One Day, One Job » holiday

Hostess Brands

Willy Franzen — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:55:09 +0000

I’ve failed you. After two years of getting it right, I forgot to do a post for Pi Day yesterday. In 2008 we looked at jobs at Pi Media, and in 2009 we looked at jobs with The Mathematical Association of America. So, what does the guy who is late for the Pi Day party do when he was supposed to bring the pie? He obviously goes the Hostess Brands route—the cheapest and easiest way to get Fruit Pies at the last minute (I guess McDonald’s is your other option). It may not be like the pies that your grandma makes (my grandma makes an awesome Chocolate Dream Pie), but it gets the job done. And if you don’t like the Fruit Pies, you can rely on other favorites from the Irving, TX based baking company like Twinkies, Hostess Cupcakes, Sno Balls, Ding Dongs, HoHos, and even Wonder Bread for those of you who are lacking a sweet tooth.

Be Their Guest

From what I can tell, Hostess Brands (Hostess and Wonder Bread) is owned by a company called Interstate Bakeries, which is going through some financial problems, but with that said, it appears that Hostess Brands still has plenty of job opportunities. The company may not be seeing growth like some companies that take a healthier approach to food are seeing, but Hostess and Wonder Bread are still iconic American brands. If it sounds like a brand that you might want to be a part of, then you can check out Hostess Brands’ Jobs page. Their job postings are all over the place—both in terms of location and fields (the Hostess Brands Operations Center is based in Kansas City, MO). There don’t appear to be many corporate positions posted, but there are Sales and Business Development positions from all across the country. You can apply for any of the positions online, so grab a Twinkie and start browsing.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite Hostess Brands treat?

VolunteerMatch

Willy Franzen — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:16:49 +0000

Happy Valentine’s Day! In past years we’ve featured the American Heart Association and eHarmony, both of which have clear connections to today’s holiday. Today’s organization is more of a stretch, but if you’re looking for the perfect match, they can help you out. No, they won’t identify your soul mate for you, but they will help you find an organization whose mission and values align with your personal beliefs. And if that’s not enough, they might even put you in a situation where you’ll meet that special someone. I’m talking about San Francisco, CA based VolunteerMatch, an organization that “strengthens communities by making it easier for good people and good causes to connect.”

Meet Your Match

If you’re feeling lonely on Valentine’s Day, there’s no better way to beat it than to get out and volunteer. If you already have someone special, then there’s no better way to spend time together than doing some community service work. VolunteerMatch is the perfect website for finding the right opportunities. It’s a very simple idea, which explains why it’s been around almost as long as the Internet. Right now they have 60,392 available opportunities from 75,560 organizations, and since 1998 they’ve made 4,637,038 referrals. That’s a lot of volunteering! Now, I must admit that they don’t have any jobs posted right now on their Jobs page, but that shouldn’t stop you from reaching out to people on their staff to see how you might be able to help. And if that doesn’t lead anywhere, you can always find a place to volunteer until you do find a job.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How are you spending Valentine’s Day?

MyPunchbowl

Willy Franzen — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:51:33 +0000

I love Groundhog Day. I’ve always intended to have an annual party in celebration of the holiday, but I’m not one for throwing early morning parties (and who wants to celebrate after the fact if Phil sees his shadow?). In past years I’ve featured the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and NOAA in honor of Phil. Additionally I’ve featured companies like WeatherBill and The Weather Channel already, so I thought it was going to be hard to find another relevant company. Then I came across this blog post that told me that MyPunchbowl is “an official partner of the Groundhog Day festivities.” Problem solved! MyPunchbowl is a “free online invitations and party planning” startup based in Framingham, MA. They offer the perfect services for planning that Groundhog Day party that I’ll probably never have. They also do Ecards, and I’ve put one together for you that you can find below.

Bring the Party to Your Job Search

There are a lot of online invitation sites, but MyPunchbowl is unique in that they offer “start to finish party planning.” This includes bringing “your party to life with ideas, invitations, favors, gift registries, photo/video sharing, and more.” It may sound like a silly idea, but it makes a lot of sense—enough sense that the company has venture capital backing it. MyPunchbowl has really brought Web 2.0 to party planning, and they’re doing an awesome job with it. The user experience on their site looks phenomenal, and they have great integration with social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

If you’re a party lover, and you like the way that MyPunchbowl is doing things, then you should check out jobs at MyPunchbowl. They have a number of open positions that include a couple that seem perfect for new grads—Product Specialist and Inside Sales Rep. One of the key requirements for applying for a job at MyPunchbowl is to have a user account, so be sure that you’re really familiar with how to use the site before applying. Maybe you can use it as an excuse to throw a party.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Will you use MyPunchbowl to plan your next party?

Moleskine

Willy Franzen — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:10:30 +0000

If there is ever a day to get organized, it’s New Year’s Day. Not only is it a traditional practice to adopt resolutions to better yourself, but you are also forced into using a new datebook or calendar by the date change (unless you live a digital lifestyle, of course). The first week of January is almost always the biggest week of the year for job search related web traffic, which means that competition for jobs is probably at its annual peak right now. You need to give yourself every advantage that you can, and organization is one of the best ways to do that. My preference is to do everything online, but if you’re one of those people who still knows how to use a pen and paper, then you might want to check out Moleskine. They’re an Italian company with a U.S. headquarters in New York City that makes “legendary notebooks.” Whether you’re looking for blank pages to write down your New Year’s resolutions and ideas for the new year or you need to replace your datebook, they’ve got it.

Are You Legendary?

If you do end up purchasing a Moleskine for an early 2010 gift to yourself, you’ll probably want to buy one on Amazon.com (we get a small referral fee). Then you’ll see what all of the fanaticism is all about. Many great artists and authors have used Moleskine type notebooks over the past couple centuries, but it was only in 1999 that a company named Modo & Modo Spa trademarked Moleskine and started producing these types of notebooks again. They were a hit, and the demand for notebooks exceeded the companies capacity for production. They were bought out by a French investment firm and renamed Moleskine Srl in 2007. They are based in Milan and have grown to more than 50 employees in a very short time. Despite the fact that digitization is killing off a lot of paper based industries, Moleskine is thriving because of the story that they tell and the attention to detail in their products. They’re another company that doesn’t list jobs on their website, but their rapid growth along with the profiles of some of their employees on LinkedIn (there seems to be a publishing industry connection) indicate to me that reaching out to them through their Contact page about a possible job is a great way to start off a well organized year.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own a Moleskine?

