One Day, One Job » television

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?

Scripps Networks

Willy Franzen — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:39:04 +0000

If you haven’t checked out our post on Personal Finance and the Job Search, do that now. We’ve just added a special one day offer to get our job search training course Found Your Career for free.

Exactly a month ago we featured Charm City Cakes of Food Network fame, even though they’re not hiring. It was my birthday (so today is my 1/12 birthday!), and I wanted to talk about what to do when a company has zero interest in hiring anyone. If that post didn’t work for you, we have another way to get closer to the Ace of Cakes—working for Scripps Networks. They’re the parent company behind tv networks that include HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living, and GAC. Unlike Charm City Cakes, Scripps Networks is openly hiring, and a number of their positions seem perfect for new college grads. If your tv is often tuned into one of those stations, then you need to see what Scripps Networks has to offer.

Get a Job in Lifestyle Media

Scripps Networks is all about lifestyle media. You probably could have gathered that yourself from their logo, or from the list of their TV networks. They are a part of the much larger E.W. Scripps Company, which operates in all types of media—newspapers, television, licensing, and spelling bees. Additionally, Scripps Networks is investing a lot in expanding into online media, which obviously makes a lot of sense. While I’ve heard a lot about declining ad sales on television, it seems that Scripps Networks must be doing well. They have a ton of jobs posted, and although their job search function is a bit messed up, you can just click search without entering anything and browse through the openings. You’ll find positions like Ad Sales Assistant (3 positions all in New York City), Ad Sales Marketing Coordinator (NYC), Ad Sales Planner (NYC), SEO/SEM Analyst (Los Angeles), International Business Analyst (NYC), Closed Caption Formatter (Knoxville, TN), Office Coordinator (NYC), Online Marketing Specialist (London, UK), Program Planning Assistant (NYC), Public Relations Coordinator (NYC), Quality Assurance Analyst (Knoxville, TN), and Sales Coordinator (NYC). Lots of jobs, so head over to Scripps Networks’ job search page and start browsing—you can apply online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Which is your favorite of Scripps Networks’ channels?

Delivery Agent

Willy Franzen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:28:05 +0000

Product placement started out as a secret. Companies realized that they could pay to get their products featured in books, television shows, and movies, so they did. And we, the viewers, assumed that these products were included for editorial reasons. At some point we got smart and realized what was going on. It didn’t really change much, but we became a little more skeptical. Now product placement is assumed. If someone is promoting something, you take for granted that they’re getting paid for it. Delivery Agent is a San Franciso based company that realized this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. They’re taking product placement to the next level with a level of integration that we’ve never seen before. They call this “shopping-enabled entertainment.” When you see Dwight Schrute wearing a great looking shirt on The Office—ok, bad example—when you see a beautiful necklace on Gossip Girl, you can go to the show’s website and check out the “Seen On” section for more information how to buy the necklace. There’s also SeenON.com, which aggregates the information from all of Delivery Agent’s clients and makes it easy to “shop by show” or “shop by celeb.”

Become an Agent of Delivery

Delivery Agent is killing it right now. They currently monetize 90% of the Nielsen Primetime Top 50 Shows, and they just closed a $25 million round of financing. Their “Seen On” service is what has been driving most of the attention publicly, but they’re also doing some pretty cool stuff behind the scenes—they’re pushing to convince companies whose products are featured on tv to buy supporting advertising during the show. It’s a brilliant idea. The best part is that they’re already working with the most impressive names in entertainment, which is the biggest challenge a company like this has to overcome. When you can list ABC, CBS, NBC, MTV, FOX, and many more as partners, you’re in a great place to grow your business.

Even cooler is the fact that Delivery Agent has taken product placement and made it more results based than it has ever been before. They’ve also made everyone better off. Viewers can find the products they want. Media companies can more easily monetize their content. And companies with products increase their sales. I’m extremely high on Delivery Agent, and I strongly recommend that you check out their Jobs page. Right now they have quite a few jobs posted, but only a couple are suitable for new grads. These include E-mail Marketing Coordinator and M-Comm Site & Smart Phone App Developer (Contract). You can apply online, so get to it.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Would you buy anything through Delivery Agent’s “Seen On” service?

