One Day, One Internship » California

HBO

Willy Franzen — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 16:52:00 +0000

It’s the ultimate premium channel. The one that separates the haves from the have nots—at least when it comes to cable packages. HBO or Home Box Office is the pinnacle of cable television. Ok, maybe I’m going a bit far, but I remember how excited I was when one day HBO was suddenly part of my family’s cable package. The cable company made a mistake, and I was now able to watch all kinds of great movies in the comfort of my own home (and without having my mom take me to Blockbuster). Of course, HBO, which is based in New York City, isn’t just about movies. Their original programming is one of the key reasons that they have more than 40 million subscribers in the US. HBO’s series past and present include Arliss, Sex and the City, Entourage, The Sopranos, Fraggle Rock, and plenty of others. Then there are their documentaries and sports coverage. It’s why people pay extra for HBO (and Cinemax, its sister station): high quality programming without commercials.

Do You Get HBO?

What many people don’t realize about HBO is the role that they’ve played in the history of cable and satellite television. TV used to be free. Then people started paying for cable with packages of channels. Then HBO came along and people started paying extra for individual channels. It almost sounds like the evolution towards paid content that we’re seeing on the Internet; however, I’m not sure that anyone is constantly innovating like HBO has done in the television industry. They were the first to transmit digitally. The first to encrypt their satellite signal. The first to broadcast in HD. The first to offer premium video on demand. HBO knows what their customers want before they want it, so they’re continually able to stay ahead of other premium channels. It will be exciting to see how HBO transforms as more and more content moves online.

Now, what if you want to be a part of the future of HBO? You’ll have to head over to their Careers page, which is hosted by Time Warner, their parent company. Right now there are 44 openings, and a few of them are internships. Unfortunately the Time Warner applicant tracking systems is a total piece of crap, so I can’t link you directly to the internship postings. The posting for HBO Internship is based in Los Angeles, CA, and it offers unpaid positions in Films Development and Production, TV Development and Production, Legal, Casting, Media Relations, Finance, and Participations & Residuals. There is also an NYC based posting for their 2010 Undergraduate Technology Internship. I find it hard to imagine that they don’t have general internships in New York City too, so you may want to reach out to internships@hbo.com to inquire. It’s unclear if you’re supposed apply online or send your résumé and cover letter to the aforementioned e-mail address, so you may want to try both.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you get HBO growing up?

RKS

Willy Franzen — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:00:49 +0000

Apparently the hot dog is a killer. Who knew? I had heard that the preservatives in hot dogs might cause cancer, but I read yesterday in this Fast Company article that the American Academy of Pediatrics recently “called for the redesign of hot dogs” because of the choking hazard. One of the Academy’s doctors even went so far as to say that, “If you were to take the best engineers in the world and asked them to design a perfect plug for a child’s airway, you couldn’t do better than a hot dog.” The article went on to discuss how RKS, a Thousand Oaks, CA based industrial design firm, was playing with ideas on how to redesign the hot dog. That’s a big task to bite off, but RKS was able to come up with some pretty cool concepts in their brainstorming. It shows why they can claim companies like Apple, Coca-Cola, Nissan, and HP as clients.

Bite Off More Than You Can Chew at RKS

Despite their work on sausage design (did I ever mention that I took a Meat Science course in college?), RKS actually isn’t usually focused on food. While they seem willing to work on any type of project, their areas of focus include: Product Definition, Consumer Research, Market Analysis, Brand Strategy, Brand Communications, Industrial Design, Engineering, Prototyping, Human Factors, User Interface, Manufacturing Liaison, Packaging Design, Web Design, Channel Strategy, and Experience Design. RKS says that they “create designs that harmonize function, aesthetics, and emotions,” and that’s the key to what they call Psycho-Aesthetics®. Those are all nice words, but to really see what it all means you need to look at RKS’s portfolio and case studies. The RKS website is filled with great information about them, so you should definitely spend some time getting to know what their business is about. Once you do that, you can check out their Careers page. They don’t post any positions on there, but they do allow you to apply for a job in the following areas: Industrial Design, Design Strategy, Graphic Design, Engineering/Innovation, Project Management, Model Shop, and Business Development. They also allow you to select Internships—my guess is that you could probably intern in any of the aforementioned areas. I’m not sure what it takes to get an internship at RKS (or whether the positions are paid), but you can be sure that you have to be very good at what you do. In addition to their web submission form, you can also reach out to RKS about employment opportunities at careers@rksdesign.com or by contacting Amalia Azzam Human Resources at amalia@rksdesign.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How would you redesign the hot dog?

Zinch

Willy Franzen — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:04:24 +0000

If you’ve been searching for internships for very long, you’d probably do anything to go back to Senior year of high school when you were applying to college. It’s not that the admissions process is particularly fun, but at least it has a set timeline and a fixed set of options. Still, there’s plenty of room for improvement. That’s why there are quite a few young entrepreneurs who have built companies that aim to make the college process better, just like I’m doing with the entry level job and internship searches. One of these companies is San Francisco based Zinch, which was founded by Mick Hagen, a Princeton dropout. They’ve created a social network that allows high school students to connect with the colleges that they want to attend. There are more than 700 colleges and universities that invest in Zinch, which is why more than 1.5 million students have created Zinch profiles to show off to admissions counselors and to apply for scholarships and financial aid packages.

Getting an Internship Is a Zinch

Zinch’s motto is simple: “I am more than a test score.” They’re all about helping students make their case for why they’re a great fit at a given institution of higher learning. It’s the anti-common app. But what about Zinch’s business model? How does it work? Well, Zinch is free for students, but colleges must pay an annual fee to connect with students. This may seem strange to you, but you have to remember that colleges are essentially businesses, and they need a constant flow of customer. While schools like Harvard and Princeton constantly have way more qualified applicants than spots in their Freshman classes, most colleges aren’t so lucky. They need to market themselves to students. Traditionally they’ve done this by inundating the mailboxes of high school juniors and seniors based on data from standardized test scores. (Side story: My mom forced me to check the “do not mail me” box on all of my testing stuff, so I felt left out when all of my friends were getting recruited and nobody was sending me anything.) Zinch thinks that’s a poor model, so they’ve stepped it up a bit. They’ve created a new marketing platform for colleges, and it seems to be working out pretty well.

This means that Zinch is growing and hiring lots of interns. If you check out their Careers page, you’ll see that they are looking for people in Engineering/Software Development, Sales/Marketing, Internet/Search Marketing, Graphic Design, Public Relations, and Videography/Cinematography. To apply for any of these positions, you need to e-mail intern@zinch.com with the following:

1) An attachment of your resumé/CV
2) Answers to the following questions:
+ If you could change/add one thing about Zinch, what would it be and why?
+ How would you move Mount Fuji?
+ What are three things you want to accomplish before you die?
+ What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done (crazy can be defined as, for example, dangerous, silly, stupid, etc)?

There’s no word on whether these positions are paid or not.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you wish that you had Zinch when you were in high school?

