I have to admit that the “jobs” that I’m most concerned with today is Steve Jobs. I can’t wait to find out what Apple is announcing today, and I wish that I had some relevant jobs to bring you. I don’t, but I did come across a really cool list yesterday called 5 Butt Kicking Companies You (Probably) Never Heard Of. The list is exactly what it promises, as it features 5 later stage startups that are growing rapidly and hiring lots of people. The first company on that list is Palantir, a Palo Alto, CA based company (with another office in McLean, VA) that “is working to radically change how groups analyze information.” They were founded by former PayPal employees and Stanford computer scientists. Right now the company is focused on two verticals: Government and Finance. Both areas deal with massive amount of data and information, so it makes sense that Palantir is starting with them.

Analyze This

The cool thing about Palantir is that they still have a startup attitude and culture despite the fact that they’re focused on two industries that most people don’t associate with fun. The types of problem that Palantir is trying to solve include “national security, global finance, cyber defense, regulation & oversight, public health, and disease control.” This isn’t just some Web 2.0 startup—it’s a serious business with clients who expect perfection. That’s why culture is so important at Palantir. They only hire the best: “Less than 3% of candidates who receive a phone interview will receive an offer.” It’s a strict meritocracy, with a family feel. They have the XBOX, masseuse, and on-site gym that you come to expect from startups, but there’s also the expectation that “‘work’ and ‘life’ are not separate universes.”

Palantir appears to do a lot of on-campus recruiting with a focus on engineers from elite schools. They don’t provide any information on college recruiting on their site, but you can take a look at current job openings. The most likely fits for new grads include Business Development Associate, Audio Visual Engineer, Software Engineer, Salesforce Applications Developer, Software Developer in Test, Web Developer, Quality Assurance Engineer, BD Operations IT Analyst, BD Operations Analyst, Facilities Operations Analyst, and Operations Administrative Analyst. There are plenty of entry level opportunities at Palantir, so apply online and see if you can be one of the few that make the cut.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• PalantirTech.com
• Jobs at Palantir
• About Palantir
• Culture at Palantir
• Interviewing at Palantir
• Palantir in the News

What have you heard about Palantir?

Even though it seems that the economy is crawling its way to recovery (I’m seeing more entry level and intern opportunities than I did last year), we have a long way to go before the finance industry gets back on its feet. Yes, the stock market is doing well, but don’t let that fool you—things are still a mess. One company that should do well during this time is Argus Information & Advisory, a company based in White Plains, NY. They “assist financial institutions in making marketing and risk management decisions.” That’s going to be a big business for years to come. I’m just hoping that bad advice from Argus wasn’t part of the reason we ended up where we are. Whether that’s the case or not, I imagine that the demand for services that help “manage the tradeoffs among price, product, risk, and customer behavior along the customer lifecycle to increase profitability” will be in high demand.

Manage Your Career Risk

Although Argus doesn’t name their clients, they can claim as clients all of the 20 top US credit card issuers and 9 of 10 top ten UK credit card issuers along with large insurance companies, top retail banks, and the largest payment processors. There isn’t much information about Argus available on the Internet, but it seems that they like it that way. Their web site is sparse, and Google barely turns up any meaningful results about them. You’ll probably want to push your research a little farther if you consider working at Argus, and you can start by checking out their Jobs page and their College Recruiting page. Although their College Recruiting season seems to have passed, they do have some jobs posted that appear to be suitable for new grads. These include Data Operations Analyst, Analyst, and Office Assistant (San Francisco). To apply for any of these positions, you should send your cover letter and résumé to resumes.Argus@hiredesk.net or resumes@argusinformation.com if you want to go through their College Recruiting people (be sure to include your Math and Verbal SAT scores and GPA).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• ArgusInformation.com
• Jobs at Argus Information & Advisory
• College Recruiting at Argus
• About Argus
• Services Offered by Argus
• Management at Argus
• Argus’ Clients

What have you found out about Argus Information & Advisory?

Some people never need to hire a professional. Whether it’s a plumber, personal trainer, or eco-consultant that they need, they’d rather teach themselves how to solve the given problem. Other people would rather spend their time and effort most efficiently, so they hire a professional when they get in over their heads. If you’re the latter type, and you want to “green” your home or office, then you’ll want to get familiar with Green Irene. They are a New York City based company, founded in 2007, that provides eco-consulting services and sells green products. If you’re worried about the negative impact that you’re having on the environment, you can have one of their consultants visit your home and office to make recommendations on how you can do better. The Wall Street Journal did a nice feature on the eco-consulting industry (it includes Green Irene), so check that out to get a better sense of the overall market.

Go Green with Irene

When I first started looking at Green Irene, there were a couple of red flags that made me nervous about featuring them. The first was that when you type “Green Irene” into Google, the top two suggestions that come up are “Green Irene scam” and “Green Irene complaints.” That’s enough to make anyone nervous, but it’s actually relatively common with companies that operate businesses like Green Irene. The results of those searches didn’t turn up much in terms of negative press. This leads to my second issue, which is probably why so many people are searching those searches: Green Irene uses a direct sales business model (many scam jobs use a similar model). That means that their eco-consultants aren’t Green Irene employees, but “independent business women and men who work from their own home or office as distributors of Green Irene consulting services and green products.” They also have a strong incentive to focus on selling products during their consults.

Although I don’t love this model for a business, I do understand why Green Irene does it (it makes starting up and growing quickly way easier). There are direct sales positions with Green Irene, but those aren’t what caught my interest (I think new grads can learn a lot doing direct sales, but it usually offers less than ideal situations). I’m more interested in the Operations Assistant position posted on their Jobs page—it’s perfect for a new grad. If you like what you see in the description, e-mail your résumé and cover note to jobs@greenirene.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• GreenIrene.com
• Jobs at Green Irene
• About Green Irene
• Green Irene’s Founders
• Green Irene in the Press
• Green Irene’s FAQ

What do you think of Green Irene?

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

When I last bought a car in 2001, the best way to go about it was to stop by dealerships to see what they had in their inventory. I remember using the Internet to some extent, but it wasn’t all that helpful. Although I haven’t purchased a car since, I’m pretty sure that the web is playing a much larger role in the car buying decision process these days. That’s why Cobalt, a Seattle based company, is doing so well. They’re in the business of automotive marketing, and they made the Inc. 5000 last year with 134.0% three-year revenue growth to $168.4 million. Cobalt works with both dealers and manufacturers to “increase their retailing effectiveness and profits.” The company has been around since 1995, and it consists of three key subsidiaries: Dealix, UsedCars.com, and IntegraLink.

Drive Your Career in the Right Direction

The big reason that Cobalt has been so successful is that they were ready for the transition to digital marketing from the start. A lot of people in the automotive industry weren’t ready for a change in their business model, but luckily they have Cobalt to rely on for marketing. More than two thirds of auto manufacturers and one half of dealers in the US use Cobalt’s services in some capacity. Cobalt is a lot like a fully-integrated marketing agency in terms of the areas in which they work, but their business doesn’t appear to be quite as client focused (for instance they run a UsedCars.com—a destination site). If you’re intrigued by what Cobalt does, then you’ll want to take a look at their Careers page. It goes into a lot of detail about what it’s like to work at Cobalt, and then it will direct you to take a look at their job postings. There are lots of opportunities for new or recent grads including: Data Normalization Clerk (Columbus, OH), Technical Customer Support (Columbus, OH), Website Technical Support (Lynnwood, WA), Online Marketing Specialist (Lynnwood, WA), Technical Inside Sales (Redwood City, CA), Operations Analyst – Inventory (Seattle, WA), UI Web Developer (Seattle, WA), Build and Release Engineer (Seattle, WA), and Sales Operations Specialist (Seattle, WA).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Cobalt.com
• Careers at Cobalt
• Cobalt’s Job Listings
• About Cobalt
• Cobalt’s Corporate Blog – Digital Mileage
• Cobalt in the News
• Management at Cobalt

When is the last time that you bought a car?

