One Day, One Job » finance

General Mills

Willy Franzen — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 14:51:47 +0000

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! In past years we’ve looked at Shamrock Boats and Luck Stone to celebrate the holiday, but today we’re going to take a look at jobs with Minneapolis, MN based General Mills because there’s no more authentic Irish breakfast than Lucky Charms. Now, it’s been a while since I last had a bowl of everybody’s favorite marshmallow-filled cereal—ok, it’s been a month—but it feels like it’s been much longer. Beyond Lucky Charms, General Mills’ brands include Cheerios, Pillsbury, Gushers, Haagen-Dazs, Betty Crocker, Cascadian Farm, and many more names that you’ll recognize from the center aisles in the grocery store. Most of them may have nothing to do with St. Patrick’s Day, but add some green food coloring if that’s what you’re really concerned about.

Work at the Mills

There’s not much more to say about General Mills. Their focus is on their 100+ brands, and that’s what makes them the world’s 6th largest food company. They hold the No. 1 or No. 2 position in nearly every category that they compete in, and their products are so ubiquitous that the average U.S. grocery shopper places at least one General Mills product in his or her cart every time he or she shops. Because General Mills is such a large company, they have a very strong Campus Recruiting Program. Unfortunately, their Campus Events Calendar indicates that most of their recruiting has passed. Typically they place new grads into the following areas:

Because the Campus Recruiting season has passed for General Mills, your best bet is to use their job search function to look for positions. There are certainly entry level positions available, so give it a look and hope for some St. Patrick’s day luck when you apply.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite General Mills brand?

The Reinvestment Fund

Willy Franzen — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:13:45 +0000

I grew up in Fairfield, CT, which is next to a city, Bridgeport, that is always aiming for “revitalization.” They’ve talked about a building a casino for years, and they even built a minor league baseball stadium. It’s hard to say whether that has helped or hurt, but it seems that Bridgeport is at least doing a little better than it was a decade ago. I’d imagine that the real reasons for improvement have come from smaller projects that are more in tune with the city’s communities’ needs. These are the kinds of projects that The Reinvestment Fund invests in in cities in the Mid-Atlantic. They are “a 24 year old nonprofit financial lending institution with a strong social mission” and offices in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, DC. They started out as a small community development organization, and they’ve grown to become something much bigger.

Reinvest in Yourself

So far the Reinvestment Fund has invested nearly a billion dollars in capital into economic development projects. The results speak for themselves, as TRF has helped create:

532 businesses

18,590 housing units

28,870 charter school slots

45,755 jobs

8.2 million square feet of commercial space

2.7 million MWh of clean energy – enough to power over 290,000 homes for a year!

It may not sound as sexy as a baseball stadium or a casino, but The Reinvestment Fund is all about finding “the point of impact.” That means that they’re looking for the place where they can get the most bang for the buck. They want to maximize the opportunity that they create for both individuals and neighborhoods regardless of what might be popular. If you’d like to help “build wealth and opportunity for low-wealth people” while revitalizing communities, then you need to look no further than The Reinvestment Fund’s Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Financial Analyst in addition to post-doctoral students for their Policy Solutions Group Fellowship. They also have some part-time Policy and Information Services positions available, but they seem more along the lines of internships than jobs (but they are paid).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about The Reinvestment Fund?

Bank Information Center

Willy Franzen — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 17:09:40 +0000

If you haven’t already, please take 3 minutes (seriously, it’s short) to complete our One Day, One Job survey. It’s going to help us improve the site to make it easier for you to find awesome entry level jobs.

You’ve probably heard of the World Bank, but do you know what it is? Now’s a good time to head over to Wikipedia to find out. The short version is that they’re “an international financial institution that provides leveraged loans to developing countries for capital programs” with the goal of reducing poverty. Bank Information Center is a Washington, DC based non-profit that helps “developing and transitioning countries to influence the World Bank and other international financial institutions to promote social and economic justice and ecological sustainability.” Basically that means that they work at the local level in countries across the world to make sure that the interests of the people are represented in the decisions of international financial institutions. Their aim is to democratize development.

Be Informed About the BIC

The Bank Information Center approaches its mission with three major strategies: “(i) information services and capacity building; (ii) project and policy monitoring; and (iii) policy reform.” They do this by having staff who are dedicated to specific regions and who know the ins and outs of how to work in these areas to influence development decisions. It’s all really complex, so your best bet for getting a full understanding of how the BIC works is to read their About page. Once you get a feel for them, you can check out their Jobs page, where you’ll see how their strategy and mission are reflected in their positions. Right now they’re looking for a Latin America Program Assistant and an Africa Program Assistant. These positions do require some prior experience, but I think some internships in International Development or an environmental field would be sufficient. You can apply by sending “a cover letter explaining your interest in the position, a 1-2 page resume, and two writing samples to jobs@bicusa.org” with the name of the position in the subject line.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about the Bank Information Center?

