One Day, One Internship » Italy

Vibram

Willy Franzen — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:17:46 +0000

Ever wanted to connect with me or other One Day, One Internship readers on LinkedIn? Join the One Day, One Internship LinkedIn Group and you can do just that.

On Saturday I played in a beach volleyball tournament with my girlfriend. We ended up winning our division of co-ed doubles which came with a $60 prize (we got our entrance fee back). It was a great day despite the 94 degree heat, but it was definitely exhausting… and painful. The pain only came during my last match when I realized that I had developed some pretty nasty burns/blisters on the arches of my feet from playing barefoot for 9 hours on the scalding hot sand. Obviously I need to purchases something to protect my feet for my next tournament, and I was considering the Fivefingers shoes from Vibram (it turns out that they don’t do all that well in the sand, so I’ll need to get sand socks). Vibram is an Italian company (their U.S. office is in Concord, MA) that is the “world leader in high performance rubber soles, targeted to the outdoor, work, recreation, fashion, repair and orthopedic markets.” They’ve been around for 73 years, but they seem to have recently hit a tipping point in terms of brand recognition. The Fivefingers shoes are totally odd looking, but they apparently offer some really great benefits for your feet. I saw my first pair on a good friend who has recommended quite a few companies that we’ve featured (so he’s an in the know kind of guy), and since I saw them on him, I keep spotting them all over the place. I also know of Vibram because they make the soles that are used for my fishing boots (they grip slippery rocks that other soles would slip on).

Get a Grip on Vibram

Vibram is already producing 35 million soles each year, which makes sense because they truly are a technological leader in the footwear category. The interesting development is Vibram’s increased focus on its own brand. Most of the soles that they produce are for partners who manufacture and brand their own shoes. Now that Vibram has had such a big success with the Fivefingers, I imagine that they’ll look to expand their own consumer product line. I’ve been meaning to feature Vibram for at least a year, but only now have I found enough information to give you a good start on learning about careers with them. Most of their operations are based at their headquarters in Italy, but the U.S. office in Concord, MA does seem to be growing. There isn’t a specific Jobs page for it, but on Vibram’s Contact page they list staff@vibram.com as an address to which you can send a job application. Additionally, there is a Jobs page for Brookfield, MA based Quabaug Corporation, which is the exclusive North American manufacturer for Vibram. I haven’t found any mentions of internships with Vibram, but it’s the middle of July and not a lot of internships are being posted right now. If you’d like to intern with Vibram, reach out to them and see what’s possible.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own any Vibram products?

Moleskine

Willy Franzen — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:15:22 +0000

If there is ever a day to get organized, it’s New Year’s Day. Not only is it a traditional practice to adopt resolutions to better yourself, but you are also forced into using a new datebook or calendar by the date change (unless you live a digital lifestyle, of course). The first week of January is almost always the biggest week of the year for internship search related web traffic, which means that competition for intern positions is probably at its annual peak right now. You need to give yourself every advantage that you can, and organization is one of the best ways to do that. My preference is to do everything online, but if you’re one of those people who still knows how to use a pen and paper, then you might want to check out Moleskine. They’re an Italian company with a U.S. headquarters in New York City that makes “legendary notebooks.” Whether you’re looking for blank pages to write down your New Year’s resolutions and ideas for the new year or you need to replace your datebook, they’ve got it.

Are You Legendary?

If you do end up purchasing a Moleskine for an early 2010 gift to yourself, you’ll probably want to buy one on Amazon.com (we get a small referral fee). Then you’ll see what all of the fanaticism is all about. Many great artists and authors have used Moleskine type notebooks over the past couple centuries, but it was only in 1999 that a company named Modo & Modo Spa trademarked Moleskine and started producing these types of notebooks again. They were a hit, and the demand for notebooks exceeded the companies capacity for production. They were bought out by a French investment firm and renamed Moleskine Srl in 2007. They are based in Milan and have grown to more than 50 employees in a very short time. Despite the fact that digitization is killing off a lot of paper based industries, Moleskine is thriving because of the story that they tell and the attention to detail in their products. They’re another company that doesn’t list internships on their website, but their rapid growth along with the profiles of some of their employees on LinkedIn (there seems to be a publishing industry connection) indicate to me that reaching out to them through their Contact page about a possible internship is a great way to start off a well organized year. I did find one online mention of a Moleskine intern in Italy, so it’s not a complete shot in the dark.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you own a Moleskine?