One of my earliest memories is from Detroit’s Thanksgiving parade. I think that I was about 2 years old at the time, and I saw Oscar the Grouch on some sort of float. I don’t remember much more about the parade, but I remember that. I guess that I’m an experiential marketers dream since I managed to remember that over all of the other cool things that happened when I was two years old (another early memory was getting my head stuck between the bars on a McDonald’s playground—another branded memory). I think that the people at VEE Corporation would be especially happy to hear about my early memory since they’re the company behind Sesame Street Live. They’re a Minneapolis based firm that provides “live entertainment, promotion and event marketing services for America’s most respected brands, properties and agencies.” They’re big on full-body costumes and mascots as well as merging marketing and entertainment.

Experience VEE Corporation

Running the Sesame Street Live show seems like a big enough deal, but plenty of other huge brands have entrusted their identifying characters to VEE Corporation. These include Mr. Potato Head, Shrek and Donkey, Sponge Bob Squarepants, Mariah Carey’s legs, the Lucky Charms Leprechaun, and plenty more. VEE’s service offerings include Planning & Consultation, Logistics, Design & Ingenuity, Costumes/Creatures/Mascots, Fabrication & Construction, and Ship & Store. It’s a completely different kind of marketing company, which means that their job offerings are especially unique. If you check out Vee Corporation’s Jobs page, you’ll see what I’m talking about. They don’t have a lot of specific postings right now, but they split their offerings into a few categories of application pages—Theatrical, Corporate, Production Services, Shop and Craftsperson, and Operations and Road Crew. It’s interesting to see that VEE Corporation is using a Ning site to manage their application processes, but it doesn’t seem as though they’re tapping into all of the site’s social functionality. That might be a cool addition. They actually have so many different application forms that things get a little confusing, but it shouldn’t be too hard for you to figure out which form is the right one for telling VEE Corporation why you’ll be a great addition to their team.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• VEE.com
• Jobs at VEE Corporation
• About VEE Corporation
• VEE Corporation’s Key People
• VEE Corporation’s History
• VEE Corporation’s Clients
• VEE Corporation’s Portfolio
• Services Offered by VEE Corporation

Have you seen any events put on by VEE Corporation?

Want to get $30 off your first Bonobos purchase? They have an awesome referral program, so if you want a Bonobos invite, just leave a comment below with your real e-mail address in the proper field (it won’t be displayed). We’ll send you a referral coupon code for $30 off.

Pants are important. Especially when you’re trying to land a job. Going to a job interview without pants is the kind of disaster that only happens in nightmares. Showing up with wrinkled pants is a more likely problem for most recent grads—it makes you look sloppy and careless. Wearing ill fitting pants is almost as bad, even if you have demonstrated to your potential employer that you know how to properly use an iron. The problem is that there aren’t a lot of non-jean pants out there that fit men well. At least that’s what Bonobos, a New York City based fashion startup, thinks. They kind of have a Web 2.0 feel to them, even though they’re in a business that is hundreds of years old. They pride themselves on making great fitting men’s pants (they do suggest a pants hack for women who want Bonobos), offering unbeatable customer service, and providing an overall wonderful shopping experience. I just bought my first pair of pants from Bonobos last night, and I’m excited to see if they live up to the hype. If they don’t, I can take advantage of their free two-way shipping and “any pant, any time, any reason” return policy.

Get in on the Monkey Business

So, the Bonobo isn’t actually a monkey—it’s a “sexually promiscuous Great Ape that possesses nearly all of modern man’s better traits” according to Bonobos’ website. I’m not sure where Bonobos got their name, since chimps don’t wear pants, but the company appears to be extremely committed to saving the Bonobo (they donate $1 for every new customer to an ape sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of Congo). The company was started by two guys from Stanford Business school, one of whom was altering his own pants with a girlfriend’s sewing machine to improve the fit. Word spread about his great fitting pants, and now there’s a company funded with $3 million in angel investment and valued at $15 million pre-money. If that’s not enough, Bonobos is on their way to doing $4 million in sales this year, and they were featured by Forbes earlier this year and by the New York Times just a few weeks ago.

Bonobos seems to be on a hot streak right now, and they’re intent on keeping it going. That’s why it shouldn’t be a surprise to see that their Jobs page is loaded with opportunities. These positions include Junior Art Director/Stylist, Technical Designer, PR Ninja, Operations and Warehouse Ninja, Style Ninja, Field Ninja, and Front End Developer. Bonobos has a great perspective on talent in that they don’t get too hung up on experience, so you shouldn’t hesitate to apply for any of these positions as long as you can demonstrate that you’ll be the best person for the job. I think that Bonobos does exceptionally with their job postings—the only thing I don’t get is why they use the term “ninja” in many of their job titles. I guess hiring a PR Chimp and a Style Chimp might put some people off. The application instructions vary from job to job, so be sure to look at the postings closely. Also, you should note that they’re very open to applications for unlisted positions, so that’s an option too.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Bonobos.com
• Jobs at Bonobos
• About Bonobos
• Bonobos’ Blog
• Bonobos in the Press
• Bonobos’ FAQ

Want to get $30 off your first Bonobos purchase? They have an awesome referral program, so if you want a Bonobos invite, just leave a comment below with your real e-mail address in the proper field (it won’t be displayed). We’ll send you a referral coupon code for $30 off.

As a Yankees fan I am obliged to hate anything and everything related to the Red Sox—and even Boston sports in general. That’s why it pains me to cover NESN (New England Sports Network) today. They’re one of the most successful regional sports networks (RSNs) in the country ratings-wise (#1 for 6 straight years), and they do it in the 7th biggest media market. NESN is jointly owned by the Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins, whom they cover along with the Celtics, Patriots, and plenty of local college teams. They were launched in 1984, which makes Watertown, MA based NESN one of the oldest RSNs in the country, and they now reach more than 4 million homes. I still don’t understand why anyone would want to watch Boston sports on tv.

Monster Opportunities

Obviously I think that jobs at the Yes Network are way cooler, but I do have to admit that working at NESN would be pretty sweet. There probably couldn’t be a better place for a Boston sports fan (must… hold… back… joke…) with an interest in television than NESN. They have a “40,000 square foot state-of–the art facility” and they do a ton of broadcasting in HD. The only thing they were short on this year was October programming. If you’re interested in NESN, you should check out their Jobs page. Current opportunities include Tape Room Technician – Operations and Graphics Operator – Programming & Production, while they also accept applications for future opportunities. I hope that you’ll check out NESN, so that you can help broadcast another Red Sox collapse next fall.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• NESN.com
• Jobs at NESN
• About NESN
• NESN in the News
• NESN’s FAQ

Do you watch NESN?