Rosetta

Willy Franzen — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 16:31:08 +0000

I got a tip on this one from a fellow Cornellian (which is cool because a few of my friends from Cornell work at Rosetta). If you ever find a company that you think that we should feature, e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com. We feature a lot of interactive marketing agencies because they’re usually pretty big on hiring young talent whether it be at the intern or entry level. Rosetta stands out because of their size and sophistication—they almost seem more like a consulting firm than a marketing agency, at least in the way that they present themselves. For instance, they recently become a “top ten interactive agency” by means of an acquisition. That seems so different from the image that most agencies try to portray, but it’s working. Through “dedication to client work within Consumer Products & Retail, Healthcare, Financial Services, Consumer Technology & Media, B2B, and Travel & Hospitality industries” Rosetta “has created enduring partnerships with [their] clients including Scholastic, Coach, Borders, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Nationwide, Marriott and Microsoft.” Those are huge names, so you know Rosetta, which is headquartered in Princeton with offices in New York, Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, and Denver, is capable of delivering results.

Relationships Matter

One of Rosetta’s key offerings is their suite of Relationship Marketing Services, which are focused on helping clients segment customers and offer “intelligent, personalized interactions across all online and offline channels.” This is just one part of the story, though. To get the full story on Rosetta’s offerings, you should take a look at this diagram. It shows how Rosetta walks clients through the marketing process—from creating the top-level strategy to using analytics to measure results. This means it’s not surprising that Rosetta’s job offerings are as varied as their service offerings—their Careers page is titled “Graphic Design Careers, SEO Jobs, and Financial Services Consulting Opportunities at Rosetta.”

As I mentioned in the beginning of the post, Rosetta seems to have a strong connection with Cornell (and probably quite a few other colleges) based on campus recruiting. Interestingly enough, Rosetta doesn’t really have a campus recruiting page—just a profile of a new grad who went to work for them. From there you can find their job search function, which is pretty terrible. It does appear to let you search for specifically entry level positions; however, there are at least 3 different queries that you can use, and they all seem to deliver different results. Your best bet is to look at their full list of job openings, or to look for positions like Recent Graduate Business Associate, Recent Graduate Technology Associate, Associate Consultant, Account Executive, Technology Associate, User Interface/Rich Media Developer, Recent Graduate Business Analyst, and quite a few others. The way that Rosetta lists their jobs is really a mess, so you need to take note that different jobs with the same title may be in different practice areas. Additionally, single job postings may be for multiple locations. They do have some nice pages on their Careers site like Meet Our People and Fun at Rosetta, but the whole thing is disorganized. I expect a lot better from a top ten agency. You can apply online for any of these positions, so forgive Rosetta for the lack of usability on their Careers site and see if you can help them move further up the top ten.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Were you looking Rosetta Stone’s jobs?

Ceteris

Willy Franzen — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:19:06 +0000

The way that large corporations operate often boggles my mind. Take for example my friend who worked in the internal consulting division of a massive, well-known company. Despite being owned and operated by the company, his division had to bid against outside consulting firms for projects. There was a good reason for this (it forced the internal consulting division to watch its back), but it still seems a bit ridiculous. Another example of this kind of thinking is transfer pricing (don’t worry, I had to look it up too). It’s the “pricing of contributions (assets, tangible and intangible, services, and funds) transferred within an organization.” At first it may seem that since all of the money is going to the same place pricing things that are transferred within an organization doesn’t really matter. Unfortunately, that would cause all of the accountants in an organization (and the IRS too) to have a fit. So how do companies price these transfers? There’s no external market to set the price, and trying to do it internally can get really messy. That’s when companies bring in Ceteris a “global independent consulting firm specializing in transfer pricing, intellectual property and valuation services” that is headquartered in Chicago.

Transfer Yourself to Ceteris

For most new grads, grasping exactly what Ceteris does is pretty hard. The best way to get a feel for the kinds of projects that they work on is to take a look at examples of their work. It turns out that this stuff is pretty fascinating—at least to me. If you agree, you’ll want to check out Ceteris’ Jobs page along with their Campus Recruiting page. Although they don’t explicitly post job opportunities and they don’t have any campus events coming up, they say that they’re looking to hear from outstanding undergraduates with a background in Economics, Business, Accounting, Finance, Statistics, or Mathematics. They provide a decent amount of information about what it’s like at Ceteris including employee profiles, and they invite interested applicants to send a résumé and cover letter to careers@ceterisgroup.com. The company has only been around since 2003, but they’ve already expanded to 13 locations: Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Calgary, AB; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Libertyville, IL; Los Angeles, CA; Mexico City, Mexico; New York, NY; Salt Lake City, UT; Toronto, ON; Washington, DC; and Auckland, New Zealand. It’s not clear which offices have entry level opportunities, but their Locations page does allow you to contact the head of each office if you’re so inclined.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Ceteris?

ING Direct

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

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

Saving Towards a Career

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you have an ING Direct account?

The Aspen Institute

Willy Franzen — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 16:23:22 +0000

I don’t usually do this, but this is important. I find many of the non-profit jobs that I feature on One Day, One Job on Idealist.org. It’s the best resource for non-profit jobs on the web, and it’s a non-profit itself. The organization is in trouble right now, and they need money. If they’ve helped your job search in any way, go to their home page and make a donation—I just did. Even $5 will help.

