by Willy Franzen on October 1, 2009
I guess it’s a little awkward when you find a company that immediately makes you think of a very similar, more successful company. In this case, when I came across ideeli, I immediately thought of Gilt Groupe (which we covered a while back). Both are New York City based startups that offer online sample sales that give shoppers the opportunity to buy luxury goods—mostly clothing and accessories—at serious discounts. According to Wikipedia a sample sale is “used by retail businesses in order to discard excess merchandise.” That’s exactly what these companies do, but they’ve moved the entire process online (which is way more efficient). Both sites require invites to get in on the deals, so if you want to try ideeli click here and if you want to try Gilt Groupe click here. Although I haven’t made any purchases on either of these sites, my girlfriend Amy loves this way of shopping. There’s the element of surprise, because you never know what you’re going to find, yet you still get to enjoy the ease of shopping online.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
administrative,
apparel,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
fashion,
New York,
retail,
software development,
web development
by Willy Franzen on September 10, 2009
The other night I wanted to read a book before bed, but I had moved the lamp from my bedroom into my living room because our hard to reach light fixture’s lights burnt out. It took all of 30 seconds to move the lamp back to my bedroom, but it was a pain in the butt. If only I had a LightWedge—a product made by the company of the same name that will illuminate your book for you. It’s a stupid simple idea that beats the heck out of wearing a headlamp in bed. Oh yeah, and the Newton, MA based company is making a ton of money. Inc. magazine recently came out with their list of the 5,000 fastest growing private companies in the US, and Lightwedge came in at #1,609. That may not sound great, but when you see that they increased from $3.9 million in revenue in 2005 to $11.6 million last year, you have to be impressed. I always say that the best way to job search during a recession is to look for the companies that are growing, and there’s no better way to find those than Inc. magazine’s list.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
account management,
analyst,
customer service,
e-commerce,
engineering,
entry-level jobs,
marketing,
Massachusetts,
sales,
software development,
web development
by Willy Franzen on July 30, 2009
Next March I’m going to regret not saving this one for my St. Patrick’s Day holiday themed post, but today we’re going to take a look at Lucky Brand. They’re a clothing manufacturer and retailer that is “rooted in rock ‘n ‘roll with a signature sense of humor.” Their About page will tell you that they stand for “independent thinking, individual style and a feeling as authentic as love” and that they’re known for “great-fitting, vintage-inspired jeans;” however, I think it’s much simpler than that. One of their founders came up with the idea to put the phrase “Lucky You” behind the flies of every pair of pants that they made. It was an instant point of differentiation, and I think that it has a lot to do with why Lucky Brand is going strong 19 years after they started. It really is pure, politically incorrect genius. Lucky you…
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
apparel,
California,
design,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
fashion,
Hawaii,
human resources,
Illinois,
jewelry,
marketing,
Massachusetts,
Missouri,
Nevada,
New Jersey,
New York,
Ohio,
Pennsylvania,
retail,
Texas,
Washington,
Washington DC,
Wisconsin
by Willy Franzen on July 20, 2009
Buying a product online is easy when you know which specific brand and model you want, but finding the microwave with the largest capacity or an LCD TV that swivels isn’t always so easy. There’s so much information out there on products, that finding specific details that are important to you (but not everyone else) can be frustrating. Wize is a San Mateo, CA based startup that is trying to make online comparison shopping more intelligent. If you’re buying on price, you already have plenty of product search engines that will make your decision easy for you, but who’s going to tell you which washing machine is most water efficient? That’s what Wize is all about. They’re scouring the Internet for all of the information that is buried in reviews and making it easily searchable so that you can choose the right product for you. It’s still in its early stages, but it seems like a pretty cool approach to e-commerce.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
California,
data,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
marketing,
research
by Willy Franzen on July 7, 2009
Now, I know that the name ChannelAdvisor sounds like some sort of new and improved tv guide that you can buy on the infomercials, but bear with me for a second and I’ll tell you what ChannelAdvisor is really about. The simple version is that they’re a Morrisville, NC based company that helps other companies sell online. The more complex story is that ChannelAdvisor “helps the world sell online with solutions for retailers to efficiently distribute their products across multiple online channels, drive shoppers to those products, and then convert those shoppers into customers.” That sounds good, but what does it really mean? Major retailers often have thousands of products. Their first e-commerce priority is to get their products listed on their own site, but after that they want to extend their reach to comparison shopping sites. There are tons of these comparison shopping sites, and they all have different data requirements for listing products. The retailer can try to do it on their own, or they can hire ChannelAdvisor to do it for them.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
