One Day, One Job » project management

Revel Consulting

Willy Franzen — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:51:40 +0000

When I was a freshman at Cornell, a bunch of my friends decided to form a group called the Red Revelers. We would go to sporting events and act rowdy. We had t-shirts and everything. I guess that’s why Revel Consulting caught my eye when I was browsing through the Inc. 5000 (expect to be hearing a lot about that list in the next few weeks—it’s my favorite resource for finding cool companies). They’re a Kirkland, WA based consulting firm that has expertise in Product Management, Program & Project Management, Change Management, Process Engineering, Sales and Marketing Management, Strategy Development & Measurement, and Cloud Computing. They’re also the 34th fastest growing private company in the United States. Beyond an awesome growth rate, they were also “named to the list of 100 Best Companies to Work For by Seattle Business magazine based on job satisfaction, work environment, and professional growth opportunities.”

Revel in Consulting

The problem with consulting companies is that most people don’t know what they do. Sometimes even the consultants can’t tell you exactly what they do. Part of the reason for that is that consulting is a very flexible field—at least in terms of subject matter. It’s often more about the process than the specifics of the project. Revel Consulting seems to have a good mix of specific areas of expertise—Cloud Computing for example—and more general practice areas such as Program & Project Management. You can’t even take a look at Revel Consulting’s portfolio or client list, because consulting firms usually try to keep that stuff under wraps. What you can look at is the fact that they went from less than $400k in revenue to $13.2 million in revenue in just three years. That tells you that Revel is a place that you want to be. Revel’s Careers page has information on Culture, Consultant Experiences, and Campus Recruiting. The latter focuses mostly on internships, but that’s ok because Revel has one application form for all jobs. They’ll take a look at you and figure out where you’ll fit in best—no need to apply for a specific position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Revel Consulting?

New Era

Willy Franzen — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:46:49 +0000

In my younger days hats were a big deal. I wasn’t particularly image conscious, but when it came to hats, I was. I remember one summer college hats were in. You know—the simple white hats with horizontal lines and the college’s name. Getting them just dirty enough with the just the right bend was essential (heaven forbid if someone “doritoed” your favorite hat), and, of course, you had to pop off the button on top. The next summer they were out. It was all about fitted caps—just like major leaguers wear. I was suddenly aware of how big my head really was, as I had to buy a properly sized hat. Then it was different color hats or hats with Japanese lettering. At some point I stopped obsessing over my hats, but Buffalo, NY based New Era has continued to be THE hat manufacturer of choice for all of the cool kids.

Enter a New Era

New Era entered the cap making business in 1920 as the E. Koch Cap Co. By the 1950s they were the “only independent cap maker supplying big league teams.” In 1954 they redesigned their pro cap and named it the 5950, which has been the iconic cap that you are probably familiar with. In 1993 New Era became the exclusive manufacturer of caps for all Major League Baseball teams, and then things got exciting. When Spike Lee personally requested a red Yankees hat in 1996, it changed everything. New Era caps became more than just a fan item—they became a fashion item. Now, finding all of this information about New Era isn’t easy, because their home page doesn’t seem to link to their About page. The good news for the hat junkies out there is that their Jobs page is easy to find. We can’t list to specific positions because of the Applicant Tracking System that they use, but you should definitely look for the following positions: Logistics Coordinator and Project Coordinator. There’s also an opportunity to send an unsolicited résumé for consideration. You can apply online for any of these positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own any New Era capos?

Taproot Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 14:04:30 +0000

As I tell you every weekend, the non-profit world can never get enough top notch talent. Part of the reason is that the careers aren’t nearly as lucrative as private sector careers, but another part of it is that there are a seemingly unlimited number of non-profit organizations out there. Taproot Foundation solves this problem in an interesting way. They act as a project management consulting service while linking top notch business professionals up with non-profit organizations in a volunteer capacity. They typically work with organizations in the areas of Arts, Education, Social Services, Environment, and Health on engagements in the areas of marketing, HR, IT, and strategy management. I’m always impressed by non-profit consulting services, and this appears to be a pretty cool twist on that model.

Tap into a New Career

The way that the Taproot Foundation works is that they recruit a team of 3-6 volunteers to work on an engagement. The teams are typically virtual, and they commit to 100 hours of time over 6 months. Each team member has a specific role, and a clear idea of the scope, deliverables, project plan, timeline, and tools & additional resources that will be relevant to the project. The team will also have the support of the Taproot staff and other volunteers at higher levels. It’s a really cool approach, and the volunteer opportunities sound truly exciting; however, the Taproot Foundation also happens to be hiring. Current job openings that might be suitable for new grads include VISTA Program Development Fellow – Pro Bono Action Tank (San Francisco, CA), VISTA Corporate Sponsorship Fellow (Chicago, IL), and VISTA Eastern – Central Region Program Fellow (Washington, DC). They also have a location in New York, but there’s nothing suitable there right now. Each of the job descriptions goes into great detail, so check them out to get the full scoop on the careers that the Taproot Foundation offers.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

CB Richard Ellis

Willy Franzen — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:55:21 +0000

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

What do you know about CBRE?

Wolfram Research

Willy Franzen — Tue, 19 May 2009 14:49:42 +0000

If you’re an Internet geek like me, then you’ve probably noticed all of the buzz around Wolfram|Alpha. Some have dubbed it a “Google killer,” but as far as I can tell, they’re way off the mark. They’re wrong because Wolfram|Alpha isn’t a search engine – it’s a knowledge engine. The goal is “to make all systematic knowledge immediately computable by anyone.” The concept is kind of hard to grasp until you try it, but once you see how it works, I think that you’ll be impressed. So, who is behind Wolfram|Alpha? Wolfram, of course! They’re based in Champaign, IL, and they’re “one of the world’s most respected software companies–as well as a powerhouse of scientific and technical innovation.” They’re the company behind Mathematica – a software package that excels in ” computation, modeling, simulation, visualization, development, documentation, and deployment.” I’ve never had the pleasure of using it, but I know math teachers who think it’s pretty awesome.

Join a Powerhouse

From what I can tell, Wolfram is about as academic as a company can get. They use their expertise in computer science to create amazing tools that help smart people do their jobs and research better. Yet, Wolfram’s ambitions go beyond that. This Wolfram|Alpha thing seems to be a well received attempt at going mainstream, and it’s only in its early stages. You have to love a company that is constantly working to make people smarter and more effective, which is why you should consider jobs with Wolfram Research. They don’t have specific job openings listed, but they are constantly looking for people in the following areas:

Algorithm Development
Software Engineering
Financial Engineering
Image and Signal Processing
Control Systems
Geospatial Information Systems
Instrument Control
Experimental Data Analysis
Statistics
User Interface Development
Applications Development
Software Quality Assurance
Technical Support
Technical Marketing
Business Development
Project Management
International Business Development
Special Projects
Mathematica Programming
Information Technology
Customer Relations
Educational Outreach
Technical Writing
Sales
Scientific Business Development
Technology Licensing

There’s a single online application form for all of these positions, and it’s really in-depth. So, if Wolfram Research already has you fascinated and “you’re clear-thinking, pragmatic, and energetic about getting things done well,” then go ahead and apply ASAP. Additionally, Wolfram Research has some Science and Technology R&D Fellowships that you may want to check out. Beyond Wolfram’s headquarters in Champaign, IL, they also have locations in Boston, MA; Oxford, United Kingdom; Paris, France; and Tokyo, Japan.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Wolfram|Alpha’s capabilities?

