One Day, One Job » international

Forrester Research

Willy Franzen — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:54:47 +0000

I’m sure that you’ve heard plenty of people bemoan the fact that it’s nearly impossible to get users to pay for online content. Most people wouldn’t pay a single dollar to read a wonderful article from The New York Times. Maybe this will change eventually, but for now the “freeconomy” is giving many content producers fits. Some people who aren’t having a problem are the folks at Cambridge, MA based Forrester Research. They’re “an independent research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology,” and they consistently get people to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars for their content. Most of the reason for this is the fact that they’re often selling to corporate clients who are a lot less price sensitive than individual users, but it’s still impressive. Buying research done by Forrester is a lot cheaper than doing the research yourself, so it’s a smart investment. That’s why Forrester Research was able to generate nearly a quarter billion dollars in revenue in 2008.

Research Pays

You’re probably wondering what kind of research Forrester does and why it’s so lucrative. It’s really all over the place (as long as it relates to business and/or technology). For $499 you can buy a report on The All-Wireless Campus: A Westmont College Case Study or a Western European Online Retail Forecast, 2009 To 2014. And at the $1,749 price point you can read up on The State Of Consumers And Technology: Benchmark 2009, Canada. If you’re only willing to spend $250 you may want to attend a teleconference on How To Use Twitter For Customer Service or Global Banking Platform Deals 2009. If you want to get a taste for yourself, and you’re not ready to pull out the credit card, then you should probably take a look at Forrester’s free research.

If you find some of the reports fascinating and not boring, then you should probably consider a Career at Forrester Research. They’ve won a lot of awards, and they seem to be using social media as a big part of their recruiting. Their current openings (in Cambridge unless otherwise noted) include: Web Developer, Sales Development Specialist – Selling to Technology Vendor Professionals (London, UK), Research Associate (also in London and New York), Events Coordinator, Database Marketing Associate, Client Relations Specialist (San Francisco, CA), Citations Specialist, Briefings Specialist – Client Services, and Billing Specialist. There are a lot of options for new and recent grads, and they’re a great alternative to hanging around in academia. Forrester’s research locations include Dallas, TX; Foster City, CA; New York, NY; San Francisco, CA; Washington, DC; Amsterdam, NL; London, UK; Frankfurt, Germany; and Paris, France; while they have even more sales centers, so be on the look out for more positions in those locations. And if you want an inside look at what a Research Analyst does, here’s a great blog post on the topic.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you ever read a Forrester report for pleasure reading?

Bank Information Center

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

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

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

Be Informed About the BIC

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about the Bank Information Center?

Organic

Willy Franzen — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:04:24 +0000

I hope the title of today’s post didn’t make you hungry, because we’re not talking about jobs in organic food. Organic is a San Francisco based interactive marketing agency with a brand that has gained a lot of keyword competition over the past 16 years. Yes, people were eating organic back in 1994, but the word wasn’t nearly as common as it is today. Doing research on Organic is tough because the organic search results (excuse my SEO pun) have all kinds of other stuff in them (at least they own Organic.com). Either Google needs to get inside my head to discern my intent, or Organic is going to have to hope that artificial packaged, processed foods go back in vogue. Ok, enough of my ripping on their name—Organic was ranked by AdWeek as the #1 interactive agency in 2007. That fits in perfectly with my impression of Organic from browsing their website and looking at their work. In fact, I’m blown away by how good Organic’s website is. It’s easy to use, it’s full of information, and it’s gorgeously designed. Their corporate mantra is “Exceptional Experience,” and they certainly live up to it.

Live Organic

I’ve found that interactive agencies sometimes go too far with their websites. They get too fancy and end up making an unusable piece of garbage. The way Organic has built their website shows that they’re good at what they do. Beyond San Francisco Organic also has locations in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Toronto. The company’s clients include Bank of America, Jeep, Nike, Guitar Center, and plenty more. I could tell you more about Organic, but you’re much better off visiting their website, because it does a great job of telling their story. Organic even does a great job with their Careers site—they even make a usually crappy applicant tracking system look good. The interesting thing about Organic is that most of their 40 job openings are at pretty Senior levels. Their only real entry level job is Interactive Strategist (San Francisco). You might also want to check out Contributor Mktg Intelligence (Detroit), Associate Producer (San Francisco), Associate Delivery Management (San Francisco), and Recruiter (Toronto), but they all require some prior experience. You can apply online for any of these positions, and you can also submit a résumé for general consideration (this might be the best tactic, as they do list college recruiting as one of their sources). Finally, Organic seems to allow new grads in their paid internship program, so that might be another option.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Organic’s name?