customer service,
e-commerce,
engineering,
entry-level jobs,
international,
North Carolina,
sales,
software development,
United Kingdom
by Willy Franzen on June 19, 2009
by Willy Franzen on May 6, 2009
I love cooking, but I didn’t always. I went into college barely knowing how to make myself a bowl of pasta, but when I lived off campus Sophomore year, I was left with little choice but to learn how to cook. I’ve never been one to follow recipes strictly, though. I always like trying something new and getting creative with my cooking. That’s exactly the philosophy behind America’s Test Kitchen. It’s a real kitchen (all 2,500 square feet of it) in Brookline, MA that is used to “to develop the absolute best recipes for all of your favorite foods.” They do this by testing recipes anywhere from 30-70 times until they not only get it right, but get it right to the point that it’s dead simple for the people who are consuming the products that America’s Test Kitchen puts out – magazines, cookbooks, DVDs, tv shows, and websites. To me it sounds like one of the coolest places in the world, so if there’s no post tomorrow, it’s because I quit in hopes of a career at America’s Test Kitchen (just kidding!).
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
design,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
food,
magazines,
marketing,
Massachusetts,
production,
publishing,
software development,
television,
video,
web development,
writing
by Willy Franzen on April 14, 2009
When I started this business, I focused almost entirely on the web for networking – a LinkedIn connection or an e-mail address was all that I needed. However, my mom (who is also my graphic designer) had other ideas. Right after she designed my logo, she sent away to VistaPrint to get me business cards. Although I didn’t use them right away (I was glued to the computer screen and not talking to many people in real life), eventually they became a necessity. Those business cards also came with the one and only One Day, One Job t-shirt (a free gift from VistaPrint). They are the place to go for customized stuff (there’s no better way to put it). You can get business cards, pens, checks, banners, postcards, lawn signs, rubber stamps, mouse pads, magnets, and much much more. The best part about it is that you can do it all online and get a really great price. VistaPrint is definitely achieving their goal of “making high-quality graphic design and custom printing convenient and affordable for everyone.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
Bermuda,
Canada,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
international,
Jamaica,
marketing,
Massachusetts,
Netherlands,
quality assurance,
quality engineer,
software development,
Spain
by Willy Franzen on March 31, 2009
My first introduction to William Shatner was watching Rescue 911. Little did I know that his body of work extended far beyond narrating a show about real life heroes. I imagine today’s children will have an equally narrow view of William Shatner’s career, as they’ll know him as “Priceline Negotiator.” (Can you read those words without hearing the corresponding tune? I can’t.) Anyway, the whole idea behind William Shatner’s newest role – besides his doing the commercials in return for stock – is that Priceline.com will negotiate the best deals on travel-related items like hotels, car rentals, and airline tickets. They also have a “name your own price” model that used to be the core of their business, but now Priceline has widened its focus to discount travel in general.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
bilingual,
Connecticut,
customer service,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
hospitality management,
Michigan,
travel
by Willy Franzen on March 12, 2009
So, when I first typed the name of today’s company into the title field in WordPress, I wrote OMGPOOP. Most companies probably wouldn’t be very happy that I made that mistake, but I feel like NYC based OMGPOP wouldn’t mind so much. They seem to have a penchant for the ridiculous. I mean, they just changed their name from ImInLikeWithYou.com to OMGPOP. Since you probably have no idea what I’m talking about, we should probably start from the top. OMGPOP “is a place to hang out, play free online multiplayer games, chat, and make friends.” They’re very different from other online gaming sites, although it’s hard to describe how. You really need to check them out to get a feel for what they’re all about. When you land on their home page, you’ll see this: “Why hang out with your friends in person when you can do it on the internet? No need to wear clothes that way. Seriously, this is bigger than unicorns and wrestling put together.” That about sums it up.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
communications,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
New York,
seo,
social media,
social networking,
video games
by Willy Franzen on October 28, 2008