Research In Motion

Willy Franzen — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:21:42 +0000

I’m an iPhone guy, so I tend to feel sorry for people who are constantly thumbing away on their BlackBerries. That’s just my being a smug Apple user though. I realize that a lot of people love their BlackBerries and for good reason. They’re pretty remarkable devices, and they’re perfectly tailored for business use. (Although not as perfectly tailored as my iPhone! Ok, I’m done.) That’s why Research In Motion, the company that makes BlackBerries, has a 16.6% share of the smartphone market. They seem to have hit a bit of a rough spot lately (at least their stock price makes it look like they have), but their market position is still very strong. That’s why it’s no surprise that they’re doing a good amount of entry level hiring; however, the real reason that I wanted to feature Research In Motion here is that they chose an unfortunate, yet inappropriately hilarious domain name for their Jobs site (it redirects now, but I think that you can figure it out).

Jobs at RIM

RIM’s description of what they do is pretty complex:

Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, text messaging (SMS and MMS), Internet and intranet-based applications.

However, I think that you can put it pretty simply by saying that they make BlackBerries. I’m sure that there’s a lot more that they do on the technology side, but it seems that smartphones are their bread and butter. They’re a big company, so it’s no surprise that their Careers site has a special section for students. You can get all of the details on RIM’s Student Hiring Program here, and then you can search their job postings for positions specific to your interests. Their job search function is very flexible, and it allows you to select jobs specifically for new grads.

Right now there are 25 of those opportunities available in a variety of world locations and business areas. They include: Hardware Engineering Designer (Waterloo, Canada), Java Software Developer (Ottawa or Waterloo, Canada), Financial Analyst (Waterloo, Canada), Technical Writer (Waterloo, Canada), Embedded Systems Software Developer (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Graphics Software Developer – Advanced Rendering Applications (Waterloo, Canada), Embedded Software Developer (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Multimedia System Specialist (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Communications Specialist (Ft. Lauderdale, FL), Mobile Phone Safety Test Specialist (Waterloo, Canada), 3GPP Compliance Specialist (Waterloo, Canada), Software Development Support Specialist (Waterloo and Mississauga, Canada), Database Developer – BlackBerry Infrastructure (Waterloo, CA), Project Coordinator (Waterloo, Canada), Software Test Specialist (Waterloo, Canada), Project Coordinator – Accessories (Waterloo, Canada), Carrier Technical Manager (Kansas City, KS), Systems Engineering Specialist – M&D (Mississauga, CA), Systems Engineering Specialist – Provisioning (Mississauga, CA), Protocol Stack Developer (Bochum, Germany), Systems Engineer (Irving, TX), Software Testing Specialist (Waterloo, Canada), Requirements Manager (Waterloo, Canada), and ISP Engineer (Waterloo, Canada).

You can apply for all of these jobs online from the job listings that you’ll find through the search function. Be wary though, because when you view a job listing and then hit the back button to get back to your search, you’ll have to reenter your search to get the results that you want.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you have a BlackBerry?

Kidsave

Willy Franzen — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:22:44 +0000

Today my little sister is on her way back from a few months in Ethiopia teaching art at an orphanage for children who have lost their parents to AIDS. From what I’ve heard so far, she’s had an amazing impact, so I’m obviously overwhelmingly proud of her. It’s hard to imagine what life without a family is like, but there are millions of children all across the world who know all too well what it’s like. That’s why we’re taking a look at Kidsave today (not the organization that my sister was working with). They’re a Los Angeles, CA based non-profit that is aiming to “to ensure that no orphan or foster child is forgotten and that every child grows up in a family with love and hope for a successful future.” It all started when friends and business partners Terry Baugh and Randi Thompson, both adoptive parents, realized how tragic the stories of orphaned children really are. They started Kidsave in 1997, and since then they have helped “more than 2700 children [find] parents and lasting connections with adults.”

Saving Kids

Kidsave operates all across the globe with the specific goal of helping children find permanent families. Kidsave has 6 main programs – Weekend Miracles, Summer Miracles, Russian Programs, Colombian Programs, Model Programs, and Advocacy. All of these programs appear to be based on the Family Vist Model, which “draws from a broad base of research on orphaned and abandoned children’s needs and how best to meet those needs.” It looks like a fantastic program, and it should be something that you want to be a part of. Luckily, they’re hiring. They only have one job opening, but it’s perfect for a new grad. It’s not posted on Kidsave’s Jobs page, but you can find it on Idealist. The position title is Summer and Weekend Miracles Program Coordinator. There are quite a few requirements (but none of them are experience based), so check out the job description, and send a cover letter and resume to jennifer@kidsave.org if you’d like to apply.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you heard anything about Kidsave?

Hulu

Willy Franzen — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:24:39 +0000

When NBC Universal and News Corp. announced a new online video venture, I rolled my eyes along with nearly everyone else who had an interest in online video. Large corporations had consistently proven that they just didn’t get it. They were too busy removing videos from YouTube and suing college kids for file sharing. That’s why I was really surprised when I started using – and loving – Hulu. The fact that I can watch new episodes of Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares, reruns of Doogie Howser, M.D., and Speed 2: Cruise Control (ok, their movie selection is still a little week) all for free with limited commercial interruption is pretty awesome; in fact, I now watch Hulu more than I watch tv. It’s no wonder that Hulu, which is based out of Los Angeles, CA, is winning all kinds of awards now.

What’s a Hulu?

The story of how the name Hulu came about is relatively interesting, but not too far off from many other naming stories. What is remarkable about Hulu is that they’ve combined a startup mentality with old media connections. It may be a little more top-down than YouTube, but it’s stuff that you can actually watch for a prolonged period of time without feeling considerably dumber (ok, not all of it is). The coolest thing about Hulu is a business is that they’re old media meets new media, which is also reflected in their jobs. They are always on the lookout for top-flight Engineering talent for positions like SQL Database Developer, Software Developer, and Technical Project Manager. If these jobs interest you, then you’ll probably want to check out the About Hulu Engineering Page. If you’re interested in the other side of the business, you might want to take a look at jobs like Traffic Coordinator or Campaign Manager. And if you’re really in for an adventure, you might want to check out their jobs located in Beijing. To apply for a job with Hulu, you should send a cover letter and resume to jobs@hulu.com, but before that you should definitely read What Defines Hulu.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite thing to watch on Hulu?

Plaid

Willy Franzen — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:57:05 +0000

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

Are you thinking Plaid?

Compendia Bioscience

Willy Franzen — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:44:32 +0000

It’s not big surprise that jobs are constantly in the news these days. That’s part of the reason Jason Seiden and I launched our course. People need help finding and landing jobs. People in the news have picked up on the need, and now it’s newsworthy if a company is hiring. Take this article from mlive.com’s Michigan Business Innovation Blog – it’s about who’s hiring in Ann Arbor. That’s obviously of interest to me, since so many of you are at both University of Michigan and Michigan State (as well as other great Michigan schools). There were some pretty interesting names on that list, and one that stood out to me was Compendia Bioscience. They’re Biotech meets Software, and they’re also part of the future of Michigan.