It’s Black Friday! And that means that it times to talk about spending money. In previous years we’ve taken a look at jobs at Amazon.com and Ernst & Young (for companies that are “in the black”). We also look at jobs with SlickDeals, one of the best websites for finding Black Friday deals, a few months ago. Today we’re gong to look at Visa, since it’s hard to do any amount of serious shopping without some sort of debit or credit card. Many people think of Visa, which is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, as a credit card company, but that’s not exactly right. Credit cards are backed by a bank or similar financial institution that actually lends you the money to make your purchases. Visa is “a global payments technology company.” That means that they provide the network for your transactions, but they aren’t actually the lending institution backing your credit card.

Swipe Your Way to A New Job

One thing that a lot of people don’t realize is that payment processors like Visa get a cut of every transaction they enable. It typically comes out to a small percentage of the purchase price—so whether you pay for your lunch or buy a huge tv, the merchant isn’t getting the full amount of the charge. Merchants would make more money per purchase if they only accepted cash, but they’d likely lose a lot of customers that way. Obviously, it’s in Visa’s interest to get as many purchases going across their network as they possibly can. That’s why they’re constantly trying to develop new technologies, products, and services to make it easier to make a purchase using your Visa.

If you’re intrigued by payment processing or just think that Visa is a great brand that you’d like to work for, you should check out both their Careers page and their Campus Recruiting page. There’s a lot of information about jobs at Visa, along with a sections specifically on opportunities for undergraduates. Typically they offer positions in Systems (IT), Operations, and Finance along with a New Graduate Development Program that provides a rotation through the areas of Product, Marketing, Sales, and Strategy. The campus recruiting season for Visa has pretty much passed for undergraduates at this point in the year, but you can use their job search function to find specific opportunities to apply for.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Visa.com
• Jobs at Visa
• Campus Recruiting at Visa
• About Visa
• Visa’s Business
• Visa’s Products and Services
• Visa’s Investor Relations Site
• Working at Visa
• Visa’s Careers FAQ
• Executive Leadership at Visa

Do you have a Visa?

It took long enough, but Internet video is everywhere. Yes, we had online video 10 years ago, but now it actually looks good—and works. The main reason for this is that end users (you and me) finally have technology in their homes that can handle playing online video. This means high speed Internet connections and computers with enough processing power to not crash when a website uses a Flash video player. The issue for content creators is that delivering video still poses some challenges. Sure, I was able to produce an online job search training course that relied heavily on video with little trouble, but I wasn’t delivering video to thousands or even millions of people (I wish I had the problem). As your use base increases, the challenge of delivering video increase exponentially. Moreover, managing video content in an organized fashion is a completely different challenge than organizing text and images. Brightcove is a Cambridge, MA based company that provides an online video platform for many of the worlds biggest brands.

Are You Bright Enough?

I’ve probably said this before about other companies, but I’m not sure that I’ve seen a client list as impressive as Brightcove’s customer list. It includes names like The New York Times, Discovery Channel, Sony Music, U.S. Army, and Ticketmaster, so you know that Brightcove isn’t just some flash in the pan startup. They have top flight clients who are paying lots of money for the Brightcove platform. With that said, it will be interesting to see how online video delivery develops in the next 5 to 10 years and how Brightcove adapts to those changes. If you want to be a part of the future of online video, then you need to check out Brightcove’s Job listings. Most of their current openings are either experienced or internship positions, but there are a couple of jobs that seem suitable for new grads. These include Customer Solutions Specialist and Part-Time Training Operations Assistant. Brightcove also has a listing for applicants who can’t find a job posting that fits them. Whether you are looking for something in Software/Web Development, User Experience, Quality Assurance, Marketing, Sales, or Business Development, it’s probably worth reaching out to Brightcove to see if they might have something for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Brightcove.com
• Jobs at Brightcove
• About Brightcove
• Leadership at Brightcove
• Brightcove News
• Brightcove’s Products
• Brightcove’s Solutions
• Brightcove’s Services
• Brightcove’s Customers

Have you seen websites that use Brightcove to deliver video?

One of my goals with One Day, One Job is to get more interactive. I’d like to get more feedback from you, the readers, on what you want to see, and I’d also like to use the collective wisdom of thousands of college aged job seekers to develop better content. The best way to do that is through reader surveys, which is why I recently signed up with SurveyMonkey. They’re a Menlo Park, CA (formerly Portland, OR) based “startup” that has been helping people run online surveys for the last decade. While most Internet companies that started in 1999 have since flamed out and most companies started in the 2000s have relied on flashiness to bring in venture capital money, Survey Monkey and its outdated look have been laughing all the way to the bank. By providing a dead simple way for business owners (they’ve worked with more than 80% of the Fortune 100) to collect data, SuveyMonkey has built an insanely successful business.

SurveyMonkey Says…

As TechCrunch reported last month, SurveyMonkey has finally taken on some outside money and started to take growth seriously. They’ve more than doubled their staff over the last year, and they’ve revamped their management team. You won’t find a lot of information about SurveyMonkey online, but you will find a lot of people who have used their software. SurveyMonkey has never seemed to care much for flash or attention. Instead they have used the “Freemium Model” to bring in thousands of paying customers. If you’ve always wanted to work at a web startup, but were wary of the “scene,” then SurveyMonkey might be the right place for you. They have a number of job openings posted, and a few seem suitable for new grads. The most likely is Front-end Engineer, but they also have some positions in Marketing, Product Management, Technical Operations, and User Experience Design that might be work looking at. And if you don’t see anything that suits you, you can always use their online form to apply for an unlisted position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• SurveyMonkey.com
• Jobs at SurveyMonkey
• About SurveyMonkey

Have you ever responded to a SurveyMonkey survey?

At this rate I think that I could finish out the rest of the year covering companies that are on the Inc. 5000. I’m not going to, but I’m tempted by how many high quality entry level job opportunities I’ve been able to find from this list. Today I’ve decided to take a look at Covario, a San Diego based company that makes interactive marketing analytics software with a focus on search. I do a lot with search engine optimization, so I’m quite familiar with the industry, and I know that it’s growing rapidly. Making data driven decisions becomes essential in tougher times, because companies can’t afford not to know if they’re getting a return on investment. Tracking SEO performance through web analytics is a lot easier to measure than tracking the success of a “branding” campaign. I guess that’s why Covario has grown from $1.3 million in revenue in 2005 to $12.7 million in 2008.

Search for a Job at Covario

While many SEO firms focus directly on consulting with clients, Covario has taken a different approach—providing software that does a lot of work for you. That means that when Covario’s clients set up the software, they can instantly start analyzing both paid and organic search performance and offer suggestions for optimization. Yes, this may sound really complex, but it’s stuff that you’re going to need to understand—even if you don’t want to work at a company like Covario (trust me on this one). And if you do, then you should check out Covario’s Jobs page. Some of their current entry level positions include Search Marketing Reporting Specialist, Operations Engineer, and SEO Strategist. There are links to apply at the end of each job posting, so check out the descriptions and see what fits your interest.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Covario.com
• Jobs at Covario
• About Covario
• Management at Covario
• Covario’s Blog
• Covario’s Investors

How much do you know about SEO?

Today is the last day to enter our Maghound Your Way to a New Job contest. With so few entries so far, there’s an excellent chance that you’ll win a one-year subscription to an awesome new magazine subscription service (3 monthly magazines for free!).

