One Day, One Internship » Texas

Indeed

Willy Franzen — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:57:25 +0000

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It’s story time today! Let’s go back three years to when I was still job searching. I was getting extremely frustrated with the recruitment process, and I was starting to think about how I could make online job search better. Beyond my typical job searching, I was reading everything that I could about the online recruitment industry. I was generating new ideas, and trying to find a way in so that other job searchers wouldn’t have to go through what I went through. I took an especially strong interest in Indeed, not only because they provide an excellent job search engine, but also because they were an innovative and successful startup located in Stamford, CT—just 20 minutes from where I was living at the time (they also have an office in Austin, TX). They were still small, and they didn’t really have any job postings that were suitable for me, so I e-mailed the CEO. I told him why I wanted to work for him and what I thought that I could bring to the table. It worked, and I got an interview (going straight to the top is an underrated job search method). After clearing the phone screen, I got invited to the office to meet with some people on the team, and, to my surprise, that included the CEO whom I had e-mailed my initial “cover letter” to. The interview was kind of a disaster. It went well at first, but I had already started working on One Day, One Job, and telling a potential employer that you’re starting a company in the same space isn’t typically a good idea. I didn’t get offered the job (nor did they ever formally reject me), but I think it all ended up for the better.

Yes, Indeed

Indeed’s business model looks a lot like Google’s. Scour the Internet for information, organize that information in a coherent fashion, and spit it back to users in a relevant way with ads mixed in with the content. While Google does it for everything, Indeed only focuses on jobs. You probably already know all about Indeed, because if you’re job searching and not coming across Indeed at least occasionally, you’re either not searching very hard or using an ultra targeted, networking approach (which I approve of highly). If you don’t have a problem with getting meta about your internship search by looking for a position at a job search company, then take a look at internships at Indeed. They have a bunch of opportunities, and a number of them are either listed as internships or described as such. The one definitive internship is for a Sales Intern at the Stamford office, while there are a number of positions in Austin, TX with descriptions saying they’re looking for a current student. These include positions like Country Marketing Associate – Native Australian, Country Marketing Associate – Native Canadian, Country Marketing Associate – Native Spanish, and Marketing Associate. I’m still a fan of Indeed, even if they didn’t offer me a job, so go see if you can do better than I did with them. There’s no word on whether the positions are paid, but my guess is that they are.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you use Indeed?

Accruent

Willy Franzen — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:31:02 +0000

Location. Location. Location. You know how important it is. Chances are that one of the major drivers in your internship search is location. It’s even more important for businesses, yet they rarely manage their locations as effectively as they manage everything else. There are all kinds of sophisticated software platforms to manage customer relationships, products, human resources, and plenty of other things, but what about managing the places where they do business? That’s what Accruent is all about. They’re a Santa Monica, CA based company that develops software to help businesses “analyze [their] real estate and facilities portfolios and implement actions to cut costs and drive performance improvements.” It may not sound like the most exciting stuff on the face of it, but when you realize that Accruent helps clients manage “over 1 billion square feet of commercial space, for which they pay over $100 billion in rent annually,” you start to realize how interesting what Accruent does actually is.

Accruent Is Accruing Talent

Think about your college. Huge facilities with lots of people using them. How the heck do they figure out how to make the most of what they already have? If you go to Yale, USC, Michigan State, Syracuse, Brown, or one of the other higher education institutions on this list, you’d know that they used Accruent to figure it out. Accruent also has clients in Retail, Corporate, and Public Sector environments. That includes “20% of the Fortune 500 and over 40% of the top 100 retailers.” If you’re intrigued by what Accruent does, then you should check out their Careers page. They have internships available in Training (Santa Monica, CA), Market Research (Irvine, CA), and Recruiting (Austin, TX). No word on whether they’re paid or not.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Accruent?

80legs

Willy Franzen — Thu, 20 May 2010 15:54:37 +0000

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It’s interesting where the web will take you. You type in an address or use a bookmark to visit a favorite site—or maybe a job board, and before you know it you’re reading a blog post about something completely random. Amazingly, that random walk across the web is exactly how Google gathers all of its data for its search engine. They do this with something called a crawler, spider, or robot (all the same thing) that follows links from site to site and collects data. It’s all automated, so, unfortunately there isn’t a future job for you surfing the web all day. Obviously Google isn’t the only company that needs to crawl the web—more and more companies are realizing that there are many ways to profit by aggregating web data. Unfortunately, many of these companies don’t have the resources to build crawling platforms like Google has done. That’s where 80legs steps in, they’re a Houston, TX based startup that is making crawling accessible to the masses. For instance, I could use 80legs to find data on job or internship postings.

Do You Have the Legs?

80legs is still in its early stages, but they have funding and they’ve received some great press. What really makes them stand out, though, is how affordable they’ve been able to make crawling the web. They even have a free offering! I had no idea that crawling the web could be done so cheaply, and now that I do know, I’m trying to figure out if there’s any way that I can put their technology to use to help job seekers. We’ll see if that pans out, but for now you should check out internships at 80legs. Right now they’re offering both remote and local (Houston) internships for Software Developers (I’m pretty sure they’re paid). It’s a great way to get a start at a company that could have a huge future effect on the Internet because 80legs has the potential to spawn some pretty cool features and even businesses.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you think of 80legs?

GSD&M Idea City

Willy Franzen — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 14:42:50 +0000

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.

Live in Idea City

Another cool thing that I learned from Wikipedia is that GSD&M stands for the agency’s founders’ initials or “Greed, Sex, Drugs, and Money,” which all can be key factors in an advertising campaign. There isn’t much detail about the company on their website, but you can take a look at the work that they’ve done for clients including AT&T, BMW, American Red Cross, John Deere, Southwest Airlines, and quite a few others. It’s great stuff, and if you’re an ad nerd, you’ll love it. Assuming that you do love their work, then you’ll probably want to check out the GSD&M Idea City Careers page. Right now they have 12 internships posted, and they’re all for Fall 2010. That’s right—getting a highly sought after internship requires planning ahead. That doesn’t mean that you can’t find a last minute Summer internship, but if you want the best opportunities, you should be looking at the Fall already. The internships at GSD&M Idea City include opportunities in: New Business Development, Studio Art, Information Technology, Account Service, Broadcast Production, Communications, Creative, Creative Project Management, Graphic Design, Marketplace Planning, Media, and Media (Chicago, IL). You can apply for all of the positions online, so get to it before it’s too late to apply for a Fall internship.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you been to Idea City?

