One Day, One Job » social media

Slide

Willy Franzen — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 14:39:03 +0000

It looks like Yahoo! Finance has taken a page out of my book and used Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list to highlight some companies that are hiring. I found the link on Twitter, and was pleased to see that I had already featured a number of the companies. One that I haven’t yet featured (and don’t remember hearing about before) is Slide. They’re a San Francisco based startup that claims to be “the world’s leading social entertainment company.” I think that’s a bit of a stretch, but they do make social networks more fun for hundreds of millions of people. Their 40 Under 40 CEO is Max Levchin, who co-founded PayPal (which was sold for $1.5 billion to eBay). He is apparently well on his way to having built another billion dollar company, considering the fact that Slide was valued at $550 million last time that they took money.

Slide into a New Job

The basic premise behind slide is that social networks are better when you can bring outside content in—whether it’s sharing something that you’ve made like a slideshow or using an application that allows you to throw sheep. People want customization, yet they don’t have the web development skills to do it on their own. They need help, and that’s where Slide comes in. Monetizing social network traffic isn’t necessarily easy, but Slide seems to be heading in the right direction when it comes to turning their massive traffic into revenue. Not only do their investors believe in them, but so do advertisers like Starbucks, Sunkist, Activision, AT&T Wireless, Discovery Channel, Estee Lauder, McDonald’s, Lionsgate Films, Universal Pictures, and Paramount Pictures. I guess 5 million sheep thrown a day is worth more than I thought it was. Slide is very clearly growing, and as I mentioned in the opening of this post, they’re hiring. Their Jobs page shows more than a dozen open positions, and a bunch of those are suitable for new grads. These include Product Manager, Community Manager, Flash Animator/Illustrator, Flash Social Game Engineer, Graphic Designer, Junior QA Engineer, Linux Server Engineer, OO Javascript/Front-end Engineer, Python Web Developer, and Community Support Representative. You can apply online directly from these links, so give Slide a look.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Slide?

The Daily Beast

Willy Franzen — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:51:28 +0000

Once you start interviewing for jobs, you realize how important it is to stay well informed. Whether it’s staying up on the industry that you want to work in or just keeping up with current events, you need to be able to speak (somewhat) intelligently about a wide range of topics. Chit chat and small talk play a big part in the impression that you make, so don’t try to use the fact that you “live in a bubble” at college to explain away your ignorance. Instead, you should subscribe to the The Daily Beast. It’s a cheat sheet for current events that covers a wide array of topics. Some would call it a news aggregator, but they like calling what they do “curating.” The site was created by Tina Brown, who was formerly the editor at Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. The Daily Beast, which is based out of New York City, launched just over a year ago, and has been able to garner a huge amount of traffic pretty quickly. I guess it might have something to do with their IAC backing.

Beast on These Jobs

The way we consume news is changing, and The Daily Beast is a perfect example of how smart startups can create growth in what many people deem to be a dying industry. I could go into more detail about what The Daily Beast covers, but you’re better off just checking it out for yourself. After you give it a look, be sure to read their About page, which is really a Q & A with Tina Brown, the company’s founder. It will give you a lot of insight into what the company is all about. It’s an extremely entertaining Q&A, so I’m sure that you’ll like what you see. If that’s the case, then you’ll probably want to check out jobs at The Daily Beast. Their job listings are mixed in with the job postings from other IAC companies, but it’s a pretty easy list to scan through. (It’s pretty obvious that The Daily Beast is growing well judging by how much hiring they’re doing.) You’ll see a number of intriguing entry level positions including Business Analytics Manager, Graphic Designer, Assistant Video News Editor (West Hollywood, CA), Editorial Assistant, Social Media Associate, Sales Partnership Associate, Traffic Coordinator, and Web Developer. You can apply online for any of these positions, and be sure to read The Daily Beast before your interview.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read The Daily Beast?

ZooLoo

Willy Franzen — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:48:44 +0000

I’ve never found a use for start pages and portals. Until Safari came out with a feature that allowed me to view a dozen of my most visited sties at a glance, I just set a blank page as my home page. However, I realize that many people have very different web browsing habits, and a lot of people find start pages really useful. One company that is trying to update the start page by making it social is ZooLoo. They’re a Phoenix, AZ based startup that, despite an unfortunate name that sounds like a bathroom at a wildlife park, is trying to own the market for customizable start pages. They’re competing with behemoths like Google and Facebook to be your home page, but they do have an advantage in that they’re laser focused on start pages and only start pages. They think if they can own that market, they can deliver lots of relevant advertising and make lots of money.

Do You ZooLoo?

One of the things that makes ZooLoo stand out is that you can buy your own domain name to host your start page. That means that your ZooLoo page can be more than just your home page—it can also be an online résumé, portfolio, or other type of personal website. This requires a paid upgrade, which shows that ZooLoo isn’t putting all of its eggs in the advertising basket. I guess it’s working, because ZooLoo seems to be growing pretty quickly. They’re up to 24 employees, and according to their Careers page, they’re looking to add more. They don’t get specific about which positions they have open, but a look at LinkedIn shows that Marketing, PR, Social Media, and Software Development are the areas in which they’re most likely to have jobs. To find out more you can send a cover letter and résumé to careers@zooloo.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

ZooLoo.com
Jobs at ZooLoo
About ZooLoo
What Is ZooLoo?
Why ZooLoo?
ZooLoo in the News
ZooLoo FAQs
JeffHerzog.com (ZooLoo CEO’s ZooLoo Page)

Will you create a ZooLoo page?

Tandberg

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

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

I Wonder If They Use Video Interviews

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you ever use video conferencing?

Oceana

Willy Franzen — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:47:50 +0000

I love our oceans—everything about them. I love swimming in them, eating the food that they provide, fishing in them, watching sunsets over them, and all of the other wonderful things that they offer. However, our oceans are both blessed and cursed by the same thing—they seem infinite. That’s what makes them so great, but it’s also what has led us to abusing them nearly to the point of no return. A little pollution will disappear in the vastness of an ocean. Overfishing doesn’t matter because there are always more fish. Scraping up the bottom isn’t a big deal because we can’t see the bottom. I wish that oceans were that resilient, but they’re not. Oceana is a Washington, DC based non-profit organization that “seeks to make our oceans as rich, healthy and abundant as they were in our grandparents’ youth.” They recognize the value of their oceans, and they’re doing something to protect them.

