One Day, One Job » sports

Big Ten Network

Willy Franzen — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:46:03 +0000

I love Ivy League sports. I really do. Although I think the league gets less respect than it deserves, I know that they’ll never be the Big Ten—even if a powerhouse like Cornell (hey, I’m biased) continues to excel at the national level in sports like Hockey, Lacrosse, Wrestling, and even Basketball. I didn’t realize how big Big Ten sports were until I walked around Chicago on a Saturday afternoon in the fall. The Ohio State bar is packed with Ohio State fans, and the Michigan bar is packed with Michigan fans. Everyone is dressed in their school’s colors—and these are people hundreds of miles away from their schools and many years away from graduation. I guess that’s why there’s the Chicago based Big Ten Network, a television station devoted to everything Big Ten. While I’m watching grainy online streaming video of Cornell Hockey with my laptop hooked up to my tv, Big Ten fans can watch their favorite team—often in HD.

Network Yourself in the Big Ten

The Big Ten Network was launched just over 2 years ago as “a joint venture between subsidiaries of the Big Ten Conference and Fox Cable Networks,” and it’s allowed the Big Ten to gain significant control and leverage in terms of media distribution. Not only do they now have more control over their advertising revenue (they prohibit alcohol and gambling ads), but they also get to bring more attention to Women’s sports and sports other than basketball and football. As they put it:

Eleven schools, 252 varsity teams, one great network to cover it all. Welcome to the Big Ten Network, your ultimate source for Big Ten sports, featuring the games, passion and tradition of the nation’s foremost athletic conference.

Obviously the Big Ten is the first to make a move like this, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see more and more athletic conferences take more control over the moneymaker that is televised college sports. If you’d like to get on board and be part of the Big Ten Network, you need to check out their Careers page—or you can just skip ahead to the Fox job search function where the Big Ten Network’s jobs are listed. If you select Big Ten Network as the company, you’ll see all of the job openings that they have available. Right now there’s only one non-internship position, but it’s perfect for a new grad—Integrated Sales Associate (Advertising and Marketing). You can apply online for the job, and you should keep your eye out for more job postings from the Big Ten Network.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your team?

Good Sports

Willy Franzen — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:46:14 +0000

Did you know that how wealthy your family is has a lot to do with which sports you play growing up? Sometimes it’s a demographic thing, but a lot of times it just has to do with whether or not your family can afford to pay for the equipment. Take hockey for example. There’s a ton of stuff you need, and it’s all expensive; whereas, basketball can be played with just a ball and a hoop in a park. There are no hard and fast rules about this, but it’s very clear that many kids don’t get the opportunity to try some sports because of the costs involved. Good Sports is a Boston based non-profit that “provides sports equipment to disadvantaged youth in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Philadelphia, and Chicago.” They may have pictures of Boston athletes plastered all over their website (yuck!), but they’re doing a really good thing.

Are You a Good Sport?

The idea behind Good Sports is pretty simple—they raise money and take equipment donations from manufacturers and then provide equipment grants to youth athletic programs. Additionally, Goods Sports runs Community Health Programs in conjunction with Community Health Centers to provide “necessary fitness equipment to children being treated in healthy weight, diabetes, or other obesity related medical programs.” They seem to be doing a great job, and the names on their Boards of Directors and Advisors show that they’ve excelled at integrating themselves within the Boston sports community. It’d be a cool place to break into the sports industry, as you’d have tons of networking opportunities. Right now, Good Sports is looking for an Administrative Assistant, which is kind of a do-everything job in a small non-profit like Good Sports. They do want someone with 3 years of experience as an admin, but I think that a new grad would be a great fit for this position. You can apply by sending a cover letter and résumé to Davin Lencz at dlencz@goodsports.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite piece of sports equipment?

Steiner Sports

Willy Franzen — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:23:31 +0000

“Ball game over! World Series over! Yankees win! THEEEEEEEE YANKEES WINNNNNNNNN!” Although I was watching tv and not listening on the radio, I heard John Sterling’s call in my head as soon as Cano threw to Teixeira to get the 27th out and a 27th World Championship. As you can probably guess, I’m a huge Yankees fan, and I’m in a great mood. Since we’ve already covered entry level jobs with Major League Baseball teams, entry level jobs with the YES Network, and plenty of other entry level jobs in baseball, today we’re going to take a look at Steiner Sports. They’re based out of New Rochelle, NY, and consider themselves the “the leader in autographed sports memorabilia and sports collectibles.” They also happen to have a very strong partnership with the New York Yankees, so they are the place to go for your 2009 Championship collectibles. Whether you want a seat from the old stadium or an official Championship locker room t-shirt, they’ve got it. You can even buy a Derek Jeter autographed 2009 World Series ball despite the fact that he probably hasn’t had time yet to sit down and sign autographs.

Collect Your Way to a New Job

I used to be really into sports memorabilia, but now I’m happy to just watch the game. Still, sports memorabilia is a huge market that seems to be going strong despite the decline of the collectible card industry. I guess people would much rather have something that is actually scarce like a game used jersey than a piece of cardboard that can be produced en masse. I guess that’s why Steiner Sports is now a “booming, 100-plus employee, $50 million enterprise.” Beyond the memorabilia and collectibles side of the business, there’s also Steiner Sports Marketing. It seems like an awesome company for sports fans, so if you’re intrigued, check out their Jobs page. Right now they have a handful of openings posted including a B2B/Retail Sales position and a Direct to Consumer Account Executive position. The application instructions can be found on the Jobs page, so check out the full descriptions and make your job search something that you can commemorate.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Yankees win!

