One Day, One Job » Georgia

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?

WeTheCitizens

Willy Franzen — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:00:47 +0000

As someone who has just tweeted his 5,000th tweet, I have to say that I’m getting a little sick of all the buzz about social media. It’s not that I don’t think tools like Twitter, Facebook, and blogs are valuable—if that was the case I wouldn’t be writing this right now—it’s just that too many people are forgetting that results, not tools, are most important. That’s why it’s cool to see a company like WeTheCitizens that is putting social media to work in a results-driven way. They’ve developed a platform to help “you recruit, mobilize, and track the effectiveness of your supporters.” Ok, YOU may not need something like that, but politicians, non-profit founders, and movie producers do. WeTheCitizens is an Atlanta based startup (with an office in DC) , and they’re going through a bit of an identity crisis right now (it’s not all that uncommon for startups). They’re very confident in their product—Wildfire Platform—but they’re apparently in the process of changing their name from WeTheCitizens to Mobilization Labs. To make it more confusing, a lot of the branding that they’re doing is for Wildfire Platform. If you can look past all of that, you’ll see a really cool company in its formative stages.

YouTheEmployee

I could try to explain to you what Wildfire Platform does, but luckily I don’t have to. WeTheCitizens has a YouTube video on their home page that does just that, and I’ve embedded it below for you (e-mail and RSS readers should click through to view):

Apparently Wildfire Platform “has been tested and proven across non-profits, movies, and political campaigns, including gubernatorial, senatorial, and even U.S. Presidential.” I’d love to see a full-blown case study of a success story, but it doesn’t look like WeTheCitizens/Mobilization Labs has one up yet. For now, that video will have to sate your appetite for information on Wildfire Platform—at least until you reach out to the team at WeTheCitizens. Although they don’t have a Jobs page yet, they recently posted on their blog about Paid Post-College Internships.

I don’t usually cover internships here, but I’m covering these since they’re paid and the post says: “We have multiple full-time positions we’re looking to fill that will open up at the end of the internship period. We’re pretty confident that the interns will get first dibs on those opportunities.” I basically see it as a temp or intern to hire arrangement. They’re looking for people to help in areas like Sales, Social Media, Social Networking, Marketing, but they’re not tied down to any specific positions. They just want “smart, web-savvy college graduates looking to jump in and start making a difference in a small, fast-growing internet startup.” If that’s you, then e-mail your cover letter, résumé, and references to Esther Weathers at esther@wethecitizens.com by January 20th.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which name do you like better WeTheCitizens, Wildfire, or Mobilization Labs?

Sportsman Channel

Willy Franzen — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:54:49 +0000

Check out this week’s sponsor, New York City Teaching Fellows. They’re seeking new grads with no prior teaching experience or background in education to help make a difference in NYC’s public schools.

Much to my girlfriend’s chagrin, I love watching fishing shows. I’d rather be out on the water, but when I’m trapped on the 30th floor in the middle of downtown Chicago and it’s -15 outside, there aren’t many other options. Unfortunately, ESPN has cut back on their fishing programming, and that doesn’t leave me with any other options on my cable package. If only we got Sportsman Channel, then I’d be much happier. They are “the only television network providing 100 percent hunting, shooting and fishing programming.” Unlike some other outdoor focused networks, they’re staying true to what they are instead of watering down their programming in hopes of better ratings. I haven’t had a chance to watch any of their programming, but I’m sure I’d like it. Sportsman Channel is based in New Berlin, WI, and they also have locations in New York, Denver, and Atlanta.

Tune In and Get Hooked

Sportsman Channel was launched in 2003, and they appear to be growing (they were purchased by a private equity firm that focuses on outdoor media in 2006). They have a huge market considering there are 82 million sportsmen in the United States, so you have to like their ability to grow a business based on targeted advertising. If you love the outdoors and want to work in tv or media, then it’d be hard to find a better place to work than Sportsman Channel. Their location in Wisconsin is prime for the outdoors lifestyle, and I’m sure that they promote such a lifestyle for their employees too. If you’re interested, you can check out Sportsman Channel’s Jobs page, although it doesn’t include any postings—just a Résumé Submission form. The company seems pretty small, so using LinkedIn to reach out to some people might be a worthwhile strategy.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you like to watch fishing shows?

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?

Market Force Information

Willy Franzen — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:17:26 +0000

If there’s ever a time for retail stores to be firing on all cylinders, it’s right now. Consumers are often very sensitive when it comes to making purchases, so it’s no surprise that a substandard retail experience can cost companies money. It may be an employee with a rotten attitude or a poorly laid out store. It could be that the employees are uninformed about the products that they’re selling or they may not be offering the promotions that they should be. Whatever it is, Louisville, CO based Market Force Information will find out. They’re “the leading customer experience information and insights partner for multi-location businesses.” Through their “integrated suite of mystery shopping, direct customer feedback, on-site merchandising and analytics services,” they can tell a company why one of their stores is underperforming or identify ways that all stores can improve.

