One Day, One Job » Florida

Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center

Willy Franzen — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:00:37 +0000

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it or not, but I’ve spent the last week in Florida. It’s been a partial vacation, but I’ve spent most of the time working (since it’s been cold and rainy here). One thing that I’ve noticed down here besides the terrible weather and bad driving is that immigration is still a major issue. With Florida’s proximity to Cuba and Haiti, the state runs into a lot of immigration issues. It may be refugees arriving by boat or raft, or it could be immigrants flocking to the state to work in agriculture. Whoever they are and wherever they’re from, they are eligible for support from Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, a non-profit “legal assistance organization dedicated to protecting and promoting the basic human rights of immigrants.” The organization is based in Miami, and they’ve been around since 1996.

Emigrate to Florida

Since being founded, Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center has “closed nearly 75,000 cases and has become a national trendsetter in the immigration field.” That’s an impressive feat! Wherever you stand on the immigration debate, I’m sure that you agree that all people deserve a certain standard of human rights. FIAC is all about ensuring that an appropriate level is maintained for immigrants. Now, if the weather keeps acting like it has been, I don’t know why anyone will want to come to Florida anymore… but seriously, Florida is going to continue to attract immigrants, and that means that FIAC will continue to stay busy. If you’re interested in being a part of what they do, check out their Jobs page. Right now they’re looking for a Development & Communications Specialist. The position looks perfect for a new grad, and you can apply by sending a résumé and cover letter to info@fiacfla.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s with Florida’s weather?

MMG Mardiks

Willy Franzen — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 16:01:57 +0000

Yesterday I mentioned that I hopped on a plane on Saturday. My destination was Aruba. I’m here now, and I’m enjoying 90 degree temperatures, lots of sunshine, beach volleyball, and hopefully some excellent fishing opportunities. It’s not hard to be convinced to head for a tropical destination in December, but choosing the right place can be a tough decision. That’s why it’s no big surprise that resorts and tourism boards invest a lot in public relations. Competition for tourist dollars is fierce, so firms like New York City based MMG Mardiks are often in high demand. They work with names like the Colorado Tourism Office, Sarasota and Her Islands, Hertz, Regent Hotels & Resorts, and The Renaissance Aruba Resort & Casino (not where I’m staying). MMG Mardiks also has locations in Kansas City, Ft. Collins, St Louis, and South Florida, which probably allows them to better serve clients in various locations.

Travel Public Relations with MMG Mardiks

Travel public relations and communications seems like a pretty cool field, and MMG Mardiks does it all. They provide “expert strategic counsel in traditional and digital media relations, branding, event marketing and crisis communications.” If you’d like to get beyond the buzz words and see some actual work that MMG Mardiks has done, you need to look no further than their case studies. You’ll get a good feel for how they operate and what kind of placement they can achieve for their clients. If the idea of working in Travel PR excites you, then take a look at MMG Mardiks’ Jobs page. They don’t have any specific openings for new grads posted, but they do invite applicants to reach out by e-mailing a cover letter, résumé, and salary requirement to Carla Brown at cbrown@mmgworldwide.com. I’ve heard that their internship program is excellent with real work opportunities that lead to full-time employment and that the company employs a lot of people in their 20s. Additionally employees get to travel to great places relatively often, so maybe you’ll get to make a trip to Aruba too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of MMG Mardiks’ clients do you most want to visit?

Uline

Willy Franzen — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:49:51 +0000

I love boring businesses. It may not seem like it considering the fact that I’m often featuring startups that are on the cutting edge of technology, but I really do appreciate when a company is able to take an extremely simple idea and make it profitable. Uline is a perfect example. They are a Waukegan, IL based company that considers itself “the leading distributor of shipping, industrial, and packing materials to businesses throughout North America.” It all started in 1980 when Liz and Dick Uihlein identified a need for a local shipping supplies distributer. They started the business in their basement with the H-101 carton sizer, and now they have a product line that fills a 452 page catalog. That’s a lot of growth, and I expect it to continue as e-commerce and the shipping that results from it keep expanding (I have about a dozen boxes in my apartment from various holiday season shipments). And if for some reason the shipping business does slow down, Uline can always reorganize as a producer of forts for children—I always loved playing in cardboard boxes.

Box It Up

Now, if you give Uline a closer look, there are some striking similarities between their business and our favorite fictional employer, Dunder Mifflin. They’re both customer service oriented companies that provide businesses with essential supplies; however, I’m going to make a wild guess that the similarities between Uline and Dunder Mifflin end there. Companies with dysfunctional leadership don’t have sustained growth, and Uline is growing so much that they broke ground on a new Pleasant Prairie, WI corporate headquarters last Fall. With that growth comes jobs, or American jobs as Uline likes to call them. If you take a look at Uline’s Jobs page, you’ll see that they have opportunities in Ontario, CA (that’s California, not Canada—I know it’s confusing); Toronto, Canada; Duluth, GA; Waukegan, IL; Tijuana, Mexico; Eagan, MN; Allentown, PA; Coppell, TX; and Seattle, WA. Positions that might be suitable for new or recent grads include Account Rep (Ontario, CA), Administrative Assistant (Toronto, CA), Customer Service Representative (Toronto, CA), Account Rep (Toronto, CA), Accounts Receivable Clerk (Toronto, CA), Account Rep (South Florida / Duluth, GA), Computer Operator / Help Line Technician (Waukegan, IL), .NET Web Developer (Waukegan, IL), Internet Marketing Associate (Waukegan, IL), Desktop Technician (Gurnee, IL), Account Rep (Eagan, MN), Account Rep (Iowa / Eagan, MN), Account Rep (NYC / Breinigsville, PA), Account Rep (Pittsburgh, PA / Breinigsville, PA), and Account Rep (Dallas – Ft. Worth, TX / Coppell, TX). You can apply online for any of these positions, just don’t try delivering yourself in a box to their corporate headquarters. That would be weird.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Uline?

Grooveshark

Willy Franzen — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:56:47 +0000

When’s the last time you bought a music CD? For me it has to have been something like 5 years ago. Oddly enough, in the glory days of online file sharing when Napster and then AudioGalaxy were around, I was buying lots of CDs. Not anymore. Now that downloading songs is kind of risky (unless your Dad is a good defense lawyer), a lot of people have moved to listening to music through web apps. Some use YouTube. Others use Pandora or Last.fm. Then there’s Grooveshark. They’re a Gainesville, FL company that was started by University of Florida students, and they let you listen to music online for free. They still have some intellectual property issues to work out, and their business model could use some refining, but they’ve grown to 40 employees and their user bases is trending nicely upwards. If you want to be part of a startup that could change the way the music industry works, this might be the place.

Get Your Groove On

Grooveshark’s business model has already changed a few times, but right now they’re an ad supported free service with a premium subscription option to remove ads and get some other extra features. They’re apparently in negotiations with a number of major record labels to make sure things are on the up and up, so that might lead to some more changes. What Grooveshark does is pretty simple at the consumer level, but there are a ton of complexities that lie under the surface. If this sounds like the kind of place where you want to get your start, then check out Jobs at Grooveshark. Their current job openings include Web Developer, Java Developer, and Database Engineer. Right now they’re heavy on tech positions, but if you take a look at their team you’ll see what other kind of job opportunities might be available in the future at Grooveshark. You can apply through e-mail to jobs@grooveshark.com, but be sure that you read the job descriptions closely first. They have very specific application requirements for each position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Grooveshark to listen to music?

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?

Public Allies

Willy Franzen — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:30:23 +0000

I happen to work with someone who knows a thing or two about leadership development. We’ve already developed one product to help future leaders land a job, and we have more in the pipeline. That’s why Public Allies caught my interest when a friend recently told me that they are hiring. They’re a Milwaukee, WI based non-profit that aims to “advance new leadership to strengthen communities, nonprofits and civic participation.” They do this in three ways: putting diverse young adults through a paid full-time nonprofit apprenticeships, engaging and growing an alumni network of diverse leaders, and helping leaders and organizations better harness the assets of diverse teams and communities through training and consulting programs.