If Aspen is known for anything, it’s known for skiing and affluence. In 1945 Walter Paepcke, a Chicago businessman, was so inspired by the town’s natural beauty that he wanted it to be known for something else—”as an ideal gathering place for thinkers, leaders, artists, and musicians from all over the world to step away from their daily routines and reflect on the underlying values of society and culture.” He started by organizing events in Aspen like “a celebration of the 200th birthday of German poet and philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,” and then he founded The Aspen Institute. It started as a “forum based on the writings of great thinkers of the past and present,” but now it’s evolved into something more. It is now a non-profit organization that fosters “values-based leadership” and provides “a neutral and balanced venue for discussing and acting on critical issues.” It’s certainly an ideas-focused organization, and it is now headquartered in Washington, DC with offices in Aspen, CO and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

Happy Goethe-Day

Although it may sound as though The Aspen Institute is light on action, that’s not really the case. Their focus is on taking action to bring people together to discuss big ideas. The organization has four main modes of operation: they put on seminars; they provide young leader fellowships; they run non-paritsan policy programs; and they put on public conferences and events. What it really all comes down to, though, is promoting dialogue and the sharing of ideas. If that sounds like something that you could get behind, then you might want to consider a job at the Aspen Institute. Right now they’re looking for a Financial Analyst and a Front Desk Coordinator in their Washington, DC office. You may also want to look at their Leadership Programs for fellowship opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about the Aspen Institute?

Palantir

Willy Franzen — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:09:27 +0000

I have to admit that the “jobs” that I’m most concerned with today is Steve Jobs. I can’t wait to find out what Apple is announcing today, and I wish that I had some relevant jobs to bring you. I don’t, but I did come across a really cool list yesterday called 5 Butt Kicking Companies You (Probably) Never Heard Of. The list is exactly what it promises, as it features 5 later stage startups that are growing rapidly and hiring lots of people. The first company on that list is Palantir, a Palo Alto, CA based company (with another office in McLean, VA) that “is working to radically change how groups analyze information.” They were founded by former PayPal employees and Stanford computer scientists. Right now the company is focused on two verticals: Government and Finance. Both areas deal with massive amount of data and information, so it makes sense that Palantir is starting with them.

Analyze This

The cool thing about Palantir is that they still have a startup attitude and culture despite the fact that they’re focused on two industries that most people don’t associate with fun. The types of problem that Palantir is trying to solve include “national security, global finance, cyber defense, regulation & oversight, public health, and disease control.” This isn’t just some Web 2.0 startup—it’s a serious business with clients who expect perfection. That’s why culture is so important at Palantir. They only hire the best: “Less than 3% of candidates who receive a phone interview will receive an offer.” It’s a strict meritocracy, with a family feel. They have the XBOX, masseuse, and on-site gym that you come to expect from startups, but there’s also the expectation that “‘work’ and ‘life’ are not separate universes.”

Palantir appears to do a lot of on-campus recruiting with a focus on engineers from elite schools. They don’t provide any information on college recruiting on their site, but you can take a look at current job openings. The most likely fits for new grads include Business Development Associate, Audio Visual Engineer, Software Engineer, Salesforce Applications Developer, Software Developer in Test, Web Developer, Quality Assurance Engineer, BD Operations IT Analyst, BD Operations Analyst, Facilities Operations Analyst, and Operations Administrative Analyst. There are plenty of entry level opportunities at Palantir, so apply online and see if you can be one of the few that make the cut.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Palantir?

Intrade

Willy Franzen — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 15:46:26 +0000

Rarely do we feature companies that aren’t at least partially US based, but sometimes there are companies so interesting or relevant that I have to share them with you even though it would require a serious move (and probably some visa acrobatics) for you to land a job with them. Today we’re going to look at Ireland’s Intrade, a company that runs prediction markets. I originally learned about Intrade from Freakonomics, but I became more interested yesterday with the election in Massachusetts. A prediction market falls somewhere between betting and investing—it allows you to buy contracts that either pay out or don’t based on a given outcome. For example there was a time yesterday before polls closed when you could have purchased a contract for $70 that would have paid out $100 if the Republican nominee, Scott Brown, won the Massachusetts Senate election. The price of a contract reflects the probability that a given event will happen—a $70 contract represents a 70% likelihood.

Bet on Yourself

Some would claim that Intrade and other prediction markets are outright gambling, but I think there’s more to it than that. First of all, the information provided by Intrade can be extremely valuable. Secondly, it can provide a great hedging tool. Imagine that you owned a lot of stock in a health insurance company and were nervous about the ramifications of yesterday’s election on healthcare reform. You could have purchased contracts to moderate your risk. Then again, you can also buy contracts on whether you think Tiger Woods will play in a PGA event before April 30th (right now it’s 70% likely that it will happen) or whether Avatar will become the highest grossing film of all time domestically (90%). Those seem a bit frivolous, but it’s interesting to see the predictive capacity of these types of markets. You can even buy contracts on future tax rates. Economists love Intrade, and so do I. I think that prediction markets will play a bigger role in our life in the future, and if that happens, it’s going to be very good for Intrade (can I buy a contract on that?)—they charge fees on trades. Intrade doesn’t have any specific job openings, but their Jobs page does say that they are “always interested in meeting talented people with an interest in prediction markets.” If that’s you, send a cover letter and résumé to recruitment@intrade.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever purchased a contract on Intrade?

