Believe it or not, I started thinking about retirement right after I graduated college. No, I didn’t win the lottery or have a big entrepreneurial success. I started investing and contributing to my IRA. It was a good way to stay productive and get ready to be an adult. If you start thinking about retirement in your early or mid 20s, you’re likely going to be in great shape 40 years down the line. Unfortunately, many people don’t plan that far ahead, so they end up needing help much later in life—and often they don’t have access to good advice once they realize that they need it. Financial Engines is trying to change that. It all started with Bill Sharpe, who won the 1990 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. By combining “Bill’s pioneering investment methodology with proprietary technology” Fiancial Engines is able “to provide all investors with cost-effective, expert advice and management—the kind previously available only to the world’s largest institutional investors.” Financial Engines, which is based in Palo Alto, CA with offices in Boston, MA and Phoenix, AZ, partners with both retirement plan providers and large employers to offer their services and change the way that people get retirement help. Continue reading about Financial Engines…
We’re in an election year, and it’s a key one (is it ever not?). If you’re not already sick of political ads, you better get ready to be bombarded with misinformation. Politicians spend a huge amount of money trying to convince you that they’ll fix all of our society’s problems (and that their opponents are evil and hate children—seriously I saw an ad in Illinois that said that), yet the facts about every politician are out there and easy to find. A big part of the reason why is Project Vote Smart, a non-profit organization based on a ranch in Philipsburg, Montana. According to Wikipedia Project Vote Smart was founded in 1992 by “40 national leaders, including Barry Goldwater, John McCain, former U.S. Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter.” PVS calls itself “The Voter’s Self-Defense System,” as it operates with the goal of collecting and distributing information about U.S. political candidates in a non-partisan way. They want voters to be able to make informed decisions based on personal values, regardless of what they may be, not political hyperbole. Continue reading about Project Vote Smart…
Not many of the companies on Fast Company’s list of “The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies” are non-profit, and not many non-profits generate over $1 billion in annual revenue, but MITRE fits both criteria. I know that many of you want to see fewer technical internships, but I’ve also noticed that most of the non-profit internships that we feature on weekends aren’t very technical. MITRE, which has headquarters in Bedford, MA and McLean, VA offers an exception. They are an “organization chartered to work in the public interest” through “expertise in systems engineering, information technology, operational concepts, and enterprise modernization.” They do this work through “four Federally Funded Research and Development Centers,” with one focused on the Department of Defense, one on the Federal Aviation Administration, one on the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, and one for the Department of Homeland Security. Continue reading about MITRE…
I’ve never found a use for start pages and portals. Until Safari came out with a feature that allowed me to view a dozen of my most visited sties at a glance, I just set a blank page as my home page. However, I realize that many people have very different web browsing habits, and a lot of people find start pages really useful. One company that is trying to update the start page by making it social is ZooLoo. They’re a Phoenix, AZ based startup that, despite an unfortunate name that sounds like a bathroom at a wildlife park, is trying to own the market for customizable start pages. They’re competing with behemoths like Google and Facebook to be your home page, but they do have an advantage in that they’re laser focused on start pages and only start pages. They think if they can own that market, they can deliver lots of relevant advertising and make lots of money. Continue reading about ZooLoo…
One essential part of launching your career 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 succeed in an internship. Beyond that, the gym provides a good break from work 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 career—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.” Continue reading about Athletes’ Performance…
Today is the last day to enter our Maghound Your Way to a New Job contest. With so few entries so far, there’s an excellent chance that you’ll win a one-year subscription to an awesome new magazine subscription service (3 monthly magazines for free!).