Green Mountain Energy

Willy Franzen — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:58:09 +0000

Ever wondered if an internship posting that you found online was a scam? Here’s the rundown on scam internships and how to avoid them.

So, I don’t think that I’ve taken note of Earth Day since elementary school… or last year when I wrote a post about New Leaf Paper. Yes, I may seem a bit ambivalent about a holiday started by hippies, but I really do care about the environment (so much though that I’m taking a few days off next week to head out into the woods and go fishing). Today is the 40th Earth Day, and I have to say it’s amazing how far we’ve come in fighting pollution. In fact, we’ve come so far that we’re now more concerned with the gas that we all exhale than toxic waste and acid rain. A big portion of the environmentalist movement’s attention now seems to be focused on finding alternative sources of energy, which seems to make sense. One company that is enabling environmentalist consumers to make more conscious choices about energy consumption is Austin, TX based Green Mountain Energy. Now, let’s be honest, most of you have never paid an electric bill. But when you do, wouldn’t you like to be able to choose a clean energy alternative or purchase carbon offsets? That’s what Green Mountain Energy is offering in both regulated and deregulated markets.

Put Your Energy to Good Use

Most people aren’t used to having a choice when it comes to utilities. Your faucet is always going to run with the same water, and your tv won’t work any differently no matter whom you’re buying your electricity from. However, Green Mountain Energy is working to change that attitude. They know that consumers have a conscience and want to feel good about their purchasing decisions. That’s why Green Mountain Energy has built a business on charging a premium for a cleaner alternative to what used to be a commoditized product. I doubt we’ll ever see electricity snobs who opine on the benefits of one solar plants energy over another (think wine snobs), but I’m sure you’re not too far away from hearing someone at a cocktail party brag about paying more for solar powered electricity. If you love Earth Day and think there’s a big future in alternative energy, then you better check out Green Mountain Energy’s Careers page. Right now they have 15 jobs posted, but only one of those is an internship. It’s a Marketing – Graphic Designposition, and there’s no word on whether it’s paid or not. You can probably reach out to Green Mountain Energy about other internship opportunities, or you can watch to see if they post anything new.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you ever paid an electric bill?

LibreDigital

Willy Franzen — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 11:52:02 +0000

Considering that I’m a total Apple fan boy, it’s a huge surprise to me that I’ve only mentioned the iPad twice on this site so far. I’ve had some time to play with the device, and it really has impressed me. As someone who not only reads a ton of books but is also writing one, I’m really excited about how the iPad and other digital reading devices are going to change the way that we consume media. I’m also a little nervous about it (which is why I’m still buying hard copies—they also look good on my bookshelves). Still, it won’t be long before most of the reading that we do will be done on screens. LibreDigital is an Austin, TX based company that has been preparing for that day since 1999 when they were founded. Their business is all about helping publishers and producers get their content in the right formats and then distribute that content electronically. They even already have a way for publishers to get their books on the iPad seamlessly.

Be Libre, Be Digital

While we’ve watched many major companies flounder as they try to grasp the concepts and changes surrounding “new media,” LibreDigital has been expecting these changes for years. They’ve been ready, and they’ve been building their brand as the goto place for publishers who want to go digital. They’re already working with “six of the top ten U.S. trade publishers” and “eight of the top ten newspapers,” so the strategy has worked. Now that the world of digital media is really getting exciting, LibreDigital has a prime opportunity to grow their business. Hopefully this will mean lots of internship opportunities in the near future, but for now there’s only one posted on their site—QA Intern (no word on whether it’s paid or not). You can see the full description here, and if you want to apply, you should send your cover letter and résumé to recruitingmgr@libredigital.com. You may also want to try reaching out about other internship opportunities that aren’t on the software side.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you read eBooks or are you holding on to your hard copies?

The Advisory Board Company

Willy Franzen — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:59:44 +0000

Consultants are typically seen as hired mercenaries. Sometimes they get a bad rap, but at least they’re compensated well for it. I have to think that those who work at The Advisory Board Company have at least a somewhat better reputation since their company’s clients are all mission driven. What does mission driven mean? Well, most of The Advisory Board Company’s clients are in the healthcare industry (think hospitals and health systems, not insurance providers), but they’ve recently moved into working with universities too. I hadn’t heard of The Advisory Board Company until a One Day, One Job reader e-mailed me (you can reach me at willy@onedayonejob.com if you want to share a tip or success story) to tell me that he recently received a job offer from them. Apparently they do a ton of entry level hiring (along with some interns), and they’re continuing to grow well beyond the 5 employees that they started with in 1979. Since then they’ve grown to more than 1,000 employes, and they’ve served “more than 2,800 leading healthcare and higher education organizations.” Additionally, they’ve grown beyond their corporate headquarters in Washington, DC to having offices in Chicago, IL; San Francisco, CA; Austin, TX; Portland, OR; Nashville, TN; London, UK; and Chennai, India.