Organic

Willy Franzen — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:16:28 +0000

I hope the title of today’s post didn’t make you hungry, because we’re not talking about internships in organic food. Organic is a San Francisco based interactive marketing agency with a brand that has gained a lot of keyword competition over the past 16 years. Yes, people were eating organic back in 1994, but the word wasn’t nearly as common as it is today. Doing research on Organic is tough because the organic search results (excuse my SEO pun) have all kinds of other stuff in them (at least they own Organic.com). Either Google needs to get inside my head to discern my intent, or Organic is going to have to hope that artificial packaged, processed foods go back in vogue. Ok, enough of my ripping on their name—Organic was ranked by AdWeek as the #1 interactive agency in 2007. That fits in perfectly with my impression of Organic from browsing their website and looking at their work. In fact, I’m blown away by how good Organic’s website is. It’s easy to use, it’s full of information, and it’s gorgeously designed. Their corporate mantra is “Exceptional Experience,” and they certainly live up to it.

Live Organic

I’ve found that interactive agencies sometimes go too far with their websites. They get too fancy and end up making an unusable piece of garbage. The way Organic has built their website shows that they’re good at what they do. Beyond San Francisco Organic also has locations in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Toronto. The company’s clients include Bank of America, Jeep, Nike, Guitar Center, and plenty more. I could tell you more about Organic, but you’re much better off visiting their website, because it does a great job of telling their story. Organic even does a great job with their Careers site—they even make a usually crappy applicant tracking system look good. The interesting thing about Organic is that most of their 40 job openings are at pretty Senior levels, but they do have a number of postings (one for each location) for their paid Summer internship program called “The Farm.” There are opportunities to work in areas like Delivery / Project Management, Creative, Technology, Strategy, Media and Marketing Intelligence, and the whole program looks awesome. They only want rising college seniors and recent grads, but if you fit the bill, go ahead and apply online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Organic’s name?

Dealer.com

Willy Franzen — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:11:16 +0000

I know that it sounds like a place to buy illicit substances, but Dealer.com is a legal operation as far as I know. They may operate in the underworld of search engine optimization, but so do I, and I’m not a sleaze bag or spammer. Dealer.com is a Burlington, VT based company that “has become the global leader in online marketing solutions for the automotive industry.” They provide a platform for car dealers to generate leads online. I’d imagine that Dealer.com is a direct competitor with Cobalt, a company that we featured back in January. It’s no surprise that automotive online marketing is a growing industry. Most car dealerships don’t have the resources to do online marketing themselves—cheesy tv commercials don’t translate to the web. So how do they reach the masses of people who are using search engines to aid in car buying decisions? They either build an internal online marketing division, hire a local agency that doesn’t know anything about the industry, or go to Dealer.com. Which decision do you think will sell the most cars?

See What You’re Dealt

The thing that really stands out about Dealer.com is their culture. They’re aiming to be the “most sought after automotive web solutions provider in the world,” and it’s very clear that they think that treating their people well will help them get there. Their “brand-new Green Certified Corporate headquarters has a 35,000 square foot fitness facility and in-house organic cafe,” and they offer half-off ski passes at local mountains. It’s the epitome of a cool place to work, which is why they probably keep racking up awards. This attitude is also reflected in the way that Dealer.com does recruiting. I randomly came across the company’s website last night, and it turns out that they’re having a big recruiting event today at the Sheraton in Burlington. I realize that you probably won’t be able to make it, but you can watch the event live at 6 PM EST today on their Careers page. It’s a recruiting tactic that I haven’t seen before, and I really like it. You can tell that they’re serious about talent. I don’t know if it’s meant for potential interns, but I can’t imagine that it wouldn’t be worth your checking out. Dealer.com doesn’t have a specific Internships page, but they do have an Accounting Internship and an Account Management Internship posted on their site. You can apply online for any of these positions, and I’d bet that there will be more internships posted in the future. There’s no word on whether or not these positions are paid.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you seen any companies run live events for recruiting like Dealer.com?

Riot Games

Willy Franzen — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:04:14 +0000

Apparently my parents and sister have engaged in a never-ending series of online Scrabble games played via iPhone. I’m with my parents in Florida right now, and every five minutes they’re bugging each other to make the next move. It’s crazy. Free online gaming has hit the masses, and it isn’t pretty. There are tons of new online gaming companies, and while some are focusing on bringing new gamers to the market, others are more focused on gaining ground with serious gamers. Culver City, CA based Riot Games is a perfect example of the latter. They are behind League of Legends, a free online role-playing game that is set in an imaginative world. The game has been downloaded more than a million times, and Riot Games has received $20 million in venture capital investment based on the game. $8 million of that investment came from a Chinese gaming company that has a huge user base, so this is very much an international play.

Incite a Riot

The interesting thing about Riot Games and League of Legends is that the game is essentially console quality. It’s the type of game that serious gamer would pay to play, but it’s free. Riot Games’ business model is more akin to that of Zynga than that of Blizzard. What that means is that Riot Games makes League of Legends free to play, but they charge for in-game item purchases. It seems like a smart idea, and if it works, they’re going to have a huge leg up on the game makers who charge an upfront cost for their games. With all of the recent investment, Riot Games is growing its headcount rapidly. A quick look at their Internships page will show you that they have nearly a dozen opportunities for college students. These include positions like Art Intern, Game Effects Art Intern, Software/Build Engineer Intern, Community Intern, Game Design Intern – General & Usability Design, Game Design Intern – Core Gameplay, Sound Design Intern, Production Intern, and Development Intern. Although it doesn’t say so in the internship descriptions, I’m pretty sure that all of the positions are paid. You can apply e-mail and hopefully it’ll lead to an internship where you’ll enjoy perks like ninja nerf gun battles, full expense trips to the bathroom, and stock advice.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you played League of Legends?

Joby

Willy Franzen — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:34:58 +0000

Whenever I get a new Facebook friend, he or she usually tells me that I have way too many pictures of me fishing. Since I let go nearly all of the fish that I catch, I love snapping a quick picture before the release—it gives me bragging material. That’s why I consider it important to have a fishing buddy who also knows how to take a decent photo. The problem is that I still spend a lot of time fishing alone, and trying to take a self-picture with a fish in the other hand is extremely awkward. Luckily I discovered the Gorillapod, a small tripod that has flexible legs that wrap around nearly anything. It’s a fishing buddy that fits in vest’s pocket. The Gorillapod is made by Joby, a San Francisco based company, and it really is an ingenious product—it takes all of the hassle out of lugging around a tripod.

Putting the Job in Joby

Joby is still a relatively small company, but they’re expanding their products lines by filling new niches with the same idea and technology. They have a Gorillatorch, which is a handsfree flashlight, and a Gorillamobile, which will allow you to attach your iPhone to nearly anything. The former is perfect for working in dark places when you need both hands, while the latter will let you use your phone as an in-car navigation system. I’m not sure which market Joby will go after next, but it seems safe to say that they’re continuing to focus on growing their business. Their Jobs page doesn’t go into much detail about what type of positions they have available, but it does say this:

Joby is always in search of curious individuals who think differently and are willing to break boundaries and disrupt convention. If you are razor sharp, enthusiastic, entrepreneurial and fanatical about the consumer experience, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line at jobs@joby.com and let us know a little about what makes you tick and how you would contribute to Joby.

They don’t say anything specifically about internships, but if you’re interested in Joby and product development, you should reach out to them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own a Gorillapod?

