A couple of days ago the blogosphere exploded (pun intended) with news about bomb proof wallpaper. The story originally came from Popular Science with a video of a wrecking ball trying to knock down a brick wall that has been reinforced with the X-Flex Blast Protection System (the video is included below). I always love news stories like this one, because it puts the spotlight on a company that you never would have otherwise. In this case it’s Berry Plastics, an Evansville, IN based plastics company. Their products range from agricultural films to plastic bottles and from drink cups to trash bags. There’s a good chance that you have dozens of items in your house/dorm/apartment that were manufactured by Berry Plastics—you just don’t know it because most people don’t care who manufactured their shampoo bottles.

Bomb Proof Your Job Search

I’m pretty sure consumers will be much more brand conscious when it comes to buying bomb proof wallpaper. Obviously the military is talking about using the X-Flex Blast Protection System, and I can also imagine the product’s being used in areas where hurricanes or tornadoes are prevalent. You’ll see why in the video below (subscribers should click through to view):

For me the obvious question whenever I find an interesting company like Berry Plastics is are they hiring? Considering that Berry Plastics has more than 13,000 employees (most of them in a manufacturing setting), I’d have to imagine that they’re always hiring at some level. Unfortunately Berry Plastics has the worst Applicant Tracking System that I’ve ever seen. It uses a Java applet, and it’s absolutely unusable. It doesn’t really make sense, since they have a pretty informative Careers page. Since I can’t get the read on specific positions, we’ll have to go by the fact that Berry Plastics says that they typically offer positions in the following areas: Accounting, Administration, Automation, Customer Service, Engineering, Graphic Arts, Human Resources, Information Technology, Production (Molding, Printing, Machine Operator, Material Handling), Maintenance, Management, Marketing, Materials Management, Purchasing, Quality Assurance, Sales, and Tool Room.

There’s no word on college recruiting, but you’d have to imagine that an Engineering focused company of 13,000 does at least some entry level hiring. You should also note that one of the benefits listed on their Careers page is “Fun.” I guess your best bet is to apply through their online application form, or if you’re really going to go for you could print your résumé on Berry Plastics’ bomb proof wallpaper and send it to them. They’d have to hire you because they wouldn’t be able to destroy your résumé.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• BerryPlastics.com
• Jobs at Berry Plastics
• About Berry Plastics
• Berry Plastics News
• Berry Plastic’s FAQs
• Berry Plastics’ Products

Are you going to use bomb proof wallpaper?

It feels pretty good to be talking about a Boston based newspaper today knowing that they have to report on another trip to the World Series for the Yankees; although, I’m sure they’d much rather be publishing stories on what Dustin Pedroia and Jonathan Papelbon are doing during their offseason (possibly watching the World Series from their couches). Now that I’ve gotten in my dig at Red Sox fans, we can take a look at The Boston Globe, Boston’s most widely read newspaper. The paper is owned by the New York Times and has an excellent web presence at Boston.com. Much like other newspapers the Globe has had significant financial struggles, and The New York Times even threatened to shut the paper down if the paper’s union didn’t accept major concessions. Apparently those problems have been worked out, and The Boston Globe is now on more stable ground. At least that’s what the fact that they’re hiring would indicate.

Navigate The Globe

When it comes to newspapers and magazines, there’s no better way to get to know them than to read them. Luckily, you can do that online at Boston.com, which is a good example of how newspapers should use the web. I’m especially impressed with their Big Picture photoblog, which is constantly getting voted up on social media news sites. Since you’re going to have to start reading The Boston Globe to get a feel for them, let’s jump right to their jobs. If you take a look at their Job postings, you’ll see that there are only a few openings; however, a number of those jobs seem perfect for new grads. These include positions in Outbound Sales, Web Programming/Development, Technical Production, and Online Advertising Traffic Coordination. Most of the job postings don’t appear to be very fresh, but they’re still posted, so apply online and see what happens.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• BostonGlobe.com
• Careers at The Boston Globe
• About The Boston Globe
• The Boston Globe’s History
• The Boston Globe’s Mission
• News from The Boston Globe

Do you read The Boston Globe?we

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

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

Are You the BEST?

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• ExperienceBest.com
• Jobs at Blue Entertainment Sports Television
• About Blue Entertainment Sports Television
• BEST Company Facts
• A Case Study on BEST
• Staff at Blue Entertainment Sports Television

What have you heard about BEST?

Yesterday I was amused by a friend’s Facebook status that said: “just had a revelation: Obama sounds like Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.” I instantly imagined Barack Obama shirtless, yelling into a microphone, “Do you smellllllllllll what Barack is cooking?” Apparently SNL had a similar idea. That got me thinking about WWE (formerly the WWF), where The Rock first became famous. I was never a huge fan of professional wrestling, but I must admit to having watched on occasion. My little sister, on the other hand, was a huge fan. At about six years old she decided to be Hulk Hogan for Halloween. It was priceless. Back then they were the WWF, but a spate with World Wide Fund for Nature in 2000 resulted in a lawsuit and eventually a name change. WWE is located in Stamford, CT, just 20 minutes or so from my home town, and is a billion dollar business. Unfortunately, they haven’t been immune to layoffs, but they seem to have some great job opportunities right now.

Body Slam Your Way into a New Job

One thing that surprised me when I started doing research on World Wrestling Entertainment was the fact that they aim for a PG rating with all of their content. They put a huge emphasis on being family friendly because kids are such a huge part of their fan base. This philosophy runs throughout WWE’s five business units: Live and Televised Entertainment, Consumer Products, Digital Media, WWE Studios, and Sales & Sponsorships. If you’ve always loved professional wrestling and think that a career with WWE would be action packed, then you need to check out WWE’s Careers site. There are a bunch of job openings that can be considered entry level including Business Analyst (Stamford, CT), Live Event Marketing Rep (based anywhere in the U.S.), Motion Graphic Designer (Stamford, CT), On-Air Talent (Stamford, CT), and Writer Assistant (Stamford, CT). You can apply for all of these jobs online, so start practicing your body slams and elbow drops.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• WWE.com
• WWE-Careers.com
• About World Wrestling Entertainment
• WWE’s Executive Team
• WWE in the News
• WWE’s Investor Relations Page
• WWE’s FAQ

Who is/was your favorite wrestler?

Have you ever realized that you were being marketed to? I don’t mean watching tv and seeing an ad that makes you want to buy something. I mean getting a creepy feeling like somebody is watching you, but instead they’re getting inside your head to sell you on something. The beauty of marketing is that you usually don’t realize it’s happening, but when you do, it’s scary. You wouldn’t normally associate this kind of thing with a non-profit, but when I came across The Harmony Institute, I was both intrigued and freaked out. They’re a New York City based organization that uses “cutting-edge scientific research with film, television and new media experiences to help [their] clients deliver narratives that modify behavior and influence change.” Is it just me, or does that sound a little weird?