Argus Information & Advisory

Willy Franzen — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:56:20 +0000

Even though it seems that the economy is crawling its way to recovery (I’m seeing more entry level and intern opportunities than I did last year), we have a long way to go before the finance industry gets back on its feet. Yes, the stock market is doing well, but don’t let that fool you—things are still a mess. One company that should do well during this time is Argus Information & Advisory, a company based in White Plains, NY. They “assist financial institutions in making marketing and risk management decisions.” That’s going to be a big business for years to come. I’m just hoping that bad advice from Argus wasn’t part of the reason we ended up where we are. Whether that’s the case or not, I imagine that the demand for services that help “manage the tradeoffs among price, product, risk, and customer behavior along the customer lifecycle to increase profitability” will be in high demand.

Manage Your Career Risk

Although Argus doesn’t name their clients, they can claim as clients all of the 20 top US credit card issuers and 9 of 10 top ten UK credit card issuers along with large insurance companies, top retail banks, and the largest payment processors. There isn’t much information about Argus available on the Internet, but it seems that they like it that way. Their web site is sparse, and Google barely turns up any meaningful results about them. You’ll probably want to push your research a little farther if you consider working at Argus, and you can start by checking out their Jobs page and their College Recruiting page. Although their College Recruiting season seems to have passed, they do have some jobs posted that appear to be suitable for new grads. These include Data Operations Analyst, Analyst, and Office Assistant (San Francisco). To apply for any of these positions, you should send your cover letter and résumé to resumes.Argus@hiredesk.net or resumes@argusinformation.com if you want to go through their College Recruiting people (be sure to include your Math and Verbal SAT scores and GPA).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you found out about Argus Information & Advisory?

Undertone Networks

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

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

Undertones of Your Career

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Undertone Networks?

Jump Trading

Willy Franzen — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:54:32 +0000

Yesterday I was talking to a friend who is convinced that everyone in Chicago is a consultant. I know a lot of consultants here, but my take is a little different. I’m pretty sure that every guy that I’ve met here who is between the ages of 23 and 32 is a “trader.” They never tell you what they trade unless you ask—it almost seems like they’re being evasive. Maybe it’s all about creating a mystique about being a trader. Anyway, one of my “trader” friends happens to work at Jump Trading (he likes it), a high-frequency trading shop based here in Chicago. From what I can tell on their website, Jump Trading is less concerned with what they’re trading and more concerned with how they’re trading. They put a huge emphasis on technology, and they’re trying to take advantage of the fact that “the world financial markets are becoming faster, more complex, and more automated every day.”

Jump at the Opportunity

While Jump Trading’s website doesn’t go into too much detail about what exactly they do, you can find a little more about them in this Forbes article (even if it is nearly 4 years old). My key takeaway from the article is that Jump Trading is a “proprietary firm,” which means that they trade the company’s (or the founders’) money, not the money of clients. Most of what you’ll find about Jump Trading on their website is related to recruiting. They rely heavily on entry level talent, which is why College Recruiting is one of the main sections of the site. They do have a general Jobs page, but your best bet is to consider the two positions listed on their College Recruiting page—Algorithmic Trader and Software Engineer. Jump Trading only recruits at six campuses—Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Illinois, and Berkeley—so if you don’t attend one of those schools (where you should apply through Career Services), you’ll have to use their general résumé submission form. As you can tell by the schools that Jump Trading recruits from, they’re highly selective, although they don’t require prior knowledge of trading or finance to land a job with them. You just need to be really smart. Jump Trading does most of their campus recruiting in February, so now is probably the perfect time to apply for one of their jobs.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Jump Trading?

Roubini Global Economics

Willy Franzen — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:55:33 +0000

Remember that time that you predicted the walk off home run during the baseball game or the fact that your friend would get back together with his girlfriend for the 7th time? Of course you do. It was proof of your psychic abilities. Remember the time that you made a similar prediction but were wrong? Of course not. When you only count your wins and not your losses, it’s easy to have a perfect record. Politicians take advantage of this all the time. The truth is that there aren’t a lot of people out there who are good at predicting things, whether it’s weather, the economy, sports, or any number of other things. Nouriel Roubini may be an exception. He could be insanely “lucky” with the fact that his descriptions and predictions of the current financial crisis were dead on, but you have to give him credit for the amount of detail included in his predictions, like when he said “the United States was likely to face a once-in-a-lifetime housing bust, an oil shock, sharply declining consumer confidence and, ultimately, a deep recession.” He’s very obviously a brilliant guy, and he’s also the founder of New York City based Roubini Global Economics, a company that provides “a uniquely tailored look at the logic of the global economy” for its clients.