Demand Media

Willy Franzen — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 16:46:03 +0000

I’m sure that you’ve heard a lot in the news about how traditional media companies are having trouble taking their business models online. You may be under the impression that making money from web content is near impossible, but there’s a dirty little secret: it’s not. While companies like the New York Times stick to editorial integrity and chasing Pulitzers, there are companies out there that craft their content with the sole purpose of making money. A perfect example is Santa Monica, CA based Demand Media. They’ve secured more than $355 million in venture capital funding, grown annual revenue to more than $200 million annually, and reached a valuation north of $1 billion all by taking an ROI based approach to content development. How does that work? Demand Media has developed an algorithm that helps them find profitable topics. By using data from Google AdWords, they’re able to estimate the demand for a given piece of content (example: an article and video on how to tie your shoes) along with the revenue that the yet to be developed piece of content could be expected to make given a certain number of pageviews.

Demand an Internship

This may sound unsavory to some of the writers out there, but I’d imagine the business students are in awe. Demand Media delivers their content through a number of web properties, and some of these include eHow, Cracked, and Livestrong.com. In addition to distributing profitable content across their web properties, Demand Media also licenses some of the social media tools that they’ve developed internally to other businesses. One of the amazing things that I learned about Demand Media while researching them is that they publish approximately 4,000 articles and videos every day. Demand Media is YouTube’s largest contributor, and the number of pageviews that they’re driving across their network is staggering. They’re able to develop so much content through an army of freelancers who work through a site called Demand Studios. If you’re a Writer, Filmmaker, or Copy Editor, that’s the first option for getting an “internship” (it’s only freelance, and the rates are kind of low) through Demand Media. Your second option is to check out Demand Media’s Corporate Career offerings. There’s only one internship posted right now—an unpaid Editorial Internship in Santa Monica, CA—although I wouldn’t be surprised to see more opportunities posted in the future. You can apply online for this postion, but before you do, take an hour to learn more about Demand Media—there’s a ton of information available about them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Demand Media’s business model?

VolunteerMatch

Willy Franzen — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 16:19:48 +0000

Happy Valentine’s Day! In past years we’ve featured the American Heart Association and eHarmony, both of which have clear connections to today’s holiday. Today’s organization is more of a stretch, but if you’re looking for the perfect match, they can help you out. No, they won’t identify your soul mate for you, but they will help you find an organization whose mission and values align with your personal beliefs. And if that’s not enough, they might even put you in a situation where you’ll meet that special someone. I’m talking about San Francisco, CA based VolunteerMatch, an organization that “strengthens communities by making it easier for good people and good causes to connect.”

Meet Your Match

If you’re feeling lonely on Valentine’s Day, there’s no better way to beat it than to get out and volunteer. If you already have someone special, then there’s no better way to spend time together than doing some community service work. VolunteerMatch is the perfect website for finding the right opportunities. It’s a very simple idea, which explains why it’s been around almost as long as the Internet. Right now they have 60,392 available opportunities from 75,560 organizations, and since 1998 they’ve made 4,637,038 referrals. That’s a lot of volunteering! Now, I must admit that they don’t have any internships posted right now on their Jobs page, but that shouldn’t stop you from reaching out to people on their staff to see how you might be able to help. And if that doesn’t lead anywhere, you can always find a place to volunteer until you do find an internship.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

How are you spending Valentine’s Day?

Sparkseed

Willy Franzen — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 15:59:12 +0000

As a member on the Board of Advisors for a startup non-profit, I know how hard it is to get things going. Building a website, raising the first $1,000, and writing a “business plan” are all huge challenges that separate ideas from real non-profits. And that doesn’t even include getting started on the good work that is the organization’s mission. The first few years are filled with ups and downs, and leaders of non-profit startups can use every little bit of extra help that they can get. One way that they can get that help is to work with Sparkseed, a San Ramon, CA based non-profit organization “that exists to develop the next generation of social entrepreneurs and increase their impact on society.” It’s an incubator/angel fund for early stage, student-led social ventures (both for-profit and non-profit).

Spark Your Career

The way that Sparkseed works is that they select up to ten “student-led social ventures” every year to get “six months of high-impact support.” To some extent, it’s a contest, and the prize includes the following:

Mentoring from entrepreneurs and executives
Pro-bono consulting from business and nonprofit professionals
$1,000 in seed money towards start-up costs
Webinars that teach skills such as creating a business plan, managing a team, pitching to investors, leveraging social media, and measuring financial and social impact.
$10,000 in web tools, including web site design, web hosting, & SEO consulting.
A four-day summit in Silicon Valley that includes networking, skill-building, and strategic planning.

After the six months have passed, Sparkseed chooses three ventures to receive ongoing support. I think it’s a wonderful idea, and it has the potential to significantly push forward innovation in the social venture community. As of now, Sparkseed doesn’t have any internships listed on their website, but they do have three posted on their Idealist page. These positions include Venture Support Intern, Design Intern, and Fundraising Intern. The positions are unpaid, and you can apply by sending your résumé and a cover letter that explains your interest and fit for the position to Samantha Given-Dennis at samantha@sparkseed.org. Be sure to put the title of the internship in the subject line.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Sparkseed?

SpaceX

Willy Franzen — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:43:18 +0000

You may have heard that NASA just had what was probably the final night launch of the space shuttle. I was lucky enough to see one a few years ago from a beach in Connecticut, although it didn’t look like much more than a bright light screaming through the night sky. Our space program is going through a lot of changes, and it seems that current funding for some future programs isn’t what the people at NASA were hoping for. Many fans of the space program are disappointed and pessimistic about the future of space exploration. Luckily, the past decade has led to the rise of private space companies that are taking up a lot of the slack when it comes to space flight. One of these companies is Hawthorne, CA based SpaceX, which was started by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk in 2002. Their focus is on building launch vehicles (mostly for satellites) that are not only more reliable, but also more affordable.

InternshipX

SpaceX has been growing like crazy—in late 2005 they had 160 employees, and now they employ more than 800 people. Not only has SpaceX grown at an impressive rate up to this point, but they seem to be continuing their growth. Their Jobs page shows more than 70 open positions including internships and co-ops. As long as the government keeps cutting its funding for space program, the private aerospace industry is going to keep booming. SpaceX is well positioned as they already have a track record of success—they were the first private company to develop a launch vehicle and reach earth orbit from the ground. If that sounds like something that you want to be part of, then you should check out careers at SpaceX—they even have opportunities for people who don’t have a background in aerospace, although most are in engineering. Specific internship areas include Avionics, Business Development, Launch Engineering, Propulsion, and Structures. All of the positions are paid and can be taken as co-ops or internships. You can apply online for any of these positions, and you should also take note of the following:

Since the people we seek tend to be highly sought after, SpaceX offers up to a $5000 referral award to anyone who refers a candidate we hire.

If you end up applying for a job at SpaceX, please let them know that you found about them from One Day, One Internship.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think about the private aerospace industry?

