by Willy Franzen on May 30, 2008
Since it’s Friday, we’re going to try something a little different. We keep hearing that video is the future of the web, and we found a great video of Astadia CEO, Ernie Riddle, describing what his company does, so instead of introducing you to Astadia ourselves, we’re going to leave it up to the person who knows them best. We hope that this video works for everyone, and if it doesn’t, please let us know. It may not show up in the feeds or e-mails, so all the subscribers will have to click through to the main post to see the video. We want to hear feedback from everyone. Is this something that you like? Do you prefer to read instead of watch? Please use the comments section to let us know your reactions.
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by Willy Franzen on May 20, 2008
What you wear is important. Whether it’s for a job interview or your first day of work, there’s no debating that your appearance is essential to your success. It may not be fair, and it often isn’t legal, but it’s true. For many it’s enough trouble just to wear something appropriate, but for others being trendy is extremely important. They want to give the impression that they are at the cutting edge of what’s cool. It takes a lot of work for an individual to keep up with the latest trends (unless you sign up for trend alerts, of course). Now, imagine being responsible for putting out an entire line of trendy clothes. Many companies can’t do this on their own, that’s why they sign up for Trendstop, a fashion forecasting and trend watching service.
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by Willy Franzen on May 6, 2008
In less than a decade the common perception of auctions has changed dramatically. Auctions used to be reserved mostly for the wealthy, but now much of the world’s auctioneering happens on eBay, managed by a computer. An auction is the purest way to sell an item, for the person who values the item the most typically wins. It’s quite democratic that the luxury of this form of sale has been brought to the masses, but much of the culture and tradition associated with auctions has been lost in translation. Luckily, auction houses like Christie’s have adapted to the online world while maintaining their auras of international glamour. Founded in 1766, Christie’s is now the “world’s leading art business with global auction sales in 2007 that totaled $6.3 billion.”
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by Willy Franzen on April 28, 2008
So what? I’ve become a mild Twitter addict. I keep finding internships by scanning tweets and following the links in them, but, unfortunately, I can’t say the same about entry-level jobs. The term entry-level is reserved mostly for job postings, while the word internship is near universal – so it’s used conversationally (like on Twitter). Yesterday, I found a link to a post by a Sun Microsystems employee who is looking for two interns. Her post led us to Sun’s main Careers site, which truly impressed us – especially because of the way that they present their entry-level job offerings.
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by Willy Franzen on April 11, 2008
We’re always looking for less publicized entry-level opportunities in high demand industries, especially now that most campus recruiting is winding down. Consulting is one area where excessive job searcher attention is directed towards the top names, while boutique firms get overlooked. We especially like smaller companies when they have a distinct identity or competitive advantage, and that definitely applies to Mars & Co..
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by Willy Franzen on April 9, 2008
If you don’t know what Google is, you have no business conducting your job search online. You should be typing your resume on a typewriter and sending it by carrier pigeon. We’ve been saying it over and over, but Google is the ultimate job search tool. They’re also the ultimate employer according to Fortune Magazine. With that said, many of you know that getting a job at Google is nearly impossible, especially now that most of their campus recruiting efforts are finished.
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by Willy Franzen on April 6, 2008
We’ve had enough of these desk jobs! Spring is here, and we’re itching to get outside to start enjoying the improving weather. I, for one, need to get outdoors often to be happy, and I know that there are plenty of people out there who share the same feeling. In fact, many people find it hard to be their most productive when they’re inside. Unfortunately, career options become a lot more limited (especially in terms of advancement opportunities) when sitting at a desk isn’t involved. Since we love jobs that offer different types of work experiences, today, we’re going to look at a non-profit called Wilderness Inquiry, which, as an employer, is about as good as it gets for our outdoorsy readers.
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by Willy Franzen on March 27, 2008
I love American Express. When my girlfriend ran over my iPod Nano (ok, I dropped it on the ground behind her tire and didn’t know it, my bad) their Purchase Protection Plan covered it. When my money was running a little short during the holidays, I won a 25% off Amazon.com coupon through their MyWishlist Promotion. It made buying gifts a lot easier. When my Mother and Grandmother went to visit my Aunt, AMEX provided a free companion ticket. It was 2 for the price of 1. There’s no credit / charge card company that treats its customers as well as American Express does.
They also treat their employees well. They’ve won more top employer awards than we care to list. Their products and services are unparalleled, they’re passionate about their business, and they always seem to put customers first. They have an amazing brand, which is the 15th most valuable in the world. Yes, their brand alone is worth more than $20 billion. This all translates into an extremely strong employment brand.