Join the Allies

By holding “the conviction that everyone leads,” Public Allies is creating a permanent network of leaders who are committed to a concerted effort to initiate positive change. They’re doing this where they’re headquarted in Milwaukee as well as in Phoenix, AZ; Chicago, IL, Cincinnati, OH; Bridgeport, CT; Wilmington, DE; Estes Park, CO; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; Albuquerque, NM; New York, NY; Durham, NC; Pittsburgh, PA; San Antonio, TX; and Milpitas, CA. Their Ally Program is the first thing that may interest you. It’s a 10-month full-time Americorps apprenticeship that puts you to work at a non-profit in your community. You can check out the application and eligibility requirements here. Beyond this program, Public Allies also has a number of job openings. They’re not necessarily entry level, but the following positions (all located in Chicago, IL) might be worth looking at: Program Support Coordinator, Program Director, and Program Manager / Leadership Series Coordinator. You can find specific application information on the individual job postings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever heard of Public Allies?

The Bradford Group

Willy Franzen — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 15:01:05 +0000

I’ve done it. I’ve found the most ridiculous looking corporate website on the web. It has an animated moving background and multiple bouncing balloon/blimp logos that make it look like it’s straight out of the Imagination Land episode of South Park. It may be a little hokey, but it works for Niles, IL (right outside of Chicago) based The Bradford Group because they’re in the collectibles industry. Their customers aren’t concerned with flash and edginess, they’re all about sentimentality. When you’ve been doing direct marketing of collector plates, music boxes, and all kinds of commemorative items for 36 years, you probably know your audience. So, even though The Bradford Group’s web design leaves me laughing out loud, I’m not going to sell them short based on my taste as a non-collector. (And if you totally disagree with me and love the design, you can make it your computer’s background.)

Take a Balloon Ride

The Bradford Group has a wide variety of brands that fill different niches in the collectibles market. They have The Bradford Exchange, which is all about “limited-edition collector plates”, and there’s also Hawthorne Village, which focuses on “finely crafted collectible villages, electric trains, figurines and accessories.” There are also 9 more brands that market items like sports collectibles, ornaments, and diecast cars and trucks. It’s a business that I know nearly nothing about, but it sounds like it has a lot in common with MBI Inc., whose jobs we featured here a few months ago. Beyond having similar businesses, they also both seem to have a huge interest in entry level talent and recruiting in general. The Bradford Group’s website is plastered with links promoting their jobs, including a special section for College Recruiting. They seem to do a good amount of on-campus recruiting for positions like Direct Marketing Associate and Product Development Associate, and you can take a look at what kind of positions they currently have available here. They also have a call for freelance artists posted on their site. The current job postings seem to be more focused on interns than entry level, but there’s no reason that you shouldn’t try reaching out to them and finding out more about career options at The Bradford Group. Also, don’t forget to take an online tour of The Bradford Group’s headquarters, it looks pretty neat.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you collect?

Fleishman-Hillard

Willy Franzen — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:57:25 +0000

This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association and entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com.

When I was in college, I wanted nothing more than to work at Fleishman-Hillard. Renowned for their corporate culture, Fleishman-Hillard is headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., has 80 offices throughout the world, does business in more than 20 languages and has 29 practices areas. In 2008, the firm’s work and culture earned them the “Best Agency to Work For” by The Holmes Report. But their list of awards hardly stops there, including “103 Silver Anvil Awards, 90 CIPRA/SABRE Awards, and numerous other national and international awards.”

And Fleishman-Hillard doesn’t just win awards outside the organization, but also with its own employees. In 2007, 98 percent of Fleishman-Hillard employees called the firm an organization “of which they can be proud,” according to an employee satisfaction survey. Fleishman-Hillard rewards their employees in return, giving out two awards annually – the “team player” and John D. Graham – recognizing “individuals in various geographic regions for unparalleled commitment to the client, the agency and their team.” Managers also give awards at their discretion for “their heroic efforts.” I’ve known many individuals who’ve worked for Fleishman-Hillard over the years, including one of my college mentors, and I’ve heard nothing but good things.

Be Rewarded at an Award-Winning Agency

Fleishman-Hillard is currently seeking a Coordinator in its Boston office. (Fleishman-Hillard also has offices in Atlanta, GA; Austin, TX; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; Kansas City, MO; London, England; Los Angeles, CA; Melbourne, Australia; Miami, FL; Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN; Montreal, Canada; New York, NY; Potland, OR; Raleigh-Durham, NC; Sacramento, CA; San Antonio, TX; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; St. Louis, MO; Sydney, Australia; Toronto, Canada, and Washington, D.C.) This position is a mix of “traditional” and “new” public relations in a large agency setting. Beyond administrative and office duties, the Account Assistant also conducts media relations, media monitoring and reporting, research and other junior-level account activities. The best way to land this position is to have had a prior agency internship while in college, preferably with Fleishman-Hillard itself or another large agency.

Interested? Apply for the job online here. Even though the position is in Boston, much of the recruitment process originates in the St. Louis office. I recommend reading their blog, Stand Out, and the biographies of some of the folks in charge of talent development.

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.

Sunbelt Software

Willy Franzen — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:08:59 +0000

As you may or may not know, I’m an Apple guy; in fact, I’ve been an Apple guy for close to 20 years (I’m 24). I’ve watched the Microsoft vs. Apple rivalry unfold over the years, and even though the rivalry isn’t nearly as bitter as it used to be, I still enjoy taking jabs at Microsoft whenever I get a chance. You can call it a character flaw if you want. Anyway, the reason that I bring this up is that over the years, Microsoft has enabled a cottage industry (and by cottage I mean insanely huge) for people and companies who fix their products. The antivirus industry alone is worth billions of dollars, and that’s just one example. That’s where Clearwater, FL based Sunbelt Software comes in. They’re an antivirus software company that has Microsoft to thank for much of their success. They’ve been around since 1994 and they’re a member of the Inc. 5000. Seriously, they need to send Microsoft some sort of thank you gift.

Take a Trip to the Sunbelt

I know that those of you who aren’t into software are probably getting sick of hearing about all of the software related jobs are available, but that’s what the job market looks like. Software development skills are still in extremely high demand, and many of the people who are landing jobs are landing those jobs because of their software skills. Luckily, Sunbelt Software’s jobs aren’t exclusively software related, but most of their opportunities require strong programming skills. The cool thing about these jobs is that they’re different from many of the other software jobs out there. The job titles say it all: Junior Malware Researcher and Malware Removal Specialist. Those aren’t your typical software jobs. Other seemingly entry level openings include: Business Support, Software Developer, Office Administrator, Consumer Technical Support, and Data Mining Researcher (not a programming job). If working for one of Tampa Bay’s Best Places to Work sounds good to you, then you can apply by sending your resume in Microsoft Word or plain text format to hr@sunbelt-software.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you think that I’m too harsh on Microsoft?

Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Willy Franzen — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 14:08:43 +0000

I always say that when it comes to ad agencies, marketing companies, and PR firms, the best way to evaluate the company is to check out their client list and look at the work that the company has done. It’s not going to tell you everything that you need to know, but it’ll give you a solid idea whether or not the company is a place that you might want to work. If you want to work with big brands who are willing to take big risks with their advertising campaigns, then Crispin Porter + Bogusky might be the place for you. The Subservient Chicken is one of their more successful campaigns that started out virally, while the Microsoft campaign with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld was one of their well-publicized flops. CP+B is headquartered in Miami, FL, while they also have major locations in Boulder, CO; Los Angeles, CA; and London, UK. Their client list sits at the bottom of every page on their website – probably because it is so impressive.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky = A Job for You?

