the Easter Bunny, because he still brings me delicious treats despite the fact that I’m way too old to still be getting anything from him. I’m not sure how rabbits became indelibly tied to Easter, but they are, which is why we’re taking a look at Rabbit Rescue today. They are a Paramount, CA based non-profit, no-kill shelter for rabbits that is staffed and run entirely by volunteers. Yes, that means that landing a full-time job with them might be out of the question, but I couldn’t find any bunny related non-profits that were hiring. In case you didn’t know, there’s a big problem with people who get bunnies as Easter gifts and then fail to take care of them. You can read about it here. Rabbit Rescue is doing great work to save rabbits, but they may be a little short on jobs. Your Easter challenge is to find a non-profit (or even a for-profit company) with better bunny related jobs. Report back in the comments!
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Tagged as:
animals,
California,
entry-level jobs,
holiday,
non-profit
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