Ceteris

Willy Franzen — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:31:37 +0000

The way that large corporations operate often boggles my mind. Take for example my friend who worked in the internal consulting division of a massive, well-known company. Despite being owned and operated by the company, his division had to bid against outside consulting firms for projects. There was a good reason for this (it forced the internal consulting division to watch its back), but it still seems a bit ridiculous. Another example of this kind of thinking is transfer pricing (don’t worry, I had to look it up too). It’s the “pricing of contributions (assets, tangible and intangible, services, and funds) transferred within an organization.” At first it may seem that since all of the money is going to the same place pricing things that are transferred within an organization doesn’t really matter. Unfortunately, that would cause all of the accountants in an organization (and the IRS too) to have a fit. So how do companies price these transfers? There’s no external market to set the price, and trying to do it internally can get really messy. That’s when companies bring in Ceteris a “global independent consulting firm specializing in transfer pricing, intellectual property and valuation services” that is headquartered in Chicago.

Transfer Yourself to Ceteris

For most college students, grasping exactly what Ceteris does is pretty hard. The best way to get a feel for the kinds of projects that they work on is to take a look at examples of their work. It turns out that this stuff is pretty fascinating—at least to me. If you agree, you’ll want to check out Ceteris’ Careers page along with their Campus Recruiting page. Although they don’t explicitly post internship opportunities and they don’t have any campus events coming up, they say that they’re looking to hear from outstanding students with a background in Economics, Business, Accounting, Finance, Statistics, or Mathematics. You should note that Ceteris seems more focused on entry level hiring than on hiring interns, but I did find some mentions of internships in my Google searches. They invite interested applicants to send a résumé and cover letter to careers@ceterisgroup.com, so go after it and see what’s available. The company has only been around since 2003, but they’ve already expanded to 13 locations: Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA; Calgary, AB; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Libertyville, IL; Los Angeles, CA; Mexico City, Mexico; New York, NY; Salt Lake City, UT; Toronto, ON; Washington, DC; and Auckland, New Zealand. It’s not clear which offices have internship opportunities, but their Locations page does allow you to contact the head of each office if you’re so inclined.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Ceteris?

DriveCam

Willy Franzen — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:03:49 +0000

It’s every teen’s worst nightmare. You finally reach that magical age where the state says that you’re ready to drive a car. Your parents reluctantly hand over the keys to the family station wagon. You get a lecture, but you’re going to escape. You’ll finally have the freedom that you’ve been waiting for all your life. But there’s a catch. Your parents have installed a camera in the car to assess your driving and mitigate risk. It’s from a San Diego based company called DriveCam. To you it’s a terrible idea. You hate being spied on. You know you’re a good driver with your state mandated 20 hours of experience behind the wheel. What you probably don’t know is that car accidents are the leading cause of teen death. You’re too caught up in having a sense of freedom to care that this device has reduced the risk of reportable crash by 70% over the course of 2 million miles.

I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me

I’m sure that I would have resented my parents if they had put a DriveCam in my car, but I must be getting old because now I think it would be a pretty good idea. If you’re not convinced, all you need to do is look at some of the videos on DriveCam’s website to get it. The way it works is pretty cool—DriveCam is only triggered by “fairly aggressive or inattentive driving.” It is constantly recording so that it can catch the moments before a triggering event, but any data collected that is not immediately before a triggering event is deleted. By setting the goal of not triggering the camera, DriveCam forces drivers to slow down and pay more attention. It’s not just for teens, many companies use it to monitor fleet drivers as well. The way it works is that DriveCam uploads video via a cellular network to DriveCam’s servers, and then there’s a Software as a Service subscription that allows the parents or business owners to analyze the data uploaded by DriveCam. The software even provides coaching advice and risk scores. There was a lot of resistance to seat belts when they first came out, but now nearly everyone uses them. I see the potential for the same to be said about DriveCam in 10 or 20 years. That’s why they’re one of the Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Private Companies. They have a ton of potential for growth, and they’d be a great place to start a career. Their Careers page shows that they’re looking for a paid Marketing Intern. You can apply by sending a résumé and cover letter to jobs@drivecam.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did your parents install a DriveCam?

Academia.edu

Willy Franzen — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:06:35 +0000

I always thought that .edu domains were reserved for accredited colleges and universities. It seems as though those restriction may have loosened (or they may have never been as tight as I thought they were). Lately I’ve seen some dodgy online education sites built on .edu domain names, so when I came across Academia.edu, I assumed that’s what they were. A closer look showed me that they’re nothing of the sort; in fact, they’re not an academic institution at all. They’re actually a San Francisco based startup that is building an online portal to help people find out “who’s researching what.” It’s kind of like LinkedIn meets a Wiki, but it’s only focused on academia. If you’re a PhD student, you can use it to track down other researchers in your field for collaboration. If you’re a journalist, you can use the site to find sources for articles. If you’re a high school student looking at colleges, you can use it to find professors who will help you achieve your ambitions. It’s a really cool idea, and it seems to be gaining some traction.

It’s All Academic

We all know that academics are generally resistant to change (which is interesting, since professors usually have the reputation of being very liberal and open-minded). I did a little extra research on Academia.edu and found people voicing opinions that they won’t join because the site doesn’t do a good enough job of verifying credentials and keeping out impostors. Yes, that’s important, but these people are overlooking the huge potential value of the site while nitpicking about problems that will almost certainly be fixed in the future. This “ivory tower” mindset of keeping out outsiders isn’t good for academia, and it isn’t good for Academia.edu either. Still, we must remember that the Internet was originally created to link researchers, and was widely adopted first in academia. Lately, things seem to have stalled out as academics have been slow to embrace Web 2.0 technologies. Academia.edu offers the potential to reinvigorate researchers and drive more collaboration. I think that Academia.edu will get better at executing as time passes, and as long as they stick with their winning idea of helping people find out “who’s researching what,” they have a winner. If you’re as excited about this idea as I am, you should check out Academia.edu’s Internships page. Right now they’re looking for paid (stipend) Software Development Interns, but there will probably be more openings in the future. They do currently have Marketing Interns, so maybe some of those positions will open up soon.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Academia.edu?

ING Direct

Willy Franzen — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:42:15 +0000

I’m a big proponent of making personal finance part of your career planning. By managing your money wisely (even if you barely have any as a student), you’re creating a project for yourself that you can use to demonstrate to employers how you’ll be an effective intern. When I need information on personal finance, I always look to Ramit Sethi, the founder of a website called I Will Teach You To Be Rich and the author of a book by the same name (he also just launched a course on how to make money freelancing and he’s doing a free webinar tonight at 7 PM PST – affiliate links). One thing that he strongly recommends is using online banks that offer high interest rates and great easy to use features. One of these banks is ING Direct, which is headquartered in Wilmington, DE. While you may have noticed that most banks are on a real estate binge as they try to gain customers, ING Direct is doing the opposite. They operate almost entirely “in the cloud.” Since they “believe saving money should be as simple as having a cup of coffee,” they do have cafés in New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Wilmington, Chicago, St. Cloud, and Honolulu where you can ” sip a latte, surf the Internet for free and talk to [them] about how [they] can help you Save Your Money.” And by keeping a low overhead, ING Direct is able to offer better interest rates and fewer fees, which gives them a huge advantage in winning over customers.