Join The Board

Introducing The Advisory Board Company as a consulting firm wasn’t fully accurate. They actually operate quite differently from most consulting practices. Instead of serving clients on an engagement basis, they do most of their work as a membership organization. Hospitals or universities can become The Advisory Board Company members and gain access to the company’s different offerings, which include things like Strategy Research, Clinical Research, Leadership Development, Business Intelligence Analytics, and more. They also provide Management and Consulting services, but it seems that those aren’t the main focus. Still, if you’d consider a career in consulting, The Advisory Board Company could be a nice alternative. Their Careers page goes into a lot of detail about the company’s culture and benefits, and obviously it also has the job listings. Right now there are just over 40 jobs posted and quite a few are entry level. Oddly enough, there’s only one internship posted: Recruiting Intern (it’s paid). Usually companies have lots of internships and not many entry level jobs, but I guess it’s reversed here. If you’re interested in something more closely tied to The Advisory Board Company’s core businesses, I guess you’ll either have to keep checking their job postings or reach out to them and ask about other internships.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about The Advisory Board Company?

The LTV Group

Willy Franzen — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 16:00:02 +0000

It shouldn’t be a surprise that we haven’t covered many internships in real estate over the past couple years. Demand for real estate is way down, and the demand for college students to intern in real estate has to be down too. Luckily, there have been a few bright spots during the recession. Some real estate based startups have been able to gain market share from struggling competitors, and the demand for real estate based content has remained strong. I think it’s safe to say that media coverage of the real estate and mortgage markets has only increased over the past few years. The LTV Group, a Dallas, TX based “end-to-end communications firm spanning publishing and creative services,” has taken advantage of the growth in market for real estate related for information. The company consists of three subsidiaries, HousingWire, REOInsider, and LTV Creative. The latter is a full-service marketing communications firm, while the other two are magazines and websites that put LTV Creative to work.

Join the Group

From what I can tell, The LTV Group decided to create some clients for itself. I’m not exactly sure how a marketing agency came to launch two real estate related publications, but it seems to make sense. My guess is that they did a lot of work for clients in real estate, and when that work started drying up, they put their resources to use to build HousingWire and REOInsider. Both are publications that provide news and commentary on housing, mortgages, and other real estate related topics. HousingWire actually hosts it’s own job board, and on there you’ll find a recently posted position for paid Editorial Interns. The internships look like a great opportunity for writers who are interested in real estate, or future real estate tycoons who can write and want to get some relevant experience while waiting out the downturn. You’ll find the application instructions on the internship posting.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Did you want to go into real estate and change your mind?

AEG

Willy Franzen — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:00:18 +0000

I swear that half of all college students want to work in sports and entertainment. Unfortunately most of the job and internship postings you’ll find in those industries are actually scam internships. Getting a position at a legitimate sports and entertainment company is not easy, but with AEG you have a shot. They call themselves “one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world,” and although that sounds broad, it’s a good description. AEG operates in a number of business areas including Facilities, Sports (Teams and Events), Music (Events), and Merchandising. They own/control arenas like the STAPLES Center, Conseco Fieldhouse, and the Prudential Center, while also owning professional sports teams like the LA Kings and Los Angeles Galaxy (can you tell that AEG is based in Los Angeles?). They’ve also “promoted tours by artists including Britney Spears, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Christina Aguilera & Justin Timberlake, The Dixie Chicks, Yanni, Paul McCartney, Usher, Kanye West, Prince, Rod Stewart, Bon Jovi, Nickelback, and PopTarts Presents American Idol.” And that’s not even half of it. AEG is a major player in sports and entertainment, and a great place to start a career.

Join AEG’s Team

Describing AEG’s business in a few paragraphs isn’t easy, so I guess that the best way to put it is that if it has to do with sports or entertainment, they’re probably involved in some way. That means that AEG offersinternship opportunities in a wide variety of areas. They actually have a halfway decent job search function on their site, so you can narrow things down by AEG Company, Area of Interest, Location, or Facility—they also let you sort the jobs so that you only see internships. Right now they have 18 internships posted in areas like Communications, Community Relations, Graphic Design, Hispanic Grassroots Marketing, Charitable Foundations, Sales & Marketing, Marketing, Mascot Marketing, Player Development, Premium Services, Special Events, Sponsorships, Production, Public Relations, Sales & Marketing, Ticket Operations, Video Production, and Youth Development. All of these positions appear to be unpaid, and you can apply for any that you find on their site through their online application process.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about AEG?

MITRE

Willy Franzen — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 12:35:58 +0000

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.

Give MITRE a Try

MITRE serves each of these groups by providing “a unique combination of broad operational knowledge and in-depth technical skills” while also developing new technology that can be transferred when appropriate. What is really astonishing about MITRE is its size. They have over 7,000 employees, and more than 65% of them hold an advanced degree. The organization is a hotbed for technical knowhow and creativity, and it’s great to know that they have thousands of talented people working to ensure the future of our country. On that note MITRE is constantly looking to hire smart people for both technical and non-technical positions. They have a very strong college recruiting program, which you can find out about here. There are nearly 400 positions posted right now on MITRE’s Jobs site, so browsing through everything may be a little tough. However, they do let you search for Co-ops, Non-technical Internships, and Technical Internships (and 42 of the positions fall into one of these categories). If you have any questions, you can reach out to Jessica Yu using MITRE’s employee directory or you can use the chat box on the Student Opportunities page during working hours. I’m not 100% sure, but I think all of MITRE’s internship offerings are paid

Job/Internship categories at MITRE include: Acquisitions, Artificial Intelligence, Business Analysis & Administration, Communications, Computer Operations, Contracts/Subcontracts, Database Technology Software, Defense & Space Systems, Desktop Support, Digital/Microprocessor Hardware, Domain Operation Analyst, Economics/Business, Electromagnetic & Nuclear Effects, Facilities Engineering, Financial Analysis, General Accounting, General Systems Engineer, Graphics, Human Resources Generalist, Human Factors Engineer, Industrial Security, Information Security, Information Systems Engineer, Integrated Electronics, Legal, Multi-Disciplinary Systems Development, Networking & Distributed Systems, Physical Security, Procurement, Sensor Systems, Signal Processing Engineer, Software Applications Development & Software Systems, Special Security, System Administrator, Technical Project Support, Telecommunications Specialist, and Treasury & Risk Management. There are also a variety of locations beyond MITRE’s headquarters, so you’ll have plenty of options.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What do you know about MITRE?