The Harmony Institute Will Change You

At first glance The Harmony Institute sounds like some creepy conspiracy theory gone non-profit, but when you think about it, it makes sense. The non-profit world is full of great causes that people don’t really believe in. Using science-based marketing techniques to influence the way people think is the only way to get buy in from the general public on big ideas like environmentalism, ending poverty, and improving education. By using entertainment to deliver well-crafted messages, The Harmony Institute can help other organizations achieve their causes. This is mainly based on using “unique methodology in researching and testing the impact of behavioral science on consumers of mass media storytelling.” If you’re intrigued by this, then you should check out Jobs at The Harmony Institute. They don’t have any full-time openings posted right now, but they say that they’re looking “for motivated, multi-disciplinary individuals who believe that social change can occur through new and engaging venues.” You can apply by sending a cover letter and résumé to info@harmony-institute.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Harmony-Institute.org
• Jobs at The Harmony Institute
• The Harmony Institute’s Mission
• Harmony Institute News

What do you think about The Harmony Institute?

Last week we took a look at jobs with the YES Network, which was fun for me because I’m a huge Yankees fan. On the day that post went up, I got a direct message on Twitter from Charlie O’Donnell that said, “No SNY?” Since my buddy Charlie is a big Mets fan and the CEO of a very cool career related startup called Path 101, I had to give SNY a look—even if Interleague play, a Subway World Series, and Mets fans’ jumping on the Red Sox bandwagon has soured me on the team from Flushing. Still, the Mets are a big deal, they have a beautiful brand new stadium, and they even have their own TV network. SNY is “a 24/7 regional sports and entertainment television network that features up to 125 regular season New York Mets telecasts.” It’s available “in New York, Connecticut, most of New Jersey and northeastern Pennsylvania,” and it’s also “the official year-round television home of the New York Jets.”

Say Yes to SNY

Whether you’re a Mets fan, a Jets fan, or a Yankees fan who just wants to get into the world of sports broadcast journalism, SNY might be a great place to get your start. They’re relatively new to the scene (2006), but as long as they have the rights to broadcast the Mets games, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with in New York sports. To get an idea of what kind of job offerings SNY has you can head over to their Jobs page. The first think you’ll notice is that most of the jobs are freelance. If you’re not familiar with the television industry, that may sound scary, but it’s often how things work with tv networks. The available positions that appear to be most suitable for a new grad are Freelance Production Assistant and Multimedia Part-Time Avid Editor—all of the other job postings seem to be severely outdated. The online application process seems to be really confusing, so you may want to try networking your way into the job if you can.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• SNY.tv
• Jobs at SNY
• About SNY
• SNY in the News
• SNY’s FAQ

Are you a Mets fan?

July 31st is always a holiday for me. Not only is it my Dad’s birthday (Happy Birthday Dad!), but it’s also the Major League Baseball non-waiver trade deadline. It’s a day packed with excitement as winning teams trade away their future for a shot at winning it all this year. I usually spend the day glued to ESPN and MLB Trade Rumors, but this year I don’t think my Yankees are going to make any big moves (mostly because they’re only 1 game behind the best record in baseball). That means that I can sit back, relax, and watch the YES Network since I’m in Connecticut this weekend (which means I left Chicago where the Yankees are actually playing… ugh). The YES Network is pretty much all Yankees, all the time, except for when they show New Jersey Nets games, and because of that, they also happen to be “the most-watched regional sports network in the country.”

Make Them Say YES

As you may have noticed from the links in the opening paragraph, we’ve covered a lot of baseball related jobs. I have actually wanted to write a post on the YES Network for a long time, but they’ve never had anything remotely entry level posted on their Jobs page. That hasn’t changed, but I’ve realized that waiting around for a job postings is a good way not to get a job. If you want to get a job at YES, you’re going to need to be proactive. That means reaching out to them at jobs@yesnetwork.com with a résumé and cover letter in WORD format, and using LinkedIn to do some networking. If you check out the YES Network company profile, you’ll find all kinds of great information on what types of jobs they have and who works there. One of their more common job titles is Production Assistant, which looks to me to be geared towards the entry level. Landing a job at YES won’t be easy, but if you’re a Yankees fan like me (or you really want to get into the field of sports journalism/broadcasting), then it’s worth a shot.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• YESNetwork.com
• Jobs at YES Network
• About YES Network (Wikipedia)
• YES Personalities

Do you think the Yankees will win the World Series?

I love cooking, but I didn’t always. I went into college barely knowing how to make myself a bowl of pasta, but when I lived off campus Sophomore year, I was left with little choice but to learn how to cook. I’ve never been one to follow recipes strictly, though. I always like trying something new and getting creative with my cooking. That’s exactly the philosophy behind America’s Test Kitchen. It’s a real kitchen (all 2,500 square feet of it) in Brookline, MA that is used to “to develop the absolute best recipes for all of your favorite foods.” They do this by testing recipes anywhere from 30-70 times until they not only get it right, but get it right to the point that it’s dead simple for the people who are consuming the products that America’s Test Kitchen puts out – magazines, cookbooks, DVDs, tv shows, and websites. To me it sounds like one of the coolest places in the world, so if there’s no post tomorrow, it’s because I quit in hopes of a career at America’s Test Kitchen (just kidding!).

Cooking Up Some Great Jobs

Although I’ve been familiar with the America’s Test Kitchen tv show and their Cook’s Illustrated magazine for a while, I never thought to look at their jobs. Luckily, a loyal reader pointed out that they have a ton of openings in a variety of areas. Of those jobs, we’ve picked a few that seem best suited for new or recent college grads. They include Assistant Test Cook, Junior Software Developer, eCommerce Marketing Coordinator, Production and Traffic Coordinator, Web Production Assistant, and Graphic Designer. Some of the jobs require a couple years of experience, but if you’ve been interning and participating in activities that give you real world experience, landing these jobs shouldn’t be a problem. The applications instructions vary a little bit depending on the position that you’re applying for, so head over to the America’s Test Kitchen Jobs page to get all of the details on these delicious jobs.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• AmericasTestKitchen.com
• Jobs at America’s Test Kitchen
• About America’s Test Kitchen
• Take a Tour of America’s Test Kitchen

Hungry yet?