Stay Informed

From what I’ve gathered, there are a number of companies that give the mystery shopping business a bad name by running scams—some have even used Market Force Information’s name illegally. As far as I can tell, Market Force Information is one of the most sophisticated companies in the industry (and they appear to be totally legit). They have developed a methodology for identifying key triggers that improve customer experience and drive sales. It’s not based on voodoo science but real research and statistical methods. While running a mystery shopping business is relatively simple, it’s all of the behind the scenes stuff that makes what Market Force Information does so interesting. If you’re intrigued by customer experience analytics, you should check out jobs at Market Force Information. I’m sure they offer mystery shopping positions, but that’s not really what we’re interested in here. I’m more interested in the Panel Programs Marketing Coordinator that Market Force Information has listed. The job description goes into great detail about what they’re looking for, but never do they mention experience. The position definitely looks challenging, but it sounds like the kind of job where a really bright new grad could excel (I’m also going on the hint that Coordinator positions are typically lower level). You can apply online, so go ahead and give Market Force Information a closer look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Market Force Information?

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.

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?

U.S. Census Bureau

Willy Franzen — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 14:48:34 +0000

Every 10 years our country does a census to collect demographic data about our populous to drive public policy decisions. It’s an extremely big deal, and it temporarily creates 1.4 million jobs (according to government figures). But those aren’t typically the types of jobs that we talk about here, at least not the ones that send you door to door asking how many people live at a given residence. Luckily, the U.S. Census Bureau does a lot more than its once every ten years nationwide census. They are “the leading source of quality data about the nation’s people and economy,” so you’d be amazed by all of the things that they track. For instance, much of the economic data that you have been hearing about in the news lately – as in “Stocks plunge on weakened Monthly Retail Sales” – comes from the U.S. Census Bureau. If you’re fascinated by data or just love counting things, there aren’t many places that offer a more interesting work experience that the Census Bureau.

Everyone Counts at the U.S. Census Bureau

Ok, I’d like to go on about the cool things that the Census Bureau does, but we don’t really have time. Navigating the Census Bureau’s job offerings is kind of a hassle, so I want to make sure that you can find what you’re looking for. On their main Jobs page they have links to four sections – Headquarters Opportunities, 2010 Census Taker Opportunities, Regional Office Opportunities, and Student and Research Opportunities. You may be tempted to check out the Student Opportunities, but you actually want to check out either the Headquarters or Regional Office Opportunities. If you check out the Headquarters Opportunities, you’ll find job listings like Statistician / Analyst, Mathematical Statistician, Information Technology Specialist, Geographer, and Cartographer. These links will take you to more specific listings where you’ll find a link titled “How to Apply.” If you click that, you’ll find even more information and another link to the specific job descriptions on USAJobs.gov. You can also skip ahead and just search all of the U.S. Census Bureau’s 90 current openings. If you decide to check out the Regional Office Opportunities, you’ll just have to select a region, and you’ll be shown a list of opportunities. It’s a lot simpler.

As for locations:

The U.S. Census Bureau headquarters is located in Suitland, Maryland, just outside the District of Columbia.

The National Processing Center (NPC) is located in Jeffersonville, Indiana. The NPC also has two call centers located in Hagerstown, Maryland and Tucson, Arizona.

The Census Bureau has 12 Regional Offices located in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and Seattle.

The Census Bureau has a ton of jobs, and there are a lot more coming. Many of these offer extremely interesting entry level work, but you’re going to have to show off your data parsing abilities to find and apply for the jobs – they don’t make the process easy at all.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you excited for the 2010 Census?

Patagonia

Willy Franzen — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:46:45 +0000

You have to love it when a small company grows into something big. It’s hard to believe that some of today’s major corporations were started with a couple of people in a garage. What’s even more extraordinary is when a small company that gets big never loses sight of who they are. That’s the story of Patagonia, a company that started out making tools for climbers. They are now a “worldwide business that makes clothes for climbing – as well as for skiing, snowboarding, surfing, fly fishing, paddling and trail running.” You’ve probably heard of Patagonia, and there’s a good chance that you own something made by them, whether it’s a polar fleece, a windbreaker, or long underwear. With a winter like this one, Patagonia gear is especially necessary for avoiding frostbite. Despite advances in technology and amazing business growth, Patagonia continues to take the same approach to their business – their “product design demonstrates a bias for simplicity and utility” and their “values reflect those of a business started by a band of climbers and surfers, and the minimalist style they promoted.” Patagonia makes exceedingly cool products, and they are the definition of a cool place to work.

Take a Trip to Patagonia

Unlike most athletic apparel companies, Patagonia focuses on “the silent sports.” That tells you a lot about who they are. There is a company-wide “love of wild and beautiful places” that “demands participation in the fight to save them.” That’s why Patagonia donates time, services and at least 1% of sales to grassroots environmental organizations all across the world. Patagonia apparel is as much an identity as it is a functional piece of equipment. If you want to learn more about Patgonia’s values, you should check out their page on Corporate Social Responsibility and their Employee Internship Program, which allows employees to “leave their jobs for up to two months to work full-time for the environmental group of their choice” while still getting paid and retaining benefits.