Best Shot Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 13:56:19 +0000

Some of the most fun that I had during college was playing in a charity dodgeball tournament. My team was doing really well until we ran into a team of future NHL players, pitchers from the baseball team, and some former softball players (they threw underhand, and they threw hard) in the semifinals. That match was pretty ugly, but even when you lose at dodgeball, you have fun. We’ve seen dodgeball gaining more and more popularity, and with that trend we’ve seen more and more non-profits using dodgeball to raise funds. Best Shot Foundation is a Washington, DC based non-profit that is doing just this. They’re an organization that is focused on bringing attention to the fact “that pneumonia kills more young children than any other disease,” and then doing something about it.

Give It Your Best Shot

Even here in America pneumonia can be a major problem for people—especially those whose immune systems are compromised in some way. However, across the world it’s a much bigger problem. According to UNICEF:

Pneumonia kills more children than any other illness—more than AIDS, malaria and measles combined. Over 2 million children die from pneumonia each year, accounting for almost 1 in 5 under-five deaths worldwide. Yet, little attention is paid to this disease.

That’s a startling statistic. Best Shot Foundation is focused on fixing this problem by focusing on “the belief that increased public commitment will drive increased health resource allocation.” They’re getting things started by organizing dodgeball tournaments at college campuses across the country. I love the idea, and I think that you should help. Since Best Shot Foundation is a startup non-profit, they don’t appear to have any full-time, permanent jobs right now, but they are hiring 16 Regional Tournament Organizers to take on the challenge of running these tournaments. Since finding a job is so tough now, this is a perfect stopgap position to gain some experience for your résumé and show off your skills and abilities. And it could turn into something permanent if Best Shot Foundation continues to grow. You need to do more than just send a résumé to apply, so check out all of the requirements in the job description before applying.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever played in a dodgeball tournament?

Athletes’ Performance

Willy Franzen — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:50:25 +0000

One essential part of the job search that is rarely mentioned is working out. You won’t often read about it career advice books or have your college’s career counselor advise you to get a gym membership, but I think that it’s extremely important. The self-discipline required to stay in good shape is the same that is required to land a job. Beyond that, the gym provides a good break from job searching and can even be a decent place to do some networking. But what if you’re a professional athlete? Going to the gym has a completely different meaning in relation to your job search—it’s absolutely essential. The problem is that most gyms don’t cater to athletes. They cater to people who are trying to lose a few pounds, socialize, or watch tv while “working out.” Athletes’ Performance is a different kind of gym. They aim “to provide the finest methods, specialists and facilities seamlessly integrated to efficiently and ethically enhance [their] athletes’ performance.”

How Will You Perform?

Athletes’ Performance has taken a scientific approach to training that is built on three core principles: improving performance, decreasing injury potential, and motivating through education. They currently have locations in Phoenix, AZ; Gulf Breeze, FL; and Carson, CA with an extremely ambitious plan to “roll out 125 sites over the next five years in 25 key metropolitan areas.” Obviously that kind of growth can’t happen while only catering to pro athletes, but I’ll bet there are plenty of non-professionals who would pay a significant premium to work out and train like they’re pros. Niche gyms are a growing market, and Athletes’ Performance seems to be well positioned to take advantage of the fact that not everyone is happy with an elliptical machine and some free weights. If you’re intrigued, you should check out jobs at Athletes’ Performance. Most of their “entry level” openings are located in Frisco, TX for what must be a new location. These positions include Performance Consultant (Sales), Performance Nutritionist, Performance Physical Therapist, and Performance Specialist. You can apply online for these jobs, but you better have a background in sports.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you train at a gym like Athletes’ Performance?

Blue Entertainment Sports Television

Willy Franzen — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 15:36:53 +0000

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

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

Are You the BEST?

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about BEST?

Tennis Channel

Willy Franzen — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:07:02 +0000

Judging by what people are watching on the televisions on the cardio machines at my health club, there’s a lot of excitement about the US open right now—and we haven’t even reached the exciting part yet. There’s a decent amount of television coverage of the Open on ESPN2 (check out ESPN’s entry level jobs), but if you really want to watch a lot of tennis you need to watch the Tennis Channel. They’re a tv network that is based in Santa Monica, CA (with locations in Atlanta and New York City), and they’re “the only 24-hour, television-based multimedia destination dedicated to the professional sport and passionate lifestyle of tennis.” Tennis Channel obviously isn’t for everyone, but that’s what niche media is all about. They own the tennis market.

Game, Set, Job

While niche networks usually don’t get coverage rights to the biggest events, in tennis there are so many matches during the course of a tournament that there’s no way that major networks could show all of the tennis. That’s why Tennis Channel has telecast rights to the Grand Slam Tournaments US Open, Wimbledon, Roland Garros (French Open) and the Australian Open. Beyond tournaments their content consists of “one-on-one interviews, game analysis and skills instruction” with personalities like “John McEnroe, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, Jimmy Connors, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova, James Blake, Andy Roddick, and Serena and Venus Williams.” If you’re interested in television and love tennis, there couldn’t be a better place to be. If you want to make that happen, check out Tennis Channel’s Jobs page. Right now they have a Traffic/Ad Sales Coordinator position in Santa Monica, CA available that looks pretty well suited to new grads. You can apply by sending a cover letter, résumé, salary history and salary requirements to HRrecruiter@tennischannel.com with “Ad Sales Coordinator” in the subject line. That’s all they have no, but keep your eyes peeled for new postings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you going to watch the US Open?

Professional Sports Publications

Willy Franzen — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:49:07 +0000

If you haven’t already entered out Back to School, Back to Work Contest, make sure that you do before Friday. You could win two HP laptops and a Timbuk2 bag!

Be sure to scroll down for an addendum to this post.

Programs! GET YA PROGRAMS HERE! You can’t go to a major sporting event without hearing that ring across the crowd. I’m not typically one to buy a program, especially now that I can look up anything important (like up to the minute stats) on my phone, but I realize that for a lot of people it’s about having the memento. New York City’s Professional Sports Publications and University Sports Publications (different names but essentially the same company) are in the business of publishing these mementos. They are respectively the leading publisher of professional souvenir magazines and yearbooks and college souvenir magazines and yearbooks. PSP Sports is also the publisher of the official NBA magazine HOOP.