I think that I’ve said it before here – I don’t like politics. I’m not talking about interpersonal politics, I mean government politics. I quickly get frustrated by the ineptitude of our elected officials (and often the media that covers them) and start yelling at the tv. I used to be what people call a “politics junkie,” but I just got sick of it. That was before political blogging took off (I’m not old!), but if I hadn’t tired of politics at a young age, I’m sure that I’d be an avid reader of POLITICO. Wikipedia says that POLITICO is “a political journalism organization based in Washington, D.C., that distributes its content via television, the Internet, newspaper, and radio.” They apparently have a newspaper that is circulated on Capitol Hill and a number of partnerships with major media outlets, but their website seems to have the widest reach.

Be a POLITICO

I wish that I could tell you more about POLITICO, but their About page consists of a list of names with links to bios. Much like a newspaper (which I guess is what they are), there’s very little meta-information and a whole bunch of content. That makes finding detailed information about what it’s like to work for POLITICO kind of difficult. All you can go by is their Jobs page, which has quite a few positions posted. It’s hard to discern which are most appropriate for new college grads, but we think that you might want to give the following positions a look: Designer, Web Producer, White House Reporter, Life Reporter, Photographer, Video Producer, and Media and Special Projects Assistant. The job descriptions are really sparse, so you may end up applying for a position that you’re not qualified for, but what do you have to lose? Also, make note of the dates that many of these jobs were posted – they’re all over the place. Some postings are 7 months old, and others are much more recent. I can’t say for sure that POLITICO is still hiring for these positions, but you should definitely give applying a shot by sending a resume and cover letter to employment@politico.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• POLITICO.com
• Jobs at POLITICO
• About POLITICO
• POLITICO on Wikipedia

Do you read POLITICO?

I’m about as far away from the world of crocheting, beading, knitting, jewelry making, quilting, spinning, and needle working as you can possibly be. The closest that I’ve come to the world of crafts is having my Mom knit me a scarf and meeting someone who may or may not (she was very secretive) be a part of a group of Chicago Crochet Graffiti Artists. Still, I know that this world of crafts exists – and it’s huge. That’s why it’s no surprise that Interweave Press, a craft media company with “businesses in magazine and book publishing, interactive media, broadcast programming, and events for craft enthusiasts,” still seems to be thriving after almost 35 years in the business. Although I don’t know for sure, I’d imagine that Interweave Press, which is headquartered in Loveland, Colorado and has other offices in Malvern, Pennsylvania and Stow, Massachusetts, is somewhat insulated from all of the trouble that most other media companies are seeing because of the niche that they work in.

Weave Yourself into a Job

Since I’m obviously not the one to tell you about the craft media industry, you should probably check out Interweave Press’ website to get all of the details on them. If you’re big on crafting, you’ve probably already heard of them, and if you’re not, a job with Interweave Press probably isn’t the right direction for you anyway. According to Interweave Press’ LinkedIn profile, they’re a moderately small company with an average age of 39 and a 4:1 female to male ratio. Their Jobs page shows three open positions, which unfortunately require a bit more experience that most new college grads have; however, we still think there might be some opportunities for you with Interweave. They do offer internships, so we know they’re interested in young talent, and the jobs that they do have – Online Production Administrator, Book Designer, and Sales and Promotion Manager – are only a few years away from entry level. You could try applying for one of the jobs, or you may just want to reach out to Interweave Press’ HR team at jobs@interweave.com to see if there might be mutual interest.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Interweave.com
• Jobs at Interweave Press
• About Interweave Press
• Interweave Press in the Press
• Interweave Press’ Media Kit

Are you a crafter?

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

CollegeHumor Isn’t a Joke

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

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

What’s your favorite prank on CollegeHumor?

I always say that when it comes to ad agencies, marketing companies, and PR firms, the best way to evaluate the company is to check out their client list and look at the work that the company has done. It’s not going to tell you everything that you need to know, but it’ll give you a solid idea whether or not the company is a place that you might want to work. If you want to work with big brands who are willing to take big risks with their advertising campaigns, then Crispin Porter + Bogusky might be the place for you. The Subservient Chicken is one of their more successful campaigns that started out virally, while the Microsoft campaign with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld was one of their well-publicized flops. CP+B is headquartered in Miami, FL, while they also have major locations in Boulder, CO; Los Angeles, CA; and London, UK. Their client list sits at the bottom of every page on their website – probably because it is so impressive.

Crispin Porter + Bogusky = A Job for You?

The brands that Crispin Porter + Bogusky have worked with are unparalleled, so if that’s what gets you excited, keep reading. Here’s what CP+B has to say about what they do:

We’re a factory. A factory that makes advertising and branded creative content. But there is no assemly line. All the work is custom desgined and assembled by hand. We don’t have the luxury of knowing the product we build today will be exactly like the product we built yesterday. To be successful, we have to apporach every single day like it will be our defining moment. Because that’s reality.

They’re clearly a company that knows how to tell stories – their own and their clients’. My only issue with Crispin Porter + Bogusky is that their site is in all Flash, so it’s impossible for me to link to all of the interesting things on their website. They might want to work on that. So how can you land a job at CP+B? You can start by checking out their Employment page. It consists of a list of areas that they typically hire for – Creative, Integrated Production, Interactive Creative, Interactive Development, Content Management, Cultural and Business Insights, Productions Solutions, Creative Content Distribution, and Factory Support – with e-mail addresses to apply to. There are no specific job descriptions or anything like that. There is, however, an online version of Crispin Porter + Bougsky’s Employee Handbook, which will give you an inside peek at what it’s like to work for them. You should note that Crispin Porter + Bogusky recently laid off 6% of their staff, so getting a job may not be easy. There is hope though, because they have a 4 jobs posted on TechCrunch’s Job Board. Maybe they’ll be replacing the people that they laid off with cheaper entry level talent.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• CPBGroup.com
• Crispin Porter + Bougsky’s Employee Handbook

What do you think of Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s work?

How do you feel about the intersection of friendship and marketing? I know that a lot people weren’t happy when Facebook Beacon started telling their friends what they were buying from other sites, and I also know that nobody wants their friends to go salesman on them (like with Cutco knives); however, word of mouth marketing remains one of the most effective vehicles to reach people with a message. That’s because we still seem to trust our friends the most when it comes to making purchasing decisions. But can brands become our friends? According to 22squared, a marketing agency based out of Atlanta, GA and Tampa, FL, “consumers want brands that act more like helpful friends than persuasive marketers.” I think that’s right, but it still sounds a little weird to me. Maybe we should look at Facebook again for the answer. Plenty of people are “Fans” of brands (like ours), which is very much like being Facebook Friends with them.

What’s the Big Deal About 484?