Curing Cancer

There are a lot of people in this world whose lives have been ravaged by cancer. In turn, there are a lot of people who have made it their life goals to cure cancer. Although we haven’t come up with an outright cure yet, it’s amazing how much progress we’ve made in treating many types of cancer. When I think about curing cancer, I always think about medical doctors. That’s shortsighted of me, because there are all kind of people working on beating cancer that haven’t been to medical school. That’s what Compendia Bioscience is all about. Their mission is to “Harness the global collection of genomic data to change the practice of medicine.” Yes, they have MDs on their staff, but they’re using the power of software to help those on the frontlines of oncology. It’s kind of hard to believe that with the same skillset you could work at a Web 2.0 startup that allows you turn your friends into virtual zombies or you could be working towards a cure for cancer. Don’t get me wrong, I love Web 2.0 startups, but sometimes you need to aim for a higher calling. Right now Compendia has job openings in Bioinformatics Analytics, Project Management, and Software Development. It’s hard for me to say which of these jobs are best suited for new grads, but I’m sure you can gain a better idea by looking at the job descriptions on Compendia’s Jobs page. To apply for any of the jobs, send a cover letter and resume to careers2009@compendiabio.com. Here’s a little more information from Compendia’s MPowered Entrepreneurship Fair profile.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about Compendia Bioscience?

Epic Systems

Willy Franzen — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:17:17 +0000

My Dad is an architect, and he often likes to send me suggestions on which companies I should feature next. Sometimes he finds some pretty cool stuff, and a month or so ago he sent me a link to the Winter 2009 online issue of HQ Magazine, which features an article called “Top 20 Places to Work.” Usually such lists focus on a range of reasons for a place’s being great to work at, but HQ is an architectural publication, so this list is all about office space (not the movie). The section of the article on Epic Systems says: “Epic’s campus fits into idyllic pastures and farmland, providing serene, relaxing views from within. Outside are hiking trails, playing fields, a treehouse. Meeting rooms have working fireplaces to further the sense of calmness.” It sounds amazing. Epic systems is a Wisconsin based, privately held, employee owned healthcare software provider.

Epicly Helpful

Epic Systems only has 170 clients, but “they are some of the most respected organizations in healthcare.” Epic’s software apparently makes the patient experience a lot better, but until it makes waiting rooms obsolete, I’m not quite sold. Basically, what Epic’s software does is that it records every touch that a patient has with a healthcare provider. The information is kept securely, but in a way that allows patients to access it when they need it. Epic Systems provides a product that keeps doctors, nurses, and patients fully informed about what’s going on. We all know that the healthcare industry is a mess, but it’s also growing rapidly. Epic Systems seems to be taking advantage of this environment by making a product that makes healthcare better for all parties involved.

Here’s a sample situation from Epic’s website:

Imagine this: you’re from Dallas, but you’re on vacation in Seattle. Shortly after trying some of the free samples at the fish market, you come down with something nasty and end up in the Emergency Room. You can’t remember the names of the medications you’re taking at home, but you mention to the doctor that you’re normally seen at Black Springs Clinic in the Dallas area. The doctor in the ER is able to access your chart from the clinic without the need to place a call or retrieve a fax. Your ER doctor sees not only the specific medications and doses you were last prescribed at home, but also that you’re allergic to Iodine, preventing a potentially severe reaction during your care.

You get back on your feet after a few hours in the ER and are given a couple medications and a recommendation to see your doctor at home once you’re back from vacation. While still in Seattle, you pull out your laptop and are able to send a secure message to your physician in Dallas, letting him know briefly what happened. You also sign up for a follow-up appointment for when you return. When you arrive, your doctor has access to your clinic chart, as well as the information documented during your visit to the ER in Seattle.

Sounds pretty great.

Do Something Epic

Epic may have only made the list of Top Places to Work because of their building, but they look like they belong on any general list of the best places to work. Their Careers site is loaded with information – especially the Life and Work section. We could go on and on about how cool it looks to work at Epic, but you’re better off checking it out on your own (start by taking a tour of their campus). Epic allows you to browse their jobs by both Career Type and Educational Background; however, I prefer to look at their listing of all available positions. The jobs are insanely easy to scan for entry level positions, so there’s no need for me to list them here, and you can apply online. Although they are a software company, they have job openings in areas that include Accounting, Biotechnology, Botany, Consulting, HR, IT, Project Management, Writing, and, of course, Software Development.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Epic’s Campus.

thehappycorp

Willy Franzen — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:01:55 +0000

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

Are you happy?

Helen Keller International

Willy Franzen — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:50:40 +0000

I’m sure that all of you learned the story of Helen Keller in elementary school, but just to refresh you she was a woman who overcame growing up both blind and deaf in the late 1800s to graduate from Radcliffe College magna cum laude. These days that would still be impressive, but it’s amazing that she did that when she did it. (She had a tutor spell textbooks letter by letter into her hand.) After graduating from college, Helen Keller made it her life’s work to help blind and deaf-blind people. She founded Helen Keller International in 1915, and it has been “devoted to fighting and treating preventable blindness and malnutrition” ever since.

Against All Odds

You don’t realize how important seeing and hearing are until they’re compromised. I went a year with a bad contact lens prescription, and when I finally stopped procrastinating about going to the eye doctor and got a new prescription, I realized how much I was missing out on in every day life. There are people all across the world who have much more serious vision or hearing needs than needing a prescription adjustment, and they don’t have the services that most of us here in the US have. That’s why New York City based Helen Keller International has “programs in 22 countries in Africa and Asia as well as in the United States.” They build “local capacity by establishing sustainable programs, and provide scientific and technical assistance and data to governments and international, regional, national and local organizations around the world.” If this sounds like something that you’d like to be a part of, then you’re in luck. Helen Keller International has a number of job openings listed on their Jobs page. There are opportunities all across the world, but the only ones that appear suitable for new college grads are in the US. These include Junior Accountant in New York City and Project Coordinator for ChildSight (Idealist posting) in New Haven, CT. HKI is also open to hearing from applicants who don’t see a position that suits them, so feel free to send your resume and cover letter to hkihr@hki.org for one of the listed jobs or an unlisted position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How much did you learn about Hellen Keller in school?

MediaStorm

Willy Franzen — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:40:07 +0000

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

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

Coca-Cola

Willy Franzen — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 15:43:58 +0000

Somehow the Coca-Cola brand has been indelibly tied to the image of Santa Claus. In fact, there’s even an urban legend that the modern image of Santa Claus was created by The Coca-Cola Company. It’s not true, but the fact that many people believe it to be true speaks volumes about Coca-Cola’s branding prowess (dating all the way back to the 1930s). We considered a lot of Christmas themed companies to feature today, but we keep coming back to the image of St. Nick sipping on a glass bottle of Coke. Let’s see how you can find a job with Coke.

Live on the Coke Side of Life

Surprisingly, Coke doesn’t appear to have any sort of entry level hiring program. If they do, they certainly don’t mention it on their website. It’s quite possible that they do some college recruiting (they definitely do it for internships), but all we could find were some entry level jobs posted on their site. Some examples include Administrative Assistant (Irvine, CA and Brussels, Belgium), Supply Planner (Houston, TX), Brand Experience Junior Project Manager (Issy-les-Moulineaux, France), and CDT Business Analyst (Columbia, MD, Bentonville, AR and Irvine, CA). There aren’t a ton of jobs from what we can tell, but we have heard word of Coke’s hiring 300+ new college grads every year. We’re not sure where you can find all of those jobs. Maybe they’re posted seasonally. You can apply for a job with Coca-Cola directly from the job descriptions, and if you don’t see anything that you like, you can search their career opportunities.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Merry Christmas!