NetJets

Willy Franzen — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:36:24 +0000

If I ever make a ridiculous amount of money, the first thing that I’m going to do is buy a private jet—or at least a share in one. It seems like the ultimate way to travel. I’ve been on private planes before, but they had propellers and I was sitting next to or right behind the pilot (not nearly as classy). NetJets is a company that allows wealthy individuals and businesses to buy shares in private jets (since who really needs an entire jet to himself or herself?). They also have a subscription service called MarquisJet that lets you get a guaranteed number of hours of private jet use. It may not make private air travel affordable or cost effective, but it certainly puts it within reach for a lot more people. NetJets is by far the market leader, and they’re also a Berkshire Hathaway company. You know if Warren Buffett is investing in it, it has to be pretty good. NetJets is based in Columbus, OH, but quite obviously they operate all over the world.

Be a NetJetter

Even Warren Buffett thinks that private jet travel is a ridiculous luxury, but that didn’t stop him from becoming a customer and then buying the company when the time was right. The truth is that commercial airline travel is a pain in the butt, and many people will pay exorbitant costs to avoid it. Even if energy costs get continue to grow, you have to like the future of NetJets. Assuming that you aren’t morally opposed to private air travel, you should check out NetJets’s Jobs page. It’s split in to three sections: Pilots, Flight Attendants, and Corporate Positions. We’ll look at the latter since that’s most likely to have good fits for new grads. There are 15 jobs posted right now, and a few appear to be suitable for new grads. These include IT Business Analyst, Prospect Development Specialist (Teetorboro, NJ), and Technical Marketing Analyst. You can apply online, but we can’t link you directly to the job descriptions because NetJets uses a crappy applicant tracking system.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever flown on a NetJet?

The Economist

Willy Franzen — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:00:13 +0000

I’ll admit it, I don’t read The Economist regularly, but plenty of my friends do—mostly the smart ones. It’s a magazine (they call themselves a newspaper, but you’d likely identify it as a magazine) that stands apart from other periodicals in a variety of ways. It’s not the topics that they cover—they offer both news coverage and analysis and opinion on business and politics—it’s more the way that they cover those topics. The most interesting thing about The Economist is the fact that all of their articles are written anonymously. It’s about “a belief that what is written is more important than who writes it,” but you have to like the fact that anonymity allows the writers the freedom that they need to address topics in the ways that they should be addressed. The Economist is all about free trade and free markets, yet it “considers itself the enemy of privilege, pomposity and predictability.” The Economist is based in London, but they are very much an international business and magazine.

Put the Free Market to Work

I can’t imagine that you could take a job with The Economist without being an avid reader. If you’re already one, then I’m sure that you’re chopping at the bit to see what kind of jobs they have available, and if you aren’t, then you better go pick up a copy or start browsing their website. You’re certain to find yourself challenged in a way that you never have been before. Not only does The Economist’s approach make them stand out editorially, but it also makes them stand out as a business. While many huge names in the print media are struggling—the New York Times is a perfect example, The Economist continues to thrive and grow. This article from PaidContent.org goes into more detail about The Economist’s economic successes, which are even more impressive considering that their parent company (half owner) Financial Times is struggling. So what about those jobs? The Economist has job offerings all across the world, but we’re going to focus on their US based opportunities, which are mostly located in New York City. Potential entry level opportunities include UI Developer, Account Executive – EIU Enterprise Subscription Sales (Chicago, IL), Distribution Customer Service Analyst, Integrated Marketing Coordinator, and Drupal Developer. All of the jobs look really interesting, and you can apply by using the HR contact info on The Economist’s site. If you’re looking for a job on the editorial side, I’m sure that you have your work cut out for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read The Economist?

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?

Intellectual Ventures

Willy Franzen — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:30:53 +0000

One of the books that I’ve been reading lately is SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance. It’s a great follow-up to the original Freakonomics, and it once again shows how changing your mindset can lead you to all kinds of new ideas (this is a really important lesson for job seekers). One of the companies that is mentioned in the book is Intellectual Ventures, a Bellevue, WA based invention company. They’re all about ideas. Things like product design, product development, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and service all come later, and Intellectual Ventures doesn’t want anything thing to do with those processes. They just invent, invent, invent. The company isn’t tied to one specific area—they’re working on problems like stopping Malaria, preventing hurricanes, and counteracting negative effects from climate change should they ever happen.