I don’t know where they got the name 22squared, but Google tells me that 22 squared = 484. I’m not sure what to make of that, so let’s get back to talking about how 22squared thinks that “the consumer is your friend.” They’ve actually developed a metric to judge how friendly brands are. You can calculate it like this:

Strength of Relationship + Number of Advocates + Maturity of Relationship = Friendship Factor %

I’m not sure where you get the inputs from, but if you click “The Work” link on 22squared’s Home page (I can’t link because it’s in Flash) and click through the pages, you’ll see the scores of many well recognized brands. Usually you need to divide by something to get a percentage, so I don’t know what this is all about, but I’d love to hear the science behind it. I wonder what One Day, One Job’s Friendship Factor % is. I’d like to think that we’re a pretty friendly brand.

Anyway, if I want to keep your friendship, I need to get to the jobs. Right now, 22squared’s Jobs page (which I can link to) only has one job opening posted. It’s for a Flash Developer in their Atlanta, GA office. Considering what a nice job they’ve done with their own site’s Flash (even if you can’t link to anything and it’s not search engine optimized), I bet this is a pretty cool job. If you don’t have Flash skills, don’t worry. 22squared also lists an HR contact (signe.garnitz@22squared.com) to whom you can send a resume and cover letter – presumably for unlisted positions. 22squared offers internships in Account Management, Media, Creative, Brand Planning, Digital/Interactive (Creative and Media), Broadcast Production, Studio, Information Technology, and Human Resources, so those might be areas that they also hire at the entry level. I can’t promise anything, but it’s worth checking out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• 22squared.com
• Jobs at 22squared
• The 22squared Blog
• 22squared in the Press

How do you feel about brands as friends?

Do you like intersecting stripes? How about branding? If you like both, then Plaid is the perfect company for you. They’re a small Danbury, CT based agency that specializes in Design & Branding, Emerging Media, and TV. They’re media agnostic, which means that they love it all as long as they can be creative. Seriously. Just look at their portfolio – it gives a great overview of exactly what they do and what their style is. I’m extremely impressed by their work, especially by what they’ve done on their own website. It’s fun and does a great job of expressing their brand’s personality. They look like a lot of fun!

Get Plaid

If you’re looking for a job where you’ll be surrounded by creativity, you shouldn’t think about getting paid, you should think about getting Plaid. While I was scanning Twitter for job postings this morning, I came across a ton of tweets referring to a new opening at Plaid. The job description has mixed messages about whether Plaid is looking for someone who is entry level, but the opportunity sounds so cool that I thought that I’d tell you about it anyway. They’re looking for “the greatest Project Manager/Producer/Master-controller-of-the-universe.” That title sounds a bit intimidating, but the rest of the description isn’t:

You’re a great communicator, with fantastic people skills, and organization/planning skills that would make our heads explode. You might even have previous agency experience, or interactive experience. You likely have an understanding of the production process relative to a design and brand firm. And you’d be even more awesome if you’re already on Facebook or Twitter.

You can find the whole job description on their blog, and you can apply for a job with Plaid by sending “your details to darryl@thinkplaid.com, with ‘greatest job in the world’ in the subject line.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• ThinkPlaid.com
• Jobs at Plaid
• About Plaid
• Plaid’s Team
• Plaid’s Blogs
• Plaid’s Portfolio
• Plaid on Flickr

Are you thinking Plaid?

Sometimes you can just tell that a company is cool by looking at their website. It’s something about the way that they carry themselves online. New York City based thehappycorp definitely sends out that vibe, although they’re almost too cool. To be honest, I don’t fully “get” them. Their home page has a lot going on, and there isn’t much more information about what they do beyond the note that they work to improve “gross national happiness through the invention, management, and maintenance of progressive brands and ideas.” Their LinkedIn gives a little more info on what they’re all about; it says that they’re an “interdisciplinary creative company, that excels at delivering design solutions that are digitally competent” while offering a “wide range of services that include innovation, web development, experiential, and influencer marketing.” Now it’s all a little more clear…

Be Happy at thehappycorp

I’m torn on thehappycorp. I love the image that they present. It kind of makes me feel like an outsider, but it makes me want to be on the inside. Considering they’re a marketing firm, that’s both good and bad. An unclear message is bad, but if it makes people want to be part of what you’re doing, it’s good. With that said, thehappycorp looks like an extremely cool place to work, so let’s take a look at what kind of jobs they have available. thehappycorp seems to have two parallel ways of posting their jobs (and they don’t match up). The more readily accessible job postings are on their blog, but none of the postings are recent. (It’s a good way to see what positions they’ve hired for in the past). There’s also a separate Jobs site (we found it linked from a job board) that does include what appear to be more up to date job postings. Most of the positions are apprenticeships/internships, but there is one listing for a Junior Producer that looks perfect for new grads. It “requires excellent communication skills, problem solving abilities, technical prowess, capability for staff management, demonstrated planning expertise given complex environments, and a passion and understanding of art and design,” and appears to be an awesome way to take on a lot of responsibility early in your career. You can apply directly from the job posting.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• thehappycorp.com
• Jobs at thehappycorp
• Job Postings on thehappycorp’s Blog

Are you happy?

This weekend my Dad e-mailed me about a company that had just moved to Connecticut (where I’m originally from). Connecticut has been working hard to attract the movie industry to the state – they even have what is called a “Hollywood East Task Force” in Hartford – so it’s big news when a company like Blue Sky Studios makes a move to Connecticut because they’ve been bribed by tax credits. It certainly brings a lot of jobs to Connecticut (even though New York loses just as many.) As interesting as it is that Connecticut is trying to become “Hollywood East,” it’s not nearly as interesting as what Blue Sky Studios does. They “pioneer creatively superior photo-realistic, high-resolution, computer-generated character animation for the feature film, television and entertainment industries.” Put more simply, they’re behind feature films like Ice Age, Horton Hears a Who, and Robots, and some pretty cool shorts too.

Live in Blue Sky Country

If you want to work in Animation or Production, there are few, if any, better place to start than Blue Sky Studios. In fact, Blue Sky Country has a comprehensive FAQ on how to break into the industry. Whether you’re interested in a job with Blue Sky or at another animation house, this will tell you everything that you need to do (from high school all the way through college and beyond) to groom yourself to get a job in the Animation industry. That’s a great place to start, but if you’ve already checked off a few things on the list, it might be time to take a look at Blue Sky Studios’ Jobs (or to subscribe to their Jobs RSS feed). We browsed over the listings and tried to find the jobs that might be most suitable for new grads. We came across jobs like Production Assistant, Administrative Assistant (Production), Temporary Animator, Modeler, Character Software Developer, Cloth TD, Materials TD, Character TD, Character Designer, and Designer. It’s hard to say how many of these jobs can be considered entry level, because many of specific knowledge requirements that use jargon that we’re not familiar with, but you’ll have a good idea whether you qualify or not. To apply for a job with Blue Sky Studios, check out the individual job descriptions for specific instructions. Also, if you’d like to know more about what it’s like to work at Blue Sky Studios, you can check out their pages on their Environment and their Process.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• BlueSkyStudios.com
• Jobs at Blue Sky Studios
• About Blue Sky Studios
• Blue Sky Studio’s Recruitment FAQ
• Blue Sky Studios in the News
• Blue Sky’s Shorts
• The Blue Sky Environment

Which of Blue Sky’s movies is your favorite?