Vera Institute of Justice

Willy Franzen — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:07:17 +0000

I was just browsing the news this morning when I came across the story of how Bernard Madoff, a prominent Wall Street trader, allegedly admitted to defrauding investors in his hedge fund of $50 billion. It is an unbelievable amount of money, and it’s hard to believe that anyone would go through the effort and risk to steal that much money – I can’t even fathom what you would do with $50 billion in illegally acquired money. The most outrageous part of the story might be that Madoff has been released on $10 million bail. That’s peanuts for him. It’s .02% of what he allegedly stole. After reading this story I started browsing non-profits for today’s post, and I came across the Vera Institute of Justice. It’s a New York City based organization with locations in Washington, DC and New Orleans, and it was founded when “philanthropist Louis Schweitzer and magazine editor Herb Sturz recognized the injustice of a bail system in New York City that granted liberty based on income.” Today’s story about Madoff is a perfect example of this injustice.

You Can’t Buy Justice

Vera Institute of Justice began by attacking the bail system, but today their “staff are leading more than two dozen separate projects that each aim to reveal more about the meaning of justice.” They start new projects by examining how the justice system really works, and then use experimentation and rational thought processes to develop alternatives to address the problem that they are facing. The end goal is always “justice systems that are fairer, more humane, and more effective for everyone.” Luckily for you, Vera Institute of Justice needs help making this goal happen, so they’re hiring. You can find all of their job opportunities on their Employment page. We’ve identified a few that seem best interested for new college graduates – Research Associate, Intake Interviewer, Therapist, Research Analyst, and Project Analyst. You can find the full job descriptions on the Employment page along with information on how to apply (it varies for each position). All of the jobs that I just mentioned are located in New York City.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Had you heard about the Bernard Madoff story before today?

Harlem Success Academy

Willy Franzen — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 14:00:11 +0000

Did your Kindergarten class have a special name? Something beyond the teacher’s name? If it did, you probably don’t remember it, but kids at Harlem Success Academy are going to remember the names of their classes for a long time. Not only are their classes named by the colleges that their teachers went to, but the classes are identified by the year that they will be graduating from college (if my math is right, then this year’s Kindergarteners are the Class of 2025). I think that’s pretty inspirational, and that’s the point. Harlem Success Academy is a charter elementary school that is exactly what its name says it is.

You Can Succeed Too

Harlem Success Academy has a different culture and a different take on academics. It all comes down to results, and that’s what Harlem Success Academy is all about. They’ve only been around for just over two years, but they were able to take their first class of 1st Graders from 44% reading at grade level to 96% reading at grade level by the end of the year (and 2/3 were reading at 2nd Grade Level or above). That’s a serious accomplishment in a short amount of time. It seems that Harlem Success Academy has cracked the code when it comes to improving educational outcomes in underserved communities.

If this sounds like something that you’d like to be a part of, then you’re in luck, because Harlem Success Academy is doing a lot of hiring. Their job listings show 25 current positions that they’re hiring for. Three of these are in Elementary School Teaching – Elementary School Teacher (with openings in Kindergarten, First Grade, Second Grade, Third Grade, Science, Special Education, Music, Dance, Sports, and Art), Assistant Teacher, and Special Education Teacher. It’s hard to tell whether these jobs will be well suited to a new college grad since the job descriptions aren’t very clear about what the experience and degree requirements are, but they’re certainly worth inquiring about. There are also openings that are seemingly entry level in Student Support Services (Educational Associate, Speech Therapist, and Teacher Aide) and Administration (Instructional Data Analyst, Technology Assistant, School Affairs Coordinator, Finance Assistant, Recruitment Assistant, Executive Assistant, and Special Projects Manager). You can find full descriptions of each of these jobs on the category pages that we just linked to, and you can apply for the jobs directly from the descriptions. And in case it wasn’t obvious, the jobs are located in Harlem, NY. Now go tie your personal success to the success of Harlem Success Academy and apply for a job!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about getting Kindergarteners focused on going to college?

Liggett Stashower

Willy Franzen — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 14:22:45 +0000

Two days ago we featured MediaVest, a company that says it builds brands. Today, we have another “brand builder” for you. Liggett Stashower is a Cleveland, OH based advertising agency. They were named by Crain’s as the coolest place to work in Cleveland, and this video certainly backs it up. Liggett Stashower wins awards for community service and gives college students scholarships. I also hear that they occasionally pull children from burning buildings and are weeks away from the cure for cancer. Seriously, though, as soon as I arrived on Liggett Stashower’s website, I was impressed by them. They’ve done a fantastic job building their own brand, so it makes sense that other companies should trust them to do the same for them. If you’re interested in marketing, advertising, public relations, or communications, this is a place that you want to work.

Say Liggett Stashower Three Times Fast

Liggett Stashower has invested a lot of effort in building a great website, but the only drawback is that it was built in Flash, which means that we can’t link to most of the pages on the site. You’re going to be on your own when it comes to finding all of the important information that you should be looking for when you do employer research. Luckily, Liggett Stashower’s website is insanely easy to navigate, so you shouldn’t have a problem finding what you’re looking for. They have made just about everything that you could ever want to know about the company easily accessible from their home page. You can check out information about their employment opportunities, their work, their people, and a lot more.

Right now they only have one open position that can be considered entry level. It’s a Project Coordinator job, and it reports directly to the VP of Project Management. They prefer someone with a year of agency experience and a marketing or communications degree, but we’re sure that an internship or two will stand in for the required experience. If you’re interested, send a cover letter and resume to Brenda Stolarski at bstolarski@liggett.com. You should also note that Ligget Stashower has an exceptional internship program (and a really cool Internships page that includes a game built just for potential interns), so it’s pretty likely that they do more entry level hiring than what we see now.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Ligett Stashower’s website? Are you as wowed as we are?

Rainforest Alliance

Willy Franzen — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 13:14:05 +0000

Surprise, surprise. We’ve selected yet another one of the Wall Street Journal’s Best Small Workplaces to be featured on One Day, One Job. That’s three in a row for those of you who are counting. We can’t express enough how helpful lists like these can be to your job search. Almost as helpful as Rainforest Alliance is to saving the rainforest. They’re a non-profit organization that “works to conserve biodiversity and ensure sustainable livelihoods by transforming land-use practices, business practices and consumer behavior.” How do they do this? By working directly with farmers, workers, business leaders, NGO’s, governments, scientists and local communities to change the way that they do agriculture to make land use more socially and environmentally responsible while maintaining its economic viability.

You Know That You Always Wanted to Save the Rainforest

Were you one of those kids who had a “Save the Rainforest” sticker on you Trapper Keeper? Have you always loved tree frogs and jaguars? Have you always wanted to take a job that will make the world a better place? You know what we’re going to tell you if you answered yes to any of those question, but here’s what you may not have considered. There are a lot of environmental organizations that take an anti-business approach to conservation. There are also a lot of non-profits that won’t help you build the business skills that you’ll need if you want to transition into a for-profit career. Rainforest Alliance works directly with businesses to certify their practices in Agriculture, Forestry, and Tourism and to help them take a greener approach. This business mindedness isn’t just relevant to how Rainforest Alliance pursues their mission of sustainability, it’s also part of how they develop their people – they have a strong focus on career development according to the WSJ article.