So what about jobs? We wish that Patagonia had some cool entry level field testing or product design jobs, but there’s nothing like that available right now. What they do have are jobs like Graphic Production Artist, Java Developer / Solutions Architect, and X++ Programmer/Analyst at their headquarters in Ventura, CA. You can keep an eye on Patagonia’s Jobs RSS Feed to see if they post your dream job, and you can apply for their corporate jobs by sending a cover letter and resume to venturajobs@patagonia.com. Additionally, Patagonia has Sales Associate positions in San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; Westport, CT; SoHo, NY; Denver, CO; Upper West Side, NY; Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Palo Alto, CA; and Chicago, IL.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Patagonia.com
Jobs at Patagonia
About Patagonia
Patagonia’s History
Field Reports from Patagonia
Patagonia on Corporate Social Responsibility
TheCleanestLine.com (Patagonia’s Blog)

Do you wear Patagonia?

The King Center

Willy Franzen — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 15:28:58 +0000

Even if your college or university isn’t giving you the day off from classes, I hope that you remembered that today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It’s an important day to reflect, and it’s becoming even more important as there is a growing movement to make MLK Day a day of national service. They’re calling it “a day on, not a day off,” and I think it would be pretty cool to see employers and schools embrace this movement. It’s the next step in making Dr. King’s dream come true. If one day of service just isn’t enough for you to honor the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr., then you might want to consider a job at The King Center in Atlanta, GA. The King Center is located on a privately owned inholding within the authorized boundaries of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, and it is “dedicated to the advancement of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”

Do You Have a Dream?

Before you start thinking about a job with The King Center, you might want to take some time today to do some Wikipedia-ing. There’s a lot to know about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his National Historic Site, so do your research and then start checking out The King Center’s website. You’re not going to find any job listings, but they do list an HR contact – hr@thekingcenter.org – on their Contact page. If you have a dream or you want to make Dr. King’s dream come true, then you’ll need to step out of your comfort zone and ask the people at The King Center how you fit into their plans. It’s not supposed to be easy.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

TheKingCenter.org
Contact The King Center (Closest thing to a Jobs page)
The Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site on Wikipedia
The King Center’s Mission
Programs and Services at The King Center

Are you participating in the National Day of Service?

Coca-Cola

Willy Franzen — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 15:43:58 +0000

Somehow the Coca-Cola brand has been indelibly tied to the image of Santa Claus. In fact, there’s even an urban legend that the modern image of Santa Claus was created by The Coca-Cola Company. It’s not true, but the fact that many people believe it to be true speaks volumes about Coca-Cola’s branding prowess (dating all the way back to the 1930s). We considered a lot of Christmas themed companies to feature today, but we keep coming back to the image of St. Nick sipping on a glass bottle of Coke. Let’s see how you can find a job with Coke.

Live on the Coke Side of Life

Surprisingly, Coke doesn’t appear to have any sort of entry level hiring program. If they do, they certainly don’t mention it on their website. It’s quite possible that they do some college recruiting (they definitely do it for internships), but all we could find were some entry level jobs posted on their site. Some examples include Administrative Assistant (Irvine, CA and Brussels, Belgium), Supply Planner (Houston, TX), Brand Experience Junior Project Manager (Issy-les-Moulineaux, France), and CDT Business Analyst (Columbia, MD, Bentonville, AR and Irvine, CA). There aren’t a ton of jobs from what we can tell, but we have heard word of Coke’s hiring 300+ new college grads every year. We’re not sure where you can find all of those jobs. Maybe they’re posted seasonally. You can apply for a job with Coca-Cola directly from the job descriptions, and if you don’t see anything that you like, you can search their career opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Merry Christmas!

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?

Kurt Salmon Associates

Willy Franzen — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:25:03 +0000

Consulting jobs are hot for new college grads, even though a lot of people ask, “What could a new grad possibly consult on?” The truth is that consulting firms love fresh talent. They pick the best and the brightest and put them to work on teams with experienced pros to solve problems that other companies are struggling with. If you’re thinking about a job in consulting, you might as well aim for the one of the best. Kurt Salmon Associates is a consulting firm that focuses on Consumer Products and Retail (Supply Chain and Growth and Profitability) and Health Care consulting. They’ve been named a Top 10 Best Firm to Work For by Consulting Magazine for six years in a row, so you know that they’ll take good care of you – if you can land a job with them.

The Myth of the Two-Headed Salmon

Kurt Salmon Associates seems to keep their two businesses separate, which can be a bit confusing for college students who are considering working for them. They have parallel websites for their Consumer Products & Retail Consulting and Health Care Consulting; however, they do have a main Careers site which is shared by both. The shared Careers site mentions the typical career path at Kurt Salmon (Consultant –> Senior Consultant –> Manager –> Senior Manager –> Principal) and how “KSA is Keen on Green,” and then it directs visitors to the parallel Careers sections for their two businesses. Although the two separate businesses have many similarities, you want to make sure that you’re reading the site when you’re researching KSA’s job opportunities.