An Intellectual Venture for Your Career

For Intellectual Ventures it’s all about owning the intellectual property. They want to come up with the ideas, make them work, and then let other companies do the rest. The business side will be about licensing the technology to the right people on a non-exclusive basis possibly including spin-off companies, but for now it’s all about building a technology portfolio. Intellectual Ventures has been actively inventing since 2003, and since then they’ve filed thousands of patents. These patent applications “span a broad range of areas including computer software and hardware, user interface design, semiconductors, biomedical devices, advanced medical procedures, digital imaging, nanotechnology, nuclear energy and advanced particle physics.” As you can probably tell from that list of topic area (and the company’s name), Intellectual Ventures is filled with extremely smart people. It was founded by two former C level Microsoft executives.

If you’ve always been fascinated by invention and you think that you have the intellect, then you should check out Intellectual Ventures’ Jobs page. They have 50 positions posted right now, and most require a high level of education and experience, but a few seem suitable for new grads. Whether or not a position is right for you will rely heavily on how relevant your background is, so it makes more sense to browse the listings yourself to see what fits. You should also note that Intellectual Ventures has satellite offices in Silicon Valley, Austin, Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Seoul, and Bangalore.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you read SuperFreakonomics yet?

Intrade

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

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

Bet on Yourself

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever purchased a contract on Intrade?

Oxfam America

Willy Franzen — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:56:53 +0000

Yesterday we took a look at one of the most familiar names associated with the Haiti Relief effort—the American Red Cross. This morning I came across a couple lists that shine a light on other organizations that are also putting a focus on Haiti. One is from U.S. News & World Report that discusses 10 Ways You Can Donate to Haitian Earthquake Victims, and the other is Haiti Earthquake—Best Ways to Assist in Providing Emergency Relief from the American Institute of Philanthropy, which rates charities involved with Haiti Relief. One of the organizations on both of those lists is Oxfam America, a Boston, MA based “international relief and development organization that creates lasting solutions to poverty, hunger, and injustice.” They already have teams delivering aid in Haiti, and you can find out all about what they’re doing their on their Haiti Earthquake page.

Relief for Your Job Search

Oxfam America’s work includes a good mix of ongoing projects and response to disasters and conflicts. The issues that they work on range from climate change to aid reform and from US public policy to indigenous & minority rights. Their recent emergency response work has focused on disasters like a flood in El Salvador and a cyclone in Bangladesh and India. The truth is that most disasters don’t get the media attention that the Haiti earthquake has, but that doesn’t stop Oxfam America from getting on the ground and providing aid. If Oxfam America sounds like the kind of organization that you’d like to join, then check out their Job postings. Current openings include Deployable Humanitarian Logistics Coordinator (Port-au-Prince, Haiti), Constituent Data Associate (Boston, MA), Administrative Assistant – Learning, Evaluation and Accountability (Boston, MA), Canvassing Organizer (Boston, MA), New Media Specialist (Boston, MA), and a number of other positions. You can apply by sending your cover letter and résumé to jobs@oxfamamerica.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you donated to Haiti relief?

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?

Doctors Without Borders

Willy Franzen — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:41:30 +0000

I was traveling yesterday, so I scheduled yesterday’s post and hopped on a plane. Little did I know that my server would somehow forget to do what I told it. Sorry! If you’re looking for yesterday’s post, you can find it here. (Or if you’re reading by e-mail, just scroll down.)

There are a lot of people who aren’t very thrilled with healthcare in the United States. Yes, it can be atrociously expensive, but at least we have access to pretty much any medical procedure out there. Whether it’s something very basic or something that has never been tried before, the US certainly has the medical infrastructure to get the job done. There are plenty of countries in the world where even the most basic medical care is out of reach, and there are other countries where basic medical care becomes out of reach due to a crisis. That’s where New York City based Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) comes in. They provide “aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from health care, or natural disasters.” Doctors Without Borders does this by recruiting both medical and non-medical personnel to travel abroad to offer a level of medical assistance that is well beyond what is typically available.

MD Not Necessary

You don’t have to go to med school to make a difference through Doctors Without Borders. There are plenty of opportunities for lay people to get involved and make a difference. Here’s a sample of the work that Doctors Without Borders does:

In 2006, MSF medical teams gave more than 9 million outpatient consultations; hospitalized almost half a million patients; delivered 99,000 babies; treated 1.8 million people for malaria; treated 150,000 malnourished children; provided 100,000 people living with HIV/AIDS with antiretroviral therapy; vaccinated 1.8 million people against meningitis; and conducted 64,000 surgeries.