Working for “Dr. Doom”

Nouriel Roubini has been dubbed “Dr. Doom” by some because of his dour predictions, but you have to imagine that the demand for his company’s services is extremely high regardless of his scary nickname. Now, don’t get confused. Roubini Global Economics isn’t about looking into a crystal ball or just making predictions, it’s about taking a scientific approach to economic analysis. Here’s what the Roubini Global Economics website has to say about The RGE Approach:

Our analytical approach demands a constant probing of the important questions facing the global economy. When considered and debated, these questions lead to breakthrough economic analysis. Each question is formulated from a constellation of topic and region-specific information sources and augmented with opinion from RGE analysts and expert contributors. Together, these elements help you command the fundamentals and identify opportunities and risks throughout the world.

While heavily focused on Economics, Roubini Global Economics is also pretty focused on being a web media company. Their major website used to be RGEMonitor.com, but it appears that they’re making the move to a new site on Roubini.com over the next few weeks. Both sites have job listings (on Roubini.com and on RGEMonitor.com), and there appear to be some opportunities for new grads. All of the job postings for Economic Analysts appear to require a PhD in Econ, but positions like Editor/Web Producer (London), Web Developer (New York), and Account Manager (multiple openings in New York and London) are worth checking out depending on your background and relevant experience. None of the jobs are explicitly entry level, but Roubini Global Economics puts a heavy focus on interns, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they have some entry level positions that aren’t currently posted on their site.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Roubini’s predictions?

Visa

Willy Franzen — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:40:07 +0000

It’s Black Friday! And that means that it times to talk about spending money. In previous years we’ve taken a look at jobs at Amazon.com and Ernst & Young (for companies that are “in the black”). We also look at jobs with SlickDeals, one of the best websites for finding Black Friday deals, a few months ago. Today we’re gong to look at Visa, since it’s hard to do any amount of serious shopping without some sort of debit or credit card. Many people think of Visa, which is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, as a credit card company, but that’s not exactly right. Credit cards are backed by a bank or similar financial institution that actually lends you the money to make your purchases. Visa is “a global payments technology company.” That means that they provide the network for your transactions, but they aren’t actually the lending institution backing your credit card.

Swipe Your Way to A New Job

One thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that payment processors like Visa get a cut of every transaction they enable. It typically comes out to a small percentage of the purchase price—so whether you pay for your lunch or buy a huge tv, the merchant isn’t getting the full amount of the charge. Merchants would make more money per purchase if they only accepted cash, but they’d likely lose a lot of customers that way. Obviously, it’s in Visa’s interest to get as many purchases going across their network as they possibly can. That’s why they’re constantly trying to develop new technologies, products, and services to make it easier to make a purchase using your Visa.

If you’re intrigued by payment processing or just think that Visa is a great brand that you’d like to work for, you should check out both their Careers page and their Campus Recruiting page. There’s a lot of information about jobs at Visa, along with a sections specifically on opportunities for undergraduates. Typically they offer positions in Systems (IT), Operations, and Finance along with a New Graduate Development Program that provides a rotation through the areas of Product, Marketing, Sales, and Strategy. The campus recruiting season for Visa has pretty much passed for undergraduates at this point in the year, but you can use their job search function to find specific opportunities to apply for.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you have a Visa?

The New 42nd Street

Willy Franzen — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 12:11:55 +0000

One of the coolest things about big cities is that they have unique neighborhoods and districts. Small towns are lucky to have one theatre, but New York City has an entire theatre district, which is called 42nd Street. It’s kind of a misnomer, because the whole street isn’t filled with theatrers, but around the area where it intersects with Broadway at Times Square they get pretty dense. Unfortunately, in the 1980s a large swath of 42nd Street became neglected and blighted. With so much great theatrical history there, New York City and New York State got together to found a non-profit organization to revitalize the area. This organization is now known as The New 42nd Street. The organization “oversees the redevelopment of seven historic theaters on 42nd” and operates these three projects: New 42nd Street Studios, The Duke on 42nd Street, and The New Victory Theater.

A Walk Down 42nd Street

It wasn’t all that long ago that Times Square was filled with sex shops, but it truly has become a revitalized area. There has been a lot more behind that story than The New 42nd Street, but you have to give them credit for being part of a movement that has been extremely successful. Their mission was outlined in 1991, and they are a fine example of a non-profit that has made significant progress in achieving what it set out to do:

The mission of The New 42nd Street is clear: it must reinvent life for the seven wonderful theaters under its jurisdiction, and in so doing, recreate them as places of popular art and entertainment for the 21st century and beyond. The theaters must serve as a magnet, providing affordable entertainment for New York City residents and visitors of all ages, races and classes, and they should resound with life both day and night. In order to reanimate the theaters and the street they occupy, imagination and tenacity must be brought to bear.

Because of The New 42nd Street there is now a “nucleus of a new entertainment district for the 21st century.” That doesn’t mean that the organization’s work is done. They still have plenty to achieve—even if the goals have evolved over the years. With those changing goals come the opportunity for jobs with The New 42nd Street. They post those on Idealist, where they currently have a listing for a Finance Associate. They would like someone with some bookkeeping experience, but the requirements aren’t too stiff. You can apply by sending a cover letter with salary requirement and resume to Controller at finance.hr@new42.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

When did you last visit 42nd Street?