Dive in to a Job at Oceana

From what I can tell, most of what Oceana does is based on advocacy and creating awareness. They do this through a number of campaigns including Stop Climate Change, Stop Dirty Fishing, Stop Destructive Trawling, Stop Seafood Contamination, Cut the Bait, Save Seat Turtles, Safeguard Sharks, Dive Into Ocean Conservation, Surf Into Ocean Conservation, Stop Cruise Ship Pollution, Advocating for Ocean Change, and Protect Prey. This approach makes sense because our everyday choices impact the future of the ocean, and until we understand that, we’re not going to take a collective action for positive change. Here’s what Oceana has to say about their campaigns:

To achieve real benefits for the oceans, Oceana conducts focused, strategic campaigns. Each campaign has a specific timeframe and objective that will make a significant difference to the oceans. Each campaign combines scientific, legal, policy and advocacy approaches to reach its goal. Saving the oceans may take decades, but in each of our campaigns we aim to accomplish an important milestone in that effort within two to five years.

If you love the oceans as much as I do, you might want to consider Jobs at Oceana. Right now they have a couple of opportunities that seem suitable for recent grads. These include Grantwriter and E-Activism Fellow. You can apply by sending a cover letter and résumé to resumes@oceana.org with the job title in the subject line.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you love about the oceans?

Do Something

Willy Franzen — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 15:06:13 +0000

Whether you’re trying to land a job, start a business, get in shape, figure out your personal finances, or get a date, there’s one piece of advice that I’ve found to be the most appropriate. It’s really simple and a little disappointing, but it just works. Do something! Get off your butt and take action. It will get you 80% of the way to accomplishing your goal. I’m not the only one who thinks this. Do Something, a New York City based non-profit, has adopted this two word phrase as their name. They’re focused on encouraging teenagers to take positive ideas and turn them into action. Instead of focusing on a specific cause, Do Something is all about getting teens to do something about the issues that matter to them—whatever they may be.

Umm… Do Something!

What impresses me most about Do Something is how they’re harnessing the power of the Internet to reach teens with their message. In fact, Do Something has created an online platform that gives teens the tools and resources that they need to take action. Everything that Do Something does is based on 5 guidelines:

Believe in teenagers. Teenagers can lead today. We don’t require adults.
Trust teenagers. We provide reliable, easy to access information and activation strategies, but teens decide for themselves what to do.
Celebrate teenagers. We think all measurable contributions from teens are valuable.
Respect teenagers. We understand that teenagers have diverse abilities and constraints.
Value teenagers. Our programs and products are free. We’re not after teens’ money; we want their passion, time and creativity.

The result of following these guidelines is a website that encourages teenagers to Act Now by using a search engine to find a project that they can join. Or students can start their own club or apply for a grant. Teens are completely empowered to take action on their own. How can you take action? You can check out jobs at Do Something. They’re a young non-profit, and they have what look to be two awesome jobs. You won’t find the word “experience” in either of the job descriptions, so as a new grad you should definitely consider their Clubs Associate and Digital Media Associate positions. The application instructions vary, so pay attention… and DO SOMETHING!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Want to get a job? Do something!

Slickdeals

Willy Franzen — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 14:43:02 +0000

We all learn at an early age that we can’t have our cake and eat it too. Everything has a trade off. You can have money or you can have stuff. You can’t have both. Right? Wrong. Since 1999 Las Vegas based Slickdeals has been proving that you can have your cake and eat it too. Or as they put it, “Slickdeals.net is a free, user-driven deal sharing site with a mission to provide consumers an avenue to collaborate and share information in order to make the best shopping decisions.” That’s a fancy way of saying that they are a community of people who help each other find the best deals, so you can buy stuff and have some money left over. In fact, a lot of Slickdeals users find deals so good that they get paid to buy something (after rebate). Seriously. It’s all about free and open sharing of information, and it’s amazingly powerful. The amount of money that people have saved through Slickdeals has to be staggering.

Are You Slick Enough?

Slickdeals doesn’t have a monopoly on “community driven bargain hunting,” but their “thousands of free discounts, promo codes, reviews and price comparisons” have resulted in an insanely successful website and business. From what I can tell, most of Slickdeals’ revenue comes through advertising and affiliate links. They’ve found that giving away a lot of high quality free content can be very profitable. Maybe newspapers could learn a thing or two from Slickdeals. Even though Slickdeals is all about being cheap and frugal, they appear to be willing to spend some of their profits on hiring top talent. Their Jobs page shows a number of listings that include potential entry level positions like Creative Web Developer, Community Relations Manager, Business Development Manager, and Blog Columnist. The application instructions vary, so be sure to check out the specific postings for all of the details. And be sure to enjoy the “employee discount” that is being allowed to read Slickdeals at work.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used Slickdeals beore?

eRealInvestor

Willy Franzen — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:11:36 +0000

This morning I was reading a New York Times article about how some of the “super rich” are being hit hardest (at least in terms of total dollars lost) by this recession. A lot of this has to do with heavy investments in real estate. As we all know, real estate has not been the place to be lately. The good news about the bad real estate market is that it’s leading to all kinds of innovation. There are a ton of cool real estate startups, and I just came across another one called eRealInvestor. They’re based in San Francisco, and they offer a suite of tools that allow those who still have it in them to invest in real estate to be much smarter about it. Since I’m not a real estate investor, I don’t fully understand what all of the tools do. However, it’s hard to argue with a data based approach to buying and selling real estate.

eRealJobs

Since most new college grads don’t have the cash to start investing in real estate, they usually have to work their way into the world of real estate in a different way. A job at a company like eRealInvestor that is bringing innovation to the industry is a great way to do that. Their Jobs page doesn’t show much in the way of entry level jobs, but their postings on Startuply do. Current opportunities include Online Marketing Expert, Flash Developer, and Sales Executive. I’m sure they also have some Web Development positions available—even if the ones that are posted are a bit more senior. You can apply online, so get ready to invest yourself in real estate investment.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you think investing in real estate is a good idea?

Vann’s

Willy Franzen — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 15:18:38 +0000

If you thought that we were going to be talking about skater shoes today, they you might be a little disappointed, but I think you’ll enjoy hearing about Vann’s with two n’s and an apostrophe. They are a Missoula, MT based electronics and appliances retailer that does most of its business online. Now, you may think that Missoula, MT (the setting of A River Runs Through It—my favorite book and movie) is a strange place to locate a major e-commerce outlet, but there’s a good story behind why Vann’s is located where it is. It all started with Pete Vann aka “Montana’s Last Great Cowboy.” He was the grandfather of the Pete Vann who founded Vann’s. After a family history of cowboying, ranching, and farming, Pete Vann took a job keeping an appliance store clean. It doesn’t sound like much, but within 11 years Pete owned the store that he used to keep clean. In 1996 he decided to give up some of his ownership to share it with the employees who helped him build the business to what it is today.