frog design

Willy Franzen — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:02:27 +0000

We’re big on innovation here. We don’t like talking about companies that are doing things the way that they’ve always done. They’re not only boring, but they’re also destined for failure. Look at the auto industry. You can blame the downfall of the Big 3 on a lot of things, but a lack of innovation has to be a big part of your argument. We’re trying to bring innovation to the way that you find internships, and there are hundreds of startups out there that are defined by innovation. It’s all around us. frog design is a global innovation firm. They “work with the world’s leading companies, helping them create and bring to market meaningful products, services, and experiences,” and they’ve been doing it for almost 40 years. They’ve worked with clients as vaired as Disney, GE, HP, Logitech, Microsoft, MTV, Seagate, Yahoo!, which goes to show you that they’re not easy to pigeonhole. frog design is based out of San Francisco, and they have offices (or as they call them, studios) in Austin, New York, San Jose, Seattle, Milan, Amsterdam, Stuttgart, and Shanghai

These Internships Might Give You Warts

It seems that on most days the companies that we feature need a little help telling their story, so we do our research and try to make it easier for you to understand what exactly they do. That’s not the case today. Frog Design tells their story perfectly on their About page with the following image. That’s why we’re just reposting it.

I have nothing to add, except of course what kind of internships at frog design might appeal to college students. They have a ton of internships, so you’re in luck. Their Internships page says that they periodically offer internships in Digital Design, Interaction Design (i.e. Design Analysts), Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering, Design Technology, Strategy, Marketing, IT and HR; however, it encourages you to check out the current listings to see what’s available. Right now there are Winter Internships available in Digital Media Design in Milan, Amsterdam, New York, Stuttgart, Austin, and San Francisco. There’s also a Marketing/PR Internship available in San Francisco. If none of these internships appeal to you, you can go back to frog design’s Internships page, and submit an application for consideration for future opportunities.

These internships look awesome, so go read the Top 10 Reasons to Work at frog to get yourself amped up before you apply. Maybe you’ll just blow them away with your passion.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you love innovation as much as we do?

LEWIS PR

Willy Franzen — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 15:58:33 +0000

It’s been almost 9 months since we officially launched, and in that time we’ve featured quite a few internships in public relations. Many have been in-house with major brands, while others have been on the consulting/agency side. When you’re looking at in-house internships, it’s easy to find the point of differentiation – it’s all in the product or service that you’re trying to get press for; however, it’s not so easy to differentiate between internships at different PR agencies. It usually takes a little work – you need to look at client lists, case studies, and awards to get a sense of how one agency is different from another. With LEWIS PR, the point of differentiation is clear – everything about what they do is international. They have locations in Australia, Benelux, Czech Republic, France, Germany, China, India, Italy, Japan, Nordics, Poland, Singapore, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Global Public Relations

Being international isn’t the only thing that stands out about LEWIS PR, their culture also seems to be unique. They talk about it on their Careers page, but where you can really see it is on their Flickr page. It’s hard to understand what’s going on with no context, but there has to be a story behind a guy in a Juicy Couture sweatsuit and another guy dressed up as a baby. Maybe it’s from one of their international offices. Anyway, LEWIS PR’s Job and Internship listings show that they offer internships all across the world. They are currently looking for PR interns in Australia (Sydney), Italy (Milan), Spain (Madrid), the United Kingdom (Bristol, London, Manchester), and the US (Boston and San Diego). They also have UK based internships in Marketing and Events, Sales and Marketing, and Human Resources. The internships obviously vary by location, but the US based are unpaid and have a 3 month minimum. We’re not sure what you need to do if you’re a US based student who wants to intern abroad, but the San Diego and Boston based internships sure look like they’re worth applying for (which you can do directly from LEWIS PR’s internshp listings).

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you interested in seeing more international opportunities like those with LEWIS PR or should we stick to the States?