Take Home a Souvenir from PSP or USP

PSP Sports and USP Sports have pretty simple business models. They publish lots of different magazines for specific teams, and they sell targeted, local advertising in these magazines. In fact, you could argue that they are more a local advertising company than a publishing company. And that’s where their entry level jobs seem to be focused. Take this Craigslist posting for an Inside Sales Representative. They very clearly are looking for new college grads to fill this positions, and they apparently pay $50,000 base salary plus commission and health insurance. That sounds way too good to be true, but the only negative thing that I can find about PSP Sports is this post from a disgruntled employee (have to take those with a grain of salt). Selling advertising isn’t glamorous, but it can definitely pay, so give it a look. I haven’t found any information on other positions with either company (for instance on the Editorial or Publishing side), but you can inquire about job opportunities by sending a cover letter and résumé to dgerschw@pspsports.com or dgerschwer@university publications.com (obviously the same guy).

Addendum:

I had some initial concerns about PSP and USP Sports before posting about them, but I spent about an hour researching them and couldn’t find anything substantive. Only minutes after our daily e-mail sent out, I received a note from a loyal reader who told me that she had friends who worked there and had bad experiences. That led me to this link and this video:

This is a perfect lesson on how careful you need to be during your job search. Always respect your intuition. I apologize for not having done more due diligence, but I hope that we can all learn from this. I can’t say definitively that these companies should be avoided, but be sure to do your research!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you buy programs at sporting events?

WWE (formerly WWF)

Willy Franzen — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:28:55 +0000

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

Body Slam Your Way into a New Job

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Who is/was your favorite wrestler?

SquashBusters

Willy Franzen — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 11:28:42 +0000

It’s hard to believe that squash, a sport that plenty of people haven’t even heard of, has so many non-profit organizations surrounding it. We’ve already featured New York’s StreetSquash and San Diego’s Surf City Squash, both members of the National Urban Squash and Education Association (NUSEA), and today we’re going to take a look at another member of the association, Boston’s SquashBusters. They are very similar to the other organizations that I’ve just mentioned in that they combine “squash with intensive academic tutoring, community service, and one-to-one mentoring to help student-athletes strive towards excellence in their lives.” SquashBusters works with about 100 ethnically diverse Boston public school youth and uses an apparently awesome facility on Northeastern University’s campus.

Unemployment Busters

SquashBusters has five key goals that they believe will help them achieve their mission “to challenge and nurture urban youth so that they recognize and fulfill their potential.”

to teach students to take responsibility for their actions and choices
to provide active educational experiences that motivate students to engage deeply with the learning process
to help students demonstrate good sportsmanship on and off the squash court
to promote understanding and friendships between people of different backgrounds
to engage students in service projects which help people and promote a commitment to the community

Whether you’re a squash player or not, you have to love what SquashBusters is doing. You also have to love the fact that SquashBusters is hiring. Even though their Jobs page says that they aren’t, there’s a job posting on Idealist for an Academic and Community Service Coordinator. It seems perfect for a new or recent grad, and there’s no requirement that you have played squash or received a teaching certificate. The job sounds great, and you can apply by sending a cover letter and résumé to SquashBuster’s Managing Director, Dominique Farinaux-Dumas, at d.farinaux-dumas@squashbusters.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How’s your squash game?

SNY

Willy Franzen — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:03:12 +0000

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

Say Yes to SNY

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you a Mets fan?

YES Network

Willy Franzen — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:44:56 +0000

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

Make Them Say YES

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you think the Yankees will win the World Series?

STATS

Willy Franzen — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:41:20 +0000

I love statistics—especially when applied to sports—so it should be no big surprise that some of my favorite blogs include The Wage of Wins Journal, Sabernomics, and FanGraphs. Surprisingly, the statistical knowledge found on the best blogs these days is often far ahead of what you will find in the front offices of many major sports teams. The reason for the recent advancement in statistical sports knowledge of laypeople has a lot to do with how easy the Internet and computers have made it to collect and analyze in-depth data. A big reason that sports data is available is because of Northbrook, IL based STATS. Their story is pretty cool. They were founded in 1981 and “began as a grass roots operation tracking baseball in a unique, esoteric fashion.” Now, they’re “the world’s leading sports information, content and statistical analysis company.” I guess that numbers worked out for them.

Do Your STATS Match Up?

If you’re a sports stats geek like me, you’re probably already dying for a job with STATS. As you look more closely at the company, I think that your excitement will grow. They couldn’t be a bigger deal when it comes to sports statistics—they cover an insane number of sports, and their clients include the NFL, the NBA, CBS Sports, Google, Yahoo!, and quite a few other impressive names. So what about jobs at STATS? There are quite a few opportunities, and plenty of them appear to be suitable for new college grads. Current entry level positions include Part-Time Paralegal, Soccer Optical Tracking Position – Major League Soccer, Database Administrator, Computer Programmer, Data Collectors (Golf, Football, Baseball, or Soccer), and STATS Reporter. All of these jobs look awesome, so apply by sending a cover letter and résumé to jobs@stats.com (a few positions require you to apply in a different way, so be sure to check out all of the Job Listings first).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

And if you ever wondered about proper sports grammar, you need to check out STATS’ Style Sheet.

Right To Play

Willy Franzen — Sun, 24 May 2009 14:42:08 +0000

You know all those rights that you learned about in school? All that stuff in the Constitution. I’m sure it’s important to you now, but how important was it to you as a kid? Unless you were a unique kid, you just wanted to play. That’s why Right To Play is such an interesting non-profit. They’re “an international humanitarian organization that uses sport and play programs to improve health, develop life skills, and foster peace for children and communities in some of the most disadvantaged areas of the world.” Play may seem trivial to many, but Right To Play has found that it’s often the key to opening up those other rights that many of us take for granted. They’re a Toronto based organization with a New York City presence, and they’re currently working in 23 countries: Azerbaijan, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Pakistan, Peru, occupied Palestinian territory, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates and Zambia.