The brands that Crispin Porter + Bogusky have worked with are unparalleled, so if that’s what gets you excited, keep reading. Here’s what CP+B has to say about what they do:

We’re a factory. A factory that makes advertising and branded creative content. But there is no assemly line. All the work is custom desgined and assembled by hand. We don’t have the luxury of knowing the product we build today will be exactly like the product we built yesterday. To be successful, we have to apporach every single day like it will be our defining moment. Because that’s reality.

They’re clearly a company that knows how to tell stories – their own and their clients’. My only issue with Crispin Porter + Bogusky is that their site is in all Flash, so it’s impossible for me to link to all of the interesting things on their website. They might want to work on that. So how can you land a job at CP+B? You can start by checking out their Employment page. It consists of a list of areas that they typically hire for – Creative, Integrated Production, Interactive Creative, Interactive Development, Content Management, Cultural and Business Insights, Productions Solutions, Creative Content Distribution, and Factory Support – with e-mail addresses to apply to. There are no specific job descriptions or anything like that. There is, however, an online version of Crispin Porter + Bougsky’s Employee Handbook, which will give you an inside peek at what it’s like to work for them. You should note that Crispin Porter + Bogusky recently laid off 6% of their staff, so getting a job may not be easy. There is hope though, because they have a 4 jobs posted on TechCrunch’s Job Board. Maybe they’ll be replacing the people that they laid off with cheaper entry level talent.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s work?

Scottrade

Willy Franzen — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:58:44 +0000

After I graduated from college, I decided to take a responsible approach to my personal finances (I wish I had taken the same approach to my job search, but I didn’t, which is why I’m here teaching you how not to be a loser like I was). It took me a while to get my act together, but once I did I started investing in the stock market through Scottrade, an online discount brokerage company that is headquartered in St. Louis, MO. (And before I go on with more information about Scottrade’s jobs, I need to give Ramit Sethi’s book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, a plug because it just came out and is the best personal finance resource for young people that I’ve come across.) So, Scottrade allows me to buy and sell stocks at 7 bucks a pop. They also have a solid web interface that gives you access to all kinds of information, and they have 399 branches with helpful employees to answer you questions and get your accounts opened. If you’re interested in opening an account with Scottrade, let me know at willy@onedayonejob.com and I can give you a link that gets us both free trades. If you’re interested in working for Scottrade, keep reading, duh!

Trade Up to an Entry Level Job with Scottrade

Now, you may be thinking, “Ummm… Willy, the stock market sucks right now, why would I want to get involved with that business?” There are quite a few reasons. First of all, Scottrade is growing at an excellent rate, which is why they were included in the Inc. 5000. Second of all, they’re not one of these big banks that is on the edge of failure. They’re a discount brokerage that focuses on customer satisfaction, not playing with money in risky ways. Third of all, they’ve been named one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. Oh yeah, and the 4th reason is that they are hiring at the entry level. They do some college recruiting, but they also post plenty of positions on their Jobs site.

Jobs at Scottrade’s St. Louis headquarters that might interest new grads include IT Web Architect, Business Analyst, Business Analyst Specialist, and quite a few more – especially in the IT/Software Development Areas. Additionally Scottrade has jobs at its brokerages across the country. The Stockbroker position seems most appropriate for new grads, and you can do it almost anywhere – St. Louis, MO; Richmond, VA; Miami, FL; Oakland, CA; Greenville, SC; Albany, NY; Aventura, FL; Bloomington, IL; Boca Raton, FL; Castro Valley, CA; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Lafayette, LA; Midvale, UT; Ocala, FL; Parsippany, NJ; Redding, CA; San Antonio, TX; Santa Rosa, CA; Scottsdale, AZ; St. Cloud, MN; Yoba Linda, CA; Redding, CA, and probably a lot more places in the future.

You can apply for all of the jobs online on Scottrade’s Jobs site.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you invest? Do you use Scottrade?

22squared

Willy Franzen — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:21:36 +0000

How do you feel about the intersection of friendship and marketing? I know that a lot people weren’t happy when Facebook Beacon started telling their friends what they were buying from other sites, and I also know that nobody wants their friends to go salesman on them (like with Cutco knives); however, word of mouth marketing remains one of the most effective vehicles to reach people with a message. That’s because we still seem to trust our friends the most when it comes to making purchasing decisions. But can brands become our friends? According to 22squared, a marketing agency based out of Atlanta, GA and Tampa, FL, “consumers want brands that act more like helpful friends than persuasive marketers.” I think that’s right, but it still sounds a little weird to me. Maybe we should look at Facebook again for the answer. Plenty of people are “Fans” of brands (like ours), which is very much like being Facebook Friends with them.

What’s the Big Deal About 484?

I don’t know where they got the name 22squared, but Google tells me that 22 squared = 484. I’m not sure what to make of that, so let’s get back to talking about how 22squared thinks that “the consumer is your friend.” They’ve actually developed a metric to judge how friendly brands are. You can calculate it like this:

Strength of Relationship + Number of Advocates + Maturity of Relationship = Friendship Factor %

I’m not sure where you get the inputs from, but if you click “The Work” link on 22squared’s Home page (I can’t link because it’s in Flash) and click through the pages, you’ll see the scores of many well recognized brands. Usually you need to divide by something to get a percentage, so I don’t know what this is all about, but I’d love to hear the science behind it. I wonder what One Day, One Job’s Friendship Factor % is. I’d like to think that we’re a pretty friendly brand.

Anyway, if I want to keep your friendship, I need to get to the jobs. Right now, 22squared’s Jobs page (which I can link to) only has one job opening posted. It’s for a Flash Developer in their Atlanta, GA office. Considering what a nice job they’ve done with their own site’s Flash (even if you can’t link to anything and it’s not search engine optimized), I bet this is a pretty cool job. If you don’t have Flash skills, don’t worry. 22squared also lists an HR contact (signe.garnitz@22squared.com) to whom you can send a resume and cover letter – presumably for unlisted positions. 22squared offers internships in Account Management, Media, Creative, Brand Planning, Digital/Interactive (Creative and Media), Broadcast Production, Studio, Information Technology, and Human Resources, so those might be areas that they also hire at the entry level. I can’t promise anything, but it’s worth checking out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How do you feel about brands as friends?

SPARTA

Willy Franzen — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:57:37 +0000

Usually when I’m looking at the job requirements to determine whether a position is suitable for new college grads, I’m looking at things like education, experience, skills, and job functions. It’s not often that I’m thinking about security clearance, but at today’s company, SPARTA, it’s essential for most of their positions. (Now, don’t worry if you don’t already have Top Secret Clearance, they still might have jobs for you as long as you didn’t get into too much trouble during your college years or before.) The reason that there’s all this talk about clearance is that SPARTA is a company whose “core business areas include strategic defense and offense systems, tactical weapons systems, and space systems” and whose “major intelligence credentials include intelligence production, computer network operations, and information assurance.”

This Is SPARTA

If you’ve spent your time in college attending peace protests, then SPARTA probably isn’t for you, but if you have a hard science or engineering background that you’d like to put to practical use, then you’ll be fascinated by the job titles that SPARTA is hiring for. Current openings include Weapons Effects Analyst, Cyberspace Analyst, and WMD Engineer (don’t worry, this job is about “supporting national efforts in developing, integrating and synchronizing capabilities to combat weapons of mass destruction”). These aren’t SPARTA’s entry level jobs, but they demonstrate what kind of projects the company is working on. They have more than 100 jobs listed right now, and quite a few of the opportunities actually are entry level. These include Integration Engineer, Software Engineer, Systems Engineer, and Linux/Unix Software Engineer. These are the only jobs that are identified as entry level, but you should definitely check out the rest of their job listings. You can apply online, and SPARTA has locations that include Arlington, VA; Aurora, CO; Bel Air, MD; Bellevue, NE; Billerica, MA; Centreville, VA; Colorado Springs, CO; Columbia, MD; El Segundo, CA; Huntsville, AL; Laguna Hills, CA; Lake Forest, CA; Nashua, NH; Newport News, VA; Orlando, FL; San Diego, CA; and Sunnyvale, CA.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you fascinated by SPARTA’s job titles?