Mars

Willy Franzen — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:02:10 +0000

Tomorrow is Halloween, which means that we need to talk about candy today. We’ve already looked at companies like Jelly Belly, The Hershey Company, Charles Chocolates, Vosges, and Just Born Quality Confections. We’ve also discussed jobs at Mars & Co., which is a consulting firm, and not to be confused with Mars, the CPG and candy company. You probably know them best for M&M’s, Snickers, Dove, Milky Way, Twix, and Mars bar; however, they’re also behind Pedigree, Whiskas, Uncle Ben’s, and quite a few other brands. For your sake I hope you only run into the good stuff and not Whiskas or Pedigree during your trick-or-treating. While headquartered in McLean, VA, Mars has locations all across the world. They’re a huge company with a ton of international business, which makes for a great place to gain some experience.

Take a Trip to Mars

It all started in 1911 with butter cream candies in a kitchen in Tacoma, WA. Frank C. Mars and his wife started selling these candies, and now you’d be hard pressed to find a person who has never tasted one of his company’s confections. If you’d like to be part of this true American success story, then you need to check out Mars’ Careers page. They offer a lot of information about their company and what it’s like to work for them, and they even have a separate section for students. It seems that most of the information that they provide is on International careers, but they have a job search function that will let you find what you’re looking for. And since you’re in the trick-or-treating mood, I’m going to leave that up to you—but just so you know, they have job opportunities in areas including Engineering, Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology, Logisitcs, Manufacturing, Marketing, Purchasing, Research & Development, & Sales.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite candy from Mars?

Ladder Up

Willy Franzen — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 12:10:44 +0000

Often people don’t realize what services are available to them. I see this all the time with college students and Career Services offices—the students complain about a lack of help even though they’ve never stepped foot in the office. Another example is students who are having trouble paying for college yet have never applied for the thousands of dollars of scholarships that are available to them. This same thing happens all the time in the world of government programs—people endure hardship because they don’t know that there are programs intended just for them. We often hear that there’s a need for more programs to help the poor, yet programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit are significantly underutilized. Ladder Up is a Chicago based non-profit organization that has “returned $183 million to 100,000 hardworking families” by providing “free, real world financial solutions that maximize earnings and savings.” Whether it’s helping their clients claim a tax credit that they didn’t know about or walking a future college student through the financial aid process, Ladder Up helps people make the most of what’s available to them.

Climb the Ladder Up

Part of the problem with the government is that nothing is ever simple. Whether you’re apply for a government job, filing your taxes, or applying for some sort of government program, it’s always complicated. This means that people who need the most help from the government often don’t even know it’s available. Ladder Up changes this by working directly with their clients to help them “get off the ground and stay there.” When the working poor of Chicago run into problems claiming tax credits or refunds, they can go to Ladder Up for financial consulting advice. It’s a brilliant idea for a non-profit, and it’s apparently extremely effective—according to Ladder Up’s website they return $29 to the community for every $1 that is donated to them. That’s a huge ROI! Now, Ladder Up doesn’t have any jobs posted on Idealist right now; however, there are a couple of internships posted. A little deeper research on LinkedIn told me that Ladder Up does have entry level type positions, even if they may not be hiring right now. If you’re interested in a job with them, your best bet is to reach out to them through their Contact page.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about Ladder Up?

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?

NAVTEQ

Willy Franzen — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:35:14 +0000

Before my fishing trip to Canada last week, I ordered a couple of books from Amazon for some pleasure reading. One of those books was Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us). I bought it on the recommendation of Ben Casnocha, and I have thoroughly enjoyed the first 200 or so pages (I’ll finish it soon). The book has taught me more about driving than I’ll ever want to know, and it also put me on to NAVTEQ. They are headquartered a half mile away from me here in Chicago (with lots of international offices too) and “a world leader in premium-quality digital map data and content.” One of those premium map features is traffic tracking, which is why they were mentioned in the book. By informing drivers with up to date traffic maps in their vehicles, they not only make driving easier for their users, but they’re also mitigating traffic jams in real time by diverting drivers.

Take a Shortcut to a Job with NAVTEQ

NAVTEQ is the trusted supplier of map data for vehicle navigation systems, mobile devices, web sites, fleet management systems, government systems, and more. That means that you’ve almost certainly used NAVTEQ’s maps to navigate somewhere at some point. They’re a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nokia, but they’re pretty big all by themselves—they have more than 4,000 employees across the world. They also appear to do a significant amount of College Recruiting as their College Recruiting page indicates. They have a calendar for all of their on campus recruiting events and they encourage students who can’t attend those events (from any school) to send a résumé to careers-corp9@navteq.com. Their entry level opportunities seem to be focused in two areas: Research & Development and Accounting; however, they’re a huge company that does a lot more than those two things. Their job search function isn’t very good, so I’d recommend sticking with e-mail or an on campus event if you want to work for NAVTEQ. Be sure to check out their links on Why You Should Work at NAVTEQ, NAVTEQ’s Culture, and Employee Testimonials too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you read Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)?

Erwin-Penland

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

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

Take a Trip to Erwin-Penland

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Erwin-Penland?

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?

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?

Triage Consulting Group

Willy Franzen — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:16:16 +0000

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.