A Job That Is Fun and Games

Although working among “the most marginalized including girls, people living with disability, children affected by HIV and AIDS, street children, former child combatants and refugees” doesn’t sound like very much fun, Right To Play does its best to change that. Part of being human is having fun as a child, and Right To Play aims to ensure that’s a reality for all children. The organization has great stories about the work that they do. They’ve done a handball clinic in Jordan and put on a Peace Dream Cup in Liberia. If you’re looking for the intersection of sport and philanthropy, this is it. Right now, Right to Play’s Jobs page has a number of openings posted. None are explicitly entry level, but I think that you should take a look at the Grand Writer and Research Coordinator and the Development Coordinator positions. To apply, you can send a cover letter and resume to usa@righttoplayusa.org with the job title in the subject line before June 1st.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about Right To Play?

Surf City Squash

Willy Franzen — Sat, 09 May 2009 12:40:02 +0000

Last May I told you about Street Squash and all the good they’re doing for inner-city youth in New York, and today I’m going to tell you about Surf City Squash, a squash related non-profit with some West Coast flare. They’re based out of San Diego, and they’re also a part of the National Urban Squash and Education Association (NUSEA) which includes Squash Busters (Boston, MA), City Squash (Bronx, NY), Squash Smarts (Philadelphia, PA), and MetroSquash (Chicago, IL). Surf City Squash was founded in 2006 because they “felt the time was right to bring a quality urban squash program to the west coast.”

Squash Your Job Search

Some of you might find it funny that what some consider a stuffy East Coast sport has been brought to San Diego, but when you take a look at the effect that squash programs have on students, you’ll stop laughing. Surf City Squash has 5 main goals:

Teach students to take responsibility for their actions and choices;
Help students appreciate and enjoy physical activity;
Develop students sense of good sportsmanship on and off the squash court;
Promote understanding and friendship between people of different backgrounds;
Engage students in service projects that help their community.

If that sounds like something that you want to be a part of, then you should check out Surf City Squash’s jobs on Idealist. Right now they’re looking for an Academic Director to start in August. It looks like a great job, and you can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to renato@surfcitysquash.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever played squash?

Rawlings

Willy Franzen — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 14:29:08 +0000

It’s Opening Day! Although it may not be a real holiday to you, to those of us who who are die hard baseball fans it’s quite possibly the best day of the year (especially fans of perennial losers whose best record all season is 0-0). I already had my baseball fix this weekend, since I flew out to NYC to see the opening of the new Yankee Stadium in an exhibition game between the Yanks and the Cubs, but I am beyond excited to watch some games that actually count. With that in mind, we’re going to run with the baseball theme today. We’ve already covered jobs with Major League Baseball and its teams, so we’re going to look at St. Louis based Rawlings today. They were the manufacturer of my first ever baseball glove (which had a Jose Canseco facsimile signature on the palm), so I inevitably think of Rawlings when I think of baseball. Their posted job offerings are a bit sparse, but hopefully you’ll use the good vibes from Opening Day to inspire your job search. (Remember: These posts aren’t just about the companies that we feature. They’re also about bringing creativity to your job search.)

Catch an Entry Level Job with Rawlings

In case you’ve never heard of Rawlings before, they make equipment for Baseball, Softball, Basketball, Soccer, and Volleyball. At their heart, though, they’re a baseball company. They produce all kinds of fun stuff – gloves, bats, balls, batting gloves, uniforms, apparel, protective gear, batting gloves, and much more. Unfortunately, their website is entirely in Flash (is this getting more common?), so we can’t link to all of the specifics. If you’re a baseball player like me, you’ll probably get lost looking at all of the cool stuff that they make. I remember poring over baseball catalogs for hours to decide which new bat I was going to get when I was in high school. Anyway, Rawlings is mostly a manufacturer, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have interesting jobs for new college grads. Take a look at Rawlings’ Company Profile on LinkedIn, and you’ll see what kind of careers they typically offer. Right now, the only jobs they have posted are on Jarden’s Careers site (Jarden is Rawlings’ parent company), and they’re on the manufacturing side. If you don’t want to work on the line tanning gloves and dealing with chemicals, then do a little more research and see if you can find an in with Rawlings in another area of their business. You should also check out some of the links under the About Rawlings section on Rawlings’ home page – they have info on benefits and company kickball teams. Also, watch out for the blaring music that starts playing when you hit the home page. It’s pretty annoying.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Rawlings.com
Jarden.com (Rawlings’ Parent Company)
Jobs at Rawlings (Jarden’s Corporate Careers Site)
Rawlings’ Company Profile on LinkedIn

What other baseball related jobs have you come across? Whose signature was on your first baseball glove?

MBI Inc.

George Tarakhovski — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 13:53:12 +0000

This is the first guest post by George Tarakhovski. We’re hoping that he will become a regular contributor here. If you’d like to contribute to One Day, One Job, let me know at Willy@onedayonejob.com.

Odds are that you are, know or have heard of someone who has a knack for collecting stuff. Perhaps, it is your grandfather who keeps a prized archive of 18th century stamps or your friend from middle school who proudly laminated every single Pokémon card he could get his hands on. MBI Inc., a Connecticut-based $400 million-dollar consumer-products company, has successfully transformed society’s affinity for collectibles into a highly profitable business. The company markets its products through four in-house operating divisions – Danbury Mint, PCS Stamps & Coins, Easton Press and MBI UK. Each of these divisions is responsible for churning out collectibles such as licensed sports figurines, die-cast models, jewelry, fine leather-bound books, vintage coins, and stuffed animals. MBI has successfully survived several recessions and seems to remain profitable to this day. Considering the current economic climate and the unorthodox nature of the collectibles industry, this is good news for somebody who seeks an unusual business career, yet suffers from cold shivers when the words “lay” and “off” are mentioned together in the same sentence.