Hostess Brands

Willy Franzen — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 16:00:06 +0000

I’ve failed you. After two years of getting it right, I forgot to do a post for Pi Day yesterday. In 2008 we looked at internships at Pi Media, and in 2009 we looked at internships with The Mathematical Association of America. So, what does the guy who is late for the Pi Day party do when he was supposed to bring the pie? He obviously goes the Hostess Brands route—the cheapest and easiest way to get Fruit Pies at the last minute (I guess McDonald’s is your other option). It may not be like the pies that your grandma makes (my grandma makes an awesome Chocolate Dream Pie), but it gets the job done. And if you don’t like the Fruit Pies, you can rely on other favorites from the Irving, TX based (their operations center is based in Kansas City, MO) baking company like Twinkies, Hostess Cupcakes, Sno Balls, Ding Dongs, HoHos, and even Wonder Bread for those of you who are lacking a sweet tooth.

Be Their Guest

From what I can tell, Hostess Brands (Hostess and Wonder Bread) is owned by a company called Interstate Bakeries, which is going through some financial problems, but with that said, it appears that Hostess Brands still has plenty of job opportunities. The company may not be seeing growth like some companies that take a healthier approach to food are seeing, but Hostess and Wonder Bread are still iconic American brands. If it sounds like a brand that you might want to be a part of, then you can check out Hostess Brands’ Jobs page. They don’t have any internships posted, but they do have a selection in their job search function for intern positions. I don’t if that’s an indication of past/future internships, but the only way to find out is by reaching out to the folk at Hostess and asking about internships. You need to live your Twinkie dream!

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite Hostess Brands treat?

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?

Invodo

Willy Franzen — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:58:33 +0000

Video is an amazing sales tool. It’s able to show you exactly what you’re buying and how it works. The only thing better is an in-person demonstration, and those are far too expensive for mostproducts. Now that online video capabilities are pretty much ubiquitous, we’re seeing more and more companies adopt video as part of their sales process. More and more product pages have an embedded video along with all of the stuff you normally expect to find on an e-commerce site. Invodo is the company that is often behind these videos. They’re a three year old company based in Austin, TX, and they offer “a full-service eCommerce video solution that drives conversion for retailers, consideration for manufacturers, and satisfaction for consumers.” They work with more than 2,500 manufacturers and retailers including Sony, New Balance, Toys “R” Us, and plenty more major brands.

Video That Sells

If you want to take a look at the type of video that Invodo offers, all you have to do is check out their home page. It’s loaded with samples of work that they’ve done. Invodo offers a full solution for their clients. This includes content production, a platform for delivery, and a network for distribution. Surprisingly they don’t seem to have a video about themselves—you’d think that would be a key part of their sales process. They also don’t have a video about their Careers, but they’re a small company so that’s understandable. Their Internships page only shows one internship right now, and it’s for a Sales Intern. There’s no word on whether it’s paid or not, and you should also note that it’s more Sales & Marketing than just Sales. To apply send your cover letter and résumé to careers@invodo.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Has video influenced your purchasing decisions?

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?

National Football Foundation

Willy Franzen — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 16:52:12 +0000

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, which means that it’s time to talk about internships in football (we’ve featured NFL internship in addition to a few other cool opportunities). Since it’s our practice to feature non-profits on the weekend, I started browsing around the NFL’s Join the Team site, which features all of the league’s charitable work. One of the things that I came across was the Play It Smart program, which partners “academic coaches with student-athletes in order to, ‘take a student-athlete’s passion for sports and intense dedication to their team and transform it into a force for greater good in their lives.’” It’s a partnership between the NFL Youth Football Fund and the National Football Foundation. I decided to focus on the latter, as they’re exactly what I was looking for—a football related non-profit. The organization’s full name is The National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame. The Foundation is located in Irving, TX, while the Hall of Fame is located in South Bend Indiana. The organization’s mission is “to promote and develop the power of amateur football in developing the qualities of leadership, sportsmanship, competitive zeal and the drive for academic excellence in America’s young people.”

Touchdown at National Football Foundation

Although the National Football Foundation occasionally works with the NFL, they’re an independent organization that is really focused on amateur football. I’m a big fan of organizations like this and National Coaching Fellows that work to improve achievement at the intersection of athletics and academics. Unfortunately, the National Football Foundation’s About page, so you should probably rely on their Wikipedia page for more info. You’ll see that the organization was founded in 1947 “by General Douglas MacArthur, legendary Army Black Knights football coach Earl “Red” Blaik and journalist Grantland Rice.” You’ll also find that their current chairman is Archie Manning, the father of Colts’ QB Peyton Manning. Just as it’s hard to find information about the organization, it’s nearly impossible to find information on their internships. I did find a note about an internship program in Morristown, NJ with the College Football Hall of Fame that runs year round and focuses on communications, public relations, media, marketing, and journalism. Unfortunately this blurb links to the NFF’s main Internships page, which no longer exists. As of now you’re not going to find and current internship postings, so you should try using their LinkedIn Company Profile to do some research, and then use the Foundation’s Contact page to reach out to them.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Whom are you taking? Colts or Saints?

Object Reservoir

Willy Franzen — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:05:57 +0000

I’ve written about a lot of green internships, but I’m well aware that most of the internships in the energy sector are still related to oil. As the price of oil continues to rise and competition starts to increase from alternative energy companies, we’re going to see more and more innovation in the oil industry—there will a much bigger focus on efficiency. One example of his Houston, TX based Object Reservoir, which is a company that helps their clients in the Energy & Petroleum industry model their underground wells to optimize drilling and maximize production. I spent a good amount of time reading over the company’s website to try to understand exactly what they do, and I have to admit that it’s way over my head. Hopefully for some of you it all makes sense.

