If you want to see me act like a child, take me furniture shopping on an empty stomach. It’s weird. I really appreciate what good furniture does for a space–whether it’s home or office–I think I just get freaked out by all the fake setups in a furniture store or something. I much prefer looking in a catalog and seeing a really cool office setup or a cozy living room. Even though they’re still staged, it feels more authentic. Haworth is a Holland, MI based company that “can make your environments work harder for you.” In other words, they make and sell furniture that is stylish yet functional (and they sell a lot of it–more than $1 billion a year).
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design,
engineering,
furniture,
human resources,
information technology,
interior design,
Internships,
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Michigan,
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While our government’s intelligence programs seem to be getting a lot of attention lately, they’re not the only one’s gathering information for strategic purposes. The same stuff that is important for our government to know can also be important for businesses, non-profits, and even individuals. Unfortunately, you can’t just knock on the NSA or CIA’s door and say, “Hey, what’s going on in Southeast Asia lately?” That’s why Stratfor exists. They are an Austin, TX based “geopolitical intelligence firm that provides strategic analysis and forecasting to individuals and organizations around the world.” They do this through two main product lines: subscription services and consulting. In other words, you can buy the information that they’re collecting, or you can hire them to get the information that you want.
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analyst,
fellowship programs,
intelligence,
policy,
rotation program,
Texas
I use a credit/debit card for almost all of my purchases. It makes it extremely easy to track where, when, and how I spend my money. I actually get annoyed when I have to pay cash. Unsurprisingly, I’m not the only one who likes to collect data on my purchases. Pretty much every business that could potentially sell me something would love to have more data about me. Datalogix is a company that collects that data. They are based in Westminster, CO, and they “leverage the power of purchase-based audience targeting to drive measurable online and offline sales.” They started by collecting offline purchase data, but now they’re mixing that data with online, direct mail, e-mail, and mobile. That’s an amazingly powerful combination.
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advertising,
analyst,
analytics,
Colorado,
data,
Internships,
marketing,
online marketing,
rotation program,
software development,
web development
I’ve always wanted to visit Japan. While the country is economically and technologically very similar to the U.S., it seems to be completely different culturally. I might get a chance to go there for my honeymoon (it’s one place that we’re considering), but until then I’ll have to enjoy Japan through its imports to the U.S. One of the latest is UNIQLO, a “brand has evolved from a chain of roadside stores to an international leader in style, quality, and fun.” I’ve never been inside one of their stores, but it seems that they’re about to start popping up all over the place (the first U.S. based store was in New York, NY, which is also where UNIQLO’s U.S. operations are based out of). From what I can tell, UNIQLO is targeting a similar market to American Apparel, though UNIQLO believes that their clothes set them “apart from apparel companies whose sole purpose is the pursuit of fashion trends.”
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administrative,
apparel,
fashion,
human resources,
international,
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Japan,
marketing,
New York,
retail,
rotation program
I hear from a lot of you that you want a career that makes the world a better place, but I know that some of you just want to make money (even if you’re afraid to admit it). If one were to design a business to generate profits as efficiently as possible, it would probably look a lot like a proprietary trading firm. A prop firm is one that doesn’t have any outside investors, so it can focus entirely on generating profits for itself without the worry that investors might want to pull their money out. Belvedere Trading is one of these firms (others that we’ve featured include Wolverine Trading and Jump Trading). They’re based in Chicago, IL, and they’ve been specializing “in equity index and commodity derivatives” since 2002. Basically, they find inefficiencies in the market, and profit from them through superior strategy and technology.
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Illinois,
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systems administration,
trading
The Internet is an amazing platform for learning, and we’re just touching the surface of its potential. However, there are still a ton of things that are much better learned offline. That’s why it should be no surprise that we’re seeing a number of companies pop up that create online marketplaces for classes in any topic you can imagine. One of the leaders in the space is Skillshare. They’re based in New York, NY, and they are helping “make the exchange of knowledge easy, enriching, collaborative, and fun.” You can pretty much learn anything from anyone, or you can teach people something and make some money on the side (a great way to pay the bills while you’re in college and build your resume at the same time). It’s a simple idea, but Skillshare seems to have it right. By handling all of the logistics they allow their users to focus on what they’re best at–teaching and learning.
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business development,
community management,
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education,
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New York,
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social media,
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user experience,
web development
Sometimes during your internship search a company name will keep popping up. You’ll ignore them because of assumptions that you’ve already made about them. Eventually you’ll give them a look, and you’ll realize that you didn’t know as much as you thought about them. That’s kind of how I’ve been with Morningstar. I knew of them well before I started this site. I have a friend who worked for them. They’re headquartered here in Chicago, IL, and they’re big supporters of the local startup and technology scene. They’re one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For, and I’ve even had multiple people tell me to write about them. I guess it’s time to take a closer look at Morningstar, which is “a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia.” They serve all investors from individuals to financial advisors to institutions, and they do so with a wide range of products that includes services, software, online publications, and print publications.
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analyst,
consulting,
data,
design,
finance,
human resources,
Illinois,
information technology,
interactive media,
international,
Internships,
investment,
leadership development,
media,
operations,
paid,
Pennsylvania,
product consultant,
product management,
quality assurance,
quality engineer,
research,
rotation program,
security,
software development,
web development
Did you know that there’s a wild coyote population that lives in downtown Chicago? I’ve heard plenty about suburban coyotes (my dog was attacked by one a while back), but you don’t hear much about urban coyotes. I even saw one running through the streets once, but I assumed it was someone’s German Shepherd that got loose until I learned about Chi-town’s coyotes and their affinity for eating vermin. Anyway, there are also coyotes on the North Shore–Lake Forest, IL to be specific, but I’m not talking about wild dogs. I’m talking about Coyote Logistics, a logistics firm that was referred to me by a reader and that came in at #6 on the Inc. 500 last year with 13,847% three-year growth to $249.8 million in revenue. Since many of you probably know less about logistics than you do about urban coyotes (now that I’ve told you all about them), I’m going to enlighten you with a definition straight from Wikipedia. Logistics is “the management of the flow of goods and services between the point of origin and the point of consumption in order to meet the requirements of customers,” and it “involves the integration of information, transportation, inventory, warehousing, material handling, and packaging, and occasionally security.”
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account management,
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customer service,
Illinois,
Internships,
Logistics,
operations,
rotation program,
sales,
supply chain,
transportation