Waterford

Willy Franzen — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 12:49:00 +0000

Dropping the ball usually isn’t a good thing—especially in the job search; however, tonight the ball is going to drop in Times Square, and hopefully it will be a good thing for your job search. It will get you acting towards achieving your New Year’s resolution of landing a great job, and it might even give you some ideas of places to look for a job. Take Waterford for example. They’re the company that builds the ball that drops in Times Square. The ball was aluminum up until 1999 (before Waterford was involved), but there was an obvious need to do something a little fancier for the new millennium. Waterford, which is headquartered in Ireland but has offices in New York/New Jersey, is known as one of the finest crystal manufacturers in the world, so it makes sense that they were the choice to build a half-ton, six-foot wide, crystal paned ball. They’re also probably the company that made that crystal vase that you almost broke when you were roughhousing as a kid.

Look into Your Crystal Ball

If you’ve been reading for a while, you have probably noticed that I’m a proponent of using your surrounding to generate ideas for the job search. I got an e-mail the other day from someone who didn’t seem to care too much for jobs relating to Christmas trees. He was missing the point. The idea is that by being aware of your surrounding, you’ll open yourself up to ideas that you never considered before. Maybe Waterford won’t be right for you, but Martinelli’s (sparkling cider) or Times Square Alliance will catch your eye. Or maybe you will decided that you love crystal and that you want to work for Waterford. You’ll be disappointed to see that their jobs page only includes one listing right now, but you’ll persevere and find a way to get your foot in the door. Maybe you’ll reach out to them on Twitter or see if you can connect with anyone through LinkedIn. Yes, you’ll have to go above and beyond clicking a few buttons and filling in a few forms to submit your résumé, but that’s the attitude that you’ll need to get a job in 2010.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own any Waterford crystal?

Casey Trees

Willy Franzen — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:00:42 +0000

Although it may seem bad that millions of trees are cut down every year for Christmas, the truth is that most of the trees are farmed and are a completely renewable resource. Most. It was not the case with the tree that some frat boys that I went to school picked out. Their foyer had extremely high ceilings, so they picked out a very tall tree from the front of someone’s yard. They cut it down, loaded it up in their truck, and sped off. Unfortunately for them, someone spotted their plates and called the police. The cops saw the tree through the fraternity house’s windows, and they nailed the culprits. Whoops. What’s the point of this story? Trees are important, and they face lots of risks. In forests trees are often left to do their own thing, but in urban environments they need a little help. That’s what Casey Trees does. They are “a Washington, DC based not-for-profit dedicated to restoring, enhancing and protecting the tree canopy of the Nation’s Capital.” Whether they’re planting trees, protecting against development, or fixing damage done by idiot frat boys, they’re doing their best to reverse the “trend of tree cover loss in the District of Columbia.”

Oh, Christmas Tree… Oh, Casey Trees

It’s amazing how complex Casey Trees’ work gets. It’s not just about planting seeds and pruning branches. It’s about a broader movement to ensure that trees continue to be an integral part of the DC landscape. As they put it:

Casey Trees plants trees, trains people to become Citizen Foresters, engages thousands of volunteers in tree planting and care, teaches students in District schools about trees, monitors the city’s tree canopy and provides guidelines for better planting space design so trees will thrive in the city.

It’s a perfect organization for the forestry types who aren’t quite ready to give up urban pleasures. If that’s you, then you need to check out the Casey Trees Jobs page. They’re typically looking for people who have strong skills in Urban Forestry, Arboriculture, Ecology, Landscape, Architecture, Public Policy, Communications, Community Outreach, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Mentoring. Specific opportunities include Tree Planting Laborer and Urban Forestry Crew Chief. The application instructions vary, so check out the specific postings for the right instructions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Where’d you get your Christmas tree?

JAKKS Pacific

Willy Franzen — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:56:51 +0000

Merry Christmas! I just had a wonderful morning with plenty of presents under the tree, and I hope that you did too. Despite being 25 years old, I am still a kid at heart. I’ve spent most of the morning playing with a remote control helicopter, while my dad is about to put batteries in the EyeClops Night Vision Infared Stealth Goggles that I just bought him. Yes, I got my dad a kid’s toy. I’m hoping he’ll use it for fishing, but I’m sure he’ll find plenty of other uses for night vision goggles too. After purchasing my dad’s gift, I wanted to see which company was behind it. It turns out that Malibu, CA JAKKS Pacific is behind ton of awesome stuff. You’ve got Club Penguin, the EyeClops Mini Projector, Jakks Creepy Crawlers Bugmaker, Discovery Kids toys, Girl Gourmet Cake Bakery, and all kinds of other cool things that you’d like to find under the Christmas tree.

All You Want for Christmas… Is a Job

I love the holidays as a time for job searching, even if most hiring shuts down between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. There are so many great ideas out there. If you like something enough to ask Santa Claus for it, there’s a good chance that there’s a company with jobs behind what you’re asking for. JAKKS Pacific is a perfect example. They were founded in 1995, and since then they’ve been pumping out cool stuff for kids (and immature adults like me and my dad). They don’t have much right now in the way of entry level jobs, but you should still check out their Careers page to see what is available. They’ve grown from a handful of employees to over 500 in the past 15 years, so there’s a decent chance that if you reach out to them they’ll make your Christmas wish come true.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you get any toys for Christmas?

Caribou Coffee

Willy Franzen — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:55:49 +0000

It’s Christmas Eve—the day… err… night… that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer made a name for himself. We give Santa Claus all of the credit for delivering presents all across the world, but it’s those reindeer that are doing the hard part. Here in North America, we have reindeer just like the ones that pull Santa’s sleigh, but they’re known as caribou. Since I can’t think of any companies using reindeer in their brand name, that led me to Caribou Coffee. I’m not a coffee drinker, so I don’t typically patronize Caribou Coffee, but I figured that a company with 6,000 employees would have to have some interesting entry level opportunities. The company is based in Minneapolis, MN, and has 500 retail locations in 16 states along with the District of Columbia. Caribou Coffee’s mission “is to provide a total experience that makes the day better,” and they’re able to do that for a lot of people by serving great coffee.