If that sounds like the kind of work that you’d like to be involved with, then you should head over to Doctors Without Borders’ Work page. You can learn more about working in the field, or you can take a look at their Office opportunities. Right now they’re looking for an IT/Network/Help Desk Assistant and a Communications Assistant. Both positions look suitable for new grads, so send a cover letter and résumé to employment.msfusa@newyork.msf.org if you’re interested.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Doctors Without Borders?

Kate Spade

Willy Franzen — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:49:41 +0000

I can’t remember whether it was late in my middle school years or early in my high school years, but there were certainly a couple of years in the late 90s when Kate Spade was as hot as could be. Whether it was a wallet, calendar, or other accessories from the New York based fashion designer, the girls in my classes went crazy for them. At that point in my life, I wasn’t the most fashion conscious kid, so I probably thought Five Star binders were still cool. Despite my ignorance of fashion back then, even I knew what Kate Spade was. Since Kate Brosnahan started her line in 1993, her company has grown exceptionally. Hallmarked by “utility, wit and playful sophistication,” Kate Spade’s offering includes handbags, shoes, accesories, clothing, jewelry, baby items, fragrance, glasses, and even paper. The company now runs 46 retail shops and continues to be a huge name in the fashion industry.

Are You Playfully Sophisticated?

Despite my use of capitalization in this post, Kate Spade is a brand that seems allergic to capital letters. It’s a big part of their branding, and it’s widely recognizable. Since fashion is all about branding, it’s no surprise that most people wouldn’t notice that Kate Spade was purchased by Liz Claiborne in 2009. It appears that Kate Spade continues to run itself separately, and that becomes even more evident when you look at Kate Spade’s Jobs page. They have quite a few opportunities available, and a number of them seem perfectly suited to new grads. There are a ton of retail positions, but we’re just going to focus on the corporate positions like E-commerce Coordinator, Assistant Buyer, and International Marketing Assistant. You can apply for these positions directly from the job postings, so give them look and see if they fit.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own any Kate Spade?

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?

Roubini Global Economics

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

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

Working for “Dr. Doom”

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

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Roubini’s predictions?

Information is Beautiful

Willy Franzen — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:52:35 +0000

Amy, my girlfriend, loves trivia. There’s no better way to win her over than to ask her a quiz question or share a random factoid. Since she travels every week for work, I recently bought her The Visual Miscellaneum: A Colorful Guide to the World’s Most Consequential Trivia (affiliate link) to read on the plane. It’s an amazingly cool book that any information geek will love—I definitely spent some time with it before I gave it to her. It’s all about taking data, facts, and trivia and making it visual through design. The book was written by David Mccandless, who is also behind the website Information is Beautiful. There’s a good chance that you’ve seen his infographics before—here’s one called The Billion Dollar Gram and here’s another called Caffeine and Calories. I think it’s truly brilliant work.

You Provide Information, He Provides Beauty

The position that David Mccandless is offering with Information is Beautiful doesn’t fit in with most of the stuff I cover here. First of all, it’s based in the United Kingdom—South London to be exact. Second, it’s kind of an internship, and kind of a job. It toes the line of both depending on what you intend to do with the opportunity. It may not be typical of what I cover on One Day, One Job, but it’s way too awesome not to take a look at. David is looking for an Intern / Junior Research to join a small creative team to help him with new book, print, and web projects. It really is a once in a lifetime opportunity, and it is paid. You can find all of the details in the job description including how to apply. If you’re intellectually curious, it doesn’t get any better than this, so reach out to David and see if you’re someone whom he’d like to work with.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of David’s infographics is your favorite?

DivX

Willy Franzen — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:55:36 +0000

We’ve looked at plenty of Internet video companies in the past, but we haven’t spent too much time looking at companies that provide the underlying technology that drives Internet video. DivX is a San Diego, CA based company that develops and licenses video codecs. Codec is short for compressor-decompressor, which is essentially technology that allows you to more efficiently transfer data. In DivX’s case they provide a codec that allows high definition video to be compressed without sacrificing quality on the other end. They’re a big part of why Internet video finally works so well. Transmitting uncompressed video over the Internet takes a huge amount of bandwidth, but using a DivX codec significantly decreases the amount of bandwidth necessary to transmit your favorite time wasting video.