I’m still on my Inc. 5000 kick, and today we’re looking at a company whose name immediately caught my eye. They’re called College Hunks Hauling Junk, and that’s exactly what they are. Omar Soliman wanted to make some money during the summer, so he borrowed his mom’s cargo van to start hauling away people’s junk. He then entered his business plan in the Rothschild Entrepreneurship Competition and won the $10,000 first prize. He realized that he had a business that he could grow, and now College Hunks Hauling Junk is doing $2.9 million in revenue. Guess that’s why Omar and his co-founder Nick were named (also by Inc.) as Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30. College Hunks Hauling Junk is headquartered in Tampa, FL, but through expansion and franchising they now operate in Anne Arundel, MD; Baltimore/Howard County, MD; Chicago, IL; Cincinnati, OH; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Detroit, MI; Indianapolis, IN; Little Rock, AR; Los Angeles, CA; Louisville, KY; Orange County, CA; Orlando, FL; Phoenix, AZ; Raleigh-Durham, NC; Richmond, VA; San Francisco/San Jose, CA; Tampa Bay, FL; and Washington, DC Metro. Continue reading about College Hunks Hauling Junk…
At some point during my Junior year in college (by the way I’m back at Cornell for the weekend), I got the bright idea that I could wear slippers as shoes. These weren’t flimsy slippers, these were sturdy leather ones with shearling lining. They were made by Orvis (where I interned and had an awesome 50% employee discount), and they were great. I loved sitting in class knowing that my feet were more comfortable than everybody else’s. Then I came back from Thanksgiving break. I was admiring the Christmas lights that my roommates had adorned our otherwise aesthetically unpleasing house with, and I slipped. See, my slippers had flat rubber soles. My feet came out from under me as I fell down a muddy slope. My right hand came down hard on the sidewalk, and I had a broken wrist. I gave up wearing slippers for a while, but when my Mom bought me a pair of UGG slippers with proper soles, I reverted. Now UGG slippers are my go to shoes during the winter, and I’m a huge fan of Deckers Outdoor Corporation. They’re the company behind UGG, Simple, Teva (is it Tee-va or Tevv-a?), Tsubo, and Deckers, and they’re headquartered in Goleta, CA with a location in Flagstaff, AZ as well. Continue reading about Deckers Outdoor Corporation…
Although people mostly associate St. Patrick’s Day with drinking (it’s really supposed to be a feast), I like to think of it in terms of searching for something good. Just think – there’s the four leaf clover, and the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, and… ok that’s it. Well, you can also use St. Patrick’s Day as motivation for your internship search. That’s why we’re looking at Phoenix, AZ based Shamrock Foods today. They not only fit in with the theme of the day, but they also fit in perfectly with the article that we published yesterday on anticipating internship postings. So, let’s feast on Shamrock Foods and see if they have any internship opportunities. Continue reading about Shamrock Foods…
I love Apple products, and I have for almost 20 years. My first computer was an Apple IIe, and now One Day, One Internship, One Day, One Job, and Found Your Career are all run from a MacBook Pro and an iPhone (ok, we have a server that is not a Mac). I’m constantly amazed by the innovation that comes out of Apple, and I’m probably unreasonable about how much I prefer Apple products. I mean, I sit in front of my computer and watch live blog updates whenever they’re making product announcements. In my mind there’s no cooler company than Apple, so it’s surprising that it took me this long to feature their internships. Continue reading about Apple…
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. Although it may seem ridiculously early, now is the time to start thinking about your Summer plans if you want to intern with Major League Baseball. It’s pretty obvious that there is a lot of demand for these internships, so you need to make sure that you’re on the ball and beat all of the deadlines. Continue reading about Major League Baseball…
Artists and record labels are starting to realize that live music is a great way to stay profitable. Although the digital download business is seeing amazing growth, the idea that people should pay for songs has pretty much gone out the window. If you can fill up a venue with adoring fans (who paid an arm and a leg for tickets) and sell them t-shirts, posters, and whatever else people buy at concerts, you can still make a lot of money. If this trend continues Live Nation should be primed for success, they have the “most live concerts, music venues and festivals in the world and the most comprehensive concert search engine on the web.” Continue reading about Live Nation…
John James Audubon loved painting birds. His seminal work, Birds of America, was a collection of 435 beautiful life-size prints. To this day, when you hear the name Audubon, you think of birds. Interestingly enough, John James Audubon had no direct involvement with the founding of the National Audubon Society. Audubon’s widow, Lucy, tutored a man named George Bird Grinnell and some of Audubon’s love of birds must have rubbed off, as Grinnell was one of the Audubon Society’s founders. To this day, the Audubon Society persists in its mission “to conserve and restore natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.” The Audubon Society works to achieve this mission through a national network of community-based nature centers and chapters and scientific, educational, and advocacy programs. Continue reading about National Audubon Society…
I’ve been known to give people a hard time for buying Fiji Water, but then to drink it myself. I drink a lot of water, and Fiji Water is some of the best, but it seems crazy to have water shipped half way around the world when we have some of the world’s best drinking water sitting in our toilets (and coming out of our faucets too). Still, there’s something to be said for enjoying the luxury of sipping water that comes from an artesian well at the edge of a primitive rain forest. If you’re going to drink bottled water, it might as well come from Fiji. It might be as close as you’ll ever get to the place. Continue reading about Fiji Water…
Do you love fashion? Do you enjoy being around beautiful people? Are you trying to date a model? These are all reasons that you might want to intern for Ford Models. Some of these reasons are more legitimate than others, but from what we gather, you need to be really serious about the modeling industry to land an internship with Ford Models. Competition is fierce for the limited spots they have, and finding information on how to land an internship with Ford Models is pretty tough. We’ve done a bunch of research, and we think we’ve got most of the details figured out. So if you’re ready to give up that dream of being a model yourself, then maybe interning at a modeling agency will be what you need to plan your new direction in life. Continue reading about Ford Models…