Here at One Day, One Job, we’re big on storytelling. The reason that we feature a new company every day is that a lot of companies aren’t very good at telling their own stories, and even if they are, there’s a good chance that you’ve never heard their stories. Brooklyn, NY based MediaStorm is one of those companies that excels at telling its own story – probably because their “principal aim is to usher in the next generation of multimedia storytelling by publishing social documentary projects incorporating photojournalism, interactivity, animation, audio and video for distribution across multiple media.” They’ve worked on some amazing projects that include Intended Consequences, a chronicle of the lives of Rwandan women who “were subjected to massive sexual violence, perpetrated by members of the infamous Hutu militia groups known as the Interahamwe,” and The Marlboro Marine, the story of a marine whose photograph became famous and how “tried to return to his previous life but found his nights haunted by images of war and his life fractured by depression.” MediaStorm seems to deal with a lot of heavy topics, but they certainly have mastered multimedia storytelling.

Take MediaStorm by Storm

MediaStorm was founded by Brian Storm in 2005, and in the few years since they’ve won quite a few awards. If you’re looking for a job in a multimedia production studio and you’re especially interested in social causes, then a job at MediaStorm might be the perfect post-graduation opportunity. MediaStorm takes an “always recruiting” approach. That means if you don’t see something on their Jobs page that strikes your interest, but you know that you have something to add, they’ll be happy to hear from you. Right now their current openings include Flash/Web Developer, Interactive Designer, Multimedia Producer, Multimedia Writer, Project Manager, and Technical Engineer. Most of the job descriptions say that they require at least two years of experience, but there’s no reason that your college years couldn’t have provided you with that experience. If you’ve developed strong multimedia/journalism skills, then you should definitely think about applying for a job with MediaStorm. To apply send a resume with links to your online portfolio, references, and a cover letter explaining why you wish to work with MediaStorm to careers@mediastorm.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• MediaStorm.com
• Jobs at MediaStorm
• About MediaStorm
• MediaStorm’s Blog
• Projects by MediaStorm
• MediaStorm on Facebook
• MediaStorm on Twitter

Which of MediaStorm’s projects do you find most interesting?

We’ve catered to the PBS junkies before when we’ve covered entry level jobs at PBS here and WTTW11’s internships on One Day, One Internship, and we’re going to do it again today. WGBH is a non-profit PBS affiliate based out of Boston that also happens to be the “single largest producer of PBS prime-time and online programming.” They started out by broadcasting the Boston Symphony Orchestra over the radio in 1951, but they’ve expanded to television and the web since. It’s really amazing how much of PBS’s programing comes out of WGBH. One of my all-time favorites was ZOOM, which is a little embarrassing to admit, since I was a bit old to be watching it at the time. Another interesting thing about WGBH that I picked up from Wikipedia is that they’re “considered a leader in services for people who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, blind, or visually impaired.” WGBH actually “invented television closed captioning, audio description (Descriptive Video Service), and created the Rear Window Captioning System for films.” As you can see, WGBH is an innovator not just in public television, but in all media, and probably a great place to work.

Working at WGBH

If you’re looking to get a start in television, public television is the perfect place to begin. And if you’re going to go into public television, you might as well work with the best at WGBH. Their Jobs page shows quite a few openings, which we, unfortunately, can’t link to because of the way that they’ve set up their website. That’s ok because their Jobs page is easy enough to navigate. You can look through all of the jobs yourself, but we think that the most appropriate positions for new college grads are probably limited to: Account Coordinator, Board Relations Coordinator, Compensation and Benefits Specialist, NOVA Web Developer, Production Coordinator (New York), Production Secretary (Antiques Road Show), Production Secretary (TV Direct Response & Marketing), Radio Producer/Announcer, Secretary/Office Coordinator (Masterpiece Theater), and Stenocaptioner. You can apply for the jobs online directly from the job descriptions. They don’t accept unsolicited materials in job applications, so make sure that you stick to what’s asked for. All of the jobs are located in Boston, MA unless otherwise noted.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• WGBH.org
• Jobs at WGBH
• About WGBH
• People at WGBH
• WGBH’s Culture
• WGBH in the News
• WGBH’s Annual Reports
• WGBH’s History

What’s your favorite programming from WGBH?

I’m in the lucky position of having a girlfriend who has an 8 year old sister. That means that I have a built in excuse to continue to do “kid things,” even though I’m way too old to do them on my own without seeming creepy. Mini golf and bowling are certainly staples, although it’s not too weird for 20-somethings to do those (bowling with bumpers is another story), but one of my favorites is going to children’s museums. Not only do they provide a lot of fun, but they also always seem to teach me something. It’s amazing to see complex concepts explained with simple exhibits and toys. I also particularly enjoyed the “screaming booth” at one museum because I was able to max out the decibel meter. Now, the Boston Children’s Museum may or may not have a screaming booth, I don’t know, but they do have some exciting jobs for new college grads. That means that you can have a built in excuse to continue to do “kid things” just like I do.

Where a New Grad Can Be a Kid

I’ve never been to the Boston Children’s Museum, so I can’t tell you a lot about it, but I can tell you that they have some really cool looking exhibits. They’re also a “green” museum. Obviously, the best way to determine whether Boston Children’s Museum is a place that you’d like to work is to go visit and see what it’s all about. But before you do it, you should check out their job offerings. Their Jobs page was updated just yesterday, and it includes quite a few entry level job opportunities targeted towards new grads. You can find all of the descriptions on the Jobs page, but the titles include: Project Manager – Afterschool and Out of School Time, Accounting Assistant, Exhibit Technician (Temporary), Teaching Kits Assistant, Playspace Exhibit Interpreter, and Visitor Services Associate. There’s a link to a job application on the page; however, the instructions just say to send a cover letter, resume and salary history by email to jobs@BostonChildrensMuseum.org as a Microsoft Word file.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• BostonChildrensMuseum.org
• Jobs at Boston Children’s Museum
• About Boston Children’s Museum
• Boston Children Museum’s Annual Report
• Exhibits at Boston Children’s Museum

Are you too old to visit children’s museums?