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?

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?

The Harmony Institute

Willy Franzen — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 14:39:26 +0000

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

The Harmony Institute Will Change You

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about The Harmony Institute?

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?

Sling Media

Willy Franzen — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:07:23 +0000

We’re at a transitional point right now when it comes to television. In some ways it’s easy to watch the shows that we want to see by heading over to Hulu or some other Internet destination, but in many situations we’re still at the mercy of the television networks. We are not yet able to watch what we want to watch when we want to watch it no matter where we are, but that’s quickly changing. San Francisco’s Sling Media is one of the companies that is pushing that change. They’re behind a device, called a Slingbox, that you can hook up to your tv and cable box to watch and control your television from any Internet connected computer or smartphone.

Sling Your Career Forward

The opportunities for use are endless, but here’s one example. I love the Yankees, but in Chicago they’re rarely televised. I can set up a Slingbox in my parents’ house in Connecticut, that will let me watch all of the Yankees games (and whatever other local channels that I want) right on my computer at no cost beyond the hardware investment. It’s a pretty sweet technology, and I can even control a DVR to record the game if I’m not going to be near a computer to watch it. (The other option is to watch it on my iPhone under the table at dinner.) Most of what Sling Media is about right now is the Slingbox, but the company’s main focus is letting you control how you consume media. If that sounds like something that you’d like to be a part of, then you should check out their Jobs page. Current openings that may be suitable for new or recent grads include Sling Retail Sales Associate (San Francisco/Los Angeles), Ad Operations Trafficker/Coordinator (New York City), and Video and Photo Associate (New York City). They also have a bunch of Software Development jobs, but they all appear to have pretty hefty experience requirements. To apply for any of the jobs with Sling Media, send a cover letter and resume to jobs@slingmedia.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use a Slingbox.

America’s Test Kitchen

Willy Franzen — Wed, 06 May 2009 14:34:44 +0000

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

Cooking Up Some Great Jobs

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Hungry yet?

The Knot

Willy Franzen — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:49:01 +0000

As a new or upcoming college grad who is looking for a job, you’re entering a new lifestage. Unfortunately, it’s not a lifestage that The Knot can help you with. They’re a “lifestage media company,” but they focus on major life events related to growing your family – engagements, weddings, and births of first children. These things may seem far off to you, but within a couple years of graduating (if not sooner) you’ll have friends who are getting married and having kids. Eventually you’ll probably do the same, and when you do, there’s a good chance that you’ll come across one or many of The Knot’s media properties. They have a flagship website at TheKnot.com in addition to books, magazines, and tv programs (see all of their brands). People can get pretty crazed when they’re about to enter a new lifestage, which is why The Knot has been so successful in providing media that makes it all a little easier. Too bad they don’t have anything for the job search, but at least we do.

Enter a New Lifestage with The Knot

Whatever lifestage you’re entering, The Knot has something for you. We’re going to focus on the getting a job lifestage. The Knot is based out of New York City with a number of other work locations. They’ve done a really nice job with their Jobs page, and they’ve managed to keep it simple and straightforward. You can browse jobs, read employee testimonials, and check out the benefits without getting confused (or at least you should be able to). They have quite a few jobs listed that appear to be suitable for new grads (the company must be growing pretty well), and they include Accounting Specialist (Omaha, NE), Front End Web Developer (New York, NY), MS SQL Developer (New York, NY), and Software Engineer – Sitecore CMS (New York, NY). There are a number of less techie jobs available, but they require a bit more experience than most new grads have. You can apply for any job at The Knot or even an unlisted position by sending a cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to jobs@theknot.com. Be sure to indicate the title of the job in the subject line or put “general candidacy” to be considered for future positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you familiar with any of The Knot’s brands?