The Retail and Consumer Products side of Kurt Salmon Associates seems to be bigger than the Health Care side. The former has locations in Atlanta, GA; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; Princeton, NJ; San Francisco, CA; Shanghai, China; Tokyo, Japan; Altrincham, UK; Amsterdam, NL ; Düsseldorf, Germany; London, UK; and Paris, France; whereas, the Health Care business only has locations in Atlanta, GA; Minneapolis, MN; Philadelphia, PA; and San Bruno, CA. If you want to learn more specifics about each of the businesses, you should check out their individual sites – Consumer Products & Retail Consulting and Health Care Consulting.

Landing an Entry Level Job with Kurt Salmon Associates

Kurt Salmon Associates provides much more information about Retail and Consumer Products Consulting Careers than they do about their Health Care Consulting Careers. There isn’t much mention of college recruiting on the Health Care site, so if that’s what you’re interested, you should look at their specific job opportunities and consider applying. If you’re interested in a Retail and Consumer Products job, then you’ll have a lot more to look at. They actively recruit at target schools which include Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Geogia Tech, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, Emory, Stanford, Penn State, and New York University (you can find this on their Campus Recruiting page), but they also accept applicants from other schools. To learn more, you may want to look at their brochure, their sample Case Interview, and their consultant profiles. If you’ve already graduated, you can look at KSA’s current opportunities, otherwise you can use KSA’s general application form.

As you can tell, navigating KSA’s web site can be a little bit confusing. If you follow our lead, you should be able to find all the information that you need about getting a job as an entry level consultant with Kurt Salmon Associates.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Computers for Youth

Willy Franzen — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 13:12:57 +0000

I started using computers at age 5. I took an after school class in kindergarten where we learned about Turtle on an Apple IIe (the precursor to the Macintosh). I learned to type in elementary school, and in middle school I was teaching myself how to build websites. Without that foundation I would have never been able to start this site that you’re visiting right now. Computers have been an essential tool in my education, and I have been lucky enough to have access to the latest computing technology throughout most of my life. Many kids don’t have the access to computers at home like I did growing up, and as these kids get into middle school they face a widening “achievement gap.” Computers for Youth is a non-profit organization that wants to minimize this achievement gap by enhancing the educational resources in children’s homes, improving parent-child interaction around learning at home, and helping teachers connect classroom learning with the home. They believe that this can all be done by putting computers in the home.

Computers Are More Than Just Fun and Games

Computers for Youth believes that:

a computer designed as a home learning center,for example—children can become self-directed learners, avid readers, excited mathematicians, and responsible citizens. Parents, meanwhile, are drawn in to what their children are learning and become true partners in the process.

That seems like a pretty tall task when you consider the mindless things that most of us use computers for, but it truly is unbelievable when you consider the educational possibilities that the Internet provides. With a relatively small investment, any family can have access to nearly unlimited free information on demand.

You can help enable these families by working for Computers for Youth – they have a number of job opportunities that look to be well suited for new college grads. The CFY Jobs page lists two positions for Master Teachers in Philadelphia and New York City. You don’t need a Master’s Degree, but you will be training other teachers for the Computers for Youth program. CFY also has two positions listed on Idealist.org that they don’t have on their website. They’re looking for an Executive Assistant and Office Manager and a Program Manager. Neither of these New York City based jobs are distinctly entry-level, but we think that they might be great fits for the right new college grad. Computers for Youth is very specific in how they want you to apply for a job, so be sure to read the job descriptions carefully.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How have computers changed your educational experience?

Alcoa

Willy Franzen — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:39:04 +0000

This is a sponsored post. We’ve worked directly with Alcoa to bring you the inside scoop on their top entry-level career opportunities.

My introduction to Alcoa came through the Baseball Express catalog. I was a high school baseball player, and I spent hours poring over the pages dreaming about saving up enough to buy a brand new baseball bat made out of cutting edge materials. The catalog’s copy had me convinced that a bat made from Alcoa’s latest alloy was the key to hitting home runs. Had I spent more time in the batting cage, and less time researching my baseball bat purchase, maybe I would have done more than played Club Baseball in college for a year. Then again, the bat that I finally chose did hit the ball a lot farther than the bats that I had used in previous years. Since you probably had better things to do in high school than read baseball catalogs from cover to cover, you may not be familiar with Alcoa, but you should know that producing aluminum for baseball bats is just a tiny sliver of what they do. It is, however, an excellent example of how Alcoa seems to have a hand in almost everything.

What Does Alcoa Do?