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by Willy Franzen on March 14, 2008
We couldn’t resist ourselves. We’re math nerds (who have a fondness for offbeat holidays), and we love Pi Day. For those of you who don’t get it, March fourteenth or 3/14 represents the first 3 digits of pi. That means that at 1:59:26, the date and time will represent 8 digits of pi. How do we celebrate Pi Day besides coming up with a pi-related job for you? We take recommendations from PiDay.org and eat pies and other circularly shaped delicacies while reciting as many digits of pi as we can from memory. Hey, we never claimed to be cool. We went back and forth about what kind of job to feature, and even asked a math teacher for recommendations. We found a company called Pi Media that we just couldn’t pass up, so there won’t be any jobs in math, private investigation, or baking today. Sorry.
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by Willy Franzen on February 23, 2008
If we had to describe PlayPumps International in the context of non-profits that we’ve already covered, it’s Kaboom! meets Kickstart International. Those of you who have been subscribers from the get go, you’ll know that makes a pretty bizarre combination. What does playground equipment have to do with developing new technologies to end poverty in developing countries? Apparently a lot.
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by Willy Franzen on February 18, 2008
Job searching is stressful. Sometimes you need to just relax and let your mind clear before you continue on with your search. There are a lot of ways to relax, but what if you could find a job that is all about relaxation? That’s what Bliss offers. Ok, their employees have to work like any other company’s employees, but how bad can it be when your company’s About page starts like this? “After giving a million massages, a trillion triple oxygen treatments and about a bazillion Brazilians, we’ve learned a thing or two—and our passion is passing that ‘glow-how’ on to you.” So, maybe you don’t need to take time off from your job search to relax; you can dream about Bliss and their spas while putting together a killer cover letter that will ensure a future with a relaxation-based work experience. And before we forget, you might want to check out the online sale Bliss has going on right now, they’re offering up to 80% off on their products.
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by Willy Franzen on February 13, 2008
Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, and you told your sweetheart that you’d make a reservation and take care of the dinner plans. You forgot/procrastinated. You’re one of those people who is petrified by phone interactions. For some reason the simple task of picking up a phone and dialing a restaurant to make a reservation intimidates you to no end. Shoot, you stared at the phone for 3 hours before you built up the courage to call your date to ask him or her out in the first place. Why can’t you just make a reservation online?
If you’re going to be an effective job searcher, you should probably try to get over this phobia before your first phone interview. Calling around for reservations might be good practice, but we understand that Valentine’s Day can be stressful enough. We’ll let you off the hook just this once. You can use OpenTable.com, a site that lets you make reservations at some of the best restaurants in the country with the click of the mouse. All you need to do is enter your location and the date and time you’d like to book, and they’ll show you what’s still available in your area. It might even save you from completely blowing Valentine’s Day.
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by Willy Franzen on February 10, 2008
Statistics in college is painful. It’s dry. It’s long. It pretty much sucks. Because of our high sample size, we can say that, with a high p-value, about most college stats courses. It’s really a shame, because statistical literacy is one of the most useful things you can pick up in your undergraduate years. It’ll change the way you think about politics and sports. It’ll change the way you read a newspaper. It will even make you question whether the prescription that your campus health clinic gave you is worth filling. By the way, when will they learn their statistics and stop asking guys whether they might be pregnant? If someone could figure out a way to bring statistics to life – to present even the driest data in an entertaining way – they’d be a millionaire. Or they’d start a non-profit organization called Gapminder.
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by Willy Franzen on February 5, 2008
BAE Systems is a global defence (they’re British) and aerospace company. They are quite huge, employing close to 100,000 people across the world, which means that they do an enormous amount of entry-level hiring. BAE Systems operates in a wide range of businesses – from land armaments to regional aircraft, from military air solutions to communications and electronic warfare systems. Their timeline of milestones will give you a better idea of the specifics of what they do. BAE Systems is probably not the best fit if you participated in a peace protest during college, but if you want to be in the industry that is pushing the bounds of engineering, it’s hard to overlook defense.
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by Willy Franzen on January 18, 2008
Today’s post is probably a shot in the dark, but we love the company’s products, and it’s still MacWorld Expo week, so we’re going to write about them anyways. What Elgato Systems does is simple – they make products that allow you to watch television on your Mac. Their hardware devices are plug and play and their software is absolutely killer. It’s also a DVR, so you can record your shows, export them to your iPod and watch them wherever you want. You can even record Jeopardy!, export it, send it to a friend, and play over the phone – not that we’ve ever done that.