Hulu

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

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

What’s a Hulu?

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite thing to watch on Hulu?

WGBH

Willy Franzen — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 13:08:58 +0000

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

Working at WGBH

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite programming from WGBH?

Sesame Workshop

Willy Franzen — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 12:03:41 +0000

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

Work with Elmo and Big Bird

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you still watch Sesame Street in your dorm room?

MediaVest

Willy Franzen — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:00:11 +0000

Who builds brands? If you asked 10 people in marketing that question, you’d probably get 10 different answers. If you asked someone from MediaVest, he or she would say, “We do!” MediaVest is a marketing and communications firm that works with some of the world’s biggest brands – Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, Continental Airlines, and many more. MediaVest certainly can’t take all of the credit for building those brands, but they can take some of it. MediaVest has seven core competencies, and they are Research, Insights, and Analytics; Strategic Communications Planning; Investment and Activation; Brand-in Entertainment; Digital Connections, Print Investment; and Out of Home. These areas of expertise are all part of MediaVest’s unique process that delivers value to clients.

Vest Yourself in MediaVest

Ok, that all sounds good, but what does it really mean? What does MediaVest really do? They work with the big dogs. Everyone is trying to build a brand, but the game changes when you reach a certain size. I spend every day trying to brand myself and One Day, One Job. I never have a shortage of things to do or areas to invest in because my general brand awareness is pretty low. I have a lot to gain. Companies like Coca-Cola and Procter and Gamble don’t have a lot to gain. They are already at the top of the branding world, but not only do they want to do better, but they must continue to work hard to maintain their brand positions. MediaVest helps the big dogs manage how they appear in different forms of media.

We got a tip from a MediaVest employee that they’re still doing a lot of entry level hiring despite the economic fears, and MediaVest’s Jobs page backs that up. If you’re looking to start a career in media or marketing, MediaVest is a great place to look. It appears that most of their entry level hires are for the
Junior Associate position. There are six types of Junior Associate jobs that they are currently hiring for – Connections, Digital, Activation – National Broadcast, Activation – Local Broadcast, Activation – Print Investment, and Connections Research. There are descriptions for each on the link above, and all of the jobs are located in New York City. Beyond the Junior Associate positions, there are also a few other jobs that aren’t explicitly identified as entry level but that are probably good fits for new college grads. These include Administrative Assistant, Media Planner, Broadcast Negotiator, and Coordinator, Media Research and Analytics. These jobs are also located New York City, and you can apply for any of MediaVest’s open jobs through their online application form.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s the word on MediaVest? Let us know in the comments.

MindShare

Willy Franzen — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:56:34 +0000

When we’re researching companies and looking for great entry-level jobs, we love to look over client lists. You may never have heard of a company, but if brands that you respect are hiring the company, then you know they must be worth considering. For instance, if you saw that a company’s clients included Nike, American Express (we respect them even if their Careers site is horrendous), Volvo, Rolex, Ford, and Playstation, you’d probably be pretty interested in learning about the company’s employment opportunities, right? Well that’s just a small sampling of the companies that entrust their brand and media presence to MindShare.

Understanding Brands, Markets, Media… and Other People

Despite our being hugely impressed with MindShares website and client list, we’re still a little lost on what exactly they do. Maybe that’s because they do a lot as “the global media network.” They say that their “specialist services have been created to respond to market changes and, in some cases, to change the market.” Those offerings include “econometric modelling, research and insights, digital solutions, sports and entertainment sponsorship consultancy, and brand-driven creative campaigns.” These apparently go along with MindShare’s core services, but we can’t seem to figure out what those are. Our best guess at a short description is that MindShare is a marketing consultancy; however, they do a lot of things and have over 6,000 employees so that’s probably a bit narrow (look at all the tags we used for them).