I’m still on my Inc. 5000 kick, and today we’re looking at a company whose name immediately caught my eye. They’re called College Hunks Hauling Junk, and that’s exactly what they are. Omar Soliman wanted to make some money during the summer, so he borrowed his mom’s cargo van to start hauling away people’s junk. He then entered his business plan in the Rothschild Entrepreneurship Competition and won the $10,000 first prize. He realized that he had a business that he could grow, and now College Hunks Hauling Junk is doing $2.9 million in revenue. Guess that’s why Omar and his co-founder Nick were named (also by Inc.) as Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30. College Hunks Hauling Junk is headquartered in Tampa, FL, but through expansion and franchising they now operate in Anne Arundel, MD; Baltimore/Howard County, MD; Chicago, IL; Cincinnati, OH; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Detroit, MI; Indianapolis, IN; Little Rock, AR; Los Angeles, CA; Louisville, KY; Orange County, CA; Orlando, FL; Phoenix, AZ; Raleigh-Durham, NC; Richmond, VA; San Francisco/San Jose, CA; Tampa Bay, FL; and Washington, DC Metro.

Are You Hunky Enough?

College Hunks Hauling Junk certainly has a provocative name, but that’s part of their success. Finding someone to haul away your junk isn’t that hard, but it’s really easy to go with the brand you recognize. College Hunks Hauling Junk is all about grabbing attention so that they’re the company that you choose when you need to get rid of some junk. It doesn’t hurt that they can call themselves green, as they recycle 60% of the junk that they collect. Now, College Hunks Hauling Junk obviously has plenty of jobs available. If you want to get in the business of hauling junk to pay your way through college, they can help, but they’re also a growing company with growing needs. They have a bunch of corporate job postings that consist solely of titles. Since they’re a college startup, it’s hard to say how much experience they’re looking for with each position, but you’ll have to apply to find out. The posted job titles include Truck Captain/ Wingman, VP – Franchise Development, Client Loyalty Associate (Inside Sales Rep), Operations Manager, VP – Marketing, VP – Public Relations, VP – Finance, VP – Business Development, and VP – Information Technology.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• 1800JunkUSA.com
• Jobs at College Hunks Hauling Junk
• About College Hunks Hauling Junk
• College Hunks Hauling Junk’s Blog
• Junk Hunk History
• College Hunks Hauling Junk’s Fact Sheet

Have you used College Hunks Hauling Junk?

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

• MercadoGlobal.org
• Jobs at Mercado Global (Idealist)
• About Mercado Global
• Mercado Global’s History
• Mercado Global’s Leadership Team
• Mercado Global in the Press

Would you buy something from Mercado Global?

Considering the fact that I drove by a house in Michigan that was on sale for $12,500 just a few days ago, it’s pretty obvious that the real estate market still has some rebounding to do. There has been a lot of hurt in the industry over the past couple years, but maybe things are looking up. A friend who works at CB Richard Ellis let me know about a position that they’re trying to fill, and after I checked their Careers page I saw that they’re hiring for more than 200 positions. Considering the fact that they just went through a round of layoffs at the end of last year, I’d say all those job postings is probably a good sign for where the company (and maybe the economy?) is going. If you have heard of CB Richard Ellis before, you should know that they’re headquartered in Los Angeles and they’re “the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm (in terms of 2008 revenue).” Clearly $12,500 houses aren’t a problem for them.

Be with CBRE

CB Richard Ellis is a huge company. Not only are they world’s revenue leader in commercial real estate, but they also happen to have somewhere in the neighborhood of 30,000 employees and 300 offices. That makes finding an entry level job with them a little bit intimidating. It’s hard to know where to start, especially when they don’t have anything tailored to recent grads on their site. They do have a Career Paths section on their site, but it only allows you to self-select as Experience Professional or MBA. Neither of those pages offers much information that would be helpful to a recent grad. This means that we’re going to have to dive into the dreaded job search function to find entry level jobs at CBRE.

Unfortunately, CBRE’s job search function doesn’t let us link to specific jobs, and there are 200+ jobs to wade through. CBRE does have jobs all across the country, so getting ultra-specific with your query still should turn up a few results that might interest you. CBRE’s job areas include Administrative/Operations, Business Development, Client Services, Commercial Real Estate, Executive Management, Facilities Management, Finance/Accounting, Human Resources, Legal, Marketing/PR/Communications, Project Management, Property Management, Purchasing/Procurement, Research Management, Risk Management, Sales/Brokerage, Technology, and Transaction Management, so there really is something for nearly everyone. There’s also the position that my friend told me about: Marketing Coordinator (.doc file) in Woodbury, NY. You can apply for this specific position by sending your cover letter and résumé to joscelyn.wippern@cbre.com. For other positions you can apply online through CBRE’s Applicant Tracking System, or you can apply through e-mail to cbreresume@cbre.com. If you still have questions about the CBRE hiring process you can check out their Careers FAQ.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• CBRE.com
• Jobs at CB Richard Ellis
• About CB Richard Ellis
• CB Richard Ellis’ People
• Investor Relations at CB Richard Ellis
• CB Richard Ellis’ Executive Team

What do you know about CBRE?

As much as I should have a great appreciation for architecture because my father is an architect, but I must admit that I’m still not quite there yet. However, as a guy who occasionally builds websites, I fully appreciate “the practical problems of human interaction in the built environment.” That’s why I think that San Francisco based Public Architecture is a pretty cool non-profit. Their logo is their mission statement, and if the font is too small for you to read (ummm can we say problems of human interaction?), then here’s what they do: they put “the resources of architecture in the service of the public interest.” How do they do that? Through a method, a model, and motivation.

Jobs for the Public

This three-pronged approach allows Public Architecture to do some pretty cool things. They are able to take the economic constraints of good architecture out of the picture by using the funds they raise to support projects that they deem important. Their method also allows them to give direction to projects that would otherwise lack guidance (and funds). Finally, through their work they set an example that motivate other architects to commit to projects for the public good. One way that they do this is the 1% Project which “challenges architecture and design firms nationwide to pledge a minimum of 1% of their time to pro bono service.” Overall it’s a very cool non-profit, and certainly one that an architecturally minded new grad might want to work for. Although budding architects would probably be better off actually working at an architectural firm, this Operations Associate sounds like a pretty cool opportunity for other recent grads. They do want someone with at least a year of prior work experience, but I’m sure a couple internships should do. If you want to apply, “send your resume, a writing sample, and a cover letter that explains your interest and fit for the position by email to info@publicarchitecture.org with ‘Operations Associate Application’ as the subject of your email.” They’d prefer if you send it all as single PDF.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• PublicArchitecture.org
• Jobs at Public Architecture (Idealist)
• About Public Architecture
• Public Architecture’s History
• What Public Architecture Doesn’t Believe
• How Public Architecture Works
• Public Architecture’s People

What do you think about Public Architecture?

This week One Day, One Job is coming to you from the Northern woods of Michigan, which means that I have fly fishing on my mind. At least half my days up here are spent in waders—boots that go all the way up to your chest so that you can walk around in the river without getting wet—which gave me a great idea for a company to feature today. Newark, DE based W.L. Gore & Associates “is a leading manufacturer of thousands of advanced technology products for the electronics, industrial, fabrics and medical markets,” but they are most relevant to me (and probably to you too) as the company behind GORE-TEX®. If you’re not familiar with it, GORE-TEX® is a waterproof fabric that is breathable. That means that waders and rain jackets that are made out of GORE-TEX® not only keep you dry from the water on the outside, but they also keep you from drenching yourself with sweat on the inside.