The Curious Case of the Collectibles Manager

Although MBI’s generic-looking website is in dire need of a facelift, it does a good job of introducing the prospective applicant to the careers offered at the company. According to the website, the nature of the Assistant Product Manager – the only entry-level opportunity at MBI – is entirely cross-functional. The new college graduate is expected to interact with advertising, marketing, product development and product sourcing departments in order to cultivate a comprehensive set of skills needed to succeed in a management career. The good news is that MBI does not require any professional business experience. Intelligence, ambition and commercial instincts are sufficient factors for consideration and success. While no other jobs outside of product management are listed, there are other career opportunities available at MBI. Those include accounting, customer service, and operations just to name a few.

While you may scoff at the notion of marketing antiques to seniors in Florida retirement homes, MBI does the bulk of its recruiting at elite Ivy League campuses, which means that they take hiring very seriously. After all, their business model is profitable and historically sustainable. So, if you do well at MBI, there is a chance that you may start your own collection of rare watches sooner than you thought. Just don’t get your hopes up, yet.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you ready to start collecting?

lululemon athletica

Willy Franzen — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:57:32 +0000

When I graduated from college a semester early and started thinking about looking for a job (thinking about doing something and doing something are very different, by the way), I quickly became overwhelmed by my lack of time commitments and lack of a plan. I was suffering from too much freedom, so my first response to join a gym and to commit to keeping my body strong while I figured out what I was going to do with my brain. It was a great idea, and I strongly recommend a gym membership for all job seekers. (I also strongly recommend that all first-time job seekers take our online job search training course). Anyway, I always try to join a relatively expensive gym, but not for the obvious reason. I don’t care about all of the frivolities. I just know that if I’m paying $10 a month for a gym, I’m a lot less likely to go – I need to feel invested. With expensive gyms come lots of people in expensive, designer workout outfits. That’s where I learned about lululemon athletica, a Vancouver, British Columbia based manufacturer and retailer of “yoga-inspired athletic apparel.” Everyone at my gym is wearing lululemon, and the retail stores around here are packed, so it’s no big surprise that they’re hiring.

Find a Job That Fits Like Yoga Pants

I didn’t realize how big lululemon athletica is until I started doing some research. They’re publicly traded on NASDAQ (although their stock has tumbled big time over the past year), and they have 260 jobs (many with multiple openings) posted on their Careers site right now. Most of the jobs are based out of lululemon athletica’s retail stores and fall under three titles – Educator, Community Leader, and Key Leader. Beyond these titles other jobs include Video/Motion Designer, Seamstress, Quality Assurance Technician, and Distribution Industrial Engineer. You can find all of lululemon athletica’s job postings here, and you can apply online for any of the positions. The retail positions are located all across North America and beyond, while the corporate positions are all in Vancouver, BC. lululemon athletica has a great website that is filled with information, so the links below will give you a ton of insight into what it’s like to work for lululemon.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own any lululemon?

Pro Football Hall of Fame

Willy Franzen — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:45:26 +0000

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! Last year on this day, we featured the USA Football, a non-profit organization that promotes amateur football. Since then we’ve taken a look at some other Super Bowl related jobs like the those with the NFL’s teams and with World Vision (they administer the donation of Championship paraphernalia that was produced for teams that didn’t win a championship). If you want to work in or around the sport of football, it’s a good idea to use all of the hoopla surrounding today’s events to generate ideas for your job search. That’s why we’re going to look at the Pro Football Hall of Fame today. Despite their strong ties to the NFL, they’re actually a non-profit organization based in Canton, OH.. Their mission includes 4 parts, and it’s what you would expect:

To honor individuals who have made outstanding contributions to professional football; To preserve professional football’s historic documents and artifacts; To educate the public regarding the origin, development and growth of professional football as an important part of American culture; and To promote the positive values of the sport.

If you love football, then finding a job at the Pro Football Hall of Fame would be pretty cool.

Your Place in the Hall of Fame

Whether you’re a football player or a job seeker, getting a place at the Pro Football Hall of Fame isn’t easy. In fact, it might be harder for job seekers, because there’s no clear path on how to get in. If you’re a football player, at least you know that if you meet certain statistical figures, you’ll have a pretty good shot. Unfortunately, the Pro Football Hall of Fame doesn’t have a jobs page, and Google doesn’t turn up much info on how to land a job with them. They do have a Volunteer Opportunities page, which might provide a way to inquire about jobs, but there’s absolutely nothing on how to join their staff (there have to be some actual employees at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, right?). Since you have plenty of time before the game today, we’re looking at you to find some more information on how to land a job with the Pro Football Hall of Fame. We know that there’s a way in, and even though they may or may not be hiring right now, we’d love to know what it is.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What are you doing for the Super Bowl?

Thunderhead Alliance for Biking and Walking

Willy Franzen — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 13:07:39 +0000

Sometimes I can be a dunderhead. When I am behind the wheel of a car, I can get irrationally angry at having to share the road with pedestrians and bikers. And when I’m walking or riding a bike, I can get irrationally angry at having to share the road with cars. I can’t be right on both accounts, so the problem is obviously with me (or maybe with the government for not setting up a better transportation system). When it comes down to it, though, it’s pretty obvious that bikers and pedestrians are second-class citizens to drivers. Cars dominate the roads, and the burden of responsibility falls on those who are biking or walking to stay alert and avoid getting hit by a couple thousand bounds of fast-moving metal. The Thunderhead Alliance for Biking and Walking is a Washington, DC based non-profit advocacy organization that stands up for the rights of bikers and walkers by “strengthening and supporting bicycle and pedestrian advocacy organizations” across the country. They’re a meta-non-profit. organization – an organization for organizations.