Object Employed

Although I may not “get” what Object Reservoir is all about, I have to say that I’m impressed by the pictures on their website. It certainly looks like they know what they’re doing. In addition to that, the fact that their client list includes names like BP, Shell, and Chevron tells me that they’re well regarded in the industry. At its heart, Object Reservoir is a software company, and it seems that their software is changing the way that is oil is extracted. If you take a look at Object Reservoir’s website, and the terminology makes sense to you, then you should check out their Internships page. Although there’s a little ambiguity in their job posting, it appears that Object Reservoir is currently recruiting Reservoir Engineering Interns. There’s a button on the Jobs page that allows you to apply by e-mail, and my guess is that the positions are paid.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you understand what Object Reservoir does?

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?

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?

Uline

Willy Franzen — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:58:55 +0000

I love boring businesses. It may not seem like it considering the fact that I’m often featuring startups that are on the cutting edge of technology, but I really do appreciate when a company is able to take an extremely simple idea and make it profitable. Uline is a perfect example. They are a Waukegan, IL based company that considers itself “the leading distributor of shipping, industrial, and packing materials to businesses throughout North America.” It all started in 1980 when Liz and Dick Uihlein identified a need for a local shipping supplies distributer. They started the business in their basement with the H-101 carton sizer, and now they have a product line that fills a 452 page catalog. That’s a lot of growth, and I expect it to continue as e-commerce and the shipping that results from it keep expanding (I have about a dozen boxes in my apartment from various holiday season shipments). And if for some reason the shipping business does slow down, Uline can always reorganize as a producer of forts for children—I always loved playing in cardboard boxes.

Box It Up

Now, if you give Uline a closer look, there are some striking similarities between their business and our favorite fictional employer, Dunder Mifflin. They’re both customer service oriented companies that provide businesses with essential supplies; however, I’m going to make a wild guess that the similarities between Uline and Dunder Mifflin end there. Companies with dysfunctional leadership don’t have sustained growth, and Uline is growing so much that they broke ground on a new Pleasant Prairie, WI corporate headquarters last Fall. With that growth comes jobs, or American jobs as Uline likes to call them, and internships too. All of Uline’s internships appear to be paid, and they are offered in areas that include “marketing/merchandising, creative, warehouse, customer service, sales, finance, administration, technology and human resources.” You can find the specific internship postings by browsing Uline’s Jobs page, and you can apply for any of those positions online—just don’t try delivering yourself in a box to their corporate headquarters. That would be weird. Uline has locations in Ontario, CA (that’s California, not Canada—I know it’s confusing); Toronto, Canada; Duluth, GA; Waukegan, IL; Tijuana, Mexico; Eagan, MN; Allentown, PA; Coppell, TX; and Seattle, WA, and most of these offices have internships, so there’s more than just internships at their corporate headquarters.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What have you heard about Uline?

Pilgrim’s Pride

Willy Franzen — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:15:54 +0000

It’s Thanksgiving! That means that we’re going to run with the theme and talk about a… chicken company? I know we’re all getting ready to chow down on some turkey, but first we should take a look at Pilgrim’s Pride, a Pittsburgh, TX based company that happens to be our country’s largest chicken producer. Much like how our tradition of Thanksgiving started with one small group and grew to be celebrated by hundreds of millions of people, Pilgrim’s Pride started as a single feed store and grew to be an $8.5 billion company. Unfortunately, Pilgrim’s Pride has hit some problems as of late, as they’re going through a bankruptcy. Still, they couldn’t have a more appropriate name (it came from their founder’s last name) for a Thanksgiving themed post, and they do appear to offer internships; in fact, they even seem to have turned a profit in their most recent quarter.

Sounds Like Turkey, Tastes Like Chicken

Now, I realize that distressed companies aren’t usually the best places to start your career and that the fact that a company’s name fits in well with a theme like Thanksgiving isn’t a good reason to want to intern for them, but I still thinks it’s important to look a little deeper into opportunities that you might typically overlook during your internship search. Pilgrim’s Pride is a perfect example. They’re a massive company with more than 40,000 employees, and they appear to be coming out of bankruptcy in the near future. Hopefully, that means that they’ve been able to solve many of the problems that put them in this situation. Chicken production isn’t the sexiest industry, but it’s massively important to our economy (just imagine life without buffalo wings). Pilgrim’s Pride has a few dozen job opportunities posted, but their website doesn’t seem to mention internships. Luckily, I found a mention on a Penn State web site of some sort of internship program for Animal Science students. There’s also a mention of an International Internship Program with Pilgrim’s Pride on a Michigan State website. I’m sure there are other opportunities available too, but you’ll have to do a little digging to find the right person to contact if you’re interested. Just make sure you start doing this before the turkey makes you sleepy.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you eat Pilgrim’s Pride chicken?

College Hunks Hauling Junk

Willy Franzen — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:54:37 +0000

Today is the last day to enter our Maghound Your Way to a New Job contest. With so few entries so far, there’s an excellent chance that you’ll win a one-year subscription to an awesome new magazine subscription service (3 monthly magazines for free!).

I’m still on my Inc. 5000 kick, and today we’re looking at a company whose name immediately caught my eye. They’re called College Hunks Hauling Junk, and that’s exactly what they are. Omar Soliman wanted to make some money during the summer, so he borrowed his mom’s cargo van to start hauling away people’s junk. He then entered his business plan in the Rothschild Entrepreneurship Competition and won the $10,000 first prize. He realized that he had a business that he could grow, and now College Hunks Hauling Junk is doing $2.9 million in revenue. Guess that’s why Omar and his co-founder Nick were named (also by Inc.) as Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30. College Hunks Hauling Junk is headquartered in Tampa, FL, but through expansion and franchising they now operate in Anne Arundel, MD; Baltimore/Howard County, MD; Chicago, IL; Cincinnati, OH; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Detroit, MI; Indianapolis, IN; Little Rock, AR; Los Angeles, CA; Louisville, KY; Orange County, CA; Orlando, FL; Phoenix, AZ; Raleigh-Durham, NC; Richmond, VA; San Francisco/San Jose, CA; Tampa Bay, FL; and Washington, DC Metro.