Stay Dry with Gore

Most of Gore’s products are probably things that you won’t notice in your every day life, but they really hit the consumer products jackpot with GORE-TEX®. When you realize how important the other products that they manufacture are to everything that you do, I guarantee that you’ll be impressed. The good news on Gore is that beyond making amazing products, they’re also an amazing place to work. They’ve been named to FORTUNE magazines list of “100 Best Companies to Work for in America” every year since the list has been published, and it all can be attributed to Gore’s fabulous their culture. They have an excellent Careers site and even have a special section with Opportunities for New Graduates that lists the following positions: Process Engineer, Product Development Associate, Manufacturing Engineering/Operations Associate, Application Engineer, Process Control Engineer, Operations Management Associate, and Technical Sales Associate. Unfortunately that page doesn’t tell you were to go to apply for these jobs. Your best bet for applying is to use Gore’s job search function to search for jobs that match these titles (or you can just check the box “Early-Career Professional”). They also offer the option to apply for an unlisted position, so that might be a good thing to try too. They certainly could make things a little more clear for new grads though.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Gore.com
• Jobs at Gore
• Opportunities for New Graduates at Gore
• About Gore
• Gore’s History
• Gore’s Culture
• Gore’s Products

What’s your favorite GORE-TEX® application?

I remember the days of browser wars. It was Netscape vs. Internet Explorer, and it was ugly – the Internet that is. Back then it was all about whether or not your browser displayed pages properly, and people were passionately in favor of one browser or the other (or maybe some weird 3rd option). Now it’s all a lot simpler (unless you’re still using Internet Explorer) – your browser probably displays most sites just fine, and you’re more worried about speed and bells and whistles. That’s where Mozilla shines with their Firefox browser. They’re absolutely dominant with web savvy users (except with me – I still use Safari), and they are constantly making their products better. The Mozilla Corporation is a Mountain View, CA based wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mozilla Foundation. The Foundation is a non-profit, while the Corporation calls itself a “public benefit organization.” That means that they are “dedicated not to making money but to improving the way people everywhere experience the Internet” – even if by definition they’re still a for profit.

Browse Mozilla’s Jobs

Not too long ago it seemed that the browser wars were over. Microsoft had come out on top, and they had even decided that there was no need to keep working on building a better web browser. Out of nowhere an open source project started gaining traction. Internet Explorer is still an industry behemoth, but Mozilla’s Firefox continues to grow and can now claim 15% of the world market share. That means that there’s still a lot of room to grow, and with Mozilla’s focus on user experience, you can be sure that Firefox will continue eating away at Internet Explorer’s user base.

One of the coolest things about working at a company like Mozilla is how many people they reach. Most of my daily work is done on the web, and my web browser is almost like my office. Most of our computing needs are moving to the web, and Mozilla is doing everything in its power to make that experience as enjoyable as possible. So, how can you become a part of Mozilla and their awesome projects? You can start by checking out their Careers page. It’s really well done, and includes information on the company, the team, life at Mozilla, first person experiences, and – obviously – job listings. Their jobs are posted in a number of sections that include College Recruiting, Engineering, Engineering Operations, Finance, Labs, Legal, Marketing, Quality Assurance, and User Experience. We obviously want to take a look at College Recruiting which includes jobs like Firefox Engineer, Platform Engineer, and Web Developer. Don’t just focus on those jobs though, there’s the chance that some of the other jobs might be suitable for some entry level candidates too. You can apply online (through your web browser, obviously), so get to it.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Mozilla.com
• Jobs at Mozilla
• About Mozilla
• Mozilla’s Products
• What Is Mozilla?
• Mozilla’s Blog

Which web browser do you use?

Today’s jobs are going to be especially sweet, but before we tell you about them, we want to remind you about two sweet deals that we’re offering. The first is a free copy of an awesome book called How to Self-Destruct written by career coach and management consultant Jason Seiden (who is partnering with us for our job search training course), and the second is the HP Magic Giveaway, where we and 49 other sites are each giving away $6,000 HP packages to our readers. Now that we’ve reminded you, let’s talk about some sweet jobs that might also be recession proof. A couple weeks ago we told you about Blizzard Entertainment’s jobs because the video game industry is thriving as people who are unemployed flock to gaming. Well what else do you do when you’re unemployed and sitting on the couch? Eat ice cream, of course. So instead of sitting there with a wiimote in one hand and a spoon in the other, why don’t you think about a job with Dreyer’s? They’re a $2 billion company with more than 7,000 employees, and they’re all about ice cream.

I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Entry Level Jobs with Dreyer’s

Dreyer’s makes ice cream under four brands – Dreyer’s, Edy’s, Nestle, and Häagen-Dazs. They offer tons of delicious flavors, and also make Dibs which are an extremely dangerous thing to have around the house when you’re looking for a job – I know from experience. They also offer the best job in the world, which, unfortunately, is not entry level. That’s ok, because Dreyer’s has jobs for new college grads too. Their campus recruiting schedule seems to be over, but they still have job openings listed on their website. Their Operations Leadership Development Program has openings in Houston, TX; Bakersfield, CA; Fort Wayne, IN; and Tulare, CA. These jobs are specifically tailored to new grads; however, you may also find some interesting opportunities on Dreyer’s main job listings pages. These jobs are in areas like Accounting / Finance, Administration Support Services, Engineering, Environment – Health and Safety, Facilities Maintenance – Production/Warehouse, Information Technologies, Manufacturing – Operations/Production, Quality Assurance, Retail Sales & Services, Supply Chain/Logistics, and Warehouse. They’re not geared towards new college grads, but they’re probably worth looking at. You can apply for all of the jobs directly from the job descriptions, and you’ll also want to check out The Grooves before you apply (they’re Dreyer’s guiding principles).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Dreyers.com
• DreyersInc.com
• IceCream.com
• Jobs at Dreyer’s
• Dreyer’s Careers for College Students
• About Dreyer’s
• Dreyer’s Culture

What’s your favorite Dreyer’s ice cream product?

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

Go Red

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

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• RedVentures.com
• Jobs at Red Ventures
• About Red Ventures
• Red Venture’s Leadership Team
• Red Ventures’ Team
• Red Ventures’ History
• Red Ventures in the News
• Red Ventures’ Culture
• Videos and Photos from Red Ventures

I didn’t even know what PowerPoint was until I got to college. Then during my first semester of Freshman year, I was expected to deliver a presentation to a professor in .ppt format. I had no idea what that was. I eventually figured it out, and put together an ugly presentation that apparently was good enough in comparison to the rest of my classmates’ presentations to get an A. I guess that I wasn’t the only one who wasn’t familiar with PowerPoint. Throughout the rest of college, I used PowerPoint again and again to deliver presentations. I almost started liking it. No, that’s not true at all. I never liked it, but I know some people who actually enjoy putting together slides for presentations. I call these people geeks (mostly because they call their presentations “decks”). SlideShare is like YouTube for geeks. It lets you embed your PowerPoint presentations online and share them with the world.

Slide into Your First Job

There are two kinds of entry level jobs. There are the ones where you make Excel spreadsheets all day, and there are the ones where you make PowerPoint presentations all day. Actually, there’s a third kind of entry level jobs – the awesome ones at SlideShare where you help the entry level employees who make PowerPoint presentations all day share their work with the world. SlideShare secured $3 million in funding in May, and they’ve been expanding their team since. Awesome jobs at SlideShare include Operations Engineer, Web Application Developer, Backend Software Engineer, and Content & Community Manager. All of these jobs require specific knowledge, but they should be great fits for many new college grads. The first 3 are clearly very techie, but the last one (Content & Community Manager) should appeal to a wide range of Internet savvy marketing/PR/communications types.