Become a Part of the Vann’s Story

The Vann’s story is pretty cool, but what brought them to my attention was the hiring process that they’re using to find a Community Manager. We’ll get to that in a second, but first I want to mention two more things that impressed me about Vann’s. First is their devotion to customer service. They make it very obvious on their website that they’re customer focused, and beyond that, a quick Internet search will turn up lots of great customer reviews. Second, they’re an Inc. 5000 company, which means that they’re experiencing fantastic growth. Those are both great signs for prospective employees. Now, let’s talk about this Community Manager position. It’s not definitively entry level, but that doesn’t matter. If you follow the instructions and are what they’re looking for, then you’ve got a shot. You’ll have until Friday, August 28, 2009 to flex your social media muscles and show why you’re best for the job.

Additionally, Vann’s has a more standard Jobs page that includes positions like Product Advisor (also see here and here), Java Developer, and Sales Consultant. Vann’s also has locations in Helena, Kalispell, Bozeman, Helena, Billings and Hamilton. Vann’s looks like an awesome place to work, and that Montana location really pays off for people who love the outdoors and want a great career in a less urban setting.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever bought anything from Vann’s?

Free Press

Willy Franzen — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 15:18:03 +0000

I doubt many of you would disagree with the assertion that the “mainstream media” has some major issues that need to be worked out. Take the coverage of Michael Jackson’s death. Yes, he was a great entertainer. Yes, the way that he lived his life was totally perplexing. Yes, people are fascinated by him. But did we really need all that coverage? It’s just one example of how our media is failing us, but I’m sure that Free Press would be willing to give you many more examples. They are a non-profit, “national, nonpartisan organization working to reform the media through education, organizing and advocacy.” Free Press advocates “independent media ownership, strong public media, and universal access to communications,” and they do this through a number of campaigns: Save the Internet, Stop Big Media, No Fake News, Local Radio Now, Stamp Out Postal Rate Hikes, Save Our Spectrum, Community Internet, Public Broadcasting, Pentagon Propaganda, White Spaces, and Rate the Debates. They’re based in both Washington, DC and Florence, MA, and they’ve been working since 2002 to fix what they call a failing media system.

Help Reform the Media

Maybe you enjoyed the Michael Jackson coverage. Maybe you don’t think that there’s anything wrong with the media. If that’s you, then Free Press probably won’t be the right place for you. They have a very specific idea of what they expect from the media, and until the media improves, they’re going to keep working to change the way that media is produced and consumed in our country. If that sounds like something that you want to be a part of, then you need to check out Free Press’ Jobs page. Right now they have 3 jobs posted, and two of them seem like they might be suitable for new grads. They’re looking for an Online Campaign Coordinator and an Office Coordinator—both in Florence, MA. The job postings get really in-depth, so give them a good look to determine whether the jobs will be a good fit for you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What are your thoughts on the state of media today?

Agency Nil

Willy Franzen — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:36:58 +0000

Considering that I do this nearly every day, I see a lot of companies and a lot of jobs, but today I came across something that I’ve never seen before. It’s called Agency Nil, and it’s an full-service advertising agency, except it’s nothing like any ad agency that you’ve ever seen. They don’t have a physical location, they don’t have a salaried staff, and they don’t have set fees. It’s almost as they don’t exist (I think that’s where the “nil” comes in), but they do. As PSFK puts it, Agency Nil “hopes to channelize the skills of experienced but laid-off talents from the advertising industry, as well as that of graduate students from advertising programs – people who just can’t seem to lay their hands on that elusive job.” In other words, they’re trying to put the glut of available talent to good use. It’s brilliant.

Will Work for All It’s Worth

The whole idea behind Agency Nil is that clients pay what they think the work they get is worth. They do have to cover any expenses, but beyond that the billing is completely discretionary. It allows them to put all of the risk on the agency, and that means the client is likely to get a lot more creativity than they would ever get in house. Ageny Nil’s slogan is “cheaper than freelance, better than interns,” and I think it’s pretty obvious why. Agency Nil was started by Hank Leber, a recent grad of the graduate program at VCU Brancenter, and he’s looking for more talent to join him at Agency Nil. If you’re interested in working in a pure meritocracy with a lot of uncertainty, send something impressive to audition@agencynil.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of the Agency Nil concept?

HotChalk

Willy Franzen — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:29:41 +0000

Last week I told you about Sramana Mitra’s book Entrepreneur Journeys and how it was loaded with cool companies that would be awesome to work for. One of those companies is HotChalk, an educational startup that provides online learning management systems for free. They enable teachers to bring their classrooms online in minutes without having to worry about administration approval or staying within a budget. HotChalk isn’t just tailored to teachers though; HotChalk also focuses on pleasing students, parents, school administrators, and tech coordinators. The simplicity of the whole thing has enabled HotChalk to gain a ton of marketshare—they have over 7 million monthly unique visitors and more than 375,000 teachers using the service. That’s what “free” will do for you.

HotJobs at HotChalk?

The most interesting thing about HotChalk is their revenue model. Instead of building a freemium product where schools can pay for premium services once they’re forced to by teachers who have adopted the free service, HotChalk has decided that advertising is the key to profitability. They offer extremely targeted advertising to each of their user bases—teachers, students, parents, administrators, and tech coordinators; however, HotChalk has strict guidelines about what kind of advertisements can be targeted towards students, and they can never be shown ads during school hours. Now, how about jobs at HotChalk? Their Jobs page says that they don’t have any current openings, but it also says that they “are always looking for talented people.” If education technology is something that gets you excited, you should send a cover letter and resume to careers@hotchalk.com. According to HotChalk’s LinkedIn profile they have 27 employees right now, and they’re split between the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used HotChalk?

JamLegend

Willy Franzen — Thu, 28 May 2009 14:08:44 +0000

I’ve already written posts on Activision (Guitar Hero), Harmonix (Rock Band), and Tapulous (Tap Tap Revenge), but can you ever really get enough of the music playing video game genre? Of course not! That’s why we’re looking at JamLegend today. How are they different from the other game makers that I just mentioned? First, JamLegend is free. Second, it offers more songs. Third, you can use your computer keyboard as a guitar. Fourth and most importantly, it’s social! You can play your friends, you can play the world, and you can even enter tournaments to win prizes. JamLegend isn’t just the name of the game, it’s also the name of the company, a small startup based out of San Francisco.