Then One Cloudy Christmas Eve…

Whether you’re in the Christmas Spirit or you’re being a total scrooge, there’s a decent chance that a job at Caribou Coffee might be the perfect way for you to start off the new year. The company does a really nice job with their Careers page, as it lays out all of the options that you have: Team Member (Store Level), Shift Supervisor (Store Level), Corporate Support Center Positions, Store Manager, District Manager, and Corporate Positions. They give a nice rundown of what the jobs entail along with a list of benefits. I’d imagine that most of you are more interested in the Corporate stuff than the Store level stuff; however, there isn’t anything that screams entry level to me on their corporate postings. That means that you have three options if you want to work at Caribou Coffee: start at a store, wait for something more suitable to be posted, or hope for a Christmas miracle (try cold calling!). Good luck.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you drink Caribou Coffee?

Pilgrim’s Pride

Willy Franzen — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:09:37 +0000

It’s Thanksgiving! That means that we’re going to run with the theme and talk about a… chicken company? I know we’re all getting ready to chow down on some turkey, but first we should take a look at Pilgrim’s Pride, a Pittsburgh, TX based company that happens to be our country’s largest chicken producer. Much like how our tradition of Thanksgiving started with one small group and grew to be celebrated by hundreds of millions of people, Pilgrim’s Pride started as a single feed store and grew to be an $8.5 billion company. Unfortunately, Pilgrim’s Pride has hit some problems as of late, as they’re going through a bankruptcy. Still, they couldn’t have a more appropriate name (it came from their founder’s last name) for a Thanksgiving themed post, and they do still appear to be hiring; in fact, they even seem to have turned a profit in their most recent quarter.

Sounds Like Turkey, Tastes Like Chicken

Now, I realize that distressed companies aren’t usually the best places to start your career and that the fact that a company’s name fits in well with a theme like Thanksgiving isn’t a good reason to want to work for them, but I still thinks it’s important to look a little deeper into opportunities that you might typically overlook during your job search. Pilgrim’s Pride is a perfect example. They’re a massive company with more than 40,000 employees, and they appear to be coming out of bankruptcy in the near future. Hopefully, that means that they’ve been able to solve many of the problems that put them in this situation. Chicken production isn’t the sexiest industry, but it’s massively important to our economy (just imagine life without buffalo wings). Pilgrim’s Pride has a few dozen job opportunities posted, and plenty of them appear to be suitable for new grads—especially for those with a background in Animal Science or Food Science. I’ll leave browsing the jobs to you, just make sure you do it before the sleepiness from eating all of the turkey kicks in.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you eat Pilgrim’s Pride chicken?

Orbitz Worldwide

Willy Franzen — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:55:09 +0000

Happy Friday the 13th! If you let your belief in bad luck and superstition affect you on a daily basis, then you’re setting yourself back in the job search. It really won’t do you any good. With that said, there are millions of people who suffer from paraskevidekatriaphobia—the fear of Friday the 13th. One of the biggest symptoms of this phobia is an unwillingness to travel on Friday the 13th. There’s some debate as to whether this actually has a significant effect on the travel industry, but I’ve heard that you can get pretty good deals when the 13th day of a month falls on a Friday. Since I’m not a big fan of superstition—especially when it comes to the job search—we’re going to fly in the face of paraskevidekatriaphobia and take a look at jobs with Orbitz Worldwide. If you don’t already know, they’re a Chicago based online travel company. In late 1999 they were formed through a partnership between 5 major airlines—Continental, Delta, Northwest, United, and American—to compete with Expedia and Travelocity.

Send Your Career into Orbitz

Although I couldn’t tell you what differentiates Orbitz from the plethora of other travel sites out there, I do know that I’ve used them before and would use them again. Their brands beyond Orbitz include niche plays like CheapTickets, eBookers, HotelClub, RatesToGo, Away.com, Asia-Hotels, and Orbitz for Business. Over the past decade Orbitz Worldwide has gone through a number of ownership changes, and now they’ve finally settled as publicly traded company. They have about 1,500 employees according to their LinkedIn profile, and their Job listings show that they have quite a few open positions. Unfortunately, Orbitz’s Applicant Tracking System is a total mess. It’s difficult to navigate, it’s ugly, and it also requires a session ID, which means that I can’t link you to specific job postings. Their Careers page does mention a Management Training and Development program, but doesn’t go into detail. They do have positions posted like Web/SEO Analyst (Sydney, Australia), Fraud Analyst (Chicago, IL), Search Marketing Analyst (Sydney, Australia), Air Strategy Analyst (Chicago, IL), and quite a few more. The ATS is scarier than any Friday the 13th horror movie, so I’m going to let you use your luck to find the rest of their positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you travel on Friday the 13th?

Create Your Own Entry Level Job

Willy Franzen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:25:44 +0000

Today is the two year anniversary of the launch of One Day, One Job! I started working on a job search related project in late May of 2007 (how do you like that old logo?); however, the entire concept didn’t come to fruition until November 12th, 2007 when I featured entry level jobs at InsideTrack. Since then I’ve taken a look at 730 more companies and their employment offerings for new college grads (see all of our entry level employer profiles). In that same time I’ve reached more than a million job seekers with my content, received a ton of press, signed a deal to write a Career Development textbook, and, most importantly, created my own entry level job.

Thank you all for reading and helping me make this a reality. Without you I wouldn’t have my entry level job.

The Entrepreneurship Option

One Day, One Job was created as a resource for people who are seeking employment—not entrepreneurs. With that said, I’ve learned a lot about entrepreneurship over the last two years, and I’ve reinforced my feeling that entrepreneurship is a great option for some recent college graduates.

Being an entrepreneur is not easy, and making your venture profitable takes a lot longer than you ever expect it will (I’m barely there).

Still, entrepreneurship has allowed me to reach a level of “experience” that I could have never achieved in an entry level job. It’s not something that I would recommend for most of you, but if you’ve ever had any questions about starting your own business, I want to answer them. Although One Day, One Job isn’t hiring (unless you are confident that you can immediately drive revenue, then contact me ASAP), I want to put the spotlight on my own company today.

If you have any questions about creating your own entry level job through entrepreneurship, I’d love to answer them. You can post your questions in the comments below, or you can e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com if you don’t want to post your question publicly.