Trust is important in online interactions. When someone e-mails you and tells you that they have $7.4 million dollars in a foreign bank account and that they will give you half if you help them transfer it, you hopefully don’t trust him or her. When I tell you about a really cool company that is hiring lots of new college grads, I hope that you trust my word and give the company a look (but I also hope that continue to do more research on your own). And when you give a company personal information, you want to be able to trust that they’ll keep it private. TRUSTe is a company that verifies and certifies that companies adhere to specific best practices when it comes to online privacy. TRUSTe was founded as a non-profit and remained as such for 11 years, but this summer they made the decision to take investment and become a for-profit. It’s an interesting choice that was probably necessary for TRUSTe to grow its reach.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
California,
design,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
marketing
by Willy Franzen on September 10, 2008
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.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
bilingual,
business development,
communications,
customer service,
design,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
France,
Germany,
international,
marketing,
Netherlands,
operations,
product management,
project management,
social media,
software development,
Texas,
training,
United Kingdom,
virtual,
web development
by Willy Franzen on August 25, 2008
A few weeks ago, I was in Montreal and met with Ben Yoskovitz, the CEO of Standout Jobs. He’s a great guy to chat with, and he’s built a product that I think is fantastic – a hosted Career site solution for companies to use in their online recruiting. Ben recently tweeted on Twitter about a company called Groove Commerce that is a Standout Jobs customer, and apparently an all around awesome place to work. They’re hiring, so we checked them out. We liked what we saw (how could we not like their online Career presence when they use Standout Jobs?), so now we’re going to tell you a little bit about Groove Commerce. By the way, if you’re interested in How I Used Twitter to Get Meetings with 3 CEOs and a VP of Recruiting in 2 Weeks check out my guest blog post on The Talent Buzz. If the post gets enough visitors, I’ll win an iPod Touch, which I promise to give away in some sort of contest to a One Day, One Job reader.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
design,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
Maryland,
software development,
web development
by Willy Franzen on April 14, 2008
If you consider going fishing after work and being in bed by 10 a night well spent, then working at Orvis will be perfect for you. Ditto if you enjoy helping your co-workers train their dogs on your lunch break. How do I know? I spent the summers after my sophomore and junior years as an intern in the Human Resources Department. Why did I pick Orvis? Because I am a life long fly fisherman and I love their products.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
hospitality management,
merchandising,
outdoors,
software development,
Vermont,
Virginia
by Willy Franzen on April 8, 2008
It wasn’t all that long ago when most people were afraid to buy things online. As the general public has become more comfortable with doing transactions on the net, the need for businesses to go online has obviously continued to increase. It’s easy for a large, well-known business to put together a website and start an e-commerce venture, but the transition has been much more difficult for small businesses like those that sell handmade crafts. With no brand recognition and limited resources to build a good looking website, it’s hard for mom and pops to win the trust of online consumers. For this reason, many have relied on eBay as a way to sell their wares. Unfortunately, eBay has become a hot bed for scams while continuing to raise their fees. Luckily for craft lovers, Etsy has stepped in as “a place to buy and sell all things handmade.”
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
New York,
software development,
user experience
by Amy Gordon on April 7, 2008
Here at One Day, One Job we like to feature jobs at companies that we use and respect. I came across Standard Style a couple of years ago when I was shopping for a friend’s birthday present, and I have been a loyal customer ever since. Standard Style is a boutique, online and off, that is trying to meld traditional mid-western values with the latest fashions. What is great about Standard Style is their top-notch customer service and their extensive collection of high fashion clothes and jewelry (that often go on sale). Even greater for you is that they appear to be hiring!
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
fashion,
Kansas,
retail
by Willy Franzen on February 25, 2008
At the beginning of the month, we wrote about entry-level jobs at Netflix, today we’re going to talk about a company that has adopted the same business model, but is radically different in what they rent. Bag Borrow or Steal is a subscription service that enables you to “borrow” designer handbags and jewelry. There’s no need to spend big bucks on an item that you’ll use six times a year, when you can instead borrow (read: rent) six different designer items that will ensure that you’re always looking trendy. Now you can be like those movie stars who wear OPA (other people’s accessories) for big events like the Oscars (which we didn’t watch last night).