If you are a geek who loves “decks,” then a job at SlideShare is for you. They’re located in San Francisco, CA, and you can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to jobs@slideshare.net.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• SlideShare.net
• Jobs at SlideShare
• About SlideShare
• SlideShare’s Blog
• A Tour of SlideShare (the product, not their office)

What’s the best presentation that you’ve found on SlideShare?

Shopping is supposed to be social. When you were a teenager, you probably liked to hit the mall with friends. Now, you probably lie in bed late at night surfing web sites looking for cool stuff to buy. It’s just not the same. You need social proof to back up your buying decisions. You want to hear what other people think. You want reviews, stories, and answers to questions that you may have about a product or service. Bazaarvoice is a software as a service provider that promotes social commerce by connecting customers to each other. They get their name from the word “bazaar, ” which “symbolizes the beginning of commerce – the initial marketplaces… lively centers of town, buzzing with neighbors, friends and merchants all sharing opinions and building a vibrant community.” That’s what Bazaarvoice is trying to recreate online for their clients.

Bazaar Entry Level Jobs

Bazaarvoice has a number of platforms that they use to promote social commerce. These include Ratings & Reviews, Ask & Answer, Stories, SyndicateVoice, BrandVoice, and the SearchVoice Microsite. Take a look at each of these – you’ll get a much better idea of how a company that uses Bazaarvoice has a huge advantage when it comes to getting consumers engaged online. They have an amazing client list, so if you want to see Bazaarvoice’s software in action, just visiting one of their clients’ sites.

In the interest of full disclosure, Bazaarvoice is offering a referral bonus for all of their jobs and we’d be happy to receive a check from them. With that said, we think that they have some great product offerings, an amazing careers site, cool corporate culture, and jobs that look really exciting – that’s why we’re featuring them. We’ve identified a ton of jobs that look well suited for new college grads on Bazaarvoice’s Jobs site (which is seriously one of the top 10 of companies that we’ve featured). Before you look at the specific jobs, you should check out all of the media that they offer – YouTube videos, Flickr photos, a blog, and lots of text on what it’s like to work for them. They’ve been voted one of Austin’s Best Places to Work, and the image that they put forward on their site certainly backs that up.

Bazaarvoice has all kinds of jobs for people with all types of academic and experiential backgrounds. Not all of the jobs listed below are explicitly entry-level, but they all seem within reason for smart, high performing new college grads. Bazaarvoice is based in Austin, TX, and that’s where most of their jobs are located. These include:

• Business Analyst
• Client Marketing Analyst
• Front End Web Developer
• Online Community Manager
• Operations Database Analyst
• Training Team Lead
• Web Support Engineer
• Software Developer
• Web Designer
• Associate Product Manager
• Market Development Associate
• Content Analyst (Work from Home)
• Content Analyst Foreign Language (Work from Home)

Bazaarvoice also has a number of international job opportunities that seem to be entry-level.

• Implementation Project Manager (London, UK)
• Online Community Manager (London, UK)
• Market Development Associate (London, UK)
• Market Development Associate (EU – Germany, Netherlands, France)

To apply for a job at Bazaarvoice, all you need to do is click the links above and apply through their website. They’re doing a ton of hiring, so they must be experiencing some serious growth. Check them out if you want to be part of making commerce social again.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Bazaarvoice.com
• Jobs at Bazaarvoice
• Bazaarvoice Campus Recruiting
• About Bazaarvoice
• Bazaar Blog
• BazaarVoice Case Studies
• Bazaarvoice’s Culture
• Bazaarvoice’s Leadership
• Bazaarvoice in the Community

What do you think of Bazaarvoice’s services? Would you like to see more e-commerce sites hire them?b

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

Entry-Level Jobs with the NHL Teams

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

Communications

Public Relations Coordinator – Boston Bruins (Boston, MA)

Creative Content Coordinator – Detroit Red Wings (Detroit, MI)

Manager of Communications – Columbus Blue Jackets (Columbus, Ohio)

Finance and Accounting

Staff Accountant – New Jersey Devils (Newark, NJ)

Staff Accountant – Dallas Stars/Cedar Park Event Center (Cedar Park, TX)

Hockey Operations

Road Tour Staff – New York Rangers (Tarrytown, NY)

Sales and Marketing

Seasonal Coordinator – Anaheim Ducks (Anaheim, CA)

Manager, Membership Development – USA Hockey (Colorado Springs, CO)

Guest Services Specialist – Washington Capitals (Washington, DC)

Game Day Premium Seating Concierge (Part-Time) – Pittsburgh Penguins (Pittsburgh, PA)

Inside Sales Representative – Atlanta Thrashers/Atlanta Spirit LLC (Atlanta, GA)

Ticket Sales Representative – Boston Bruins (Boston, MA)

Inside Sales Representative – Anaheim Ducks (Anaheim, CA)

Account Executive – Dallas Sales Office – Dallas Stars (Dallas, TX)

Inside Sales Representative – New Jersey Devils (Newark, NJ)

Inside Sales Representative – Phoenix Coyotes (Glendale, AZ)

Inside Sales Representative – Washington Capitals (Arlington, VA)

Account Executive, Ticket Sales – Dallas Stars/Cedar Park Event Center (Cedar Park, TX)

Account Executive, Ticket Sales – Los Angeles Kings (Los Angeles, CA)

Inside Sales Representative – Florida Panthers (Sunrise, FL)

Group Sales Account Executive – Florida Panthers (Sunrise, FL)

Technical Services

Assistant Information Services Manager – Tampa Bay Lightning (Tampa, FL)

Videographer / Production Assistant – Philadelphia Flyers (Philadelphia, PA)

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• NHL.com
• Jobs with the NHL and Its Teams
• RSS Feed of Jobs with NHL Teams

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

For some new grads it takes them a realization before they can get anything done in their job search. For some companies it takes Realization to help them get projects done and accomplish the goals that they set out to achieve. Realization provides their clients with execution management systems that help managers do 2 simple things:

1. Keep all work across all departments and across all levels of management tightly coordinated.
2. Exercise proactive control – stamp out small problems before they become big problems that require firefighting.

These may sound like things that companies should be able to take care of themselves, but clearly they can’t. Otherwise, Realization wouldn’t exist.

Realization: You Need a Job

Are you still confused as to what Realization actually does? We are too. That’s why we took a look at Realization’s Case Studies, Resources, and Offerings to get a better idea of how Realization helps other companies get things done. Here’s what we gathered. Many companies have trouble getting people on separate teams to work together to accomplish a project. While one project may be a priority to one department, another project may be the priority in another project. This leads to internal struggles that cause projects to be overdue and over budget. Realization offers a software solution that enables executives to manage projects across departments and to ensure that all teams have the right priorities. Realization also provides implementation services and training/coaching to ensure that their software solutions are used correctly.

When you actually look at what Realization does and see the results in their case studies, you can see how execution management would be a pretty cool area to work in. If you’re intrigued, you should note that Realization is looking for Implementers. Although Realization’s Careers page says that Implementers should have 2-3 years of industry experience, we’ve seen this job repeatedly targeted towards new Engineering grads. If you have a solid background in Industrial Engineering, Operations Research, or Operations Management and are good with software, then you can probably consider this an entry-level position. Realization is based in San Jose, CA and you can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to careers@realization.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Realization.com
• Jobs at Realization
• About Realization
• Realization’s Case Studies
• Realization’s Services

Had any realizations in your job search? Leave a comment and share them with us.