Steiner Sports

Willy Franzen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:23:31 +0000

“Ball game over! World Series over! Yankees win! THEEEEEEEE YANKEES WINNNNNNNNN!” Although I was watching tv and not listening on the radio, I heard John Sterling’s call in my head as soon as Cano threw to Teixeira to get the 27th out and a 27th World Championship. As you can probably guess, I’m a huge Yankees fan, and I’m in a great mood. Since we’ve already covered entry level jobs with Major League Baseball teams, entry level jobs with the YES Network, and plenty of other entry level jobs in baseball, today we’re going to take a look at Steiner Sports. They’re based out of New Rochelle, NY, and consider themselves the “the leader in autographed sports memorabilia and sports collectibles.” They also happen to have a very strong partnership with the New York Yankees, so they are the place to go for your 2009 Championship collectibles. Whether you want a seat from the old stadium or an official Championship locker room t-shirt, they’ve got it. You can even buy a Derek Jeter autographed 2009 World Series ball despite the fact that he probably hasn’t had time yet to sit down and sign autographs.

Collect Your Way to a New Job

I used to be really into sports memorabilia, but now I’m happy to just watch the game. Still, sports memorabilia is a huge market that seems to be going strong despite the decline of the collectible card industry. I guess people would much rather have something that is actually scarce like a game used jersey than a piece of cardboard that can be produced en masse. I guess that’s why Steiner Sports is now a “booming, 100-plus employee, $50 million enterprise.” Beyond the memorabilia and collectibles side of the business, there’s also Steiner Sports Marketing. It seems like an awesome company for sports fans, so if you’re intrigued, check out their Jobs page. Right now they have a handful of openings posted including a B2B/Retail Sales position and a Direct to Consumer Account Executive position. The application instructions can be found on the Jobs page, so check out the full descriptions and make your job search something that you can commemorate.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Yankees win!

Children’s Dental Health Project

Willy Franzen — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 13:09:17 +0000

Happy Halloween! Yesterday we took a look at Mars and talked about Halloween candy, but today we’re going to take a different tack. Since we’re told from an early age that candy will rot our teeth, I figure that Halloween is the perfect time to discuss a dental non-profit. It’s also appropriate because many people would consider the dentist to be way scarier than even the most deranged Halloween costume. After a little searching, I came across Children’s Dental Health Project. They’re a relatively small Washington, DC based non-profit organization that “advances policies that improve children’s access to oral health.” Now, this definitely does not mean that I think that anyone should give out toothbrushes for Halloween, but make sure you brush after eating all that candy.

Dental Hygiene for the Win

Now, when I was growing up, I always thought it was ridiculous that I had two scheduled dental appointments every year to take care of my teeth, but only one annual checkup with the pediatrician for the rest of my body. Although I’m still tempted to that feel that way, I realize that most of us significantly undervalue dental health. The truth is that tooth decay at an early age will have significant negative impact over the course of one’s life. Considering the fact that of American children “one-quarter will have at least one cavity by the time they reach kindergarten and one-half by second grade,” we need to do better with our children’s dental health (and probably our own too). This is why Children’s Dental Health Project is actively working to:

Prevent childhood tooth decay, because cavities are the result of a disease that is overwhelmingly preventable.
Promote solutions that are grounded in the best available research and supporting exploration when evidence is lacking
Engage policymakers and other decision-makers in addressing ongoing inequities in oral health and to implement cost-effective solutions.

It sounds like a great organization, and although I don’t know if they’re hiring now, I think it would be worth reaching out to them to see if they have anything open—especially if you are a fanatic about dental health. Use their Contact page to learn more about how to reach them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you brush your teeth today?

Mars

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

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

Take a Trip to Mars

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite candy from Mars?

Facet Technology

Willy Franzen — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:57:50 +0000

In my day… Columbus Day was a real holiday. Now there’s a huge portion of the population that doesn’t even get the day off. Yes, I understand that Christopher Columbus was a bit overrated as a historical hero (and a lot of the things that we learned about him in grade school were inaccurate), but I’m still amazed that he had the guts and the persistence to make a voyage across the Atlantic happen. Now we’ll barely take a walk down the street without a GPS enabled device in our pocket. Navigation and exploration have a long history, but I’m not sure how much more advancement is possible. Facet Technology would disagree. They’re an Eden Prairie, MN based software and services company that is changing what state of the art means when it comes to the Transportation, Mapping and Food Processing Industries. They’re another Inc. 5000 company with 110.4% three-year growth, and I think they’re going to shoot up the rankings over the next few years.

Explore Every Facet

Computers are pretty good at identifying objects when they know what to expect. For instance, a factory that makes widgets can quite easily set up computers that use vision technology to ensure that the widgets are consistently produced. Every widget should be the same, so detecting differences isn’t all that difficult for computers. This all changes when you leave a controlled environment. This is how Facet Technology responds:

Many environments, however, don’t allow full control over all the parameters that make standard computer vision tools easy to use. By changing one of the parameters – either moving the man-made object into an uncontrolled environment (outdoors) or by changing the man-made object into a natural object (grain, fruit, meat, poultry, etc.) – the identification and inspection task becomes several times more difficult. This is where Facet’s patented technology shines and allows computer vision tools to now be used successfully. Facet allows you to control the uncontrollable.

Think about how this technology can change the way we navigate—the possibilities are endless. It really is the next step after GPS and location aware devices. If you’re intrigued by what Facet Technology is up to, then you should check out their job postings. Right now they’re looking for an Associate Software Engineer, a Computer System Specialist/Software Tester, and a Data Acquisition Vehicle Operator. While the latter doesn’t require a college education, it sounds like a pretty cool gig (driving around a camera equipped, ultra high-tech SUV to collect data). You can apply to any of the jobs by sending a cover letter and résumé to jobs@facet-tech.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How important do you think Facet Technology will be in the future of navigation?

Charm City Cakes

Willy Franzen — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:49:36 +0000

Today’s my birthday. I’m 25. If you want to get me a present, you can buy me something on my Amazon Wishlist. If you don’t, then you can still check out today’s post on how to try to get a job with a company that is absolutely not hiring. As I was thinking of a birthday themed company to feature, Charm City Cakes came to mind. They’re the Baltimore, MD based bakery that is featured on the Food Network’s Ace of Cakes. Unfortunately, they’re not making my birthday cake (if they were it would probably be a giant trout cake), but they are the best of the best when it comes to birthday—or any other celebration’s—cakes. You have to love any company that is truly at the top of it’s industry—especially when they’re head and shoulders above the competition like Charm City Cakes is.