Sunny day… Sweepin’ the clouds away… On my way to where the air is sweet… Can you tell me how to get… How to get a job at Sesame Street? Sesame Workshop is “a nonprofit educational organization making a meaningful difference in the lives of children worldwide by addressing their critical developmental needs.” How do they do that? By producing Sesame Street, of course. You may not realize how much work and research has gone into making Sesame Street the educational powerhouse that it is. They have a well defined process that is the key to consistently addressing educational needs.

Work with Elmo and Big Bird

Although you probably know all about Sesame Street (don’t act like you don’t), you may have never know that Sesame Workshop existed. It all started in 1968 with an experiment in using television as an educational tool, and look where it’s landed 40 years later. To get a full sense of where Sesame Workshop stands now, you should read their most recent letter from the President. It’s amazing how far reaching Sesame Street has become and how many topics they are able to address through the same medium that they started with. If you’re fascinated by education, childhood development, and television production, there’s no better place for you to work than Sesame Workshop. It’s where all the brains behind one of tv’s longest running shows reside.

Sesame Workshop only has one job opening right now, and it’s not by definition entry level. Still, we’ve read over the job requirements carefully, and there’s nothing to make us think that there aren’t plenty of new college grads who have skills and experience to land the job. The position is as a Production Coordinator – Digital Media, so it does require quite a bit of technical knowhow. The job appears to be located in New York City, where Sesame Workshop is based out of, and you can apply directly from the job description. If you’re wondering what it’s like to work at Sesame Workshop, you can check out this recount of a Barnard student’s experiences with their internship program. We wish that Sesame Workshop had more job opportunities for new grads posted, but we’d imagine that their jobs get snapped up pretty quickly. Since they don’t have an RSS feed, you’ll have to check back diligently to see if/when they post new jobs.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• SesameWorkshop.org
• Jobs at Sesame Workshop
• Inside Sesame Workshop
• Sesame Workshop’s Mission
• Sesame Workshop’s Process
• Management at Sesame Workshop
• Sesame Workshop’s Annual Reports
• Sesame Workshop’s FAQ

Do you still watch Sesame Street in your dorm room?

I never thought that moving to Chicago would prolong the baseball season for me. Living in the New York City area gave me 13 straight years of October baseball, and now that I’ve left, both Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium will remain empty for the rest of the fall before they eventually face demolition. It’s lucky for me that I’m now living in a new city that happens to have two teams that are still in it. I get a 14th straight year of local baseball in October! Playoff baseball is by far the most exciting baseball of the year, but it also means that season will soon be over. Those of you who are baseball fans know how long the winter seems when there is only hot stove chatter to keep you entertained while you wait for pitchers and catchers to report to Spring Training. While you’re still excited about baseball, you should start thinking about how you can land a job with Major League Baseball. Jobs with the MLB are in hot demand, so it’s a smart move to get familiar with their hiring process as soon as you can.

Take Me Out to an Entry Level Job

As far as we can tell, there are 2 ways to get jobs in Major League Baseball – there are jobs with MLB.com and jobs with specific MLB teams. There also seem to be jobs directly with the league (I have a friend on Facebook who is a member of the Major League Baseball network), but I’m not sure how you can go about finding them online. Here’s a rundown of the two types of jobs that we’ve found and how you can apply for them.

MLB.com Jobs

MLB.com is part of MLB Advanced Media, which is a separate arm of Major League Baseball. They run all 30 team websites and allegedly have editorial independence from the league. Their focus is entirely on multimedia and production, but they offer all kinds of jobs. Right now, the only openings that may be suited to new college grads (and are still a stretch) are in Database Marketing and Marketing Production. MLB.com offers internships in Finance, Marketing, Club Marketing, E-Commerce, Legal, Technology, Sponsorship, Design, and Public Relations, so there are a number of areas in which jobs with MLB.com can pop up periodically. These jobs are located in New York City, and you can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to jlc@mlb.com.

Jobs with MLB Teams

There’s a separate site where you can search for jobs with all of the Major League Baseball teams. This is where the MLB follows the lead of other major sports leagues do and uses TeamWorkOnline to post their jobs. Right now there are listings from most of the teams (although only some are entry level), but this will probably change over time, as different teams have different hiring schedules. If you’re waiting to hear about jobs with a specific team, you can sign up for Job Notification e-mails or you can subscribe to the MLB Teams Jobs RSS Feed. There is an online application process for jobs with MLB teams, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to navigate.

The TeamWorkOnline site also lists some jobs with MLB Networks, so it’s possible that this is where they post opportunities with the league as they become available. We’re not sure about this, but we can’t find anywhere else that MLB jobs are posted. If you know anything about Major League Baseball’s hiring process, we’d love to hear from you in the comments.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• MLB.com
• Jobs with MLB.com
• Jobs with MLB Teams
• About Major League Baseball
• About MLB.com
• Major League Baseball’s Wikipedia Entry

Who do you think is going to win the World Series?

A child’s first sign of teenage (pre-teenage?) rebellion often begins at the radio dial. The parent’s up-to-this-point unchallenged decision of what to listen to while in the car is called into question, and all hell breaks loose. If there are multiple kids in the family (or even just in the car), the negotiation can quickly becom more heated than a multi-lateral peace process in a war-torn nation. The parent will fight hard to maintain his or her right to National Public Radio, but the kid will persist in his or her challenge to hear something that feeds a suddenly “eclectic” taste in music. Often the parents cede this battle in hopes of winning in the future (bad idea!), which results in the parent’s driving the kids around the mini-van listening to rap music that would be a lot more offensive if the parent knew what some of the words meant. Eventually the rebellious tykes will grow up and realize that they too want to be more cultured, and they slowly, but surely come around to listening to NPR. Or maybe some kids just never speak up. They like NPR from the start. Maybe those are the ones who end up taking entry-level jobs at NPR.

Working at NPR

If you don’t know, National Public Radio “is an internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming.” They’re non-profit too! Since most people who will end up working for NPR, probably listen to NPR, we’re going to jump right into the jobs. NPR offers something called a Kroc Fellowship, which was “established to identify and develop a new generation of extraordinary journalists for the public radio system.” Typically 3 fellows are selected each year, and they get “rigorous, hands-on training in every aspect of public radio journalism — writing, reporting, producing and editing, for both radio and the Web.” The fellowships start in August, but applications happen almost a year in advance, so this is something to look at for next year. Getting into this program is a long shot, but it is well worth a try if you want to be a journalist. Here are all the details.