The good news is that MindShare realized that they have a problem. In April they announced a restructuring that will draw together their services offerings “in a simplified framework to deliver a new, comprehensive marketing services offering.” Many companies ignore identity issues because they can coast on reputation. Their customers know who they are, and people in the industry know who they are. It doesn’t present much of a problem, unless you’re trying to hire entry-level talent. A new grad who hits MindShare’s website might be intimidated and inundated with all the information. The content on the site is fantastic, but it’s also a bit overwhelming. We’re glad to see that MindShare is working to present a clearer, more unified message about who they are. What it comes down to is that MindShare is a company that is all about understanding brands, markets, media, and other people, which is really cool, but those of us who aren’t familiar with MindShare need to be able to understand them too.

Share Your Mind

MindShare truly is a global media network, which means that they offer entry-level jobs all across the world. We’re only going to focus specifically on their opportunities in North America, but new college grads who want to see the world should look at MindShare’s career offerings in Europe / Middle East / Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America.

MindShare does a great job of listing what experience is needed for jobs, and whether or not a position is well suited to a new college grad. Positions that are listed as entry-level include Assistant Media Planner, Assistant, National TV, Assistant Media Planner – MindShare Interaction, and Financial Associate. There is also an Emerging Media Specialist job that doesn’t say it’s entry-level, but doesn’t say it requires experience either. We’d imagine that a new grad who is a social media guru would be perfect for the job. All of these positions are available in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City except the Financial Associate position which is NYC only. To apply send a cover letter and resume to hr.chicago@mindshareworld.com for Chicago, la.careers@mindshareworld.com for Los Angeles, and mindshare.recruitment@mindshareworld.com for New York and all other locations. MindShare looks like a really cool company to work for, so they’re definitely worth a little more research.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Know anything about working at MindShare? Leave a comment.

PostWorks

Willy Franzen — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:26:07 +0000

Finally, we’re talking about entry-level jobs in show business. Bright lights. Movie and television stars. Glitz and glamour. Not so fast! PostWorks (and Orbit Digital, their sister company) may be in the entertainment industry, but everything that they do is behind the scenes. Since they specialize in post production work, they’re not even on the wrong end of the camera, they’re nowhere near it (until the film needs to be unloaded and processed, that is). In the end, though, it’s all worth it, right? You get to be that guy or girl who sits in the movie theater until the bitter end, just to see your name in the credits.

We Have No Idea What We’re Talking About

First of all, we’re totally out of depth when it comes to what PostWorks does. We’re going to do our best to get the point across, but we’re not movie people, so feel free to correct anything that needs to be corrected by leaving a comment. PostWorks is a full service post production company, so once the film has been shot, they are fully equipped to take a project all the way through to final delivery. They offer a full range of services, the most impressive of which has to be 24/7/365 Technical Support and Engineering. Apparently, PostWorks never stops working, but don’t let that scare you off.

At One Day, One Job we’re not really movie buffs or tv junkies, we’re just job searching couch potatoes. That means we’re not very good judges of what makes an impressive post production company. We’ll leave that determination up to you; however, we have found a few things that you should look at when evaluating PostWorks as a potential employer. There’s their reels and credits on their own website. There’s also PostWorks’ credits on IMDB and Orbit Digital’s credits on IMDB

How Entry-Level Do You Want to Get?

At the very least PostWorks has a cool office, so we think it’s definitely worth taking a look at their job listings. Since we’re not familiar with industry terminology or hiring patterns, we had some trouble determining which jobs were best suited to new college grads. We picked out the ones with the most entry-level descriptions, but we might have missed something that is perfect for you, so be sure to look at all of the listings. We’re going to work our way up through the ranks, so if you have no relevant education or experience and are just trying to get your foot in the door, you might want to consider a position as a Runner / Shipping Assistant or a Scheduler. Both of these listings state no need for industry knowledge, but might give you the exposure that you need to move towards a role in post production.