You Can’t Get By on Charm Alone

So what’s that I said about the fact that Charm City Cakes is REALLY REALLY not hiring? While I was perusing their website looking for information on jobs, I came across this blurb on their FAQ.

We are not currently hiring any staff, interns, externs, unpaid grunts, or volunteers.

It’s not as strongly worded as their blurb on not allowing visitors, but it kind of has a similar tone:

If you ask to visit, we will be forced to say “no”. If you show up anyway, we will not be able to let you come inside. We don’t want to let you down and we don’t want to feel like mega jerk meanie heads. We are very sorry to be so stern and such, but there are no exceptions to this policy.

If you think about it, it makes sense. Most companies are dying for great applicants, but when a company has a reputation like Charm City Cakes does, there’s the problem of too much interest. I’ll bet they hear from every Joe Schmoe who has ever cracked open a a Betty Crocker box and thinks that he is the next Ace of Cakes. It’s an administrative nightmare. When they do need to hire someone, it’s probably not going to be some random that e-mailed them. The same can be said about other similar companies—hedge funds, boutique consulting firms, other businesses featured on tv shows. Getting a job with them can truly seem impossible.

So, how do you do it? I see two ways, and both involved networking. The first is pestering the person you want to hire you until he or she just can’t say no again. You’ve seen this approach work in movies and popular culture, and it resembles Charlie Hoehn’s idea of free work in a lot of ways. This isn’t the best way to endear people to you, but sometimes unwillingness to give up will convince someone to give you a chance. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re in search of a dream job like mopping the floor at Charm City Cakes, then it might be worth a shot.

The second technique is to build up your value. Start somewhere with a lower profile and bust your butt until you’re the best. Then network your way into a conversation with the person that you want to hire you (or maybe just cold call them). That conversation is very different from the one that I previously mentioned, because now you are just the kind of superstar that the company wants. You’re no longer some amateur with an unrealistic ambition.

I can’t promise that either of these techniques will work to get you a job at Charm City Cakes, but if you have a dream job that seems unattainable, these are my suggestions on how to give it your best shot. Sometimes companies truly don’t have room to grow and really won’t hire anyone on any condition, but if you’re good at dealing with rejection, there’s no sense in not trying. The biggest takeaway is that you need to differentiate yourself from all of the other applicants who aren’t truly serious, and to do that you need to be willing to sacrifice everything to make your dream happen.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How do you recommend that new grads go about attaining unattainable jobs?

U.S. Department of Labor

Willy Franzen — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:02:13 +0000

Having graduated from Cornell’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, I spent a lot of time learning about work, employment, and labor issues during my undergraduate days. While most people think that Labor Day is all about the end of summer (sorry!) and not being able to wear white anymore, my school ensured that I was made more aware of the history of Labor Day. Oddly enough, ILR didn’t give us the day off from classes, but they did excuse us from classes if we went to a big Labor Day celebration with speakers from major unions. If that sounds like something that would interest you, then maybe you’ll want to check out jobs with the U.S. Department of Labor. There isn’t a more suitable employer to feature on Labor Day than our Federal Government’s Cabinet department responsible for promoting “the welfare of the job seekers, wage earners, and retirees of the United States.”

A Labor of Love

Maybe I’m unique in being fascinated by the world of work, but I think that the issues surrounding employment and labor are going to continue to play a huge role in our economic (and quite possibly cultural) history. The Federal Government has built itself a significant role in these issues through the Department of Labor, and with nearly 20,000 employees I don’t think the DOL is going anywhere in the near future. The scope of what the DOL does for our country’s workers includes:

improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and health care benefits, helping employers find workers, strengthening free collective bargaining, and tracking changes in employment, prices, and other national economic measurements.

This creates all kinds of cool jobs for people who are interested in employment issues. From Statistician to Industrial Hygienist, the range of positions at the Department of Labor is extremely wide. Since you most likely have the day off, you’ll get the pleasure of browsing through the DOL’s Job openings yourself, since there are too many for me to list here. Before you do that, though, you may want to check out the DOL’s Reference Guide for College Students entitled Starting Your Career at the U.S. Department of Labor. It’s not flashy, but it will walk you through the process of getting a job at the DOL.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How are you celebrating Labor Day?

National Safety Council

Willy Franzen — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:00:16 +0000

Last year we took a look at jobs with Phantom Fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of July, but this year it’s a weekend, and that means non-profit entry level jobs. I decided to play things a little safer, so my first thought was The National Council on Fireworks Safety, but they don’t appear to have any jobs. That led me to the Itasca, IL based National Safety Council, which is also concerned with fireworks safety. Fireworks safety is just one small piece of what the National Safety Council does though, as their mission is to “educate and influence people to prevent accidental injury and death.” And that’s just want we want to do on July 4th.

Bring Safety to Your Job Search

First and foremost, I want you to focus on having a safe holiday weekend, but after you’ve accomplished that, you might as well combine your quest for safety with your job search. The National Safety Council focuses on safety in transportation, at home, and in the workplace, so they’re much broader in scope than other safety organizations. The NSC works through 39 state and regional chapters that “identify safety needs of particular interest to their areas and deliver community-based programs and services, trainings, conferences, workshops and consultations, and serve as a local voice for safety advocacy.” If that sounds like something that you want to be a part of, then you should check out the National Safety Council’s Jobs page. Right now, they don’t have anything available at their Itasca, IL office, but they do have an Instructor Coordinator position that appears to be entry level available in their Syracuse, NY office.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you safety conscious?

National Archives

Willy Franzen — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:46:55 +0000

Since I’m going to have a non-profit for you tomorrow, let’s start celebrating the Fourth of July today. Now, I know that you probably have fireworks, the beach, hot dogs, and hamburgers on your mind, but let’s take a minute to appreciate the Declaration of Independence. It’s the best “I Quit” letter in the history of the world. It’s like that letter that you wrote to your parents when you were 14 and decided that you were moving out, except it isn’t completely nonsensical. The Declaration of Independence has a lot to do with why this country is so great, so I hope that you’ll take a minute to give it a read today. And where do you go if you want to read the Declaration of Independence? The National Archives, of course! You can see the original document in all its glory, or you can check out a more readable version. If you’re not familiar with what the National Archives is, basically they “are the nation’s record keeper.” They preserve and keep forever 1%-3% of our government’s documents for both legal and historical reasons.