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
design,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
Illinois,
Washington,
web development
by Willy Franzen on February 12, 2008
We want our readers to be our Valentines this year, so the next three days are going to be devoted to jobs that have something to do with Valentine’s Day. We love our devoted readers (as does Better World Books), and we want to know that you love us too! Show us by becoming a Facebook Fan, subscribing by RSS, or signing up for our daily e-mails. We hope that our posts over the next three days don’t just give you great ideas for your job search, but also help you come up with last minute ideas to let that special someone know that you love them. And for those of you who just can’t stand Valentine’s day, why not browse through our archives of entry-level jobs to see what you’ve missed.
I first learned about ProFlowers during my freshman year of college. I didn’t have a Valentine, but I wanted to send my mom flowers to let her know that although I had moved away, I hadn’t forgotten about her. During my junior year, I finally got a girlfriend and realized that I was in the awkward situation of having to do Valentine’s Day only a month into my new relationship. I really liked this girl, so I wanted to do my best to impress her. I had an exam and an essay due on the 15th, but that wasn’t going to stop me from executing my plan for a perfect first meaningful Valentine’s Day. The only easy part was picking out an arrangement from ProFlowers and having them delivered directly to her dorm room. I barely got everything I had to do done as the day flew by, and my chronically over-punctual self had to delay picking my new girlfriend up for our date by half an hour.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
California,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
holiday,
logistics,
merchandising
by Willy Franzen on February 1, 2008
Whether you hit the multiplex with your friends, had them over to watch a rental, or sat alone and watched in your room as you languished through your awkward stage (everyone has one), Friday nights in Middle School always seemed to revolve around movies. To get a rental, you’d have to beg your Mom to take you to Blockbuster. Then you’d have to lobby her on why you were mature enough to rent an R-rated movie, despite the fact that you just made it to legal age for a PG-13. Those days are long gone, and not just because you’re an adult now. Now, you either wait a couple days for the mailman to deliver your movie or you sit for 10 minutes while you download it. Netflix has ruined those cherished moments of arguing with your mother about movie rentals and late fees, but I think we can all agree to forgive them.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
buyer,
California,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
movies,
operations
by Willy Franzen on January 29, 2008
When I was a kid in elementary school, our teacher asked us to have a book at our desk to read during short periods of downtime. If a lesson finished a little early and she couldn’t think of something to do with a class of fourth graders, we picked up our books and started reading. Most kids had fun story books to read, but for some reason (probably because it was already in my desk and I didn’t feel like finding another book) my book was a pocket dictionary. While other kids were reading about the adventures of some imaginary character, I was looking up words to craft my comebacks when I was inevitably made fun of. I wish the word w00t had existed back then, not because it would have been particularly useful in my fourth grade reading level verbal counterattacks, but because I think my classmates would have realized that reading a dictionary can’t be all bad if you can find words like w00t.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
accounting,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
Missouri,
sales,
Texas
by Willy Franzen on November 23, 2007
Hopefully you’re not stealing wireless while waiting in line at Best Buy to read this post, when you could be doing all your Black Friday shopping on Amazon.com
in the comfort of your own bed. If you don’t get your Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, Kindle, or another Black Friday Deal, maybe you’ll get moving on finding a job and adding to your bank account rather than subtracting from it. Since employers haven’t taken to the Black Friday concept (can you say 20% higher salary if you take a job that you applied for on Black Friday?), we figured we’d write about jobs from the ultimate holiday shopping company.
Read the full article →
Tagged as:
analyst,
e-commerce,
entry-level jobs,
finance,
holiday,
software development,
Washington
and 
) is a strange place to locate a major e-commerce outlet, but there’s a good story behind why Vann’s is located where it is. It all started with Pete Vann aka “Montana’s Last Great Cowboy.” He was the grandfather of the Pete Vann who founded Vann’s. After a family history of cowboying, ranching, and farming, Pete Vann took a job keeping an appliance store clean. It doesn’t sound like much, but within 11 years Pete owned the store that he used to keep clean. In 1996 he decided to give up some of his ownership to share it with the employees who helped him build the business to what it is today. 
is the funniest, most in-your-face career guide on the market.