Decoding Your Job Search

If you’re going to end up working for DivX, chances are that you know more about video codecs than I do (please forgive me if my explanation above wasn’t up to snuff). While most consumers aren’t familiar with the DivX brand, they most likely use the company’s technology often. Whether it’s on the computer, the tv, or your phone, there’s a really good chance that DivX’s technology makes it possible for you to watch video. Since DivX isn’t typically selling you a product, they have to make most of their money through licensing this technology to third parties. DivX is very much a technology company, so that’s where most of their jobs are. Right now they have 25 open positions, and a few seem suitable for new grads including QA Tester (San Diego, CA), Integration Tester (Malvern, PA), Field Applications Engineer (San Diego, CA), Embedded Engineer – Software Development (Malvern, PA), and Certification Engineer (Malvern, PA). You can apply online for any of these positions, and if you’re interested in working internationally (Germany, Russia, or China), you should check out the rest of DivX’s job postings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Had you heard of DivX before?

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?

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?

Tandberg

Willy Franzen — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:57:54 +0000

I think that I’ve mentioned before that my first experience with video chat was was with CU-SeeMe in an Internet cafe in the mid 90s. Back then the potential for social interaction over online video seemed pretty promising, but the potential for business uses (not that I thought about that when I was 13) was even greater. Real-time video has been slower to take hold on both the social and business fronts than I expected, but now that the quality is so good, we’re seeing more and more businesses embrace video conferencing. Tandberg is a company that is at the forefront of this movement. They have dual headquarters in Oslo, Norway and New York City, and they are both “the market share leader and the fastest growing company in the video conferencing industry.” Their 30% annualized revenue growth for the past 10 years may not be Inc. 5000 material, but it’s still hugely impressive.

I Wonder If They Use Video Interviews

While video conferencing can be as simple as opening up iChat and using the built-in iSight in your Mac, Tandberg offers a higher end experience. They offer products and services that offer superior a superior user experience with a focus on business uses. I remember using video conferencing in a class in college, and I was amazed at how effective it was for presenting to the company that we were working with on our project. It’s all about changing the way people communicate, and if that’s something that gets you excited, then you should check out Jobs at Tandberg. They have opportunities in the United States, Asia Pacific, and Europe. We’re going to focus on the US where they have entry level opportunities like Service Sales Account Manager – Western US, Service Sales Account Manager – Eastern US, Training Operations Supervisor (Reston, VA), Regional Support Specialist Chicago, IL or Reston, VA/Atlanta, GA, and Global Marketing Writer (Reston, VA). You can apply for any of the positions by sending a cover letter and résumé to hr@tandberg.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you ever use video conferencing?

Blue Entertainment Sports Television

Willy Franzen — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:36:53 +0000

Be sure to check out our new contest, Maghound Your Way to a New Job. We’re giving away two one-year subscriptions to an awesome new magazine subscription service that can help you find a job.

In continuing with my obsession over jobs at Inc. 5000 companies (which fits in perfectly with our latest giveaway), we’re going to take a look at Blue Entertainment Sports Television today. They’re a Louisville, KY based “full-service sports and entertainment management, event and production company.” They’ve taken the unified agency approach that you often see in Marketing and Advertising, and have applied it to sports. That means that their areas of work include representation, marketing, promotion, hospitality and events. Their strategy seems to be pretty solid considering that their revenue has grown 4,685.3% over the past three years to $22.9 million.

Are You the BEST?

Blue Entertainment Sports Television is fortuitously named, as their acronym is BEST. I guess you’re well on way to living up to that name when your clients include Magic Johnson, Reggie Bush, Victoria Azarenka, Shawn Marion, Bryan Brothers, and Caroline Wozniacki. Blue Entertainment Sports Television is actually a relatively new brand that came from the combination of preexisting brands SFX Tennis, SFX Events, SFX Media, Game-Seven Sports Marketing, Team Championships International, Blackwave Sports, Humarks, and Worldwide Football and Management Group. There’s actually a case study on the rebranding, and it seems to be correlated with huge revenue growth.

Although BEST doesn’t get specific about what kind of jobs they offer, they do make a call for résumés on their Contact page. To get a feel for what kind of jobs they might offer new college grads, you should browse through their LinkedIn Company Profile and take a look at what types of positions their current employees have. You can apply for a job at BEST by sending a cover letter and résumé to careers@experienceBEST.com. You should also note that they have quite a few offices beyond their headquarters in Lousiville, KY including domestic offices in Denver, CO; Los Angeles, CA; New York, NY; and Washington, DC and international offices in Australia, Austria, Canada, Argentina, and Poland.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about BEST?

Mercado Global

Willy Franzen — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:26:04 +0000

Yesterday I told you about TechnoServe and all of the good that they’re doing by spreading entrepreneurism. Mercado Global is taking a similar approach to fighting poverty, but they’re doing it with a very specific focus. They are a New Haven, CT based non-profit organization “that links the world’s most rural and economically-disadvantaged cooperatives to the U.S. market through a model that provides both fair wages and investments in community’s long-term development.” Even more specifically, they focus on working with women who produce handmade products. So, not only is Mercado Global creating positive change in the developing world, but they’re also providing you with shopping opportunities.