In one word: aluminum. Alcoa’s major cash cow is their Global Flat Rolled Products business, which “offers the widest variety of aluminum plate and sheet in the world.” If you’re using a product made out of aluminum, there’s a good chance that it started out at Alcoa’s Global Flat Rolled Products. Just think of all the cool things that are made from aluminum – baseball bats, beer and soda cans, airplanes, consumer electronics – we could keep going. If you really want to see some of the coolest things that have been made out of aluminum, you should check out Alcoa’s blog posts from the Consumer Electronics Show. The possibilities with aluminum as a material are seemingly endless, and that’s why Alcoa has branched out over the years into an a amazingly diverse array of businesses that include Defense, Plastics, Energy, Recycling, Propulsion, HVAC, and many more. They’re blogging about their work in Recycling and Aerospace, so check those blogs out for a unique look inside Alcoa.

When it comes to researching Alcoa, you could spend weeks learning about the entire company – it’s huge. They have 97,000 employees who work in 34 countries. Your best bet is to focus on the divisions that interest you the most, and learn about them and their specific entry-level opportunities. You may never have considered a job at a major industrial corporation, but you should look closely at Alcoa. It’s likely that they’ll exceed your expectations. For example Alcoa has recently been named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies and one of the World’s Most Sustainable Companies. They also send their employees on Earth Watch trips and invite them to blog about their experiences. Pretty cool, huh?

What Can I Do at Alcoa?

Alcoa is a major entry-level employer, and they typically add about 175 new college graduates to their ranks every year. The positions that they hire for are as diverse as the businesses that they operate in, and they have locations all across the country – there’s something for everyone. They’ve worked with us to identify the positions that One Day, One Job readers will be most interested in, and you will find those listed below. They’ve also provided a link directly into their applicant tracking system for students who can’t find a job listing that is well suited for them. If you don’t find anything below, use this link to submit your cover letter and resume for consideration by Alcoa’s college recruiting team. If you look like a good fit, they’ll work with you to find the right position in the company.

We know that Alcoa has a very strong internship program, so we asked the folks at Alcoa what kind of jobs their interns who stay with the company usually take after they graduate from college. We were told that last year’s intern class went into areas like Legal, Electrical Engineering, Plastics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and Finance. We were also told that Alcoa counts internships, volunteer work, and other similar activities as years of experience. That means that even if a job listing says that 3 years of experience is required, you shouldn’t be afraid to apply.

Here are Alcoa’s entry-level jobs for new college graduates with the most recently posted listed first:

ABS Technician (Continuous Improvement/Lean Production/Manufacturing) – Global Primary Products – Point Comfort, TX
Communications Specialist – Global Rolled Prod & Hard Alloy Ext – Warrick, IN
Associate Buyer – Alcoa Corporate – Springdale, AR
Capital Council Commodity Analyst – Alcoa Wireless Services – Pittsburgh, PA
NDT Level III – Aerospace Automotive and Commercial Transportation (Howmet Castings) – LaPorte, IN
Business Analyst I (HRMS) – Alcoa Corporate – Pittsburgh, PA
Product Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – LaPorte, IN
Safety Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Whitehall, MI
EHS Professional – Global Rolled Prod & Hard Alloy Ext – Massena, NY
Tooling/Product Engineer – Aerospace Automotive and Commercial Transportation – Flexible Location
Process Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Whitehall, MI
Metallurgical Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Winsted, CT
Electrical Engineer – Global Rolled Prod & Hard Alloy Ext – Alcoa, TN
Process Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Whitehall, MI
Process Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Dover, NJ
Mechanical Engineer – Global Rolled Prod & Hard Alloy Ext – Warrick, IN
Metallurgical Engineer – Global Rolled Prod & Hard Alloy Ext – Warrick, IN
Safety Specialist – Global Primary Products – Wenatchee, WA
Cost Accountant – Engineered Products & Solutions – Whitehall, MI
Facilities Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – LaPorte, IN
Reliability Engineer (Power Distribution) – Global Primary Products – Wenatchee, WA
Sr. Accountant – Engineered Products & Solutions – Torrance, CA
Product Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Dover, NJ
Project Specialist – Aerospace Automotive and Commercial Transportation (Howmet Castings) – Whitehall, MI
Process Engineer – Global Primary Products – Rockdale, TX
Facilities Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Whitehall, MI
Senior Treasury Analyst (Global Leasing) – Alcoa Corporate – Pittsburgh, PA
Safety Coordinator – Engineered Products & Solutions – Hernando, MS
EHS Engineer (EHS-RD) – Alcoa Technical Center – Alcoa Center, PA
Mechanical Engineering Technician – Engineered Products & Solutions – Cleveland, OH
Marketing Analyst – Engineered Products & Solutions – Nashville, TN
Jr. Business Analyst – Engineered Products & Solutions – Simi Valley, CA
Project Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Eastman, GA
Process Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Eastman, GA
Facilities Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Whitehall, MI
Environmental Engineer – Global Primary Products – Wenatchee, WA
Engineered Products & Solutions – Global Primary Products – Nashville, TN
Process Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Dover, NJ
Manufacturing Engineer – Sapa (Alcoa Extrusions) – Morris, IL
Production Planner – Engineered Products & Solutions – Dover, NJ
Process Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – LaPorte, IN
Plant Sales Representative – Engineered Products & Solutions – Dover, NJ
Manufacturing Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Hampton, VA

If you see something that catches your eye, just click the link, read the description, and apply. They’ll know that you came from One Day, One Job. If you’re intrigued by these jobs, but don’t see anything in your desired field or location, you can still send your resume and cover letter to Alcoa through this online form or you can use their search function to find newly listed opportunities. You may also want to look at Alcoa’s GREA Acquiring Talent Program, which is a Leadership Development Program and has a separate application process.