For Those Who Have Seen a Movie Before

There are then Production Assistant / Client Services jobs, which are perfect for someone who is aiming for a job as an assistant editor, digital media coordinator, coordinating producers, or AVID Tech. Finally, there are jobs as a Junior Producer / Coordinator. We can’t really tell if these are actually entry-level, but the job listing talks about how this position allows for significant growth, while failing to mention any need for previous work experience. All of the jobs that we’ve mentioned are in the New York, NY office; however, PostWorks does have a Los Angeles, CA office that also hires occasionally.

What e-mail address you should apply to changes depending on the position, so take note of which e-mail address goes with which job if you’re looking at multiple listings. PostWorks also offers the opportunity to send in a resume for general consideration so send a resume and cover letter to job@postworks.com for jobs in their New York facilities and jobs@postworksla.com for jobs in their Los Angeles facilities if none of the listed positions speak to you.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Looking for an internship in post production? PostWorks has those too!

Current

Willy Franzen — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 13:00:27 +0000

When we first heard about Current, all we knew was that we didn’t get it. To clarify – not only did our cable provider not offer the Current tv channel, but we also didn’t understand what Current was all about. We did realize that Current was targeted towards young people and had a wealth of job openings, so we knew that we had to keep digging. Our research led us to a great article about Current on ReadWriteWeb which helped us get a better understanding of Current’s market positioning and reason for existence – being the place where the Internet meets television. It makes sense; just looking at Google Trends you can see how much television watching drives searches on the Internet. In fact, there’s a good chance that you’re reading this while watching tv – which reminds us, we’re still working on that article about job searching while watching the boob tube. Anyways, Current has 24/7 programming that relies on user-generated content and tight integration with their website. We’d tell you more, but we haven’t been able to tune in – our cable only goes up to channel 95.

To be honest, Current is one of those companies that we’re still a little skeptical about – they were founded by Mr. ManBearPig himself, Al Gore. We’re super serial! We’re also a little curious about the financials behind the IPO that they filed for. Despite our concerns, Current is a company that is all about young people (even if it’s run by old fogies), and they even won an Emmy, so we’re going to say take a look at their jobs, but proceed with caution. We like what Current is doing, and it seems like they’re having success, but we’d hate to see you get a new job, only to have your company end up in the deadpool 3 months later. Maybe our outlook would be different if we’d had a chance to watch some Current programming. If you’ve watched Current, let us know what you think about them in the comments section.

Ok, we’re done being Debbie Downer. The reason we’re so interested in Current is that they have a ton of jobs and other employment opportunities for new college grads. It’d be silly if they didn’t, considering their target demographic. Many of these jobs aren’t by definition entry-level, but the experience they require is something that many college students could have. Here are the entry-level jobs at Current that we found for you:

Programming & Production: Junior Designer – Broadcast Design Dept, Editor – Wraps, Media Coordinator, Newspod Producer/Editor, Newspod Producer, Scheduling Coordinator, and Production Assistant (Temporary)- Current Fix

Current Technology Group: Broadcast Engineer- LA Studio and Post Production Engineer / Compression Specialist

Sales & Marketing: Digital Analyst

Online: Web API/ Widget Developer, Flash Developer, Front End Developer, Web Designer, and Online Outreach Coordinator

For those who are trying to get in on the production side, your best bet is to “upload a VC2 pod.” If Current likes what they see, there’s a good chance they might want to add you to their team. It’s happened before. And if none of the jobs that we’ve listed are your jam, then you can “hit jobs@current.tv with your resume.”

Note: On April 25th we revisited entry-level jobs at Current.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Looking for an internship? It’s your lucky day, we featured Current on One Day, One Internship.

ESPN

Willy Franzen — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 13:00:12 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other: Affiliate Marketing Coordinator and Promotions Coordinator

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

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

Good luck! Now go research.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

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

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

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

Fox News

Willy Franzen — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:00:09 +0000

We report, you decide. The #1 name in cable news. For those who aren’t familiar with these slogans, we’re talking about Fox News. We know people tend to love or hate Fox, often dependent on political views. We’re not trying to get involved in any controversy, we’re just trying to tell you where great opportunities for new college grads are. To this date our post on entry-level jobs at CNN has been our most popular. Obviously there are a lot of people interested in journalism, television, and production, and Fox News has a multitude of entry-level opportunities in these fields.

Fox News doesn’t appear to have a careers site, they just have a page (in the same format as their news stories) with a list of job openings and descriptions. Opportunities are divided into three sections: FoxNews.com, Fox News Channel, and Fox News Radio. The job descriptions are short, clear, and to the point. They don’t do a great job of selling the reader on working for Fox News, but they get the point across about who should apply. In regards to the jobs that are appropriate for new college grads, they explicitly state what kind of experience they want. Many of the jobs require a Bachelor’s Degree and internship experience. That’s what we’re talking about!

Here are the jobs that we think you should take a closer look at:

FoxNews.com: Web Producer – Viewer Services, Web Show Page Producer, Senior Web Designer, Account Coordinator – Digital Media Sales, Ad Traffic Coordinator, Quality Assurance Analyst (User Feedback)

Fox News Channel: Junior Payroll Coordinator, Junior Accountant, Junior Financial Analyst, Newsgathering Producer – Business News, Digital Business Development Coordinator – Internet, Freelance Crawl Writer, Freelance Researcher – Part-Time, Freelance Camera Operator

Fox News Radio: Overnight Production Assistant – Fox News Radio

After you take a look at the job descriptions, you can apply by sending a resume and cover letter to:

FOX News Channel
Dept. of Human Resources
1211 Avenue of the Americas
2nd floor
New York, NY 10036

Fax: 212-301-8588
Email: Resumes@FOXNews.com

We would like to see more career related information than just job listings, but we’re impressed that Fox News has so many jobs at the entry-level and that they’re so straightforward about what experience is needed for each job.

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What are your favorite posts on One Day, One Job? What would you like to see more of?

Associated Press

Willy Franzen — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:00:27 +0000

On Tuesday we talked about becoming a blogger and sneaking into the journalism profession through the back door, but today we’re going to talk about the “legit route.” The Associated Press is world’s largest and oldest news-gathering organization, and for that reason it’s probably one of the most respected names in journalism.

Technically, the AP is a not-for-profit cooperative. So, you might be saying, “stick these guys with the other non-profits on the weekends!” Since the cooperative is owned by the contributing newspapers, radio stations, and television stations, we think we’ve put the AP and its entry-level jobs in the right place.

Basically, the AP is the news. Go pick up a newspaper and see how many times they get the byline. So if you want to get into any type of journalism, there is no better place that the Associated Press. Wikipedia does a much better job of telling the AP’s history, so we’ll send you there for that and get right down to jobs.

We love-love-love the way the Associated Press’ jobs landing page (before you get on their careers site) breaks down their opportunities. For Students… For Word People… For Picture People… For Graphics People… For Radio People… For Television People… For Online People… For Technology People… For Sales People… For Administrative People… Each has a description about the opportunities for the specified types of people. It manages to be extremely inviting to all job seekers, while at the same time delivering a tailored message to 10 different audiences (but seriously, who considers himself administrative?). The one unfortunate thing is that these descriptions don’t have a link to a page with specific opportunities for each. That would be an absolutely killer implementation. AP are you listening?

From the landing page, we headed to the AP’s main careers site, which struck fear in our hearts. After such a welcoming intro, we were faced with the ugliness of having to register to search their job opportunities… or so we thought. We actually found a tiny little link that will allow you to search jobs - there’s no need to register unless you want to apply. From there you can show all jobs and be on your merry way…

Or you can just go straight to the entry-level friendly jobs that we hand picked for our wonderful, soon to be college graduate readers. If you’re into Technology, take a look at the openings for Business Product Analyst, Order Processing Specialist, Taxonomy Developer, and Tier 1 Product Support Specialist. For techies with great communications skills, there’s a job as the Intranet Manager. And the future journalists in the group will be happy to see jobs such as APTN Newsperson, Online Video Network Product Specialist, and Medical/Science Writer. These jobs are in a variety of big city locations, but the majority are in New York City.

We have a feeling that many of the more news-y jobs at the Associated Press are actually at the local bureaus. So, if you’ve figured out where you want to live after graduation, you can use the AP contact page to inquire about job opportunities at any of the local bureaus. If you can’t figure out where you want to live, why not try contacting them all? Report back in the comments section about which bureaus have entry-level openings and help your fellow job searchers.

Note: On April 23rd we revisited entry-level jobs at the Associated Press.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think is the better way into journalism? A first job at the Associated Press? Blogging on your own? Or a combination of the two?

The Weather Channel

Willy Franzen — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:00:25 +0000

Here at the One Day, One Job headquarters, we’re hunkering down in preparation for a Nor’easter that is about to drop snow on us like Paula Dean drops another stick of butter into one of her recipes. Of course there are no snow days in the blogosphere, so we figured we’d go with what Mother Nature gives us and discuss entry-level job opportunities at The Weather Channel.

We probably don’t need to tell you what The Weather Channel does; however, you might find it interesting that they have 3 separate business units – The Weather Channel, TWC Interactive (their online and wireless presence) and TWC Media (their advertising sales division). Whether you’re a weather junkie or fascinated by media, TWC definitely has some opportunities that will raise your dew point.

As soon as The Weather Channel’s Careers site loads, you’ll probably be annoyed. They thought it would be nice to greet you with music, but you’ll probably want to turn it off by scrolling down to the lower right-hand corner of the page. After that’s out of the way, you’ll see their Flash interface, which looks nice, but leaves us unable to link out to individual pages. With no links, we’ll just tell you a few things to look out for: the Top 10 Reasons You’ll Love Working at The Weather Channel, information on their Green Initiative, a letter from their President regarding diversity, and a full list of benefits and perks. It should be pretty easy to find what you need.

We’re not sure what was more disappointing, the lack of usability on The Weather Channel’s job postings or the fact that you can’t just jump in at the entry-level and become a tv meteorologist. Their applicant tracking system – even though it’s not in Flash – won’t let us link to individual jobs. Even worse, there’s no search feature and TWC’s choice of job titles pretty much sucks. Figuring out which jobs are appropriate for a new college grad requires browsing through each position and scanning for required experience. Lucky for you, we are going to highlight a few (not all) of the most interesting jobs that appear to be entry-level appropriate.

If you want to be a TV Meteorologist or an Editor, you’re probably out of luck – they want 3 years’ experience (but don’t let that keep you from trying). Instead, apply to be a Radio Broadcast Meteorologist or a Production Assistant, since these are entry-level friendly positions that will put you on the career path towards being a part of bigger things at The Weather Channel. Speaking of big things, did you know that TWC has a top 10 cable channel, a top 10 website, and a top 3 mobile site? That means that beyond getting the weather right and delivering your daily forecasts, they need to leverage their popularity through advertising. That’s why there are quite a few positions like Campaign Specialist (no, you won’t be predicting the weather for Obama’s travel plans) and Sales Associate (why do they give their employees the same title as someone who works a cash register?). These advertising-related jobs feed directly into The Weather Channel’s bottom line, which means you’re just as important as the weather guy. If you love the weather, but didn’t study meteorology, these jobs are probably more approachable and realistic for you to apply for.

Most of The Weather Channel’s job offerings are based out of their Atlanta, GA headquarters, but there are a few that are in other offices like New York, Chicago, or Detroit. And for those of you who always wanted to be a star, remember back to the Boy Meets World episode where Eric Matthews fills in for a no-show weatherman. If there is a flu outbreak in The Weather Channel office, maybe they’ll put you on camera after the 12 people in front of you for weatherman succession go down ill – even if you’re in advertising.

Note: On April 23rd we revisited entry-level jobs at The Weather Channel.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s the weather doing where are you?

CNN

Willy Franzen — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:00:26 +0000

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

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

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

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

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

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

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