These Jobs Are Your Jam

If you’re a music loving video game junkie who is fascinated by the social web, then you really couldn’t find a better fit than JamLegend. Beyond that, it’s a good career choice. The video game industry continues to thrive through the recession, and social gaming appears to be the next big thing. That’s why you need to check out Jobs with JamLegend. You won’t find any specific postings on their Jobs page, but that’s ok because I love their philosophy. They say, “Our belief is that we should hire gifted people even before we need them, so send us an e-mail (jobs@jamlegend.com) and tell us why you are interesting.” That’s about it. Awesome. JamLegend does have some positions posted on Startuply for a Flex / AS3 Developer and a Facebook Connect / Social-Web Developer, but it’s unclear whether these are internships or full-time jobs. It really doesn’t matter though, just reach out to them and tell them how you can help them. Don’t constrain yourself by applying for a specific position.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you played JamLegend?

IMRE

Willy Franzen — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:25:11 +0000

This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association. She is also the entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com, a career expert for the CAREEREALISM Twitter Advice Project, the job search expert for Campus Calm and author of the e-book “Gen Y Meets the Workforce: Launching Your Career During Economic Uncertainty.”

What do financial services, home/building and healthcare have in common? All three fields can expect good things to happen when they “converge” with IMRE, a full service digital, advertising, marketing and public relations agency in Baltimore, Maryland.

Let’s start with their financial services practice. Strategically expanded in July 2008 near the beginning of our country’s economic troubles, IMRE saw an opportunity for “financial services companies to gain market share.” Did you know you can buy wedding insurance from Travelers? IMRE won this client by proposing—no pun intended—to launch a campaign on Valentine’s Day about nuptial nightmares ranging from heart attacks to blackouts to hurricanes. They won the account and reached more than 74 million people with their messages. Like most public relations practitioners, I’m not a numbers person, but I do love weddings!

The “green” market is hot right now, so it makes sense for Arxx Corporation to be included in IMRE’s home & building practice. IMRE “moved Arxx away from a product message and positioned them as a longtime leader in energy-efficient solutions.” Despite being a midsized firm with only one office location, their client list in this practice is impressive—ranging from John Deere to The Home Depot to Target.

Their final practice area is healthcare, which is also my specialty. What I like most about healthcare PR is that you feel like you’re helping people live life to its fullest with every tactic you use to reach them. IMRE’s clients in this sector mostly are nonprofit organizations, including American Red Cross, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Shady Grove Fertility.

Interested in any one of those practice areas? IMRE is extremely open about who heads up each, providing their biographies, fun Q&A’s and e-mail addresses.

Good Things Happen When You Converge with IMRE

IMRE has two entry-level openings right now: a WOM (Word of Mouth) Associate Account Executive and another Associate Account Executive. If social networking is your thing, the WOM AAE position will be right up your alley. IMRE’s ideal candidate for this position? A “dynamic, creative and fun college graduate with a degree in communications or other related field and is an active Internet user who accesses social networks, blogs, forums and consumer reviews on a regular basis.” This person must also be a “self-motivated and detail-oriented team player and can often be found making YouTube videos just for fun.”

The other AAE position sounds a little more “structured” like you would find at a typical agency. IMRE seeks someone “with a degree in communications or related field and one to two years work or internship experience.” Candidates must also have “strong writing skills and be a team player who is results oriented, have an attention to detail, organized and able to juggle multiple priorities.”

Interested? Send your cover letter, résumé, salary requirements and writing samples to jobs@imre.com. Don’t forget to also fill out their job application.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Need help with your cover letter and résumé—or your entire job search? Heather offers low-cost coaching packages specifically for students and recent graduates seeking careers in public relations. Click here to learn more.

Harvest

Willy Franzen — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:22:57 +0000

Yesterday I got an e-mail from a fellow Cornell grad named Danny Wen. He graduated a couple years before I landed on campus, but he and another Cornellian named Shawn Liu are also entrepreneurs. After graduation they started working at Internet consultancies, but eventually they decided to go into business for themselves in New York City. Just like me, they decided to solve a problem that they were facing. Unlike me (the guy who couldn’t find a job), their problem was tracking all of the money that they were making. Their response was Harvest, a web-based solution for freelancers and small business to track time and invoice clients. I know that keeping a small business organized is really hard, so it makes sense that a dead simple tool like Harvest would be in high demand.

Harvest Yourself a Job

Now, Danny Wen didn’t just contact me to say hi. Ok, maybe he wanted to do that too, but he has a job for you guys, and he wanted me to share it with you. His company is growing, and they’re looking for young talent to help continue that growth. Right now there’s only one job opening, but it’s a good one. Harvest is looking for a Community Manager to “organize and support the growing community of Harvest users from around the world.” This job comes with all kinds of different tasks, but almost all of it boils down to communication. You need to know social media, be able to write well, engage with customers, and, obviously, manage Harvest’s community. The job sounds awesome, and Harvest also sounds like a pretty cool place to work. The position is Contract to Hire, and you can apply here.

Additionally, Harvest’s parent company (I think that’s what it is) Iridesco is also hiring an Interface Designer, so that’s another job that you might want to check out.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Don’t you want to work here?

WooMe

Willy Franzen — Fri, 01 May 2009 14:33:39 +0000

My first experience with video chatting was with CU-SeeMe in an internet cafe in the mid 90s. It was insanely cool, but it was also terrible quality. Things have come a long way, and once again people are using video chat to meet random people online. I was a little creeped out when I first saw WooMe, but I think that I get it now (even if I’m still creeped out). It’s a website that allows you to meet new people through “60 second one-on-one online video sessions.” Basically, it’s speed dating on the web. I was almost too sketched out to cover them here, but I figured if TechCrunch didn’t rip on them too hard and they’re able to get $17 million in investment, there has to be the potential for a real business.

Can You Woo WooMe?

If you’re not quite getting what WooMe is all about, check out WooMe TV. It will give you a chance to watch some recorded interactions of WooMe members. It’s kind of weird, but also pretty entertaining. Ok, so remember that $17 million I mentioned 3 sentences ago? It’s important, as it looks like WooMe is ready to spend it. Their Jobs page is filled with opportunities that include: Systems Admin x 2 (London and Los Angeles), IM Engineer (London), Frontend Guru – HTML / CSS / javascript / AJAX (London), Site Operations Manager (Los Angeles), Community Manager, Site Operations Analyst (San Francisco), Senior Django Developer (London), Flash Developer (London/San Francisco), Product Manager (London/San Francisco), Online Marketing Senior Manager or Director (Los Angeles). Obviously not all of those are entry level positions, but quite a few of them are. You can head over to WooMe’s Jobs page to get all of the details including how you should apply. I wonder if their job interviews are only 60 seconds? That’d be pretty cool.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried WooMe?