So you had one of those stickers on your Trapper Keeper, huh? Well if you’re interested in Jobs with Rainforest Alliance, you’re in luck, because there are a lot of them. Most of their jobs require 3-5 years of experience, but we’ve picked out the ones that seem doable for new college grads. In New York City they’re looking for a Finance Assistant, an Associate, Office of the President, and a Web Associate, and a Marketing Coordinator (US and Canada), Sustainable Tourism Division (This last one requires 3-5 years of experience, but it sounds so cool that we had to include. Consider it something to look forward to.) In Bolivia, they’re looking for a Certification Administrative Assistant, SmartWood Program, Sustainable Forestry Division and a Forestry Technical Assistant, Initiative for Conservation in the Andean Amazon (ICAA) Project. In Costa Rica Rainforest Alliance is hiring a Technical Assistant, Sustainable Tourism Division, a Program Assistant, Sustainable Tourism Division, and an Evaluation and Research Associate. Finally, in Guatemala they need a Project Associate, Environmental Services Payment Project, TREES Program and in Nicaragua they’re looking for a Technical Associate, Sustainable Agriculture Division. Each job description goes into depth about what you will be doing in the job, and Rainforest Alliance’s Careers site is simple to navigate if you want to browse through all of their listings. To apply for any of the jobs, you can use the online application form found at the bottom of each job description or you can e-mail your cover letter and resume to personnel@ra.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Just think, by reading today’s post and sharing it with your rainforest loving friends you can help save the rainforest and win an iPod Touch.

Rolls-Royce

Willy Franzen — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:18:34 +0000

Let’s be honest – the closest that you’ve ever come to a Rolls-Royce was when you were watching MTV Cribs and saw one in a rapper/athlete/actor’s garage. I’ve seen some college students with some really nice cars, but never a Rolls. With that said, you can finally get close to Rolls-Royce through the college recruiting process. In fact, your lack of familiarity with Rolls-Royce automobiles won’t even matter, because Rolls-Royce plc (the company that we’re talking about today) doesn’t even make cars anymore. That business was sold to BMW in 1998. Rolls-Royce focuses on four global markets – Civil Aerospace, Defense Aerospace, Marine, and Energy – and two vital teams – Services and Research & Development. Although that may not be consistent with the brand image that you’ve associated with Rolls-Royce for a long time, you’re going to have to get used to it – especially if Rolls-Royce sounds like a company that you’d want to work for.

Think High Tech Engineering, Not Luxury

As a “high technology engineering company,” Rolls-Royce is obviously always looking for top engineering talent, but they also need talent in other business areas. They rely heavily on college recruiting to fill these needs, and now is the time to get involved in the recruiting process. In fact, Rolls-Royce is already more than halfway through their campus recruiting schedule. They still have a few campuses to visit, but most of you are going to have to initiate the process online. Before we get into how you do that, let’s see what kind of entry level job opportunities Rolls-Royce offers.

Rolls-Royce has two entry level programs for new graduates – Leadership Development and Professional Excellence. To figure out which of the programs is right for you, you can look at the descriptions that we just linked to you, but you should probably first take Rolls-Royce’s Which Programme (they’re British) assessment. From here, you will hopefully find that your program of choice is open in your area of interest. Rolls-Royce provides a grid that shows which programs they offer in which areas by location (US, UK, and Germany). For the 2008-2009 recruiting season they are looking for people in Customer Management, Engineering, Finance, and Human Resources for the Leadership Development program and Engineering, Supply Chain Planning and Control, and Project Management for the Professional Excellence program. There’s actually a third program called Controls Fast Track for Engineering grads who are interested in becoming a Controls Engineer, but this only seems to be available in the UK.

Getting in the (RR)ecruiting Process

First of all, Rolls-Royce’s Careers site is filled with information. It’s a huge improvement from their old site, and should answer almost every question that you’ll have. The only problem is that it seems to make the assumption that you’ll be making your first contact with Rolls-Royce through campus recruiting. They don’t clearly state how applicants from schools that they don’t visit should apply. There is an online job application process that you can use; however, the Student and Graduate Programmes section only links to internships. The Other Job Opportunities section seems more promising in terms of listings, but it has a note that says “If you are a college student and you are interested in a co-op, intern, leadership program or entry level position, please click here to apply.” Unfortunately, the “click here” links to a page that redirects to Rolls-Royce’s main Careers site. This is a pretty big screw up considering that Rolls-Royce works so hard to sell college students on its jobs. We think that your best bet is to e-mail collegerecruiting@rolls-royce.com and ask them how you should apply (you may even want to include your cover letter and resume). If you figure out what works, please share it with the rest of our readers in the comments.

From what we understand, the Rolls-Royce recruiting process closes in December, so you still have time. They have 64 facilities in 26 states, and we’re not sure where they locate most of their entry-level hires, so that’s another question that you may want to direct towards collegerecruiting@rolls-royce.com. You’ve probably noticed that we’ve focused almost entirely on jobs in the US, but Rolls-Royce also offers opportunities for new grads in Germany and the UK. If those are something that you’re interested in, you can find all of the corresponding information on their Careers site.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you know that Rolls-Royce wasn’t in the automobile business anymore?

Bazaarvoice

Willy Franzen — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:12:25 +0000

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

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

Adaptive Path

Willy Franzen — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:00:38 +0000

Does job searching ever make you feel like a total idiot? You go to a company’s website. You look for their Careers page. You can’t find it. You look all over the place. You search Google. Finally, you find it. It doesn’t do you much good, though, because their job listings are difficult to navigate, the links that you bookmark don’t work when you try to come back, and you can’t figure out how to apply online for the jobs. This is a surprisingly common experience, and it’s representative of the complete ignorance to user experience that many companies and applicant tracking system providers show. Adaptive Path is a company that is all about user experience. They help other companies provide more usable products and services through consulting, training, workshops, and thought leadership. They also have a simple Jobs page that leaves no room for confusion (although it is a bit hard to find because they call it “Work with Us.”

Take an Adaptive Path to Your First Job

If lack of usability drives you nuts, a job at Adaptive Path might be a great way to stay sane. They only have one full-time position currently available, but it looks fantastic. They’re looking for an Experience Designer. If you have the right background, this is an awesome opportunity. You need to be creative, you need to love making things, and you need to be able to “mix the left-brain and right-brain.” There’s no mention of required experience (despite the job title), but you better be familiar with the field of UX design if you’re going to apply. Adaptive Path is also looking for people to join them on a contract basis. They’d love to hear from you if you’re interested in working as a Project Manager, Interaction Designer, Visual Designer, Information Architect, Brand Strategist, or User Researcher.

AdaptivePath is located in San Francisco, CA, and they put a big emphasis on work/life balance. They offer 5 weeks of vacation, and seem to have a pretty cool office atmosphere; in fact, the Adaptive Path Twitter account tells us that they sometimes have a massage day at the office. They do say that it is a “rare treat,” though. If you’re looking to get an inside look at what it’s like to work at Adaptive Path, you should follow them on Twitter and subscribe to the Adaptive Path blog. There’s no better way to learn about a company (besides actually working there) than following their social media profiles. If you think that working at Adaptive Path sounds like a great user experience, you can apply by sending your cover letter, resume, and link to your portfolio (if appropriate). Applicants for the Experience Designer position should e-mail experiencedesigner@adaptivepath.com, and potential contractors should use Adaptive Path’s Contact page (we think, they don’t specify on the Jobs page).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Love making things, but prefer to work in aluminum? Check out Alcoa’s jobs for new college grads.