Thanks to Alcoa for working with us to bring you these excellent entry-level job opportunities. Now go get researching!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Alcoa.com
Careers at Alcoa
About Alcoa
Working at Alcoa
Profiles of Employees at Alcoa
Why Alcoa?
Alcoa’s Career Opportunities for Students (Mostly Internship Related)
Alcoa’s Businesses
Alcoa’s Vision and Values
Alcoa’s Annual Report

What’s your favorite product that’s made out of aluminum? Leave a comment.

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.

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.

Astadia

Willy Franzen — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:04:14 +0000

Since it’s Friday, we’re going to try something a little different. We keep hearing that video is the future of the web, and we found a great video of Astadia CEO, Ernie Riddle, describing what his company does, so instead of introducing you to Astadia ourselves, we’re going to leave it up to the person who knows them best. We hope that this video works for everyone, and if it doesn’t, please let us know. It may not show up in the feeds or e-mails, so all the subscribers will have to click through to the main post to see the video. We want to hear feedback from everyone. Is this something that you like? Do you prefer to read instead of watch? Please use the comments section to let us know your reactions.

Astadia: The Movie

For those of you who aren’t going to watch, Astadia is a consulting firm that specializes in four areas: Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, and Employee Performance. Astadia works very closely with SalesForce.com, and is the largest consulting firm that specializes in helping companies implement and integrate SalesForce.com into their business practices. They’ve been growing at a ridiculous rate (1,762.8% 3-year growth) and saw $9.7 million in revenue for 2006, which put them at #83 on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies. With this rapid growth comes the need for lots of hiring – some at the entry-level. Also, if you liked this video, check out Ernie Riddle talking about SalesForce.com’s integration with Google Apps.

Now You Have to Read Again

Astadia offers careers all across the world. We’re going to focus on jobs in North America, but you shouldn’t hesitate to look at their Careers pages for Europe, Middle East, and Africa or Asia Pacific. Although we were able to find a number of entry-level jobs listed on Astadia’s Careers page, we were disappointed by the user experience. They have listings for positions as Sales Associates, Data Architects and Technical Architects, Technology Trainers, and Employee Performance Consultants – all of which appear to be suited for new college grads, but the descriptions are only a few sentences long, which makes it difficult to tell. Even stranger is that Astadia doesn’t say where the jobs are located. We know that they have offices in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, and San Diego, but there is no mention of which offices these jobs would be based out of.

They do make it really easy to apply for a job directly from the job descriptions on their Careers page, but not many people will want to apply for a job when they don’t know where it is. Astadia could definitely do a better job providing career related information on their website, but at least they seem to be doing some interesting things. It has to be fun working for a company that is growing so quickly, even if you have no idea where you’re located.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Don’t forget to leave a comment and let us know how you feel about the videos.

National Wildlife Federation

Willy Franzen — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 12:00:59 +0000

The One Day, One Job team is partaking in the tradition of Spring Break (even if some of us aren’t in college anymore), so our posts are going to be on the shorter side for the next week or so. We figure, time off from school should give you plenty of time to do the research yourselves, right? Our compromise is that we’re going to give you more links, and less commentary. How’s that? I’m enjoying the wildlife of Puerto Rico, which includes ospreys, tarpon, egrets, iguanas (invasive, but still cool to look at), and a lot more, so it’s appropriate that today’s entry-level jobs come from the National Wildlife Federation.

The NWF is a non-profit organization that aims to inspire Americans to protect wildlife for our children’s future. They’re a little light on entry-level jobs right now, but there are a couple of openings that should interest new college graduates. There’s a position as an Online Media Coordinator, Green Hour – Affiliate & Regional Strategies as well as a job as an Online Grassroots Coordinator – Conservation Programs. Both are located in the National Wildlife Federation’s Reston, VA office. You can also search for job openings at the NWF; however, most of the other listings require at least 5 or more years of experience. If you want to try cold calling, you might want to try the NWF’s local offices.

That’s it for today, visit the links below to continue your research on the National Wildlife Federation.

Note: On April 27th we revisited entry-level jobs at the National Wildlife Federation.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite wild animal? Leave a comment and tell us.

CarMax

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

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

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

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

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

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.

The Weather Channel

Willy Franzen — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:00:25 +0000

Here at the One Day, One Job headquarters, we’re hunkering down in preparation for a Nor’easter that is about to drop snow on us like Paula Dean drops another stick of butter into one of her recipes. Of course there are no snow days in the blogosphere, so we figured we’d go with what Mother Nature gives us and discuss entry-level job opportunities at The Weather Channel.