Go to the Mercado

Here’s a pretty cool stat from Mercado Global: on average their sales triple the income of their partner artisans. When you multiply this income increase across their 360 artisans and their 2,100 dependents, you get a whole lot of social change. The best part is that a lot of that money goes directly to education—exactly what is needed to end the cycle of poverty. If you love the idea of what Mercado Global is doing, you should buy something from them—or consider a job. They don’t have a Jobs page on their site, but they do post opportunities on Idealist. Right now they have an opening for an Operations & Development Associate. They’d like someone with prior fundraising experience, but this job seems pretty close to entry level to me. You can apply by sending a résumé with cover letter explaining why you are interested in the position to Ruth DeGolia at ruth@mercadoglobal.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you buy something from Mercado Global?

TechnoServe

Willy Franzen — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:00:09 +0000

As an entrepreneur I am a strong believer that businesses are often the best way to solve problems. Don’t get me wrong—I love non-profits, but the ruthlessness of the business world breeds efficiency and effectiveness. We’ve seen plenty of non-profits try to cure poverty, yet poverty remains one of the world’s biggest problems. Lately we’ve seen more and more business based solutions aimed at eradicating poverty. TechnoServe, is a non-profit (the irony!) that is doing just that. They help “entrepreneurial men and women in poor areas of the developing world to build businesses that create income, opportunity and economic growth for their families, their communities and their countries.” What they’re doing may sound like some new social entrepreneurship startup, but they have a 40 year track record of successfully transforming the lives of the world’s poor. I guess business based solutions to poverty aren’t a new idea at all.

TechnoServing Up Some Exciting Jobs

When I first heard the name TechnoServe, I imagined some sort of technology related non-profit; however, that’s not what they are at all. In fact, what TechnoServe does could be considered quite basic. They’re helping people do what other people have been doing for thousands of years—building sustainable businesses. Last year they helped 1,350 businesses generate $149 million in total sales, while in the process touching the lives of 1.2 million people. TechnoServe does this through three key practices: Developing Entrepreneurs, Building Businesses and Industries, and Improving the Business Environment. Over the years they’ve expanded to more and more countries, so they now cover: Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Peru, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Mozambique, South Africa, Swaziland, and India. Their U.S. based offices are in Norwalk, CT and Washington, DC; and you can find information on their jobs here. Most of their job openings don’t profile for new college grads and they don’t accept applications for unlisted positions; however, with the right background (they really like consulting experience) you may find a few of their job listings to be a good fit. Additionally, they have a three to twelve month Volunteer Program that can groom you for a job with TechnoServe. Check it all out and see what works for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you heard anything about TechnoServe?

R/GA

Willy Franzen — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:52:52 +0000

It’s hard to imagine that a film production company could morph into “a holistic interactive agency built for a digital world;” however, that’s exactly what New York City’s R/GA has done. Now, film production and advertising aren’t all that different, but it’s still a big psychological leap from one to the other. Moreover, not many companies are willing to take a huge risk and move where innovation takes them. R/GA embraces change. They’re also really freakin’ good at what they do. Their clients include Nike, Verizon, IBM, Target, Bank of America, and a bunch of other extremely well known companies. They also have the best corporate website built in Flash that I’ve ever seen. Everything about it works—I can actually give you links to specific pages. Beyond that, the site does a fantastic job of presenting R/GA’s brand. It’s packed with information and has fantastic videos (they obviously haven’t abandoned film production completely).

Enroll at R/GA University

Everything that I’ve come across related to R/GA has impressed me. Their website. Their client list. Their portfolio. And even their Jobs page (powered by Jobvite—ok, I can’t link directly to the jobs, but the site is still very easy to use). Oh yeah, and don’t forget R/GA University. It’s R/GA’s take on continuing education for employees, and it includes six pillars: Professional Development, Industry Trends, Leadership Development, Inside R/GA, R/GA and You, and Work + Life Balance. They “believe that the broad base of courses piques curiosity and encourages people to try new things. And ultimately makes people more well rounded and better at their jobs.” You have to like the sound of that. Anyway, R/GA has more than 25 job openings, and a number of them seem suitable for new college grads. Entry level positions include: Junior Designer (London, UK), Associate Desktop Support Administrator (New York, NY), Junior Copywriter (New York, NY), Junior Open Standards Developer (New York, NY). They also have a San Francisco office, but no entry level positions posted there. You can apply for any of these jobs online, or you can post a résumé for an unlisted position to any of their departments.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you impressed with R/GA?