Alcoa

Willy Franzen — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 15:39:04 +0000

This is a sponsored post. We’ve worked directly with Alcoa to bring you the inside scoop on their top entry-level career opportunities.

My introduction to Alcoa came through the Baseball Express catalog. I was a high school baseball player, and I spent hours poring over the pages dreaming about saving up enough to buy a brand new baseball bat made out of cutting edge materials. The catalog’s copy had me convinced that a bat made from Alcoa’s latest alloy was the key to hitting home runs. Had I spent more time in the batting cage, and less time researching my baseball bat purchase, maybe I would have done more than played Club Baseball in college for a year. Then again, the bat that I finally chose did hit the ball a lot farther than the bats that I had used in previous years. Since you probably had better things to do in high school than read baseball catalogs from cover to cover, you may not be familiar with Alcoa, but you should know that producing aluminum for baseball bats is just a tiny sliver of what they do. It is, however, an excellent example of how Alcoa seems to have a hand in almost everything.

What Does Alcoa Do?

In one word: aluminum. Alcoa’s major cash cow is their Global Flat Rolled Products business, which “offers the widest variety of aluminum plate and sheet in the world.” If you’re using a product made out of aluminum, there’s a good chance that it started out at Alcoa’s Global Flat Rolled Products. Just think of all the cool things that are made from aluminum – baseball bats, beer and soda cans, airplanes, consumer electronics – we could keep going. If you really want to see some of the coolest things that have been made out of aluminum, you should check out Alcoa’s blog posts from the Consumer Electronics Show. The possibilities with aluminum as a material are seemingly endless, and that’s why Alcoa has branched out over the years into an a amazingly diverse array of businesses that include Defense, Plastics, Energy, Recycling, Propulsion, HVAC, and many more. They’re blogging about their work in Recycling and Aerospace, so check those blogs out for a unique look inside Alcoa.

When it comes to researching Alcoa, you could spend weeks learning about the entire company – it’s huge. They have 97,000 employees who work in 34 countries. Your best bet is to focus on the divisions that interest you the most, and learn about them and their specific entry-level opportunities. You may never have considered a job at a major industrial corporation, but you should look closely at Alcoa. It’s likely that they’ll exceed your expectations. For example Alcoa has recently been named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies and one of the World’s Most Sustainable Companies. They also send their employees on Earth Watch trips and invite them to blog about their experiences. Pretty cool, huh?

What Can I Do at Alcoa?

Alcoa is a major entry-level employer, and they typically add about 175 new college graduates to their ranks every year. The positions that they hire for are as diverse as the businesses that they operate in, and they have locations all across the country – there’s something for everyone. They’ve worked with us to identify the positions that One Day, One Job readers will be most interested in, and you will find those listed below. They’ve also provided a link directly into their applicant tracking system for students who can’t find a job listing that is well suited for them. If you don’t find anything below, use this link to submit your cover letter and resume for consideration by Alcoa’s college recruiting team. If you look like a good fit, they’ll work with you to find the right position in the company.

We know that Alcoa has a very strong internship program, so we asked the folks at Alcoa what kind of jobs their interns who stay with the company usually take after they graduate from college. We were told that last year’s intern class went into areas like Legal, Electrical Engineering, Plastics Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering, and Finance. We were also told that Alcoa counts internships, volunteer work, and other similar activities as years of experience. That means that even if a job listing says that 3 years of experience is required, you shouldn’t be afraid to apply.

Here are Alcoa’s entry-level jobs for new college graduates with the most recently posted listed first:

ABS Technician (Continuous Improvement/Lean Production/Manufacturing) – Global Primary Products – Point Comfort, TX
Communications Specialist – Global Rolled Prod & Hard Alloy Ext – Warrick, IN
Associate Buyer – Alcoa Corporate – Springdale, AR
Capital Council Commodity Analyst – Alcoa Wireless Services – Pittsburgh, PA
NDT Level III – Aerospace Automotive and Commercial Transportation (Howmet Castings) – LaPorte, IN
Business Analyst I (HRMS) – Alcoa Corporate – Pittsburgh, PA
Product Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – LaPorte, IN
Safety Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Whitehall, MI
EHS Professional – Global Rolled Prod & Hard Alloy Ext – Massena, NY
Tooling/Product Engineer – Aerospace Automotive and Commercial Transportation – Flexible Location
Process Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Whitehall, MI
Metallurgical Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Winsted, CT
Electrical Engineer – Global Rolled Prod & Hard Alloy Ext – Alcoa, TN
Process Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Whitehall, MI
Process Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Dover, NJ
Mechanical Engineer – Global Rolled Prod & Hard Alloy Ext – Warrick, IN
Metallurgical Engineer – Global Rolled Prod & Hard Alloy Ext – Warrick, IN
Safety Specialist – Global Primary Products – Wenatchee, WA
Cost Accountant – Engineered Products & Solutions – Whitehall, MI
Facilities Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – LaPorte, IN
Reliability Engineer (Power Distribution) – Global Primary Products – Wenatchee, WA
Sr. Accountant – Engineered Products & Solutions – Torrance, CA
Product Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Dover, NJ
Project Specialist – Aerospace Automotive and Commercial Transportation (Howmet Castings) – Whitehall, MI
Process Engineer – Global Primary Products – Rockdale, TX
Facilities Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Whitehall, MI
Senior Treasury Analyst (Global Leasing) – Alcoa Corporate – Pittsburgh, PA
Safety Coordinator – Engineered Products & Solutions – Hernando, MS
EHS Engineer (EHS-RD) – Alcoa Technical Center – Alcoa Center, PA
Mechanical Engineering Technician – Engineered Products & Solutions – Cleveland, OH
Marketing Analyst – Engineered Products & Solutions – Nashville, TN
Jr. Business Analyst – Engineered Products & Solutions – Simi Valley, CA
Project Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Eastman, GA
Process Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Eastman, GA
Facilities Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Whitehall, MI
Environmental Engineer – Global Primary Products – Wenatchee, WA
Engineered Products & Solutions – Global Primary Products – Nashville, TN
Process Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Dover, NJ
Manufacturing Engineer – Sapa (Alcoa Extrusions) – Morris, IL
Production Planner – Engineered Products & Solutions – Dover, NJ
Process Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – LaPorte, IN
Plant Sales Representative – Engineered Products & Solutions – Dover, NJ
Manufacturing Engineer – Engineered Products & Solutions – Hampton, VA

If you see something that catches your eye, just click the link, read the description, and apply. They’ll know that you came from One Day, One Job. If you’re intrigued by these jobs, but don’t see anything in your desired field or location, you can still send your resume and cover letter to Alcoa through this online form or you can use their search function to find newly listed opportunities. You may also want to look at Alcoa’s GREA Acquiring Talent Program, which is a Leadership Development Program and has a separate application process.