We probably don’t need to tell you what The Weather Channel does; however, you might find it interesting that they have 3 separate business units – The Weather Channel, TWC Interactive (their online and wireless presence) and TWC Media (their advertising sales division). Whether you’re a weather junkie or fascinated by media, TWC definitely has some opportunities that will raise your dew point.

As soon as The Weather Channel’s Careers site loads, you’ll probably be annoyed. They thought it would be nice to greet you with music, but you’ll probably want to turn it off by scrolling down to the lower right-hand corner of the page. After that’s out of the way, you’ll see their Flash interface, which looks nice, but leaves us unable to link out to individual pages. With no links, we’ll just tell you a few things to look out for: the Top 10 Reasons You’ll Love Working at The Weather Channel, information on their Green Initiative, a letter from their President regarding diversity, and a full list of benefits and perks. It should be pretty easy to find what you need.

We’re not sure what was more disappointing, the lack of usability on The Weather Channel’s job postings or the fact that you can’t just jump in at the entry-level and become a tv meteorologist. Their applicant tracking system – even though it’s not in Flash – won’t let us link to individual jobs. Even worse, there’s no search feature and TWC’s choice of job titles pretty much sucks. Figuring out which jobs are appropriate for a new college grad requires browsing through each position and scanning for required experience. Lucky for you, we are going to highlight a few (not all) of the most interesting jobs that appear to be entry-level appropriate.

If you want to be a TV Meteorologist or an Editor, you’re probably out of luck – they want 3 years’ experience (but don’t let that keep you from trying). Instead, apply to be a Radio Broadcast Meteorologist or a Production Assistant, since these are entry-level friendly positions that will put you on the career path towards being a part of bigger things at The Weather Channel. Speaking of big things, did you know that TWC has a top 10 cable channel, a top 10 website, and a top 3 mobile site? That means that beyond getting the weather right and delivering your daily forecasts, they need to leverage their popularity through advertising. That’s why there are quite a few positions like Campaign Specialist (no, you won’t be predicting the weather for Obama’s travel plans) and Sales Associate (why do they give their employees the same title as someone who works a cash register?). These advertising-related jobs feed directly into The Weather Channel’s bottom line, which means you’re just as important as the weather guy. If you love the weather, but didn’t study meteorology, these jobs are probably more approachable and realistic for you to apply for.

Most of The Weather Channel’s job offerings are based out of their Atlanta, GA headquarters, but there are a few that are in other offices like New York, Chicago, or Detroit. And for those of you who always wanted to be a star, remember back to the Boy Meets World episode where Eric Matthews fills in for a no-show weatherman. If there is a flu outbreak in The Weather Channel office, maybe they’ll put you on camera after the 12 people in front of you for weatherman succession go down ill – even if you’re in advertising.

Note: On April 23rd we revisited entry-level jobs at The Weather Channel.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s the weather doing where are you?

KaBOOM!

Willy Franzen — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:00:39 +0000

What’s more fun than a playground? Nothing. That’s why you should work for KaBOOM! - a non-profit organization that envisions a great place to play within walking distance of every child in the USA. Darell Hammond started KaBOOM! in 1995 with its first community playground build after he read about two children who suffocated while playing in an abandoned car in Washington, D.C. He wanted to make sure that a tragedy like that would never happen again. Today KaBOOM! is building hundreds of play places every year and giving children – especially those in low-income, urban neighborhoods – safe places to have fun.

KaBOOM! has been so successful because of the partnerships they have built with community members, corporations, and public entities. They’ve partnered with Home Depot, NASCAR, and Build-A-Bear Workshops. KaBOOM! even got their own Ben & Jerry’s flavor with proceeds from the purchases going to building playgrounds. Beyond these partnerships, the real key to KaBOOM’s (we didn’t think an apostrophe after an exclamation point was proper) success is their ability to rally community support. Whether they are building playgrounds in your backyard or in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, they always seem to have an amazing amount of volunteer participation.

So do you want to work at a place where it’s completely normal to have toys on your desk? KaBOOM! is currently hiring for three entry-level positions, all of which appear to be based out of their Washington, D.C. headquarters. The first position, Associate Project Manager, would require significant travel with you working in the trenches most days. This is a hands on job for someone who has the experience (just because you haven’t had a full-time job doesn’t mean you don’t have experience) to plan and manage the building of playgrounds. The other two positions, Online Content Manager and Computer Support Specialist, are both office positions, but are essential to the continued growth and success of KaBOOM!. In these positions you will be helping them leverage technology to make more playgrounds accessible to kids. We’d like to think they’ll occasionally let you out for “recess” too.

KaBOOM’s job descriptions are pretty in-depth, but they seem a little dry for an organization devoted to play. Head over to their Careers page and start poking around. If you get distracted, come back here and try to win a Wii. It’s your last chance!

Note: On April 26th we revisited entry-level jobs at KaBOOM!.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Ok, we lied. A Nintendo Wii is definitely more fun than a playground. That’s why we’re giving one away. If you disagree and think playgrounds are better, leave a comment.