Are You Hunky Enough?

College Hunks Hauling Junk certainly has a provocative name, but that’s part of their success. Finding someone to haul away your junk isn’t that hard, but it’s really easy to go with the brand you recognize. College Hunks Hauling Junk is all about grabbing attention so that they’re the company that you choose when you need to get rid of some junk. It doesn’t hurt that they can call themselves green, as they recycle 60% of the junk that they collect. Now, College Hunks Hauling Junk obviously has plenty of jobs available. If you want to get in the business of hauling junk to pay your way through college, they can help, but they’re also a growing company with growing needs. They have a bunch of corporate job postings that consist solely of titles, and this includes a Marketing Intern position. You can apply here, although I don’t know if the position is paid or not.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Have you used College Hunks Hauling Junk?

Moroch

Willy Franzen — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:33:14 +0000

Sometimes I don’t completely get advertising. Take McDonald’s for example. How many people in the US have never heard of McDonald’s? Not many. So what’s the point in advertising? Maybe you can convince some more people to come in to buy off of the Dollar Menu or get more kids to beg their parents to buy them a happy meal, but it seems like McDonald’s would be just fine without any advertising at all. That’s something that the folks at Dallas’ Moroch will disagree with strongly because they are an ad agency that happens to do a lot of work with McDonald’s. And since Moroch’s About page says that they’re really all about helping their clients make more money (usually through advertising), I’m going to take a wager that all of the Mickey D’s advertising that you see has a significant effect on the bottom line. Beyond McDonald’s, Moroch also works with huge brands like Verizon, Walt Disney Pictures, Monster (yuck), and Make-A-Wish. That may sound cushy, but that means that there’s always a constant pressure to deliver spectacular results.

Your (Personal) Brand Wins

If you’re looking to learn a lot about the Advertising industry, Moroch looks like a fantastic place to do that. I wish that I could intersperse links throughout this post, but Moroch uses Flash for their website. That means that we can’t link directly to the pages, so you’ll have to do some browsing to read case studies, check out their client list, read their story, and see where they have offices. The good news is that we can link to their Internships page (even if it is a kind of crappy Applicant Tracking System). There you’ll see quite a few opportunities for Fall internships. There are Account Services Internships in Denver, CO, Charlotte, NC, and Salt Lake City, UT, as well as a Publicity/Promotions Entertainment Internship in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and a McDonald’s Account Service Internship in Richmond, VA. Additionally, you can submit a general application for an internship at their Dallas, TX office in Public Relations or Advertising/Marketing. There’s no word on whether the internships are paid or not, so you’ll have to do some digging to find that out; however, you can apply online quite easily for any of these positions.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you think McDonald’s advertising is effective?

Fleishman-Hillard

Willy Franzen — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:09:22 +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.

When I was in college, I wanted nothing more than to work at Fleishman-Hillard. Renowned for their corporate culture, Fleishman-Hillard is headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., has 80 offices throughout the world, does business in more than 20 languages and has 29 practices areas. In 2008, the firm’s work and culture earned them the “Best Agency to Work For” by The Holmes Report. But their list of awards hardly stops there, including “103 Silver Anvil Awards, 90 CIPRA/SABRE Awards, and numerous other national and international awards.”

And Fleishman-Hillard doesn’t just win awards outside the organization, but also with its own employees. In 2007, 98 percent of Fleishman-Hillard employees called the firm an organization “of which they can be proud,” according to an employee satisfaction survey. Fleishman-Hillard rewards their employees in return, giving out two awards annually – the “team player” and John D. Graham – recognizing “individuals in various geographic regions for unparalleled commitment to the client, the agency and their team.” Managers also give awards at their discretion for “their heroic efforts.” I’ve known many individuals who’ve worked for Fleishman-Hillard over the years, including one of my college mentors, and I’ve heard nothing but good things.

Be Rewarded at an Award-Winning Agency

Fleishman-Hillard is always seeking good intern candidates, but they have strict rules about who may apply. You must have at least a B average and completed your junior year of undergraduate study, but recent graduates are preferred. You must also excel in writing, critical thinking and be committed to a career in public relations.

Interested? Application deadlines vary by location. For full details, check out the agency’s list of internship coordinators and program details. I also recommend reading their blog, Stand Out, and the biographies of some of the folks in charge of talent development. Internships with Fleishman-Hillard are typically offered at their offices in Atlanta, GA; Austin, TX; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; Kansas City, MO; London, England; Los Angeles, CA; Melbourne, Australia; Miami, FL; Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN; Montreal, Canada; New York, NY; Potland, OR; Raleigh-Durham, NC; Sacramento, CA; San Antonio, TX; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; St. Louis, MO; Sydney, Australia; Toronto, Canada, and Washington, D.C, and it appears that they typically pay their interns.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Need help with your cover letter and résumé—or your entire job search? Heather offers low-cost coaching packages specifically for students and recent graduates seeking careers in public relations. Click here to learn more.

Lingerie Football League

Willy Franzen — Thu, 21 May 2009 14:42:56 +0000

I’m not sure about this one, but… it definitely caught my eye. Apparently the Lingerie Football League is looking for interns. I guess professional sports is mostly about fine physical specimens (pro bowling excluded, of course), so this isn’t too far of a reach. I mean, the AVP relies on sex appeal too. Oh wait… the women and men on the AVP Tour are actually exceptional athletes. Apparently that’s not the case with the Lingerie Football League. It’s more about creating a women’s football league that the masses will want to watch. I think that it’s pretty ridiculous and that it will probably be a bust (pun intended, and I realize that the article that I just linked to made the same pun), but that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be cool to intern with them. Having that on a resume will at least be a conversation starter (or ender depending on who’s looking at your resume).

Who Said Two Hand Touch Is Boring?