Declare Your Independence with a New Job

One Day, One Job has its own archives, but it’s nothing compared to what the National Archives has (duh!). The National Archives serves many constituencies, as there are all kinds of uses for historical documents. These include: the General Public, Genealogists/Family Historians, Veterans and their Families, Educators and Students, Researchers, Records Managers, Preservation and Archives Professionals, Information Security Specialists, Federal Employees, Members of Congress, Press/Journalists, and more I’m sure. You could spend hours learning about the National Archives and what they have preserved, so I’m going to leave that research up to you.

What I do have for you is an inside look at what kind of jobs they have available. You can start learning about what it’s like to work at the National Archives by visiting their Careers page, and from there you can check out their Jobs page. Here’s where it gets a bit confusing because there are a lot of options. You want to select Jobs for the General Public or Federal Career Intern Program. The former takes you to the USAJOBS.gov site where you can see all of their job listings. Right now the best option is Archives Technician, but there might be some other options for you. The latter isn’t actually an internship program; it’s an entry level hiring program. It doesn’t have any openings right now, but it’s worth keeping an eye on because it looks great.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever visited the National Archives?

Fatherhood Educational Institute

Willy Franzen — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:45:27 +0000

Father’s Day is almost always a little bittersweet for me, as it marks the end of a week long fly fishing trip with my Dad to Northern Michigan. I hate for the trip to be over, but there’s no better way to celebrate the holiday than having spent a week with my Dad doing what we love—catching fish. Last year I searched high and low to bring you a post about the National Fatherhood Initiative, and this year it wasn’t easy to find another Dad related non-profit. Lucky for you, I came across the Fatherhood Educational Institute, which is based in Chicago. I know that I couldn’t have done half the things that I’ve done in my life without my Dad (like start this business), so it makes a lot of sense that the Fatherhood Educational Institute aims “to promote positive fatherhood involvement in povery stricken communities.” Great fathers are so important to the success of their children.

Now, the Fatherhood Educational Institute doesn’t have any job listings that I’ve been able to come across, but they do seem big enough to have the potential for some job openings. Some of their undertaking include the Incarcerated Fathers Project and Fatherhood Support Groups. Both are aimed at achieving the Fatherhood Educational Institute’s mission:

a) introduce indigent and incarcerated fathers regarding fatherhood through the use of clinical and related educational tools; and

b) to promote fatherhood in poverty stricken neighborhoods and in the general public through events and any other means of educating the public on the importance of patriarchal involvement in children’s lives.

Like I said, there’s no word on any jobs, but if you think that a job at the Fatherhood Educational Institute might be right up your alley try reaching out to them through the info on their Contact page.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How are you celebrating Father’s day?

National Park Service

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

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

Celebrate Memorial Day All Year Long

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite National Park/

Family Health and Birth Center

Willy Franzen — Sun, 10 May 2009 12:29:28 +0000

Happy Mother’s Day! It was a lot harder finding a mother related non-profit organization to feature today than I thought it would be, but luckily I came a cross the Family Health and Birth Center in Washington, DC. They are “a full scope birth center providing prenatal, birth, postnatal, gynecological and primary health care to women and their families,” and since what they do is all about motherhood, they’re a perfect fit for today. The reason that the Family Health and Birth Center exists is that there are often high rates of infant and maternal mortality in low-income areas. That is unacceptable for a country as advanced as the United States, so Ruth Watson Lubic, “an experienced nurse-midwife and health care reform advocate,” decided to do something about it.

Making the Road to Motherhood Safer

We, as children, often forget how dangerous and difficult it can be for our mothers to bring us into the world. Luckily, there are organizations like Family Health and Birth Center that can make it safer. They offer a wide array of services that can help women in the DC area not only become mothers safely, but also start on their way to being good mothers. If you’d like to consider a job at Family Health and Birth Center, you’ll have to get a little bit creative. They don’t currently have any jobs posted, but they do offer internships and volunteer opportunities. They also have a detailed staff page, so if you take the information on those two pages together, you should be able to prepare yourself well to make a cold call. Your Mom will be proud.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you wish your Mom a Happy Mother’s Day?

New Leaf Paper

Willy Franzen — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:41:52 +0000

I wasn’t going to write an Earth Day post today, because I hate the environment. (That’s not true, it’s just what I tell Green Peace people who harass me as I walk down the street. The real reason was that I was going to do Administrative Assistants’ Day instead.) However, I came across San Francisco based New Leaf Paper, which couldn’t be a more fitting company to feature on Earth Day. According to their web site, they lead “the paper industry in the development and distribution of environmentally superior printing and office papers.” It’s kind of like Dunder Mifflin gone green and moved to California (there’s an idea for the Michael Scott Paper Company!). If you’re surprised that a paper company can offer both quality and affordability while being eco-friendly, then you should check out New Leaf’s Eco Audit. I don’t know what to make of all those numbers, but hopefully you will. At the very least it sounds phenomenal that they saved 118 Trees, 5,551 Pounds of solid waste, 50,178 Gallons of water, 84 Million Btu of energy, and more.

Turn Over a New Leaf

Although our paper usage has probably peaked (the decline seems to have started in 2007), we still use a ton of paper. That means that there’s a lot of room for a company like New Leaf Paper to eat up market share as corporate paper buyers decide to go green. That’s probably why New Leaf Paper recently secured a $5 million equity investment, even though they’re a profitable company that has been around for more than 10 years. This recent investment is the reason that we decided to talk about jobs with them, even though they don’t have anything posted at the entry level (we found them because of their internship postings). In fact, I couldn’t find New Leaf Paper’s Jobs page by navigating their site; however, I did find it through a Google search. They do have one Senior Sales position listed, but we think that there might be future opportunities coming soon as New Leaf Paper starts investing the money that they recently got. You can reach out to New Leaf Paper about jobs at info@newleafpaper.com, but be sure to do some research on their LinkedIn profile first to get an idea of what types of positions might be available.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think is going to happen with the Michael Scott Paper Company?