CNN

Willy Franzen — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:00:26 +0000

Are you a news junkie? Do you write for your college newspaper? Have a radio show on your college station? Upload your own videos to YouTube? Whether you want to be behind the camera, in front of the camera, or in the editing room, CNN offers an entry-level development program for new college graduates that will put you where the actions is. Many entry-level employers expect you to have a clear picture of what you want to do; they want you to pick a career track and apply for it. At CNN, entry-level hires who are interested in the technical or editorial aspects of broadcast journalism are brought into the Video Journalist Program and are given a chance to develop their interests before they commit to a career path.

CNN Video Journalists are hourly, non-salaried employees in the Atlanta, GA office who are expected to work 40 hours a week (often including holidays) and are eligible for overtime. Many people who start out as Video Journalists receive promotions within 6 to 12 months. All Video Journalists are expected to move up or move on after 24 months. This is a position that requires hard work, but offers significant opportunities to make strong impressions and advance one’s career rapidly with superior performance. Because this position can be a grind, Video Journalists are given 4 weeks of vacation time per year.

Video Journalists fill many roles at CNN and its affiliate operations. These jobs include floor directing, teleprompting, script distribution for live broadcasts, and production support. The best Video Journalists are often rewarded with hands-on training with experienced professionals in a variety of areas (media coordination, video editing, assignment editing, writing, producing, audio operation, electronic graphics operation, and master control operation).

If you want to pursue a career in broadcast journalism, CNN is the place to start. The Video Journalist program offers a phenomenal chance for hands-on experience and training with a defined route in a variety of broadcast journalism career paths. Many of CNN’s leaders have gone through this program, and it is likely that tomorrow’s leaders will begin as Video Journalists as well.

If you’d like to apply for the Video Journalist position, you’ll probably be a little confused about how to apply. This is what Personal Finance blogger Ramit Sethi calls “failure of the last mile.” CNN has an excellent page telling you about how great their Video Journalist program is, but they don’t tell you how to apply. They’ve run the first 25 miles of the marathon and then stumbled on their face with a mile to go. Because Time Warner (Turner Broadcasting’s parent company (who is CNN’s parent company)) has chosen to use an Applicant Tracking System that is not user friendly, we can’t link directly to the Video Journalist position. You need to go to the Time Warner Job Search Page, click “Search openings,” and then type in “Video Journalist” as a keyword. That should bring you to the job listing where you then need to click either the “Save to cart” or “Submit to job” button. Then you need to create a login with your e-mail address and a password to register for Time Warner’s career site. After you do that, you should be able to apply. We’re not messing with you, it’s really this hard to apply for the job. It should be worth the effort, but come on Time Warner, get your act together.

Note: On April 21st we revisited entry-level jobs at CNN.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you heard anything about the Video Journalist position at CNN? Found an easier way to apply? Leave a comment and tell us what you’ve heard.

Ryan Partnership

Willy Franzen — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 12:00:30 +0000

Ryan Partnership has challenged its people with their unofficial motto of “See How Far Ideas Can Take You.” (Ryan’s official motto is Free Beer, No Assholes – FBNA for short. Seriously. It says so on their website.) Ideas (or maybe it’s the free beer and lack of assholes) have taken Ryan Partnership to the top of their industry, as they were named one of iMedia Connection’s Top 5 Integrated Marketing Agencies in 2006 and PROMO Magazines “Agency of the Year” in 2007. With $58.5 million in revenue in 2006, Ryan is a mature company that is still growing briskly (34% growth rate last year).

Mary Perry, President of the Promotion Agency division of Ryan Partnership, recently spoke at Montana State University. Although there’s no transcript of her speech, the title “Blending Generations in the Workforce” tells us that Ryan is the kind of place you want to work when you’re fresh out of college. The Careers section on Ryan’s website is titled “Want In?” Sounds like an elite club based on the FBNA motto.

Ryan definitely takes a different approach from most companies when it comes to online recruiting. They have a “Ryan Employee Compatibility Test” that asks you four humorously posed questions on your attitude and work experiences. Their entire website is visually appealing and very interesting, but it’s somewhat hard to navigate. For instance, we can’t link to individual pages on the site, because it’s entirely in Flash. The site is also audio and video intensive – if you’re browsing somewhere where it would be inappropriate to have your computer’s sound on, you’ll miss out on their entire message. The Careers section is also short on useful information. There are a ton of positions listed on the Ryan Partnership website, but there’s no information beyond the job title and location. Still, the fact that the Ryan Partnership’s website utilizes video of real Ryan employees to convey information about the company is refreshing and interesting.

Your best bet to get a job at Ryan Partnership is to send a cover letter and resume to humanresources@ryanpartnership.com and ask them what positions are appropriate for an entry-level candidate who just graduated college.

Ryan locations include: Atlanta, GA; Bentonville, AR; Chicago, IL; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; Minneapolis, MN; Toronto, Canada; and Wilton, CT (Headquarters).

Note: On April 21st we revisited entry-level jobs at Ryan Partnership.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about jobs at Ryan Partnership? Leave a comment.

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