We didn’t get a whole lot done yesterday. We were slightly distracted by the events going on at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), where Apple announced a 3G iPhone along with some amazing software updates, and a daytime Yankees game on tv. A lot of people complained that too much time was spent at WWDC talking about software, but we couldn’t get enough of it. A couple really cool apps in the medical field (Modality and MIMvista) were showcased, but neither of the companies that developed them appeared to have entry-level jobs; however, Epocrates is a company that was featured at the announcement of the iPhone Software Development Kit (SDK) and is also putting the iPhone into use in the practice of medicine.

Decision Support Tools in Your Pocket

Apple always brags about how many songs you can fit in your pocket with an iPod. Not to put down musicians, but being able to have an entire medical library in your pocket is way more impressive. Epocrates “develops clinical information and decision support tools that enable healthcare professionals to find answers more quickly and confidently at the point of care.” They do this by making the tools easily useable on mobile devices like an iPhone, Blackberry, or Palm Pilot. Now, when you go into your doctor with a weird rash that he’s never seen before, he won’t have to open up a 27 pound book – he’ll just reach for his iPhone and find the best way to treat it. It might be disheartening to know that most doctors don’t have all the answers in their head, but at least they can have them in their pocket.

Epocratic Jobs

Epocrates offers both free and paid products that are at the leading edge of medical decision making. They must be innovative to have been featured at an Apple event. With innovation comes growth, and it appears that Epocrates is growing pretty quickly. They have approximately 200 employees, and 15 new job openings (we hope that’s due to growth and not high turnover). Of these 15 positions, we identified 4 that might be well suited to a new college grad. We can’t link to the jobs because Epocrates’ Jobs List doesn’t want to play nice, but the entry-level positions that you might want to consider are Operations Administrator, QA Automation Engineer, QA Engineer, and Software Engineer. You can apply online, and you can also find a bit more about working at Epocrates on their Careers page.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Epocrates.com
• Careers at Epocrates
• Job Opportunities at Epocrates
• About Epocrates
• Epocrates in the News
• Epocrates’ Company Fact Sheet
• Epocrates’ Products

Did you watch the WWDC Keynote? What are you most excited for? We’re pretty pumped about instant video highlights from MLBtv.

Some people love grocery shopping, some people hate it, and most people don’t have time for it. If your college campus was anywhere near a Wegmans, then you probably made time for the supermarket; however, once you start working a full-time, entry-level job in a city with no Wegmans, grocery shopping will likely become an imposition. That’s where FreshDirect steps in. They deliver fresh, affordable food to your doorstep quickly.

How Do They Do It?

Ordering groceries online isn’t a new idea, but doing it right is. There have been quite a few grocery companies that have offered online ordering, but most have missed the mark in one way or another. FreshDirect has mastered “just in time” production to get their customers the freshest food and the best prices. Grocery stores are expensive to run and middlemen hike up prices. FreshDirect avoids both of these costs by controlling the entire distribution process. They have a huge refrigerated facility, where they store and prepare food that is “made to order.” FreshDirect only operates in the New York City area right now, but they’re rapidly expanding.

Fresh Jobs

FreshDirect’s Jobs page shows quite a few openings, many of which appear to be entry-level. It’s hard to tell, since FreshDirect chooses not to fill in the experience box on many of the postings. The only job that is explicitly described as geared towards new college grads is as a FreshDirect Experience Analyst; however, these jobs also require little or no previous work experience: Merchandising Analyst, Purchasing Assistant, Purchasing Assistant, Produce, Operations Analyst – Plant Operations, Analyst, Quality Assurance, Logistics Analyst, and Junior HR Generalist, Plant Operations. The descriptions for each listing are quite detailed, so you should be able to tell which jobs will best fit your experience and education. All of FreshDirect’s jobs are located in Long Island City, NY, which is actually a neighborhood in the borough of Queens, not its own city. There’s not much more information available about what it’s like working for FreshDirect, but there is a photo tour of their plant.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• FreshDirect.com
• Jobs at FreshDirect
• About FreshDirect
• Photos of FreshDirect’s Plant
• FreshDirect’s FAQ
• FreshDirect in the Press

Do you get your groceries delivered? By FreshDirect? How do you like it?

When I was a kid, I had a friend whose Mom refused to let him watch anything but PBS on television. Yes, he had Ghostwriter and Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego, so it wasn’t too cruel, but I still felt bad for him – the poor kid didn’t have Nickelodeon or Saturday morning cartoons. I don’t think my friend turned out any better than the kids who had access to 100 channels, but I do wish that I had spent more time watching educational programming, and less time watching reruns of Saved By the Bell over and over again. Imagine how smart I would be if the part of my brain that is irrevocably committed to remembering early 90s sitcom trivia was instead filled with something useful like what you find on the Public Broadcasting Service…

Got Brain Rot?

For those of you who avoided educational programming like the plague, we’ll give you a quick overview of what PBS is about. The Public Broadcast Service is a non-profit “media enterprise that serves 355 public noncommercial television stations and reaches nearly 73 million people each week.” PBS draws most of its funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which receives significant government funding (15-20% Federal, and 25-30% State and Local). Much of the remaining funding comes from viewers who call in to PBS’ telethons to donate $250 in return for a lovely tote bag. The programming on PBS can be all over the place, but its almost exclusively educational in some way, shape, or form. For the little kids there’s Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers, for the big kids there’s Arthur and Animalia, and for adults there are all kinds of news programs and documentaries. Some of my personal PBS favorites from years ago were Frontier House and American High, two of the best reality-type shows ever put on television.

Rockapella Is Not Hiring

Rockapella isn’t hiring new college grads, but PBS is. We’ve identified 5 positions that we think would be good fits for some new grads. They’re not by definition entry-level, but they’re still worth applying for if you have a relevant background. The job descriptions are quite specific, so you’ll get a good sense of whether or not the position will be a good fit for you. Current openings include: Associate – Operations, Associate – Production, Web Developer, QA, Web Technologist, and Web Technologist – Interactive. All of the jobs are based out of Alexandria, VA, where PBS is headquartered. You can submit a general application if you don’t see anything that you love, or you can search to see if they posted any new jobs. PBS also has great internships, if that’s what you’re looking for.

Many local PBS stations offer great entry-level jobs as well, so you may want to look this list of links to local PBS stations’ Jobs pages. There are locations all across the country, so they may offer you some more flexibility. Don’t overlook these opportunities! Many of the local PBS stations are responsible for producing the shows that you see on all PBS stations, so they’re not some mom and pop operation.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• PBS.org
• PBS Careers
• PBS Job Listings
• About PBS
• PBS’ Corporate Facts
• PBS’ FAQ
• PBS in the News
• Links to Jobs Pages at Local PBS Stations

Wondering why you haven’t landed a sweet entry-level job yet? It’s probably because you haven’t subscribed.

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.

OpenTable is a dot-com veteran that has survived conditions that put most Internet companies out of business. The New York Times describes OpenTable’s ups and downs quite well in an article from last Summer:

It took three years for OpenTable to seat its one-millionth diner. But now, the company seats two million diners every month. And Zagat, the restaurant rating service, has adopted OpenTable for reservations made through its site, zagat.com.

OpenTable survived because of a very smart business model. You may only recognize them as an online restaurant reservation service, but their real business driver is the software that they sell restaurants to manage reservations. This software interacts directly with OpenTable.com and provides a full reservation management solution, whether the reservations are made in person, over the phone, or online. In case you missed it, the key point is that OpenTable has built a brand with loyal consumers who now demand that restaurants offer OpenTable.com service. For a restaurant to provide this service, they have to buy in to OpenTable’s reservation management software. It’s brilliant – using customer brand recognition to drive the sale of B2B software.