Research In Motion

Willy Franzen — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:21:42 +0000

I’m an iPhone guy, so I tend to feel sorry for people who are constantly thumbing away on their BlackBerries. That’s just my being a smug Apple user though. I realize that a lot of people love their BlackBerries and for good reason. They’re pretty remarkable devices, and they’re perfectly tailored for business use. (Although not as perfectly tailored as my iPhone! Ok, I’m done.) That’s why Research In Motion, the company that makes BlackBerries, has a 16.6% share of the smartphone market. They seem to have hit a bit of a rough spot lately (at least their stock price makes it look like they have), but their market position is still very strong. That’s why it’s no surprise that they’re doing a good amount of entry level hiring; however, the real reason that I wanted to feature Research In Motion here is that they chose an unfortunate, yet inappropriately hilarious domain name for their Jobs site (it redirects now, but I think that you can figure it out).

Jobs at RIM

RIM’s description of what they do is pretty complex:

Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, text messaging (SMS and MMS), Internet and intranet-based applications.

However, I think that you can put it pretty simply by saying that they make BlackBerries. I’m sure that there’s a lot more that they do on the technology side, but it seems that smartphones are their bread and butter. They’re a big company, so it’s no surprise that their Careers site has a special section for students. You can get all of the details on RIM’s Student Hiring Program here, and then you can search their job postings for positions specific to your interests. Their job search function is very flexible, and it allows you to select jobs specifically for new grads.

Right now there are 25 of those opportunities available in a variety of world locations and business areas. They include: Hardware Engineering Designer (Waterloo, Canada), Java Software Developer (Ottawa or Waterloo, Canada), Financial Analyst (Waterloo, Canada), Technical Writer (Waterloo, Canada), Embedded Systems Software Developer (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Graphics Software Developer – Advanced Rendering Applications (Waterloo, Canada), Embedded Software Developer (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Multimedia System Specialist (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Communications Specialist (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Mobile Phone Safety Test Specialist (Waterloo, Canada), 3GPP Compliance Specialist (Waterloo, Canada), Software Development Support Specialist (Waterloo and Mississauga, Canada), Database Developer – BlackBerry Infrastructure (Waterloo, CA), Project Coordinator (Waterloo, Canada), Software Test Specialist (Waterloo, Canada), Project Coordinator – Accessories (Waterloo, Canada), Carrier Technical Manager (Kansas City, KS), Systems Engineering Specialist – M&D (Mississauga, CA), Systems Engineering Specialist – Provisioning (Mississauga, CA), Protocol Stack Developer (Bochum, Germany), Systems Engineer (Irving, TX), Software Testing Specialist (Waterloo, Canada), Requirements Manager (Waterloo, Canada), and ISP Engineer (Waterloo, Canada).

You can apply for all of these jobs online from the job listings that you’ll find through the search function. Be wary though, because when you view a job listing and then hit the back button to get back to your search, you’ll have to reenter your search to get the results that you want.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you have a BlackBerry?

Red Ventures

Willy Franzen — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:37:14 +0000

Just by looking at their name, you can tell that Red Ventures was founded after the Cold War ended. Their name may sound like a secret name for the Communist party, but their 3 year revenue growth of almost 6,000% is anything but Marxist. They’re taking advantage of the free market as one of the 25 fastest growing privately held companies in the country according to Inc. Magazine. They’re in the business of Customer Acquisition Marketing, and they work specifically in the areas of Home Services, Consumer Services, Business Services, Automotive, Home Remodeling, Financial Services, Education, and International (help us with reader acquisition, and enter to win an iPod Touch from us). With their rapid growth they seem to keep adding employees, and their benefits look way better than Socialism could ever offer.

Go Red

In a lot of ways, Red Ventures looks like many other interactive marketing agencies, but they’ve taken a very different approach to their business. Instead of having clients pay them to do their with marketing, Red Ventures has taken on the role of a dealer instead of an agency. That means that they actually sell the products of their clients, but they use their own in-house agency to do all of the marketing work. It’s a cool business model, and it opens Red Ventures up to both the risks and rewards of customer acquisition. They may forgo the safety of steady income from clients, but they see all of the upside when they hit one out of the park. Founders Ric Elias and Dan Feldstein started Red Ventures with the goal of building a company that they’d want to work for, and now, hopefully, it’s a company that you want to work for.

They have quite a few job openings at their Charlotte, NC, and many of them look like great opportunities for new and recent college graduates. These include SEO Specialist, Software Developer/Business Analyst, Paid Search Marketing Analyst, and Workforce Operations Analyst. There’s also an
Entry Level Regional Field Sales Representative or the Northern California region.

Red Ventures also has quite a few Sales jobs, but we’re not sure that they’re the types of jobs that our readers will be interested. Some examples are Inside Sales Professional, Advertising Sales Representative, Inside Sales Security Consultant, and Bilingual (English/French-Canadian) Security Choice Sales Consultant. They also have opportunities in Miami, FL; Dallas, TX; New York, NY; San Juan, PR; and Guatemala City, Guatemala. You can find more jobs like these along with all of Red Ventures jobs listings on their Careers page, and you can apply through their online application form. They provide a ton of information about what it’s like to work for them on their website, so be sure to check out the links below.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Major League Baseball

Willy Franzen — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:51:01 +0000

I never thought that moving to Chicago would prolong the baseball season for me. Living in the New York City area gave me 13 straight years of October baseball, and now that I’ve left, both Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium will remain empty for the rest of the fall before they eventually face demolition. It’s lucky for me that I’m now living in a new city that happens to have two teams that are still in it. I get a 14th straight year of local baseball in October! Playoff baseball is by far the most exciting baseball of the year, but it also means that season will soon be over. Those of you who are baseball fans know how long the winter seems when there is only hot stove chatter to keep you entertained while you wait for pitchers and catchers to report to Spring Training. While you’re still excited about baseball, you should start thinking about how you can land a job with Major League Baseball. Jobs with the MLB are in hot demand, so it’s a smart move to get familiar with their hiring process as soon as you can.

Take Me Out to an Entry Level Job

As far as we can tell, there are 2 ways to get jobs in Major League Baseball – there are jobs with MLB.com and jobs with specific MLB teams. There also seem to be jobs directly with the league (I have a friend on Facebook who is a member of the Major League Baseball network), but I’m not sure how you can go about finding them online. Here’s a rundown of the two types of jobs that we’ve found and how you can apply for them.

MLB.com Jobs

MLB.com is part of MLB Advanced Media, which is a separate arm of Major League Baseball. They run all 30 team websites and allegedly have editorial independence from the league. Their focus is entirely on multimedia and production, but they offer all kinds of jobs. Right now, the only openings that may be suited to new college grads (and are still a stretch) are in Database Marketing and Marketing Production. MLB.com offers internships in Finance, Marketing, Club Marketing, E-Commerce, Legal, Technology, Sponsorship, Design, and Public Relations, so there are a number of areas in which jobs with MLB.com can pop up periodically. These jobs are located in New York City, and you can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to jlc@mlb.com.

Jobs with MLB Teams

There’s a separate site where you can search for jobs with all of the Major League Baseball teams. This is where the MLB follows the lead of other major sports leagues do and uses TeamWorkOnline to post their jobs. Right now there are listings from most of the teams (although only some are entry level), but this will probably change over time, as different teams have different hiring schedules. If you’re waiting to hear about jobs with a specific team, you can sign up for Job Notification e-mails or you can subscribe to the MLB Teams Jobs RSS Feed. There is an online application process for jobs with MLB teams, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to navigate.