No Dunderheads at Thunderhead Alliance

We try to find unusual non-profits to feature here on the weekends at One Day, One Job, and I think that we’ve succeeded today. Thunderhead Alliance for Biking and Walking is unlike any organization that we’ve ever heard about. They are building a coalition of local organizations to “break down the barriers to safe bicycling and walking,” which I find very cool. If you love biking and/or walking but often feel unsafe while participating, then a job at Thunderhead Alliance might be something worth thinking about. They only have one job opening available right now. It’s for a Grassroots and Trainings Coordinator, and it’s posted on Idealist. They are looking for someone who has experience organizing, but maybe you started your own pedestrian or biker advocacy group in college. You can apply by submitting your resume with a letter of interest to Jeffrey Miller, Alliance President / CEO via email to applications@thunderheadalliance.org by February 9th, 2009.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you enjoy biking and walking?

Patagonia

Willy Franzen — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:46:45 +0000

You have to love it when a small company grows into something big. It’s hard to believe that some of today’s major corporations were started with a couple of people in a garage. What’s even more extraordinary is when a small company that gets big never loses sight of who they are. That’s the story of Patagonia, a company that started out making tools for climbers. They are now a “worldwide business that makes clothes for climbing – as well as for skiing, snowboarding, surfing, fly fishing, paddling and trail running.” You’ve probably heard of Patagonia, and there’s a good chance that you own something made by them, whether it’s a polar fleece, a windbreaker, or long underwear. With a winter like this one, Patagonia gear is especially necessary for avoiding frostbite. Despite advances in technology and amazing business growth, Patagonia continues to take the same approach to their business – their “product design demonstrates a bias for simplicity and utility” and their “values reflect those of a business started by a band of climbers and surfers, and the minimalist style they promoted.” Patagonia makes exceedingly cool products, and they are the definition of a cool place to work.

Take a Trip to Patagonia

Unlike most athletic apparel companies, Patagonia focuses on “the silent sports.” That tells you a lot about who they are. There is a company-wide “love of wild and beautiful places” that “demands participation in the fight to save them.” That’s why Patagonia donates time, services and at least 1% of sales to grassroots environmental organizations all across the world. Patagonia apparel is as much an identity as it is a functional piece of equipment. If you want to learn more about Patgonia’s values, you should check out their page on Corporate Social Responsibility and their Employee Internship Program, which allows employees to “leave their jobs for up to two months to work full-time for the environmental group of their choice” while still getting paid and retaining benefits.

So what about jobs? We wish that Patagonia had some cool entry level field testing or product design jobs, but there’s nothing like that available right now. What they do have are jobs like Graphic Production Artist, Java Developer / Solutions Architect, and X++ Programmer/Analyst at their headquarters in Ventura, CA. You can keep an eye on Patagonia’s Jobs RSS Feed to see if they post your dream job, and you can apply for their corporate jobs by sending a cover letter and resume to venturajobs@patagonia.com. Additionally, Patagonia has Sales Associate positions in San Francisco, CA; Seattle, WA; Westport, CT; SoHo, NY; Denver, CO; Upper West Side, NY; Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Palo Alto, CA; and Chicago, IL.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Patagonia.com
Jobs at Patagonia
About Patagonia
Patagonia’s History
Field Reports from Patagonia
Patagonia on Corporate Social Responsibility
TheCleanestLine.com (Patagonia’s Blog)

Do you wear Patagonia?

CoachArt

Willy Franzen — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 15:35:37 +0000

As I’ve been expressing in my posts about our upcoming job search training course and the HP Magic Giveaway, there’s nothing better than the feeling of sharing your skills and knowledge with someone who can use the help. CoachArt is a Los Angeles based non-profit that allows every day people to share what they’re good at with underprivileged children and adolescents who are dealing with chronic and life-threatening illnesses. CoachArt’s coaches offer free, personal lessons in arts and athletics – including art, music, photography, yoga, creative writing, acting, dancing and more – to improve the lives of kids who are facing serious, adult issues. They’ve already served thousands of children in just 8 years of operation. CoachArt sounds like an amazing program that would be well worth working or volunteering for.

The Art of Coaching

CoachArt’s coaching positions are volunteer only, but they sound like an extraordinary way to share one of your passions with children who need an escape from the realities of their illnesses. However, if you’re looking for a full time job with CoachArt, you’re in luck. They just posted an opening for a Program Coordinator on Idealist, and the job descriptions sounds like the job will be well suited to new college grads. If you end up landing the job, you’ll be working with both coaches and the families of the children in the program to ensure that participation on both sides is going smoothly. Although they don’t list their jobs on their website, CoachArt actually has a great website that is loaded with information. It’s well worth your time to use the links below to find out more about what they’re doing to improve the lives of children. The Program Coordinator position seems to be the only job that CoachArt have available right now, and they’re looking to hire immediately, so you might want to jump on this opportunity by sending a cover letter and resume to Karina Nordbak at karina@coachart.org as quickly as you possibly can.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

If you were a CoachArt coach, what would your coaching specialty be?

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?

Levy Restaurants

Willy Franzen — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:50:27 +0000

Yesterday I told you how my move to Chicago has extended my baseball watching season, but I’m not sure that I mentioned that I have tickets to today’s Cubs game! I’m pretty excited about it, although I’m not excited about the fact that it might get into the 40s tonight during the game. October baseball is not for fair weather fans – the types who might prefer a catered event at the stadium to a real baseball game. Whether you’re a fair weather fan, an insanely devoted fan who just wants to be as close to your team’s stadium as possible at all time, or even if you just enjoy fine dining, a job with Levy Restaurants might be something worth thinking about. They’re a company that is all about hospitality and dining experience, and they happen to do catering/events at some pretty amazing venues – Wrigley and U.S. Cellular Field included.