Actually, the Lingerie Football League is a tackle football league, but they’re trying to differentiate themselves from “the myriad of women’s tackle football leagues that nobody knows exists” according to a quote from the league founder in this article. If you want to help with that differentiation, then an internship might be worth considering. I originally found out about the internships from this article, which doesn’t contain too many details. All 10 league teams are looking for interns, and the teams are: Atlanta Steam, Chicago Bliss, Miami Caliente, New England Euphoria, Tampa Breeze, Dallas Desire, Denver Dream, Los Angeles Temptation, San Diego Seduction, and Seattle Mist. If you had any doubts about what the LFL is trying to accomplish here, I think that the team names should have cleared it up for you. The internships apparently offer “experience in a wide range of fields, including sports business, marketing, publicity, event/television production and talent management,” but there’s no mention of whether they’re paid or not. If my sarcasm hasn’t soured you on the potential for a well-rounded internship experience, then send your resume and cover letter to Talent@LFLUS.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Are you going to watch any LFL games?

Nice Kicks

Willy Franzen — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:37:11 +0000

I think that we’ve all heard of women who have more pairs of shoes than days in the year. These aren’t just any shoes, though. They’re fancy shoes that cost lots of money. We’re talking about people who have invested the equivalent of a college education in shoes. I think that’s crazy, but they’d probably think that I’m crazy for some other reason. Anyway, women who own hundreds of pairs of high heels aren’t the only shoe obsessed folks out there. There’s also a group of people called “sneakerheads.” I always thought that function came first in sneakers (or gym shoes as my girlfriend insists they’re called), but that’s not the case for these people. It’s all about having a hot pair of kicks, and to stay up to date on what’s hot, they’re an online magazine called Nice Kicks. Shoe geeks are just like any other geeks – they want more information, and that’s what Nice Kicks provides.

Kick Other Internships to the Curb

Unless you’re a sneakerhead, you probably have a hard time understanding why people need a publication about sneakers, but here’s what it says on Nice Kicks’ About page:

For years, shoe-enthusiasts have relied on message boards and forums for information pertaining to sneaker release dates, pricing and availability, but more times than not have been left frustrated due to the lack of in-depth and correct information. Nice Kicks was started to solve this problem and offers readers a daily destination where credible information, the history of the sneakers, and an expert’s opinion is made the priority.

So, if you love sneakers enough to read about them, then you’ll probably be interested in the Nice Kicks Internship Program. They’re looking for a number of interns to work on projects in “publishing, fashion, entertainment, art, culture, marketing, and interactive media.” The internships are unpaid and located in their Austin, TX office, but I’m sure there will be some sneaker related perks. Make sure you check out all of the internship details first, then apply by sending a resume, cover letter, and writing sample to internship@nicekicks.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Scottrade

Willy Franzen — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:21:53 +0000

After I graduated from college, I decided to take a responsible approach to my personal finances (and I wish I had done it sooner, so all of you current students listen up). It took me a while to get my act together, but once I did I started investing in the stock market through Scottrade, an online discount brokerage company that is headquartered in St. Louis, MO. (And before I go on with more information about Scottrade’s jobs, I need to give Ramit Sethi’s book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich, a plug because it just came out and is the best personal finance resource for young people that I’ve come across.) So, Scottrade allows me to buy and sell stocks at 7 bucks a pop. They also have a solid web interface that gives you access to all kinds of information, and they have 399 branches with helpful employees to answer you questions and get your accounts opened. If you’re interested in opening an account with Scottrade, let me know at willy@onedayonejob.com and I can give you a link that gets us both free trades. If you’re interested in interning with Scottrade, keep reading, duh!

Trade Up to an Internship with Scottrade

Now, you may be thinking, “Ummm… Willy, the stock market sucks right now, why would I want to get involved with that business?” There are quite a few reasons. First of all, Scottrade is growing at an excellent rate, which is why they were included in the Inc. 5000. Second of all, they’re not one of these big banks that is on the edge of failure. They’re a discount brokerage that focuses on customer satisfaction, not playing with money in risky ways. Third of all, they’ve been named one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. Oh yeah, and the 4th reason is that their internships were named by Inc. Magazine as one of America’s Coolest Internships. Yeah, so they have awesome internships.

Scottrade’s Internships page is very nicely done, and it gives a clear picture of what the program is all about. It then feeds right into their Internship listings, which are extensive. There are internships at their St. Louis headquarters in Internal Audit, Public Relations, and Infrastructure Technical Writing. Additionally they have internships at many of their branch offices for Finance/Economics students. Right now those listings are in locations that include: Birmingham, AL; Hoover, AL; Pasadena, CA; Woodland Hills, CA; Stamford, CT; Naples, FL; Ft. Wayne, IN; Overland Park, KS; Louisville, KY; Rockville, MD; Bethesda, MD; Minneapolis, MN; Kansas City, MO; Las Vegas, NV; Milburn, NJ; Rochester, NY; Valley Stream, NY; York, PA; Chattanooga, TN; Austin, TX; Burlington, VT; Arlington, VA; Williamsburg, VA; Richmond, VA; Green Bay, WI; Thousand Oaks, CA; Redding, CA; Folsom, CA; Oviedo, FL; and Huntington Beach, CA.

It’s pretty cool that Scottrade offers internships in so many locations that typically wouldn’t have many internship opportunities available. The internships all appear to be paid, and you can apply for them all online.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you invest? Do you use Scottrade?

Research In Motion

Willy Franzen — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:56:19 +0000

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).

RIM Internships

RIM’s description of what they do is pretty complex:

Through the development of integrated hardware, software and services that support multiple wireless network standards, RIM provides platforms and solutions for seamless access to time-sensitive information including email, phone, text messaging (SMS and MMS), Internet and intranet-based applications.

However, I think that you can put it pretty simply by saying that they make BlackBerries. I’m sure that there’s a lot more that they do on the technology side, but it seems that smartphones are their bread and butter. They’re a big company, so it’s no surprise that their Careers site has a special section for students, which is further broken down into a section for Internships and Co-ops. They do a nice job of sharing details about their internships on pages like Co-ops and Interns in Action and the specific pages for Canadian, American, and EMEA Students. After you’ve checked all of this out, you can take a look at RIM’s internship and co-op listings.