The TeamWorkOnline site also lists some jobs with MLB Networks, so it’s possible that this is where they post opportunities with the league as they become available. We’re not sure about this, but we can’t find anywhere else that MLB jobs are posted. If you know anything about Major League Baseball’s hiring process, we’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Who do you think is going to win the World Series?

Tishman Speyer

Willy Franzen — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:09:49 +0000

A lot of you probably started college with a strong interest in real estate. It’s understandable if much of that interest has evaporated as a result of the direction that the real estate market has taken over the last two years. New York real estate seemed to be the last bastion of hope, but with the fall of some major investment banks and a lot of fear on Wall Street, even that seemingly unstoppable market is starting to slow down. Still, if anyone can weather this storm, it’s hopefully the firm that did the biggest real estate deal in US history (the purchase of Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village for $5.4 billion). The firm behind that deal is Tishman Speyer, and even they seem to be struggling a bit as of late. Still, they make moves with the long-term in mind, and they’re prepared (both mentally and financially) to take a short term hit. Real estate isn’t the hot place for careers right now, but it’s still a field that is loaded with opportunity. There will always be people making money off of real estate deals, and there’s no better place to learn how to do that than Tishman Speyer.

Don’t Give Up on Real Estate

A look at Tishman Speyer’s properties tells you everything that you need to know about the firm. Just look at what they own in New York City or London. If that doesn’t make you drool at the prospect of landing a job at Tishman Speyer, we don’t know what will. We can’t access Tishman Speyer’s job listings, but that doesn’t really matter. They have a separate page for their Analyst Program that is directed towards developing “the next generation of real estate professionals for the company.” That means that they’re looking to hire new college graduates, and a few quick Google searches confirms that they’re still making their campus recruiting visits despite the economic conditions. They aim to do interviews in October and November, so now is the perfect time to apply for a job with them.

Tishman Speyer seems to do most of its entry level hiring through on campus recruiting, but they don’t provide a list of campuses that they are visiting. That means that you’ll have to check with your career services office to find out if Tishman Speyer is coming. If they aren’t visiting your campus (or if you missed them), you can send a cover letter, transcript, and resume to Eleonora Rabinovich at erabin-recruiting@tishmanspeyer.com. We’re not sure which locations they put in Analysts in, but Tishamn Speyer is headquartered in New York City with domestic offices in Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; Orange County, CA; Stamford, CT; San Francisco, CA; and Washington, DC. They also have 18 international locations.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you still considering a job in real estate or are you staying away?

National Audubon Society

Willy Franzen — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 13:28:48 +0000

John James Audubon painted birds. His seminal work, Birds of America, was a collection of 435 life-size prints. To this day, when you hear the name Audubon, you think of birds. Interestingly enough, John James Audubon had no direct involvement with the founding of the National Audubon Society. Audubon’s widow, Lucy, tutored a man named George Bird Grinnell and some of Audubon’s love of birds must have rubbed off, as Grinnell was one of the Audubon Society’s founders. To this day, the Audubon Society persists in its mission “to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.” The Audubon Society works to achieve this mission through a national network of community-based nature centers and chapters and scientific, educational, and advocacy programs.

These Jobs Are for the Birds

The National Audubon Society has a long list of current job openings in locations all across the country. We scanned over them, and identified all the jobs that don’t list experience requirements for you. The Audubon does a very good job of identifying their desired experience level for each position, so you should be pretty confident that these jobs can be considered entry-level.

There are also quite a few jobs listed that require 2 to 3 years of experience. These may be worth a look, since many of them seem like they could be filled by competent new college grads, but we’ll let you go find them on Audubon’s Jobs page. We should also warn you that one job listing says that the start date is in 2006. We hope that this is a result of a careless copy-paste job, but we have no way of knowing how recently all of these jobs were posted. We couldn’t find much information on what it’s like to work for Audubon, but it probably varies widely depending on location. If you’re a birder, and you’re looking for non-profit work, figure out which of the above jobs you like the best and send your cover letter and resume to HumanResources@audubon.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite bird? We like birds of prey like hawks, eagles, and falcons.

Brunswick

Willy Franzen — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:18:33 +0000

Bowling, billiards, and boating – sounds more like plans for retirement than what you’ll be doing after you graduate, right? Not if you end up working for Brunswick. They’re a company that has been in a lot of businesses since John Brunswick started the Cincinnati Carriage Making Company in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1854. They’ve added and dropped many product lines, even over the last 10 or 15 years, but recently they’ve settled on marine engines, pleasure boats, fitness equipment, bowling, and billiards. These groups of products aren’t necessarily related, but they’ve proved to be the most profitable for Brunswick over the years.

Not Quite Early Retirement

Brunswick may be in the business of producing great leisure products, but that it’s all fun and games. Brunswick has to work hard to be the best in the industries that they have stuck with, and they’re looking for lots of college students to help keep up the tradition. The Brunswick website is very easy to navigate, so you should have no problem finding all the relevant information that you need for your job search.

The first thing that you might notice when you look at Brunswick’s Careers page is their Financial Leadership Development Program. It’s a rotational program for new college grads who have a background in accounting, finance, business administration or other quantitative fields of study. Participants get to work in General Accounting and Reporting, Manufacturing and Product Cost Accounting, Financial Planning and Analysis, Financial Information Systems, Treasury, and Audit and Corporate Governance. Assignments can be at Brunswick Bowling & Billiards (Lake Forest, IL; Bristol, WI; Muskegon, MI), Brunswick Corporate (Lake Forest, IL); Brunswick Boat Group (Knoxville, TN; New Bern, NC; Lowell, MI; and Various Florida Locations), Life Fitness (Chicago, IL); Mercury Marine (Fond du Lac, WI; Charleston, SC; Stillwater, OK), Sea Ray (Knoxville, TN and Various Florida Locations), and US Marine (Seattle, WA). The online application for the Financial Leadership Development Program doesn’t seem to be working, so we recommend that you send your cover letter, resume, and transcript to:

Brunswick Corporation
Attn: Human Resources – FLDP
1 North Field Court
Lake Forest, Illinois 60045

That’s the first option for new grads at Brunswick, and it offers quite a bit of variety, but there are more entry-level jobs available for those who don’t have the Finance background.

More Options for New Grads at Brunswick

The rest of Brunswick’s job opportunities for new grads can be found by searching their Open Salaried Positions. If you leave the search box blank, you’ll get a listing of all current job opportunities. From here you can browse the listings that include job title, location, and brand. Any job that doesn’t have “Senior,” “Supervisor,” or “Manager” in its title has a high likelihood of being a good fit for entry-level candidates, so take a look and see what you come up with. The jobs tend to be in the same locations and with the same brands that we mentioned when talking about the Financial Leadership Development Program; however, most of the jobs are for grads with a background in Engineering. There are a few exceptions, so students with all backgrounds who are interested in Brunswick’s core businesses should take a look at what’s available.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Brunswick’s brands is your favorite?

NHL Teams

Willy Franzen — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 13:47:20 +0000

Considering that it’s July, you probably don’t have hockey on your mind right now, unless, of course, you’re sweltering in a room without air conditioning dreaming of the cool air inside the rink. The offseason is a time for National Hockey League Teams to address their needs, and that isn’t only about the personnel who wear ice skates. It looks to us like summer is a big hiring time with NHL teams, so while most people are focused on baseball and the Olympics, you should get back into that hockey mindset and try to find a job with an NHL Team.

Entry-Level Jobs with the NHL Teams

We’re going to keep the description to a minimum today, because there are so many jobs in so many fields from so many teams. There’s no way that we can generalize about these opportunities, so what we did was we ran through all of the jobs offered by the NHL and its teams and identified all of the positions that look appropriate for new college grads. The NHL’s Jobs site is built on the same job board software that we talked about when we covered the NFL’s entry-level jobs. We generally like it. It’s easy to navigate, and you can apply for the jobs easily online. When we covered the NFL’s jobs, we organized everything by team, but with the NHL we did it by field. Occasionally the league includes its jobs as well as jobs with other closely related organizations, but for the most part you will find entry-level jobs with NHL teams below.