Rabbit Rescue

Willy Franzen — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 11:33:43 +0000

Happy Easter! Last year we took a look at jobs with Easter Seals to celebrate, and this year we’re going to have even more fun with the holiday theme. I’m a big fan of the Easter Bunny, because he still brings me delicious treats despite the fact that I’m way too old to still be getting anything from him. I’m not sure how rabbits became indelibly tied to Easter, but they are, which is why we’re taking a look at Rabbit Rescue today. They are a Paramount, CA based non-profit, no-kill shelter for rabbits that is staffed and run entirely by volunteers. Yes, that means that landing a full-time job with them might be out of the question, but I couldn’t find any bunny related non-profits that were hiring. In case you didn’t know, there’s a big problem with people who get bunnies as Easter gifts and then fail to take care of them. You can read about it here. Rabbit Rescue is doing great work to save rabbits, but they may be a little short on jobs. Your Easter challenge is to find a non-profit (or even a for-profit company) with better bunny related jobs. Report back in the comments!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Can you find a better company or organization with rabbit related jobs?

Jelly Belly

Willy Franzen — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:37:44 +0000

Easter is almost here, and since we’ll be covering a non-profit on Sunday, it’s time to talk about candy again! Last year we checked out entry level jobs at Just Born Quality Confections (the manufacturer of Peeps), so this year we need to give jelly beans their due respect. And if we’re talking about jelly beans, it’s hard to ignore Jelly Belly. Although I have a soft spot for those simpler jelly beans with less creative flavors (except for the nasty licorice flavored ones), I know that Jelly Belly is the king of the jelly bean industry. They offer an insane variety of flavors that includes Buttered Popcorn, Cotton Candy, Toasted Marshmallow, and Jalapeño. While Fairfield, CA basedJelly Belly has branched out a bit from their jelly bean roots, they seem quite committed to furthering the success of the bean. They’ve even brought jelly beans to the sports market to compete with the drinks and gels that most people are accustomed to.

Are You Ready for This Jelly?

It’s hard to go through the weeks leading up to and after Easter without popping at least one jelly bean in your mouth. That’s why it should be obvious to you to consider a job with Jelly Belly – assuming that you actually like jelly beans. How does one find a job with Jelly Belly? It’s pretty simple, you head over to their Careers page and see what’s available. Right now they’re looking for a Lead Web Developer, a Sales Manager – Sports Nutrition, and a Production Supervisor – Packaging. All of the requirements on these jobs say that they’ll take experience OR education, but that seems kind of crazy. It may be the case that none of the jobs are suitable for new college grads, but if you really love Jelly Beans, you’ll use the information on their Careers page to reach out to them and see if you can make something happen.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite Jelly Belly flavor?

Rawlings

Willy Franzen — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:29:08 +0000

It’s Opening Day! Although it may not be a real holiday to you, to those of us who who are die hard baseball fans it’s quite possibly the best day of the year (especially fans of perennial losers whose best record all season is 0-0). I already had my baseball fix this weekend, since I flew out to NYC to see the opening of the new Yankee Stadium in an exhibition game between the Yanks and the Cubs, but I am beyond excited to watch some games that actually count. With that in mind, we’re going to run with the baseball theme today. We’ve already covered jobs with Major League Baseball and its teams, so we’re going to look at St. Louis based Rawlings today. They were the manufacturer of my first ever baseball glove (which had a Jose Canseco facsimile signature on the palm), so I inevitably think of Rawlings when I think of baseball. Their posted job offerings are a bit sparse, but hopefully you’ll use the good vibes from Opening Day to inspire your job search. (Remember: These posts aren’t just about the companies that we feature. They’re also about bringing creativity to your job search.)

Catch an Entry Level Job with Rawlings

In case you’ve never heard of Rawlings before, they make equipment for Baseball, Softball, Basketball, Soccer, and Volleyball. At their heart, though, they’re a baseball company. They produce all kinds of fun stuff – gloves, bats, balls, batting gloves, uniforms, apparel, protective gear, batting gloves, and much more. Unfortunately, their website is entirely in Flash (is this getting more common?), so we can’t link to all of the specifics. If you’re a baseball player like me, you’ll probably get lost looking at all of the cool stuff that they make. I remember poring over baseball catalogs for hours to decide which new bat I was going to get when I was in high school. Anyway, Rawlings is mostly a manufacturer, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have interesting jobs for new college grads. Take a look at Rawlings’ Company Profile on LinkedIn, and you’ll see what kind of careers they typically offer. Right now, the only jobs they have posted are on Jarden’s Careers site (Jarden is Rawlings’ parent company), and they’re on the manufacturing side. If you don’t want to work on the line tanning gloves and dealing with chemicals, then do a little more research and see if you can find an in with Rawlings in another area of their business. You should also check out some of the links under the About Rawlings section on Rawlings’ home page – they have info on benefits and company kickball teams. Also, watch out for the blaring music that starts playing when you hit the home page. It’s pretty annoying.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Rawlings.com
Jarden.com (Rawlings’ Parent Company)
Jobs at Rawlings (Jarden’s Corporate Careers Site)
Rawlings’ Company Profile on LinkedIn

What other baseball related jobs have you come across? Whose signature was on your first baseball glove?

CollegeHumor

Willy Franzen — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 14:00:03 +0000

I really wanted to play a gag on you this year. I wanted to post a ridiculous sounding job with a ridiculous application process, but I couldn’t bring myself to have fun at your cost. The job search is stressful enough. You don’t need someone messing with you even if you should know better than to believe anything that you read on April 1st. It’s going to be hard to top last year’s April Fools’ Day jobs with Motley Fool, and unfortunately I wasn’t smart enough to save jobs with The Onion for today, so we’re going to go with CollegeHumor, which “was founded in 1999 by two high school friends from Baltimore, Maryland who went to different colleges as a way to share all of the pictures, videos, and links their friends would IM and e-mail each other.” Somehow, a completely childish and immature website turned into a real media company over the past 10 years; in fact, IAC recently bought a majority share in CollegeHumor’s parent company. College, just like April Fools’ Day, is a time to have fun – often at the expense of others. I guess it makes sense that CollegeHumor, now based in New York City, has become a real business, with real employees.