Saving Towards a Career

It may be hard to imagine not needing a brick and mortar bank, but ING Direct makes it work. They have a huge ATM network, they’ll write and mail your checks for you, and they make transferring money between accounts simple. It’s the way that you’ll expect to bank in the future, but ING Direct is doing it now. ING Direct is owned by ING, the Dutch financial institution, but it seems that they act quite independently—they’re not like other banks. This is where banking is headed, so ING Direct should be the place to be if you want to work in “retail” banking. To get started, you need to check out ING Direct’s Internships page. You’ll see that in addition to their Wilmington, DE location, they also have offices in St. Cloud, MN; Los Angeles, CA; and Seattle, WA, but it seems that they’re only recruiting interns in Wilmington and St. Cloud (at least right now). There are IT Internships that offer opportunities in the following departments: IT Development, IT Project Management, IT Services, IT Application Services, IT Supplier Management, IT Architecture, Data Modeling & Database Systems, and Network Administration. There are also General Internships that don’t seem to get into more specific areas, but the focus is on leadership development. There’s no word on whether the positions are paid, but my guess is that they are. Unfortunately, ING Direct’s applicant tracking system is kind of terrible, so it makes it impossible for me to link to specific positions, but it shouldn’t be hard to find the internships and apply online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you have an ING Direct account?

Intellectual Ventures

Willy Franzen — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:41:01 +0000

One of the books that I’ve been reading lately is SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance. It’s a great follow-up to the original Freakonomics, and it once again shows how changing your mindset can lead you to all kinds of new ideas (this is a really important lesson for your career). One of the companies that is mentioned in the book is Intellectual Ventures, a Bellevue, WA based invention company. They’re all about ideas. Things like product design, product development, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and service all come later, and Intellectual Ventures doesn’t want anything thing to do with those processes. They just invent, invent, invent. The company isn’t tied to one specific area—they’re working on problems like stopping Malaria, preventing hurricanes, and counteracting negative effects from climate change should they ever happen.

An Intellectual Venture for Your Career

For Intellectual Ventures it’s all about owning the intellectual property. They want to come up with the ideas, make them work, and then let other companies do the rest. The business side will be about licensing the technology to the right people on a non-exclusive basis possibly including spin-off companies, but for now it’s all about building a technology portfolio. Intellectual Ventures has been actively inventing since 2003, and since then they’ve filed thousands of patents. These patent applications “span a broad range of areas including computer software and hardware, user interface design, semiconductors, biomedical devices, advanced medical procedures, digital imaging, nanotechnology, nuclear energy and advanced particle physics.” As you can probably tell from that list of topic area (and the company’s name), Intellectual Ventures is filled with extremely smart people. It was founded by two former C level Microsoft executives.

If you’ve always been fascinated by invention and you think that you have the intellect, then you should check out Intellectual Ventures’ Internships page. They have quite a few internships posted right now, and most these include a number of postings each for Laboratory Intern I, Laboratory Intern II, and Senior Laboratory Intern. There’s also one posting for a Nuclear Intern (applicants need not be radioactive). You should also note that Intellectual Ventures has satellite offices in Silicon Valley, Austin, Tokyo, Beijing, Singapore, Seoul, and Bangalore, but for now all of their internships re at the Bellevue, WA office. There’s no mention of whether the positions are paid, but I’m strongly inclined to say that they are.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you read SuperFreakonomics yet?

Palantir

Willy Franzen — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:19:22 +0000

I have to admit that the “jobs” that I’m most concerned with today is Steve Jobs. I can’t wait to find out what Apple is announcing today, and I wish that I had some relevant internships to bring you. I don’t, but I did come across a really cool list yesterday called 5 Butt Kicking Companies You (Probably) Never Heard Of. The list is exactly what it promises, as it features 5 later stage startups that are growing rapidly and hiring lots of people. The first company on that list is Palantir, a Palo Alto, CA based company (with another office in McLean, VA) that “is working to radically change how groups analyze information.” They were founded by former PayPal employees and Stanford computer scientists. Right now the company is focused on two verticals: Government and Finance. Both areas deal with massive amount of data and information, so it makes sense that Palantir is starting with them.

Analyze This

The cool thing about Palantir is that they still have a startup attitude and culture despite the fact that they’re focused on two industries that most people don’t associate with fun. The types of problem that Palantir is trying to solve include “national security, global finance, cyber defense, regulation & oversight, public health, and disease control.” This isn’t just some Web 2.0 startup—it’s a serious business with clients who expect perfection. That’s why culture is so important at Palantir. They only hire the best: “Less than 3% of candidates who receive a phone interview will receive an offer.” It’s a strict meritocracy, with a family feel. They have the XBOX, masseuse, and on-site gym that you come to expect from startups, but there’s also the expectation that “‘work’ and ‘life’ are not separate universes.”

Palantir appears to do a lot of on-campus recruiting with a focus on engineers from elite schools. They don’t provide any information on college recruiting on their site, not do they mention internships, but you can take a look at current job openings. They offer plenty of entry level jobs, and I’d imagine that their internships mirror those positions. A little research on LinkedIn turned up the fact that past interns have held titles that include Business Development Intern, Web Programming Intern, Software QA Engineer Intern, Financial Business Development Intern, Sotware Engineering Intern, and Operations Intern. It’s unclear what the best way to apply for an internship at Palantir is (maybe they’re just not posted right now?), but if you’re smart enough to work for them, I’m sure that you can figure it out. Also, I think it’s a safe bet that Palantir’s internships are paid.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Palantir?

Willy Franzen — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:51:24 +0000

A lot of people find it ironic that I put an end to my job search by starting a company that helps other people with their job searches. I’ll admit that it’s a bit odd, but it seems to be working out pretty well. Maybe you’ll do something similar by starting your career with an internship at a job-search focused company like Mountain View, CA based LinkedIn. There are plenty of other companies trying to build professional social networks and online résumé sites, but none of them seem to have any hope competing with LinkedIn. LinkedIn reached critical mass first, and that’s why they’re one of my favorite online job search tools. Not only do they allow you to visualize your own professional network to see whom you’re connected to, but they also let you browse through the networks of different companies to learn more about their organizational structure. Where else can you get access to the résumé (which includes where they interned) of someone whose job you want to have five years down the road? LinkedIn is an amazing tool for smart job and internship seekers, and it’s also an amazing business—they’ve been profitable for nearly three years (which is impressive for a startup of their size and scope).

Get LinkedIn

LinkedIn is obviously much more than a job search tool, but that’s its most common use for college students. If you’re not already on the site, you should sign up today. If you are, you should invest some time and effort into learning more about how to use the site—we have some great tutorials in our job search training course, Found Your Career. This goes doubly if you want to land a job at LinkedIn—I can’t imagine their hiring anyone who isn’t extremely familiar with their product. It wouldn’t make sense. Oddly enough, LinkedIn’s Careers site and Job Search function leave something to be desired. Maybe it’s because I expect theirs to be best of breed, but I’m disappointed. The Careers site provides all of the normal information that you’d expect, and the Job listings are just that—a list of jobs. They don’t seem to have a specific section on internships, so all you can do is look at their job postings—I find using this link more helpful for that, as it will make the results a little easier to sort through. Right now they have a number of internships posted including Summer Software Engineer (iPhone, Mobile) Intern, Summer Software Engineering Intern, Summer Technical Operations Intern, Marketing Intern – Recruitment (Mumbai, India), and Marketing Intern – Inside Advertising Sales (Mumbai, India). They don’t seem to mention whether or not these positions are paid. Since LinkedIn is all about networking, you may even want to skip the job postings, and just focus on using the site to connect with people at the company—that would show true knowledge of how their product works.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use LinkedIn?

