One Day, One Job » cars

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?

CarMax

Willy Franzen — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:00:16 +0000

Buying your first car and getting your first job have a lot in common. They’re both relatively uncomfortable and unfamiliar processes that are filled with false formality and lots of back and forth. To be successful at either, you need to put yourself in the driver’s seat (ugh, sorry for the pun) and take control of the situation by ensuring that you’ve done your research and that you know exactly what you want. If only recruiters and HR representatives would work as hard as a car salesman to sell you on why you should work for their company. CarMax, being in the auto sales business, has figured this out. Just like they make car buying easier and less stressful with “No-Haggle Pricing,” CarMax also makes finding your first job easy with an exceptional entry-level hiring program.

CarMax is the biggest used car dealer in the United States, and they’ve reached this point in only 15 years of operations. CarMax was started as a side project by Circuit City’s then-CEO Richard L. Sharp, but grew so rapidly that it was spun off from Circuit City in 2002. There are 80 CarMax used-car superstores across the country, and they all do business in a way that you might not expect from a used car dealer. Like we said before, there’s no haggling on price, and there’s also no negotiation on trade-in valuation. CarMax kind of kills the stereotype of the sleazy used car salesman.

We really like CarMax, not only because they’ve been named one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For 4 years in a row (most recently ranked #46), but also because they make their entry-level hiring program as clear as can be. Their college recruiting page is easily visible, and gets right down to business. CarMax has three career paths for new college graduates – a Finance and Accounting career development/rotation program, a Strategy Analyst position, and an Information Technology position. CarMax explains each of these positions in detail. We don’t need to elaborate much, because CarMax nails it on their Career site (yes, that’s 3 companies in a row with phenomenal careers sites). Now that hiring and car buying are out of the way, what awkward process can CarMax make easier next?

CarMax does a lot of on-campus recruiting, so check out their schedules (Finance and Accounting, IT, and Strategy) to see when they’re visiting your campus. If they’re not coming to your campus, you can apply by sending a resume and cover letter to college_recruiting@carmax.com. On the other hand, if you would prefer to get directly into auto sales and aren’t interested in corporate type jobs, you can take a look at the CarMax’s store positions. We wouldn’t recommend it though (kidding!). We just think that the corporate jobs sound way cooler, considering that the corporate office has a full basketball court, two racquet ball courts, a baseball field, and work out facilities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What makes you more uncomfortable? Buying a car or trying to find a job? Tell us in the comments.

Honda R&D

Willy Franzen — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 13:00:08 +0000

We mentioned a couple weeks back that Facebook now has a valuation on par with that of the Ford Motor Company. In our post about Facebook, we focused on how impressive the growth has been of “Web 2.0″ companies, but didn’t mention the equally impressive decline of American auto manufacturers. It’s sad to say, but the reason for the decline has a lot to do with foreign auto companies making better products, and doing it with American talent! Honda is one of those companies that has been kicking the Big Three’s butts by putting out great cars, and a big part of it has been because of their research and development.

Honda R&D starts their recruiting of American talent with a strong co-op/internship program and goes from there. Considering they compensate interns well, it’s obvious that they value talent as the key driver of innovation and success in R&D. Honda follows up by offering a litany of what appear to be entry-level jobs. There are jobs in a number of disciplines, but all current openings are engineering related.

The reason we said that the jobs appear to be entry-level is that they all say that they require 1+ years of experience. Considering Honda’s excellent co-op program and the fact that there are no jobs with a requirement of 0 years of experience, we think that they intend these jobs to be entry-level. Another reason we think that the jobs are entry-level is that the job requirements say that equivalent education can replace the need for experience. One final confusing detail is that Honda’s jobs have the same title regardless of required experience. An Automotive Exterior Engineer is an Automative Exterior Enginer, whether he or she has no experience or 4 years’ experience. So, pay attention to which job you apply for!

Here’s a rundown of the jobs that look to be entry-level. Some job titles are posted multiple times with slightly different descriptions, but we only listed the first occurrence, so look at the full job listings for more jobs.

For all you car buffs who happen to be near completing your degree in engineering, it doesn’t get any better than this. Honda will treat you well and allow you to jump into some really exciting work. Now get researching so you can build us a sweet car that gets 90 MPG!

Note: On April 25th we revisited entry-level jobs at Honda R&D.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

We blogged about internships and co-ops at Honda R&D over on One Day, One Internship. If you’re not ready for a full time job, check it out.

Tesla Motors

Willy Franzen — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 13:00:16 +0000

So, we’re still on vacation here at One Day, One Job. We didn’t tell you, but for the past week our daily posts have been coming from a tropical island with poor wireless Internet coverage. We thought there’d be at least one rainy day where we could finish off our posts and act like no vacation ever happened, but, unfortunately for you, the weather has been beautiful. On that note, today’s post is going to be a quick run down of what Tesla Motors does and why they look like a cool company for college seniors to research for career opportunities.

Tesla Motors is a company that designs and builds electric cars. Not a company that is going to. One day. They’ve already done it. Their Tesla Roadster does zero to sixty in four seconds and will go 220 miles on a single charge. Not only are these cars solving the problem of dependence on foreign oil, they’re also fun to drive (no, we haven’t actually driven one, we could be wrong). What better way to introduce electric cars to the masses than build high performance sports cars that are entirely gas free?

Because of the nature of what they do, many of the jobs at Tesla Motors are extremely technical. Even non-engineering jobs require a firm understanding of how electric cars work. There are a ton of job posted, many of which seem to be pretty advanced. Many of the job descriptions use words and acronyms that we don’t even recognize, but the people Tesla Motors wants will know exactly what they’re talking about. A few examples of positions that might be appropriate for new college grads include Battery Test Engineer, Electro-Mechanical Technician and Desktop Technician.

Tesla Motors is offering jobs working around fascinating technology. If you have a background in engineering or just love cars, do some research using the links below and search for an opening that will put your skills, knowledge, and passion to use. If you can’t find a opening that fits, Tesla’s employment page has a list of e-mail addresses for you to send applications for unlisted positions.

Note: On April 23rd we revisited entry-level jobs at Tesla Motors.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

There’s a 30% chance of thunderstorms here tomorrow, but unless the wireless network goes down again, we promise we’ll have our first non-profit job of the New Year. Even if it means leaving the beach a little early.