The quality of job descriptions on these openings varies based on which team wrote them, but for the most part the NHL teams do a good job of identifying exactly what they’re looking for in candidates. Summer looks like a great time to get a job with the NHL, so get out of the penalty box and start researching.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

I was just reading some articles about some hockey players from Cornell who graduated (or didn’t) with me and how much they’re making in their “entry-level jobs.” I think that they made the right choice.

Ford Models

Willy Franzen — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 15:35:13 +0000

Are you a fashionista? Do you just like being around beautiful people? Do you secretly wish that you could be a model despite the fact that you are way too awkward to walk down a runway without tripping? If you said yes to any of those questions, then you might want to look into Ford Models. They’re a tough company to research, since there’s a ton of online information about them, but very little that is job related. Getting a job at Ford Models doesn’t look like it’s an easy task, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t try.

But I Can’t Turn Left

Go look in the mirror. Take a good long look at yourself. You should be paid to be beautiful, shouldn’t you? You’re a perfect candidate for Ford’s modeling opportunities. We know you’re good looking. Everyone who reads One Day, One Job is, right? Now here’s one more test, to make sure that giving up on your job search and becoming a model is the right choice. Walk down a hallway in your house, pose, turn left, and come back to where you started. Ahh… that left turn snagged you up didn’t it? It’s not as easy as it looks. If you can’t turn left, you can’t be a model. Looks like you’ll have to consider Ford Models’ entry-level job opportunities instead.

Ford Models doesn’t list specific job opportunities on their website, but they do invite individuals who “have an understanding of the dynamic changes in the fashion talent industry and an innovator’s desire to create value” to send a cover letter and resume to careers@fordmodels.com. There’s a significant internship program at Ford Models, which makes us think that they are relatively likely to hire new college grads; however, you’d have to think that competition for jobs at Ford Models is pretty fierce. Everyone wants to be around beautiful people, and there are few jobs that offer better opportunities for that. Ford Models takes on most of its interns in New York City, so that’s probably the place they’re also most likely to do entry-level hiring. They also have offices in Miami, FL; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Milwaukee, WI; Chicago, IL; Scottsdale, AZ; Canada (Toronto and Vancouver); Brazil (Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), and France (Paris). Our guess is that job opportunities might be in Marketing or PR, with an outside shot at some other areas. If the careers@fordmodels.com doesn’t work out for you, you can also try using the contact information for individual offices found on Ford Models’ home page in the Location – Division link (we can’t link to it, because it’s Flash based).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Ford Models.com (Flash site, can’t link to individual pages)
FordModels.tv
Ford Models on YouTube
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ford Models from the Freakonomics Blog

Are you too good looking for an entry-level job? Then stop reading this site and go fill out a modeling applications.

Clear

Willy Franzen — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:25:56 +0000

It seems like security lines at airports are either hit or miss. You’re through in a few minutes, or you’re waiting somewhere in the neighborhood of an hour to be x-rayed, questioned, prodded, and possibly poked. There’s probably a middle ground too, but you never seem to remember those experiences. You’ll often hear people say that they’d pay a lot of money to not have to wait in security lines. Well you can buy a private jet and avoid security completely, or you can invest $100 a year in a Clear Card. It won’t actually allow you to skip the security line, but it will definitely speed up the process. Someone should invent a “Clear Resume” that gets you an interview without all the hassles of cover letters, job applications, and screening phone calls.

Jobs in the Clear

The whole idea behind the Clear Card is pretty simple. We found out about it from Guy Kawasaki who is recommending it as a great Father’s Day gift and has a code that will allow you to get a free month added to your membership when you sign up. You allow them to collect some biometric data to verify your identity and submit an application to the TSA (don’t worry about Big Brother getting your fingerprints and iris scans, Clear has a stellar privacy policy). You get your card and get expedited through security. That’s all.

Clear is actually a part of a company called Verified Identity Pass, Inc., but they seem to be using the Clear brand quite a bit. For instance, the Verified Identity Pass Careers link redirects to the Clear Careers page, where you will find a few entry-level job opportunities. Clear is looking for Assistant Operations Managers in Atlanta and San Francisco. These jobs are geared towards people who have a background in hospitality management, and require a couple years of management experience in a customer service setting. Usually we wouldn’t consider that to be entry-level, but we know of plenty of students who have that kind of experience from campus jobs, internships, or volunteer work. Clear asks applicants to send a resume, cover letter, and salary requirements to careers@verifiedidpass.com with the job title in the subject line.

Clear is based in Palm Coast, FL, but doesn’t have any entry-level opportunities there at the moment. Keep an eye out, though. Clear appears to be growing quickly, as you’d expect for a company that offers such a useful service. We hope that more entry-level hiring is part of their growth plan.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have an airport security line nightmare story? Share it in the comments.

National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship

Willy Franzen — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:23:26 +0000

Steve Mariotti was living a successful corporate life when he decided that he needed a change. He didn’t buy a sports car, get a toupée, or start dating 20 year-olds. Ok, he could have done those things, but we have no reason to believe that he did he did. He chose to leave his job and to start teaching special education in the New York City school system. This presented obvious challenges. Teaching special ed can be hard enough in a community with extensive resources, but it must be near impossible in underserved public schools like those in New York City. Mariotti realized that one of the only ways that he could reach his students was by teaching them how to run a business. They loved the subject matter. As Mariotti developed a entrepreneurship based curriculum for his job as a special ed teacher, he realized that he could extend the reach of his educational successes. He founded the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship with the goal of bringing entrepreneurial education to low-income youth

Entrepreneurial Education

The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) has now been around for over 20 years and has programs in 21 states and 14 countries. All it takes is a look at some of NFTE’s recent alumni who have started their own businesses to see how successful the organization has been. The power of entrepreneurism is quite amazing. Not only are NFTE’s students getting an alternative education through the organization’s programs, but they are also being empowered emotionally and financially by being responsible for their own successes. We’re really impressed by NFTE and their website, so be sure to browse around to get more information on the organization.

NFTE is a modest sized organization with 79 employees and a $15 million annual budget. They have locations across the country, but look to be hiring mostly at their headquarters in New York City. They have two job listings that appear to be geared towards new college grads, but it’s a bit hard to determine if both are actually entry-level. On the NFTE Jobs page there is a listing for a Development Associate that lists no experiential requirements; however, there is also an Idealist.org listing for this job that says 3 years of experience are required. The job description does say that applicants should have a “capacity to deal with ambiguity,” so maybe this is some kind of test. The other job listing is not on the NFTE website, but is on Idealist. It is as a Development Assistant. These are similar jobs, both having to do with fundraising, but we’re not sure which one you should apply for. We guess you’ll have to deal with ambiguity. You can send a resume and cover letter to hr@nfte.com.

The NFTE also has presences in Baltimore, the Bay Area, Chicago, Greater Dallas, Fairfield / Westchester County, Greater Los Angeles, New England, New York, Pittsburgh, South Florida, and Greater Washington D.C. Although they don’t currently appear to have job openings at these locations, you should certainly watch to see if anything is listed in the near future.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you rather give up your job search and chase your entrepreneurial dream? Leave a comment and tell us about the business that you want to start.

Equinox

Willy Franzen — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:08:37 +0000

The time after graduation is perfect for rest, relaxation, and taking care of the things that you’ve ignored in college, for instance, your bank account or your waistline. In January we offered up Mint as a company that has entry-level jobs and a product that will help you manage your finances. Today we’re going to look at Equinox, a company that operates full-service fitness facilities in New York, Illinois, California, Florida, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, and also has quite a few career opportunities at the entry-level.