Educational Testing Service

Willy Franzen — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:14:05 +0000

You thought that you were done with standardized tests. No more #2 pencils and filling in bubbles for you. Guess again. An internship with the Princeton, NJ based Educational Testing Service would take you right back to Junior year in high school with all the standardized tests. They are “a private, nonprofit organization devoted to educational measurement and research, primarily through testing.” They’re behind AP Tests, the PSAT, the SAT, the TOEFL, the GRE, and plenty of other tests that you may have taken during your academic career. Their aim is to “advance quality and equity in education for people worldwide by creating assessments based on rigorous research,” and I’d say they’re doing a pretty good job. A lot of people have a strong distaste for standardized tests, but it seems that we are yet to find a better way to measure and compare achievement across groups. I was surprised to learn that the ETS is a non-profit organization, but it’s probably better for the people who take the 50 million tests that the organization administers annually.

Put Yourself to the Test

Few people realize how important assessment is, at least until they get into the job search process. Standardized tests are a great source of feedback for students—even though most student just seem them as a measurement of whether they’re good enough to get into this college or that program. I bet most internship seekers would willingly take another standardized test if it gave them an idea of where they stood in comparison to other applicants. If you’re intrigued by what the ETS does, you should check out their Careers site. It has good information on a day in the the life at ETS, along with a section on their internships. They take interns at their locations in Princeton, NJ; Ewing, NJ; San Antonio, TX; and Sacramento, CA; however, there aren’t any internships posted yet. The deadline for applying for their Summer program is 4/02/2010, so I’d expect there to be positions posted soon. There is one Government Relations Internship posted on Idealist right now, but if that doesn’t do it for you, you should use the ETS résumé submission form to indicate your interest.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What are your feelings on standardized tests?

ESPN

Willy Franzen — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:55:12 +0000

I have no idea how I’ve made it through nearly two years of posts on One Day, One Internship without featuring ESPN. I covered ESPN’s entry level jobs on One Day, One Job, but never took the time to look at their internship program. As you probably know, ESPN is the “worldwide leader in sports.” They’re a huge media company with multiple television stations, a magazine, and an enorous web presence—they also have branded restaurants. When it comes to sports coverage, there’s no competition; ESPN is king. They also have an amazing employment brand not only because they offer jobs and internships in sports, but also because of their awesome commercials that take place in their Bristol, CT office. I have to imagine that internships at ESPN are some of the most sought after internships out there.

Intern at ESPN

Looking for internships on ESPN’s website feels like a wild goose chase. Luckily, I’ve found the goose that laid the golden egg—if you consider an internship with ESPN a golden egg. Ok, it’s not as bad as ESPN’s Careers site used to be, but the problem is that they leave their old Careers sites up (there’s even one from 2002 that is still accessible). The site that comes up first in Google when you search for “ESPN internships” is not the site that you want to be on. ESPN’s new Careers site is ESPNCareers.com. This includes a section on Internships that is actually quite helpful—ESPN’s former Careers site was terrible. This page gives you a broad overview of the program:

Internships are offered in the fall and spring semesters and during the summer
Opportunities are primarily located in Bristol, CT and New York, NY. Limited opportunities are available at other locations, including Los Angeles.
10 weeks – 40 hours a week
Competitive pay
Subsidized housing is available on a first come first served basis for interns in New York, NY and Bristol, CT for students who live more than 40 miles from the ESPN offices in those locations

It also says that they offer internships in the following areas: Creative Services, Communications, Digital Media, Editorial, Finance & Accounting, International, Marketing, Production, Programming, Research, Sales, Statistics, and Information Technology. From there you’ll find a link to ESPN’s actual internship listings. The postings are all from the last month, so now is the perfect time to apply for an internship at ESPN. You can apply online, and you should note that their actual opportunities go beyond the categories and locations that I mentioned earlier.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you have trouble finding information on ESPN’s internships?

Cloudkick

Willy Franzen — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 15:58:51 +0000

My role at One Day, One Internship goes well beyond writing the daily posts. For instance, when the server goes down, it’s my job to get it fixed. I spend a decent amount of time on IT type stuff, but I’m in no way an expert. I guess that means that it’s okay that I don’t completely understand what Cloudkick does. They’re a Y-Combinator startup based in San Francisco, and they’re “revolutionizing the way companies manage their IT infrastructure.” In more complex terms they provide tools that enable cloud server management through the APIs of a number of different web hosts. The truth is that most of you (like me) won’t understand what that means, but for those who do, Cloudkick should be worth looking at. What I can tell about Cloudkick is that they’re offering tools that make managing IT much simpler (even if it’s still really complex). The tools offered by many web hosts have terrible interfaces, so there’s a huge need for what Cloudkick is doing.

Give Your Career a Cloudkick-start

At this point Cloudkick is a very small start-up, and they’re still intensely focused on the technology side of their business. They services that they’re offering are currently free, and they haven’t started hiring for the types of business positions that come later in a startup’s lifecycle. They’ve already received a lot of press, and they apparently have lots of users. As they build out the paid premium services that they intend to offer, I’m sure that they’ll become a bit more interesting for non-techies. Right now, there are two internships posted on Cloudkick’s Careers page—one in Operations and one in Software Development. They’re paid and they sound like pretty cool gigs, so if you’re interested, “send an email to careers@cloudkick.com with a short introduction about yourself and your résumé.”

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Cloudkick?

Peppercom Strategic Communications

Willy Franzen — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 15:00:49 +0000

This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association and entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com.

Peppercom Strategic Communications is definitely at the head of the public relations agency pack. The Holmes Report, which ranked Peppercom as one of the nation’s best places to work for three consecutive years, says, “…Peppercom’s people certainly feel well rewarded, giving the firm high marks for its generous pay and benefits…As well as… providing some of the most progressive perks in the industry.” Peppercomm has offices in New York City, San Francisco and London. They’re a full-service agency that provides events/sponsorships, digital communications, green/environmental PR, global communications, crisis management, partner relations, internal communications, executive leadership, and more. Their main areas of expertise include clean tech, professional services, financial services, consumer products, technology, and industrial and manufacturing.

Understand the Business of Their Business

Peppercom is constantly seeking interns for their New York City office. To score one of these gigs, you’ll need to “be creative, organized, have a basic understanding of public relations and have strong communication and writing skills.” Note that all internships are full-time. The deadlines are:

Spring: January-April (Deadline to apply: November 30)
Summer: May-August (Deadline to apply: March 15)
Fall/Winter: September- December (Deadline to apply: July 31)

Interested? Submit your resume with a cover letter to Alicia Wells at interncommittee@peppercom.com. Also, I recommend you listen to this podcast produced by former interns and read PRiscope, Peppercom’s blog about navigating the journey of entry-level PR. The internships are paid, so take that into consideration as well.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about Peppercom?