NAVTEQ

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

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

Take a Shortcut to a Job with NAVTEQ

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

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

Rockstar Games

Willy Franzen — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 14:22:44 +0000

After a second company used the term “rockstar” in their job postings, it became clichéd. I know that I’ve said this before, but no matter how good your coding skills (or whatever other rockstar skills employers look for) are, you’re never going to be a rockstar. Unless, of course, you land a job at Rockstar Games. If you work there, at least you’ll be a rockstar in name. You may not have a guitar, but you’ll be working for the company behind video game series like Grand Theft Auto, Max Payne, and Manhunt. And for those of you who have a different taste in games, they’ve got Table Tennis for the Wii. I keep harping on the fact that the video game industry is doing well, but it’s just so impressive. Other content producers like newspapers, magazines, record labels, and move producers are struggling with changes in how we consume content, but video game companies keep humming along—and Rockstar Games is no exception.

Grand Theft Entry Level Job

I first found out about the fact that Rockstar Games is hiring when I watched this YouTube video from the Art Institutes’ Career Services team (this video actually comes first in the series). It was cool to see such in-depth content on what it takes to get a job at Rockstar Games, and it obviously got me looking to find where they post their job opportunities. Their website is entirely in Flash, which is a total pain in the butt, and the main navigation for the site only shows up if you put your mouse over it. And even if you do put your cursor in the right place, you won’t find a link to their Jobs page (at least I couldn’t).

Luckily a Google search turned up Rockstar Games’ Jobs page. It’s loaded with opportunities (and not all of them are in Software Development), so it’s kind of like a hidden treasure. We can’t link to specific postings (stupid Flash), but I can tell you that they have Game Programming and Animation jobs in Vancouver, British Columbia; a Game Content Creator position and all kinds of Game Programmer positions for RAGE in San Diego, CA; Game Programmer and Character Artist positions in Toronto, Ontario; Junior Web Developer and Marketing Coordinator in New York City; and Gameplay Generalist/Programmer in Andover, MA. Additionally, Rockstar Games has a ton of open position at their 4 locations in the United Kingdom. It’s amazing how many job openings Rockstar Games has, so whether you’re an artist, programmer, or marketer, there’s probably something for you. You can apply online for any of the positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Rockstar Games’ titles is your favorite?

Polaris Project

Willy Franzen — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 15:27:27 +0000

I know that most of us were taught in school that slavery ended nearly 150 years ago, but, unfortunately, that’s not really true. Slavery and human trafficking continue to plague our world, even though most of us aren’t really aware of it. Polaris Project is a non-profit organization is not only bringing awareness to the issues surrounding human trafficking and modern-day slavery, but also combatting them. They do this by “conducting direct outreach and victim identification, providing social services and transitional housing to victims, operating the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) serving as the central national hotline on human trafficking, advocating for stronger state and Federal anti-trafficking legislation, and engaging community members in local and national grassroots efforts.” They’ve been at it since 2002 with offices in Washington, DC; Newark, NJ; Denver, CO; and Tokyo, Japan.

Find Polaris

When you look at some of the accomplishments that Polaris Project posts on its website, you start to understand what it is that they actually do. For instance just last year in the DC area, they “provided 28 emergency responses serving 40 girls and women ages 13-42,” “provided individual mental health therapy for 4 survivors,” and “launched a Job Training Program for survivors” among many other things. It’s still hard to believe that human trafficking is going on so close to home, but it is. That’s why the Polaris Project exists, and that’s why you should consider joining their team. Right now they have two job openings in the Washington, DC area: NHTRC Program Associate/Specialist and NHTRC Resource Call Specialist. There are also two openings in Newark, NJ: Outreach Associate (part-time) and Case Manager. Additionally, they have quite a few openings in their Fellowship Program. You can find the specific application instructions at the end of each job posting.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Polaris Project?

Mattel

Willy Franzen — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 15:10:29 +0000

Take a second and think of your favorite toy growing up. Was it a Barbie? Matchbox Car? American Girl Doll? View-Master? Magic 8 Ball? Rock’em Sock’em Robots? Hot Wheels? Polly Pocket? Even if it wasn’t one of those, there’s a good chance that it was made by Mattel. I’m sure that you’ve heard of the El Segundo, CA headquartered toy company before, but I bet you never realized just how many toys they actually make. Not only do they have some of the biggest toy names in the world, but they’re also behind all of Fisher-Price’s toys. If you always wanted to be like Tom Hanks in Big and work for a toy company, Mattel is your chance to live every child’s dream.