Thanks to Alcoa for working with us to bring you these excellent entry-level job opportunities. Now go get researching!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Alcoa.com
Careers at Alcoa
About Alcoa
Working at Alcoa
Profiles of Employees at Alcoa
Why Alcoa?
Alcoa’s Career Opportunities for Students (Mostly Internship Related)
Alcoa’s Businesses
Alcoa’s Vision and Values
Alcoa’s Annual Report

What’s your favorite product that’s made out of aluminum? Leave a comment.

Menlo Innovations

Willy Franzen — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 13:30:55 +0000

A company’s home page should make it instantly clear what the company is about. For many companies this is not the case. There’s all kinds of fluff that fails to give potential customers a proper brand introduction. Menlo Innovations doesn’t make this mistake. Their home page introduces a problem: “In 2004, the U.S. wasted over $55 billion on failed and poorly run software projects.” Then it identifies the cause: “These failures can be traced to a lack of understanding of the business issues being addressed and the wrong implementation methodologies being used.” Finally the home page poses their solution:

Menlo Innovations applies High-Tech Anthropology® to help our clients fully understand their business problems and opportunities. If the solution requires software, Menlo either develops the software within our Menlo Software Factory or The Menlo Institute trains your staff to use proven methodologies to develop the software themselves.

It’s clear. It’s concise, and it gets to the point. There’s no misunderstanding about what The Menlo Institute does.

A Seriously Cool Place to Work

We first came across Menlo Innovations when we were reading about 10 Seeeeeriously Cool Workplaces. We were impressed by their “software factory” setup, so we just had to check and see if they have any entry-level opportunities. What we found is that Menlo Innovation’s job postings are almost as cool and unique as their office space (which you can get a tour of). Menlo’s current openings include a short, entertaining description and then a list of “Recommended Reading.” We’ve never seen anything like it before, but being book nuts, we love it.

Menlo Innovations appears to have two types of job opportunities listed on their site, all of which are located in Ann Arbor, MI. First, there are specific job listings. Menlo is looking for a Project Manager / Camp Counselor / Customer Service Representative, a User Experience Designer / High Tech Anthropologist® / Empath, a Software developer / Perpetual Student / Mentor, and a Quality Assurance Specialist / Experiment Designer / Enabler. Second, Menlo is also always looking to hear from talented Software Developers, Business Analysts, Project Managers, and Quality Assurance Pros to work on a contract basis. Menlo’s Careers page includes a note that says, “At this time Menlo is only accepting resumes for contract positions.” We’re not sure if this also applies to the specific jobs that they have listed, but it doesn’t matter, you just want to get your foot in the door of their exceptionally cool office.

There’s no mention of required experience in any of the job descriptions, and it seems like Menlo Innovations is the type of place that focuses on talent over experience. It’s hard to tell which of these jobs are best suited for someone who is considered entry-level, but if you’re a new college grad who has the talent, we’ll bet that Menlo Innovations will give you a shot. You can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to Carol Sheridan, Software Factory Floor Manager at careers@menloinnovations.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Trivia Fact: Menlo Innovations is so named as a hat tip to Thomas Edison.

ReliableRemodeler.com

Willy Franzen — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 13:09:24 +0000

I’ve written before about how run down the house that I lived in during college was. It was in constant need of maintenance, which mostly consisted of quick fixes that would break within a week. The giant ball of mold that started growing out of the ceiling received a little more attention, but not much. The guys who did maintenance on our house were always nice (even if the landlord was a total jerk), but it made me a bit uneasy knowing that they had a key to my place – if you know what I mean. Since my roommates and I weren’t paying for the “maintenance,” we didn’t have any say in who was working in our house. If we did, we would have used a service like ReliableRemodeler.com, which connects quality contractors with homeowners.

Reliably Yours

ReliableRemodeler.com has “matched remodeling contractors to over 700,000 home improvement projects.” They’re located in Beaverton, Oregon and have a staff of over 70 people. Those 70 people must be doing a pretty good job since ReliableRemodeler.com was named by Inc. Magazine as the country’s 187th fastest growing private company with 1,109.7% 3-year growth to $6.8 million in revenue. ReliableRemodeler.com is in the construction business, and although they don’t actually do the construction, they need to know the business. Matching a contractor with a homeowner can be tough, as many factors go into the decision of whom to hire (here’s how it works). The company makes its money by charging contractors a monthly fee to be included on their site after going through a screening process. ReliableRemodeler.com also needs to know the Internet, because most of their business is done online. This makes for an interesting combination that should provide some exciting entry-level opportunities.

How Reliable Are You?

ReliableRemodler.com’s Jobs page is a bit sparse, and it fails to identify which of their jobs are geared towards new college grads. 3 positions are listed, all of which seem like real possibilities for entry-level candidates. Here they are with the descriptions from the site.

Affiliate Manager – Seeking an online marketing professional to recruit new partners and manage the day-to-day activities of our expanding affiliate program. In addition to recruiting and managing partners, this individual will participate in program development, and training.

Project Advisors – are responsible for answering incoming calls regarding remodeling jobs, making homeowner follow-up calls, performing windows-based data entry, and handling various customer service inquiries.

Area Managers – are the liaison between ReliableRemodeler.com and the member contractors. This position acts as the primary contact for all member contractors; responsibilities include approving new member contractors, matching contractors with remodeling jobs, and managing accounts receivables. Most importantly Area Managers are responsible for meeting sales goals on a weekly/monthly basis.

That’s all the information that ReliableRemodeler.com offers about careers. They invite interested applicants to send a cover letter and resume to rrjobs@reliableremodeler.com. We’d love to see them do a better job with their online recruiting presence. They look like a fantastic place for a young person to work, but it’s hard to find enough information to make you want to take the effort to apply.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did your college housing have the same maintenance issues that mine did?

Faction Media

Willy Franzen — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:25:41 +0000

The word “faction” usually insinuates dissension, discord, or disagreement. We hope that Faction Media media chose their name because they are dissenting from the norm in the marketing solutions that they offer their clients, not because of a factious office political climate. Faction Media’s focus is on “business-to-business digital marketing with measurable ROI.” They do so through services such as strategic planning, digital marketing, search engine marketing, interactive development, systems integration, analytics and insight, media buying and planning, and content development. They sound like an interesting company, and they are hiring at the entry-level, so let’s take a look.

Choose a Faction

We first found out about Faction Media when we were scanning Twitter for companies that are hiring. We found Faction’s tweet and took a look at their job openings. We were pleased to see that they have a few openings that appear to be perfect for new college grads. These include Account Coordinator, Search Marketing Coordinator, and Project Manager (this position may require some experience, but they don’t say so in the job posting). There’s also a Contract Position for a Web Developer available. It requires a couple years of coding experience, but should be a good fit for quite a few new grads.

We can’t tell you much about what it’s like to work at Faction Media, so you’ll have to do some more research on your own to get a better view of the company as a whole. They’re located in Denver, CO, which is great since we don’t find nearly as many entry-level opportunities in the middle parts of the country. You can apply for a job at Faction media by sending a cover letter and resume to factionhr@factionmedia.com or by submitting them online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are any of you using Twitter as a job search tool yet?

Realization

Willy Franzen — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:11:11 +0000

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

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

Great Place to Work Institute

Willy Franzen — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:09:27 +0000

We’ve said before that using magazine lists to find a job can be extremely helpful in terms of idea generation. Today we’re going to talk about the company that is behind two of the most helpful magazine lists for job searchers. The Great Place to Work Institute is responsible for compiling Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For and HR Magazine’s Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America. After more than 20 years of research, the Institute has found that “trust between managers and employees is the primary defining characteristic of the best workplaces.” If you’re looking for a job where you can trust your manager, why not consider the company that is known for identifying great places to work?