NPR also offers regular, non-fellowship jobs for new college graduates. We ran over their list of available jobs to see what would be appropriate for our readers. Although the only clearly defined entry-level position at NPR is as a Staff Tax Accountant, we took a long, hard look at the job titles and descriptions and found quite a few opportunities that look to be well suited to new college grads. These include Marketing Manager; Consumer Products, Web Metrics Analyst, Business Development Analyst, Marketing Specialist, IT Staff Technologist, and Research Analyst. There are also a number of software/tech jobs that have experience requirements that would probably scare off most entry-level candidates, but might still be worth a look. You can find these and all of NPR’s current openings on the NPR Jobs page. NPR is located in Washington, DC, and so are all of the jobs we mentioned. Applying online looks to be straightforward, so get to it!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• NPR.org
• Jobs at NPR
• NPR’s Current Job Openings
• About NPR
• People at NPR

Do you listen to NPR?

The idea for today’s post came straight from a reader and friend. She graduated a few months ago and has been looking for entry-level jobs in event planning since. She told us about one company that she was really excited about, but asked us not to post about it until she was either working for them or had landed another job. She recently landed a job doing exactly what she wants to do (big congratulations to her), so we’re free to tell you about hip consulting group, a boutique event management firm. They definitely offer internships, and they seem amenable to hiring new grads, so they’re definitely worth a look for anyone who has an interest in event planning.

Get Hip

hip consulting does everything when it comes to events. Whether it’s a corporate meeting, a customer appreciation event, or an employee incentive program, they’ll take care of it. They help clients select a site, register attendees, produce creatives and A/V, brainstorm ideas, and much, much more. The key to their success is attention to detail, so you can be sure that they’ll be willing to do what it takes to make sure an event happens without a hitch. They must be doing things right considering they were named one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s Hot 500 Fastest Growing Businesses in America. They started with an initial investment of $50,000 in 2000, and did $6.5 million in sales in 2006. That’s some serious growth. With that growth has come hiring – from 2006 to 2007 they grew their numbers by 50% to 30 employees. Hopefully, they’ll continue that pace, and you’ll be part of the plan.

Our one issue with hip consulting is their website. It looks great, but it’s all in Flash. That means that we can’t link to specific pages, and we can’t search the content of their site in Google. Their Careers page says that they’re always looking for new team members, and that’s about it. From what we can gather about them, the jobs that they offer are most likely to be in the areas of marketing, hospitality management, video production, and graphic design. There may be other opportunities, but it’s hard to discern when they don’t post specific job openings. They offer internships, which is always a good indicator that they hire at the entry-level as well (we also did some LinkedIn research and saw that they’ve taken interns on full time after graduation). If you’re a new college grad who wants to get into event planning and wants to work for a CEO who loves fly fishing (I had to throw that in!), then hip consulting looks like a great place to look into. They’re located in Centennial, CO, and they invite you to send a resume and cover letter to careers@gethip.biz.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• GetHip.biz
• hip consutling in Entrepreneur Magazine’s Hot 500 Fastest Growing Businesses in America
• 2003 Denver Business Journal Article About hip consulting in Tough Economic Times (Deja Vu?)

Know of a cool company that you want to share with us after you ensure that you’ve landed a job? Just e-mail us at info@onedayonejob.com.

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.

In case you couldn’t tell by our post about Apple’s entry-level jobs, we’re really big Steve Jobs fans. That’s why we’re going to look at another one of the Steve’s projects (one that you probably didn’t even know was his) for exciting career opportunities for new grads. Steve Jobs started Apple, but left in 1985 after some disagreement with the board of directors. That left him with a lot of money and a lot of free time, so he did what any creative genius would do and purchased Lucasfilms’ computer graphics division from George Lucas for $10 million in 1986. It eventually turned into Pixar, which has put out computer generated classics such as Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. Pixar was bought by Disney in 2006, which made Steve Jobs Disney’s largest individual shareholder. Now that you know that Steve is even more of a genius than you previously thought he was, let’s look at what kind of entry-level opportunities Pixar offers.

Mike Wants You to Work for Pixar

This icon has to be one of our favorite ways a company has influenced visitors to it’s home page to check out the Careers section of their site. If you do end up clicking through, you’ll be given two options – Career Opportunities and University Programs. This is where Pixar stumbles a bit, the University Programs section looks like it’s just for internships, but it actually is for new grad too (although they don’t have any jobs listed for the new grads in this section). If you dig a little deeper, you’ll find that they offer information on their Technical Director Residency Program, which is somewhere between an internship and an entry-level hiring program (the jobs aren’t guaranteed to be permanent). Here’s more:

We have a new program titled Technical Director Resident. This position is similar to a Technical Director position, but specifically designed for recent graduates. To be eligible for a Technical Director Residency at Pixar, you must be a new graduate from a Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD Program at the start of the residency. The goals of the program are to provide new graduates the opportunity to apply their academic training and knowledge to a real job at Pixar. Residents will work on Pixar’s films and will have the opportunity to build their skills and learn from our creative and talented workforce. All technical “Residents” will receive ongoing mentorship and training throughout their time at Pixar. The residency is a twelve-month program. Residents will be evaluated during their term and may be considered for ongoing employment, dependent on overall performance and Studio needs. Recent graduates interested in being a Technical Director are also welcome to apply for a regular full time position with Pixar. The Technical Director Resident position is just a great way to start off your career.

Here are some profiles of new grads who are now working at Pixar as well as some of Pixar’s Interns (this includes some pictures of the Pixar office). Positions that these new grads are currently working in besides the Technical Director Resident job include Animator, Software Engineer, Lighting Technical Director, and Layout. Since it appears that Technical Director Resident jobs aren’t available right now, we took a look at Pixar’s general job listings and found some recent listings that require little or no prior work experience. These include Story Production Assistant, Animator, and Creative Services Assistant. All jobs at Pixar are located in Emeryville, CA, and to apply, make sure that you follow their submission guidelines since a demo reel or portfolio is necessary for almost all of the jobs.

Also, if you want to learn more about working at Pixar, you can check out this interview with a Pixar Animator, or you can look at Pixar’s profile on Yelp (don’t forget to check out Yelp’s entry-level jobs too).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Pixar.com
• Jobs at Pixar
• Pixar Company Info
• About Pixar
• Pixar’s History
• Pixar’s Technical Director Resident Program
• Pixar’s Career Submission Guide
• Profiles of New Grads Working at Pixar
• Search Pixar’s Jobs
• Pixar’s Career FAQ
• Pixar’s New Grad / Intern FAQ

What’s your favorite Pixar movie? Leave a comment.

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.