Murphy-Goode Winery

Willy Franzen — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:51:42 +0000

I’m not a wine drinker, but I am a sucker for a good PR stunt – especially when it’s related to jobs. I never covered “The Best Job in the World” (a job in Australia as an “island caretaker”), but I figured that you guys wouldn’t want to miss out on the chance to land “A Really Goode Job.” What am I talking about? Murphy-Goode Winery, which is based in Sonoma Wine Country, is looking for “someone (maybe you) who really knows how to use Web 2.0 and Facebook and blogs and social media and YouTube and all sorts of good stuff like that — to tell the world about our wines and the place where we live: the Sonoma County Wine Country.” I believe the official title for the job is Wine Country Lifestyle Correspondent. Anyway, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime, and even if there’s a miniscule chance that you’ll be the one selected out of thousands to get the job, it’s worth a shot, right?

Are You Goode Enough?

Let me give you the bad new first. This job is only planned to last for 6 months (unless you’re so good that they decide to keep you, of course). That’s ok, though, because the rest of the details make up for it. The biggest detail is that you get paid $10,000 per month with full accommodations. Oh yeah, and “working hours are flexible. And all you have to do is experience wine and good living, and then tell people about it.” This isn’t a joke. The real details come out in the application process. Although that’s what they call it, it’s more like a contest. The most important part of the application is a 60 second video that communicates why you’re the best fit for the job. Then there’s also a brief application form. The application deadline is June 5th. Once they get all of the applications (they reserve the right to stop accepting them if they get more than 5,000) they’ll whittle the applicant pool to 50 and then to 10, and then they’ll invite those 10 out to the winery for final interviews. On July 9th they’ll select someone and work begins on August 1st. There’s a ton of information about the job on AReallyGoodeJob.com, so make sure that you read up on everything before you apply. Oh yeah, and obviously, you need to be 21 to apply.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you going to apply for A Really Goode Job?

simplehuman

Willy Franzen — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:42:56 +0000

I hate to do this to you, but today is going to be the third California based company in a row (this one’s in Torrance). There seem to be a lot of jobs out there, so if you want to live efficiently, maybe you should move out there… or you could just furnish your home with things from simplehuman. They “design housewares to make you more efficient at home — from a spoon rest on a utensil holder to a pedal that’ll outlast 50,000 steps, or a paper towel holder that won’t unravel and a dishrack that drains in different directions.” It’s all about wowing people with the mundane. Do you know anyone who loves his or her garbage can? Probably not, but simplehuman aims to change that. (In my college days the most efficient garbage can was the biggest one for two reasons, it had to be emptied the fewest times and you could toss things in from extremely far away.) Now, “efficient living” may have a different meaning to a college student, but simplehuman brings some class to that sense of efficiency. You’ll appreciate it once you get you’re out on your own and begin your journey towards yuppie-hood.

simplejobs

Not only does simplehuman make some really cool housewares, but they also have some awesome looking jobs available for new college grads. Unfortunately, their Careers page actually doesn’t show the same attention to efficient design that their products do. You need to use a pull down menu to check each department for openings and we can’t link to the individual job postings. Right now there is a Product Marketing Analyst job (in the Marketing Department) that is a bit above entry level, but might be worth trying for if you have the right internship experience. There’s also a Customer Service Associate position (in the Customer Service Department) that is perfect for a new grad. There’s a Senior Industrial Designer job in their Design Department, but it’s not entry level. There may be some hope for some Junior Industrial Designer positions in the future though. Finally, there’s a Marketing Program Specialist – New Technologies & Social Media posted on Mashable that looks awesome. It’s worth checking out if your an Internet marketing savvy new grad. No matter which job you’re applying for, you can use their Corporate Job Application form to apply. They’re also open to applications for unlisted positions, so don’t be shy. There are also Retail jobs with simplehuman, but you can check those out on your own.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own anything from simplehuman?

Weidert Group

Willy Franzen — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:51:06 +0000

While I certainly wouldn’t name Wisconsin as a hotbed for public relations jobs, Weidert Group in Appleton would be a fantastic place to launch your career—particularly if you’re interested in social media. In addition to social media, you can gain experience in many different areas, ranging from public relations planning, execution, and training to event planning/management. Like many small agencies, Weidert Group is a tight-knit environment that values its team members. They seek people “who exhibit both strategic and imaginative thinking; whose perspectives have been influenced by quality education, significant responsibilities, and notable accomplishments; who demonstrate motivation, drive, and passion for their work; and who are able to contribute as part of a high-performance team.” The average age of this team is 30, and they specialize in serving health care, financial services, manufacturing, education, and food/food service clients.

Becoming the Apple of Their Eye

While Weidert Group doesn’t currently have any openings, their entry-level position is Public Relations Assistant. The agency prides itself on hiring quality employees to join their team and work on behalf of regional and national clients. In order to be added to their public relations department in this role, you must be outgoing, persistent, energetic, goal-oriented, competitive, passionate about a career in PR, and have an impressive portfolio with relevant intern work experiences. Unlike many small agencies, Weidert Group offers a full range of benefits, including paid holidays, paid time off, health and dental insurance, 401(k), and a bonus plan.

Want to join their team? First contact public relations specialist Abby Gutowski at agutowski@weidert.com with a résumé and explanation of why you would be a good addition. Then, she will pass you along to the organization’s decision-maker, Greg Linnemanstons, president and partner at the agency.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Raptr

Willy Franzen — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:32:24 +0000

One of the cool things about all of the social technologies that we have these days is that it removes a lot of social inefficiency. What do I mean by social inefficiency? How about the fact that you’re sitting in an airport waiting for a delayed flight even though your friend is 3 gates away and you have no idea. You’re probably not going to call that friend randomly, but a Facebook or Twitter update might alert you to the fact that you have someone to hang out with for the next hour or two. There are a million examples like this, and Raptr, a Mountain View, CA based startup, has created some technology to address one inefficiency in particular – gaming alone. Ok, so they’re not going to invite your friends over to play video games with you, but they will allow you to find out which of your friends are playing what video games when, so that you can link up and play together. Social gaming is huge, but it’s happening mostly on non-gaming platforms like Facebook. Raptr is trying to bring this technology to more traditional gaming systems and aggregate your information across the social networks that you already use.