Get Yourself in Triage

Ok, that stuff doesn’t sound all that much fun to me, but if you have a mind for numbers and an interest in the healthcare industry, it would be absolutely fascinating work—especially given all the talk about healthcare reform right now. Triage Consulting Group is a relatively small company with somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 employees; however, they’ve been named one of the “Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America” by the SHRM and the Great Place to Work Institute for the last five years. Triage’s Careers site definitely reflects this, as it’s loaded with in-depth information about what it’s like to work for the company. It’s definitely one of the most in-depth Careers sites that I’ve seen. They seem to do most of their recruiting on campus for their entry level Associate position, but they do have a page that allows you to apply online. Unfortunately, it says, “At this time, we are no longer accepting applications. Please check back with us in the summer.”

Well, it’s summer now. Time to pounce. While other candidates are getting discouraged by this notice and waiting around until they’re told to apply, you should jump on this opportunity and see if you can network your way into a job with Triage Consulting Group. That’s the kind of stuff we teach in our “career triage” course, Found Your Career. We’ll leave it up to you how to make the first contact, but I’ll recommend that you start with their company LinkedIn Profile or their team page.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Triage Consulting Group?

kasina

George Tarakhovski — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:48:57 +0000

This is a guest post by George Tarakhovski.

In my experience, consulting has always been one of the top career choices for graduates at my alma mater (Duke). Although the work frequently involves countless hours of engineering multilayered pie charts and histograms in Excel, there are lots of things to like about the profession – great pay, stimulating assignments and lots of client interaction.

For a consulting firm that represents over $8 trillion in assets, kasina’s claim to fame is its expertise in introducing “revolutionary business ideas” to the asset management and insurance industries. kasina, which is based in New York City, is all about practical innovation through unique, trend-defying solutions that keep companies from going stale and losing profitability. Despite sporting an impressive client list, kasina does more than just help corporations stay in business. The team preaches community involvement and is actively involved in non-profit initiatives, including its own youth foundation. To maintain its “culture of learning,” kasina has its team members partake in a book club and post interesting and relevant entries on their blog. Overall, the team culture is fun, communal and non-intimidating. That’s pretty impressive (and unexpected) for a firm that pioneered solutions in hybrid wholesaling, profit-based compensation systems, and behavior-based segmentation.

Ready, Steady, Consult!

So, kasina seems like a pretty cool place full of smart, interesting and well-balanced individuals. Now, how about a job? First, the bad news – there are currently no employment opportunities listed on the website. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply if you feel that the company is a perfect match. (I’ve heard of people who have landed entry level jobs there in the past.) The good news is that kasina has an opening for an internship position. Although the job description is lacking in detail, the recurring theme is that you must be someone who is “obsessed with excellence” and “is ready to think differently and make an immediate impact.” While energy and leadership skills are natural prerequisites, the ideal candidate must also be pursuing a degree from a top-tier college, demonstrate an interest in finance, and be fully proficient in Microsoft Office. Successful interns frequently transition into successful employees, so go brush up on your case studies and get your creative juices flowing.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a consulting superstar?

National Park Service

Willy Franzen — Mon, 25 May 2009 14:37:02 +0000

Memorial Day is one of my favorite holidays—not only because it signifies the start of summer, but also because I love small town patriotism. My hometown always has a fantastic parade that is often accompanied by a fighter jet fly over. Now, today’s employer may not immediately make you think of Memorial Day like last year’s did (it was Weber-Stephen, the manufacturer of my favorite charcoal grills), but you’ll realize pretty quickly why the National Park Service is a great choice for today. Not only are some of the parks that they manage great places to celebrate the Memorial Day weekend outdoors, but they’re also responsible for quite a few memorials including The Marine Corps War Memorial, The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, The Korean War Veterans Memorial, and The World War II Memorial. Memorial Day is really about our fallen heroes, and the National Park Service is constantly working to honor them by maintaining and managing our memorials.

Celebrate Memorial Day All Year Long

If you love Memorial Day as much as I do, then a job with the National Park Service might be something worth thinking about. Whether you love the outdoors and want to be at Yosemite, love history and want to be at Lincoln’s Boyhood Home, or love our country and want to be at one of the memorials, you’ll have plenty of options. The NPS is constantly working to preserve “unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.” So, how do you land a job with them? You can start at the NPS Jobs page (it has some awesome photos from the 70s), but that will dump you into USAJobs.gov—use this link so that you only see jobs posted from the NPS. There are 163 jobs posted right now, and many of them are entry level, so we’re not going to wade through all of them for you, but you should know that the NPS typically hires in the following areas: Administration, Health and Safety, Archeology, History, Architecture, Human Resources, Biological Sciences, Landscape Architecture, Community Planning, Maintenance and Facility Management, Concessions, Natural Resources, Contracting, Park Police, Cultural Resources, Park Ranger (Protection), Engineering, Park Ranger (Interpretation), Financial Management, Park Site Interpretation, Firefighting, Physical Sciences, and Fire Management. That should help you direct your search on the USAJobs.gov site a little better. Applying for government jobs can be tricky, so be sure to pay very close attention to the details before you send in your application.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite National Park/

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?

