Since I’m too young to remember it, I’m sure that many of you are too. In 1989 “a major environmental disaster shook public confidence in corporate America—the Exxon-Valdez oil spill.” It made the environmental costs of business finally feel real to many people, and it resulted in the founding of a non-profit organization called Ceres. They are “a national network of investors, environmental organizations and other public interest groups” that work “with companies and investors to address sustainability challenges such as global climate change.” With the BP oil spill among other environmental crises, it’s quite clear that Ceres has lots more work to do after 20 years of operations. Still, Ceres, which is based in Boston, MA, has accomplished quite a bit in their mission to “integrate sustainability into capital markets.” They launched both the Global Reporting Initiative, which is “now the de-facto international standard used by over 1300 companies for corporate reporting on environmental, social and economic performance,” and the Investor Network on Climate Risk, which is “a group of more than 70 leading institutional investors with collective assets of more than $7 trillion.” They’re obviously a major player in sustainability, and they’re taking the right approach by working with businesses instead of fighting them. Continue reading about Ceres…
One part of my morning routine to get these posts out to you is looking for the company’s logo. Usually I just snag it off of the company’s home page and that’s it. Occasionally I need to find a different version of the logo because it may have a weird background, the word beta written across it, or it may just be too small. The latter was the case today; however, I wasn’t able to find a more reasonably sized logo despite the fact that the company designs logos—in addition to many other things—and is named HUGE. The irony. HUGE is a Brooklyn, NY based company with offices in Los Angeles, London, and Stockholm that “helps build digitally-driven businesses.” What does that mean? It means that they work with some of the biggest brands in the world in areas like strategic planning, user experience, creative, interactive marketing, technology, and emerging platforms. With approximately 225 employees HUGE has designed and developed online experiences that drive 150 million monthly unique visitors and $12.3 billion in revenue. Continue reading about HUGE…
This morning I was reading a blog post about why interns should be paid (which goes nicely with my article on the legality of unpaid internships), and I noticed that the guy who wrote the post happens to work at an ad agency that pays its interns. Since paid internships in the ad industry are always in demand, I figured that GSD&M Idea City was worth a look. I learned that they’re based in Austin, TX (I feel like a lot of companies that are hiring right now are based in Texas), and that they are one of the bigger names in the industry. In fact, from 1987 until 2007 they were “one of two agencies that held the Wal-Mart account” according to Wikipedia. That means that they helped “build Wal-Mart from $11 billion in sales to $312 billion.” The agency has since moved on, but their client list continues to impress. Continue reading about GSD&M Idea City…
Today is my half birthday, which has nothing to do with trumpets or creative agencies, but I thought it was worth noting in case you want to buy me a present. Trumpet says “Don’t Advertise. Connect.” So that’s what I’m trying to do. Connect with me by buying me a gift. Anyway, Trumpet is a unique creative agency. They’re based in New Orleans, LA, and they typically work with startups, launches, and turnarounds. Since those are exactly the kinds of businesses that New Orleans needs right now, they’re a perfect fit for the city. Trumpet offers holistic strategy guidance that goes beyond advertising and touches on areas like “product development, social or digital strategy, publicity, events, design or sponsored content.” They really aim to touch all areas of the businesses that they work with. Continue reading about Trumpet…
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…
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. Continue reading about RKS…
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. Continue reading about Organic…
Last night I was driving home and heard a radio commercial for an 89 cent burrito. It made me realize how cheap calories are these days. Cheap calories used to be a good thing. It meant that fewer people would go hungry, but unfortunately cheap calories are often low-quality calories. As hunger becomes less of a problem, nutrition continues to be a major problem. The Food Trust is a Philadelphia based non-profit that “works to improve the health of children and adults, promote good nutrition, increase access to nutritious foods, and advocate for better public policy.” They work with “neighborhoods, schools, grocers, farmers and policymakers” to educate people about making the right food choices while also making access to good food easier and more affordable. Continue reading about The Food Trust…
When I was a freshman at Cornell, a bunch of my friends decided to form a group called the Red Revelers. We would go to sporting events and act rowdy. We had t-shirts and everything. I guess that’s why Revel Consulting caught my eye when I was browsing through the Inc. 5000 (expect to be hearing a lot about that list in the next few weeks—it’s my favorite resource for finding cool companies). They’re a Kirkland, WA based consulting firm that has expertise in Product Management, Program & Project Management, Change Management, Process Engineering, Sales and Marketing Management, Strategy Development & Measurement, and Cloud Computing. They’re also the 34th fastest growing private company in the United States. Beyond an awesome growth rate, they were also “named to the list of 100 Best Companies to Work For by Seattle Business magazine based on job satisfaction, work environment, and professional growth opportunities.” Continue reading about Revel Consulting…
When I was in high school, I had a number of friends who seemed pretty serious about pursing careers in the music industry. There was one problem though… they weren’t the most musically talented individuals. Some of them played music – although not that well – and some others just listened and went to concerts. They were passionate about music, but landing a career in the music industry isn’t very easy when you don’t make music. My friends moved on from their musical aspirations, but if you’re still committed to working in the industry, you might want to think about working in management. To do that, you’re going to need some serious internship experience. One place that you can get that is Alter Ego Management, a Detroit based management and booking agency that was founded “to serve both the artists represented and the fans of those artists.” Continue reading about Alter Ego Management…
I’m an iPhone guy, so I tend to feel sorry for people who are constantly thumbing away on their BlackBerries. That’s just my being a smug Apple user though. I realize that a lot of people love their BlackBerries and for good reason. They’re pretty remarkable devices, and they’re perfectly tailored for business use. (Although not as perfectly tailored as my iPhone! Ok, I’m done.) That’s why Research In Motion, the company that makes BlackBerries, has a 16.6% share of the smartphone market. They seem to have hit a bit of a rough spot lately (at least their stock price makes it look like they have), but their market position is still very strong. That’s why it’s no surprise that they appear to have a huge internship program; however, the real reason that I wanted to feature Research In Motion here is that they chose an unfortunate, yet inappropriately hilarious domain name for their Jobs site (it redirects now, but I think that you can figure it out). Continue reading about Research In Motion…