Experience Project

Willy Franzen — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:00:28 +0000

Do you have a secret? An embarrassing story? Maybe you have a real problem (like not having an internship) or a health issue. It could just be something that you’re passionate about. If you have experiences that you want to share or you want to read about the experiences of other people, then Experience Project is the site for you. It’s a free web site that allows people across the world to share their experiences. It all started when Armen Berjikly, Experience Project’s founder, was inspired by a friend to build a support community for multiple sclerosis patients. It was so successful that Armen decided to expand the project so that it could serve everyone—it’s now “the first social network based upon who you are and not who you know.” The company is based in San Francisco, and according to their data and the data on Compete.com, they’re doing some pretty serious traffic.

Gain Some Experience at Experience Project

When I first discovered Experience Project, I instantly wondered what the business model was. After doing a little investigating, I realized how powerful targeted advertising to specific verticals can be. Even though users are able to maintain their anonymity on Experience Project, contextual advertising that matches up with a given Experience Project group should be extremely effective. I can’t say whether it is, but Experience Project’s Advertising page provides some more insight into what kind of advertising opportunities the site offers. If you’re intrigued by Experience Project’s different take on social networking, then you’ll want to check out their Internships page. They have opportunities on their Marketing & Community Team, their Product Team, and their Web Development Team. There’s no mention of whether the positions are paid, but they do say that the intention is for you to join them full-time after the internship. To apply send “a cover letter specific to your arena of interest and emphasizing what you hope to learn from your experience as part of our team and your current résumé” to team@experienceproject.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you shared anything on Experience Project?

Cobalt

Willy Franzen — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:14:06 +0000

When I last bought a car in 2001, the best way to go about it was to stop by dealerships to see what they had in their inventory. I remember using the Internet to some extent, but it wasn’t all that helpful. Although I haven’t purchased a car since, I’m pretty sure that the web is playing a much larger role in the car buying decision process these days. That’s why Cobalt, a Seattle based company, is doing so well. They’re in the business of automotive marketing, and they made the Inc. 5000 last year with 134.0% three-year revenue growth to $168.4 million. Cobalt works with both dealers and manufacturers to “increase their retailing effectiveness and profits.” The company has been around since 1995, and it consists of three key subsidiaries: Dealix, UsedCars.com, and IntegraLink.

Drive Your Career in the Right Direction

The big reason that Cobalt has been so successful is that they were ready for the transition to digital marketing from the start. A lot of people in the automotive industry weren’t ready for a change in their business model, but luckily they have Cobalt to rely on for marketing. More than two thirds of auto manufacturers and one half of dealers in the US use Cobalt’s services in some capacity. Cobalt is a lot like a fully-integrated marketing agency in terms of the areas in which they work, but their business doesn’t appear to be quite as client focused (for instance they run a UsedCars.com—a destination site). If you’re intrigued by what Cobalt does, then you’ll want to take a look at their Careers page. It goes into a lot of detail about what it’s like to work at Cobalt, and then it will direct you to take a look at their job postings. That’s where their internships are posted. There’s only one position posted right now—Design Intern (Redwood City, CA), but I’d recommend that you keep an eye out for more postings in the future. You may also want to reach out to Cobalt and ask about other internship opportunities, since they’re doing a ton of hiring (and that often means they’re taking on interns too).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

When is the last time that you bought a car?

Lunchbox

Willy Franzen — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:51:18 +0000

Although Twitter’s search results are getting filled with more and more junk, I’m still finding that Twitter is a pretty easy way to find jobs and internships that wouldn’t typically be on your radar. That’s how I came across Lunchbox, a Culver City, CA based “full-service agency that specializes in creating complete-branded content packages.” Since I have no idea what that actually means, I took a look at Lunchbox’s portfolio to get a better idea of what their work entails. Basically Lunchbox helps build brands by developing new ways for their clients to introduce their brands to customers. It may be creating stuffed animals for Discovery Channel or designing a magazine for CMT. Whatever the challenge is, Lunchbox brings an amazing creative team that has worked in the past with some of the world’s biggest brands.

What’s in Your Lunchbox?

My take on interactive agencies like Lunchbox is that the best way to judge whether you want to work for them is to look at their portfolio. Not only should you consider the names that they work with—Lunchbox has worked with Pepsi, Nick at Nite, Walmart, Warner Bros., and plenty more—but you should also look closely at what kind of work they put out. I’m impressed with what I see from Lunchbox, but it’s up to you to determine if you’d fit in with them. Now, back to that tweet that I mentioned. There’s not much more to it than a mention of paid Social Media internships, and I can’t find any details on Lunchbox’s Jobs page, but I did find someone on LinkedIn who had a social media internship at Lunchbox. Some of Lunchbox’s job offerings include Back-End Software Engineer, Front-End Software Engineer, Interactive Developer, QA Analyst, and Video Production Assistant, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see them take interns in those areas too. To apply for an internship at Lunchbox, my recommendation is that you reach out to them at jobs@lbox.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of Lunchbox’s portfolio?

Undertone Networks

Willy Franzen — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:01:20 +0000

The future of marketing and media is getting more results based, and that trend is going to continue as tracking technology progresses. Some people think that means that branding campaigns are a dying breed, but the folks at Undertone Networks would strongly disagree. They are a New York City based online advertising network that is helping Fortune 500 companies move their branding campaigns online. The trouble with doing this is that controlling your brand online is much more difficult than controlling it on tv, radio, or in print. That’s why Undertone Networks has developed an ad network that offers “Fortune 500 marketers an ad network where they [can] confidently and safely market their products and services without having to compromise their brand.”

Undertones of Your Career

Undertone Networks is bringing the sophistication of online advertising to branding campaigns. I’m not sure that I’d call it results oriented, but measurement is key to the success of campaigns. Instead of focusing on directly attributing sales or actions to specific campaigns, Undertone Networks is more concerned about driving brand awareness by obsessing over the quality of the audience that sees the ads that they serve. By only working with huge brands and trusted websites, Undertone Networks is able to maintain an intense focus on targeting. If they can’t deliver the audience that they think they can, they’ll happily refund the advertiser’s money. To get a better sense of how Undertone Networks works, you should check out their case studies or this interview with Alan Schanzer, their Chief Strategy Officer.

If you do that and like what you see, then you’ll probably want to take a look at internships at Undertone Networks. They’re an Inc. 5000 company and one of Crain’s Best Places to Work in NYC, so you know they’re the kind of place that you want to get your career started. Undertone Networks has a number of open positions, and a few of those are paid (stipend) internships. These positions include Business Development Intern, Online Advertising Operations Intern, Human Resources Intern, Online Advertising Intern (San Francisco), Online Advertising Sales Intern, Advertising Intern, Marketing Intern, and Media Intern . You can apply for any of these positions through Undertone Networks’ applicant tracking system.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Undertone Networks?

California Conservation Corps

Willy Franzen — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:44:35 +0000

After my Freshman year of college, I decided that I wanted a summer job that would allow me to work outside. I ended up doing maintenance at a fish and game club. It was like a great experience—even if I only worked 20 hours per week. If you want to work outside and are looking for something a little more intense than 20 hours per week, then you need to check out the California Conservation Corps. It’s a government run program that “matches up California’s young people and its natural resources.” Every year the CCC hires 3,300 corpsmembers and pays them minimum wage to take on projects like working on backcountry trails, aiding salmon restoration, promoting watershed stewardship, and providing emergency response services. The CCC has been around since 1976, and since then they’ve employed more than 100,000 young men and women with 98% saying that they “would recommend the CCC to a family member or friend.”