It’s a… Great Place to Work

We don’t know for sure that the Great Place to Work Institute is in fact a great place to work, but it would be a sad state of affairs if it wasn’t. The Institute identifies 5 dimensions of a great place to work: credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and camaraderie. They also have an entire section of their website devoted to identifying what makes a great place to work. Additional emphasis is put on the fact that companies that are identified as great places to work see better business and financial outcomes. That’s probably why the Institute includes a graph that shows the 100 Best Places to Work have doubled the S&P 500’s performance between 1998 and 2007.

We can’t guarantee that the Institute practices what they preach, but it would be hard to believe if they didn’t. That’s why an entry-level job at the Great Place to Work Institute would be an awesome opportunity. There are 3 positions that look like they have the potential to be good fits for new college grads, although there are some mild experience requirements. In Wilmington, DE they’re looking for a Business Development Associate, and in San Francisco they’re looking for a Best Companies Project Coordinator and a Software Engineer. If you’re interested, the Institute asks that you please forward resume and cover letter (stating salary expectations and where
job posting was found) to jobs@greatplacetowork.com. The job postings are a quite long winded, but they get the point across. There’s also some interesting footer information on the postings. For instance, you can see who last edited it and how long they spent editing it. Not sure how useful this information will be to your job search, but make of it what you will.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

The banks of the Au Sable River in Michigan sure are a great place to work, but can someone please tell the rain to stop. It’s hard to fish with the water at record flows.

Hello

Willy Franzen — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 13:31:36 +0000

I spent last summer building One Day, One Job – the site, the idea, and the business. A lot has changed since then, but I remember that the test post that remained on the home page through much of the site’s development was titled “Hello.” Today’s post will be a fitting replacement as it is also titled “Hello,” and it is about web development. Hello is a Culver City, CA based interactive design agency. They have an extremely impressive portfolio, and they also look to be hiring at the entry-level.

Hello Real World

Now that most of you have graduated, it’s time to say hello to the real world. That hello will be a lot more friendly in a place where you can surf and snowboard on the same day, visit awesome art galleries down the street, have a burger across the street at Father’s Office, get free candy and cake on your birthday, play foosball, Wii, XBOX 360, and PlayStation 3, and bring your dog to work. It almost sounds like a job at Hello has nothing to do with saying hello to the real world. It’s more like fantasy land, except it’s not. Creativity and hard work essential to putting together a corporate portfolio as impressive as the one Hello has on their home page. These perks are clearly aimed at building an environment in which creative people can thrive.

Hello Jobs

Hello currently has a number of job openings, although it’s hard to determine what kind of experience is required for the given jobs. Obviously any job in web design and development requires some kind of experience (the kind where you learn how to do it), but whether a company is looking for people with office experience is unclear. The most entry-level friendly job posting at Hello is for a Flash Developer position. It seems like it’s quite well suited to new college grads. There are also opportunities as a Technical Lead, Lead Designer, or Project Lead. The word “lead” makes us think that these positions might have some management responsibilities, but the job descriptions are vague enough that it’s hard to tell how much experience is really necessary to land the jobs. Take a look at them yourself, and send your questions or cover letter and resume to careers@hellodesign.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Zappos.com

Willy Franzen — Thu, 29 May 2008 13:21:35 +0000

Most people like shoes. They protect your feet, offer support, and keep you warm. Some people love shoes – love them to the point that their loved ones (not the shoes) are likely worried about them. Oddly enough, the people who deeply love shoes often seem most interested in shoes that barely protect their feet, offer little support, and provide little or no warmth. We don’t really get that. Zappos.com puts these people to shame. As a company they have a shoe obsession that is far worse than that of the most Sex and the City addicted, Daily Candy reading, New York City fashionista. Why do we say that? Because Zappos.com is obsessed with everything shoes, not just the shoes of some designer whose name you’re supposed to know.

A Shoe-in for Best Customer Service

If you asked someone at Zappos what they love more, shoes or customer service, they’d probably have a hard time coming up with an answer. That’s because the Zappos equation is something like Amazing Selection of Shoes + Unparalleled Customer Service = Profit. It seems to be working, as they’re on their way to selling $1 billion in shoes this year. That’s only 2.5% of the US shoe market, but they’ve done it in 9 years. Their growth rate is excellent, and that’s why they’re doing a ton of hiring, as you’ll soon see.

The fact that customers have a year to return any shoes that they purchased from Zappos (and get the shipping paid for) is impressive, but what really knocks our socks off is the way that Zappos trains their employees. Every new hire, no matter what they were hired for, spends 4 weeks in intense Customer Loyalty training answering phones in the Zappos call center. About a week into the training period Zappos offers their new hires an incentive – a $1,000 incentive – to quit. Yes, they bribe their newly recruited people to take their first week’s salary plus a cool $1,000 and run (hat tip to What Would Dad Say although it seems like he got a few things wrong judging from the Harvard Business Review article on Zappos’ HR practices that he linked to as the original source). Zappos figures that if someone values $1,000 now more than a future career at Zappos, they’re not the right type of person for the job. It may sound like an expensive proposition, but it’s a lot less expensive than hiring someone who is not fully committed to the company’s customer service principles.

Working at Zappos: Deal or No Deal?

Considering many people choose not to take the deal and stay with Zappos after the first week, it’s obvious that the company is offering a unique and exciting work experience. If you still need more convincing, you can read employee perspectives in the Inside Zappos Blog, look at photos and videos from Zappos’ Halloween 2007, watch Zappos YouTube videos, keep up with Zappos Employee Tweets on Twitter, follow the Zappos CEO’s Twitter account, or just look at cute pictures of the pets of Zappos customers.

Now that you’re totally convinced (if you’re not, the links at the end of the post will give you even more opportunities to research Zappos), here are the jobs at Zappos that we think might be considered entry-level or appropriate for a new college grad. In Henderson, NV you could get offered $1,000 to quit being a Financial Analytics Manager, Editing Assistant (labeled as Intern, but looks to be an entry-level job from the description), Front-End Developer, User Interface Designer, Web Content Strategist, Web Designer, Recruiting Assistant, Merchandise Planning Analyst, Merchandise Planning Coordinator, Merchandising Assistant – Clothing and Toys, Merchandising Assistant – Performance Bags, Merchandising Assistant – Private Label, Merchandising Assistant, Designer Footwear, Project Manager, Performance QA Engineer, QA Engineer, or a Software Engineer. In Shepherdsville, KY they’ll offer you $1,000 to quit being a Recruiting Assistant, Photographer Assistant, or Software Engineer. You can find more detailed information about each of these positions on Zappos’ Jobs page. Although their site is a bit cluttered looking, they do a great job of getting across information about each job. Our only complaint is that some of the items in the descriptions are a bit redundant, which can be confusing – especially in terms of what experience is required for each job.

Now go get researching so that you can say, “I turned down $1,000 to quit my new job after a week.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Zappos.com
Jobs at Zappos
About Zappos
Zappos Blogs
Zappos on Twitter
Zappos’ Core Values
Zappos on YouTube

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