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by Willy Franzen on January 10, 2008
Life is filled with things you don’t want to do. As a college student, you probably have a lot of free time but still avoid mundane tasks (like laundry) until the last possible minute. At some point in your life those daily tasks pile up enough to keep you from being able to do what you want to do with your life. Some things like brushing your teeth and showering are absolutely unavoidable, but others you can pay someone to do. You can hire a cleaning lady, send your laundry out, and buy prepared foods, but that can become expensive. There are other daily tasks that you need done, but that can be done from anywhere. Ask Sunday is a service that allows you to send those tasks overseas for a really cheap price ($29 for 30 monthly 20-minutes tasks). So for less than you probably spend on booze in a weekend, you can have your own virtual assistant.
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by Willy Franzen on December 29, 2007
It’s the last weekend of the year, so that means that today is our second to last non-profit job of the year. What that means, we’re not really sure. We do know that KickStart is doing some pretty cool things that you should know about. They are a non-profit organization that is aiming to help millions of people out of poverty. There are a lot of organizations that are fighting poverty, but KickStart is doing it with some pretty cool tactics.
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by Willy Franzen on December 28, 2007
They’ve invaded your Facebook with pics of half naked emo-hipster models (by the way, we’re dorks and had to look up the definitions of emo and hipster on Wikipedia, kind of like when Peter, Samir, and Michael Bolton look up money laundering in the dictionary in Office Space
). A certain Ivy League campus in New York City has also been overrun with people dressed straight off this company’s website. Even when you win a t-shirt, it’s not Hanes or Fruit of the Loom anymore. American Apparel is attacking on all fronts. And before we go any farther, we should warn you that their site is filled with near-nudity, so don’t go browsing it in a public place or whatever.
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by Willy Franzen on December 12, 2007
Are you an ad junkie? Hate sports, but love the Super Bowl? Do you actually visit YouTube to watch commercials? Advertising can be really good or really bad. When you see advertising that you enjoy, there’s a good chance that Ogilvy is behind it. Remember the American Express “Don’t Leave Home Without It” commercials? That was Ogilvy. What about the Dove Evolution online video spot? That was Ogilvy too.
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by Willy Franzen on November 28, 2007
Are you fascinated by innovation? Do you run out to the store when BusinessWeek publishes their issue on the 50 Most Innovative Companies? (Blatant Self-Promotion: Read our new article on how magazine lists can help you find a job.) Almost all of the companies on BusinesWeek’s list are companies that deal directly with consumers, whether they provide products or services, but IDEO is different. They serve businesses by helping them innovate through design. You’ve probably bought many products that IDEO has had a hand in, but you likely attributed the innovations in the product to the manufacturer. Think again.
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by Willy Franzen on November 25, 2007
We hope you’ve made the best of the opportunities that you’ve been given in life (and we’re about to tell you about another one, so make the best of this too). We often attribute our successes – or failures – to genes, education, or self-discipline; however, we often overlook the role that every day social interactions have in shaping who we are. It is our friends who teach us some of the most important lessons that we learn in life, even though we may not know it at the time. Best Buddies is a non-profit organization that aims to help people with intellectual disabilities navigate through life with more confidence and ease by helping them to build meaningful friendships with non-disabled peers.
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by Willy Franzen on November 21, 2007
Ryan Partnership has challenged its people with their unofficial motto of “See How Far Ideas Can Take You.” (Ryan’s official motto is Free Beer, No Assholes – FBNA for short. Seriously. It says so on their website.) Ideas (or maybe it’s the free beer and lack of assholes) have taken Ryan Partnership to the top of their industry, as they were named one of iMedia Connection’s Top 5 Integrated Marketing Agencies in 2006 and PROMO Magazines “Agency of the Year” in 2007. With $58.5 million in revenue in 2006, Ryan is a mature company that is still growing briskly (34% growth rate last year).
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by Willy Franzen on November 13, 2007
Whether you set trends, follow them, or watch them, every day you have insights and experiences that have the potential to help companies increase their bottom lines. Iconoculture is a company that will allow you to put your daily observations to work, because it is in the business of providing cutting-edge consumer research to its clients. To get a better sense of Iconoculture as a company, check out this video or visit their home page. Iconoculture’s website is packed with information for those interested in consumer research. So what about jobs at Iconoculture?
If you are currently living abroad or plan to live abroad in the near future, are fluent in the native language and culture, and have a background in social science (Bachelors degree at least), Iconoculture may have an interesting job for you as a “Cultural Fluent.” Positions are currently available in Brazil, Russia, China, Korea, India, Australia, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Indonesia, and Canada. A “Cultural Fluent” is a contractor (6 month minimum commitment) hired by Iconoculture to keep his or her fingers on the pulse of the culture they live in. By learning and then applying Iconoculture’s proprietary observational methodology and framework to your daily interactions, you will be able to identify emerging consumer trends to help Iconoculture better serve its clients. Being a “Cultural Fluent” is not a full-time job, but it is an opportunity for a well-organized individual to set his or her own hours, get a start in consumer research, and deepen his or her cultural experiences.
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