Get Paid to Enjoy the Outdoors

The California Conservation Corps provides a wide range of work opportunities for people between the ages of 18 and 25. These aren’t permanent entry level jobs, but they’re a great internship alternative or a great way to get some real work experience after you graduate. The CCC has a great website that is filled with all kinds of information about their programs. You can see what a day in the life is like or read over their FAQ. There are work locations with the Corps all across California, and there is also a wide variety of project types. The CCC site gets a bit confusing when you start looking for employment opportunities, but you can find Staff Openings here and Corpmembers opportunities here. Additionally, it looks like some of the CCC programs do their own hiring, so, for instance, you can find information on applying to the Backcountry program here.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Had you heard of the California Convervation Corps before?

Thumbtack

Willy Franzen — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:00:01 +0000

I’m sure that many of you use Craigslist to find internships. As much as it can be a great resource for college students, I have to say that I find it weird that people looking for internships and people looking for “casual encounters” are using the same website. There’s just something sketchy about Craigslist. That probably explains why many people are reluctant to use the site to find local service providers. Can you trust a plumber, tutor, masseuse, or pool guy if you find him or her on Craigslist. Maybe. But how will you know for sure? That’s where Thumbtack comes in. They’re a San Francisco based startup that is taking a page out of Angie’s List’s book (maybe they should have “list” in their name) by providing an online marketplace for local service providers, but they’re doing it for free. Free is great, but the real key feature on Thumbtack is the fact that they provide “twelve ways to verify the identity and reputation of every provider.” That way you don’t have to worry about your plumber getting his house calls and his casual encounters mixed up.

Thumbs Up for Thumbtack

I could keep doing my best to describe Thumbtack to you, but I might as well let them do it through their 90 second elevator pitch on YouTube (e-mail readers click through to watch).

Now that you have an idea of what Thumbtack is all about, let’s talk about their internships. They don’t have any posted on their Jobs page, but their co-founder Jonathan Swanson did send me a note about two unlisted positions that they’re hiring for.

The first is:

Exciting Early-Stage Web Startup Seeks Programming Intern

Compensation: Equity + Meals

We’re looking for somebody with a good grasp of the foundations of programming and who has worked on a project outside of class. Working knowledge of PHP is preferred, but we will consider work in other languages.

We work in a small team of seven, and you will be collaborating with our lead developer. Our company is growing quickly and we have lots to do. There will be plenty of opportunities for real work. A good fit could lead to an offer for a full-time position.

Thumbtack is a well-funded, energetic, young start up located in San Francisco. We have a great office with views of the Bay and a private chef schooled at Le Cordon Bleu cooks most of our meals at the office.

For more information about us, please check out thumbtack [dot] com. In your email, please tell us why you’re interested in working at a startup. careers [at] thumbtack [dot] com.

And the second is:

Exciting Early-Stage Web Startup Seeks Marketing Intern

Compensation: Equity + Meals

We’re looking for a smart, hard working, upbeat person who will help with our customer service and marketing. You must be a self-starter and able to work independently. You’ll work directly with our Director of Marketing. Your work will be project-based and will range from brain storming marketing ideas or handling customer calls and emails to delivery of flyers around San Francisco or chasing down email addresses of journalists. Must be willing to cheerfully do rote tasks when necessary, but we’ll happily expand your responsibilities if your performance merits.

Thumbtack is a well-funded, energetic, young start up located in San Francisco. We have a great office with views of the Bay and a private chef schooled at Le Cordon Bleu cooks most of our meals at the office.

For more information about us, please check out thumbtack [dot] com. In your email, please tell us why you’re interested in working at a startup. careers [at] thumbtack [dot] com.

The company sounds pretty cool, so give them a look. I’m not sure if the positions are paid or not, but if they’re not, you can make up for eating lots of food cooked by their private chef.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you tried Thumbtack?

JAKKS Pacific

Willy Franzen — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 16:07:24 +0000

Merry Christmas! I just had a wonderful morning with plenty of presents under the tree, and I hope that you did too. Despite being 25 years old, I am still a kid at heart. I’ve spent most of the morning playing with a remote control helicopter, while my dad is about to put batteries in the EyeClops Night Vision Infared Stealth Goggles that I just bought him. Yes, I got my dad a kid’s toy. I’m hoping he’ll use it for fishing, but I’m sure he’ll find plenty of other uses for night vision goggles too. After purchasing my dad’s gift, I wanted to see which company was behind it. It turns out that Malibu, CA JAKKS Pacific is behind ton of awesome stuff. You’ve got Club Penguin, the EyeClops Mini Projector, Jakks Creepy Crawlers Bugmaker, Discovery Kids toys, Girl Gourmet Cake Bakery, and all kinds of other cool things that you’d like to find under the Christmas tree.

All You Want for Christmas… Is an Internship

I love the holidays as a time for internship searching, even if intern hiring is extremely slow between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. There are so many great ideas out there. If you like something enough to ask Santa Claus for it, there’s a good chance that there’s a company with internships behind what you’re asking for. JAKKS Pacific is a perfect example. They were founded in 1995, and since then they’ve been pumping out cool stuff for kids (and immature adults like me and my dad). They don’t have information about internships posted on their site, but I did find some former interns on LinkedIn. You should still check out the JAKKS Pacific Careers page to get a feel for their offerings. They’ve grown from a handful of employees to over 500 in the past 15 years, so there’s a decent chance that if you reach out to them they’ll make your Christmas wish come true.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you get any toys for Christmas?

San Francisco Chronicle

Willy Franzen — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:59:13 +0000

Being a newspaper these days is tough. I’d imagine it’s especially tough in a place like San Francisco where people embrace new technologies so quickly. Although I’d also expect those early adopters to be just the types who are heavy users of newspapers. I’m not sure where that leaves the San Francisco Chronicle, but they do seem to have a strong history of adapting to changes in their business model. According to Wikipedia, they first went online with SFGate.com in 1994, and now they’re moving towards a focus on subscriptions instead of advertising to generate revenue. I’m not sure that’s going to work long term, but you have to like the flexibility that the San Francisco Chronicle has shown over the years. It’s no surprise that they remain one of the largest newspapers in the country.

Chronicle Your Internship Search

One of the disappointing things about most newspapers and magazines is that they don’t provide much information about themselves on their websites. They publish plenty of content, but getting the inside scoop on the company is usually tough. The Chronicle follows this trend, although they do provide a very in-depth history page. One of the few other “meta” pages that the San Francisco Chronicle has is their Jobs page. That’s where you’ll find a link to The Chronicle’s Internships page. It gives a brief rundown of their internship program which consists of both paid and for credit internships. It appears that the deadline for the unpaid/academic internships is today; however, I only see paid internships listed on their Applicant Tracking System. These positions include Photo Intern, News Intern, and Features Intern. These are all for Summer 2010 and you can apply directly from the internship postings.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read the San Francisco Chronicle?