Don’t Fear the Raptr

Now, if you’re ashamed of your excessive gaming, then maybe Raptr isn’t the service for you; however, if you are always looking for someone to play against, then it should be a pretty good addition to your gaming repertoire. Apparently Raptr is as easy as setting up a few accounts, so I can’t imagine why a serious gamer wouldn’t want to use it (unless of course they’re one of those people I described in the first sentence of this paragraph). I think Raptr is a pretty cool idea, and I’m excited to see more startups that address social inefficiencies. If you’re excited about both video games and social networking, then you might also want to check out Raptr’s Job Opportunities. Right now there’s only one opening, but it’s perfect for a new grad. Raptr is looking to hire a Community Manager to help them develop and interact with their online community. It sounds like an awesome job, and there’s a ton of information about Raptr on their website. You can apply for the job by sending a resume and cover letter to jobs@raptr.com (and make sure that you paste it into the body of the e-mail – no attachments).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried Raptr yet?

Media Temple

Willy Franzen — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:00:51 +0000

I recently ended up with a good news/bad news situation. The good news was that the traffic here, on One Day, One Internship, and on Found Your Career had exceeded what my old server was able to deliver. The bad news is that our new server costs 8x as much per month. It’s still a relatively small price to pay to reach as many people as we do, but nobody likes to have to spend more money. Luckily, we’ve been relatively happy with our hosting service, but had we wanted to change, we might have taken a look at Culver City, CA based Media Temple. Why? Because they have cool jobs. Cool jobs usually mean happy employees, and happy employees usually mean good customer service. That must be the case with Media Temple – just look at the client list that they’ve been able to score.

Work (and Worship?) at Media Temple

What Media Temple does isn’t very different from 100s of other hosting services. They take much of the technical stuff out of running a website. Media Temple’s advantage is all in how they do things, and they must be doing things right – they were named to the Inc. 500 list of Fastest Growing Private Companies. When a company’s advantage is in how they do things not what they do, it’s all about the people. What really caught our eye about Media Temple was one job in particular on their Jobs page. They’re looking for a Twitter Ninja, and the job description is actually 140 characters – “(mt) needs a Twitter ninja! We’re searching for full-time tweetologists to help our customers. Tell us about yourself: jobs@mediatemple.net.” If you’re a Twitter addict who knows something about web hosting, this sounds like the perfect gig. Additionally, Media Temple is also looking for a Perl Developer and a Customer Support Agent. You can apply directly from their Jobs page, so take a look at Media Temple and see if they’re the kind of place that you’d like to work.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Heard anything about working at Media Temple?

OMGPOP

Willy Franzen — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 14:25:47 +0000

So, when I first typed the name of today’s company into the title field in WordPress, I wrote OMGPOOP. Most companies probably wouldn’t be very happy that I made that mistake, but I feel like NYC based OMGPOP wouldn’t mind so much. They seem to have a penchant for the ridiculous. I mean, they just changed their name from ImInLikeWithYou.com to OMGPOP. Since you probably have no idea what I’m talking about, we should probably start from the top. OMGPOP “is a place to hang out, play free online multiplayer games, chat, and make friends.” They’re very different from other online gaming sites, although it’s hard to describe how. You really need to check them out to get a feel for what they’re all about. When you land on their home page, you’ll see this: “Why hang out with your friends in person when you can do it on the internet? No need to wear clothes that way. Seriously, this is bigger than unicorns and wrestling put together.” That about sums it up.

OMGJOBS

So, you’re probably thinking that I’m nuts for talking about real jobs with a company called OMGPOP. Well, they just secured $5 million in funding, which means that they are for real (and so are their jobs). They don’t have a traditional jobs page, but they just posted 3 awesome opportunities on their blog. They’re looking for a Community Manager / Director of Social Media, a SEO Guru, and an E-commerce / Virtual Goods Manager. These aren’t typical entry level jobs, but if you have a background in any of those areas, these are opportunities that you need to take a look at – especially if you’re interested in social gaming. How you apply should vary depending on the position that you apply for, but you can apply for all positions with an e-mail to jobs@omgpop.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you played games on OMGPOP?

POKE

Willy Franzen — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:50:24 +0000

The word “poke” brings quite a few things to mind for me. There’s that useless Facebook feature that nobody uses any more (my girlfriend won’t even poke me back these days). There’s the Hawaiian dish of cubed raw fish. There’s the obvious annoying gesture/action of poking someone, and it’s even a term for an awkward looking base hit in baseball. Those are the things that came to mind for me. What didn’t come to mind, but should have is POKE, a New York City based creative company that happens to be taking a creative approach to how they recruit new employees. I wish that I could tell you more about what they do, but they’re having some website issues, which I’ll discuss in a second.

Get POKEd

Ok, so my introduction to POKE was pretty good – I found out about them from an AdFreak.com story about their internship recruitment. It led to my featuring POKE’s Internships on One Day, One Internship a few days ago. When I was doing my research on them, I headed for their home page at POKENewYork.com to get their full story. Unfortunately, their home page wasn’t working so well on Monday, but today it looks like it’s back in action. It’s in a blog format, which means that it’s loaded with information. Unfortunately, their Contact & FAQ link is still broken. To get a full sense of what POKE’s creative endeavors entail, you should take a look at their Portfolio, their Working with POKE page, and POKE Live. Since it seems as though a lot of POKE’s work is web design, you’d like to see their own website working properly.

Enough with the negative though. POKE still looks like an awesome place to work. The following quote sums up their approach to recruitment: “If you’d like to work with POKE don’t assume that you’re going to see a want ad on the website. Send us a mail. A link to your blog, portfolio or something you’ve done is quite often much more useful than a resume.” That’s really all that you need to know (ok, if you want to know more, check out Working with POKE). If you have an interest in design, marketing, advertising, web development, social media, or anything else creative, then you should let POKE know via their Contact page. Don’t just wait around for them to post a job.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of when you hear “poke?”

Meetup

Willy Franzen — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:22:48 +0000

One thing the Internet has done for us that doesn’t get talked about a lot is that it has made it so much easier to organize real-life events. You can send a meeting request, create an event on Facebook, organize a Tweetup, or a Meetup. It’s amazing that phone calls and invitations are nearly obsolete when it comes to organizing an event. With that said, there’s still a lot of room for improvement when it comes to online tools to getting people together. That’s what Meetup, which is based in New York City, is all about. They provide a place for people to organize meetups and to share them with the rest of the world. Whether you want to join The Chicago English as a Second Language Meetup Group or The NYC Cranium Meetup Group, you can do so with the help of Meetup.