A Fitness Lifestyle Brand

Equinox, started in 1991, has “developed a lifestyle brand that represents service, quality, value, innovation, attention to detail and results.” They offer a wide array of products and services, including strength and cardio training, group fitness classes, personal training, spa services, apparel, and food/juice bars. The difference between Equinox and other gyms is the way that they do things. Equinox is upscale in every way. Just look at the right sidebar on their Press Page – recent celebrities spotted at Equinox locations include Hilary Swank, Renee Zellweger, Matt Damon, and Barack Obama. Ok, so who cares if celebrities work out at a health club? They may need to have nice bodies, but are they really physically fit? Well, fellow One Day, One Jobber Amy happened to have a membership at an Equinox club two summers ago. She was often working out next to members of the great Chicago Bulls championship teams of the 90s. So, yes, when it comes to working out, Equinox clubs are the places to be.

Winter to Spring, Summer to Fall

Although the following are full-time, year-round jobs, an equinox represents the change of seasons, which is a perfect metaphor for the life changing decisions that joining (or working for) an Equinox club can initiate. Equinox takes fitness seriously, so a job with them is a lot more than picking up sweaty towels and wiping down equipment. They have a number of job opportunities for new college grads across the country. The best way to find a job listing at Equinox is to use their job search function. Current offerings that appear to be entry-level include: Membership Advisor (Westchester, NY; Long Island, NY; Aventura, FL; Newport Beach, CA; San Francisco, CA; and New York, NY), Assistant General Manager (Dallas, TX; New York, NY; Long Island, NY; Los Angeles, CA; and San Francisco, CA), Sales Advisor (Boston, MA), or Personal Trainer Tier 1 (Westchester, NY; Darien, CT; Miami, FL; Vienna, VA; Long Island, NY; Los Angeles, CA; San Francisco, CA; Boston, MA; New York, NY; and Chicago, IL). These positions require varying levels of work experience, but they’re all positions that a new grad could fill. If you’re interested in being a trainer, but don’t have the required background, you may want to look at the Equinox Academy for Trainers.

As you can see, there are Equinox locations all across the country. Whether you’re interested in getting serious about your own health (Equinox offers their employees complimentary memberships), or helping others to do the same, a job at Equinox is a great way to get started on a career in the world of physical fitness.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever worked out at an Equinox club? What’s it like?

Mina Group

Willy Franzen — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:33:20 +0000

Most CEOs have resumes that include business school, many of years of experience, and boring lists of financial accomplishments. How would you like to work for a company where the CEO’s proudest accomplishments are his being named Bon Appetit Chef of the Year and International Food and Beverage Forum Restauranteur of the Year? Michael Mina of the Mina Group is just that CEO – Chef Executive Officer (sorry, that is a horrible pun). Making deals, like any CEO should, Mina formed a partnership with Andre Agassi, the tennis star, in 2002 that has resulted in the launch of a line of high end concept restaurants.

Say Goodbye to Ramen (at Least Cooking It)

The Mina Group manages restaurants in California, Nevada, New Jersey, Florida, Michigan, and Arizona. Here’s a full list of the restaurants with menus, photo galleries, chef profiles, and reservation information. We do know that they participate in on-campus recruiting at at least one school with a Hospitality Management program. Beyond that, their About page says that they are always looking to hire restaurant managers, chefs, line-cooks, sommeliers, servers, bartenders, hosts, and any other people who are seeking employment in a restaurant related position.

Individual positions are not listed on the Mina Group website, or anywhere else on the web (there’s one or two exceptions), so the best way to go about finding a job is to ask for one. Send an e-mail to hr@minagroup.net with a cover letter describing your qualifications and what type of position you’re looking for and a resume.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you know what positions are best for new college grads who want to work at the Mina Group? Leave a comment and let us know.

CBSSports.com

Willy Franzen — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:00:29 +0000

We wanted to kick the NCAA tournamet off right by featuring entry-level jobs at CBSSports.com, but all that bragging about being on vacation is coming back to haunt us. The wifi is down at my hotel. As if our posts so far this week weren’t sparse enough, today’s is going to leave all the work up to you because this coming from an iPhone.

You can get started at the CBSSports.com Careers Page

Shamrock Boats

Willy Franzen — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:00:50 +0000

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We’re not quite sure what’s going to be going on today with St. Paddy’s Day, Spring Break, and Holy Week all happening at the same time, but we’re just going to write about today’s job and not ask any questions. Obviously, we like to run with the holiday themes, and St. Patrick’s Day presented us with quite a few options (beer, green companies, pots of gold, etc.). We chose Shamrock Boats for the obvious reason, as well as the fact that I happen to be somewhere warm doing a little fishing today. We’ve never talked about a company in the boating industry before, so at the very least we hope it gets you thinking in new directions about your job search.

Shamrock Boats “is the largest producer of midsize (22ft-28ft) inboard powered sport fishing boats.” They’re even a little green – their direct-drive inboard propulsion engines apparently have unparalleled fuel efficiency for boats under 30 feet. We haven’t been able to find much career related information about Shamrock Boats, but maybe the luck of the Irish will touch your Google searches and help you find something that we couldn’t. We do know that Shamrock Boats’ parent company is Palmer Marine, and there is an employment application on their site. We also found contact information from a State of Florida employment website, so that might be your in for cold calling. Give Shamrock Boats a try, or think about other companies in the boating industry that might offer entry-level jobs. Report back to us about what you find in the comments section.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Subscribe to One Day, One Job – it’s like finding a pot of jobs at the end of the rainbow every day.

NASA

Willy Franzen — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 13:00:21 +0000

Typically young children are quite realistic about their career aspirations. They want to be firefighters, policemen, and teachers – professions that are in constant, steady demand. The more ambitious children might want a job as a doctor or veterinarian – still steady, but requiring a significant investment in education. It almost seems that as children we’re more realistic about life and careers than we are when we reach adulthood – except those kids who wanted to be astronauts. Since the beginning of the space program, there have only been 321 astronauts selected. Ever. There’s no surefire (or easy) way to become an astronaut – pilots, schoolteachers, doctors, scientist, and engineers have all been astronauts – but if selection as an astronaut is one of your life goals, you need to start preparing now. If you’re not ready for the commitment that it takes to be an astronaut, there are still plenty of entry-level jobs at NASA that will enable you to have a meaningful impact on the space program and NASA’s other endeavors.

NASA is a large government agency with many entry-level jobs, so instead of identifying each job opening, we’re going to guide you through how to their jobs website and help you find the information that you need before you decide to apply for a job. Usually, we complain that companies shortchange job searchers in terms of career related information on their website, but with NASA the problem is one of too much information. Maybe it’s a test to weed out candidates who can’t deal with navigating through complex situations, but we were a bit overwhelmed by NASA’s jobs site. Before you jump in and start looking around the site, you might want to read NASA’s Applicant Guide. It’s audaciously long, but it covers everything you need to know to get a job at NASA. If we left you to navigate the site, it would probably take you quite a while to find the guide, but we think it’s important to reward our loyal readers with shortcuts straight to meaningful content (if you like shortcuts, subscribe to One Day, One Job).

If you read our post about entry-level jobs at the US Forest Service, then you’re aware of the fact that all jobs with the United States government are posted on USAjobs.gov. Since NASA does not accept applications for unspecified positions, you must go through this site and search specifically for NASA jobs. We couldn’t find any information on an application process tailored specifically to entry-level candidates (probably because there isn’t one); however, there is a guide for college students who are seeking employment. There are also lists of occupation types, applicable entry-level pay ranges, and NASA locations to help you determine which jobs you should apply for. NASA also offers a FAQ for students. Like we said, there’s a ton of information.

In addition to NASA’s jobs site, there are a few other sites that are worth mentioning. First is NASA People, which is a site that appears to be targeted towards current NASA employees. It covers almost any question that you could have about what it’s like to work at NASA, so serious job searchers should spend some time browsing this site. Second is the annual ranking of Best Places to Work in the Federal Government, which ranks NASA at fourth. This gives in-depth statistics about what kinds of people are more likely to be happy working at NASA (most employees), and what types of people are less likely to be happy at NASA. It also breaks down the rankings into a number of factors that may or may not be important to you.