The Levy Difference

A caterer doesn’t get the right to cater at top flight sports venues with out offering a fantastic experience. Levy Restaurants attributes their success to what they call “The Levy Difference.” There happens to be a video on their website with the same name, so we’re going to recommend that you watch that before you dig deeper into internships with Levy Restaurants.

Now that you’ve watched the movie, let’s take a look at Levy Restaurants’ entry level job offerings. Their job descriptions don’t offer a lot of detail, but we’re pretty sure that a number of their jobs can be considered entry level. If you look at all of their current job openings, you’ll see quite a few Assistant Director of Operations positions (Conseco Field House – Indianapolis, IN; Live Nokia Theater – Los Angeles, CA; Qwest Field – Seattle, WA; Sprint Center – Kansas City, MO; and STAPLES Center – Los Angeles, CA). Any job title that includes “assistant” has a pretty good chance of being a well suited to new college grads. There are also an Accounting position at Lambeau Field (Green Bay, WI) and a Marketing Coordinator position at Chase Field (Phonenix, AZ) that may be worth looking at. Finally, there are a number of jobs as Sous Chef (many locations). These require significant culinary knowledge, but may be considered entry level for you if you just graduated from culinary school. Levy Restaurants is based out of Chicago, IL, but has locations all across the country, so be sure to check out their list of venues to see where they might be hiring in the future. They don’t provide an HR contact or an e-mail address, so the only way to find out more information about jobs with Levy Restaurants is to apply online directly from the job descriptions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever experienced the Levy Difference? What’s it like?

Major League Baseball

Willy Franzen — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:51:01 +0000

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

Take Me Out to an Entry Level Job

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

MLB.com Jobs

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

Jobs with MLB Teams

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

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

Fuse Marketing

Willy Franzen — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:00:55 +0000

Hopefully college hasn’t drained you of your youth, because its going to be one of your strongest assets if you want to apply for an entry level jobs with today’s company. Fuse Marketing is a youth marketing agency that focuses on offering Consulting, Event Marketing, Communications, and Creative services. They work to “connect brands with youth through sports, music, fashion and other relevant youth cultural interests.” They’ve worked with Eastern Mountain Sports to build a more youthful customer base and with the Association of Surfing Professionals to increase awareness of its World Championship Tour. These are just a couple of examples of how major brands trust Fuse Marketing to reach young people.

Light Your Fuse

If you want to work for a company where your lack of experience is an asset and your youthful ignorance is worth something, then Fuse Marketing is a company that you need to look at. Their general focus is on youth marketing, but they get more specific than that. Fuse helps companies with sports, music, fashion, buzz, viral, lifestyle, entertainment, ethnic, and college marketing. Within each of these categories they have expertise on targeting tweens, teens, Gen Y, and Gen X. Their site is loaded with case studies based on their Consulting, Event Marketing, Communications, and Creative practices. A quick look at those will give you a more detailed look of exactly what kind of work Fuse does.

Fuse Marketing doesn’t currently have any job listings that are specifically suited to new college grads, but you have to think that they love hiring at the entry level. There is a Brand Consulting Group Account Manager that requires 2 years of experience that might be within reach, but even that’s a stretch. There are 60 Brand Ambassador jobs for students on specific campuses, but these are contract jobs, not full-time. They are paid, and they might be a great way to build up a relationship with Fuse Marketing during your Senior year to make way for a full-time job after graduation.

The good news is that Fuse Marketing accepts applications for unlisted positions. That means that you can send them your resume, and they’ll let you know if they have something that will be a good fit for you. You might even be able to convince them to create a new position for you if you’re impressive enough. Fuse Marketing is headquartered in Burlington, VT, but they also have an office in New York City. You’re not going to find a better company to cold call, so get to it and show them why you’re going to be a youth marketing superstar.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which of Fuse Marketing’s case studies do you find most interesting?

U.S. Soccer Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 12:42:43 +0000

As an overweight asthmatic when I was growing up, I was almost certainly one of the least fit soccer player to grace the fields of Fairfield, CT (if only there was a video to share with you). I don’t remember having a particular affinity for soccer, but all of my friends played, so I played too; in fact, it seems like most kids play soccer growing up now. That’s a big achievement for a sport that has to compete with more entrenched sports like baseball, football, and basketball. Much of the success of soccer can be attributed to U.S. Soccer, the sport’s national governing body. One of the major successes of U.S. Soccer was to bring the FIFA World Cup to the United States in 1994. The World Cup generated quite a surplus, and the U.S. Soccer Foundation was started in 1995 as the charitable arm of soccer in the United States to put that surplus to good use.

Kick Off Your Career

The U.S. Soccer Foundation’s mission is “to enhance, assist and grow the sport of soccer in the United States.” I think this mission statement sells them short; they’re not only promoting the sport, but also improving the lives of people through their charitable programs. The Foundation has programs like Passback – a nationwide soccer uniform and equipment collection and distribution program to help players in disadvantaged communities; Build a Field – a project in conjunction with FieldTurf to build a total of 50 All Conditions Fields; and Soccer United Recovery Fund, established in September 2005 to help rebuild soccer programs and facilities in Gulf Coast communities affected by the three massive hurricanes of 2005 (hopefully they’ll be expanding this program). The Foundation isn’t just about expanding the reach of soccer. Soccer is a vehicle for them to achieve the same goals as many other charities that affect disadvantaged youth.

Right now, the U.S. Soccer Foundation has one job opening that we think might be a good fit for a new college grad. It’s a position as a Grant Assistant. They say that their ideal candidate has 2 years of experience in a non-profit, but we think that they’ll change their definition of “ideal candidate” when they meet one of our readers. The job description sounds about as entry level as you can get, so we don’t think that it’s a stretch for new grads to apply for this one. If you love soccer and want to work at a non-profit, give it a look. The U.S. Soccer is located in Washington, DC, and you can apply by sending a cover letter and resume to search@ussoccerfoundation.org.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Were you a better soccer player than I was growing up?