Meetup with a New Job

Meetup is a pretty simple idea – make it easy for people with similar interests to find each other. It’s put well in The Meetup Manifesto:

Let’s be fearless. Let’s exercise our human right of assembly. Let’s exploit it big-time. Let’s use the Internet to get people off the Internet. Let’s bring back the handshake. The verbal debate. The smile. You know, some good ol’ face-to-face, eye-to-eye contact. When people get together amazing things happen. They advocate, argue, learn, laugh and share. Let’s be a group. Let’s be a real group. Groups have a history of making history. People unite, motivate, activate and mobilize. Groups give us the power to face a health crisis, start a political movement, pursue a passion, launch a business, and turn strangers into friends. To be bigger than ourselves. Let’s step away from our screens for a moment. Do without the PC, the TV and the phone. People are more powerful than pixels. A real group can beat up a virtual group any day of the week. Let’s find the others. The ones that want the same thing. Let’s meet in real time, in real places, and make a real difference.

Let’s Meetup.

Meetup’s business model is also simple. They charge Meetup organizers a monthly subscription fee to use the site. Meetup has been around since 2001, and they moved to this revenue model in 2005. They’re still around, and they’re still hiring, so it must be working. Current entry level opportunities at Meetup include Software Engineer, User Interface Engineers, Quality Assurance Engineers, and Bilingual Customer Service Specialists. You can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to jobs@meetup.com, but be sure to check out the individual job descriptions first.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever been to an event organized on Meetup?

Search for Common Ground

Willy Franzen — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 15:25:42 +0000

At some point in your life, you’ve probably had a conflict – an argument with your parents, siblings, roommates, or others. Humans inherently have conflicting interests, but that doesn’t mean that common ground can’t be found. Search for Common Ground is a non-profit organization that “works to transform the way the world deals with conflict – away from adversarial approaches and towards collaborative problem solving.” Sometimes it may seem impossible, but most conflicts can be resolved peacefully through with the right methods. Search for Common Ground uses its 5 core principles to encourage attitudes that resolve conflicts across the world. These are: Conflict is neither negative nor positive; Conflict can be transformed; Finding common ground; Peace is a process; and Humankind is interdependent. If you want to know more about Search for Common Ground’s approach, you can take their Guided Tour.

Searching for Jobs with Search for Common Ground

Here’s a video that goes into greater detail about what Search for Common Ground is all about:

Search for Common Ground currently has about a dozen jobs listed on their Jobs page, although only a few of them will be of interest to new college grads. We recommend that you check out Program Assistant – Sub-Saharan Africa (Washington, DC), Web and New Media Manager (Washington, DC), and Part-time Office Manager (Brussels, Belgium). The experience requirements for these jobs are a little steeper than what we’d usually want to feature here, but we think that you should be able to sell Search for Common Ground on your readiness for the job if you have the right background. To apply, check out the instructions at the end of the job descriptions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Know anything about Search for Common Ground? Leave a comment.

Gawker Media

Willy Franzen — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:55:55 +0000

Since we’ve already covered Gawker Media on One Day, One Internship, we’re going to recycle some of that post for today’s post. Unfortunately, some of the information has changed because Gawker’s owner, Nick Denton, is full of doom and gloom and has made some serious changes to his company. In case you’re not familiar with Gawker, it’s a network of 12 10 blogs that consists of Defamer (L.A. Gossip), io9 (Science Fiction), Valleywag (Silicon Valley Gossip), Deadspin (Sports), Jezebel (Celebrity, Sex, Fashion), ~~The Consumerist (Consumer’s Rights)~~ (sold off to Consumer Reports), Jalopnik (Cars), Gawker (Manhattan Gossip), Kotaku (Video Games), Lifehacker (Productivity), Gizmodo (Gadgets), ~~Fleshbot (Adult, no link – you can find that one on your own)~~ (also sold off). It’s an impressive network of sites, some trashy, and some insanely useful. Gawker Media’s network has been identified as being the most valuable blog with some estimates of a $150 million valuation. Still Denton has been so concerned with the economy that he has been cutting blogs that aren’t profitable and laying off staff. Maybe his tune has finally changed, because it looks like Gawker is hiring again.

Gawk at Gawker’s Site Visitors

Gawker offers a ton of internships, but entry level jobs are much harder to come by. Luckily, they just posted an opportunity for an entry level techno/data/marketing wiz to join Gawker Media’s ad operations team on their Lifehacker blog. It’s all about analytics, so you’ll be doing a lot of what I do every day to monitor traffic on One Day, One Job, but you’ll be doing it for one of the biggest blog networks in the world. The job posting includes all of the details, and the job is located at Gawker’s office in NYC. To apply you can send a cover letter and resume (or maybe you want to be more creative with how you apply) to jobapp@gawker.com.

Since Gawker doesn’t seem to have a central repository for their job postings, they seem to randomly post them on some of their blogs. If you’re looking for future job postings, you might want to try a google search for “jobapp@gawker.com” or search the specific blogs (here are some tips on how to do that).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Gawker.com
About Gawker Media
Gawker Media Powerpoint (download 8.4 MB)

Which Gawker blogs do you read?

Lithium

Willy Franzen — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 15:41:05 +0000

Social media. Social media. Social media. If you’ve been spending much time on the web lately (or listening to me), then you probably keep hearing how social media is the next big thing. The only hitch is that social media isn’t new. The Internet has been social almost from its beginning – we just have new tools to make the interactions happen more easily. A lot of people will say that the next step in the growth of social media is corporate adoption. That’s why we see cutting edge companies hiring for positions like “Community Manager.” Well, what if I told you that there’s a company called Lithium that has been helping companies adopt social media for more than 10 years? You might be surprised by that, but when you start to think of social media as more than blogs, Twitter, and Facebook and start to include chat rooms, forums, and other “Web 1.0″ technology, it’s not hard to imagine that the principled behind corporate adoption of social media have actually had some time to mature. Lithium is based out of Emeryville, CA, and they build “successful communities on-demand.”