Finally, there is this Wired article that details the struggles that NASA is having connecting with young people. The problem is pretty obvious. The space race to put the first man on the moon created an amazing amount of interest in NASA for our parents’ generation, but we have been given technology like the Internet to explore the world that we live in. Many young people don’t see the point in exploring space, when there is so much to discover right at our fingertips. The article includes a presentation that was given to NASA management by some of NASA’s younger employees on how to improve engagement with Generation-Y/Millennials/whatever you want to call us by emphasizing NASA’s continued relevance to the issues that concern our generation. Even people who are not interested in jobs at NASA would do well to read this article as it brings up a lot of important questions about NASA, science, and the workplace. The Wired article ends by pointing to OpenNASA.com, which is a blog by NASA employees. It’s excellent, and as authentic of a resource as you’ll find on what working at NASA is like – especially for someone who is not far removed from college. Although the blog is unofficial, it’s the type of resource that every company could use to improve their recruiting practices.

If you want an entry-level job at NASA, you’ve got a lot of research to do. Get moving!

Note: On April 25th we revisited entry-level jobs at NASA.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Want an internship at NASA? They have a lot of them, and we’re talking about them at One Day, One Internship.

Animal Replacement Technologies

Willy Franzen — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:00:12 +0000

Surgery takes practice. You can’t jump elbows deep into someone’s chest cavity and reroute traffic without having perfected the motor skills, knowledge, and composure required to do so. The problem is that practicing surgery is tricky. You need to do it on a living, breathing thing for it to be realistic. There aren’t too many people who are jumping at the opportunity to be cut up by aspiring surgeons, so that leaves only one viable option. Sadly, animals are used as proxies for human patients. Anyone would agree that this is an undesirable outcome, but there has been no other way to teach life saving procedures and develop new surgical techniques. The good news is that Sarasota, FL based Animal Replacement Technologies has created a brilliant solution.

We don’t have a lot to go on with Animal Replacement Technologies, but we thought that their story was intriguing enough to merit a post. They have engineered synthetic human tissues, organs, and body parts that mimic their living counterparts. Amazingly, these “body copies” are made of mostly salt, water, and fibers. Not only do these technologies save animals from the fate of being test subjects, but they also ” provide industry with the tools required to improve test data integrity, enhance device safety, shorten the development cycle, reduce time to market, minimize risk, and increase profits.” For a full overview of the company, you might want to read this article about Animal Replacement Technologies in Biz941. You should probably look at Animal Replacement Technologies’ own literature too. We’re totally over our head when it comes to the science behind these products, but we’re pretty sure that there are a lot of soon to be grads who would find it thrilling to be a part of this kind of project.

For students who have a deep interest in medical research, biological sciences, or materials engineering, a job at Animal Replacement Technologies would be a home run. They don’t have a Careers page, nor do they have any job openings listed online; however, their About page does invite interested applicants to send a resume to info@anireptec.com. Try cold calling (Edit: Animal Replacement Technologies founder Dr. Christopher Sakezles left a comment asking you not to cold call on the phone, but said that submitting a resume online is fine), and swing for the fences, even if it’s a low probability play. Maybe you can convince them that as a new college graduate, you’re just what they need and that they should create an entry-level position just for you

Disclaimer: When researching Animal Replacement Technologies, don’t click any of the links to videos (.mpg) on their site, especially if you’re using a Mac with Safari. Doing so froze our computer three times for some reason that we can’t figure out. The things we go through to bring you a new job every day…

Note: On April 25th we revisited entry-level jobs at Animal Replacement Technologies.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Know anything about jobs at Animal Replacement Technologies? Leave a comment.

Bliss

Willy Franzen — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 13:00:44 +0000

Job searching is stressful. Sometimes you need to just relax and let your mind clear before you continue on with your search. There are a lot of ways to relax, but what if you could find a job that is all about relaxation? That’s what Bliss offers. Ok, their employees have to work like any other company’s employees, but how bad can it be when your company’s About page starts like this? “After giving a million massages, a trillion triple oxygen treatments and about a bazillion Brazilians, we’ve learned a thing or two—and our passion is passing that ‘glow-how’ on to you.” So, maybe you don’t need to take time off from your job search to relax; you can dream about Bliss and their spas while putting together a killer cover letter that will ensure a future with a relaxation-based work experience. And before we forget, you might want to check out the online sale Bliss has going on right now, they’re offering up to 80% off on their products.

We really like the way Bliss talks about jobs on their website, but we think they might want to change the way that they link to their careers page. It’s titled “Bliss on the Job,” which sounds nice, but could mean a lot of things (like a listing of companies that offer Bliss products or services as perks to their employees). We appreciate the creativity. We love the effort. But it’s just not straight forward enough for someone who is honed in on finding job openings. Other than that, we love Bliss’ careers site. Their job descriptions are fresh, funny, and direct. It’s amazing how few words it takes for Bliss to get the point across about who they want to hire. They put many other employers to shame, because they realize that a job description is about getting people excited to work for you, not about listing a million qualifications that are irrelevant to whether or not you can do the job.

Most of Bliss’ entry-level jobs are located at their corporate office in New York City. The only clear cut entry-level jobs at Bliss are as an HR Coordinator, for someone who majored in an HR related field, and as Licensed Estheticians (the job description says that new grads are welcome). Beyond those, there are quite a few jobs that require some experience, but Bliss fails to say how much. Either they want a broad range of applicants, or they could stand to do a little better when specifying about experience in their job descriptions (we can forgive them for that, considering whoever wrote their job descriptions actually has copywriting talent). These positions include Counter Manager, Copywriter, Remède Marketing Associate Manager, and Sales Freelancer (Chicago, Minneapolis, Toronto, Dallas, Houston, and Miami).

You can also take a look at Bliss’ Spa Jobs. Bliss Spa locations include Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, New York City, San Francisco, and Punta Mita. These aren’t jobs geared towards new college grads, but they might be right for your post-collegiate plans.

Don’t stress out about your job search, instead dream of relaxation while you start researching Bliss and their career opportunities.

Note: On April 25th we revisited entry-level jobs at Bliss.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Not ready for a full time gig? Why not take a look at Bliss’ internships.

One Day, One Job » Florida

Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center

Emigrate to Florida

MMG Mardiks

Travel Public Relations with MMG Mardiks

Uline

Box It Up

Grooveshark

Get Your Groove On

College Hunks Hauling Junk

Are You Hunky Enough?

Public Allies

Join the Allies

The Bradford Group

Take a Balloon Ride

Fleishman-Hillard

Be Rewarded at an Award-Winning Agency

Sunbelt Software

Take a Trip to the Sunbelt

Crispin Porter + Bogusky

Crispin Porter + Bogusky = A Job for You?

Scottrade

Trade Up to an Entry Level Job with Scottrade

22squared

What’s the Big Deal About 484?

SPARTA

This Is SPARTA

Research In Motion

Jobs at RIM

Red Ventures

Go Red

Major League Baseball

Take Me Out to an Entry Level Job

MLB.com Jobs

Jobs with MLB Teams

Tishman Speyer

Don’t Give Up on Real Estate

National Audubon Society

These Jobs Are for the Birds

Brunswick

Not Quite Early Retirement

More Options for New Grads at Brunswick

NHL Teams

Entry-Level Jobs with the NHL Teams

Communications

Finance and Accounting

Hockey Operations

Sales and Marketing

Technical Services

Ford Models

But I Can’t Turn Left

Clear

Jobs in the Clear

National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial Education

Equinox

A Fitness Lifestyle Brand

Winter to Spring, Summer to Fall

Mina Group

Say Goodbye to Ramen (at Least Cooking It)

CBSSports.com

Shamrock Boats

NASA

Animal Replacement Technologies

Bliss