IMRE

Willy Franzen — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:25:11 +0000

This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association. She is also the entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com, a career expert for the CAREEREALISM Twitter Advice Project, the job search expert for Campus Calm and author of the e-book “Gen Y Meets the Workforce: Launching Your Career During Economic Uncertainty.”

What do financial services, home/building and healthcare have in common? All three fields can expect good things to happen when they “converge” with IMRE, a full service digital, advertising, marketing and public relations agency in Baltimore, Maryland.

Let’s start with their financial services practice. Strategically expanded in July 2008 near the beginning of our country’s economic troubles, IMRE saw an opportunity for “financial services companies to gain market share.” Did you know you can buy wedding insurance from Travelers? IMRE won this client by proposing—no pun intended—to launch a campaign on Valentine’s Day about nuptial nightmares ranging from heart attacks to blackouts to hurricanes. They won the account and reached more than 74 million people with their messages. Like most public relations practitioners, I’m not a numbers person, but I do love weddings!

The “green” market is hot right now, so it makes sense for Arxx Corporation to be included in IMRE’s home & building practice. IMRE “moved Arxx away from a product message and positioned them as a longtime leader in energy-efficient solutions.” Despite being a midsized firm with only one office location, their client list in this practice is impressive—ranging from John Deere to The Home Depot to Target.

Their final practice area is healthcare, which is also my specialty. What I like most about healthcare PR is that you feel like you’re helping people live life to its fullest with every tactic you use to reach them. IMRE’s clients in this sector mostly are nonprofit organizations, including American Red Cross, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Shady Grove Fertility.

Interested in any one of those practice areas? IMRE is extremely open about who heads up each, providing their biographies, fun Q&A’s and e-mail addresses.

Good Things Happen When You Converge with IMRE

IMRE has two entry-level openings right now: a WOM (Word of Mouth) Associate Account Executive and another Associate Account Executive. If social networking is your thing, the WOM AAE position will be right up your alley. IMRE’s ideal candidate for this position? A “dynamic, creative and fun college graduate with a degree in communications or other related field and is an active Internet user who accesses social networks, blogs, forums and consumer reviews on a regular basis.” This person must also be a “self-motivated and detail-oriented team player and can often be found making YouTube videos just for fun.”

The other AAE position sounds a little more “structured” like you would find at a typical agency. IMRE seeks someone “with a degree in communications or related field and one to two years work or internship experience.” Candidates must also have “strong writing skills and be a team player who is results oriented, have an attention to detail, organized and able to juggle multiple priorities.”

Interested? Send your cover letter, résumé, salary requirements and writing samples to jobs@imre.com. Don’t forget to also fill out their job application.

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.

Wayne Hummer Wealth Management

Willy Franzen — Tue, 05 May 2009 14:03:39 +0000

Let’s be honest, as a new or recent college grad, you probably don’t have much wealth to manage. That’s why you’re looking for a job – so that you’ll be rich one day and have somebody else look after your finances. Wait! So, if wealthy people don’t manage their own money, then who does? Wealth management companies, of course. That means that you can get a job managing wealth without having any wealth of your own to manage. Ok, this is starting to sound like some too good to be true scam – my bad. Seriously, though, if you’re smart, have the drive, and are interested in all things financial, a career in wealth management could be worth a shot. Wealth managment is actually a pretty cool field – it pulls from a variety of disciplines that include banking, estate planning, tax advisory, investment management, legal advisory, and, of course, financial planning. If that sounds like something that you might like to do after graduation, then you should check out Wayne Hummer Wealth Management, a Chicago based firm that was founded in 1931.

Manage Your Way to Wealth

It’s hard to differentiate between wealth management firms when you don’t have much inside information to go on, so let’s jump right into entry level jobs with Wayne Hummer Wealth Management. Their Careers page includes a link to a PDF on their Wealth Manager Training and Development Program, which is targeted towards new grads. There’s a ton of information on what the program entails and what areas you’ll “rotate” into. There’s no need for me to repeat it, so check out their Training and Development Program, and if you like what you see, you can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to careers@whummer.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Wayne Hummer Wealth Management?

Wikinvest

Willy Franzen — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 14:38:50 +0000

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).

Wikinvest in Yourself

Some challenge that Wikinvest is inherently flawed because anyone can submit information. You’d think the pump-and-dumpers would be all over it, but the site still appears to be loaded with quality content (and not rife with spam). There’s also the question of why you would want to share good investing information publicly instead of keeping it for yourself and making lots of money. I certainly see the validity in those arguments, but I think that they miss the point of Wikinvest. The point is to learn key concepts and basic information that will allow you to understand more in-depth information that might not be found on the site. For instance, you can’t invest in Corn if you don’t understand the basic concepts behind Corn Prices. Since all new grads should be investing (even if it’s a small amount), Wikinvest is a great resource, but it’s also a place to consider employment. Despite their investment background, most of their jobs are actually on the software/web side. Their Jobs page shows a number of positions that seem geared towards new grads – Software Developer, Web Developer, User Interface Architect, and Flex/Flash Developer. You can apply for any of these jobs by sending a cover letter and resume to jobs@wikinvest.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you using Wikinvest to help you plan for your future?

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?