OpenTable currently has only one position that requires minimal previous work experience. This job is as a Field Operations Specialist. The good news is that there are quite a few openings in a variety of locations: Frankfurt, Germany; Miami, FL; Madrid, Spain; Vancouver, British Columbia; Paris, France; San Diego, CA; Las Vegas, NV; St. Louis, MO; and Charlotte, NC. This job is heavy on travel and requires some technical know-how, as you’ll be troubleshooting OpenTable systems in restaurants. You’ll also need to be a customer service star, since you will be the face of the company at the customer sites. There are also some administrative and sales positions available at OpenTable, but they require more experience than the Field Operations Specialist Job. These jobs could be worth a look for a college grad with exceptional hospitality management or outside sales experience.

Now go save Valentine’s Day by making a reservation on OpenTable.com.

Note: On April 24th we revisited entry-level jobs at OpenTable.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• OpenTable.com
• Jobs at OpenTable
• About OpenTable
• OpenTable’s FAQ
• OpenTable in the Press
• Chowhound Forum Topic on OpenTable

Don’t forget to show us that you love us by becoming a Facebook Fan, subscribing by RSS, or signing up for our daily e-mails. Make us feel special on Valentine’s Day.

Whether you hit the multiplex with your friends, had them over to watch a rental, or sat alone and watched in your room as you languished through your awkward stage (everyone has one), Friday nights in Middle School always seemed to revolve around movies. To get a rental, you’d have to beg your Mom to take you to Blockbuster. Then you’d have to lobby her on why you were mature enough to rent an R-rated movie, despite the fact that you just made it to legal age for a PG-13. Those days are long gone, and not just because you’re an adult now. Now, you either wait a couple days for the mailman to deliver your movie or you sit for 10 minutes while you download it. Netflix has ruined those cherished moments of arguing with your mother about movie rentals and late fees, but I think we can all agree to forgive them.

If your love of movies has persisted beyond your Middle School years, Netflix is the perfect place to begin your career. Not only do they look like a fun place to work, but they also have done a fantastic job of marketing their employment brand online. In fact, their list of 8 great reasons to work for Netflix made it to the top page of reddit. If you don’t know what reddit is, Wikipedia says it’s “a social news website where users can post links to content on the web. Other users may then vote the posted links up or down, causing them to appear more or less prominently on the Reddit home page.” Reddit users aren’t the easiest crowd to please, so it’s actually quite an impressive feat for a corporate careers page to get so much attention from them.

We sifted through Netflix’s 4 pages of job openings to find you the positions that we think are most suitable for a new college grad. There were 4 jobs that really stood out: Indie Films Content Buyer (this sounds so cool!), Replications Manager, Operations Coordinator, Site Content Coordinator – Electronic Delivery – all of these positions are located in Beverly Hills, CA. There is a lot of depth in Netflix’s job descriptions, but they could stand to be written in a livelier style. Netflix brags about being a “flat” organization in which people at all levels of the organization work on both high and low level tasks. That could be good or bad depending on your point of view. Typically a flat organization means opportunities to advance quickly for someone who is coming in at the entry-level.

Netflix also has a General Application for people who don’t see a position that suits their interests. Give that a try if you don’t see anything you like in their job listings. Or you could just sit at home and try to win $1 million from Netflix by building them a better movie recommendation algorithm.

Note: On April 24th we revisited entry-level jobs at Netflix.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• The Netflix Home Page
• Netflix Careers
• Job Openings at Netflix
• About Netflix
• A Blog of a Netflix UI Engineer
• A Netflix Fan Blog

Do you think Netflix’s business model can continue? Or will movie rental by download completely take over in the next few years?

Ok, we know we post about a lot of advertising jobs, but we try to mix it up as much as we can. There are a lot of advertising jobs out there! We’ve covered both traditional agencies and online agencies, but today we’re focusing on an advertising company that does mobile advertising. Why would people want ads on their phones? We guess some people are just sadistic.

Despite a name that makes us think they threaten to break your kneecaps if you don’t subscribe to ads on your cell phone (we’re not sure which choice is more sadistic), AdMob actually seems to be a pretty cool company. They’ve already served over 13 billion mobile ads. In fact, you can watch their ads being served live. If you find that interesting, you should also look at the tools and solutions that AdMob offers. After reading a little about AdMob, you’ll realize that they aren’t delivering advertisements directly to your phone, but are actually placing their ads on mobile versions of web pages. It’s pretty brilliant, especially the way they target ads to the end users.

Most of the currently open jobs at AdMob are pretty technical (Software and Operations Engineering); however, they also have an Account Management position that is unfortunately a little above entry-level. All of these jobs are located in San Mateo, CA. The mobile web is already big business and it’s only growing. Even if mobile sites don’t last because of full featured browsers like Safari on the iPhone, ad targeting to mobile users will still be a cash cow. That’s what AdMob is all about. Take that Computer Science degree and put it to good use at AdMob.

Note: On April 23rd we revisited entry-level jobs at AdMob.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• The AdMob Blog
• Jobs at AdMob
• About AdMob
• AdMob’s FAQ
• AdMob for Advertises

How do you feel about mobile advertising? Would you be interested in getting job search information through text messages? We’ve been working on a project called textmessagejobs.com, but we’re not sure it’s something college students would use. Tell us your thoughts in the comments.

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.

American Apparel is a company whose defining advantage is the way they treat their workers. Yes, their clothes are trendy. Yes, American Apparel has provocative advertising. But without their made in America by fairly paid workers philosophy, they’d have no identity. And think about this: if they treat their sewers (people who sew, not where things go when you flush the toilet) well, they’re going to treat you well too. It’s definitely working for American Apparel, they’re growing rapidly and have been featured in Businessweek and more recently the Inc. 500.

American Apparel has a ton of entry-level jobs available in many different areas of work (almost all of which are located in Los Angeles, CA). There are more than we’re going to list, so if you want to see them all, head over to American Apparel’s jobs page. In Customer Service there are jobs such as: CSR & Reports, Retail Operations for Japan and Korea, Sales Coordinator, Showroom Sales Representative, and Wholesale Customer Returns Agent. In Production jobs include: Fabric Planning Assistant, Field Fabric Quality Control Assistant, and Technical Package Specialist. There are also a number of IT related jobs that might be good for new grads, but we feel we’ve listed a lot of tech jobs recently, so you can find them yourself. If you’re not quite ready for that desk job, you can always work at one of their retail stores.

Beyond paying above market wages, American Apparel also offers significant training for entry-level hires. So if you’re nervous about some of the skills needed for that position you really want, they might be able to help you get where you need to be. Beyond a willingness to train, they also offer free fitness and English as a second language classes, on-site masseurs, and company-subsidized lunches. From what we can tell, American Apparel also offers a very different work environment, so if their ads make you uncomfortable, working there might not be for you.

Don’t want a day job just yet? Want to just get by on your pretty face? Try modeling for American Apparel instead.

Note: On April 23rd we revisited entry-level jobs at American Apparel.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• The American Apparel Home Page
• Jobs at American Apparel
• American Apparel Daily Blog
• American Apparel FAQs
• American Apparel’s Management Team

Do you like American Apparel’s ads? Or do you find them offensive? Leave a comment.