Chill

Willy Franzen — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:50:49 +0000

With the first day of fall just two days a way, you can definitely feel a chill in the air (at least if you’re in the Northeast like me). The leaves are already starting to change colors, and before you know it there will be snow on the ground. For many this is a depressing picture, but for those of you who love snowboarding, the coming of winter is filled with excitement. Snowboarding is all about seeing hope in the desolate bleakness of winter, and that’s the kind of attitude that Chill is looking for in Local Coordinators. The Chill program is a nonprofit learn–to-snowboard program for underserved youth run by Burton Snowboards.

Can I Chill?

Beyond sounding like a lot of fun, the Chill program seems to be doing a lot to enact positive change in the lives of young people.

From the Chill website:

Every year, we take over 100 youth from each of our sites to the slopes. We provide them with everything they need to learn to ride: lift tickets, lessons, transportation, and head-to-toe gear. Snowboarding is fun and a great activity for the youth we serve, but it takes several lessons and plenty of hard work to learn. We use board sports to motivate youth to accomplish goals they never thought they could, while teaching them some of the most important lessons in life about patience, persistence, responsibility, courage, respect, and pride. With positive adult role models, engaging activities, and incredible mountain environments we build self confidence and raise self esteem.

This is a truly unique

Am I Chill Enough?

Chill is currently looking for 2 Local Coordinators at 13 of their sites. That’s a lot of entry level jobs. These aren’t permanent, full-time positions, but they are a perfect way to transition from the student life to the working life. They’re looking for college graduates who have at least 3 years of snowboarding experience along with experience working with kids. Chill’s sites include Baltimore, Boston, Burlington, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, New York City, Portland, Prince George, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, and Washington D.C. The program runs from November through the end of March. You can find the job description for the Chicago Coordinator here (.doc) and the Chill Fact Sheet here (.doc). The pay scales, dates and hours very depending on location, so you’ll have to e-mail Jason Hirsch for more details. He’s also the person that you should apply to, so when you’re ready, send your cover letter and resume to jasonh@chill.org. The application deadline for the Chicago position is October 6th, but we’re not sure if the deadlines for other sites will vary as well. Your best bet is to apply as soon as possible.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you snowboard?

Tenacity

Willy Franzen — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 13:53:27 +0000

Did any of you hear James Blake’s rant on sportsmanship in the Olympics? The man has a point. Tennis is a gentleman’s (gentleperson’s?) game and sportsmanship is an essential part of the sport. That’s probably why Tenacity, a non-profit organization, has chosen tennis as a means of transforming youth, building community, and introducing life skills and literacy. Their motto is “Game. Set. Life.” and we think that it’s quite fitting. We hope that Tenacity is not only transforming youth into literate young adults with great life skills, but also into young adults who will fess up when a ball grazes their rackets.

Game. Set. Jobs.

Tenacity was founded in 1999, and has since served more than 20,000 Boston students who “otherwise would lack a safe, productive, and healthy after-school and summer environment.” They provide high-quality literacy and tennis programs that build academic skills and improve fitness, while developing strong bonds between the students and Tenacity’s caring staff. Although Tennis isn’t a team sport (doubles doesn’t count), Tenacity is always looking for talented people who are committed to their objectives to join their team. Tenacity’s Jobs page currently has a few listings that look appropriate for entry-level candidates. These include Office Assistant, Academic Coordinator, and Tennis Coordinator, as well as two part time positions – Tennis Instructor and Alumni Outreach Associate. You can apply through e-mail, but the e-mail address that you should send your cover letter and resume to depends on the position, so look carefully at the job descriptions when applying. All jobs with Tenacity are located in the Boston, MA area.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What did you think of James Blake’s rant?

Arena Football League Teams

Willy Franzen — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 12:00:54 +0000

Do you know how to make any sport better? Just put the word “arena” in front of it! Arena Soccer, arena badminton, arena fishing, arena skydiving… you get the point. Putting “arena” in front of a sport’s name is only second to putting “extreme” in front of it. Well one of the sports that actually works (not necessarily better) in an arena is football. The Arena Football League is putting out a product that is exciting to watch and offers an option for the football junkies who are bored to tears in the offseason. Getting a job in sports can be tough, and getting a job with a team in a major sports league can be near impossible. Sometimes looking to the secondary leagues (sorry AFL) can offer great options.

Arena Entry-Level Job Hunting

If you need an introduction to the Arena Football League, the Wikipedia page is probably a good place to start. You can also check out ArenaBowl.com. The Arena Football League is yet another sports league that uses TeamWork Online to manage its job postings. We like the way TeamWork Online does things, so it should be pretty easy for you to get the scoop on entry-level jobs with a variety of Arena Football League Teams.

One nice feature of searching for jobs with secondary sports league teams is that they often offer locations beyond the major cities that have NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL franchises. Almost all of the entry-level job opportunities with Arena Football League teams have something to do with ticket sales, so if you aren’t good at selling, you may want to sign up for their job notifications and wait for new opportunities to crop up.

Current opportunities with AFL Teams include: Ticket Services Coordinator – San Jose SaberCats (San Jose, CA), Ticket Account Executive – Amarillo Dusters (Amarillo, TX), Inside Sales Representative – Los Angeles Avengers (Los Angeles, CA), Account Executive – Bossier-Shreveport BattleWings (Bossier City, LA), Account Executive – Lubbock Renegades (Lubbock, TX), Ticket Sales Account Executive – Utah Blaze (Salt Lake City, UT), and Communications Manager – Columbus Destroyers (Columbus, OH). The Communications Manager position is the only non-sales position, but it seems to require more experience than the typical new college graduate would have (although the description sounds well suited to an entry-level hire).

Applying online through the TeamWork Online site is easy, so start looking over the jobs with Arena Football League Teams and see if any interest you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you an Arena Football fan?