If you’ve been reading for a while, you’ve probably heard me talk about old media and new media. Old media is dying and new media is thriving. And if there’s any proof to back that up, it’s that The New York Times – probably the world’s strongest old media brand – is facing severe financial struggles. But they’re still The New York Times. They’re trying to grab hold of new media, and they’re doing a lot of things right, but they’re just too big. New media is all about being small and agile, and large corporations still have a lot of adjusting to do. With that said, it’s evident from The New York Times’ internship postings that they’re moving in the right direction. Continue reading about The New York Times…
I don’t think that we’ve featured any internships in Venture Capital yet, but today that’s going to change. From what I’ve heard, it seems like there just aren’t that many internships in VC to start with, and when there are, they get snapped up almost immediately. That’s why I was pretty interested when I got word that vSpring Capital is now recruiting for their Summer Internship Program. They’re based out of Salt Lake City, UT, and they’ve funded a portfolio of companies that work in the Software, Communications, Internet, and Life Sciences industries. I don’t recognize any of their portfolio companies by name, but some of them look pretty cool, so you should check them out. Continue reading about vSpring Capital…
I was just browsing the news this morning when I came across the story of how Bernard Madoff, a prominent Wall Street trader, allegedly admitted to defrauding investors in his hedge fund of $50 billion. It is an unbelievable amount of money, and it’s hard to believe that anyone would go through the effort and risk to steal that much money – I can’t even fathom what you would do with $50 billion in illegally acquired money. The most outrageous part of the story might be that Madoff has been released on $10 million bail. That’s peanuts for him. It’s .02% of what he allegedly stole. After reading this story I started browsing non-profits for today’s post, and I came across the Vera Institute of Justice. It’s a New York City based organization with locations in Washington, DC and New Orleans, and it was founded when “philanthropist Louis Schweitzer and magazine editor Herb Sturz recognized the injustice of a bail system in New York City that granted liberty based on income.” Today’s story about Madoff is a perfect example of this injustice. Continue reading about Vera Institute of Justice…
Brand building is a tough business, but Liggett Stashower is a Cleveland, OH based advertising agency that does it well. They’ve done a fantastic job building their own brand (as you’ll see soon), so it makes sense that other companies should trust them to do the same for them. They were named by Crain’s as the coolest place to work in Cleveland, and this video certainly backs it up. Liggett Stashower wins awards for community service and gives college students scholarships. I also hear that they occasionally pull children from burning buildings and are weeks away from the cure for cancer. Seriously, though, as soon as I arrived on Liggett Stashower’s website, I was impressed by them. If you’re interested in marketing, advertising, public relations, or communications, this is a place that you want to intern. Continue reading about Liggett Stashower…
Even though we’ve featured two non-profit organizations and their internships every weekend since February, we’ve barely scratched the surface when it comes to non-profits. There are thousands of organizations working to make the world a better place, and their numbers are constantly increasing. This growth has led to more and more non-profit organizations that exist solely to help other non-profits. One example is Globalhood, a New York City based non-profit organization that provides “incubation and consultancy services” with the mission of creating “innovative international development projects by bringing together people and knowledge from across disciplines.” Actually, Globalhood calls itself a “for social profit” not a “non-profit,” but legally it’s still a non-profit. Continue reading about Globalhood…
What’s your favorite public place? Where would you most rather be than sitting in front of a computer searching for internships? I guess that with wifi you could actually be in your favorite public place while searching for internships, but that’s a relatively new development. The odds are that your favorite public place is somewhere that you feel like a part of the community. Project for Public Spaces is a non-profit organization that works to increase the number of “people-friendly settings that build local value and serve community needs.” In other words they want to make it easier for people to get out of the house and interact by providing better places to do so. Continue reading about Project for Public Spaces…
Do you have an iPhone yet? Maybe that’s an obnoxious question, but it’s getting less and less obnoxious as software developers continue to push out amazing applications. The iPhone is adding serious productivity tools in addition to the obvious entertainment capabilities in “the best iPod that Apple has ever made.” We may even be reaching the point where you can call an iPhone purchase a capital investment without cracking a smile. Apple is largely responsible for the iPhone’s success to this point, but it’s the 3rd party software developers who are taking the iPhone’s popularity to the next level. Pinch Media is a company that helps these iPhone developers grow their businesses. They’re doing so through analytics and advertising software that they’ve created for iPhone developers, but Pinch Media is also sitting down with developers and helping them determine when advertising makes sense, and when it doesn’t. Pinch Media’s business is all about helping other people make the most out of what they do best – the development of great iPhone applications. Continue reading about Pinch Media…
Are you enamored with the power of free markets? Is
Trading Places your favorite movie? Are you heartbroken that you waited too long and can’t find an internship in finance? There’s no need to get down, for there are still great companies in financial fields who are hiring Summer interns. Take the CME Group for example, which is “a combined entity formed by the 2007 merger of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT).” Continue reading about CME Group…
If you’ve bought a plane ticket or stayed in a hotel any time since about 1994 (ok, maybe a little later than that) you probably used a third party booking agent to at least look up fares or rates. Although the way airplane fares and hotel room rates are determined remain mysteries to most of us, it’s become a heck of a lot easier to travel economically when you have the Internet to help you plan. We’re probably not telling you anything you don’t know, so let’s start talking about internships at a company that you’re likely already familiar with, Expedia.com. Continue reading about Expedia.com…