Don’t get overwhelmed though, there are 238 listings right now. You can narrow down the listings by using the search function, because I’m not wading through those for you. Positions in the US (Irving, Texas; Sunrise, Florida; Rolling Meadows, Illinois; Redwood City, California; and Bellevue, Washington) are typically offered in Software Development, Database Development, Software Testing, Mechanical Design, and Project Management. While in Canada (Waterloo, Ontario; Mississauga, Ontario; Ottawa, Ontario; and Halifax, Nova Scotia) positions are typically offered in Research and Development, Enterprise Marketing, Technical Support (Client Support Operations), Manufacturing, Finance, Legal, Human Resources/Organizational Development, Retail Marketing, Sales and Information Technology. Finally, in Europe (Slough, UK; Egham, UK; Birmingham, UK; and Bochum, Germany) they offer positions in BlackBerry Support Operations, New Handheld Testing, Carrier Product Marketing, Research & Response, BlackBerry Systems Engineering, System Integration, Intellectual Property – Legal, and Sales. Whoa, that’s a lot of internships!

All of the internships/co-ops appear to be paid, and you can apply for them online from the internship listings that you’ll find through the search function. Be wary though, because when you view a listing and then hit the back button to get back to your search, you’ll have to reenter your search to get the results that you want.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Do you have a BlackBerry?

Apple

Willy Franzen — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:46:28 +0000

I love Apple products, and I have for almost 20 years. My first computer was an Apple IIe, and now One Day, One Internship, One Day, One Job, and Found Your Career are all run from a MacBook Pro and an iPhone (ok, we have a server that is not a Mac). I’m constantly amazed by the innovation that comes out of Apple, and I’m probably unreasonable about how much I prefer Apple products. I mean, I sit in front of my computer and watch live blog updates whenever they’re making product announcements. In my mind there’s no cooler company than Apple, so it’s surprising that it took me this long to feature their internships.

iInternships

I don’t think that I need to say any more about Apple. If you don’t know all about who they are, you’re probably not going to be able to land an internship with them. They have 26 internships posted right now, and I have heard word they’re do some campus recruiting right now (although their campus events calendar only shows last fall’s schedule). Apple’s Internships site is nicely done, and it provides a good amount of information. It’s a little bland looking, but the simplicity makes it really easy to find everything that you’ll need to find, like their Internship listings.

Right now they have openings for interns in AppleCare (Phoenix, AZ and Austin, TX), Applications Product Integration (Santa Clara Valley, CA), Business Analyst (London, UK), Channel Online Sales Training (Paris, France), Education Intern (London, UK), CPU Software Engineer (Santa Clara Valley, CA), Hardware Engineer (Santa Clara Valley, CA), iPod Engineering (Santa Clara Valley, CA), Information Systems & Technology (Santa Clara Valley, CA), Mechanical Engineer (Santa Clara Valley, CA), Software Engineer (Santa Clara Valley, CA), SW Applications (Santa Clara Valley, CA), World Wide Operations (Santa Clara Valley, CA), iPhone Business Planning (London, UK), iPod Accessories Hardware (Santa Clara Valley, CA), Information Systems & Technology CRM (Uxbridge, UK), Information Systems & Technology (Uxbridge, UK), IT Business Analyst (Uxbridge, UK), Location Technologies Software (Santa Clara Valley, CA), OS Engineering (Santa Clara Valley, CA), Praktikant/in (Munich, Germany), Sales Planning (Paris, France), Sales Training Operations (Munich, Germany), Stage Customer Relationship Management (Paris, France), and Stage System Engineer (France). You can find these internships by visiting the postings, and you can apply directly from the descriptions. All Apple Internships are paid and come with some pretty cool benefits and perks. You should also note that some of these internship postings have a date of 2006, but I have a feeling that it’s a mistake and not a sign of neglect.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

Apple.com
Internships at Apple
Apple’s Internship Listings
Apple’s Campus Events Schedule
Behind the Scenes of an Apple Internship
Apple’s Intern FAQ
Apple’s Many RSS Feeds (No Jobs Feed Yet)

What’s your favorite Apple product?

Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Willy Franzen — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:38:52 +0000

I love writing these holiday posts. It’s always fun to think of holiday related internships, and since today is President’s Day, I had a lot of options. I could have looked at car dealerships or retailers that celebrate with a President’s Day sale, but I wanted to feature some internships that honor our past presidents. Since Washington and Lincoln are all over our money, we’re going to check out the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re responsible for printing all of our paper money, but that’s not all that they do. The BEP is also the country’s largest producer of security documents, which includes “U.S. passports, materials for Homeland Security, military identification cards, and Immigration and Naturalization Certificates.” They don’t produce our coinage – that’s the United States Mint, but they do have the coolest domain name in the government – MoneyFactory.gov – even though it kind of sounds like a get rich quick scheme’s web site. And last but not least, they must be pretty busy because the current low interest rates mean that the government is printing a lot of new money.

Internships in the Money

If you don’t believe the saying that “money can’t make you happy,” then you might be well suited for an internship with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. You’re probably not going to get rich with a career in the Federal government, but you’ll certainly be surrounded by cold, hard cash. The BEP looks like a fascinating place to work, and they do seem to have internship opportunities, although they don’t call them that. On the Special Programs section of their Careers page, they have an area that describes their Student Temporary Employment Program (just like the government to have a long name like that for internships). It’s open to U.S. citizens who are enrolled in college, and offers half and full-time positions depending on the student’s availability. There’s no formal application method for this program, but this Excel sheet provided by House.gov lists information on all government internships, and it directs students who are interested in interning with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to this Contact page. If you can pull up any more information on BEP internships, we’d love it if you’d share what you find in the comments.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

What’s your favorite bill produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing?

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?