All Work and No Play Makes You a Dull Job Seeker

Usually, the problem with companies that seem really cool (especially in the fashion industry from what I hear) is that they know they’re hot stuff. That means that they treat their employees like commodities because they know that there’s always someone who wants to work for their brand. This isn’t the case with Mattel according to the FORTUNE list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. Despite the fact that they did go through some layoffs last year, Mattel appears to be hiring now for quite a few positions. There is a Campus Recruiting section on the Mattel Careers site; however, it doesn’t say anything about entry level jobs.

To get the scoop on what kind of opportunities Mattel has, you’re going to have to dive into their Applicant Tracking System instead. Their are 54 jobs posted right now, and a few look suitable for new grads. They include Mechanical Engineer(New York, NY), Associate Art Director – American Girl (Middleton, WI), Key Account Coordinator – Fisher-Price (East Aurora, NY), Key Account Representative (Brondby, Denmark), and Child Testing Researcher (El Segundo, CA). Mattel’s locations El Segundo, CA; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; East Aurora, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Middleton, WI; Minneapolis, MN; and New York, NY, so keep that in mind if you don’t see something posted that fits what you’re looking for. You can apply for all of the jobs directly from Mattel’s Applicant Tracking System (which isn’t all that bad compared to others that I’ve dealt with).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What was your favorite Mattel toy?

ChannelAdvisor

Willy Franzen — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:48:05 +0000

Now, I know that the name ChannelAdvisor sounds like some sort of new and improved tv guide that you can buy on the infomercials, but bear with me for a second and I’ll tell you what ChannelAdvisor is really about. The simple version is that they’re a Morrisville, NC based company that helps other companies sell online. The more complex story is that ChannelAdvisor “helps the world sell online with solutions for retailers to efficiently distribute their products across multiple online channels, drive shoppers to those products, and then convert those shoppers into customers.” That sounds good, but what does it really mean? Major retailers often have thousands of products. Their first e-commerce priority is to get their products listed on their own site, but after that they want to extend their reach to comparison shopping sites. There are tons of these comparison shopping sites, and they all have different data requirements for listing products. The retailer can try to do it on their own, or they can hire ChannelAdvisor to do it for them.

Don’t Change the Channel

ChannelAdvisor appears to be the best in breed when it comes to understanding online sales channels—just look at the list of respected brands on their customer list. Clearly they know what it takes to drive traffic and sales online. Unfortunately, the story on ChannelAdvisor isn’t all cupcakes and marshmallows. They did go through a round of layoffs last year while at the same time securing $20 million more in funding. The good news is that this resulted in their first operating profit in January. Now that things have settled down, it appears that ChannelAdvisor is hiring again. Their Jobs page shows 15 open positions, and a number of those seem suitable for new grads including Customer Support Analyst, Customer Support Engineer, Inside Sales Specialist (Surrey, UK), and Inside Sales Specialist. All of the jobs (except the one in UK) are in Morrisville, NC, and you can apply for them online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about ChannelAdvisor?

Racepoint Group

Willy Franzen — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:39:39 +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.

“Leverage the power of traditional and digital media relations to elevate premium and emerging technology, health and science brands” – that’s what global public relations agency Racepoint Group works hard toward on a daily basis. While their worldwide headquarters is outside of Boston, Racepoint Group also has offices in San Francisco; Washington, D.C.; a European headquarters in London; and a global network of partners and affiliates spanning four continents.

Racepoint Group’s practice areas include corporate, crisis and issues management, employee relations, financial communications, government relations, marketing communications and public affairs, while their industry expertise includes technology, health and science, social commerce, mobile and energy. And while many agencies claim to be “award-winning,” Racepoint Group really means it. In 2008 alone, they won more than 20 industry awards.

Race to the Finish Line

If you want to be on the cutting edge of the public relations industry, definitely take a look at Racepoint Group. Each of their client campaigns reflect the increasing transformation of media from traditional print and broadcast channels to new digital spheres of influence – blogs, reputation aggregators, e-communities and social networks. And, they have their own proprietary tools to help execute and measure each one.

Racepoint Group is currently seeking an Account Coordinator in its Washington, DC office. Account Coordinators are critical team members who perform public relations tasks such as developing media lists, editorial calendars, speaking calendars, clip reports, briefing materials, draft press releases and press material development. To land this position, you’ll want to have several internships under your belt, strong writing and proofreading skills, and effective verbal and written communication skills.

Interested? Send your cover letter and résumé to HR@racepointgroup.com with the subject AC-Corp or submit your application online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

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