CollegeHumor Isn’t a Joke

CollegeHumor isn’t for everyone (back in the day they had a disclaimer saying that anyone over 32 shouldn’t be on the website), but if you are amused by what others deem offensive, then a job with CollegeHumor might be your jam – especially if you want to work for a company that has a corporate beer pong team. Ok, so it’s not all fun and games. According to CollegeHumor’s Jobs page, they’re only hiring interns right now. That’s ok though, because if you let a lack of job postings stop you from landing your dream job, then you seriously need some job search help. I recommend that you head over to their About page, where they list all of their employees and job titles, and pick a job that you want. Then contact CollegeHumor and try to steal the person’s job. You can say, “April Fools’! I took your job. Happy unemployment!” It’ll help if you offer to take payment solely in Busted Tees (one of CollegeHumor’s sister companies). Your other option is to check out the Jobs from Connected Ventures, CollegeHumor’s parent company. They’re looking for a PHP/MySQL Developer and an IT Technician. If you want to land a job with CollegeHumor, you’re going to have to show some creativity and a serious sense of humor, so step away from the cover letter and resume, and find a better way to get their attention.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

CollegeHumor.com
ConnectedVentures.com (CollegeHumor’s Parent Company)
Jobs at CollegeHumor
About CollegeHumor
CollegeHumor’s FAQ

What’s your favorite prank on CollegeHumor?

Luck Stone

Willy Franzen — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 14:21:57 +0000

Although people mostly associate St. Patrick’s Day with drinking, I like to think of it in terms of searching for something good. Just think – there’s the four leaf clover, and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and… ok that’s it. Well, you can also use St. Patrick’s Day as motivation for your job search. That’s why we’re looking at Richmond, VA based Luck Stone today. Not only are they a company that fits in with our St. Patrick’s Day theme, but they’re also a company that is all about searching for something good. The only thing that’s different about them is that they consider the stuff that you dig through to be the “pot of gold.” Yes, that’s right. It’s the stone that they’re after.

Bring Luck to Your Job Search

Lucky Stone “is the largest, family owned and operated aggregates company in the U.S. and is the 12th largest producer of crushed stone in the nation.” That means that they dig stuff up, and they sell it. It’s 21st century alchemy with an Irish flair! The good news for you is that you can stop eating your Lucky Charms in your underwear at noon every day and turn stone into a job because Luck Stone has a strong college recruiting program. Their job listings don’t show any jobs for new grads, but their College Recruiting page invites interested entry level candidates to contact their Talent Acquisition Consultants. It’s easier than finding a four-leaf closer, so get on it!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How are you celebrating St. Patrick’s Day?

The Mathematical Association of America

Willy Franzen — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 14:00:28 +0000

If you’ve been reading One Day, One Job for a year or more, you probably remember that last year we did a holiday post for Pi Day (you should also get your butt in Found Your Career, because a year long job search is way too long and you need to put an end to it soon!). I’m a dork, and I love dorky holidays. That’s why I’m already counting down the seconds until 1:59:26 (ok, I didn’t stay up for it, I’m waiting for the PM version), when the date and time will represent 8 digits of pi. Since today is a weekend, I thought that it was my duty to bring you info on jobs with math related non-profits. Unfortunately, there are a lot fewer of those than one would think. We’ve already covered Math for America, and last year we took a look at Pi Media, so we’re stretching a bit by looking at job opportunities with The Mathematical Association of America. They’re located in Washington, DC, and they’re “the largest professional society that focuses on mathematics accessible at the undergraduate level.”

Pi in the Sky Jobs

The MAA has 5 core interests:

Education: We support learning in the mathematical sciences by encouraging effective curriculum, teaching, and assessment at all levels.
Research: We support research, scholarship, and its exposition at all appropriate levels and venues, including research by undergraduates.
Professional Development: We provide resources and activities that foster scholarship, professional growth, and cooperation among teachers, other professionals, and students.
Public Policy: We influence institutional and public policy through advocacy for the importance, uses, and needs of the mathematical sciences.
Public Appreciation: We promote the general understanding and appreciation of mathematics. We encourage students of all ages, particularly those from underrepresented groups, to pursue activities and careers in the mathematical sciences.

It’s all about furthering the field of Mathematics, especially at the undergraduate level. Alright, so I admitted that it’s a bit of a stretch to talk about jobs at The Mathematical Association of America. They don’t have any job postings right now, but they do have a Jobs page. It includes a link to their Organizational Chart, which will show you what kinds of jobs they have. They also have a page on How to Apply, so if you’re serious about a job with the MAA, you should use the info supplied there to give cold calling a try. And if you’re just looking for jobs in Math, you should check out the MAA’s MathClassifieds.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How are you celebrating Pi Day?

Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Willy Franzen — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 17:21:05 +0000

I love writing these holiday posts. It’s always fun to think of holiday related jobs, and since today is President’s Day, I had a lot of options. I could have looked at car dealerships or retailers that celebrate with a President’s Day sale, but I wanted to feature some jobs that honor our past presidents. Since Washington and Lincoln are all over our money, we’re going to check out jobs with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re responsible for printing all of our paper money, but that’s not all that they do. The BEP is also the country’s largest producer of security documents, which includes “U.S. passports, materials for Homeland Security, military identification cards, and Immigration and Naturalization Certificates.” They don’t produce our coinage – that’s the United States Mint, but they do have the coolest domain name in the government – MoneyFactory.gov – even though it kind of sounds like a get rich quick scheme’s web site. And last but not least, they must be pretty busy because the current low interest rates mean that the government is printing a lot of new money.

Jobs in the Money

If you don’t believe the saying that “money can’t make you happy,” then you might be well suited for a job with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. You’re probably not going to get rich with a job in the Federal government, but you’ll certainly be surrounded by cold, hard cash. The BEP looks like a fascinating place to work, and they have quite a few job offerings that might interest new college grads. They have two locations – Washington, DC and Fort Worth, TX – but they only have job openings in DC right now. The BEP’s job listings are some of the most confusing that I’ve ever read, so it’s really hard to tell what the experience requirements are for each job. With that said, I think that you might want to check out jobs like Quality Assurance Specialist, Human Resources Specialist (Employee & Labor Relations), Management Assistant, Chemist, Picture Engraver (Banknote) Apprentice, and Research Chemist. It’s hard to say whether all of these jobs are entry level, but give them a good look if you’re intrigued by the titles. You should also note that the BEP has some Special Hiring Programs. These include the Outstanding Scholar Program, which “exempts qualified applicants from normal competitive hiring procedures who have obtained Superior Academic Achievement,” and a Merit Promotions Program. The application instructions for jobs with the BEP are at the end of each job posting, and they’re onerous to say the least, but if you want to be surrounded by money, there’s no better option.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite bill produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing?