One Day, One Job » trends

Fanzter

Willy Franzen — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:38:20 +0000

One thing that I find really exciting is the fact that there are cool startups popping up all across the country. Yes, Silicon Valley and the Pacific Northwest are still the primary places for technology focused companies to open up shop, but that’s becoming less and less true. That’s why I was intrigued by Fanzter—they’re web products company based in Collinsville, CT. Considering the fact that I’m from Connecticut and have never heard of Collinsville (it’s near Hartford), you have to consider it an unusual location for a startup (they would tell you it’s optimally located between Boston and New York City). Fanzter’s first (and only current) product is called Coolspotters. It’s a website that “makes it easy to discover and buy the products, brands, and fashions being used by your favorite celebrities – in their real lives, and in movies and television.” It reminds me a lot of what Delivery Agent is doing.

Spot These Cool Jobs

The business behind Coolspotters is pretty clear—their content can flow seamlessly into e-commerce. Coolspotters relies heavily on user-generated content, so the site can grow organically on it’s own. To get a feel for Coolspotters, let’s take a look at Joba Chamberlain (go Yankees!). His profile page will show you products that he’s been spotted with including a picture of him with the product. I see a picture of Joba playing Guitar Hero, and then I can go buy my own Guitar Hero. There are still a lot of kinks to be worked out on Coolspotters’ site (like having Mariano Rivera’s picture for C.C. Sabathia), but the concept is there and so is the funding. Right now, Fanzter’s Jobs page only has one position posted: Software Engineer, which is focused mostly on Web Development. The job is to build a new site called SimpleSports, so you have to love sports to be a good fit for the job. You might also want to note that Fanzter is offering Editorial Internships, so there’s the potential for some non techie jobs in the future (or maybe now if you want to try cold calling). You can apply for a job with Fanzter by sending a cover letter and résumé to jobs@fanzter.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Coolspotters?

DailyCandy

Willy Franzen — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:53:42 +0000

Since we launched, we’ve wanted to do a post on entry-level jobs at DailyCandy. We’ve been waiting for them to post something appropriate, and they finally have! The timing is perfect, since we just got some inside info on DailyCandy’s Fall internships, which we’ve posted about on One Day, One Internship. Daily Candy has extremely talented copywriters copywriters, so we’re going to use their words to tell you what they’re all about.

DailyCandy, a free, daily e-mail newsletter and website, is the insider’s guide to what’s hot, new, and undiscovered — from fashion and style to gadgets, travel, beauty, and more. As useful as it is entertaining, it’s like getting an e-mail from your clever, unpredictable, and totally in-the-know best friend. The one who knows about secret beauty treatments, must-have jeans, hot new restaurants — and always shares the scoop. DailyCandy is the creation of journalist Dany Levy, who, in 2000, found herself frustrated by the limits of magazine lead times. She developed a new, immediate way to share information while it was still fresh and actionable with an affluent, influential female audience.

DailyCandy is Sweet for Marketers Too

DailyCandy is not only a phenomenal resource for savvy women, it’s also a marketer’s dream come true. DailyCandy has 2.6 million e-mail subscribers, and the majority of those subscribers come from a very valuable demographic. The stats on their subscribers are amazing – 95% are female, 64% are under 35, 92% have at least a college degree, and the median household income is $75,000. Can you say targeting? Even more impressive is that 96% of DailyCandy subscribers read their e-mails every day or almost every day, 63% forward articles to friends, and 66% bought something that they read about in DailyCandy. Those are some amazing numbers, and they have a lot to do with why Comcast has apparently shelled out $125 million for DailyCandy.

We won’t deny it, DailyCandy is our role model. What they’ve done with Fashion, Beauty & Fitness, Lifestyle, House & Home, Food & Drink, Travel, and Arts & Culture is what we are trying to do with entry-level jobs (and internships on One Day, One Internship). No, we don’t think that we’ll sell for $125 million, but we’re in love with their business model.

If You Like Our Daily Jobs, You’ll Love Working at DailyCandy

We’ve been watching the DailyCandy Jobs page like a hawk for many months. We’ve waited and waited for something that could be considered entry-level to be posted. Last week we saw that DailyCandy is looking for an Ad Traffic Coordinator in New York City. The job description says that they want someone with one year of work experience in advertising trafficking, but that screams entry-level to us. There are some pretty specific requirements and qualifications, but they don’t seem to be anything that a new grad couldn’t handle. The good news is that the job description is really comprehensive, so you should have a good idea if it’s something that you should apply for. If it is, send a cover letter and resume to prodjobs@dailycandy.com.

DailyCandy also has job openings for an Account Executive in Detroit and an Advertising Production Manager in NYC, but both of these jobs require 3 years of experience – something to aspire to. DailyCandy is an amazing company, and from what we hear they’re a lot of fun to work for. They don’t post entry-level opportunities very often, so jump on this while it’s still available!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you subscribe to DailyCandy? Do you love it? 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.

Trendstop

Willy Franzen — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:29:31 +0000

What you wear is important. Whether it’s for a job interview or your first day of work, there’s no debating that your appearance is essential to your success. It may not be fair, and it often isn’t legal, but it’s true. For many it’s enough trouble just to wear something appropriate, but for others being trendy is extremely important. They want to give the impression that they are at the cutting edge of what’s cool. It takes a lot of work for an individual to keep up with the latest trends (unless you sign up for trend alerts, of course). Now, imagine being responsible for putting out an entire line of trendy clothes. Many companies can’t do this on their own, that’s why they sign up for Trendstop, a fashion forecasting and trend watching service.

What’s Trendy in Trend Watching?

Trendstop specializes in trend analysis with a focus on color trends, fabric trends, trend silhouettes, store window trends, street fashion trends, runway trends, and fast fashion trends. Designers, manufacturers, retailers, and consultants all use the information provided by Trendstop to make key business decisions. Whether it’s what to make or what to buy, people in the fashion industry need to be in touch with what’s next. Trendstop is one of the best in the industry when it comes to providing this up to date information. How do we know? We’re not fashionistas, but we trust Infomat’s list of top trend forecasting services, which gave Trendstop an A+ rating.

Trend Spot for Trendstop

It’s only four words, but that’s quite a tongue twister! Trendstop doesn’t appear to be hiring for full-time positions in their London office, but they do have a number of part-time and freelance jobs available. Opportunities that are currently listed on their website include: Global Trend Spotters, New Business / Account Manager, Menswear Retail Reporter, Fashion Writers, and CAD Designer (Garments, Artwork). Only two of these jobs are linked to descriptions, so it’s hard to get a read on what qualifications are necessary for the jobs. We can say that we’re pretty sure that the New Business / Account Manager opportunity is reserved for people with experience in Account Management.

We’re not sure what the logistics are of working for Trendstop since they’re located in the UK (and most of our readers are US students). We do know that the Global Trend Spotter jobs are freelance positions that are available in Milan, Los Angeles, Moscow, Antwerp, Barcelona, Berlin and New York. We would imagine that the Menswear Retail Reporter and Fashion Writer jobs are also freelance positions, but we could be wrong about that. Your best bet is probably to contact Trendstop yourself and see what they’re looking for in each of these positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Want to keep up with the trends in entry-level employment? Subscribe.

Thrillist

Willy Franzen — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:00:29 +0000

The word in the chat rooms (psyche, chat rooms are so 90’s) is that the latest trend in trend watching is the daily e-mail list. For the ladies there’s Daily Candy. For the dudes there’s Thrillist. And for the college seniors there’s One Day, One Job (yes, we have an e-mail list, and clicking that link will allow you to subscribe). It doesn’t get any easier than having other people do the hard work of trend hunting, while you sit back and read about their newest finds in your e-mail. Why pay attention when you can have people on the Internet tell you what’s hot and what’s not?

In case you’ve spent too much time in the library (or drinking), we’ll get you up to speed on why trend watching is big business. Daily Candy didn’t invent e-mail lists, but they put them to use like nobody had before. By focusing on a couple major urban centers and the wealthy women who stalk them for the best new ways to consume conspicuously, Daily Candy found itself a market of net savvy readers with a crazy amount of buying power. Advertisers like that. A lot. By adhering to a strict editorial policy (this links to Thrillist’s, because that’s whom we’re really talking about, despite a few paragraphs on Daily Candy) and only talking about what they like, Daily Candy is trusted by millions (yes, millions) of daily readers. Advertisers like this even more. They may not be able to buy themselves a review, but they can buy advertising that is inevitably linked to Daily Candy’s brand. And that’s how Daily Candy ended up with a valuation in the 9-figures.

Daily Candy will tell you that they have plenty of male readers, but it’s definitely not their target demographic. Thrillist, and a few other competitors, have picked up where Daily Candy dropped the ball and catered to manly men who want to read about things like babes, baseball, and bacon. There’s not much more to what they do, so if you want to entirely grasp what Thrillist is about, look through their vault (archive) and subscribe. If you’re really dying for more info, we did find these interviews with Thrillist founders (here and here), as well as some posts at Gawker about the daily e-mail for men.

Now, we’re not hiring yet, and Daily Candy doesn’t have any entry-level jobs at the moment (we check often), but Thrillist has one, possibly two, great jobs for our trend watching readers. They’re looking for a Marketing Coordinator/Design Assistant. This is a job that is tailor-made for new college graduates. You’ll be responsible for increasing brand awareness, helping Thrillist to draw more subscribers, and taking care of the little design-related issues that make Thrillist’s message come across more effectively. They want someone who can juggle 25 balls at once, so it will probably be intense, but not like juggling chainsaws or flaming knives. Their jobs page says to send a cover letter, resume, work sample, and salary requirements to jw@thrillist.com.

There’s also a position as an Advertising Sales Executive open. This is definitely not an entry-level job, so, unless you managed advertising for a major campus daily, or were doing some serious moonlighting from your dorm room, you probably won’t cut it. They want someone with experience in media planning or online sales who has a legit contact list that will help make deals happen. We almost didn’t mention it, but we thought the job description left the door open just enough to appeal to a few of our readers.

If either of these jobs is remotely interesting to you, why not apply? We’d be shocked if Thrillist wasn’t a fun place to work with a ton of weird perks.

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you have any favorite daily e-mail lists that you want to tell us about? The comments section is a perfect place to do that.

The Doneger Group

Willy Franzen — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:00:21 +0000

Every day we try to keep our eye on the trends in entry-level employment. We search Google, read magazines, and talk to recent college graduates about their job experiences, in hopes of finding new companies and growing industries to tell you about. We want to give you job ideas that you’ve never even considered before. Take our posts as inspiration to expand your job search beyond the companies that your Mom wants you work for.

We first heard about The Doneger Group in a CNN Money article on jobs in fashion trend forecasting. Unfortunately, the article spelled the name wrong (Donegar), and we spent quite a bit of time trying to find their website (goes to show you how a small error on someone else’s part can derail your job search). But we were persistent, and eventually found The Doneger Group Home Page.

While we’ve only been watching employment trends since May, the Doneger Group has been in the fashion trend forecasting business for 60 years. This is an interesting field because it requires the analytical skills of a high powered consulting firm but is subject to the whims of fashion. Through industry experience and excellent research capabilities, Doneger is able to consistently aid their clients in making smart business decisions about an unpredictable industry.

As excited as we were to finally find their web site, we were even more pleased to find that Doneger is hiring a Trend Sales Representative. This is a Sales position that requires 2 years of relevant experience, but if you’re right for the job you will be able to sell them on the fact that you can do the job extremely well without the 2 years’ experience. Fashion trend forecasting is an industry where getting your foot in the door can be difficult. You need to be aggressive about applying for jobs, even if they aren’t explicitly entry-level. Speaking of being aggressive in your job search – Doneger’s executives have their contact information listed on the web. Use that information however you see fit. You can submit your resume for the Trend Sales Representative position to hr@doneger.com.

Note: On April 22nd we revisited entry-level jobs at The Doneger Group.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Being that we are almost as good at spotting trends as The Doneger Group, we know that the Nintendo Wii is the hottest gift this holiday season. People are spending half a day waiting in line for one. Why do that when you can win one in our Find a Job, Win a Wii contest? And to clarify, you don’t need to find a job to win, but we will try to help you do both.

Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter and leave a comment and you’re already on your way to winning a Wii.

Iconoculture

Willy Franzen — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:00:49 +0000

Whether you set trends, follow them, or watch them, every day you have insights and experiences that have the potential to help companies increase their bottom lines. Iconoculture is a company that will allow you to put your daily observations to work, because it is in the business of providing cutting-edge consumer research to its clients. To get a better sense of Iconoculture as a company, check out this video or visit their home page. Iconoculture’s website is packed with information for those interested in consumer research. So what about jobs at Iconoculture?

If you are currently living abroad or plan to live abroad in the near future, are fluent in the native language and culture, and have a background in social science (Bachelors degree at least), Iconoculture may have an interesting job for you as a “Cultural Fluent.” Positions are currently available in Brazil, Russia, China, Korea, India, Australia, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Indonesia, and Canada. A “Cultural Fluent” is a contractor (6 month minimum commitment) hired by Iconoculture to keep his or her fingers on the pulse of the culture they live in. By learning and then applying Iconoculture’s proprietary observational methodology and framework to your daily interactions, you will be able to identify emerging consumer trends to help Iconoculture better serve its clients. Being a “Cultural Fluent” is not a full-time job, but it is an opportunity for a well-organized individual to set his or her own hours, get a start in consumer research, and deepen his or her cultural experiences.

Iconoculture also has Global Producer and Graphic Designer positions that appear to be appropriate for some entry-level applicants. If you’re not already sold on why Iconoculture looks like a cool place to work, you should note that they were named to Inc. Magazines’ 500 Fastest Growing Privately Held Companies with a 1,205.2% 3-year revenue growth rate ($12.1 million in revenue last year). They have 105 employees and are located in Minneapolis, MN.

Iconoculture is a company that provides really exciting work. Although they don’t currently have a wealth of jobs for new college graduates, I’d recommend that you keep watching their list of job openings. Even better, subscribe to their RSS feed of job openings. Also be sure to look over their Careers page for information on their corporate culture and benefits.

If you like what you’ve heard so far, start doing some research on Iconoculture and see if it looks like a good place to begin your career.

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

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

If you know anything about what it’s like to work at Iconoculture, please share what you know in the comments.