Usually our goal at One Day, One Job is to tell you about jobs at companies that you might not have considered working at before. We’re all about new ideas, but sometimes you just need help. You may be stuck researching a company that you’re dying to work for. Or you may be having a nightmare trying to navigate a corporate careers site. We’re here to help with today’s case study on ESPN.

When we first visited ESPN’s Careers (Join Our Team) Site, we were impressed by it’s looks, feel, and College Relations link in the navigation bar. Our sense of ease that this would be an easy company to research quickly faded when we realized first, that this section of the website had no content, and second, that it was mostly directed towards hiring interns (or would be if it had content, we should say). There was a link to their PA (Production Assistant, we think) training program, which also was a dead end. In the face of this disappointment, we rolled up our sleeves, put on our gloves, and started digging through ESPN’s job listings to figure out which positions were right for new college graduates.

One note before we tell you about the entry-level positions that we found at ESPN: clicking the Jobs link in Safari, our browser of choice, breaks the rest of navigation for the site. This is frustrating, but remedied by going back a few pages and trying again. Ok, one more note: ESPN’s job listings are messed up. We’re not sure what’s wrong with their Applicant Tracking System, but sometimes clicking a link to one job title will take you to another job. Whoops. Also, identical job titles can have vastly different qualification requirements – one job may be entry-level, and the other job with the same title might require 7 years experience. Generally, positions at ESPN with the word Associate in the title are geared towards the entry-level, but some require 10+ years experience. There are also many entry-level jobs that don’t have the word Associate in the title. Ugh. At least we did the hard part for you…

By the way, we put all the jobs into loose groupings. This is based on our understanding of the job descriptions, but we could be way off. ESPN does not group their jobs in this way. We just wanted to make it a little easier to find what you’re looking for.

Graphics/Design/Web: Animator, Associate Graphic Designer, Associate Web Developer, ESPN Fantasy Games – Web Designer, Creative Assistant, and Associate Photo Editor in Bristol, CT or in Washington

Production: Programming Content Associate, Associate Technical Producer, Multimedia Production Assistant, Graphics System Controller, ESPN International- TV Production Assistant, and Assistant Editor

Research: Research Analyst, Statistics Associate (probably our favorite of the bunch), Multimedia Research Analyst, Computer Assisted Reporter (this is also one of our favorites), and Director of Business Affairs

Other: Affiliate Marketing Coordinator and Promotions Coordinator

Almost all of ESPN’s jobs are in Bristol, CT or New York City; however, there are a few other locations where they are hiring. Despite the problems with the way ESPN lists jobs, most of their job descriptions are pretty decent. Even without great descriptions, it seems as though it’s much easier to imagine what it’s like to work for ESPN than what it’s like to work at most other companies. Maybe it’s all those SportsCenter commercials with the players, mascots, and tv personalities hanging out in the office.

Now, we don’t usually do this, but today we’re going to give you our perspective on applying for a job at ESPN. You can be sure that working for ESPN is high on the lists of many college students’ dream jobs. That means there’s going to be a lot of competition for these jobs. You need to stand out, so take a little risk when you apply. Include that wacky thing that you’re not quite sure belongs on your resume. Apply for a job that requires more experience than you have. Try cold calling or contacting your would be manager, if you can track him or her down. Be creative. Be unique. Be yourself. They are going to get hundreds of resumes from college students that all look pretty much the same. You need to stand out if you want to work at a company like ESPN.

Good luck! Now go research.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• ESPN’s Home Page
• ESPN’s Careers Site
• About ESPN
• The Businesses of ESPN
• ESPN’s History
• Benefits of Working at ESPN
• Health and Fitness at ESPN
• ESPN’s Participation in Charities
• ESPN’s Jobs Site from 2002 (Why is this still online? We thought you might find it interesting nonetheless.)

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

Da-da-duhhhhhh, da-da-duhhhhhh! (That was supposed to be onomatopoeia for the SportsCenter update music.)

Do you see the library as more than just a place to study? Are you mesmerized by the endless stacks of books that you haven’t yet had a chance to read? Did you sign up for Amazon Prime so that the newest releases are never more than 2 days from your doorstep? Did you enter your college’s book collection contest? If you love books, what’s a better place to work than the largest publisher in the world?

Random House has two distinct and exciting career offerings for recent college graduates. For those who have a clear idea of what part of the publishing industry they want to get involved with, they have specific entry-level positions such as Editorial Assistant, Publicity Assistant, Marketing Assistant, Production Assistant, and Sales Assistant. For others who have a strong interest in publishing, but aren’t ready to commit to a specific field, Random House offers its Associates Program.

Random House’s Applicant Tracking System makes it hard for us to link to their jobs, but if you use the Job Search feature on their Careers site and look for any position with “Assistant” in the title, you should be able to find all of their entry-level offerings. Currently listed entry-level positions include Marketing and Publicity at Knopf, Marketing and Online Marketing at Crown, and Sales at Random House (there are a number of different publishers that are a part of Random House).

Random House does all of it’s entry-level hiring, except for the Associates Program, on an as-needed basis. So, unless you’re ready to start work immediately upon hire, you may want to wait until about April to apply for a position that will start right after graduation. For those who would like to start working a little longer after graduation, apply about a month before you’d like to begin work. If waiting that long stresses you out, you could try Random House’s contact form to get in touch with an HR representative to discuss your interest in applying at a later date. Random House does do some on-campus recruiting, so you may be able to get the process moving along earlier if they visit your school or if you can find the right person to speak with.

Random House has a more structured application process for its Associates Program. Applications should be submitted online between January 1st and March 15th (we are assuming the jobs will be listed on their job board when the time comes, since there is no other mention of where to apply). All new hires to the Associates Program are expected to begin working in the second week of July.

It’s refreshing that Random House not only has two great programs for entry-level hires, but also that they are hiring year round. Many college grads take some time off after they graduate, graduate early, or spend more than 4 years at school – Random House has positions open for those who take the path less traveled. Now start researching, or bookmark this page and wait a few months until it’s time to apply.

Note: On April 22nd we revisited entry-level jobs at Random House.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Random House Home Page
• Random House Careers
• Random House FAQ for Entry-Level Applicants
• About Random House
• Areas of Work at Random House
• Benefits at Random House
• Random House’s Training and Development Opportunities
• Some Books from Random House

Want to win a Wii? First subscribe to One Day, One Job through e-mail. Then leave your insights on Random House or the publishing industry in the comments section. You’ll be automatically entered in our Find a Job, Win a Wii contest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• CNN Home Page
• Turner Home Page (Parent Company)
• Turner Careers Page
• Turner Careers for Recent Grads
• CNN Video Journalist Overview
• Turner Employee Benefits
• Search for CNN Jobs

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