Lithium Helps You Communicate

The story of Lithium is pretty interesting. The company actually spun out of Gamers.com when the founders realized that they had developed some pretty powerful online communications tools. Their first project was to develop and launch a forum for Dell, and since then they’ve worked with a host of impressive clients. These names include “Cingular, Comcast, Sprint, Nintendo, Symantec, and lots more.” Forums were the start, but Lithium has continued to develop a repertoire of community solutions that includes “RSS feeds, polls, integrated search, private messaging and more to interactive chat and blogs.” It’s all about empowering customers through improved communication.

I was all ready to start browsing through Lithium’s Jobs page (they have quite a few openings), when I noticed a small link to Lithium’s College Recruiting page. I decided to ignore the job listings, because Lithium says that they recruit new grads for three positions – Software Engineer, Quality Assurance Engineer, and Product Analyst. The first two jobs are pretty similar to what you’d expect at technical startups, but the Product Analyst job looks awesome for those of you who don’t have technical skills. Lithium’s Careers page isn’t loaded with information, but it should tell you everything you need to know to make a decision on applying. Lithium certainly looks like a fun place to work. If you want to apply, send a cover letter and resume to jobs@lithium.com with “College Recruiting” and the position that you’re applying for in the subject line.

By the way, Lithium is the lightest metal and the least dense solid element. I’m not sure what that says about the company.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever used one of Lithium’s products on another site?

Mashable

Willy Franzen — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:20:27 +0000

Our HP Magic Giveaway Contest has ended, and we will announce the winner some time tomorrow. That’s not the end of the excitement though, we have a fun 4 question quiz for you all to take to evaluate how you’re approaching your job search. And of course, we have another exciting entry level job for you today. If you love social networking and social media, then you probably already follow Mashable. It’s the “world’s largest blog focused exclusively on social networks.” They get 5 million pageviews a month, and they’re constantly breaking news on “all that’s new on the web.” They’ve even had a lot to add to the online job search. They’ve published articles like 70+ Tools for Job Hunting 2.0 and 9 Sites for Successful Job Interviews. They have seem to have missed one important site on both of those lists, but we’ll forgive them.

This Job Mashes

Journalism is changing before our eyes, and Mashable is a perfect example of how’ that’s happening. If you wanted in-depth information about a niche topic like social media, you used to have to subscribe to a magazine that would come out monthly, quarterly, or even semi-annually. Newspapers might occasionally give you something to chew on, but for the most part you’d be out of luck when it comes to getting the latest info on social networks. Now, you just subscribe to Mashable’s RSS feed, and that’s it.

So, Mashable is looking for a Day Time Social Media Blogger. They want someone who can write, meet deadlines, and is passionate about the web and social media – not necessarily in that order. If you’re going to apply, you better have a serious footprint on the web – participation in lots of social media sites and lots of Google results for your name. This job is full-time or part-time and can be located in New York City or virtually. To apply for this job with Mashable, send an e-mail to jobs@mashable.com with your “E-mail Address, Location/Time Zone, Links to 6 recent (past 4 months) writing samples, Resume or List of proof of about Criteria, and Social Media Links (Twitter, Facebook, etc).” I’m sure that the competition for this job will be fierce, so make sure that your application shows why you know more about social media than everyone else.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a Mashable reader?

myYearbook

Willy Franzen — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:39:12 +0000

When I was a senior in high school (2002), I thought that my class was cutting edge to include a CD with our yearbook. Then I was greeted by “The Class of 2006 Website,” a site very much like Facebook (before there was a Facebook) for my incoming Freshman class at Cornell. Finally, Facebook arrived on the scene in 2004, and the idea of a yearbook was forever changed. At least it was for college students. Facebook didn’t open up to high schoolers until September of 2005, and in that time both MySpace and myYearbook had already started tapping the high school social networking market. You may not have heard of myYearbook, but you should have. They have the 14th most pageviews of any site on the Internet, surpassing both Amazon.com and Wikipedia. What makes this more impressive is that New Hope, PA based myYearbook was founded by a 15 year old and a 16 year old brother and sister during their Spring Break.

Were You Voted Most Likely to Get a Job with myYearbook?

myYearbook has done an impressive job of targeting the high school market, and I’m surprised that I just realized how big they are. They’ve gained a considerable amount of venture capital funding ($13 million) beyond the initial $250k investment that came from the founders’ big brother, who is now the CEO. With a growing user base and cash to spend, it’s no surprise that myYearbook is hiring. They have four job openings posted on CareerBuilder right now, yet they don’t even have a Jobs section on their site. Three of these jobs look well suited to new college grads – Senior Sales Planner (only requires 1 year of experience), PHP Web Developer, and QA Analyst / Application Tester. The jobs look pretty cool, and it would be hard to believe that myYearbook wouldn’t be a fun company to work for. The added bonus is that they’re a social networking company that isn’t based in Silicon Valley – they’re in New Hope, PA. To apply for a job with myYearbook, you’ll have to go through the job postings on CareerBuilder.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used myYearbook? What do you think?

Hesketh

Willy Franzen — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:49:56 +0000

As you may or may not know, every weekend we feature two non-profit organizations and their jobs. That means that in addition to looking at corporate websites all week, we also spend a considerable amount of time looking at non-profit sites. Since companies are usually trying to sell someone something, their websites tend to be both nice to look at and easy to navigate/use (with a big exception for many of the Careers sections of these corporate sites). With the non-profits there’s more variability – some sites are stunning and easy to use, while others could use a lot of work. Non-profits may not be selling a product or service, but they still need to sell themselves to donors, volunteers, job seekers, and even the people whom they’re aiming to serve. That means that design and usability isn’t something that they can ignore, and that’s why Hesketh, a user experience agency, “has developed practices and services that are specifically attuned to challenges faced by non-profits, higher education, member-based associations, and other organizations committed to socioeconomic development.” They serve corporate clients too, but Hesketh seems to be carving out a pretty cool niche for themselves (they’ve also literally carved out a new, old niche for themselves recently).

Be the Power of the Web

It’s funny how narrowing the market that you focus on can lead to immense business growth, but it works. As Hesketh’s offerings have become more focused over the past few years, they’ve experienced what seems to be some pretty solid growth. They attribute it to excellent customer service, and we believe them. Right now that growth has led to the opening of a new position – Interaction Designer. It’s only one job, but the description looks fantastic. You’ll need a background in web design, but other than that it looks to be solidly entry level. The job is based at Hesketh’s office in Raleigh, NC, so if that sounds like a place that you’d like to be and you’re excited at the prospect of working to improve the websites of non-profit clients (in addition to many other clients), then send your cover letter, resume, and portfolio to careers@hesketh.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What are the best and worst non-profit websites that you’ve seen?